Damon Knight is best known as a Science Fiction writer and a gifted editor. Knight edited dozens of SF anthologies. But, just by chance, I came across Westerns of the 40s: Classics From the Great Pulps published by Bobbs Merrill in 1977.
It shouldn’t surprise you that two writers, best known for their Science Fiction writing, should show up in this Western anthology: Murran Leinster and Clifford D. Simak. Simak’s story concerns a crusading editor of a small newspaper. Simak worked in the newspaper trade for years so this story sounded genuine all the way through. Murray Leinster shows up with three stories full of gunplay, hijinks, and action. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS;
Gun-devil of red God desert / by Tom Roan – 1
Boss of buckskin empire / by Cliff Farrell – 32
Good-by, mimbres kid / by Frank Bonham – 57
Bearhide’s moonshine war / by Roy M. O’Mara – 70
Teetotal and the six-gun spirits / by Murray Leinster – 83
Flatwheel draws the line / by Tom W. Blackburn – 94
The line camp terror / by Walt Coburn – 108
Hell trail pilgrim / by Murray Leinster – 136
The parson of owlhoot junction / by Charles W. Tyler – 148
Trail city’s hot-lead crusaders / by Clifford D. Simak – 180
Crazy springs’ write-in vote / by Roy M. O’Mara – 214
Col. Colt buys a border herd / by Bennett Foster – 236
The corpse rides at dawn / by John D. MacDonald –250
The long arm of the law / by James Shaffer – 273
By the guns forgot / by Murray Leinster – 298
Deadman’s derringers / by Tom W. Blackburn – 322
Wow, I had no idea this existed. Sounds like a fun collection.
Jeff, I had the same reaction when I stumbled upon WESTERNS OF THE 40s. I had no idea Damon Knight strayed from his SF anthologies to a project like this!
Leinster’s Westerns often employ themes and memes that appear in his SF as well. For that matter, so did Gene Roddenberry’s scripts for HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL. I particularly recall an entertaining novel where the hero has his identity usurped by an imposter early on and has to make use of his new one to destroy a massive lethal enterprise right out of James Bond.
Dan, back in the early 1960s, Murray Leinster was one of my favorite SF writers. I read plenty of his stories and paperback novels. Years later, I read some of his westerns and enjoyed them, too!
I saw this one in a library long ago–don’t know now why I never checked it out. Fun fact–Tom W. Blackburn wrote Disney’s “Davy Crockett” series.
Fred, I really liked the Tom W. Blackburn story. And the John D. MacDonald story, too!
As you know, I am a big fan of Leinster’s westerns, but I really enjoy many of the others who happened to stray into the western pulps.
If you wrote for the pulps you often found yourself writing in different genres. Many science fiction writers branches in other areas, including detective, western, sports, adventure, and love pulps. Others who contributed to the western magazines included Judith Merril, Joseph Payne Brennan, James Blish, L. Ron Hubbard, and Knight himself (who published such [ahem] classics as “Bat Masterson’s Bullet Blizzard”). Even Robert Bloch managed a couple of westerns for the pulps. SF-writing editors such as Robert A. W. Lowndes, Donald A. Wollheim, Raymond A. Palmer, and Howard Browne were also responsible for some western pulps and corralled many of their writers into contributing for the mags, usually under pseudonyms; if you were a regular writer for AMAZING or FANTASTIC ADVETURES you were almost guaranteed to find yourself writing for a Ziff-Davis western pulp. Bill Pronzini, Bill Crider, Ed Gorman, Chad Oliver, Joe Lansdale, and Max Allan Collins all have made great contributions to the modern western novel, as have the likes of James Reasoner and James Randisi.
Jerry, like you, I’m impressed by the versatility of pulp writers. While some specialized in one genre or another, they were adaptable and could write SF stories, western stories, horror stories, etc.
Don’t forget Theodore Sturgeon!
Nor, of course, (Ms.) Lee Hoffman.
I knew Leinster wrote westerns, mysteries and romances (the last two under a female pseudonym) I but didn’t know Knight and Simak strayed out of science fiction although it makes perfect sense given the era. This was a great era for flexible, enterprising writers to hone their craft as well as network much like a lot of television writers did in the fifties and sixties. The western fiction market isn’t anything like it used to be but you can still find a handful of Lamour and Johnstone paperbacks in larger mainstream bookstores.
Byron, you’re right about seeing a L’amour and Johnstone western at Big Box stores like Sam’s Club. But that’s about it. The Western market has cried up.
Good collection! Of course, the proper way to contract forties is ’40s, not 40’s!
Bob, I was just going by the cover of WESTERNS OF THE 40’s. I suspect you’re right about ’40s being the proper form.
40 oz. bottle, that way…