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Standard Stories [v1 #1, July 1925] (Hutchinson, pulp) []
- · Out of the Ruins · Sir Philip Gibbs · ss Cosmopolitan December 1924; the story he least dislikes because its events were later replicated in real life.
- · Good Hunting, Old Chap! · Sapper · ss The Strand Magazine May 1920; not a Bulldog Drummond story but a very moving story based on McNeile’s own dog. McNeile loved his dog and couldn’t forgive himself when he was put down. This story was clearly cathartic.
- · The Clock · A. E. W. Mason · ss The Windsor Magazine April 1910; science fiction. A clock briefly stops time. Mason says the story is based on his own clock which used to perform oddly.
- · Picq Plays the Hero · Leonard Merrick · ss Harper’s Bazar November 1918; the only story critics and reviewers had a common agreement about how good it was.
- · The Ghost with the Smiling Eyes · Berta Ruck · ss The New Magazine (UK) May 1924; chosen because it brings back memories of her grandmother. Ruck was the wife of Oliver Onions and it was when they had just married and Berta was combing her hair that the crackling caused by the static made Onions think how unique that sound is and which inspired the ghost story “The Beckoning Fair One”. Berta (the name is short for Roberta) was a very close friend of Edith Nesbit and Nesbit used her name for the eldest girl in The Railway Children.
- · The Decree Made Absolute · Mrs. Belloc Lowndes · ss McClure’s Magazine June 1908; Hilaire’s sister - chosen because Marie felt strongly about the moral of her story - that children should not be separated from their mother.
- · The Riddle of Countess Runa · Anthony Hope · ss McClure’s Magazine March 1904; he liked the way he’d brought out the romance and humour in life.
- · The Girl at the Gate · H. de Vere Stacpoole · ss (r); because it captures a time now long gone.
- · A Lustrum of Fidelity · Edith Bigelow · ss The Smart Set November 1902; this doesn’t look like a favourite story - more like a space filler.
- · New Friends and Old · A. M. Chisholm · ss The Smart Set June 1904; another space filler.
This first issue is interesting because it asked authors to select their favourite amongst their own stories.
Details supplied by Mike Ashley.
