November 8, 2013
It's the 80th Anniversary of G-8, The Spider and Dime Mystery magazines!
Radio Archives has been rolling out an uninterrupted stream of exciting products spotlighting the works of pulp superstars Robert J. Hogan, R. T. M. Scott and Norvell W. Page. Here’s Will Murray to tell you more:
“In the Autumn of 1933, Popular Publications took the pulp universe by storm when they released in rapid succession, G-8 and His Battle Aces, The Spider, and the first of the weird menace pulps, Dime Mystery magazine. For the 80th anniversary of these historic debuts, we're releasing some of the earliest and most exciting issues of these fabulous titles. You'll thrill to the continued exploits of G-8, as well as the electrifying debuts of The Spider and Dime Mystery magazine. These thrilling titles come to life in affordable audiobooks, along with companion eBooks. You'll enjoy them all. I guarantee it.”
"Yeah, danger is my assignment. I get sent to a lot of places I can’t even pronounce. They all spell the same thing, though - trouble."In this opening line heard on various episodes, Steve Mitchell, special agent for an unnamed agency charged with protecting America from foreign threats, describes Dangerous Assignment perfectly. Focused on Mitchell's adventures around the world, Dangerous Assignment capitalized on the desire of Americans at the time for patriotic, stalwart heroes to stand up for them. Mitchell, as portrayed by Brian Donlevy definitely fits that bill.
A multitalented actor, Donlevy had a thirst in his own life for adventure and patriotism. At age 14, Donlevy lied about his age and joined the local Army National Guard in Wisconsin as they became a part of the expedition to capture Pancho Villa. Serving as a bugler then, he also later enlisted and fought in World War I in France.
Although he had some initial success in theater and silent films, Donlevy came to prominence as a player of tough guys and villains. Such roles in Barbary Coast, Destry Rides Again, and Beau Geste, assured Donlevy a career in Hollywood and led to other fantastic roles, including that of Steve Mitchell in Dangerous Assignment.
A multitalented actor, Donlevy had a thirst in his own life for adventure and patriotism. At age 14, Donlevy lied about his age and joined the local Army National Guard in Wisconsin as they became a part of the expedition to capture Pancho Villa. Serving as a bugler then, he also later enlisted and fought in World War I in France.
Although he had some initial success in theater and silent films, Donlevy came to prominence as a player of tough guys and villains. Such roles in Barbary Coast, Destry Rides Again, and Beau Geste, assured Donlevy a career in Hollywood and led to other fantastic roles, including that of Steve Mitchell in Dangerous Assignment.
Brian Donlevy shines as Steve Mitchell in Dangerous Assignment, Volume 4. Hard boiled delivery and two fisted intensity make Mitchell a fun hero to follow and fight beside! Restored to sparkling audio quality, the episodes in this collection are a great example of 1950s radio adventure! 10 hours $29.98 Audio CDs / $14.99 Download.
Special 50% discount Offer
By the fall of 1949, television was making serious dents in the large audience numbers that radio had enjoyed for well over a decade. Though TV had long been fodder for many a radio comedian's jokes, the ratings of radio's more popular comedy programs were starting to shrink as listeners became viewers -- and comedy acts like Jimmy Durante and Burns and Allen were seriously considering their futures and looking to get in on the ground floor of this new-fangled fad, abandoning their radio shows in the process.
Pet Milk assumed sponsorship of "Fibber McGee and Molly" from 1950-52, followed by Reynolds Aluminum for the 1952-53 season, but radio's overall ratings continued to droop. Under normal circumstances, Fibber and Molly would have been opening their script for that week's broadcast only to find a pink slip, but the National Broadcasting Company wasn't ready to let their long-time stars walk away -- especially since the network had paid big money in 1948 to buy the show lock, stock, and barrel from the team and series' co-creator Don Quinn. So, in the fall of 1953, "The Fibber McGee and Molly Show" was revamped into a five-day-a-week, quarter-hour program that would play on the network twice each weekday: once in the daytime and once in the evening.
