DONALD TRUMP NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Once again The Donald tries
To cop the Nobel Peacenik Prize.
Alas! I fear the orange jefe
Mainlined a bit too much cofefe.
A storm of protest has started drizzling
Because The Donald's Putin's quisling.
This is news that isn't fake;
The Donald really takes the cake.
The Tall Delores by Michael Avallone (1953)
Let us sing the praises of Michael Avallone, outspoken author of more that 223 books (a prety specific n umber, there), -- although he claimed over a thousand books -- and "the fastest typewriter in the East."
Perhaps Bill Crider said it best, "He could sure tell a story. He couldn't write, but he could sure tell a story."
Avallone wrote in almost every genre, but his main emphasis was in mysteries and suspense. Actually, it was in "alternative" mysteries, a Bill Pronzini has described it. Pronzini could easily have devoted both his critical looks as bad mystery writing, Gun in Cheek and Son of Gun in Cheek, to Avallone alone. Avallone's style was "an ungrammatical, mispelled, brain-jangling approximation of English," as per Francis M. Nevins. Take the groaing syntax of Carrol John Daley, add the slipshoodiness of Robert Leslie Bellam, and season with the total eccentricity of Harry Stephen Keeler and you might come close -- but not too close -- to the lamentably sublime artistry of Michael Avallone.
His major character is private eye Ed Noon, who first appeared in 1953's The Tall Delores, and continued through some three dozen novels over the next 35 years, eventually ending up as the private eye to the president of the United States. (Avallone did write one Ed Noon short story in the late Forties, but it was not pubished until 1971.) The Noon books are filled with wisecracks and Avallone's deep devotion to old movies and baseball. (In the beginning, Noon was a fan of the New York Giants, but when the Mets opened their franchise, both Avallone and Noon switched their loyalties and became die-hard fans.)
Avallone wrote fast and evidently seldom (if ever) stopped to rewrite or edit himself, which may explain one scene in The Tall Delores in which a woman strips, first taking off her skirt, then her negligee. I doun't think anyone has ever contradicted Nevins' assessment, "By normal standards every Nooner is an inept mess."
One thing stands out about the Ed Noon books, however. They are just plain fun. Perhaps they can even be considered a palate cleaser for the more literate, well-plotted books, brimming with a sense of place and a sense of character.
So. The Tall Delores.
She's a six foot five inch behemoth of a beauty, towering over the six foot Noon. Noon esitmates her bust size at 50 inches, but that strains credibility as well as bressieres.
She enters Noon's small office, dubbed the "mouse auditorium." wanting him to find her fiance who has bolted with fivee thousand dollars of her money. Noon collects a $200 retainer and Delores leaves. At the same time, the man she wants to find turns up dead. Noon goes to her hotel room and finds a Chinese man there dead with a broken neck, with Delores standing over the body. So, there's a bit of racism here -- the corpse is labeled a Chinaman and a Chink. Delores knocks Noon out and flees, leaving Noon to wake up with the corpse and the cops surrounding him. Noon would call his best lawyer friend, but it turns out he has been beaten to death outside a nightclub. Noon escapes from the cops. Noon hooks up with a gorgeous hooker named Wheeler and tells her his name is Woolsey. (Remember Wheeler and Woolsey, the old comedy act?) A cabbie gives Noon a tip that he dropped Delores off at a nightclub run by the five foot gay crime boss Doc ("Don't call me Doc") Cook, who is usually bookcased by a pair of pig-uglies. Doc Clarke and his thugs want to ice Noon, but he gets away -- but not before learning that the entire affait rests on half a million dollars worth of uncut diamonds and a map to their location. Noon pulls a gun on Delores and Wheeler takes them to the apartmant of a hooker friend to hide out.. There are hints that Wheeler and her friend are lesbian lovers, but Noon kisses Wheeler and they fall in love and into bed...Oh. And there are crooked cops.
