spicy history stories Archives

Chicago Mail-Order Company even became a footnote to comic book history during the Golden Age.  That journey began with the Daily Story Publishing Company and the literary periodical 10 Story Book.  In later decades, the title became known as part of the spicy pulp category, but it launched with different intentions in mind. 10 Story Book[...]

Never, in fact, since the popularity of the Marquis de Sade, has civilization seen such a plethora of Frankensteinian literature as is now circulating in this land of peace and goodwill." Spicy Mystery Stories – November 1936 (Culture) With that rather lurid opening paragraph from the heart of the Shudder Pulp era, it can only be time[...]

Ogilvie & Co., that company began in 1868. Avon Fantasy Reader #15 (Avon, 1952) Welcome to Spicy History Stories #4, the fourth installment of a weekly column about pulp magazine history that we're launching to coincide with the debut of Heritage Auction's weekly pulp magazine auctions.  Unlike other auction-centric posts we've done here, this column is not necessarily[...]

Unfortunately, some of these players are unidentified, but based current research, Ridgway is most likely back row center or back row, second from left. Welcome to Spicy History Stories #3, the third installment of a weekly column about pulp magazine history that we're launching to coincide with the debut of Heritage Auction's weekly pulp magazine auctions.  Unlike[...]

Warner's Warner Publications.  Mencken and George Jean Nathan edited Smart Set 1914-1923 and also helped escalate this nascent spicy magazine war, initially by launching Parisienne into this same market space in 1915. Parisienne (Warner Publishing), Snappy Stories (New Fiction Publishing Co) Welcome to Spicy History Stories #2, the second installment of a weekly column about pulp magazine history that we're[...]

Shreveport Times, 1928. Welcome to Spicy History Stories #1, the first installment of a weekly column about pulp magazine history that we're launching to coincide with the debut of Heritage Auction's weekly pulp magazine auctions.  Unlike other auction-centric posts we've done here, this column is not necessarily designed to be closely tied to any particular items[...]

The Fiction House story can't be told without distribution pioneer, anti-Prohibition activist, and champion swimmer John W. Glenister.