WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. Mr. Cruickshank launched his career writing stories based loosely on his war experiences. As tastes turned from straight out battle field stories to air war stories, Cruickshank shifted his setting from the trenches to the cockpit. After the Second World War, taste again shifted toward westerns, Cruickshank was right there cranking them out for magazines like 10 Story Western Magazine, Western Short Stories, Texas Rangers, Dime Western, Popular Western, Thrilling Western, New Western Magazine, Wild West Weekly, North-West Romances, Thrilling Ranch Stories, Big Book Western, Rodeo Romances, .44 Western, West, Exciting Western, and Range Riders Western!

Cruickshank wrote 35 stories chronicling the trials and tribulations of Dal and Mary Baldwin carving out their piece of the Wild West in Sun-Bear Valley, Wyoming. Cruickshank was born in Wales and emigrated to Alberta with his father and brother in 1905, establishing a homestead when they settled near Barrhead. Ill health would drive him off the farm when he returned and into Edmonton where he worked for the education department and wrote in his spare time. Cruickshank drew on those years on the farm for his Pioneer Folk stories for Range Riders Western.

Here are the first two in the series:

First we have “Wild King Savagery” from the Spring of 1945 issue in which Dal and his wife find the ideal place to start their life in the wilds of Sun Bear Valley. A perfect spot with everything they could want including the most magnificent wild stallion Dal had ever seen—and a half-breed horse thief who wants to catch it.

Dal Baldwin and His Young Wife Face Bitter Hardships as They Strive to Carve a Home for Themselves Out of the Wilderness!

• Download “Wild King Savagery” (Spring 1945, Range Riders Western)

Cruickshank followed this up with “Challenge of the Wilds” from the Summer issue. Dal and Mary try to get everything in order at their homestead before winter comes when tragedy strikes!

Dal and Mary Baldwin Face Disaster When Their Horse Dies and Their Traps Are Robbed—but Their Courage Lives on!

• Download “Challenge of the Wilds” (Summer 1945, Range Riders Western)

A listing of Harold F Cruickshank’s PIONEER FOLK stories.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1945
Wild King Savagery	Range Riders Western	Spr	13	1
Challenge of the Wilds	Range Riders Western	Sum	13	2
Spring Borning	Range Riders Western	Fal	13	3
Red Harvest	Range Riders Western	Dec	14	1
1946
Terror Neighbors	Range Riders Western	Feb	14	2
Wilderness Justice	Range Riders Western	Apr	14	3
Squatter’s Law	Range Riders Western	Jun	15	1
Wild Hoof Warfare	Range Riders Western	Aug	15	2
The Valley Beyond	Range Riders Western	Nov	15	3
1947
Stampede Conquest	Range Riders Western	Jan	16	1
Frontier Courage	Range Riders Western	Mar	16	2
Wild King Savagery	Range Riders Western	May	16	3
Death Loops a Widelooper	Range Riders Western	Jul	17	1
Satan Tugs the Jerkline	Range Riders Western	Sep	17	2
Hell and High Water	Range Riders Western	Nov	17	3
1948
Good Neighbor Gunfire	Range Riders Western	Jan	18	1
Frontier Timber Wolves	Range Riders Western	Mar	18	2
The Devil’s Eye	Range Riders Western	May	18	3
Courage in the Craglands	Range Riders Western	Jul	19	1
Death Rides the Freight Trail	Range Riders Western	Sep	19	2
Satan Dabs a Wide Loop	Range Riders Western	Nov	19	3
1949
Drum Thunder	Range Riders Western	Jan	20	1
Showdown	Range Riders Western	Mar	20	2
Satan’s a Bad Neighbor	Range Riders Western	May	20	3
Wild Hoof Battle Loot	Range Riders Western	Jul	21	1
Satan’s Shroud of Death	Range Riders Western	Sep	21	2
Tough Test	Range Riders Western	Nov	21	3
1950
According to Colt	Range Riders Western	Mar	22	2
Rescue	Range Riders Western	May	22	3
The Scars of Victory	Range Riders Western	Aug	23	1
Backfire	Range Riders Western	Oct	23	2
Cupid Packs a Gun	Range Riders Western	Dec	23	3
1951
Buckaroo Bridge Gang	Range Riders Western	Feb	24	1
Dauntless the Pioneer	Range Riders Western	Apr	24	2
1952
Phantom Hoofbeats	Range Riders Western	Jan	25	3

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. One of the most successful series of animal wilderness stories Cruickshank produced was the “White Phantom” series which primarily ran in the pages of Thrilling Adventures and West magazines.

