Abridged scan of Weird Tales volume 42 number 4 (May 1950). The pulp magazine's copyright was not renewed but "The Last Three Ships" by Margaret St. Clair and "The Man on B-17" by August Derleth (as Stephen Grendon) were renewed individually and are still under copyright. Therefore, pages 70-73 and 82-85 have been redacted. The remainder of the magazine is in the public domain.

On November 2nd armed with a sheaf of visas...one suitcase...and my typewriter, I left humdrum London for the thrilling cities of the world...In 1959, Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was commissioned by the Sunday Times to explore fourteen of the world's most exotic cities. Fleming saw it all with a thriller writer's eye. From Hong Kong to Honolulu, New York to Naples, he left the bright main streets for the back alleys, abandoning tourist sites in favour of underground haunts, and mingling with celebrities, gangsters and geishas. The result is a series of vivid snapshots of a mysterious, vanished world.Review"An accomplished travel writer" Scotsman "He gathered material for his novels like a voracious travelling magpie: the people and places Fleming experienced on his Thrilling Cities tour in 1959 would [furnish] much of the backdrop and research for the five Bond novels and seven short stories that would follow" The Times "Fleming was a fine travel writer, too (check out Thrilling Cities), and we quickly come to know and appreciate the locales in the book as we do the characters" Daily Telegraph "Fleming describes food precisely and enticingly" Independent "[Fleming's] penchant for fast cars, stylish hotels, expensive alcohol and bizarre encounters brings a whiff of excitement to the narrative, which is vivid, shocking and exuberant by turns" Good Book Guide About the AuthorIan Fleming was born in London on May 28, 1908. He was educated at Eton College and later spent a formative period studying languages in Europe. His first job was with Reuters News Agency where a Moscow posting gave him firsthand experience with what would become his literary bête noire—the Soviet Union. During World War II he served as Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence and played a key role in Allied espionage operations.After the war, he worked as foreign manager of the Sunday Times, a job that allowed him to spend two months each year in Jamaica. Here, in 1952, at his home “Goldeneye,” he wrote a book called Casino Royale—and James Bond was born. The first print run sold out within a month. For the next twelve years Fleming produced a novel a year featuring Special Agent 007, the most famous spy of the century. The Bond novels have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide, boosted by the hugely suc­cessful film franchise that began in 1962 with the release of Dr. No. His travels, interests, and wartime experience lent authority to everything he wrote. Based on those experiences, he wrote two pieces of nonfiction—Thrilling Cities and The Diamond Smugglers.He married Anne Rothermere in 1952. His story about a magical car, written in 1961 for their only son, Caspar, went on to become the well-loved novel and film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Fleming died of heart failure on August 12, 1964, at the age of fifty-six. www.ianfleming.com

As the super patriot and war veteran who’s bankrolling Britain’s top-secret Moonraker rocket program, Sir Hugo Drax should be above reproach. But there’s more to this enigmatic millionaire than he lets on. When M suspects Drax of cheating at cards in an exclusive gentleman’s club, he sends Bond in to investigate. But exposing the deception only enrages Drax—and now 007 must outwit an angry man with the power to loose a nuclear warhead on London. The mysterious death of the head of security at Drax’s missile base gives Bond the perfect opportunity to go undercover to find out the secret agenda of the supposed British war hero. With the help of another agent, the lustrous Gala Brand, 007 learns the truth about Drax’s battle scars, his wartime allegiances—and his murderous plans for the deployment of Moonraker.ReviewIrresistibly readable Observer About the AuthorIan Fleming was born in London on May 28, 1908. He was educated at Eton College and later spent a formative period studying languages in Europe. His first job was with Reuters News Agency where a Moscow posting gave him firsthand experience with what would become his literary bete noire—the Soviet Union. During World War II he served as Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence and played a key role in Allied espionage operations. After the war he worked as foreign manager of the Sunday Times, a job that allowed him to spend two months each year in Jamaica. Here, in 1952, at his home “Goldeneye,” he wrote a book called Casino Royale—and James Bond was born. The first print run sold out within a month. For the next twelve years Fleming produced a novel a year featuring Special Agent 007, the most famous spy of the century. His travels, interests, and wartime experience lent authority to everything he wrote. Raymond Chandler described him as “the most forceful and driving writer of thrillers in England.” Sales soared when President Kennedy named the fifth title, From Russia With Love, one of his favorite books. The Bond novels have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide, boosted by the hugely successful film franchise that began in 1962 with the release of Dr. No. He married Anne Rothermere in 1952. His story about a magical car, written in 1961 for their only son Caspar, went on to become the well- loved novel and film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Fleming died of heart failure on August 12, 1964, at the age of fifty-six.

In his “North Africa” trilogy Mack Reynolds argues that a future African continent abandoned by the rest of the world might achieve prosperity if it were unified and brought under the control of a benevolent dictator—here, African-American sociologist Homer Crawford, who under the name of El Hassan strives for “the uniting and modernization of the continent of my racial heritage.” Serialized in Analog magazine Dec 1961–Jan 1962, but was not published in book form until 1972.

