SSW: MIKE SHAYNE'S TORRID TWELVE edited by Leo Margulies? (and/or Cylvia Kleinman Margulies? Samuel Merwin, Jr.?), Dell Books 1961...a best-of the first four years of MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE, 1956-59; and MINK IS FOR A MINX, of similar possibly ghosted editorial responsibility, the only volume of a would-be annual series, 1964 (and taking stories from 1963 issues): Short Story Wednesday

These are the two, and only two that I'm aware of, volumes drawing expressly from Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine (in its first issues more formally, and with more pages, Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine), founded in 1956, the same year as its longtime "competitor" on newsstands,  Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine; by the folding of a much-diminished Manhunt and the similarly struggling US edition of The Saint Mystery Magazine in 1967, while other, short-lived crime-fiction magazines would arise, the US trio of Ellery Queen's, Hitchcock's and Shayne were the reliable (and always monthly, surprisingly--founded on a 12 issues/year basis, Shayne never dropped to bimonthly nor less-frequent) doses of their various flavors of fiction till Shayne folded with the August 1985 issue (of course, the other two continue to be published at this time, and have long been stablemates). 

If EQMM was the magazine, particularly under founding editor Frederic Dannay, devoted to attempts to encourage literary sophistication in cf (and otherwise to be a wide-spectrum magazine within that field, and a bit beyond, often running some mild horror fiction and other related fiction), and AHMM was the magazine (particularly during its independent existence, before sale to then-EQMM publisher Davis Publications in 1975) devoted, not exclusively but frequently, to twist endings and irony, and was a bit more hardboiled on average and less interested in classic detection than Queen's, MSMM was unabashedly in the hardboiled (and "medium-boiled") detective and cf mode, with (particularly in its last years, as edited by Charles Fritch) an openness to a bit of horror and related fiction as well, throughout its run. But, sadly, Shayne was also invariably the lowest-paying of the trio of US newsstand monthlies...but this meant that it both had to, and was glad to, deal with a lot of younger writers, and some such as Livia J. Washburn, James Reasoner, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Moore, and, earlier on, Bill Pronzini (who placed a lot of his work with AHMM, but would publish another considerable lot with MSMM and its stablemates, often as "Jack Foxx"), either made a notable amount of their earliest sales (James Reasoner is not alone in remembering Sam Merwin, in the first issues and for a longer term again in the '70s, as a particularly helpful editor to James as a young professional writer), or, as in the case of writers such as Talmage Powell, found their primary later market in the magazine. 

Also notable, how little the "original" "Brett Halliday", Davis Dresser, wrote for the magazine...the new "Mike Shayne" fiction in the magazine was regularly ghosted from the beginning.

Cover painting by Robert ("Bob") McGinnis, who contributed covers to the magazine, as well.

The only story I know I'd read previously to looking at these volumes is Robert Bloch's "Water's Edge" (a very good story, as I remember it), from the first issue. 

6 * Foreword * "Brett Halliday" (Davis Dresser) * fw (probably ghosted?)

7 * Death Dives Deep [Mike Shayne], "Brett Halliday" (ghost written by Robert Arthur) * ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine January 1959

62 * The Toy-Head Man · Franklin Gregory · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine August 1959

80 * The Fifth One · D. E. Forbes (DeLoris [Florine] Stanton Forbes) · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine December 1957

91 * The Rites of Death · Hal Ellson · ss Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine October 1956

108 * The Patsy [Johnny Liddell] · Frank Kane · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine August 1957

124 * Water's Edge * Robert Bloch * ss Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 1 No. 1, September 1956] ed. Sam Merwin, Jr. 

145 * Moonflower · Hope Field · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 3 No. 1, April 1958] (35¢, digest)

157 * A Hood Is Born · Richard Deming · nv Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 4 No. 4, March 1959] ed. Cylvia Kleinman (Renown Publications, Inc., 35¢, 128pp+, digest)

191 * The Right Kind of a House · Henry Slesar · ss Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 1 No. 6, February 1957] ed. Leo Margulies (Renown Publications, Inc., 35¢, 160pp+, digest)

200 * Three Wives Too Many · Kenneth Fearing · nv Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 1 No. 1, September 1956] ed. Sam Merwin, Jr. (Renown Publications, Inc., 35¢, 160pp+, digest)

225 * Sunday’s Slaughter · "Jonathan Craig" (Frank E. Smith) · ss Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 1 No. 5, January 1957] ed. Sam Merwin, Jr. (Renown Publications, Inc., 35¢, 160pp+, digest)

242 * The Musical Doll · Helen [nee Weinbaum] Kasson · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 5 No. 2, July 1959] ed. Cylvia Kleinman (Renown Publications, Inc., 35¢, 128pp+, digest)

Can be read here.

Mink is for a Minx: The Best from Mike Shayne's Mystery Magazine, 1st Annual Edition [and, apparently, last] Dell Books, 1964, cover by Robert McGinnis.

