Saturday, May 20, 2017

Free OSR Appendix 'S' Science Fantasy Download - Thrilling Wonder Stories v11n01 (1938 02) For Your Old School Campagin

Appendix S has been my go to science fantasy index of stories, classic pulp era novellas, & perfect fodder for an old solar system campaign. This brings me to Thrilling Wonder Stories, this was one of the Pines magazine line & according to Wiki ;"Pines' magazines included several with "Thrilling" in the title, such as Thrilling Detective and Thrilling Love Stories. These were run by Leo Margulies, who had hired Mort Weisinger (among others) as the workload increased in the early 1930s. Weisinger was already an active science fiction fan, and when Wonder Stories was acquired, Margulies involved him in the editorial work. Margulies' group worked as a team, with Margulies listed as editor-in-chief on the magazines and having final say. However, since Weisinger knew science fiction well, Weisinger was quickly given more leeway, and bibliographers generally list Weisinger as the editor for this period of the magazine's history.[37] The title was changed to Thrilling Wonder Stories to match the rest of the "Thrilling" line. The first issue appeared in August 1936—four months after the last Gernsback Wonder Stories appeared.[13][37] Wonder Stories had been monthly until the last few Gernsback issues; Thrilling Wonder was launched on a bimonthly schedule.[13] In February 1938 Weisinger asked for reader feedback regarding the idea of a companion magazine; the response was positive, and in January 1939 the first issue of Startling Stories appeared, alternating months with Thrilling Wonder"
Pines magazines were a cut above the rest of the pulp lines of the thirties specializing in some really interesting space fantasy which at the time was the sort of adventure based science fiction that we've come to love today. Today we're going to be talking about
Thrilling Wonder Stories v11n01 (1938 02) 
With a cover by Howard V.Brown that screams pulptastic adventure.  This issue has all of the space ship action, lost continent weirdness, & extra solar strangeness that I love to throw into my old school sword and planet adventures. 
We start off this issue with a story by one of the masters of the Lovecraft circle Frank Belknap Long is known for the author of The Hounds of Tindalos. There was a lot more to his mythos output with," the
"The Horror from the Hills", a story serialised in 1931 in Weird Tales and one of Long's best-known works, incorporated almost verbatim a dream H.P. Lovecraft related to him (among other correspondents) in a letter. The short novel was published many years later in separate book form by Arkham House in 1963 - The Horror from the Hills.

Frank Belknap Long, date unknown
In the late 1930s, Long turned his hand to science fiction, writing for Astounding Science Fiction. He also contributed horror stories to Unknown, later called Unknown Worlds. Long contributed an episode (along with C.L. Moore, Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft) to the round-robin story "The Challenge from Beyond" (1935)." We the Invisible is a good solid entry into the short story round with potential for old school adventure potential. Alchemy Of Outer Space By D.L. James is the sort of a story that one finds in Thrilling Adventures has several leads that I'd use to flesh out the Hyperboreans in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. Did you ever want to know how to treat immortals in sword & planet old school adventures? Otto Binder's Anton York stories have some of the answers and are easy to go through. They are great fodder for trans cosmic entities in your old school games.
"Anton York is a man of tomorrow. He has discovered the secret of voluntary suspended animation and requires no food or air. He can live where he pleases, when he pleases, for as long as he wants. Somewhere in the dim future ages, this man-made God must die"
What happens when a remanent of Atlantis collides with one of the piece of 'Old Earth' via a nineteen twenties style adventurer and his crew?
Zones of Space a  novelette by Max C. Sheridan has all of this material and more. Its one of the highlights of this issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories and a perfect piece of fodder for AS&SH meets Raiders! of the Lost Artifacts. Via Asteroid is a  short story by Otto Binder writing as Gordon A. Giles 
and has all of the material for a Clark Ashton Smith style mini campaign setting among the asteroid belt. There's some great stuff here from monsters to micro factions all waiting to be used!

  Manly Wade Wellman delivers a perfect match up story with  Dream Dust from Mars which makes an excellent Warriors of the Red Planet/Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea adventure fodder piece. This one has elements of Leigh Brackett & that Martian underworld that we've come to expect of Old Mars.

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