Monday, September 3, 2012
Outdoor Stories by J. Allan Dunn
J. Allan Dunn is a name familiar to any
pulp collector who has thumbed through dealers' boxes of
magazines—his name appears with some frequency on the covers of
Adventure, Argosy, various Street & Smith
publications, and Wild West Weekly.
One S&S pulp fewer fans may be
aware of is Outdoor Stories. Designed as a competitor for
Adventure, it existed only for 13 issues.
The three stories in this volume
capture Dunn's appearances within this short-lived magazine. Each
story displays Dunn's solid storytelling skills, and if one didn't
know they appeared in Outdoor Stories, each could have
appeared in Adventure without the reader knowing any
different.
The first tale, “The Lagoon at
Mareva,” (January 1928) is perhaps weaker than the other two. It
recounts the story of a young man gone out to the pearl fields to
make his mark. He gets taken in by some no-good fellows who attempt
to take advantage of his inexperience, but he sees justice done in
the end. And he gets a girl, too.
That glib description doesn't capture
how well Dunn build atmosphere and weaves details from local color
into the narrative, one of his particular strengths.
The following two stories—“New
Guinea Gold” (July 1928) and “Rama, the Rogue” (August
1928)—are superior to the first tale, perhaps because of their
greater length, which allows Dunn to build characters and situations
more carefully. The first recounts the adventures of two down-and-out
Americans who get tied into a gold-hunting trek with an unreliable
and underhanded explorer. Unfriendly tribes and far-from-civilized
cultural encounters resolve into a rescue mission and a quest for
bizarre vengeance. The inclusion of some coincidence worthy of Edgar
Rice Burroughs is one deficiency for this story, but overall it's
quite satisfying.
“Rama, the Rogue” gives us an
elephant hunt and characters and situations worthy of Talbot Mundy. A
domesticated elephant—outlawed after killing its keeper—is the
Rama of the title. That the keeper was deserving of his fate has no
bearing on Rama's sentence, and he may be killed by anyone who
encounters him in the wild, to which he has escaped. Dunn wonderfully
describes the love and loyalty between Rama and his first trainer,
who seeks to save Rama's life and redeem him before he can be
destroyed. Dunn tells his story very well, and it wraps up
pleasingly.
John Locke has performed another fine
publishing feat in compiling this volume. He provides an introduction
to Dunn, a history of Outdoor Stories, and a nice profile of the
magazine's editor. Locke's Off-Trail Publications again proves there
are plenty of forgotten treasures to be found in the chipping
rough-paper stacks of magazines published in the 1920 and before.
Labels: J. Allan Dunn, John Locke, Off-Trail Publications, Outdoor Stories, Talbot Mundy
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Red Flame of Erinpura by Talbot Mundy
As noted in The Gault Papers (“Mundy'sJimGrim Saga”), The Red Flame appeared in the January 1, 1927 issue of Adventure. It afterward appeared in a book edition in Britain from Hutchinson & Co. in 1934. As Mundy scholar Brian Taves points out in a post to the Pulprack Yahoo Group and in his review of the book at Amazon, no subsequent reprinting or American edition followed. So the appearance of this short novel in print from Ariel Press should be greatly appreciated by Mundy's fans.
Stories from Adventure typically bring to mind exotic settings, fisticuffs and gunfights. There is little action of that type in this tale. There is, however, intrigue aplenty in the Mundy style, as two parties of Americans representing different interests jockey with local political structures — who are jockeying in their own fashions for local power — to locate and manage a thus-far undiscovered oil field. Woven within this plot is the old star-crossed lovers theme, although modernized with the independent notions of the contemporary American female part of those star crossers: the young woman is the daughter of the man heading one of those American interests, and the man who loves her represents the competing interest.
Also involved is an Indian prince who, it slowly is revealed, is poisoning his father so he may take power. This would-be patricide is not satisfied with threatening the life only of his family, for others who do not move their chess pieces in the way he wishes also find themselves in peril.
Also present, of course, is the capable representative of the English government, savvy and cool, a seeming outsider who is intimately aware of the local threads of influence. Galloway – the savvy Englishman in Red Flame – is described by Mundy upon his introduction with phrases that make him seem a clone of Cottswold Ommany, another Mundy protagonist from other stories who serves in an outpost of progress, to misuse Joseph Conrad's phrase. As the reader's familiarity with Galloway grows, however, Mundy makes clear that Galloway is a bit different from Ommany: not quite so simpatico with the local culture as at first seems evident, not quite the cleverly maneuvering savant he initially appears — he is not, after all, an equal to Ommany.