From October 5, 1953 to March 23, 1956 - a total of 577 fifteen-minute broadcasts - Fibber and Molly McGee continued to generate mirth from their famous address at 79 Wistful Vista. Due to varying sponsorship, the budget for the daily series was considerably smaller than had been allotted to the half-hour weekly programs and, unlike the live evening show, the daily show was prerecorded without the presence of a studio audience. Money saving also dictated the departure of many of the performers associated with the long-running comedy program: Gale Gordon, who had played both Mayor LaTrivia and weather man "Foggy" Williams, bandleader Billy Mills, and singing group The King's Men were all absent from the new series. Even announcer Harlow "Waxy" Wilcox was given his walking papers, replaced by John Wald -- though Wald's previous experience on Fibber and Molly's famed spin-off "The Great Gildersleeve" did make him the ideal man for the job. Bill Thompson (as the Old Timer and Wallace Wimple) and Arthur Q. Bryan (as Doc Gamble) still remained from the earlier days and, fortunately, the series was able to make good use of the talents of "Radio Row": Virginia Gregg, Parley Baer, Joseph Kearns, Herb Vigran, and Mary Jane Croft can be heard on many of the programs. (To add a little character variety, the creative minds behind the fifteen-minute shows did give the McGee's a pair of new neighbors: Les and Sally Nelson, as played by Robert Easton and Mary Lou Harrington.)
The half-hour version of "Fibber McGee and Molly" only occasionally featured "serialized" plot lines - stories that would play out over two or more broadcasts - but with the quarter-hour format, Leslie took a page from the "Lum 'n' Abner" scrapbook and began to fashion lengthy story arcs to accommodate the new five-times-a-week broadcasts. The longest running of these was the saga of "Citizen X" (displayed in the first three programs of this collection), a contest cooked up by Wistful Vista's merchant community to boost the local economy. Over the course of fourteen episodes, Fibber McGee valiantly tried to unveil the identity of "X"...finally discovering, to his embarrassment and chagrin, that the culprit was none other than his better half, Molly.
In this, the first of a new series of collections transferred from the long-lost original NBC Reference Recordings, Radio Archives invites you to listen to some irrefutable evidence: forty full-length programs that, for the most part, have not been heard since they originally aired over fifty years ago. An additional bonus is their sparkling audio quality; thanks to the innovations of the digital age, these classic shows can now be heard at a level of clear and crisp high fidelity that far exceeds what was available to the average listener in 1954. The result is shows that sound - and are - just as bright, fresh, and entertaining as they were when first heard -- a real tribute to the time, talent, and devotion to quality that went into their production. - Specially priced until November 21 for $14.99 Audio CDs / $7.49 Download.
80th Anniversary of The Spider
Will Murray's Pulp Classics #37
by Norvell W. Page writing as Grant Stockbridge
Read by Nick Santa Maria. Liner Notes by Will Murray
For ten grim years, The Spider battled the underworld, imprinting his scarlet seal on the bodies of the criminals he slew. No one knew his name. His face was unknown. Pursued by the police, sought by the mob, the Master of Men crushed crime with a blazing intensity never witnessed before or since. Now he's back with a vengeance in a new series of audiobooks retelling his pulp-pounding exploits, as chronicled by Norvell W. Page, writing as Grant Stockbridge.
Never before or since has there been a hero like him. Driven, hunted, and violently committed to exterminating criminals of all calibers. A self-appointed savior of humanity, driven manic-depressive, and possibly undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, The Spider was known and feared as the Master of Men.
Garbed in a black silk cloak, slouch hat and wearing an assortment of masks and strange disguises to make him look as fierce as his namesake, the Spider ran roughshod over a vicious legion of thugs and hoodlums, leaving behind him a trail of cold corpses branded by his calling card, a scarlet spider burned into their foreheads.
For his fourth recorded adventure, City of Flaming Shadows, Richard Wentworth alias The Spider is challenged by a rival arachnid––The Tarantula!
Wielding arson has his principal tool, this alternate arachnid embarks upon a crime spree that will bring New York City to the brink of destruction. As the city he loves and protects is engulfed in a spreading conflagration, the Master of Men plunges into the blazing night with one objective in mind––to crush The Tarantula!
Once more, Nick Santa Maria brings The Spider to vivid life in one of the most dramatic Spider stories ever recorded. Torn from the pages of the January, 1934 issue of The Spider, this audiobook also includes G. T. Fleming-Roberts’ thrilling tale, “The Devil’s Belfry.” 6 hours $23.98 Audio CDs / $11.99 Download.
RadioArchives.com and Will Murray are giving away the downloadable version of the newly released Strange Detective Mysteries audiobook for FREE.
If you prefer the Audio CDs to play in your car or home CD player, the coupon code will subtract the $11.99 price of the download version from the Audio CDs. That makes the Audio CDs half price.
Add Strange Detective Mysteries to the shopping cart and use the Coupon Code AUDIOBOOK.
