Short Fiction Various: Past Masters 276, v1, 16 Oct 2026

[Pulpmeister]

18 Stories, some quite long, in the Life+70 yrs public domain. The Aleister Crowley is a curiosity, him being best remembered as an occultist and cult leader, and while presented by the author as a detective story, is probably infused with his occult teachings. Another one of interest is by Owen Wister, the New Yorker who wrote the seminal western "The Virginian", in which the leading character was always known just as "The Virginian", without a name, and which included the unimprovable line "When you call me that, smile!" It became a popular TV series in the heyday of TV westerns. His short story in this issue is also a Western, but without The Virginian.

1: The Stratagem / Aleister Crowley
2: The Wreck / Charles Dickens
3: The Proud Spaniard / Ed. Ward
4: The Spectre Bridegroom / William Hunt
5: The Tortoiseshell Princess / E. Phillips Oppenheim
6: Snapshall's Youngest / George Gissing
7: Boy and Bowser / E. S. Sorenson
8: A Good Turn / Mark Hellinger
9: The Apparition of Burling Court / R. Austin Freeman
10: On the Central / W. Pett Ridge
11: Christmas Afternoon / Robert Benchley
12: Thirst / Louis Arthur Cunningham
13: Post-Mortem / Barry Pain
14: Little Old Scaffold / Owen Wister
15: A Matter of Taste / F Anstey
16: mehitabel s extensive past / Don Marquis
17: The Grisly Horror / Robert E. Howard
18: A Story Told by the Sea / W. C. Morrow

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