The Gnani — a mysterious knower and master of mysteries — also is a player in this tapestry woven upon a loom of power plays. His influence is great and mighty, but Mundy reserves the Gnani's time on stage to particular moments of dramatic intensity leading to climaxes that reveal answers to puzzles in the plot. More frequently the reader learns about the Gnani from other characters' descriptions of his activities and interests.
Finally, or perhaps ultimately, there is Chullunder Ghose, a native confidence man and catalyst for bringing together the various lit fuses that run at large in this story. Upon his first appearance, the reader may dismiss him as mere humorous foil, as he is introduced by his rollicking verbal slapstick that leaves verbal vocabularist par excellance Leo Gorcey rolling in the dust. Or, as Leo might say it, “roiling in the dusk.” That Ghose ends up playing the court jester — the wise man in the guise of the idiot — is Mundy's own literary trick.
Mundy is, actually, quite loaded with literary tricks. The characters he parades on the stage of this story aren't so different from the type of folks we might encounter in a Henry James tale — but while James may place them in the salons of London, Paris, or Rome, Mundy allows them to range through India or the Middle East. Here, for example, is a description by Mundy of Mrs. Bisbee, a European woman of influence. She might easily appear in a James story, although the description certainly would include more adjectives, adverbs, and a lot of semicolons — clearly James did not write for the pulp magazines (as is obvious when Mundy begins his description of Mrs. Bisbee's physical features — all of James' women were, if morally or intellectually or emotionally flawed in some manner, at the least handsome) :
Joe Bisbee was an assistant commissioner who had had to stay and sweat in some unhealthy district in the plains. His wife, aged twenty-eight and possessed of a private income, had a summer bungalow at Mount Abu that overlooked the lake. She also had a curiosity concerning Oriental mysteries that made the bungalow a byword.
Nevertheless, she had admirers of her own race, as well as a large acquaintance among natives who had been to English universities. You could speak of anything in Mrs. Bisbee's house and be believed, provided the thing was unbelievable and contrary to all accepted theory. Even newly married wives of covenanted civil servants had no word to say against her conduct with men, because she had a cast in one eye and a false leg, due to a railway accident; but most of the women in the station bitterly resented her hospitality to educated Indians, Eurasians, and to Europeans who, for one cause or another, were excluded from the upper social level. She could not be actually outlawed from society, because her husband stood well with the heads of departments and was regarded as a coming man; also because she had money and was generous when approached by subscriptions to charity funds. But she was known as a bad influence, and accordingly ignored as much as possible.
Pulp fiction has a reputation for being about the fast-paced action, with the success of all stories hanging by the strands of incident that tie together the opening and the ending. That's a rather narrow understanding of the fiction that appeared in the pulps. It's much like saying all O. Henry stories have worth only because of their twist endings. While plot is important, the interaction between the characters and the vigor of the language are what ultimately carry a story. I'll argue that most of the enjoyment I get from an O. Henry story comes from just that — the interplay of character and language. You'll see that same level of storytelling expertise on display in The Red Flame. By 1927, Mundy had reached his top form as a narrative master. You'll see the result in this story.
Ariel Press has put together a nice volume in readable type with a suitable cover painting by Nancy Maxwell. An introduction or afterward placing this story in the context of Mundy's interests and his oevre would be a nice lagniappe, but it is at least good to know that Ariel has several other Mundy novels available to the reader who may not have the time or opportunity to track down their original appearances in old and aging magazines.
I look forward to adding other volumes from their Mundy series to my shelves.
Labels: Adventure, Chullunder Ghose, Cottswold Ommany, Red Flame of Erinpura, Talbot Mundy
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
A postscript to The Gault Papers
In researching his book, Brian delved into more sources than Ellis had available and uncovered a great deal of material that Ellis didn't cover. Brian traveled to many place Mundy had lived and talked to people who knew Mundy, including his widow and stepson.
Brian is now working on another book, this one about silent film producer Thomas Ince. Mundy worked with Ince. The new book, due in the Autumn, describes how Mundy began working at Ince's studio and how the two men met in Africa.
Ellis' book was sorely needed at the time it was published. It's still good reading, but it has become a bit dated now. Seventy-one years after Mundy's death, there is still more to learn about this grand old fictioneer who shook the pages of Adventure magazine and whose works still thrill readers today.
