TODAY we have a story by Franklin H. Martin. Not much is known about Martin aside from the fact he worked as a reporter on Newark newspapers. He had almost a hundred stories published in the pulps with roughly three quarters being detective or weird menace stories and the remaining quarter being air stories in the pages of Sky Birds, War Birds and Wings.

Ronald Sexton and his brother, Kenneth, came to the squadron together while we were up near Bar-le-Duc, during the St. Mihiel drive. They had gone to school together, enlisted together, trained side by side and gotten their little gold shoulder bars and wings together. Ronny was a year older, darker, huskier and livelier. Ken was quiet and inclined to be studious. It’s a mystery where Ken got time to do all his reading, because Ronny liked parties, and whenever Ronny went on a binge, Ken went along. They flew together, too. And even when Ronny was shot down and killed, he continued to look after his brother. Kenneth seemed to develop a kind of prescience that the squadron leader found hard to believe and led H.Q. to believe he was a German spy.

Many strange and weird stories have been told about the war. At some of them men have shrugged their shoulders, and lifted a doubting eyebrow. Others, men have believed—because they must. Here is one of the strangest of them all—the story of a squadron, and the blood-chilling Thing that almost drove them mad. It all began one afternoon bach in 1918, when Ronny Sexton crashed at Hill 420, near Exermont, France, and his smoking-hot motor dug him a six-foot grave. A powerful and unusual novel of war skies.

• Download “Patrol of the Dead” (September 1931, Sky Birds)

If you enjoyed this taste of Franklin H. Martin’s writing, you’ll be happy to hear that we’ve collected the five stories Martin had in Aces in the Fall of 1932. We’re calling it Franklin H. Martin’s Aces—the volume includes the Black Hawk of Prussia duology and three other stories!

AGE OF ACES will be back at PulpFest again this year where we will be debuting our two new titles!

For those who were disappointed that the Devildogs took a break last year, you’ll be happy to hear they’re back with a third volume of their exploits. Paired with that will be the volume of stories Franklin H. Martin had in Aces.

Franklin H.Martin’s Aces
by FRANKLIN H. MARTIN

This volume collects the five stories the enigmatic Martin had in Aces in the August through December issues of 1932 including the epic two part Black Hawk of Prussia story!

He is known as The Black Hawk of Prussia, but just who is von Woolrich? Every description of him is different. Some say he is big and dark. Others claim to have seen him—and say he’s short and slight, with reddish hair. Some rumors describe him as a man who can break a laminated mahogany prop over his knee like a stick of kindling wood. Others say that he is esthetic, an artist and a musician—he is said to have composed several splendid arias before the war. Or maybe he is just a name made up to scare little boys, like a boogy-man. Whatever the case may be, one thing is for certain—von Woolrich, is a master-mind spy!

Stories include: Pilots of the Night (10/32), Zero Patrol (11/32), The Death Parade (8/32), Lone Eagle (9/32) and Blaze of Glory (12/32). Also a special feature on Franklin H. Martin’s winning submission to the Writer’s Digest-Liberty $2,000 Short Story Contest and a bibliography of Martin’s pulp stories

Paired with this is the third volume of Donald E. Keyhoe’s Mad Marines—The Devildog Squadron! We gave them a rest last year and they are raring to go in five more Weird World War adventures!

Devildog Squadron: The Mystery Meteor
by DONALD E. KEYHOE

“Cyclone Bill” Garrity and his Mad Marines are back in the thick of things in five more Weird World War I Adventures from the imaginative pen of Donald E. Keyhoe. Those crazy Germans have come up with even more ways to turn the tide and win the war. Whether it’s going to elaborate lengths to convince an English scientist it is still 1915 and England and Germany are in a war against France to get the formula for a super explosive he invented; raining an extremely deadly and corrosive liquid fire down from the skies killing all in its deadly path; or developing a brilliant silvery beam that can cut anything in it’s way to shreds. If that’s not enough, throw in the fact that the Devildog’s latest replacement is a dead ringer for the Kaiser’s own brother and you’ve got all the making of classic Keyhoe madness!

The Devildog adventures featured in this volume are all from the pages of Sky Birds: Hangers of Hell (8/34), The Spandau Cyclone (10/34), Devildog Dynamite (12/34), The Mystery Meteor (1/35).

In addition to these new books, we’ll have all of our other titles on hand as well as our previous convention exclusive—Arch Whitehouse’s Coffin Kirk, and 2022’s two book set of Steve Fisher’s Sheridan Doome! So if you’re planning on coming to Pittsburgh for PulpFest this year, stop by our table and say hi and pick up our latest releases!

We hope we see you there!

TODAY we have a story by Franklin H. Martin. Not much is known about Martin aside from the fact he worked as a reporter on Newark newspapers. He had almost a hundred stories published in the pulps with roughly three quarters being detective or weird menace stories and the remaining quarter being air stories in the pages of Sky Birds, War Birds and Wings. In fact, his very first published pulp story was a brief aviation tale in Wings. It was the “Hanger Yarn” for the month. The Hanger Yarn was a round-table of airmen, where airmen would gather after hours to smoke and tell yarns and make you feel like you’re right at home in the hanger with them!

For the August 1931 issue, Martin spins a yarn about Lieutenant Howdy Dean, a pursuit pilot for the hundred and first who was looking to get himself half a boche—poor Howdy had four and a half victories to his credit and needed that extra half to make him an Ace.

• Download “The Bobtail Ace” (August 1931, Wings)

If you enjoyed this brief taste of Franklin H. Martin’s writing, you’ll be happy to hear that we’ll be coming out with Franklin H. Martin’s Aces—a volume that collects Martin’s five stories that appeared in the pages of Aces in the fall of 1932, including the Black Hawk of Prussia duology. More information coming to this site soon!