I got into Bruno Fisher's work less than two years ago and it's been a rewarding experience. He was an unsung giant of the pulp generation and celebrated by vintage paperback fans. His lesser work is readable, his best writing is memorable.

Fischer was born in Germany in 1908, but immigrated with his family to the states when he was five and was a Socialist throughout his entire life. Although he worked in several capacities as a writer, he took to writing for the pulps in the 30s. His strong suit was the "weird menace" subgenre, tales of gothic horror that had the appearance of a seemingly supernatural foe but is later dispelled with a rational explanation in the end. These stories came to emphasize a sexual angle with explicit torture scenes. The pulps couldn't depict the actual sexual act but there was still a lot of flexibility to depict suggestive material. I always thought this approach was juvenile, but in Bruno Fischer's hands, he was ahead of his time. John Pelan dubbed him "The Father of Splatterpunk". Bear in mind, this was 50 years before the term was coined and Fischer offered extreme horror that pushed the boundaries of censorship. With titles like "Fresh Fiances For the Devil's Daughter " and "Darlings of the Black Master" Fischer excelled under the pseudonyms Harrison Storm and Russell Gray for publications such as Terror Tales, Horror Stories, and Dime Detective. Censorship laws pushed the weird menace pulps out of circulation, but Fischer was quick to adapt, writing mystery fiction as well and eventually started writing novels.

Books such as The Sleeping Hands, Kill to Fit, The Spider Lily, and The Bleeding Scissors (which has an interesting cliffhanger) came out with regularity. He also had his own P.I. Ben Helm. In 1950, he hit the paperback original market with House of Flesh, a modern Gothic story about a recovering athlete who is drawn to a mouldering house and the woman who lives there. Grisly murder, adultery, guilt, and self-revulsion follow in a satisfying, powerful, quick read. House of Flesh would become one of Fawcett Gold Medal's biggest sellers at 1,800,000 copies. Several excellent crime noir novels followed. Fools Walk In is about a teacher who gets mixed up with a gang hiding out in the woods. The Lustful Ape is another crime story which results with a nail-bitter of a climax. The Lady Kills is a rural noir about a femme fatale who gains too much too soon. Murder in the Raw is a slightly tantalizing mystery taking place in a lakeside community.

Fischer would also write excellent short stories that published with Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Manhunt (including the classic "We Are All Dead"). Fischer's Fawcett output stopped in the 60s when he was frozen out by Gold Medal's new editor Knox Burger. He, however, ended his career on a good note with his last novel in 1974 called The Evil Days, a suburban crime story about stolen jewelry.

Fischer died in Mexico in 1992. Fischer is worth checking out. A partly forgotten but great storyteller. Some of his work, particularly House of Flesh, a double from Stark House, some of his pulp work, and a couple of offerings from Armchair fiction are currently in print.

Written by Nicholas Montelongo

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