Here's just a random sampling from the book:
"Delores as a hell of a lot more than tall. She was huge, statuesque. A Galamazon. A regular Empire State Building of female feminine dame. And all woman, besides."
"That kind is as inflexible as a wooden ruler and aboput as fair as a Southern jury with a colored chicken thief."
"A siren bansheed up from the corner and the meat wagon pulled up."
"Built like she was it was like spelling Elephant with the letters m-o-u-s-e."
"She descended on me like a tree full of the same apes she looked like."
"...the tires screeched like four old maids finding a man in the closet..."
"There was enough perculair about Doc to make a psychiatrist sharpen a dozen pencils."
I could go on, but then I would be copying the entire novel verbatim. Sufice it to say this is not a book for the kiddies. It's for the groan-ups.
These Nooners can be an acquired taste, but if you are into that sort of thing, they can be glorious.
Let's join Jean and Pat Abbott as they solve another murder mystery. This time the couple have made the acquaintance of a famous psychiatrist, Dr. John Rhodes, as they travel to London. When plane has engine trouble and crashes, the Abbotts make it to safety, but their new friend is dead -- not from the accident, but from murder...To solve the case, Pat goes undercover at a mental hospital.
Once again, Claudia Morgan and Les Damon star as Frances Crane's famous sleuthing couple. Also featueed in this episode is Everett Sloane. The script was written by Howard Merrill.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwWbpg_JO_g
"Beckwith's Case" by Maurice Hewlitt (first published in Scribner's Magazine, August 1909, as "Beckwith's Fairy"; included in the author's book The Lore of Proserpine, 1913; included in The Uncertain Element: An Anthology of Fantastic Conceptions, edited by Kay Dick, 1950)
Stephen Beckwith was a 28-year-old bank clerk, married, with a four-year-old daughter, and in good health. He considered himself to be a good Christian. On the evening of November 30, 1887, at about ten o'clock in the evening, Beckwith was bicycling home from a visit with a freind. His terrier dog Strap was trotting along beside him. Suddenly Strap rushed toward a gorse, barking. Beckwith assumed the dog had spotted some sort of animal, but Strap would not return when called. As Beckwith investigated, he found the dog frozen in place, staring into the bushes, neither willing to go ahead or back. Lying in the bushes was a figure, small and frail-looking, staring at Beckwith without speaking. It appeared to be a girl, somewhat odd looking, dressed in a thin gown, her hands behind her back. Examining the girl further, he found a huge gash on her neck, although no blood was present. The girl's hands were bound tightly behind her back . She did not appear to understand what he was saying. Beckwith assumed her to be a foreigner. He freed the girl and lifted her up; she was exteremly light. Beckwith bound her wound with his handerchief and no blood appeared on the cloth. Beckwith felt she looked to about six years old, but had the form a one a decade older. She was about three and a half feet tall. He carried her to the road just as it started to rain. The local constable bicycled by and stopped, appearing not to notice the girl in Beckwith's arms. Beckwith placed the girl on his bicycle and headed home. His wife greeted him, but also did not see the girl. Indeed, she placed her hands on the hadlebars of the bicycle and they went completely through the girl's body as if the girl were not only invisible but also not there. Fearful to bring the girl into his house, Beckwith placed her in the kennel with his grayhound Bran.
The following day, the girl -- which he now knew (but did not admit) was a fairy -- was dancing merrily around the kennel. Still she did not speak. He could find no food that she could eat, but she seemed happy and healthy, and could communicate in some unknown way with the greyhound. His wife still could not see the girl, and he hesitated to tell her about this being he had found. His daughter, however, could see the fairy, although she steadfastly refused to admit it to Beckwith. Like the dog Brtan, she seemed to be able to communicate with the fairy in some unknown fashion. The days passed into months. The fairy, whom Beckwith had named Thumbeline, played and danced with his daughter and with Bran. Thumbeline appeared to be attracted to Beckwith, trying to kiss him and removing her gown to appear naked, displaying no modesty whatever. She remained in the kennel, trapped there by zinc wire, which somehow repelled her. Later, she learned to get out of the kennel by hitching a ride on Bran. She often entered the house and would have joined Beckwith in his bedroom had he not placed zinc wires across his threshold. Thumbeline would play poltergeist-like tricks while in the house. She apparantly resented May, Beckwith's wife.