Olak, the White Phantom, is an extraordinary wolf. He is large, handsome and is an albino. Because of his unusual coloring, the superstitious natives, Indians, think of him as allied with the spirit world and as such influences their hunting, the weather elements, famine conditions and so forth.

In the January 1940 issue of Thrilling Adventures, Tuc Cramer’s brother-in-law Tan goes searching for his lost friend Sa, son of Olak, the great White Phantom wolf king of Nahanni. Along the way he finds himself in the next valley over where the strange tribe there worships Olak-Achak—and about to be sacrificed to the spirit of the White Phantom!

Tan, the Indian Youth, Follows the Trail of the Son of the White Phantom!

• Download “Wolf Worship” (January 1940, Thrilling Adventures)

As a bonus, here’s an article Cruickshank wrote about writing his animal stories that ran in the pages of the October 1944 issue of Writer’s Digest!

• Download “Writing the Animal Story” (October 1944, Writer’s Digest)

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. As the winds of war swept across Europe, Cruickshank continued to crank out aviation stories for the pulps, but he also started to write animal stories. These stories proved to be very popular in the pages of western and adventure magazines.

Otan, a proud she-cougar, fights to save her precious liter of three cubs from the likes of Yeepek, a great bald eagle, and Mishi, a sour-tempered old barren she-grizzly! From the August 1939 Thrilling Adventures, it’s “The Fangs of Otan!”

A She-Cougar Fights for Life and Safety in the Untracked Wilds!

• Download “The Fangs of Otan” (August 1939, Thrilling Adventures)

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. Mr. Cruickshank launched his career writing stories based loosely on his war experiences. As tastes turned from straight out battle field stories to air war stories, Cruickshank shifted his setting from the trenches to the cockpit. With stories appearing in such titles as War Birds, War Aces, Sky Birds, Airplane Stories, Flying Aces, and Sky Fighters.

For Harry Steeger’s trio of Popular Publication’s titles—Battle Aces, Dare-Devil Aces and Battle Birds—Mr. Cruickshank developed continuing characters that ran generally in short novelettes each month. Although the final issue of Battle Aces had just hit the stands in November of 1932, Cruickshank created a brand new series when asked to for the new companion magazine to Dare-Devil Aces—Battle Birds in December 1932.

In “The Red Eagle,” Cruickshank gives us Ted Blair—a Yank Eagle who excelled more than any other with fighting guts and his ability to maneuver in tight loops and slip-offs which amazed and baffled his opponents. His eye was quick, as quick as the flash of greased lightning, and his Vickers twins were deadly accurate. In the dive he was merciless; he struck like a hungry, angered eagle, hence his nom de guerre, Red Eagle. That, and because of his flaming red hair and freckled spotted face.

Cruickshank gave him a brood much like the Sky Devil’s—formed from his old B Flight of the 44th, Blair had played with, fought with, nursed, and built up those members of the Brood—Lieutenant Sam Martin, the tall, blond deputy leader; Lieutenant Pete Monty Rider, the hard-egg scrapper from America’s ranch country; Lieutenant Frank “Spud” Fallon, the Irish-Yank, whose wit was no less appreciated than his fighting quality, and his flair for fixing things mechanical; and Lieutenant Dave “Babe” Deakin, the big-framed ex-fullback of Yale, a good-natured fighting hellcat, whose piano playing and singing, though of secondary importance, brought a big hand from his intrepid pals. They were all men of guts. Each wore a single decoration. Each packed an unswerving brand of loyalty and a fighting heart. These were the Red Eagle’s Brood—big-chested, rollicking sky scrappers, who feared nothing, save the tongue of their leader.

The Red Eagle and his Brood were established as an semi-independent flight under the command of Major Bruce Grove. Unfortunately, Grove had his own problems—a splendid fellow in every way, he had jeopardized his position some months back by taking the rap for a wrong done by one of his former flights. He knew that if he rode just once over a Wing order, his term of command was done. Bruce Grove was, literally, on the spot and Wing was ready to get him. Bill Mond, the surgeon, knew this. Ted Blair, the Eagle skipper knew it too.

With all that in mind, we present The Red Eagle’s self-titled premier outing from the December 1932 issue of Battle Birds!

