Read by Tony Scheinman. Liner Notes by Will Murray
Before he became an acclaimed mystery novelist, Bruno Fischer moonlighted as one of the most crafty practitioners of the arcane art of the Weird Menace tale, filling the pages of Terror Tales, Horror Stories and other Popular Publications pulp magazines like a madman.
It was the middle of the Great Depression. Fischer had been writing for left-leaning political pamphlets when inspiration struck:
“During the late spring of 1936 I was in a bar with several newspaper friends and we were discussing how to make a decent living out of the writing racket. Somebody mentioned that he had picked up a little money by turning out pulp. That gave me the idea. I’d never read a pulp magazine. I bought a dozen secondhand copies and spent most of the night reading them. The next day I bought more and the next more. After ten days of studying the various markets, I set out to devote my weekends to pulp.
“In a fit of romanticism I signed the stories with the name I sometimes wrote under in the Socialist Call—Russell Gray. Rogers Terrill rejected the first five I wrote, then bought twenty-four in a row.”
The newly-minted pulp writer soon became so prolific that editor Terrill was scheduling two of his tales in many issues. Fischer signed those yarns, Harrison Storm.
We’ve selected five of these chillers for our latest Terror Tales audiobook, divided between Fischer’s two pseudonyms. It’s particularly grisly feast, for Fischer was penning Weird Menace at its macabre heights, when anything went. But not for long, as the writer once confessed:
“One day sex went out because the British market wouldn’t stand for it, in which case I kept on the clothes of the full-bodied heroine throughout her adventures with dead people who refused to remain in their graves or with merely human fiends. War in Europe and the loss of the foreign market brought sex back, laid on with a trowel. Then clean-up organizations started to throw their weight around and gave editors jitters, and artists and writers were instructed to put panties and brassieres on the girls. But basically the stories remained constant—their sole aim to thrill the reader through violent emotional impacts of fear or sex or both.”
With that admonition in mind, here’s the dark and depraved lineup:
“The House that Horror Built”––a tale of Thoran the Vampire, whose cruel cry is, “Your blood will flow in my veins!”
“A Corpse Wields the Lash”––a dead man takes up the punishing whip of a torturer for a mad murder spree.
“Darlings of the Black Master”–– Who is this human monster who disemboweled beautiful women to satisfy
his insane desires? Can anything save the survivors?
“Valley of the Red Death”––Chief Flying Hawk returns from the grave to wield a tomahawk of terror against modern Americans, their scarlet scalps his grisly trophies.
“The Devil is Our Landlord”––one by one, beautiful young girls vanished from the Rose Hills apartments, only to mysteriously reappear, stripped of their clothes and their sanity. What sinister force commanded these outrages?
This devilish collection of Terror Tales novelettes is read by Tony Scheinman. He hasn’t been heard from since....
The House That Horror Built
by Bruno Fischer writing as Harrison Storm, Read by Tony Scheinman
Chapter 1: God of Vengeance and Terror
Chapter 2: Call of the Blood
Chapter 3: Thoran Is Thirsty
Chapter 4: The Return of Thoran
Chapter 5: Temple of Evil
A Corpse Wields the Lash
by Bruno Fischer writing as Russell Gray, Read by Tony Scheinman
Chapter 1: The House of Doom
Chapter 2: Return of the Dead
Chapter 3: Horror on the Hill
Chapter 4: Vengeance From Hell
Chapter 5: Mask of Death
Darlings of the Black Master
by Bruno Fischer writing as Russell Gray, Read by Tony Scheinman
Chapter 1: The Thing on the Table
Chapter 2: Hell Demands Tribute
Chapter 3: “Strawn Wants Them”
Chapter 4: The Demon
Chapter 5: Woman Without Skin
Valley of the Red Death
by Bruno Fischer writing as Harrison Storm, Read by Tony Scheinman
Chapter 1: Scalped!
Chapter 2: Flying Hawk’s Curse
Chapter 3: The Second Scalp
Chapter 4: Encounter With Horror
Chapter 5: Madman’s Vengeance
The Devil is Our Landlord
by Bruno Fischer writing as Russell Gray, Read by Tony Scheinman
Chapter 1: The Coming of Madness
Chapter 2: Satan’s Apartment House
Chapter 3: Horror at the Door
Chapter 4: Master of Madness
503MB
STORY LINK
Replies
Thanks Dave.
Yum ! Thank you much, Sir !
Thank you!
Many thanks, Dave Miller!
'The Devil is Our Landlord'! Love it!
Thank you so very much. I just love this series of recordings! Radio Archive Rules!
This is delightfully different from this company. I shall really enjoy this. If the readr is as good ans the reader for the other type of story then it will be a true delight. Thank You very much. ------------------------------ R