Florrie (Beckwith's daughter) and Bran would spend much the days playing with the fairy. sometimes Strap the terrier would join in, until Strap was found dead one day, and Florrie and Bran would continue their play around the dead dog's body without acknowledging it.
Finally, in May, Florrie and Bran disappeared. Their prints were found leading to the river, but not near it. They -- and the fairy -- were never seen again.
A strange little tale, emphasizing the glamour that a fairy can cast upon humans. Beckwith appears helpless to in the face of it, often refusing to see any potential dangers.
From a review in goodreads: "Hewlett claims that everything within its pages is true, and his own experiences of the fairy kingdom. He is entirely unyielding in his assertion that his encounters with fairies, dryads and god are real events that he has personally experienced, though he concedes they may have been hallucinations.
" 'The Lore of Proserpine' is a combination of biography, anecdote, fairy lore, mythology, philosophy and anthropology, which to truly appreciate, the reader had to take Hewlitt at his word, suspend one's disbelief and accept the possibilty of fairies. Hewlitt himself treats his subject matter with deadly seriousness, frequently reminding the reader not to impose human morals on a fairy, and pontificating that to call a fairy benevolent or malevolent is like calling a bee benevolent when it makes honey and malevolent when it stings you." -- Eleanor Toland
Maurice Hewlitt (1861-1923) was an English historical novelist, poet, and essayist. publishing nearly 45 books in his lifetime, including 18 well-respected historical novels. He was a friend of Christian mystic Evelyn Underhill and of the poet Ezra Pound. His friend J. M. Barrie named one of the pirates in Peter Pan after Hewlitt's son. He was recognized as an influence on writer Ford Madox Ford, who praised Hewlitt's 1904 novel about Mary Queen of Scots, The Queen's Quair (it "taught me a good deal"). Hewlit separated from his wife Hilda after 26 years of marriage due, in part, to her increasing interest in aviation -- Hilda had become the first woman in the UK to get a pilot's licence.
The Lore of Proserpine is available to read online at Project Gutenberg.
Frank Gruber toiled unsuccessfully for years trying to break into the writing game. Late in 1934, editor Rogers Terrill asked if he could supply a 5500-word filler story for Operator 5 magazine by the next day. He did, and his career began to boom. He wrote over 300 stories for 40 pulp magazines, published over 60 novels, selling more than 90 million copies, and wrote 65 screenplays and hundreds of television scripts. Gruber created three television series: Tales of Wells Farge, The Texan. and Shotgun Slade. Among his most popular detective characters were the team of Johnny Fletcher and Sam Cragg, featured in fifteen nvels. Fletcher and Cragg are small-time scam artists, eking out a living trying to sell books about physical culture, using the brawny Cragg as an exemplar. Other popular characters were the human encyclopedia Oliver Quade and his sidekick Charlie Boston, the flashy Otis Beagle, and Simon Lash. Gruber published two dozen western novels, beginning with Peace Marshal (1939); the book, rejected by every New York agent at the time, became the successful Richard Dix film The Kansan, and went on to sell more than a million copies.
