THE PULP CALENDAR: March 20

The 20th of the month brings us back to Adventure in its peak thrice-monthly years. This one's from 1923 and sports a nice James C. McKell cover. The star this issue is Talbot Mundy, premiering his latest Jimgrim serial, The Nine Unknown. I've read the first two Jimgrim stories and found them quite entertaining, not least for their somewhat cynical view of the post-WW1 Middle East. A couple of major Adventure writers I've not mentioned before put in appearances here. Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur wrote pulp stories on the side while teaching medieval languages and literature at Berkeley. That presumably assured a certain authenticity to his adventure stories. Similarly, George E. Holt was an American journalist and diplomat whose extensive experience in North Africa no doubt informed his series of stories about Muslim hero Mohamed Ali. One of my favorites, J. D. Newsom, has what sounds like an African story, "The Witch of Ombakura," while another Adventure favorite, Hugh Pendexter, wraps up his latest frontier serial, Long Rifles. My impression is that Adventure rarely had more than one serial running at the same time, but you'd definitely make room for Mundy and Pendexter. Less familiar authors include Max Bonter, Arthur M. Harris, Frederick J. Jackson and I.M. Nichols. Looks like a nice exotic mix typical of this magazine at its best.