by John Gregory Betancourt, Robert E. Howard, E. Hoffmann Price
She looked at him in surprise.
"Then I'm not your prisoner?"
He laughed.
"I think you can help Feisal more by carrying out your original instructions of supplying misleading information to the Turks! I don't blame you for not confiding even in me. You have my deepest admiration, for you're playing the most dangerous game a woman can."
"Oh!” She felt a sudden warm flood of relief and gladness that he should know she was not really an enemy. Musa was well out of earshot. “I might have known you were high enough in Feisal's councils to know that I really am—"
"Gloria Willoughby, the cleverest, most daring secret agent the British government employs,” he murmured. The girl impulsively placed her slender fingers in his, and hand in hand they went down the slope together.
ALWAYS COMES EVENING
by Robert E. Howard
Riding down the road at evening with the stars for steed and shoon
I have heard an old man singing underneath a copper moon;
"God, who gemmed with topaz twilights, opal portals of the day,
"On your amaranthine mountains, why make human souls of clay?
"For I rode the moon-mare's horses in the glory of my youth,
"Wrestled with the hills at sunset—till I met brass-tinctured Truth.
"Till I saw the temples topple, till I saw the idols reel,
"Till my brain had turned to iron, and my heart had turned to steel.
"Satan, Satan, brother Satan, fill my soul with frozen fire;
"Feed with hearts of rose-white women ashes of my dead desire.
"For my road runs out in thistles and my dreams have turned to dust.
"And my pinions fade and falter to the raven-wings of rust.
"Truth has smitten me with arrows and her hand is in my hair—
"Youth, she hides in yonder mountains—go and seek her, if you dare!
"Work your magic, brother Satan, fill my brain with fiery spells.
"Satan, Satan, brother Satan, I have known your fiercest Hells."
Riding down the road at evening when the wind was on the sea,
I have heard an old man singing, and he sang most drearily.
Strange to hear, when dark lakes shimmer to the wailing of the loon,
Amethystine Homer singing under evening's copper moon.
THE MORGUE
by Our Readers
Dan Nelson writes:
Just finished the book edition [of #3] and I was impressed with the range of the writing. I was kind of expecting some fast paced stories but I found a good variety of tales, “Forbidden Fruit” and “Moon-Calves” especially. “Pirates’ Gold” was more in line with what I expected and was a real good read. Thanks. ("Floating Island,” by Philip M. Fisher, was pretty cool too.)
Thanks, Dan. We try to include a wide variety of stories in every issue of ADVENTURE TALES. Let us know what you liked in this one, too!—The Editor.
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Nick Kismet writes:
I was pleased to discover that the pulp genre is still alive, if very inconspicuous.
I can't seem to find any information about submission of new content. Is Adventure Tales open to new fiction from unpublished talent (and I use that term loosely) or is it mostly a venue for reprinted classics?
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Unfortunately, ADVENTURE TALES is going to be mostly reprints. The one fictional exception may be a novel by Mike Resnick, which we are talking about serializing. It's the fourth of his Lucifer Jones books ... which falls smack dab in the middle of what we're trying to do with AT.—The Editor.
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W.M. Mott writes:
Recently I was contacted by a guy representing a web-based magazine called “Adventure Fiction."
He solicited stories and artwork, and an interview, then disappeared. Even his web site vanished.
Has anyone here heard of this “web magazine"? Was it perhaps in conflict with your Adventure Tales magazine?
Any info would be appreciated.
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I have never heard of this web zine, and I can assure you that its disappearance had nothing to do with ADVENTURE TALES. We encourage all new publications dealing with adventure fiction, pulp fiction ... or come to think of it, fiction of any kind!
Any reader with information about this lost publication should feel free to post a note to W.M. Mott about it on the ADVENTURE TALES message board at: www.wildsidepress.com —The Editor.
THE END
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Visit ebooks.wildsidebooks.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.