I first learned about Ryerson (Johnny) Johnson’s pulp career from a fanzine article in the mid-1970s. My memory usually clutches trivia better than essentials, but in this case I can’t recall the source, but I’d like to think it was an article by Nick Carr or an interview with Johnson by Al Tonik from a PulpCon appearance by the aging fictioneer.
My initial awareness of Johnson was as a Kenneth Robeson ghost for Street & Smith’s Doc Savage magazine. Later I learned of his work in the crime and western pulps. My appreciation and enjoyment of his stories has grown as a result of his work in this latter genre. There is an enthusiasm in his Doc Savage tales that fits the action-packed pace appropriate for that character, but the stories have some clunky sections -- it’s obvious in hindsight that this character isn’t really Johnson’s, and the hand of his friend, Lester Dent, or a S&S editor, may have been rushed and a tad graceless in tweaking the writing and smoothing out the flow of the story between Johnson’s work and the fix ups entered to make the finished work more appropriate to Doc Savage continuity, what little of it there may have been.
But Johnson's own work shows care and effort. He didn't slam out stories in so prolific a manner as many other pulp fictioneers, but he provided entertainment just as well and better than others.
The following articles are an effort by The Pulp Rack to share my enthusiasm and appreciation for Johnson's writing.
“The Avalanche Maker” and “River Round Up”: A Look at Two North-Westerns by W. Ryerson Johnson. In Johnson’s westerns -- frequently North-Westerns -- his enthusiasm and skill at writing a full-tilt action story are clearly apparent. Click here to read this article.
"Wood on the Snow" -- a Review. Burrowing into a story by Ryerson Johnson is usually a comforting experience—"Johnny" was a solid storyteller who could seemingly weave a tale from the smallest incidents, tell it with style in such a way to capture a reader, and wrap it up with a satisfying ending. So it is with "Wood on the Snow." Click here to read this article.
"An Interview with Ryerson Johnson" by Will Murray
With the very gracious permission of Will Murray and Doug Ellis, I'm excited and pleased to present this interview with pulp fictioneer Ryerson Johnson. Johnson was Guest of Honor at PulpCon 19, and Murray interviewed him as one of the convention's events. Ellis, publisher of the fanzine Pulp Vault -- perhaps better known now as one of the organizers of the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention -- published the transcribed interview in issue number 8 of that fine publication.
With their permission, The Pulp Rack presents this interview in two parts. For those who enjoyed the pulp-writer name dropping in Paul Malmont's novel, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, you'll find similar treasure here, as Johnson discusses Lester Dent, Arthur Burks, L. Ron Hubbard, and more.
The interview is presented as a PDF scan of the original appearance in Pulp Vault's pages. For that reason, the break between the two sections isn't perfect -- is, in fact, a bit of a cliff hanger. But perhaps that's appropriate for an interview with a writer who specialized in exciting pulp adventure.
"An Interview with Ryerson Johnson" Part One: click here.
"An Interview with Ryerson Johnson" Part Two: click here.
"Following the 'Traitor of the Natchez Trace'" This story first appeared in 10-Story Western in 1943. "Traitor of the Natchez Trace" is actually not a north-western. Instead, it's a frontier story — not a western, really, because it's set along the Natchez Trace (thus the title) when the Mississippi River was considered The West. I enjoy tales like this, which take place outside the typical western formula and include a bit of history or cultural information as additional narrative color to create a stronger verisimilitude. Click here to read this article about the story and its ties to history.
Posted by ds at July 15, 2006 10:32 PM
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