Links:
Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy by Peter Berresford Ellis is available from Amazon. This biography may be in short supply.
Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny by Donald M. Grant is also available from Amazon. This book may be in short supply.
Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography by Brian Taves is also available from Amazon.
Brian's thesis-centered Winds From the East: A Talbot Mundy Reader is also available from Amazon.
His forthcoming book, Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer, will be available in November 2011.
Labels: Brian Taves, Peter Berresford Ellis, R.T. Gault, Talbot Mundy, Thomas Ince
Saturday, August 20, 2011
The Gault Papers Part 4: Mundy's Omnibus Editions & Nonfiction
The fourth and final section of The Gault Papers.As noted in the first part of “The Gault Papers,” posted previously at The PulpRack, the following information was compiled and posted to the Internet by the late R.T. "Ditch" Gault under the title "Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Tibetan, Jimgrim, and Tros Story Series." See more info about the Gault Papers at those previous posts.
The information below wraps up Gault's bibliographic material on Mundy. It appeared at the end of his other citations and comments. I've set it apart from the other sections, as its focus differs slightly from that of the other bibliographic areas he developed. By the way, the accompanying illustration comes from the Classics Illustrated edition of King of the Khyber Rifles.
Talbot Mundy Omnibus Editions
1933.
All Four Winds
Hutchinson and Co. (1933) 1232 pages.
Contains King -- of the Khyber Rifles, Jimgrim, Black Light, and Om.
1936.
Romances of India
A. L. Burt (1936) 1033 pgs. McCelland & Sewart (1936) 1033.
Contains King -- of the Khyber Rifles, Guns of the Gods, and Told in the East (1923).
Nonfiction
1947.
I Say Sunrise.
No magazine publication.
Published post-humuously. First British ed.: Andrew Dakers Ltd. (London, 1947), 182 pgs. First American ed.: Milton F. Wells (Philadelphia 1949), 187 pgs.
- Reprints:
S. J. R. Saunders (Toronto 1949), 187 pgs. DeVorss & Co. (1964), 182 pgs., trade pb.; early printings of the DeVorss ed. had same cover as Dakers ed. My copy of DeVorss' 6th printing (1983) lists only the copyright date for 1947. DeVorss ed. is most likely a rpt. of the British first ed.
Mundy's personal mystical philosophy.
Thus Spake the Devil, which he planned to publish under the pseudonym "Malloy Grayson." He was unable to sell it, and later completely rewrote the ms., and it is that version which was eventually published as I Say Sunrise. *(NOTE 1)
* NOTE:
1. Peter Barresford Ellis, Last Adventurer, p. 208.
- R.T. Gault
LINKS:
Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy by Peter Beresford Ellis is also available from Amazon. This biography may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon.
Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny by Donald M. Grant is also available from Amazon. This book may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon.
Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography by Brian Taves is also available from Amazon
Winds From the East is a Talbot Mundy reader compiled by Brian Taves. It's available from Amazon.
Labels: Adventure, R.T. Gault, Talbot Mundy
The Gault Papers Part 3: Mundy's Tros Saga
As noted in the first two parts of “The Gault Papers,” posted elsewhere at The PulpRack, the following information was compiled and posted to the Internet by the late R.T. "Ditch" Gault under the title "Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Tibetan, Jimgrim, and Tros Story Series." See more info about the Gault Papers at those previous posts. Now, on to Gault’s Tros essay:
Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Tros of Samothrace Series
The saga of Tros of Samothrace is the most unified and sustained of Talbot Mundy's extended works. It is probably his best-remembered and most influential series, especially among science fiction and fantasy writers, who borrowed much from the cycle.Shortly after Mundy finished Om he began planning a novel that he called Queen Cleopatra. He put the project aside, and instead produced a massive epic based around one of the supporting cast members of his projected novel, a Greek sailor-adventurer named Tros of Samothrace. Mundy's aim may have been to create interest for his Cleopatra novel in the pages of Adventure (abbreviated below as A). The series sparked a hot historical debate that ran for a decade. Mundy's revisionism, especially his view of Rome as a proto-fascist state, was ahead of its time.
The Tros Saga
1925-6.
Tros of Samothrace.
- 1. Tros of Samothrace, A: 10 February 1925.
- 2. The Enemy of Rome, A: 10 April 1025.