9 * Death of a Dead Man [Mike Shayne] · Brett Halliday (ghost written by Dennis Lynds) · nv Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 13 No. 1, June 1963]

47 * Partners of the Dark [Phil Egan] · Alson J. Smith · nv Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 12 No. 6, May 1963] 

61 * Truck Drivers Like Girls · Dorothy Madle · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 13 No. 5, October 1963] ed. Cylvia Kleinman (Renown Publications, Inc., 35¢, 128pp+, digest)

93 * Murder Slick as a Whistle · Arthur Porges · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 13 No. 4, September 1963]

100 * The Marrow of Justice [Victor Fiala] · Hal Ellson · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 12 No. 6, May 1963]

105 * Man on the Run · Dennis Lynds · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 12 No. 4, March 1963]

123 * Death, My Love · "John Douglas" (Dennis Lynds) (as Phil Stephensen-Payne notes, and Terry Zobeck reminds me to mention)  · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 12 No. 3, February 1963]

137 * Mink Is for a Minx [Chip Stack] · Tighe Jarratt · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 12 No. 4, March 1963]

152 * Murder of an Unknown Man · James Holding · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 13 No. 3, August 1963] ed. Cylvia Kleinman (Renown Publications, Inc., 35¢, digest, cover by Robert Maguire

162 * Corpus Delicti · Talmage Powell · ss Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine [Vol. 13 No. 3, August 1963] ed. Cylvia Kleinman 

The April 1963 issue of MSMM can be read here (though none of the collected stories in this volume were taken from that issue); the May issue here; the June '63 issue here.

Previous citations: Kevin Burton Smith (with L. J. Washburn and others)

Bev Hankins: Mink is for a Minx

J. Michael Pierce's better images of the Torrid Twelve front and back covers, the latter in tribute to Bill Crider's memory (and Back Cover meme on his blog).

For more of today's short story reviews, please see Patti Abbott's blog.

Short Story Wednesday, Guest Post: Paul Di Filippo: THRILLING WONDER STORIES, Winter 1945, edited by Sam Merwin, Jr.

[TM notes: Paul posted this review in FictionMags, and it's reprinted with his permission. It should be noted that this was Sam Merwin's first issue of the magazine, after it had been edited by perhaps its worst editor, Oscar J. Friend, for several years.]

Over the course of many weeks, I read a few pages each night of this zine:

Contents (view Concise Listing)

• 6 • The Reader Speaks (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945) • [The Reader Speaks] • essay by Sergeant Saturn
• 8 •  Letter (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945): Clamor for Kennedy • essay by Joe Kennedy
• 11 • Fog Over Venus • novella by Arthur K. Barnes
• 11 •  Fog Over Venus • interior artwork by Wilbur Thomas
• 13 •  Fog Over Venus [2] • interior artwork by Wilbur Thomas
• 17 •  Fog Over Venus [3] • interior artwork by Wilbur Thomas
• 37 • Castaways in Two Dimensions • short story by Frank Belknap Long
• 37 •  Castaways in Two Dimensions • interior artwork by M. Marchioni [as by Marchioni]
• 46 • Pi in the Sky • novelette by Fredric Brown
• 47 •  Pi in the Sky • interior artwork by uncredited
• 60 • Scientifacts (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945) • [Scientifacts] • essay by uncredited
• 63 • Stop, Thief! • short story by Fox B. Holden
• 63 •  Stop, Thief! • interior artwork by M. Marchioni [as by Marchioni]
• 65 • Meet the Author of This Story (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945) • essay by Fox B. Holden
• 67 • Wonders of War (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945) • [Wonders of War] • essay by uncredited
• 68 • I Get Off Here • short story by Oscar J. Friend [as by Ford Smith]
• 68 •  I Get Off Here • interior artwork by Wilbur Thomas
• 76 • They Sculp • short story by Frank Belknap Long [as by Leslie Northern]
• 76 •  They Sculp • interior artwork by M. Marchioni [as by Marchioni]
• 85 • You'll See a Pink House • short story by Wilm Carver
• 85 •  You'll See a Pink House • interior artwork by uncredited
• 92 • De Profundis • short story by Murray Leinster
• 92 •  De Profundis • interior artwork by Paul Orban
• 92 •  De Profundis • interior artwork by uncredited
• 99 •  Letter (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945): Come the Hungry Critics • essay by Chad Oliver
• 102 •  Letter (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945): Who's Satan? • essay by Austin Hamel
• 108 •  Letter (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945): He Gives Us the Edge • essay by Millard Grimes
• 111 • The Story Behind the Story: Fog Over Venus • essay by Arthur K. Barnes

[to read this issue at the Luminist Archives]

[to read the issue at the Internet Archive]

I'll try to reconstruct a few thoughts.  Overall, I have to say this was a humdrum, just good-enough issue, with a couple of stinkers.