In London under the fog of war, a 10-year-old Jewish girl is murdered. The police have no clues and little interest, so crusader Asta Thundesley takes up the challenge, sifting through clues and gathering up suspects for a dinner party where...nothing is learned. Detective Turpin goes by the book, and finds himself with a stunning set...of dead ends. Fascinating example of life’s perils by author Kersh (Night and the City), who reminds for every winner, there can be a ton of losers.

The story, which Tenn described as having been inspired by the Korean War, portrays Earth as the battleground between two powerful alien races, the Troxxt and the Dendi, who repeatedly “liberate” it from each other. The Earth was nearly destroyed in process and abandoned by both parties.

From a beloved master of crime fiction, "Dress Her in Indigo" is one of many classic novels featuring Travis McGee, the hard-boiled detective who lives on a houseboat. Travis McGee could never deny his old friend anything. So before Meyer even says please, McGee agrees to accompany him to Mexico to reconstruct the last mysterious months of a young woman's life--on a fat expense account provided by the father who has lost touch with her. They think she's fallen in with the usual post-teenage misfits and rebels. What they find is stranger, kinkier, and far more deadly. "To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen."--Kurt Vonnegut All Meyer's friend wants to know is whether his daughter was happy before she died in a car accident south of the border. But when McGee and Meyer step foot in the hippie enclave in Oaxaca that had become Bix Bowie's last refuge, they get more than they bargained for. Not only had Bix made a whole group of dangerous, loathsome friends, but she was also mixed up in trafficking heroin into the United States. By the time she died, she was a shell of her former self. And the more McGee looks into things, the less accidental Bix's death starts to seem. Features a new Introduction by Lee Child

"An East Coast feminist clashes with a stubborn Texan in Vivian Vaughan's wild west adventure. Hop aboard for a humorous and poignant ride. " —RT BOOK REVIEWSWhen Madolyn Sinclair, Secretary of the Boston Woman Suffrage Society, steps off the train in Buckhorn, Texas, she doesn't know there is a right and wrong side of the tracks. Madolyn has come to this god-forsaken land with three purposes: to find her runaway brother Morley, secure her inheritance, and return to Boston to organize a Center for Women's Rights. What she had not expected to find in this windswept land—or anywhere—was love: Madolyn Sinclair has dedicated herself to teaching submissive women from all walks of life that they don't need men. Then she meets Tyler Grant, her brother's erstwhile business partner, who offers to take her to Morley's ranch. She reluctantly accepts, and Tyler takes her on a wagon ride she will never forget. But Tyler has an ulterior motive, and he's caught a tantalizing...

The galaxy had forgotten war and evil-until the man without a past intervened.

An old friend draws barman Mac McCorkle into a deadly international gameAs the saying goes, you can’t pick your friends. If you could, Mac McCorkle would disown Padilla. They owned a bar together in Bonn, the West German capital, and stayed partners even after Padilla’s sideline as a CIA operative got the bar blown up. Padilla was thought to be dead and erased from the CIA’s files—but now he’s back on the agency’s turf.Mac moved to Washington, DC, after the trouble in Bonn to get married and open his bar anew. His new bride is beautiful, the bar is a success, and Padilla’s reappearance threatens everything. A group of African terrorists want Padilla to assassinate the prime minister of their small sub-Saharan republic—and they’ve kidnapped Mac’s wife to use as leverage.Review“Ross Thomas is without peer in American suspense.” — The Los Angeles Times “What Elmore Leonard does for crime in the streets, Ross Thomas does for crime in the suites.” —The Village Voice “Ross Thomas is that rare phenomenon, a writer of suspense whose novels can be read with pleasure more than once.” —Eric Ambler, author of The Mask of DimitriosAbout the AuthorThe winner of the inaugural Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award, Ross Thomas (1926–1995) was a prolific author whose political thrillers drew praise for their blend of wit and suspense. Born in Oklahoma City, Thomas grew up during the Great Depression, and served in the Philippines during World War II. After the war, he worked as a foreign correspondent, public relations official, and political strategist before publishing his first novel, The Cold War Swap (1967), based on his experience working in Bonn, Germany. The novel was a hit, winning Thomas an Edgar Award for Best First Novel and establishing the characters Mac McCorkle and Mike Padillo. Thomas followed it up with three more novels about McCorkle and Padillo, the last of which was published in 1990. He wrote nearly a book a year for twenty-five years, occasionally under the pen name Oliver Bleeck, and won the Edgar Award for Best Novel with Briarpatch (1984). Thomas died of lung cancer in California in 1995, a year after publishing his final novel, Ah, Treachery!

When orphaned Elinor Rosslyn is confronted by handsome Stafford Darville with news that her Portugese grandfather has died, Elinor is amazed, unaware she had relatives. She travels to Portugal to meet her grandmother, Contessa da Milaveira, and heal the family rift. At the Palacio, though by law she has a right to live there, she finds her life in danger. Who is her enemy? Gothic Romance by Nancy Buckingham; originally published by Robert Hale

An old well that might be magic affords an exciting summer for the twins, James and Laura, and helps them to right an ancient wrong.