- 3. Prisoners of War, A: 10 June 1925.
- 4. Hostages to Luck, A: 20 August 1025
- 5. Admiral of Caesar's Fleet, A: 10 October 1925.
- 6. The Dancing Girl of Gades, A: 10 December 1925.
- 7. Messenger of Destiny, A: 10 February 1926
- 8. Messenger of Destiny, A: 20 February 1926.
- 9. Messenger of Destiny, A: 28 February 1926.
These nine installments were rewitten as Tros of Samothrace.
First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co. (September 1934), 949 pgs. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (October 1934), 960 pgs; Buccaneer Books, 1995.
The length of the final novel gives some idea of the scope of the work. The novel spans from 55 BC, as Caesar makes plans to invade Britain, and ends with the failure of those invasion plans.
1929.
Queen Cleopatra.
Not published in magazine form.
First American ed.: Bobbs-Merrill (February 1929), 426 pgs; and a special edition limited to 265 copies, signed by author, also dated February 1929. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (March 1929).
As in original plan, Cleopatra is the main protagonist, but Tros' role may have expanded due to the popularity of the Adventure series. Ends with the assassination of Caesar, and Cleopatra's escape from Rome.
1935.
The Purple Pirate.
- 1. Battle Stations, A: 1 May 1935.
- 2. Cleopatra's Promise, A: 15 June 1935.
- 3. The Purple Pirate, A: 15 August 1935.
- 4. Fleets of Fire, A: 1 October 1935.
These four installments were rewritten as Purple Pirate. First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co. (October 1935), 367 pgs. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (November 1935), 496 pgs; Amereon Ltd, 1991.
This novel concerns civil wars after Caesar's death. Ends before Cleopatra's death.
Two paperback reprints of the Tros Saga have generally confused many readers who haunt used bookshops.
The Avon printings of the late 1960s:
Avon published Tros of Samothrace in four volumes, breaking them at the same place that Mundy did:
- 1. Tros (1967) comprised installments 1 & 2; reprinted by Tandem Books (London 1971).
- 2. Helma (1967) comprised installments 3 & 4; reprinted by Tandem Books (London 1971).
- 3. Liafail (1967) comprised installments 5 & 6; reprinted by Tandem Books (London 1971).
- 4. Helene (1967) comprised installments 7, 8 & 9; reprinted by Tandem Books (London 1971).
Avon also reprinted The Purple Pirate and Queen Cleopatra (both 1970) with wonderful and sexy Frank Frazetta covers.
The only kind thing that can be said about the Zebra Books' reprinting of the Tros Saga is that they did keep it in print. Zebra published Tros of Samothrace in three volumes, breaking the stories in illogical mid-points of the Mundy originals:
- 1. Lud of Luden (September 1976), comprised installments 1, 2, and the first half of 3 (Prisoners of War). Numerous misprints and spelling errors.
- 2. Avenging Liafail (October 1976), comprised the last half of installment 3, plus 4 and the first half of 5 (Admiral of Caesar's Fleet). Numerous misprints and spelling errors.
- 3. The Praetor's Dungeon (November 1976), comprised the last half of installment 5, with 6 through 9. Numerous misprints and spelling errors.
- 4. Purple Pirate (January 1977). Order of the novels is misrepresented on the cover. Extremely badly printed (almost unreadable), with ultra fine print, monstrous proof and copy reader's errors, and the usual misprints and spelling errors. An incredibly bad production all round.
- 5. Queen Cleopatra (April 1978). Order of the novels is misrepresented on the cover. The usual stupid errors, but much improved over Purple Pirate.
Zebra Books was hot on series novels and liked to number their Science Fiction and Fantasy books, even if they didn't need numbers (a lamentable trend begun by Pinnacle Books in the late 1960s). Zebra numbered their covers of the Tros series Volume 1 through 5, but got the order of the last two wrong, listing Purple Pirate as vol. 4 and Queen Cleopatra as vol. 5! This must have confused the hell out of the readers to learn that Caesar was dead in Vol. 4, and finally assassinated in Vol. 5. Maybe somebody else will reprint the saga again, and do it right.
- by R.T. Gault
Links:
Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy by Peter Beresford Ellis is also available from Amazon. This biography may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon.
Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny by Donald M. Grant is also available from Amazon. This book may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon.
Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography by Brian Taves is also available from Amazon
Winds From the East is a Talbot Mundy reader compiled by Brian Taves. It's available from Amazon.
