The Argosy Library Series 2, Including Max Brand, Headlines Altus Press’ Pulp Fiction Releases for Spring 2016

Highlights Include a Never-Before-Reprinted Max Brand Novel

Altus Press has been busy with a number of significant new pulp fiction reprint collections—many of which have never before been reprinted. Headlined by Series 2 of our popular Argosy Library series which contains stories by authors such as Max Brand, Norbert Davis, Loring Brent, Ralph Milne Farley, and Cleve F. Adams (many of which never before reprinted) as well as series characters as Peter the Brazen, Rex McBride, Doan & Carstairs, Semi Dual, Peter Scarlet, Bradshaw the Naturalist, and Cleve & d’Entreville. Many of these books also feature new introductions by scholars such as Will Murray, Garyn G. Roberts, Even Lewis, and Max Brand expert William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run).

In addition to The Argosy Library, Altus Press also presents classic pulp fiction by Frederick Nebel, G.T. Fleming-Roberts, and H. Bedford-Jones, among others, featuring characters such as Cardigan, George Chance AKA The Ghost, and Sgt. Brinkhaus.

Below is our complete list of Spring 2016 releases. They will premiere at the Mike Chomko, Books, table at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, taking place April 22-24, 2016, at the Westin Lombard, Yorktown Center.

The Argosy Library, Series 2:

 

Champion of Lost Causes (The Argosy Library Vol. 11)

by Max Brand

introduction by William F. Nolan

Author Frederick Faust (AKA Max Brand) spins a tale of mystery and melodrama as Samuel Loring battles to save a girl unjustly accused of murder in a story never before reprinted. Originally serialized in seven installments in Flynn’s Magazine, Champion of Lost Causes was one of Brand’s earliest works to be filmed as a movie.

324 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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The Scarlet Blade: The Rakehelly Adventures of Cleve and d’Entreville, Volume 1 (The Argosy Library Vol. 12)

by Murray R. Montgomery

One of the most popular series from Argosy’s later years, Murray R. Montgomery penned a number of stories chronicling the adventures of Her Majesty’s Guard Richard Cleve and French cavalier Monsieur le Comte Guy d’Entreville… partners and rakehellies of the Cardinal’s Guard and in the service of Cardinal Richelieu in seventeenth-century France.

283 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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Doan and Carstairs: Their Complete Cases (The Argosy Library Vol. 13)

by Norbert Davis

introduction by Evan Lewis

For the first time in an authorized edition, all five stories of Doan and his “partner,” his Great Dane, Carstairs. These quirky hard-boiled detective stories were written by Norbert Davis, the Black Mask author who inspired Raymond Chandler to try his hand at the genre. This edition includes all three Doan and Carstairs novels (The Mouse in the Mountain, Sally’s in the Alley, and Oh, Murderer Mine), as well as the two short stories from the pulps: “Holocaust House” and “Cry Murder!” It’s rounded off with an all-new introduction by Evan Lewis.

582 pages / $29.95 softcover / $39.95 hardcover

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The King Who Came Back (The Argosy Library Vol. 14)

by Fred MacIsaac

The author of the Rambler series pens this tale which was amongst his best works to appear in the pages of Argosy. After abdicating the throne of King of the European monarchy of Berania in order to avert civil war, young Carlos Aronhof realizes there’s more to his rapidly changing fortunes than meets the eye. A tale spanning Europe to Hollywood, Aronhof quickly finds himself immersed in espionage, political intrigue, skullduggery, murder, and the stolen Beranian crown jewels.

224 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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Blood Ritual: The Adventures of Scarlet and Bradshaw, Volume 1 (The Argosy Library Vol. 15)

by Theodore Roscoe

Best remembered as the author of Thibaut Corday and his French Foreign Legion yarns, author Theodore Roscoe wrote another, little-known, long-running series: the adventures of curio hunter Peter Scarlet and Bradshaw, the naturalist. While each appeared in solo stories, they also teamed up in several yarns. These tales of treasure in the Orient are action-filled adventure by one of pulpdom’s best. Without a doubt a lost gem of the pulps.

244 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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The City of Stolen Lives: The Adventures of Peter the Brazen, Volume 1 (The Argosy Library Vol. 16)

by Loring Brent

introduction by Will Murray

One of the greatest series from the pages of Argosy is finally collected, complete and in order! Footloose ship’s wireless operator Peter Moore becomes embroiled in mystery and intrigue in China as he faces the despotic Gray Dragon, thus beginning Moore’s long-running, adventure-filed journey across several decades of pulp fiction masterpieces. Written by long-time Argosy author George F. Worts under his primary pen-name, Peter the Brazen made a marked impression on Argosy reader Lester Dent when he co-created Doc Savage. The saga of Peter the Brazen is amongst the best adventure series in the history of pulp fiction.

