The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Adventure MEGAPACK ™: 14 Tales from the Spicy Pulp Magazines!
Page 1
Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT INFO
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series
INTRODUCTION, by Darrell Schweitzer
SATAN’S DAUGHTER
PIT OF MADNESS
THE WALKING DEAD
EVERY MAN A KING
REVOLT OF THE DAMNED
CRYSTAL CLUES
NIGHT IN MANILA
MURDER SALVAGE
TRIANGLE WITH VARIATIONS
SCOURGE OF THE SILVER DRAGON
DRINK OR DRAW
SHE HERDED HIM AROUND
YOU CAN’T FIGHT A WOMAN
SHORT-CUT TO HELL
COPYRIGHT INFO
The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Adventure MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2014 by the Estate of E. Hoffmann Price. All rights reserved.
* * * *
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
* * * *
“Satan’s Daughter” originally appeared in the January, 1936 issue of Spicy Mystery Stories. “Pit of Madness” originally appeared in the April, 1936 issue of Spicy Mystery Stories. “The Walking Dead” originally appeared in the November, 1935 issue of Spicy Mystery Stories. “Every Man a King” originally appeared in the November, 1943 issue of Speed Adventure Stories. “Revolt of the Damned” originally appeared in the June, 1938 issue of Double-Action Gang. “Crystal” originally appeared in the August, 1936 issue of Spicy Detective Stories. “Night in Manila” originally appeared in the October, 1935 issue of Spicy-Adventure Stories. “Murder Salvage” originally appeared in the April, 1941 issue of Spicy Detective Stories. “Triangle with Variations” originally appeared in the August, 1935 issue of Spicy Detective Stories. “Scourge of the Silver Dragon” originally appeared in the December, 1935 issue of Gold Seal Detective. “Drink or Draw” originally appeared in the December, 1943 issue of Speed Western Stories. “She Herded Him Around” originally appeared in the February, 1941 issue of Spicy Western. “You Can’t Fight a Woman” originally appeared in the November, 1943 issue of Speed Adventure. “Short-Cut to Hell” originally appeared in Six-Gun Western, April 1950.
*
Published by:
Wildside Press, LLC.
www.wildsidepress.com
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
E. Hoffmann Price was one of the “Weird Tales Circle” that included H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. In fact, he was the only person to meet both Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft in person. (He once shook my hand and said, “You’re now one handshake away from Robert E. Howard.”)
The stories collected here span multiple genres: detective, western, adventure, and fantasy. The one thing they have in common (aside from some mildly titillating content) is the sure voice of a born storyteller. Once you start reading an E. Hoffmann Price story, you won’t put it down.
The introduction by Darrell Schweitzer, which leads off the collection, provides a lot more information on Ed’s work for the “Spicy” magazines...though quite tame by modern standards, they were considered quite risque in their day.
Enjoy!
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
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INTRODUCTION, by Darrell Schweitzer
E. (for Edgar) Hoffmann Price (1898-1988) was truly one of the grand old men of the pulps, who sold his first story to Droll Stories in 1924 but rapidly made a name for himself in Weird Tales for such tales as “The Stranger from Kurdistan” and the swashbuckling Pierre D’Artois series. A man with far more worldly and cross-cultural experience than the usual pulp writer, he was able to create authentically exotic backgrounds better than most. He had been a soldier in the U.S. Cavalry in the Philippines and was a veteran of World War I. He graduated from West Point in 1923 with, among other things—particularly useful for a writer of action stories—practical knowledge of horsemanship, the use of sword and pistol, and military tactics.