There are some Tros eBooks available for the Kindle at Amazon, but I don’t know which versions or editions on which they are based.
Labels: Talbot Mundy, Tros
Thursday, August 18, 2011
The Gault Papers Part 2: Mundy's Jimgrim Saga
As noted in the first part of “The Gault Papers,” posted previously at The PulpRack, the following information was compiled and posted to the Internet by the late R.T. "Ditch" Gault under the title "Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Tibetan, Jimgrim, and Tros Story Series." See more info about the Gault Papers at that previous post. Now, on to Gault’s JimGrim essay:
Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Jimgrim Series
Stories concerning James Grim (Jimgrim) formed the longest sustained series written by Talbot Mundy. The series ran from 1922 until 1932. Jimgrim supposedly died in Jimgrim (1930-31). Mundy did not take this seriously, knowing full well that he could bring him back whenever he needed to. Later titles with Chullunder Ghose as the protagonist are seen, here, as final parts of the "Jimgrim Saga." Also included are several precursors to the Jimgrim saga that were written before 1922, utilizing characters who were eventually worked into the Jimgrim universe.
The Jimgrim books were not published in logical or sequential order. All stories, known, are given below in the order they were published in Adventure magazine. This is believed to be the general sequential order of the stories as well.
Not all of the Jimgrim stories that appeared in magazine form were published in book editions. More Jimgrim stories appeared in English book editions than in American editions. This may hint that the Jimgrim stories were more popular in England than in America.
Most of these stories were defined by the magazines as "novels," though many of them would be defined today as "short novels." A typical Mundy installment in Adventure ran from 50,000 to 60,000 words. None of the Jimgrim stories are listed as "Short Stories" in Grant's bibliographies of Mundy's works, so all Jimgrim magazine stories have been considered uniformly throughout.
All original Jimgrim stories were published in Adventure unless otherwise noted. Reprints and later editions have been ignored. Date at extreme left is the year of first publication.
Early Works that relate to the "Jimgrim Saga":
1914.
A Soldier and a Gentleman.
Adventure: November 1914. No book publication.
Introduces the Princess Yasmini, heroine of King -- of the Khyber Rifles (1916) and early Jimgrim tales. Yasmini is a well-known prototype (and also an archetype) known as the "dangerous woman." In most of the stories in which she appears she is often a double agent, playing off two employers while proceeding with her own agenda.
1915.
Winds of the World.
Adventure: 3 installments, July - September 1915.
First English ed: Constable & Co (1916). First American ed: Bobbs Merrill Co (1917). Princess Yasmini.
1916.
King -- of the Khyber Rifles.
Everybody's Magazine, 9 installments beginning May 1916.
Frist ed: Bobbs-Merrill Co. (1916). First English ed.: King, of..., Constable & Co. (1917). Many subsequent rpts.
Introduces Athelstan King, who appears in the Jimgrim tales. King is the prototype of Mundy's British colonial secret service agents.
1921.
Guns of the Gods.
Adventure: 4 installments, 3 March - 3 May 1921.
First American ed.: Bobbs-Merill Co, (June 1921). First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (November 1921).
The youth of Princess Yasmini.
The Jimgrim Saga:
1921.
Jimgrim and Allah's Peace.
Adventure: “Adventure of El Karak,” 10 November 1921, and “Under the Dome of the Rock,” 10 December 1912.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1933). First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co (1936).
First appearance of Jimgim in Mundy's work. In the early stories he is an American who works for the British Secret Service in the near-east.
1922.
Almost all of Mundy's output for this year were Jimgrim related stories.
1922.
The "Iblis" at Lud.
Adventure: 10 January 1921. No book publication.
1922.
The Seventeen Thieves of Elalil.
Adventure: 20 February 1921.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1935). No American book ed.
1922.
The Lion of Petra.
Adventure: 20 March 1922.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1932). First American ed., D Appleton-Century Co. (1933).
1922.
The Woman Ayisha.
Adventure: 20 April 1922.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co (1930). First American ed.: The Hundred Days and the Woman Ayisha, The Century Co. (1931); dust cover lists title as The Hundred Days (see below, 1930).
1922.
The Lost Trooper.
Adventure: 30 May 1922.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1931). No American book ed.
1922.
The King in Check.
Adventure: 10 July 1922.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1933). First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co. (1934).
1922.
A Secret Society.