First, the cover is an accurate depiction of an event in "Fog Over Venus"--except that in the text, no women are involved, just burly construction workers.  But of course, the gal makes for a better cover.

• 6 • The Reader Speaks (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Winter 1945) • essay by Sergeant Saturn [sic--an editorial fiction, soon banished by new editor Merwin. TM]

The character of Sergeant Saturn, ringleader of the letters column, is absolutely bonkers.  His speech reads nowadays like someone suffering from glossolalia and fantastical delusions:

"Careful with the Xeno jug, Frogeyes, you're spoiling my space vest--and with dry-cleaners shot to Pluto and gone.  That's better, but less noise please. Old Wart-Ears is after my scalp since last issue."

I detect in this banter full of in-jokes and specialized jargon the roots of what Stan Lee did in his heyday at Marvel Comics. "Listen up, pilgrims--nuff said!"  I wonder if Lee was raised on TWS and other pulps of its ilk. [Seems likely. I will note my own first exposure to the characters gave "Wart-Ears"'s name as "Wartears", and I wasn't at all sure, given the era, that he/its name wasn't essentially "War-Tears"... TM]

In any case, though, these letter writers sure are lively and opinionated. They obviously go through a lot of work to compose their responses, all for egoboo and the glory of SF and TWS.  Most famous name [among the letter-writers] this time around is Chad Oliver.

Maybe modern zines should have such a fictional mascot. I fondly recall Pedro the Mule from my Boy's Life days. And of course the EC Comics horror figures, The Old Witch, etc.

F&SF could have "Old Sally Sturgeon, widow to one of the first Martian settlers." Asimov's could have "R. Tarheel Oliphant, cybernetic circus performer."  I don't know, I'm sure the Assembled Here can think up better mascots.

Lightspeed could have Tacky Yon, sentient photon.

• 11 • "Fog Over Venus" • novella by Arthur K. Barnes

Dueling entrepreneurs fight to tame the hell of Venus with a reliable transport system.  Explicit reference to Barnes's "Interplanetary Hunter".  Vivid, but a little drawn out.  The great men duke it out while the grunts do all the work.  Reprinted once, in 1955.

• 37 • "Castaways in Two Dimensions" • short story by Frank Belknap Long

Dan and Joan crash land on an asteroid, then enter the "Ul Dimension" with their robot Knobby.  The inhabitant of this space threatens, but they escape.  Ends with Joan kissing Knobby:  "a kiss so wet and vehement, it almost short-circuited him..."  Never reprinted.

• 46 • "Pi in the Sky" • novelette by Fredric Brown

The constellations start changing shape, confounding humanity.  They eventually form an advertising jingle. But our hero uncovers the fact that it was all a global illusion. Reprinted often.

• 63 • "Stop, Thief!" • short story by Fox B. Holden

Ostensibly humorous short-short about an alien--Fuj--who wants to steal the Earth. Human hero stymies him, then send him to bother the Japs. Never reprinted.

• 68 • "I Get Off Here" • short story by Oscar J. Friend [as by Ford Smith]

In the 22nd century, the villain Hermes threatens nastiness via teleportation rays, but is stymied by Devore Ragon, operative of "the Solar Observance System, famous detective agency." But Hermes does escape, opening up room for a sequel, natch. Never reprinted.

• 76 • "They Sculp" • short story by Frank Belknap Long [as by Leslie Northern]

A little girl's father-inventor opens an interdimensional portal, and she and a local hobo go through it, to confront the resident aliens.  "It looked not unlike an enormous mummified bullfrog, agate-eyed and with folds of dead-black flesh..."  But the aliens are aesthetes, and the humans finally flee with an extremely valuable sculpture. The end. Never reprinted.

• 85 • "You'll See a Pink House" • short story by Wilm Carver

Our hero is the only one--thanks to brain damage--who can see a certain pink house. Everyone else thinks he's crazy. But he investigates and finds that the pink house is itself an alien entity, that there are millions around the globe, and that they suck elan vital from humans. The pink house kills the narrator, but he survives in astral form. He eventually descends into the the body of one Wilm Carver, SF author, types up the narrative we are reading--as a warning--then drifts off into the ether. Never reprinted.

• 92 • "De Profundis" • short story by "Murray Leinster"

Deep-sea sentient creatures exist, unknown to humanity--until a record-breaking bathyscaph penetrates, before encountering potential destruction. Inside are a husband and wife--as in Long's asteroid story--and the benthic creature can read their minds. He takes a liking to them and carries them to the surface, at some cost to himself. However, when he returns down below, he is regarded as crazy, imagining non-aquatic life. Much reprinted.

• 111 • The Story Behind the Story: "Fog Over Venus" • essay by Arthur K. Barnes

This listing only partial, since Brown also contributes a few paragraphs about his story.

--Paul Di Filippo

Copyright © 2023 by Paul Di Filippo (on LJ)

For more of today's SSW reviews, please see Patti Abbott's blog.