The French Key was scripted by Gruber and based on his first Johnny Fletcher-Sam Cragg mystery. Fletcher and Cragg skip out of their low-rent room, sneaking back to pick up their trunks. They find a body in the room -- a man holding a gold coin. Fletcher learns from a numismitist name Vedder (Vedder was one of Gruber's pen names) that the coin is a supposedly rare Spanish one. Turns out there's a gold smuggling ring melting down the stolen gold into rare coins. Not only do Fletcher and Cragg have to solve the murder, they have to located the stolen gold. Albert Dekker stars as Johnny Fletcher and muscleman Mike Mazurki plays Sam Cragg. Evelyn Akers is onboard as eye candy. Playing the incompetent Detective Fox is Three Stooges' "Curly Joe" DeRita. Walter Colmes directed. This was the only Fletcher-Craig story filmed, although a Johnny Fletcher radio series ran for six mnonths on ABC in 1948. In addition, Gruber wrote one episode of the television anthology series Suspense featuring Sam Cragg, sans Johnny Fletcher.
Enjoy this wise-cracking mystery comedy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xn54ZeGsjc
Jim & Jesse McReynolds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IycCz7J5JKE&list=PLHhRHVQPfCehg96BmRaWFJOp6NAo1mdGn&index=38
This is issue #5 of the Hero Books comic A Feature Presentation (formerly Women in Love --which to my mind is a strange turnaround). Alas, there was no further adventures of The Black Tarantula. Perhaps thos Women in Love stomped that sucker flat...I would have, then I would have torched that thing with a flamthrower. Hate spiders. Hete 'em. Hate 'em. Hate 'em.
Anyway, here's your chance to read about The Black Tarantula. (For what it's worth, I think it would behoove you much better to associate with furry little bunnies. Arachids, ugh!)
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=88033&comicpage=&b=i
"Sold to Satan" by Mark Twain (from Europe and Elsewhere, 1923; reprinted several times, including in The Light Fantastic: Science Fiction Classics from the Mainstream [1971, edited by Harry Harrison.], The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces [1983, edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg, also published as Great Tales of Science Fiction, 1985], The Science Fiction of Mark Twain [1984], Tales of Wonder [2003, by Mark Twain], and Sympathy for the Devil [2010, edited by Tim Pratt]; a casual check of the internet did not reveal any earlier print of the story than the 1923 collection.)
Can a deal-with-the-devil story be considered science fiction rather than fantasy? It can, if it is in the capable, inventive, and satiric hands of Mark Twain. "Sold to Satan" takes the latest (and often misnderstood) findings of Marie Curie and uniquely applies them to this trope.
At a time of economic downturn, the author devises a way to raise a stake in an effort to make his fortune. The obvious way to do this, of course, is to sell one's soul to the devil. After making contact with Satan's local agent, the devil appeared, -- not with a crash of thunder or the stench of brimstone, but at least in his tradition garb: "tall, slender, graceful, in tights and trunks, a short cape mantling his shoulders, a rapier at his side, a single drooping feather in his jaunty cap, and on his intellectual face the well-known and high-bred Mephistophelian smile" -- the traditional appearance of Lucifer on many a theatrical stage.
After half an hour of the usual negotiations and chat, the author remarks that Satan appeared surprisingly different from tradition, despite his physical looks. The reason, Satan said was because of his body makeup: he was made of radium, and at six foot one, he would have weighted some two hundred fifteen pounds had he been made of flesh; being made of radium his weight was close to nine hundred.
This started the author to thinking. At, say, $3,500,000 a pound, that would amount to an incredible sum. Satan laughed and remarked that the author was "the first person who has ever been intelligent enoiugh to divine the large commercial value of my make-up."
But how to take advantage of this newly-found store of wealth?
Radium, as Madame Curie has determined is spontaneously luminous. It can spontaneously charge itself with electricity and has the property of liberating heat spontaneously and continually. Barium (which she names radium) is covered with bismuth (which she names polonium); if a way can be devised to remove the polonium, the aweson power of radium could be unleashed. "Polonium, freed from bismuth, is the one and only powere that can control radium, restrain its destructive forces, tame them, reduce them to obedience, and make them do useful and productive work for your race." Satan's skin, in fact, is made of polonium; the rest of him is 100% radium. If it were not for the polonium shielding them from Satan's make-up, the souls in Hell would have been burned to nothingness eons ago; as it stands, though, they can remain available to be tortured for millennia.