“Strange Detective Mysteries #1 is one of my favorite pulps and I am excited to produce it as an audiobook with my good friends at Radio Archives. It leads off with Norvell W. Page’s bizarre novelette, “When the Death-Bat Flies,” and includes thrilling stories by Norbert Davis, Paul Ernst, Arthur Leo Zagat, Wayne Rogers and others. Popular Publications went all-out to make this 1937 debut issue a winner. And they succeeded!”
Happy listening,
Will Murray
80th Anniversary of The Spider, G-8 and His Battle Aces, and Dime Mystery Magazine
New Will Murray's Pulp Classics eBooks
The best of timeless Pulp now available as cutting edge eBooks! Will Murray's Pulp Classics brings the greatest heroes, awesome action, and two fisted thrills to your eReader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider and G-8 and His Battle Aces as well as wonderfully obscure characters like the Octopus and Captain Satan. Will Murray's Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday's Pulp today!
There was only one way for Richard Wentworth to attack Judge Torture’s ghastly organization of terror. That was for Dick, in the guise of the sinister Spider, to take full responsibility for the mutilated, twisted corpses Judge Torture had strewn about the city! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. $2.99.
“Be Warned! Each night with the setting of the sun the giant Tarantula Spider will spin his web across the Front. If you send your ships out tonight — he will eat them!” H.Q. scoffed at this warning. But G-8 saw it carried out, saw four Yank planes devoured by the most ghastly creature that ever stalked the skies. What was this new horror? How could Yank bombers hope to get past its net of death? G-8 and his Battle Aces rode the nostalgia boom ten years after World War I ended. These high-flying exploits were tall tales of a World War that might have been, featuring monster bats, German zombies, wolf-men, harpies, Martians, and even tentacled floating monsters. Most of these monstrosities were the work of Germany’s seemingly endless supply of mad scientists, chief of whom was G-8’s recurring Nemesis, Herr Doktor Krueger. G-8 battled Germany’s Halloween shock troops for over a decade, not ceasing until the magazine folded in the middle of World War II. G-8 and his Battle Aces return in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
In 1934 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Dime Mystery Magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a collection of stories from the pages of Dime Mystery Magazine, all written by Wyatt Blassingame, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
99 cent eBook Singles
Each 99 cent eBook Single contains a single short story, one of the many amazing tales selected from the pages of Terror Tales and Rangeland Romances. These short stories are not included in any of our other eBooks.
A curse was abroad in the somber little backwoods town... In 1933 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Dime Mystery Magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a classic story the pages of Dime Mystery Magazine, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $0.99.
“Kill!” she commanded him. And he could not disobey the power in her eyes... In 1933 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Dime Mystery Magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a classic story the pages of Dime Mystery Magazine, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $0.99.
Kendrickson defied eternal damnation to save the threatened souls of those he loved... In 1933 a new type of magazine was born. Known by various names — the shudder pulps, mystery-terror magazines, horror-terror magazines — weird menace is the sub-genre term that has survived today. Dime Mystery Magazine was one of the most popular. It came from Popular Publications, whose publisher Harry Steeger was inspired by the Grand Guignol theater of Paris. This breed of pulp story survived less than ten years, but in that time, they became infamous, even to this day. This ebook contains a classic story the pages of Dime Mystery Magazine, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $0.99.
All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBook to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
Find these legendary Pulp tales and more in Will Murray's Pulp Classics, now available at:
Search for RadioArchives.com in iTunes.
80th Anniversary of The Spider
Receive an exciting original Spider adventure FREE! Part of the Will Murray Pulp Classics line, The Spider #11, Prince of the Red Looters first saw print in 1934 and features his momentous battle with The Fly and his armies of crazed criminal killers.
For those who have been unsure about digging into the wonderful world of pulps, this is a perfect chance to give one of these fantastic yarns a real test run. With a full introduction to the Spider written by famed pulp historian and author Will Murray, The Spider #11 was written by one of pulp's most respected authors, Norvell W. Page. Writing as Grant Stockbridge, Page's stories included some of the most bizarre and fun takes on heroes and crime fighting in the history of escapist fiction.
Even today Page's scenarios and his edge-of-the-seat writing style are still thrilling both new and old fans everywhere. For those who have never read one of these rollercoaster adventures, you are in for a thrill. If you already know how much fun a classic pulp is, make sure you get a copy of this classic.
See what the Total Pulp Experience is for yourself. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
Send an eMail to eBooks@RadioArchives.com and start reading your FREE copy of the Spider #11 within seconds! Experience The Best Pulps the Past has to offer in the most modern way possible!