274 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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The Radio Gun-Runners (The Argosy Library Vol. 17)

by Ralph Milne Farley

A sequel to his previous Argosy novel, The Radio Flyers, author Ralph Milne Farley pens this science-fiction classic set in a hollow earth. Although compared favorably to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pellucidar series, Farley’s multi-layered tale of adventure at the earth’s pole weaves gangsters and Norse Vikings into an offbeat tale never before reprinted.

204 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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Sabotage (The Argosy Library Vol. 18)

by Cleve F. Adams

Originally published as a six-part serial in Detective Fiction Weekly in 1939, Sabotage introduced readers to forgotten hard-boiled master Cleve F. Adams’ number one detective: Rex McBride. The strength of the nation was dedicated to building the great dam at Palos Verde, and when a sinister foe determined to sabotage that life-giving project, it fell to the lot of Rex McBride, the world’s most unorthodox detective, to attempt a job at which the government’s daring, well-trained operatives shied.

204 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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The Complete Cabalistic Cases of Semi Dual, the Occult Detector, Volume 2: 1912–13 (The Argosy Library Vol. 19)

by J.U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith

introduction by Garyn Roberts, Ph.D

Pulpdom’s greatest occult detective returns! Volume 2 of the complete reprinting of the Semi Dual series brings three more never-before-reprinted metaphysical, psychological and speculative science adventures, all from the pages of the Munsey pulp magazine, The Cavalier. This volume contains the next three stories: “The Purple Light,” “The Master Mind,” and “Rubies of Doom,” exactly as they were written by Semi Dual creators J.U. Giesy and Junius B. Smith.

328 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

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South of Fifty-Three (The Argosy Library Vol. 20)

by Jack Bechdolt

Written by the author of the post-apocalyptic science-fiction classic, The Torch, Jack Bechdolt penned this fast-paced tale of Alaskan adventure for Argosy All-Story Weekly at the height of that magazine’s popularity.

225 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

 

Other Releases:

Will o’ the Wisp

by H. Bedford-Jones

To horse, ye English captains! In the king’s name, ride! For Brian Desmond, spy for France, takes the Dover road tonight! A superb novel of spies and swords and one of H. Bedford-Jones’ best historicals, as it originally appeared in Argosy Magazine.

241 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

 

 

George Chance: The Ghost Omnibus, Volume 1

by G.T. Fleming-Roberts

Magician George Chance, AKA the crime-fighter known as The Ghost, who has done more in the service of the Law than any other man of his generation. Master of the science of criminology, remorseless crime-tracker and criminal catcher! When The Ghost walks, the underworld stirs into deadly life to combat him. Contains the following stories: “Calling the Ghost” and “The Ghost Strikes Back.”

264 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

 

The Crimson Mask Omnibus Volume 2

by Norman A. Daniels

Part of the early 1940s pulp hero revival, pharmacist Bob Clarke takes on the underworld as The Crimson Mask! Volume 2 contains the next five adventures: “The Crimson Mask and the Vanishing Men,” “The Crimson Mask’s Ghost Trail,” “The Diamond Death Trail,” “The Money Trail,” and “Murders of the Black Rose,” uncut, with all of the original illustrations.

280 pages / $19.95 softcover / $29.95 hardcover

 

The Complete Casebook of Sgt. Brinkhaus

by Frederick Nebel

introduction by Will Murray

Following Kennedy & MacBride, Donahue and Cardigan, Frederick Nebel’s longest-running detective series featured the hard-boiled exploits of Sgt. Otto Herman “Brinky” Brinkhaus and Inspector Peter Larsen of the Portsend Detective Bureau as chronicled in the pages of Detective Action Stories, Dime Detective Magazine, and Detective Fiction Weekly.

389 pages / $29.95 softcover / $39.95 hardcover

 

The Complete Cases of Cardigan (2 Volume Deluxe Edition)

by Frederick Nebel

introduction by Will Murray

Frederick Nebel’s unforgettable character Jack Cardigan was one of the main reasons behind the success of the legendary Dime Detective Magazine. His hard-boiled P.I. stories were a major influence to other writers of the era, yet only a handful have been reprinted since their original 44-story run eighty years ago. This deluxe two-volume contains the entire series of 44 stories, complete and uncut, with an introduction by Will Murray and the original illustrations by John Fleming Gould.

698 pages / 8.5×11″ / $140 hardcover