The smallest atom is known to be hydrogen, but the radium atom is actually 5000 times smaller. A single electron of radium is enough to power a firefly's light, and does. Were it not for the polonium protecting the firefly from the truly powerful effect of the radium electron, the firefly would be consumed to vapor. To demontrate the power of radium, Satan pointed a finger at the author's letterpress and "it exploded with a cannon crash. leaving nothing but vacancy where it stood."
Many animals, on knowing that they are going to die, assemble at one spot, as with the well-known elephant's graveyeard. For extimct mastodons, this was located off the mouth of the Lena. The bones of the moa can be found twenty feet deep somewhere in New Zealand. And for millions of years, there has been a firefly cemetery, where thise insects go when sickness falls upon them -- it os located in a scooped-out bowl half the size of a standard room on the top of a snow summit of the Cordileras. All that remains of the firefly being the single electron of radium, sheathed on polonium -- the firefly cemetery cold provide enough power to light the entire world until the end of eternity.
What an opportunity! All that is needed is for that remarkable female Fench scientist to isolate the polonium from the bismuth. Surely, with her genius, that will happen soon. In the meantime, the author is selling shares in a new venture to be realized when that day happens. Apply to Mark Twain.
A brief and interesting take on the scientific achievements of the day from a man who was no stranger to fantastic writing, as evidence by his A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, "The Curious Republic of Gondour," "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven," and others.
"Sold to Satan" is available on online in Europe and Elsewhere. A quick and amusing read.
Based on a 1939 episodic novel by Paul Gallico, The Adventures of Hiram Holliday (1956-1957) told the story of a newspaper proofreader whose publisher rewarded him with a world tour after the proofreader saved the publisher a large amount of money (by inserting a comma into some news copy, no less). Cox, as Holliday, journeyed the world with his reporter sidekick, Joel Smith (played by Ainslie Pryor). Holliday, who had secretly trained himself in many physical skills, solved crimes and thwarted foreign spies at every port of call. Several times, he encounter criminal mastermind Sebastian Cabot (under different names; in this episode, Gemel). What I remember most from the series was Holliday's skill with his umbrella, using it as a sword in encounters with the bad guys.
The program aired only 20 if its 23 episodes during its first run in the United States. The remaining three episodes premiered on British television. All 23 episodes were later briadcast in America,
In "The Sea Cucumber," Holliday's search for a rare sea cucumber convinces foreign spies that it is simply a cover for espionage.
Actor Wally Cox (1924-1973) starred for three years (1952-1955) in the popular comedy Mr. Peepers as junior high school science teacher Robinson J, Peepers. He was then featured in the title role in The Adventures of Hiram Holliday. He was the very recognizable voice of Underdog (1964-1967). He is also remembered as the upper left corner of the square in the game show Hollywood Squares frpm 1966 to 1973. A popular character actor and comic, Cox appeared in many television programs and was featured in 20 films, including The Bedford Incident, Morituri, and The Yellow Rolls-Royce. He was a life-long friend of Marlon Brando and was once his roommate (leaving because he could not stand Brando's per raccoon). Brando once said that if "Wally had been a woman, I would have married him and we would have lived happily ever after;" and once, while under the influence of marijuana, Brando said that Cox had been the love of his life. Another close friend was actor Robert Blake. Cox, meanwhile, was thrice-married. His mild and meek persona was belied by his physical abilities and his real-life hobby was riding motorcycles. He had a strong intellectual bent and, at one time had outfitted his own scientific lab in his home. Although he reportedly died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills, Brando insisted that Cox had succumbed to a heart attack. Brando kept Cox's ashes hidden in a closet for three deacades and they were eventually scattered at the same time after Brando's death.
