Reading Rumble Round 22

 

Prolific pulpsmith Arthur J. Burks enters the squared circle.

Satan's Lash by Arthur J. Burks
Horror Stories, September 1935

A young woman is forced into marriage by her uncle to an older man, both of whom are whip wielding religious zealots, and is checked into a perverse mental hospital.

The Man Who Dreamed by Joe Lansdale
The Horror Show, Fall 1984

Light piece of a man warning a family of prophetic visions

The Web of La Sanguinaire by Ron Kelly
Deathrealm, Summer 1988

Rich jerk hunts for swamp spiders.

Nunc Dimittis by Roald Dahl
Colliers, September 1953

A portrait artist of high society women paints his subjects in layers, first nude, then in their underwear, then fully clothed. A prankster takes advantage of this situation. More concept than resolution.

Lansdale is knocked over the ropes and barely clings on to the ring apron.

Reading Rumble Round 21

Shirley Jackson has always been in the ring.

The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson
Come Along With Me, 1968

Small town busybody sends anonymous letters accusing townsfolk of various ills.

Duck Hunt by Joe Lansdale
After Midnight, 1986

A boy enters the rites of manhood at a "duck" hunt.

Pink Elephants by Robert Bloch
Strange Stories, August 1939

A man is driven to drink and haunted by pink elephants after stealing a treasure from the temple of Ganesh. A long way to go to justify pink elephants, and not much more to the story.

Poison by Roald Dahl
Collier's, June 1950

Suspense classic of a man in bed with a poisonous snake under the covers with him. Suffers somewhat for not being as good as Hitchcock's adaptation.

Yea, Though I Drive by Ron Kelly
Dark Dixie: Tales of Southern Horror, 1991

Hitchhiking serial killer tale with more false finishes than a Flair/Steamboat match.

Bloch goes flying out of the ring, taking Jackson with him.

Reading Rumble Tag Team Title Match Round 3 - Startling Detective Adventures vs Thrilling Detective

Startling Detective Adventures - Trapped by the Bandit Terror by A.M. Thompson

Blow by blow car chase of robbers carjacking a woman and child and driving around Milwaukee.

Thrilling Detective - Killer Cure by Victor K. Ray

A cop follows an old flame to find a killer on the lam. Starts moody but turns saccharine.

Startling Detective takes the third fall and retains the championship.

Reading Rumble Tag Team Title Match Round 2 - Startling Detective Adventures vs Thrilling Detective

Startling Detective Adventures - Kansas City's Wildcat by Wayne Sprague

20s bandit uses appeals to delay the inevitable.

Thrilling Detective - Crepe for Suzette by C.S. Montayne

Journalist deduces the only suspect did a murder.

Second fall goes to Startling Detective

Reading Rumble Tag Team Title Match Round 1 - Startling Detective Adventures vs Thrilling Detective

Startling Detective Adventures - The Masked Bomber by Edith Salt

A masked man brings a bomb into the LA police station demanding that the Pacific Electric Railway raises wages. The bomb gets defused the old fashioned way - by punching it out.

Thrilling Detective - Don't Tell Anyone by J. Lane Linklater

A PI is hired to place a bet on a losing horse.

First fall to Startling Detective

Reading Rumble Tag Team Title Match - Startling Detective Adventures vs Thrilling Detective

 

Defending champion Startling Detective Adventures (Vol 5 No 26, July 1930) faces off with Thrilling Detective (Vol 5 No ,1 September 1949, British Edition), three falls to a finish!

Reading Rumble Round 20

Roald Dahl returns to the TFC ring.

Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat by Roald Dahl
Nugget, 1959

A cheating spouse plots to explain an expensive gift from her lover.

Forever Angels by Ron Kelly
Cemetery Dance, December 1988

A girl moves in next to a child cemetery.

The Beasts of Barsac by Robert Bloch
Weird Tales, July 1944

Postmodernish tale of a mad scientist and his unholy experiments.

Walks by Joe Lansdale
Cemetery Dance, #27, Fall 1997

A man follows his estranged son on his mysterious nightly walk.

All authors stay in the ring.