Zeps stalked above; from below a flight of super-Fokkers zoomed, Spandaus snarling. But the Red Eagle led his devil’s brood straight on; like monster bird killers they dived straight for the staffle of Death, determined to slash a gap through this hell trap—or meet their doom fighting!

• Download “The Red Eagle” (December 1932, Battle Birds)

A listing of Harold F. Cruickshank’s RED EAGLE stories.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1932
The Red Eagle	Battle Birds	Dec	1	1
1933
The Iron Eagle	Battle Birds	Jan	1	2
The Phantom Staffel	Battle Birds	Feb	1	3
The Masked Buzzard	Battle Birds	Mar	1	4
The Gray Phantom	Battle Birds	Apr	2	1
The Black Skull Staffel	Battle Birds	May	2	2
The Red Death	Battle Birds	Jun	2	3
Hellion’s Brood	Battle Birds	Jul	2	4
The Coffin Ace	Battle Birds	Aug	3	1
The Buccaneer Flight	Battle Birds	Sep	3	2
The Hell Busters	Battle Birds	Oct	3	3
Dodoes from Hell	Battle Birds	Nov	3	4
The One-Eyed Squadron	Battle Birds	Dec	4	1
1934
Storm Eagles	Battle Birds	Jan	4	2
Mad Shark of Prussia	Battle Birds	Feb	4	3
Staffel of Skulls	Battle Birds	Mar	4	4
Squadron of Lost Men	Battle Birds	Apr	5	1
The Bloodhound Patrol	Battle Birds	May	5	2
Tiger Patrol	Battle Birds	Jun	5	3
Dynamite Busters	Dare-Devil Aces	Oct	8	3
The Bloodhound Flight	Dare-Devil Aces	Dec	9	1
1935
The Black Comet	Dare-Devil Aces	Apr	10	1
Gunpowder Eagles	Dare-Devil Aces	Jul	10	4
The Vampire Flight	Dare-Devil Aces	Dec	12	1

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. Mr. Cruickshank launched his career writing stories based loosely on his war experiences. As tastes turned from straight out battle field stories to air war stories, Cruickshank shifted his setting from the trenches to the cockpit. With stories appearing in such titles as War Birds, War Aces, Sky Birds, Airplane Stories, Flying Aces, and Sky Fighters.

For Harry Steeger’s trio of Popular Publication’s titles—Battle Aces, Dare-Devil Aces and Battle Birds—Mr. Cruickshank developed continuing characters that ran generally in short novelettes each month. Following on from the success of The Sky Wolf in Battle Aces, Cruickshank was asked to develop a series for the newly premiered sister magazine, Dare-Devil Aces. For Dare-Devil Aces, Cruickshank developed his best known war hero—the rough and tumble Captain Bill Dawe—The Sky Devil! Cruickshank based Bill Dawe on his own infantry commander from WWI.

There was no better flight in France than the Sky Devil and his Brood. Led by Captain Bill Dawe, the famous Yank ace known to all of France as the Sky Devil, the brood consisted of Chuck Verne, Mart Bevin, Slim Skitch and Slug Walton. The crimson devil insignia on their silver Spads brought fear to any German pilot unlucky enough to meet them in the air. But the Sky Devil’s greatest enemy might just be his own C.O., Major Petrie, who had been railroaded into command of 120 Squadron over Dawe’s head. Jealous of Dawe’s popularity, Petrie will do anything to bring down the Sky Devil and his Brood!”

Sky Devil flew through the Hell Skies of 29 adventures in the pages of Dare-Devil Aces from 1932-1935. Cruickshank returned to the savior of the Western Front in six subsequent stories several years later. The first two were in the pages of Sky Devils (June 1939) and Fighting Aces (March 1940). The other four ran in Sky Fighters (1943-1946) where he was aged up and moved to the Second World War where Bill Dawe changes his name to get into the air service and flys along side his son!

Here we present The Sky Devil’s premier outing from the April 1932 issue of Dare-Devil Aces, it’s “Sky Devil’s Trap!”

Swiftly those Yank bombers ripped in, blasting that fake staffel to hell. They didn’t see the Fokkers swinging down from above; didn’t guess they were cold meat—snared in a blood trap from which only the yammering guns of one doomed sky devil could hope to snatch them.

