Sun 10 Feb 2013
A Western Fiction Review: J. ALLAN DUNN – The Girl of Ghost Mountain.
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Reviews[5] Comments
J. ALLAN DUNN – The Girl of Ghost Mountain. Small Maynard Co., hardcover, 1921. Serialized in Western Story Magazine in four parts, beginning with the 16 September 1920 issue; reprinted (I believe) as “The Ghost Mountain Girl†in Far West Stories, beginning with the July 1929 issue. Also currently available in various POD and ebook/online versions.
Although I’ve billed this as a western novel in the heading for this review, The Girl of Ghost Mountain is much more a romance novel that takes place in the West. The date is never quite specified, but at the time it was written, it had to be the contemporaneous West.
Prohibition is mentioned, for example, and the occasional automobile shows up or is made reference to. But there are plenty of cattle and horses too, so don’t be at all concerned in that regard. It’s still the West, although perhaps not the Frontier West.
Pete Sheridan is the new owner of the Circle S ranch, fresh from the east but acclimating to the west in fine fashion, while “Red†Jackson is his right hand man. They make a good team together, facing down bad guys with precision and aplomb, but they’re no match at all to the charms of the two ladies (one slimsy, the other near Amazonian) who settle in a hidden valley behind a waterfall up in the foothills of Ghost Mountain.
The first two thirds of the book is the more interesting, as Red and Sherdian settle the hash of the main villain, a fellow named Hollister, an evil one through and through. Once he’s been vanquished and for good, with another 90 pages still to go, a stoic and enigmatic Chinese gentleman who’s been serving as their cook leads the pair to a cache of hidden gold.
The path is not without its perils, but they are all easily overcome, as we (the reader) know at once will happen, including the prospects in the end (without giving anything at all away, I’m sure) of a double wedding soon in the offing.
All things considered, while I enjoyed reading this one, something that kept niggling my mind is that a story entitled “The Ghost of Girl Mountain” might have had even greater possibilities, even though it’s obviously not the one Dunn intended. Sit back and think about it.
February 11th, 2013 at 12:21 am
WESTERN STORY became a pulp with the September 5, 1919 issue and came out every two weeks for about a year. It was then obvious that Street & Smith had a hit on their hands and the October 7, 1920 issue that Steve shows is the first weekly issue. It maintained the weekly schedule for over 22 years until WW II paper restrictions caused the magazine to go back to every two weeks.
I recently bought another extensive run of WESTERN STORY to upgrade my set and fill in some issues I needed. Once again, I was amazed at the enormous amount of reading matter that this pulp made available every year. 52 issues a year and over 1250 issues total during 1919-1949.
WESTERN STORY was one of the great pulp best sellers during the 1920’s and 1930’s.
February 11th, 2013 at 4:04 am
A Western from the early Twenties ! Back then, there were still a lot of people around, who actually had LIVED in the ‘Wild West ‘ .
The Doc
February 11th, 2013 at 7:46 am
Yes, for instance if a man was 70 in the 1920’s, then that meant he was born in the 1850’s and witnessed the trail drives, indian wars, Civil War, and the great expansion of the West.
Often the magazine letter columns had correspondence from old timers talking about great gunfights and events that they had seen.
February 11th, 2013 at 8:35 am
WOW, Walker !
The Doc
February 11th, 2013 at 9:14 am
Knowing that I’m unlikely to read this book again, I’ve placed it up for sale on Amazon. The asking price is $10.95, but if you send me an email mentioning you saw the review here, I’ll extend you a cash refund of $2.00.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00085U6TW