80th Anniversary of The Spider
One of the topm of Grant Stockbridge. First, in “The Spider and the Scarlet Surgeon” (1941), With unheard of skill, the Red Surgeon can change a patient into an imbecile… beautifully reformatted for easy reading and feature both of the original full color covers as well as interior illustrations that accompany each story. On sale for $12.95, save $2.00
The Master of Darkness crushes murderous evil in two classic pulp thrillers by Walter B. Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant.” First, The Shadow enters “The Circle of Death” to uncover the strange secret behind a bizarre series of Time Square killings! Then, the murder of a museum curator by an ancient Mayan stone hammer is only the first of an inexplicable series of robberies. Can The Shadow unmask the hidden mastermind behind “The Sledge-Hammer Crimes” and end the deadly crime wave? This instant collector’s item features both original color pulp covers by George Rozen, the classic interior illustrations by legendary illustrator Tom Lovell and commentary by popular culture historian Will Murray. $14.95.
The pulp era’s greatest superman returns in two fantastic novels by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” A bizarre white ogre’s blinding light brings severe illness to Monk, Ham and all exposed to it in "The All-White Elf"! Then, bizarre reports of a strange miniaturized woman set Doc Savage on the trail of the mystery of “The Wee Ones.” BONUS: a classic Doc Savage script from the Golden Age of Radio! This deluxe pulp reprint features the original color covers by Emery Clarke and Modest Stein and all the original interior illustrations by Paul Orban, plus new historical commentary by Will Murray and Anthony Tollin. $14.95.
Pulp fiction’s legendary Man of Bronze returns in two of his most engrossing adventures. Doc Savage battles genetically-engineered giants in “The Monsters,” the classic pulp thriller that inspired the Hugo Strange story in “Batman” #1. Then, the Man of Bronze and his Iron Crew discover that a metabolism-accelerating elixir is creating an army of superpowered criminals in “The Whisker of Hercules.” This classic pulp reprint also features the original color pulp covers by Walter Baumhofer and Modest Stein, interior illustrations by Paul Orban, and historical articles by Will Murray. Plus a NEW expanded variant edition with additional historical commentary by Brian M. Kane and a 15 page interview with James Bama, the artist who defined Doc Savage for modern fans.144 pages. $14.95.
The pulps’ legendary “Man of Steel” returns in three action-packed pulp thrillers by Paul Ernst and Emile Tepperman writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, a stolen formula provides crime with a pill that transforms subjects into superhuman murder machines in “The Happy Killers.” Then, targeted with “The Black Death,” The Avenger must unmask the satanic mastermind behind the Black Wings Cult before his own life is forfeit! PLUS “Cargo of Doom,” a bonus Avenger thriller by Spider-scribe Emile Tepperman! This classic pulp reprint showcases the classic color pulp covers, Paul Orban’s interior illustrations and commentary by pulp historian Will Murray. $14.95.
80th Anniversary of The Spider
This is an authentic replica of an original pulp magazine published by Girasol Collectables. This edition is designed to give the reader an authentic taste of what a typical pulp magazine was like when it was first issued - but without the frailty or expense of trying to find a decades-old collectable to enjoy. The outer covers, the interior pages, and the advertisements are reprinted just as they appeared in the original magazine, left intact to give the reader the true feel of the original as well as an appreciation for the way in which these publications were first offered to their avid readers. To further enhance the “pulp experience”, this edition is printed on off-white bond paper intended to simulate the original look while, at the same time, assuring that this edition will last far longer than the original upon which it is based. The overall construction and appearance of this reprint is designed to be as faithful to the original magazine as is reasonably possible, given the unavoidable changes in production methods and materials. $35.00.
by Will Murray and Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson
When out of work magician Gulliver Greene stumbles upon a man who claims to be Christopher Columbus, still alive in 1937, it’s only the start of the most complex plot ever to involve the incredible Doc Savage.
Called to the sleepy farm town of La Plata, Missouri, the Man of Bronze plunges into the enigma of the vanishing Victorian house. Is it haunted? Is it even real? Can Doc solve the mystery—or will he be sucked into the unknown vortex into which it disappears?
From his supersecret Crime College to a sinister island in the Great Lakes, Doc Savage and his brilliant team race to untangle the most baffling webwork of Halloween horrors ever encountered. For many weird mysteries beyond human ken converge in the Missouri wilderness in this, the wildest Doc Savage adventure yet! $24.95.
by Will Murray
The Writers of the Purple Wage have long since taken the last trail into dusty memory. But, now, they live again––to retell tall tales of those distant days when they helped forge the fabled West of American Imagination.