• Download “Sky Devil’s Trap” (April 1931, Dare-Devil Aces)

Here is a listing of Harold F. Cruickshank’s SKY DEVIL stories.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1932
Sky Devil’s Trap	Dare-Devil Aces	Apr	01	02
The Green Devils	Dare-Devil Aces	Jul	02	01
Hell’s Skipper	Dare-Devil Aces	Sep	02	03
The Sky Devil’s Brood	Dare-Devil Aces	Oct	02	04
Killer’s Drome	Dare-Devil Aces	Nov	03	01
The Sky Tiger	Dare-Devil Aces	Dec	03	02
1933
Captain von Death	Dare-Devil Aces	Jan	03	03
The Flaming Ace	Dare-Devil Aces	Feb	03	04
Sky Devil’s Trap	Dare-Devil Aces	Mar	04	01
The Haunted Fokker	Dare-Devil Aces	Apr	04	02
Buzzards’ Brand	Dare-Devil Aces	May	04	03
Torpedo Buzzards	Dare-Devil Aces	Jun	04	04
The Bat Patrol	Dare-Devil Aces	Jul	05	01
Hell Buzzards Nest	Dare-Devil Aces	Aug	05	02
The Sky Cobra	Dare-Devil Aces	Sep	05	03
The Outlaw Ace	Dare-Devil Aces	Oct	05	04
Ace of Devils	Dare-Devil Aces	Nov	06	01
Skeleton’s Drome	Dare-Devil Aces	Dec	06	02
1934
The Sky Pirates	Dare-Devil Aces	Jan	06	03
Staffel of Hate	Dare-Devil Aces	Feb	06	04
The Flaming Vulture	Dare-Devil Aces	Mar	07	01
No-Man’s Squadron	Dare-Devil Aces	Apr	07	02
The Storm Buzzard	Dare-Devil Aces	May	07	03
The Derelict Patrol	Dare-Devil Aces	Jun	07	04
Staffel of Skeletons	Dare-Devil Aces	Jul	08	01
Graveyard Staffel	Dare-Devil Aces	Sep	08	02
1935
The Stratosphere Patrol	Dare-Devil Aces	Feb	09	03
The Undersea Buzzard	Dare-Devil Aces	Jun	10	03
Staffel of Dead Men	Dare-Devil Aces	Sep	11	02
1939
Wings of the Brave	Sky Devils	Jun	01	06
1940
A Torch for the Damned	Fighting Aces	Mar	01	01

When Cruickshank brought The Sky Devil back in the 40’s for Sky Fighters, he moved his theater of operations from the First World War to the Second World War. Older, more reckless and enlisted under false pretenses, he’s fighting the good fight and watching out for his son as well!

1943
Sky Devil and Son	Sky Fighters	Jan	28	02
Return of the Sky Devil	Sky Fighters	Mar	28	03
1946
Settlement in Full	Sky Fighters	Win	33	01
Sky Route to Hell	Sky Fighters	Spr	33	02

We’ve collected and published all 29 of The Sky Devil’s stories from Dare-Devil Aces into two volumes—Hell’s Skipperand Ace of Devils! In addition, we’ve posted many of the post-Popular stories on the site here (just click on the “Sky Devil” tag below). The books can be picked up through the usual sources—Adventure House, Mike Chomko Books and Amazon!

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. Mr. Cruickshank launched his career writing stories based loosely on his war experiences. As tastes turned from straight out battle field stories to air war stories, Cruickshank shifted his setting from the trenches to the cockpit. With stories appearing in such titles as War Birds, War Aces, Sky Birds, Airplane Stories, Flying Aces, and Sky Fighters.

For Harry Steeger’s trio of Popular Publication’s titles—Battle Aces, Dare-Devil Aces and Battle Birds—Mr. Cruickshank developed continuing characters that ran generally in short novelettes each month. The first was Captain Bill Hennedy, a.k.a The Sky Wolf, in the pages of Battle Aces. Starting in the magazine’s fourth issue in January 1931, The Sky Wolf would appear just over a dozen times before flying through the pages of G-8 and his Battle Aces and Dare-Devil Aces for another dozen or so adventures.

Hennedy was ably assisted by his famous Yank Wolf Brood! “Red” Kelly was the Sky Wolf’s deputy leader; he along with Pat Maguire and Stan Glover formed a trio of pilots who had no equal in the whole of France. Filling out the Wolf Flight were wolf cubs Jim Evans and Hank Daly—able to hold their own with any German Ace that dared take them on. Together, The Sky Wolf and his Brood were the scourge of any and all German Aces who dared attack the Allied forces.

