this is the 161st in my series of forgotten or seldom read book posts
Scarlet Riders edited by Don Hutchison, Mosiac Press, 1998 – trade paper, pulp stories of the Northwest Mounted
“Fingers had burrowed down in the snow and found Constable Sandy Frost’s throat. He knew that as he awakened.”
A dozen stories of the north, swarming with mosquitoes and black fly in the summer, frozen forty below in the winter, filled with treacherous ice and deadly blizzards. Strong men and women who use their fists and wits to survive. Criminals and their victims and the men in red who track down the killers and thieves.
During the heyday of the 1920s and 1930s stories featuring Mounties maintaining the law of the untamed North, on snowshoes, or horseback, by sled or canoe, were very popular. They appeared in Argosy, Thrilling Adventure, Western Story, Western Trails, Ace-High and others, and eventually spawned pulps devoted specific to them: North-West Stories (later re-titled North-West Romances), the Complete Northwest Novel Magazine and Real Northwest among them. The twelve stories in this 289 page collection come from some of the titles listed above.
I don’t remember now how this first came to my attention, but having loved Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (“On, King! Mush, huskies!”) on the radio as a kid, something clicked and I bought it. It then sat around for a couple of years before I read it the first time, in late 1999. What was I waiting for?? I recently reread it and it’s still great. These well told crime stories are a lot of fun. What’s more, it’s in print. Here’s the table of contents:
Scarlet Riders contains the following stories:
- “Deadly Trek to Albertville” by Talmage Powell
- Originally published in Posse, March 1957
- “The Frozen Phantom” by Lester Dent
- Originally published in Western Trails, April 1933
- “Spoilers of the Lost World” by Roger Daniels
- Originally published in North-West Romances, Fall 1938
- “White Water Run” by Hugh B. Cave
- Originally published in Western Story Magazine, 14 February 1942
- “Red Snows” by Harold F. Cruickshank
- Originally published in Thrilling Adventures, February 1938
- “The Driving Force” by Murray Leinster
- Originally published in Complete Northwest Magazine, July 1938
- “Snow Ghost” by Lester Dent, featuring The Silver Corporal
- Originally published in Western Trails, May–June 1933
- “Phantom Fangs” by John Starr
- Originally published in North-West Romances, Spring 1942
- “The Dangerous Dan McGrew” by Ryerson Johnson
- Originally published in Ace-High Magazine, 2 March 1931
- “Death Cache” by Lester Dent, featuring The Silver Corporal
- Previously unpublished
- “Doom Ice” by Dan O’Rourke
- Originally published in North-West Romances, Summer 1942
- “The Valley of Wanted Men” by Frederick Nebel
- Originally published in North-West Romances, Spring 1940
The Broken Bullhorn 
Looks like fun.
This is a great anthology and the book that really got me interested in reading Northerns.
Nice cover.
Since we have a foot of snow outside this morning, SCARLET RIDERS would be perfect reading material for a day like this.
Randy, is IS fun.
James, same here, except, as I said, for listening to Sergeant Preston of the Yukon as a kid.
Jeff, why’s inside is great too.
George, you’re right! Just the thing for a snowy day. Maybe a rig and sled dogs would be good too…
You’re right about this but I like to read books set in the Arctic or other frigid climes in the heat of the summer.
Works either way, Jeff, but for me, if it’s grey and cold outside it brings me more into the cold, snowy setting. Even better reading it by the fire with a cup of mulled apple juice or hot cocoa. Or how about, read half in winter…half in summer! No, probably not.
I’ve read very few of this type of story. I want to read more.
So glad to hear that you enjoyed it so much. I think it is a great pleasure when we read older stuff and find that it still holds up. Those stories set in the winter climes seem very easy to relate to right now when it is so darn cold out.
I have recently developed an interest in the Mounties and I like to read about Canada. This is definitely going on my To Buy list.
Frederick Nebel was a major contributor to Northwest Stories. Is he included here?
Evan, I’ll have to check the TOC… Yes, it does. I added the Table of Contents to the post, above.
Tracy, I bet you’ll enjoy these stories. The stats are easy. I keep a list of what I read, in a table format, so at the end of the year I just sort it by the TYPE column and then count ’em up.
So many of my pulp gods under one cover!
Thanks for the TOC, sir. Looks like a Lester Dent bonanza.
Jerry, I thought you might like the looks of this one. Something for your “Incoming” list!
Evan, you are very welcome, I should have put it in initially.
Richard, some of these stories look familiar; maybe, I came across them in the magazines you mentioned. Still, I’d like to read them in this collection rather than individually.
I prefe to read a collection like this than to dig stories out of digests or pulps. I miss the illustrations sometimes, but stories in one book are so much more convenient. I bet you’ll enjoy these!