David Wright O'Brien

Pen names: John York Cabot, Duncan Farnsworth; Bruce Dennis, Clee Garson, Richard Vardon ---------------------------------------------- "The Beauty and the Beasties" © Fantastic Adventures, Dec 1941 --/ cool f story --/ humour award --/ rare find Another great find of pulp-styled humor. So far, one of the best stories about humans transformed into pet animals. Funny interaction between a dog, a cat and a mouse, who are actually people in desperate need to return to their proper selves. Worthy of being turned into a "Babe"-like movie, or a neat "Toy Story"-like animation. ---------------------------------------------- "The Curious Coat" © Fantastic Adventures, May 1943 ---------------------------------------------- "The Daughter of Genghis Khan" (as by John York Cabot) © Fantastic Adventures, Jan 1942 --/ cool sf story --/ adventure award --/ rare find Typical wartime pulp fiction, with plenty of military action in China (against Japanese) - but this time with added "lost world" and slightly erotic context. Entertaining, with brisk pace and understated encounter with a super witch and her dragon-shaped ghostly friend. Strangely, the purple prose is mostly absent, and story almost grips with gritty action. ---------------------------------------------- "Dibble Dabble In Death" © Mammoth Detective, Feb 1945 --/ cool mystery story --/ idea: spy code in clothing patterns --/ rare find I knew that sci-fi pulps were only part of bigger pulp universe, published by same houses and using the same writers for variety of genres. But I did not realize how many SF writers did cross the field into detective, war, romance fiction etc. However, they retain interesting "borderline" sci-fi elements even in these offerings. I do not think I am going to read a lot of mystery pulps, but sometimes it is an interesting diversion. review: 01-Jul-06 (read in 2006) ---------------------------------------------- "The Genius of Mr. Pry" (as Duncan Farnsworth) © Fantastic Adventures, Nov 1941 --/ cool f story Breezy pulp-style "mafia vs. future prediction gone wrong" tale. Neat mafiosi characters, speaking funny. Not bad, entertaining fare. ---------------------------------------------- "The Floating Robot" © 1949, Fantastic Adventures --/ cool sf story --/ rare find "Hammer Of The Gods" (as by John York Cabot) © 1942, Amazing Stories "Rayhouse In Space" (as by Duncan Farnsworth) © 1941, Amazing Stories --/ third place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award --/ rare find "Sharbeau's Startling Statue" (as Clee Garson) © Fantastic Adventures, Nov 1942 --/ humour award --/ rare find ---------------------------------------------- David Wright O'Brien "Spook for Yourself" © Fantastic Adventures, Jan 1942 --/ cool f story --/ rare find A precursor to the great movie "Ghost", a poor man's "Unknown Worlds"-style story - but could've been done better. The misadventures of a lovestruck ghost. You can deduce the rest of the story quite easily. As you can see, the shortage of writers in these times (at "Amazing Stories" and "Fantastic Adventures") resulted in the whole issue written by 2 people under various housenames. ---------------------------------------------- "Suicide Squadrons of Space" © 1940, Amazing Stories --/ cool sf novella --/ wonder award --/ rare find "Talu's Fan" (as by John York Cabot) © Fantastic Adventures, Nov 1942 "Ten Seconds From Nowhere" © Amazing Stories, Jul 1941 --/ cool sf story --/ rare find "The Truthful Liar" (as by John York Cabot) © 1948, Amazing Stories ---------------------------------------------- "V Is for Vengeance" (as by Duncan Farnsworth) © Fantastic Adventures, Jan 1942 Hitler squashed under the collapsed Triumphal Arch, a case of wishful thinking... ----------------------------------------------

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