Here we present The Sky Wolf’s premier outing as he and his brood try to save a stranded garrison! From the January 1931 issue of Battle Aces, it’s “The Sky Wolf’s Brood!”

It was the “Sky Wolf’s” daring scheme—this plan to rescue that stranded garrison of wounded infantrymen. And now unmindful of his blood-drenched face, he was leading his brood straight down into the enemy stronghold—for here was a skipper and a brood that didn’t know when they were dead!

• Download “The Sky Wolf’s Brood” (January 1931, Battle Aces)

Here is a listing of Harold F. Cruickshank’s SKY WOLF stories.

title	magazine	date	vol	no
1931
The Sky Wolf’s Brood	Battle Aces	Jan	1	4
The Sky Wolf Returns	Battle Aces	Jul	3	2
Fangs of the Wolf Brood	Battle Aces	Nov	4	2
1932
The Wolf Brood Strikes	Battle Aces	Jan	4	4
The Wolf Brand	Battle Aces	Mar	5	2
Sky Wolf’s Cub	Battle Aces	Apr	5	3
The Brood at Bay	Battle Aces	May	5	4
The Wolf Terror	Battle Aces	Jun	6	1
Snarl of the Sky Wolf	Battle Aces	Jul	6	2
Wolf Brood Hell	Battle Aces	Aug	6	3
The Flying Torpedo	Battle Aces	Sep	6	4
Sky Wolf’s Trap	Battle Aces	Oct	7	1
Staffel of Hell	Battle Aces	Nov	7	2
1934
Return of the Sky Wolf	G-8 and his Battle Aces	Feb	2	1
The Silver Spad	G-8 and his Battle Aces	Apr	2	3
The Outlaw Patrol	G-8 and his Battle Aces	Jun	3	1
Drome of the Living Dead	Dare-Devil Aces	Nov	8	4
1935
Legion of Death	Dare-Devil Aces	Jan	9	2
The Torpedo Eagle	Dare-Devil Aces	May	10	2
The Iron Devils	Dare-Devil Aces	Aug	11	1
The Jackal Patrol	Dare-Devil Aces	Nov	11	4
1937
Hell Trap	Dare-Devil Aces	Mar	12	4
1938
The Sky Wolf Returns	Dare-Devil Aces	Jun	19	3
The Hell Raider	Dare-Devil Aces	Oct	20	3
1943
Fangs of the Sky Wolf	Dare-Devil Aces	May	31	2

WE’RE celebrating the works of Canada’s very own Harold F. Cruickshank this month. Mr. Cruickshank launched his career when he was asked to write about his war comrades in Belgium. He received a prize for the story and continued writing in his spare time.

In 1923 he sold his first major piece to Western Home Monthly, Chatelaine’s forerunner, and a demand quickly grew for his stories. When he first started off, the demand was for war stories so Cruickshank wrote stories inspired by his time in the 63rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and soon had stories running in all the big war themed pulps of the day—War Stories, Under Fire Magazine, Canadian War Stories, War Novels, Soldier Stories, and the magazine our featured story ran in—Battle Stories!

The company commander, Captain Coyne, had been found lying in a pool of his own blood—foully murdered. Coyne had been more than a good pal to Maguire. There was a bond between them which had been cemented during years of service on the Montreal Police Force and almost three years of action together in France. Now Coyne was gone. The skipper had been shot from behind and not by a German! It was an inside job. But who? Coyne was the most popular officer in the battalion, with a heart which was always with his men. But if Maguire wanted answers, he’d have to venture into the tunnels snaking under No-Man’s-Land!

Murder and mystery stalk hand in hand in this amazing story of a dread sector at the front!

From the July 1929 issue of Battle Stories, it’s Harold F. Cruickshank’s “The Tunnel of Death!”

• Download “The Tunnel of Death” (July 1929, Battle Stories)

“HAW-W-W-W-W!” That sound can only mean one thing—that Bachelor of Artifice, Knight of Calamity and an alumnus of Doctor Merlin’s Camelot College for Conjurors is back to vex not only the Germans, but the Americans—the Ninth Pursuit Squadron in particular—as well. Yes it’s the marvel from Boonetown, Iowa himself—Lieutenant Phineas Pinkham!

