Mon 28 Jun 2021
Pulp Stories I’m Reading: ARTHUR LEO ZAGAT “Man of Graniteâ€.
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Stories I'm Reading[9] Comments
ARTHUR LEO ZAGAT “Man of Granite.†Novella. Published in Dime Mystery Magazine, August 1948. Probably never reprinted.
Back in August, 1948, Dime Mystery Magazine cost fifteen cents. (I don’t know how they got around that, but they did.) It had been around since December, 1932, as Dime Mystery Book, and lasted until October 1950, by which time it was known as 15 Mystery Stories. The stories throughout its run were often a blend of mystery and supernatural fiction, with the latter usually explained away in the final two paragraphs.
The cover of this issue shows a man being subdued by a cloaked and hooded figure in black, with chalk-white hands holding a knife to the victim’s throat, but to me, it’s not as horrifying a sight as it might seem. It’s effective but just little too static for me, especially for a pulp cover. You opinion may vary.
The lead story, “Man of Granite,†by Arthur Leo Zagat, takes place during a single night that a young babysitter named Arlene Morgan is not likely to forget. Ever.
Why don’t I quote to you the first paragraph? It’ll do two things. It’ll set the stage more than I could in simply telling you about it, and it’ll also show you exactly how a pulp story almost always began: right at the begin, daring you, if you will, to put the magazine down before it’s over. (And these were also the day when authors who lost their readers were also authors who were soon out looking for another line of work.)
This is the story, as it turns out, of a Golem, the stone monster of Frankfort, but what he is doing in this story, and what relationship he has with the parents of the child Alene is watching, it’s still not clear by story’s end.
Several twists in the story have taken place by then. Even so, a final twist in the last few paragraphs shatters the reconstruction of the night’s events that Arlene’s father has carefully put together, shattering it to bits, leaving the reader to put everything back in order, if it’s something that can be done.
It’s an unsettling end to an unsettling sort of story, full of dankness and noises in the night. It’s clumsily told at times, so at first thought it’s not quite clear if Zagat (a prolific but rather obscure SF and mystery writer in his day) fully intended the ending to be as perfectly matched to the story as it is – at least in the way I’m looking at it – of if it’s purely coincidental.
It’s probably a little of both, but on reconsideration, I’m going to give Zagat the full benefit of the doubt, and say this is nicely inspired ending after all – in spite of (or maybe because of) all the loose ends.
June 29th, 2021 at 6:36 am
You’re quite right. Fast, sloppy writing has a certain charm all its own — as opposed to the fat, sloppy writing of some current “thrillers.”
June 29th, 2021 at 9:42 am
Back in college, I saw the German silent film, THE GOLEM. I think this was the 1920 version, but am not sure. It’s not a very good film. But the Golem is an iconic image, and I’m glad I saw it.
In the movie, the Golem is a giant clay statue, brought to life to protect the Jews of Prague. He’s not stone, and not from Frankfort.
The movie Golem is something of an early robot figure, a large mechanical man. He’s powered by magic, though, not by science.
Wonder where Zagat got his version.
June 29th, 2021 at 10:51 am
I’ve read a number of Arthur Leo Zagat’s stories over the last couple years and have developed a fondness for him. He is primarily a writer of fervid fiction. His stories give a nice roller coaster thrill. His stories are fun.
June 29th, 2021 at 11:28 am
“Fervid fiction.” I like it!
June 29th, 2021 at 6:19 pm
As it turns out, I reviewed all of the stories in this same issue of DIME MYSTERY. I’ll be posted more of them as time goes on.
June 29th, 2021 at 10:02 pm
Actually, Steve, the story did get reprinted at least once — in the October 1959 issue of the UK edition of Detective Tales. The Fiction Mags Index seems to be offline, but I’ll send you a cover scan of the copy hidden away in one of the many boxes of books and magazines cluttering my office.
You’ll see that interestingly the Atlas Publishing and Distributing Co. Ltd was sufficiently impressed by the sales appeal of the original cover to use the image again. Also, going by what I can see of the thumbnail pic you are running, I think they had to go to the expense of having it re-painted!
Meanwhile, readers wanting to see more of Zagat’s extensive “weird menace” output might like to go online to Roy Glashan’s Library. Heaps of ebook versions there, including Man of Granite as the last entry.
June 29th, 2021 at 11:13 pm
Thanks, Keith. All very interesting. Roy Glashan’s Library is especially interesting — a site that’s totally new to me. Here’s a link to Zagat’s stories there:
http://freeread.com.au/@RGLibrary/ArthurLeoZagat/Zagat.html
And here’s the cover of British magazine that reprinted “Man of Granite.” Thanks for sending it along!
In some ways, I like this one more than the original.
June 30th, 2021 at 1:11 pm
The Roy Glashan Library is a treasure trove of public domain mystery, adventure and western fiction. And, unlike Project Gutenberg, all titles are easy to find. I heartily recommend it. All stories are in epub format so they are easy ti read on iphone or desk top.
July 1st, 2021 at 9:35 pm
That may be the most subdued cover for a DIME MYSTERY I’ve ever seen. Most DM covers tended to be barely clad or stragetically covered young women undergoing terrible torture by slavering monsters, and most issues seemed to have at least one Zagat story.
Quiet a few DM issues are available at Internet Archive’s Pulp Collection, often as not with a Zagat story.
“Fervid” certainly nails Zagat’s style, but even at their most preposterous his stories have a kind of compulsive drive.