Short Stories (magazine)
 | |
| Categories | Pulp magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Semi-monthly |
| First issue | 1890 |
| Final issue | 1959 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Short Stories was an American fiction magazine published between 1890 and 1959.
Origin of Short Stories
Short Stories began its existence as a literary periodical, carrying work by Rudyard Kipling, Émile Zola, Bret Harte, Ivan Turgenev and Anna Katharine Green.[1] The magazine advertised itself with the slogan "Twenty-Five Stories for Twenty-Five Cents". After a few years, Short Stories became dominated by reprinted fiction. The magazine was sold in 1904 and eventually purchased by Doubleday, Page and Company, which in 1910 transformed Short Stories into a "quality pulp". The magazine's new editor, Harry E. Maule (1886-1971) placed an emphasis on Short Stories carrying well-written fiction; pulp magazine historian Robert Sampson states "For Short Stories, like Adventure and Blue Book to follow, rose above the expedient prose of rival magazines like ivory towers thrusting up from swampland".[1] By 1916, Maule's Short Stories was selling 95,000 copies a month.[2]
Short Stories was initially known for publishing crime fiction by authors including Max Pemberton, Thomas W. Hanshew and Hugh Pendexter.[1]
Pulp era
In the 1920s and 1930s, however, Short Stories was best known as a publisher of Western stories, with many of the best-known Western fiction writers such as Clarence E. Mulford, Max Brand,
The magazine adopted the symbol of a red sun on its covers; nearly all the issues of the pulp-era Short Stories featured a red sun as part of its cover illustration.[7] Circulation for Short Stories rose to 174,899 copies in 1922.[8]
In addition to fiction, Maule also created "The Story Teller's Circle", a forum for readers to write in and discuss issues (similar to "The Camp-Fire" department in Adventure magazine).[4] Edgar Franklin Wittmack,[9] Remington Schuyler and Nick Eggenhofer all painted several covers for Short Stories.
Maule edited the magazine for almost two decades. Between 1929 and 1932 Roy De S. Horn served as editor; Maule returned as editor in 1932. appeared in Short Stories.
A British edition of Short Stories was published between 1920 and 1959; it merged with the UK version of the West magazine in 1954 and was known as Short Stories Incorporating West.
Decline
Like other pulps, the advent of World War II, and the arrival of paperbacks and television had a negative effect on Short Stories; circulation figures plummeted and by the 1950s the magazine was dominated by reprints.
Reprints
Single author/team collections from Short Stories:
- Bedford-Jones, H. The Beginning of Air Mail (Steeger Books, 2018).
- Bedford-Jones, H. The Devil's Bosun (Steeger Books, 2015).
- Bedford-Jones, H. Gimlet-Eye Gunn (Steeger Books, 2016).
- Bedford-Jones, H. Our Far-Flung Battle Line (Steeger Books, 2017).
- Bedford-Jones, H. The Second Mate (Fiction House Press, 2020).
- Cook, Berton E. The Collection of Harden Bayle (Steeger Books, 2017).
- Faust, Frederick. The Cross Brand (Steeger Books, 2018).
- Haycox, Ernest. Gun Talk (Popular Library, 1956).
- Hendryx, James B. Strange Doings on Halfaday Creek (Steeger Books, 2017).
- Hendryx, James B. Murder on Halfaday Creek (Steeger Books, 2019).
- Pendexter, Hugh. The Shorthorn Kid: And Other Tales of the Old West (Black Dog Books, 2014).
- Pendexter, Hugh. The Voice of the Night: The Cases of Jeff Fanchon, Inquirer (Black Dog Books, 2015).
- Worts, George F. The Blue Fire Pearl - The Complete Adventures of Singapore Sammy, Volume One (Steeger Books, 2017).
References
- ^ a b c Sampson, Robert.
Yesterday's Faces : The Solvers. Popular Press, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87972-415-3(pp. 1-2)
- ^ N.W. Ayer and Son's American Newspaper Annual and Directory. Philadelphia : N.W. Ayer and Son, 1916 (p. 637).
- ^ a b Shoemaker, Kurt. "Scobee's Mountain" in Purple Prose magazine, November 1998, (pp. 12-21).
- ^ ISBN 0-9795955-0-9(pp. 39-44).
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87972-514-3(pp 86-88).
- ^ Sampson, Robert. Yesterday's Faces : The Solvers. (p. 133-34).
- ^ ISBN 978-1546819264(pp. 142-183).
- ^ N.W. Ayer and Son's American Newspaper Annual and Directory. Philadelphia : N.W. Ayer and Son, 1922 (p. 657).
- ISBN 1-933112-30-1(p.42).
- ^ Phil Stephensen-Payne. "Galactic Central". Magazine Lists. Short Stories Retrieved September 6, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-87972-287-6(p. 25).
- ^ Phil Stephensen-Payne. "Galactic Central". Magazine Lists. Short Stories (UK) Retrieved September 6, 2011.