Sign-In
Cart
The Dominant Idea and Other Stories
Paperback
Mystery & ThrillerGeneral Fiction
Publisher Price: $19.95
Publisher: Independent Cat
Published: Feb 21 2023
Pages: 198
Weight: 0.54
Height: 0.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Discover a collection of lost stories by Herbert E. Stover, recovered from a barn rafters bucket after nearly 100 years and meticulously restored to offer a thrilling window into early 20th-century adventure, mystery, and romance.
- A Century-Old Literary Resurrection: Discover a lost treasure trove of pulp fiction by renowned historical novelist Herbert E. Stover, meticulously restored after spending nearly 100 years hidden in a wooden bucket in a barn's rafters.
- High-Stakes Golden Age Noir: Immerse yourself in a diverse collection of gritty, fast-paced detective and police action-adventure tales that capture the raw energy and remarkably fresh voice of early 20th-century storytelling.
- A Master's Early Evolution: Witness the literary origins of a regional icon through these 1920s and 30s manuscripts, featuring high-speed chases, early technology like airplanes and automobiles, and Stover's signature romantic twists.
- Meticulously Restored Narrative: Experience stories brought back from the brink of decay through an intensive restoration process that filled gaps left by time and nature to preserve Stover's unique, original prose.
Herbert Stover was best known for his full-length historical novels full of action and historic figures, always with a twist of romance. However, before he sold his first novel to a New York publishing house after World War II, Stover struggled as an upstart writer of pulp fiction short stories, the vast majority of which were written in the 1920s and early 1930s. Rejection after rejection came back in the mail, and Stover, now in the Depression, turned his focus to his education career. The letters and stories were put away, largely forgotten.
After Stover's death, his property exchanged hands. One day, in the early 2000s, the current owner was exploring the old barn on the property and found an old wooden bucket in the rafters. It contained pictures, letters, and typed stories that had been returned to Stover. But, the gentleman did nothing with these stories until the Fall of 2022, when author Guy Graybill and publisher Lawrence Knorr visited to take pictures of the former Stover homestead. The bucket was graciously given to Sunbury Press, and the adventure began!
Debra Reynolds was handed the project of transcribing, editing, and patching the stories, where there were gaps due to the erosion of the paper. Silverfish had done their worst, but fortunately, preferred the pulp rather than the ink. Most of the stories were nearly complete. A couple required
Debra's creativity to become Herbert Stover and fill the missing page or two.
What follows is a volume of stories, lost for nearly 100 years! They are mostly contemporary detective / police action-adventure tales, almost always with a twist of romance. Stover also liked the technology of the day, and included automobiles, airplanes, trains, and telephones to a large degree. The stories are remarkably fresh and are entertaining to this day, providing a window into the mind of a young man who would decades letter become one of the region's most famous authors.
Also from
Stover, Herbert E.
Also in
Mystery & Thriller
The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy, Volume I: American Tabloid, the Cold Six Thousand; Introduction by Thomas Mallon
Ellroy, James
Hardcover
Coffin Road: An Utterly Gripping Crime Thriller from the Author of the China Thrillers
May, Peter
Paperback
Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues
Bantock, Nick
Hardcover
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Movie Tie-In Edition): Book 1 of the Millennium Trilogy
Larsson, Stieg
Paperback
The Golden Mean: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes
Bantock, Nick
Hardcover
The Pirate Queen: A Novel from the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Frozen River
Lawhon, Ariel
Hardcover