Adventure: 10 August 1922.
No book publication.
Jimgrim resigns from the British Secret Service to be a free agent.
1922.
Moses and Mrs. Aintree.
Adventure: 10 September 1922.
No book publication.
1922.
The Mystery of Khufu's Tomb.
Adventure: “Khufu's Real Tomb,” 10 October 1922.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1933). First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co. (1935).
1922.
Caves of Terror.
Adventure: “The Grey Mahatma,” 10 November 1922.
First American ed., Garden City Publishing Co. (1924). First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1932).
No Jimgrim, but with related characters King, Rasmden, and Yasmini. The first Jimgrim-related story to be set in India rather than in the near-east.
1922.
Benefit of Doubt.
Adventure: 10 December 1922.
See Jungle Jest (below, 1923).
Related to Jimgrim tales because of appearance of King. First appearance of Cottswold Ommany, hero of Om.
1923.
Jungle Jest.
Adventure: “Benefit of Doubt” (above), “Treason,” 10 1923, and “Diana Against Ephesians.” First two stories appeared before The Nine Unknown (below), and the last story directly after.
First English ed.: Hutchinson and Co. (1930). First American ed.: the Century Co. (1930).
Cottswold Ommany.
1923.
The Nine Unknown.
Adventure: 5 installments, 30 March - 10 August 1923.
First American ed.: Bobbs-Merrill Co., (March 1924). First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (June 1924).
Jimgrim arrives in India with style. The first of Mundy's genuinely mystical books.
1923.
The Marriage of Meldrum Strange.
Adventure: 10 October 1923. First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1930). No American book ed.
Strange was Jimgrim's millionaire backer after he left the British. Lots of the regular characters, plus Ommany.
1923.
The Hundred Days.
Adventure: “Mohammed's Tooth,” 10 December 1923.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1930). First American ed.: The Hundred Days and the Woman Ayisha (1931).
Two novels in one volume (see Woman Ayisha, above).
1924.
Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley
Adventure: 6 installments, 10 October - 30 November 1924.
First American ed. Bobbs-Merrill Co. (1924). First English ed. Hutchinson & Co. (1925).
Not properly a Jimgrim novel, but Ommany and some of the supporting characters appear in Jimgrim stories. Mundy's sole published output for 1924.
1925.
Mundy's entire output for 1925, and the first quarter of 1926, were stories about Tros of Samothrace, which would ultimately be published as Tros of Samothrace (1934), which had more than 949 pages in the American ed.
1926.
The Devil's Guard.
Adventure: Rasmden, 5 installments, 8 June - 8 August 1926.
First American Edition: Bobbs-Merrill (1926). First English ed.: Rasmden, Hutchinson & Co. (1926).
Jimgrim and Co. go to Tibet searching for Shambhala.
1927.
The Red Flame of Erinpura.
Adventure: 1 January 1927.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1934). No American book ed.
Chullunder Ghose is the protagonist.
1930-31.
Jimgrim.
Adventure: King of the World, 7 installments, 15 November 1930 - 15 February 1931.
First American ed.: The Century Co. (March 1931). First English ed. Hutchinson & Co. (April 1931).
Global adventure tale with settings in southern France, Egypt, India, Nepal, and Tibet. Jimgrim supposed dead in explosion of villain's monastery near lake Koko Nor.
1931.
The Babu.
Adventure: 10 October 1931.
No book ed.
Chullunder Ghose tale.
1931.
Case 13.
Adventure: 1 January 1932.
No book ed.
Chullunder Ghose tale.
1931.
Chullunder Ghose the Guileless.
Adventure: 1 March 1932.
No book ed.
Chullunder Ghose tale.
1933.
C.I.D.
Adventure: 4 installments, 1 March - 15 April 1933.
First English ed.: Hutchinson & Co (June 1932). First American ed.: The Century Co. (November 1932).
Chullunder Ghose tale. The Adventure installments were published after the book edition was already on sale, an unusual order of things.
1934-5.
Mundy's long association with Adventure magazine, and his prolific period as a writer, were coming to an end. Mundy's only new major work for Adventure came in 1935 when he produced a new Tros of Samothrace series for them. This was eventually the novel The Purple Pirate (1935).
- by R.T. Gault
Links:
Tom Roberts’ Black Dog Books is publishing a series of books in its Talbot Mundy Library. Several volumes already are available, which include some of the stories listed above.