I loved The Adventures of Hiram Holliday as a kid. I hope you like this episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1vVBBh4fC0
Openers: My Lord Dunwilliam wa not, to say the least, in a good mood. The interior of the coach was cold, the road, if the snow-coverd track could be so designated, was rough, and his lordship was tossed upwards, then flung from side to side, and the coachman, who was steadily freezing high up on his elevated seat, trembles as Dunwilliam gave vent to his rage.
"Blind, blockheaded cretin, drive round the bloody holes, not in them!"
Had he been given the gift of free speech, Coggins, for such was the coachm,an's name, might well have pointed out that in a blinding snowstorm it was a miricle that he had so far kept the coach on four wheels, but not being so gifted he did his best to guide the team of four horses on what he devoutly trusted was the centre of the road. His trust was misplaced.
The coach reeled over, then slid into what appeared to be a deep ditch; the horses screamed as they were pulled backwards, and Coggins fell from his perch and landed in a deep pile of snow. He clambered to his feet and hastened to aid his employer, whose scarlet face was glaring at him from the remains of the near-side window.
"You bloated, addle-brained imbecile." His lordship was impelled to desist while he made the perilous descent from tilted coach to snow-coated road, then he took a deep breath and continued. "You wall-eyed son of Jezebel, you maggor-ridden ball of excreta, by what devil and all his angles do you think you're doing?"
"Snow, me Lord." Coggins spoke quickly, knowing he had little time before the next outburst. "Ditch, me Lord, couldn't see it, me Lord."
Lord Dunwilliam is arrogant, imperious, and very quick to anger, sure of his position well above lesser mortals. He had been traveling to Bala for an important appointment regarding an estate he had inherited. Determined to make the appointment, he ordered Coggins to saddle on of the horses, and despite the coachman's fervant pleas, set off for the eight or so miles left to Bala. The road was dark and the storm remained fierce and Dunwilliam soon lost his way. Still he pushed on, with the fierce determination that made the world bow to him. He might have perished in the storm had he not spied a lighted window a little before him. Dunwilliam banged at the door and barged into the small farmhouse, which belonged to a widowed farmer, Evan ap Evans, and his daughter, eightee-year-old Silah. Evans was as imjpoerious as Dunwilliam, but his preternaturally calm daughter displayed a quiet demeanor and had "the slim grace of a gazelle." Dunwilliam, used to getting his own way, determined to have the girl one way or the other. He and Evans spent much of the time arguing when there was the sound of a horn from the storm, as well as the baying of hounds. This, Dunwilliam was told was the phantom figutre Arawn and his Cnw Annwn -- the Dogs of Hell. Arawn had taken Silah as his lover and his cold demonic nature spelled doom for any who would thwart him. Dunwilliam felt this was poppycock and that some local lout was playing on Evans's supernatural nature. As Dunwilliam steals the girl and rides off into the storm, the Cnw Annwn follow. And as they rend his flesh appart, Dunwilliam is soon to learn that an even more terrible fate awaits him...
-- "Lord Dunwilliam and the Cwn Annwn" by R. chetwynd-Hayes (first published in Welsh Tales of Terror [1973], edited by Chetwynd-Hayes; reprinted in his short story collection Terror by Night [1974])
Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes (1919-2001) was a British writer and anthologist of ghost and horror stories, with thirteen novels, twenty-seven short story collections, and twenty-six anthologies to his credit. He edited twelve volumes of the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories following the death of Robert Aickman, the original editor; he also edited five volumes in Fontana's Tales of Terror anthologies. Chetwynd-Hayes received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Fantasy Society. He was portayed by John Carradine in the 1981 film The Monster Club.
Incoming:
Martian Sexpot by "Scott O'Neill" (Peg O'Neill Scott Fields) (1963)
I threw myself under the bus on this one. I took one for the team. I read it so you don't have to. Don't feel obligated to praise me for my sacrifice -- sometimes this happens when you review books. (Although, if you are so inclined. send money.)