They’re all here!
*The Popular hacks!
*The Spicy bestsellers!
*The Thrilling myths!
*The Spicy bestsellers!
*The Thrilling myths!
Those amazing million-words-a-year men!
True Westerners born on the Range!
Broadway cowboys never West of Hoboken!
True Westerners born on the Range!
Broadway cowboys never West of Hoboken!
Join Max Brand, Luke Short, Johnston McCulley, Ernest Haycox, Walt Coburn, Frank Gruber, Ryerson Johnson, & a hard-working, fast-drawing posse of freelance fictioneers!
And those two-fisted foremen of New York’s fiction factories–magazine editors Frank Blackwell, Rogers Terrill, Leo Margulies, Robert Lowndes & Fanny Ellsworth!
Together, in their own words, these veteran pulpsters & others offer startling inside stories of how they created the mythology of the Golden West!
*Blazing action! Savage characterization! Real emotion!
Ride with the Old West’s top gunhands, greatest pulpsmiths & legendary brands. From Buffalo Bill, Deadwood Dick & Hopalong Cassidy to Gunsmoke & Louis L’Amour, this is their saga.
Armed with forgotten interviews, controversial essays & candid letters first not seen in generations, acclaimed pulp historian Will Murray, author of The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage, reveals the epic life & frequent deaths of the Pulp West! 469 pages, approx. 6"x9" $29.98
Review of City Of Flaming Shadows from The Spider, Volume 4
By Andrew Salmon
The second of Norvell Page's Spider novels, City Of Flaming Shadows showcases the emotionally-charged action that is the linchpin of any great Spider adventure.
It begins with Wentworth being tailed on a country road. The glee with which he dons the Spider's persona in anticipation of confronting his unseen pursuers is an example of what's to come not only in this particular tale but with the Spider in general. He's not thirsting for justice as he gets into character, he's thirsting for action! And he'll get it, too!
Seems there's a criminal mastermind calling himself the Tarantula and he's not going to let another Spider get in his way. Using his minions to black out neighborhoods, the Tarantula then hits the local banks while the alarm systems are without power. Millions in cold hard cash are just the beginning of what the Tarantula has in mind as he expands his web.
This all sounds like exciting stuff, but, ultimately, the Tarantula comes off as a somewhat mundane villain. No, this novel's action is the main attraction here. As the Tarantula's crime wave continues, we are treating to some fantastic sequences of emotion mixed with horror straight out of Edgar Allan Poe. The Tarantula has a penchant for killing his victims slowly, placing a noose around their necks and gradually, agonizingly pulling the rope taut so that folks take long minutes to suffocate.
And the Tarantula has Nita Van Sloan, the love of Richard Wentworth's life, in his clutches.
The Tarantula has a simple arrangement for the Spider. Wentworth must leave the city or Nita will be hanged like the others, slowly tortured to death. Driven by a desire for justice as well as love, Wentworth must play a desperate, razor's edge game to thwart the Tarantula while preserving Nita's life.
The resulting action sequences are exquisite examples of nail-biting suspense. Wentworth, in disguise, is on the brink of discovery at every moment not only by the Tarantula but by the police for his identity as the Spider has been revealed. The crimes continue, the body count rises and the Spider is beset on all sides. When the Tarantula discovers that Wentworth has broken their deal, we feel his anguish as he knows his actions mean death for Nita. Throw in car chases, a climax aboard a boat, slow death and a fantastic ticking bomb sequence and you've got a blistering read. This one should come with seatbelts. Great stuff!
eBook #RE004 $2.99 / Audiobook Audio CDs $23.98 / Audiobook Download $11.99
Comments From Our Customers!
Paul Gray from England writes:
Congratulations at converting all your releases to downloads - this means that my 'wants' list has grown noticeably bigger. The thing that impresses me is not just the superb sound quality but the wide variety of programmes you release. I have been buying from you for many, many years and have always been impressed with your impeccable service. Many thanks for all the good stuff you keep producing. Very best wishes,
Randall Miller writes:
Thank you for the swift, and concise response. Always a pleasure doing business with a quality, , company with excellent customer support. On a Saturday afternoon no less. Very impressive.
Keith Bastianini writes:
WOW, WOW, and WOW! The audio books are incredible – more Spider, more Doc Savage and PLEASE! More Ed Hamilton! Wonderful work, enjoying Jack Armstrong now.
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