There is a Kindle edition of The JimGrim Novels, which includes six novels, at Amazon.
Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy by Peter Beresford Ellis is also available from Amazon. This biography may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon.
Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny by Donald M. Grant is also available from Amazon. This book may be in short supply. Click here to learn more from Amazon.
Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography by Brian Taves is also available from Amazon
Winds From the East is a Talbot Mundy reader compiled by Brian Taves. It's available from Amazon.
Labels: JimGrim, R.T. Gault, Talbot Mundy
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The Gault Papers: Talbot Mundy's Tibetan Stories
One of the writers whose work first prompted me to launch a pulp-related Website was Talbot Mundy. So it feels right for me to kick off this PulpRack blog with R.T. Gault's Mundy information.
The following information was compiled and posted to the Internet by the late R.T. "Ditch" Gault under the title "Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Tibetan, Jimgrim, and Tros Story Series." After Gault's death, the site disappeared. Yet the info it contained is quite valuable to readers of Talbot Mundy, and several sites had linked to Gault's information. Thanks to Carl William Thiel, who had saved the info from Gault's site, I was able to present it at my original PulpRack Website, and I'm pleased to be able to present it here. I've edited it slightly to provide some consistency in mechanics and grammar.
Also, to make using the information easier, I've broken the single, long file into four documents: "Mundy's Tibetan Stories," "Mundy's Jimgrim Saga," "Mundy's Tros Saga," and "Omnibus Editions & Nonfiction." I'll post each section separately to the PulpRack.
As each post goes live, you'll be able to click on the tags at the bottom of the post to go to the sections you wish to see.
With thanks to Mike Chomko, once upon a time the publisher of the pulp fanzine Purple Prose and now one of the organizers of the PulpFest pulp convention, I was able to contact the Gault family. Karen Gault kindly responded in this manner:
"What a pleasant surprise to get your EMail! I enjoyed looking through your site and am happy that someone saved Ditch's site info on Mundy and is using it to reach an interested audience. You may use it with my blessing."
Our thanks to Mike and especially to Karen.
Now, onward to R.T. Gault's info. -- Duane
Bibliographic Information on Talbot Mundy's Tibetan Story Series
Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon in 1879) was one of the most interesting and colorful of the writers during the great age of adventure pulp fiction. Mundy worked as a British colonial civil servant, journalist, and later a poacher and a general scoundrel until his arrival in New York in 1909. I suspect (but cannot prove) that he may have also been an agent for the British Colonial Secret Service at some time in his somewhat shady history. After his arrival in America he became a U.S. citizen under the name Talbot Mundy, and began a new life as a writer of "cracking good tales," mostly for the pulp magazine Adventure.
Another important step for Mundy was his long association with Katherine Tingley's splinter Theosophist commune at Point Loma, California. He died in 1940.
The definitive biography of Talbot Mundy is by Peter Barresford Ellis, The Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy (Donald Grant, 1984), and the definitive bibliography of his works is by Donald Grant, ed., Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny (Donald Grant, 1983). [Not published at the time Gault wrote his essay, but available now is Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography by Brian Taves (McFarland & Company, 2005). -- Duane]
Most of the information presented here was developed as a result of my interest in Mundy as a "mystical novelist."
These three series -- his Tibetan novels, his JimGrim series, and his Tros of Samothrace stories -- contain or relate to most of the more mystical of Mundy's work, though I have surely missed a few. Most of the bibliographic information comes from Donald Grant's exhaustive Mundy Bibliography (noted above), but much of the organization and comments are mine. I have also attempted to add any new printings and information that have become available since 1983. Comments and corrections are welcomed.
Talbot Mundy's Tibetan Novels
Early Tibetan novels:
1923.
Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley, written at Point Loma, Ca., in late 1922, early 1923.
Published in Adventure, 10 October - 30 November 1923.
First American Edition: Bobbs-Merrill Co. (1924) 352 pgs. First British ed.: Hutchinson & Co. (1925), 352 pgs.
- Reprints:
MacKinlay, Stone & Mackenzie: *(NOTE 1) (circa 1924), 393 pgs, with frontis. photo of Mundy.
Theosophical Press (Point Loma, 1931), 392 pgs. Crown Publishers (1962), 392 pgs, pb.
Avon Books (1967), 336 pgs, pb.
Cedric Chivers, Ltd (London), 348 pgs.