Here is the first draft of this review:
"Ptah!"
Then I decided a little more is needed.
Martian Sexpot is a collection of six purportedly science fiction stories published by Onsco Publications as a "Jade Book." We are informed that "The Jade Imprint is the sign of the unusual and bizarre in adult reading." This is a soft-core sleaze book, the eleven to be released in the Jade line. Others include Homo Hill, Lesbian Lane, Vegas Vice Queen, and Nude Ranch Nymphs. The cover of this one features a spaceship, an alien landscape, and (prominently) a semi-nude woman with a vapid face and huge tat-tas, wearing only a bikini bottom. The cover copy reads "Hilarious Adventures in Space and in the Future" and "When you go to Mars, be careful of those dried roots. They can upset your schedule, affect your sex life, or almist anything!"
The book contains the following stories:
A suicide...a missing corpse. .. a mad Nazi scientist...join us as we discover the dark secrets of Dr. Grimshaw's sanitarium.
Based on a story by Fletcher Pratt (Amazing Stories, May 1934); the story was effectively adapted by George Lefferts and directed by Fred Wiehe. Fred Collins was the announcer.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK1m0DifzLA&list=PLlUoyloCGlWwJMfX1MskZpkmS48AngzTy&index=9
AHMM has been a standard in the mystery field for 67 years. It premiered with the December 1956 issus -- a 144 page digest edited by William Manners, who helmed the magazine from its inaugural issue through to the August 1961 issue. Lisa Belkanp then edited the magazine, ending her run in the December 1962 issue. Richard E. Decker then served as the magazines editor (January 1963-September 1964), followed by G. F. Foster (October 1964-May 1967), Ernest M. Hutter (June 1967-February 1976), the legendary Eleanor Sullivan (Marxh 1976-November 11, 1981; Sullivan also edited Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine fort nearly 11 years, 1981-1991), the capable Cathleen Jordan then took over the reins from Sullivan (December 9, 1981-June 2002), the current editor, Linda Landirgan, began her turn at the helm with the July/August 2002 issue and is still going strong. AHMM publishers have gone from H.S.D. Publications (which also published Manhunt, Murder, Verdict Crime Detection Magazine, and Sleuth -- all under different company names) to Davis Pubication (in 1976) to Dell Magazines (in 1992). The magazine has evolved from mostly presenting gimmicky stories with surprise endings to a far more nuanced and literate fare. The authors who have appeared in AHMM read like a Who'sWho in detective and crime short fiction: Henry Slesar, Evan Hunter, Jack Ritchie, Ed Lacy, Bill Pronzini, Edward D. Hoch, Clark Howard, Donald E. Westlake, Charles Willeford, Lawrence Block, Jim Thompson, Robert Block, John H. Dirckx, Stephen Wasylyk, Ron Goulart, Rhys Bowen, Jan Burke, O'Neil De Noux, Brendan Dubois, James Lincoln Warren, John F. Dobbyn, David Edgerly Gates, Loren D. Estleman, R. T. Lawton, Rpbert Lopresti, Toni L. P. Kelner, Steven Torres, Sarah Weinman, Elaine Viets, Angfela Zeman, Isaac Asimov, and many many others. Stories in AHMM have won Edgar. Robert L. Fish, Agatha and Shamus Awards.
Alfred Hitchcock, of course, has nothing to do with the magazine other than licensing his name. A number of short stories first printed in the magazine were, however, dramatized on Hitchcock's anthology television series.
I am assuming that the original publisher -- for whatever reason -- wanted the magazine's volume numbers to correspond with the calendar year, and, likewise, to have the issue number correspondent to the publication month. That's why the magazine's first issue (December 1956) is indexed as Volume . Number 12. There were no Volume 1, Numbers 1-11. That is also why there is also no Volume 2, Number 4 -- there was no April 1957 issue.
Anyway, I though it would be fun to look back at AHMM's inaugural issue.