Hauptmann Adolph August von Heinz—dubbed The Owl of the Ozone—was born on the stroke of twelve in the middle of the Black Forest, and it was rumored across the Rhine that every mouse in the Province scurried to cover when the stork dropped this Kraut squaller down the chimney of the Heinz menage. From that day on, von Heinz got blind staggers when he looked at the sun, and the War found him sleeping in the daytime and attacking at night! But that Boonetown marvel looked to the heavens to find a way to take out the Owl in broad daylight!

On the Western Front, things looked mighty dark for the minions of Democracy—so dark, in fact, that by contrast the pall over Pittsburgh resembled a bridal veil caressing a snowdrift. Once again the fly-by-night in the Entente ointment and cocklebur in the Allied rompers was that sinister Hauptmann von Heinz—The Owl of the Ozone. But what of Phineas? Well, he’d bought himself a book on the Cosmos. To put it poetically, Carbuncle was “lost in the music of the spheres!”

• Download “Eclipse of the Hun” (March 1938, Flying Aces)

As a bonus…some fan art of the Boonetown Treasure!

FREQUENT visitors to this site know that we’ve been featuring Terry Gilkison’s Famous Sky Fighters feature from the pages of Sky Fighters. Gilkison had a number of these features in various pulp magazines—Clues, Thrilling Adventures, Texas Rangers, Thrilling Mystery, Thrilling Western, and Popular Western. Starting in the February 1936 issue of Lone Eagle, Gilkison started the war-air quiz feature Sky Writers. Each month there would be four questions based on the Aces and events of The Great War. If you’ve been following his Famous Sky Fighters, these questions should be a snap!

Here’s the quiz from the April 1937 issue of Lone Eagle.

If you get stumped or just want to check your answers, click here!

THIS week we have a story from the pen of the Navy’s own Allan R. Bosworth. This time Bosworth gives us a tale of war in the Alps! Bart Mason, American pilot of Native-American desert is attached to the British squadron posted at the Italian army post west of Treviso. The sector has been terrorized by Paul Katz and his Squadron of the Snows. The problem is, Katz’ Staffel flies all-white planes which seem invisible against the snowy backdrop of the Alps—that is until Bart dons some warpaint!

Somewhere in the ice-covered heights of the Alps that deadly Snow Squadron had its lair— and none could challenge their invisible menace, until a yelling, fighting Indian had a yen to paint the town red.

From the pages of the April 1932 issue of War Birds, it “Squadron of the Snows!”

• Download “Squadron of the Snows” (April 1932, War Birds)

Lester Dent is best known as the man behind Doc Savage. But he wrote all number of other stories before he started chronicling the adventures of everyone’s favorite bronze giant. Here we have one of his earliest stories to appear in the pulps. From the pages of the September 1930 issue of Air Stories, it’s “Vulture Coast!”

It started as a test flight for the new amphibian. Then came the offshore rescue, pirate craft out of the China Sea, and a grim, terrible test for Power O’Malley, pilot.

• Download “Vulture Coast” (September 1930, Air Stories)

If you enjoyed this story, Black Dog Books has put out an excellent volume collecting 8 of Lester Dent’s early air adventure stories! Dead Man’s Bones: The Air Adventure Stories of Lester Dent includes “Vulture Coast” as well as seven other two-fisted sky adventures! It has an introduction by historian Will Murray and appendices featuring background material, outlines and story submission notes from Dent’s personal papers! A great read! Pick it up from their website! It’s Dead Men’s Bones by Lester Dent!

And as a bonus, here’s a short plucky article from the Norman, Oklahoma Sooner State Press!

Fiction Field Beckons To Tulsa Tribune Man

Sooner State Press, Norman, OK • 20 December 1930

Lester Dent, who for the past four years has been an Associated Press operator and maintenance man detailed to the Tulsa Tribune, writing fiction on the side, has received an offer from Sky Riders, fiction magazine in New York, suggesting that he join the staff of this publication, according to the Tribune of December 8.

Less than two years ago, Dent turned his attention to fiction writing. He sent out 13 stories, all of which were rejected, then wrote the fourteenth, and found a market for it. He has sold to Popular Stories, Air Stories, Top-Notch, Action Stories and Sky Riders.

Some of the earlier titles were: “Pirate Cay,” “Death Zone,” “Buccaneers of the Midnight Sun” and “The Thirteen Million Dollar Robbery.” Later he wrote “Vulture Coast,” “The Devil’s Derelict,” “The Skeleton From Moon Cay,” and most recentlv “Hell Hop.”