Point Loma Publications (1980), 392 pgs. trade pb.; with intro by Peter Barresford Ellis; opening poem "squeezed" onto one page.
Carroll and Graf (1984), 392 pgs, pb.; opening poem "squeezed" onto one page as in the Point Loma (1980) ed., suggesting that it was reproduced from that ed. *(NOTE 2)
1926.
The Devil's Guard, published in Adventure under the title Rasmden, 8 June 1926 - 8 August 1926.
First American ed: Bobbs-Merrill Co. (1926) 335 pgs, identified as the first edition. First British ed., as Rasmden (Spring 1926), 286 pgs.
- Reprints:
A. L. Burt Co (1927), 335 pgs.
The Oriental Club (Philadelphia 1945). 291 pgs; with Foreword by Milton F. Wells.
Avon Books, (1968), 255 pgs, pb.
1930-31.
Jimgrim, published in Adventure under the title King of the World, 1 December 1930 - 15 February 1931.
First American ed.: The Century Co.(March 1931) 385 pgs.; identified as first printing.
Hutchinson & Co. (April 1931) 312 pgs.
- Reprints:
A. L. Burt (1933), 385 pgs.
Royal Books (New York), as Jimgrim Sahib, 319 pgs, pb.
Avon Books (1968), 288 pgs. pb.
Later Tibetan novels:
1937.
Thunder Dragon Gate published in American Weekly, 8 installments, beginning 24 January 1937.
First British edition: Hutchinson & Co. (March 1937). First American ed.: D. Appleton-Century Co. (1937), 335 pgs. First Canadian ed.: Ryerson Press (1937). Pagination different for all eds.
1938.
Old Ugly Face, published in Maclean's (Canada), 3 installments beginning 15 April 1938.
First Book ed: D.Appleton-Century (Feb 1940). First British Ed.: (London, Hutchinson) June 1940. Canadian ed.: (Toronto, Ryerson Press), 1940; same pagination as the Appleton ed.
Reprint:
(Philadelphia, Wells & Shakespeare), 1950; same pagination as the Appleton ed.
Sequel to Thunder Dragon Gate.
Old Ugly Face is the last work of major fiction that Mundy published before his death in 1940. It is the only novel that Mundy wrote in longhand first. Neither Grant nor Ellis seems to have noticed (or mentioned) that Thunder Dragon Gate and Old Ugly Face are related to each other.
Relating to the Tibetan novels, Mundy wrote nonfiction pieces for Adventure providing background to his stories. These usually appeared in a regular feature entitled "The Camp Fire." *(NOTE 3)
- 10 January 1923, "The Camp Fire"; background on Ommany to tie in with short novel Treason.
- 10 October 1924, "The Camp Fire"; 2,000-word essay on background of Mahatmas, Ahbor Valley, and ancient wisdom. An extract from this was published in The Theosophical Path (Point Loma) in the February 1925 issue. Some selective quotes in Grant and Ellis.
- 8 June 1926, "The Camp Fire"; 4,000-word essay on eastern theology, dugpas, and philosophy to tie in with serial Rasmden (book title: The Devil's Guard). *(NOTE 4)
- by R.T. Gault
*NOTES
1. Grant, Talbot Mundy, p. 214: "Nine Talbot Mundy titles were published by McKinlay, Stone and Mackenzie in matched bindings. McKinlay, Stone and Mackenzie was an affiliate of Review of Reviews (Hearst), and sales of these editions were primarily mail order."
2. The Carroll and Graf ed. is not listed in Grant's bibliographies of Mundy material (see note below)
3. Penn State Library's Rare Books and Special Collections owns the Arthur Sullivan Hoffmann papers. Hoffmann was the editor of Adventure for many years, and the man most responsible for Mundy's long-running success in that magazine. Ellis' biography makes great use of Penn State's Hoffmann papers.
4. All bibliographical material from Donald M. Grant, Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny (1983) unless otherwise noted.
Links:
Om: The Secret of Ahbor Valley seems to be out of print. There may be some used copies of various editions available at Amazon.
Last Adventurer: The Life of Talbot Mundy by Peter Beresford Ellis is also available from Amazon. This biography may be in short supply.
Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny by Donald M. Grant is also available from Amazon. This book may be in short supply.
Talbot Mundy, Philosopher of Adventure: A Critical Biography by Brian Taves is also available from Amazon.
Labels: JimGrim, R.T. Gault, Talbot Mundy, Tibetan, Tros
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