Page 120A final word on Marvel Science Stories, May 1951:

“The Test Tube: Renascence” is a one-page summary of the magazine’s editorial goals and guidance. “Here is our answer—in action—to the hundreds of requests we have received from our readers, to go small size, to get the best authors in the field, to get higher quality illustrations and covers, to become, in fact, the leading science-fiction magazine.”

Their story criteria: mature, lively, and above all, a good story.

Although Marvel Science Stories never achieved its lofty goal to become the leader in its field; if this issue is indicative of its third volume series, it is a title worth seeking out.

Contents “Camera Obscura” by Ted H. Straus “The Bride Well” by David H. Keller, M.D. (Weird Tales Oct. 1930) “Ligeia” by Edgar Allen Poe (The American Museum 1838) “The Nameless Offspring” by Clark Ashton Smith (Strange…

The original appearance of “The Reindeer Clue,” (the fifth story in The Misadventures of Ellery Queen, edited by Josh Pachter and Dale C. Andrews, pastiche section) was in 1975, in The National Enquirer. Who knew they…

Selected from a digest featured in The Digest Enthusiast book five: “A crimson sun was sinking slowly in a pale-blue sky. Another evening was drawing on over the undulating hills of Macedon, and the tall poplars…

Contents Audrey Parente: Pulp-itorial: The Old and the New Charles Boeckman “Murder, Maestro, Please! (Famous Detective Stories Oct. 1954) Michael Bracken “My Stripper Past” Geoffrey North “Killer Wanted—First Class” (Private Detective Stories Feb. 1946) David Bernard…

Contents Doug Draa: From the Editor’s Tower Michael Bracken “Harlot Road” John C. Hocking “With a Poet’s Eyes” Robert Graves “The Wishing Well” Darrell Schweitzer “O King of Pain and Splendor!” Adrian Cole “You’d Do It…

Although not labeled officially with the “Ellery Queen Selects” banner, Bestseller Mystery B94 follows the series’ formula: a short story collection edited by Queen, with his introduction. Bestseller Mystery B94, Jan. 30, 1948 
“Cops and Robbers”…

Contents “The Hunters from Beyond” by Clark Ashton Smith (Strange Tales Oct. 1932) “No Other Man” by David H. Keller, M.D. (Weird Tales Dec. 1929) “Materialist” by Janet Fox “The Moon-Dial” by Henry S. Whitehead (Strange…

Late in 2016, Nigel Taylor launched a new zine of horror, science fiction, and fantasy stories: Worlds of StrangeneSS. I suspect the “SS” on end represents deviance and perhaps “Short Stories.” The editor and the zine…