The Complete Tales of Doctor Satan

by Paul Ernst

Pre-dating the great comic book villains, Paul Ernst's Doctor Satan stalked through the pages of Weird Tales in 1935 and 1936, bent on world domination and bizarre evil deeds for his own amusement. Opposing him with his own blend of science and sorcery is criminologist Ascott Keane. For the first time since their original publication--from Doctor Satan's first appearance to his last bow in the pages of "the unique magazine"--at long last, all of Doctor Satan's appearances are collected in one handsome volume in chronological order. All the stories have been carefully edited and re-typeset, and this edition features a new introduction by author/editor John Pelan.

Genres: Horror, Pulp, Short Stories

267 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2013

About the author

Paul Frederick Ernst was an American pulp fiction writer. He is best known as the author of the original 24 "Avenger" novels, published by Street & Smith under the house name Kenneth Robeson.

He "[took] up fiction writing in his early twenties." Credited by pulp-expert Don Hutchison as "a prolific manufacturer of potboilers-made-to-order," his stories appeared in a number of early Science fiction and fantasy magazines. His writing appeared in Astounding Stories, Strange Tales and Amazing, and he was the author of the Doctor Satan series which ran in Weird Tales from August, 1935. His most famous work was in writing the original 24 The Avenger stories in the eponymous magazine between 1939 and 1942.

When pulp magazine work began to dry up, Ernst "was able to make a painless transition into the more prestigious "slick" magazines, where his word skill earned him higher financial rewards." As of 1971, he was "still active as a writer," including penning "Blackout" for the July 1971 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. He died in Pinellas County, Florida.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_...]


Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Paul^Ernst

Reviews

[Little Timmy]

Nice collection of this obscure pulp character. Good read. Recommended

[Per]

Doctor Satan
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...

The Man Who Chained the Lightning
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...

Hollywood Horror
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

The Consuming Flame
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...

Horror Insured
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...

Beyond Death's Gateway
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...

The Devil's Double
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

Mask of Death
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...

[Peter]

Those stories are absolutly cult pulp fiction! Dr Satan is one of the earliest super villains and his good counterpart Ascott Keane is a fantastic detective. Modern technology combined with magic and dark tricks from the past. Is Ascott finally able to defeat Dr Satan once and for all and reveal his true identity? Turn the pages and find out! Truely entertaining fiction even though it is from the 30s. A very influential character with regard to all the comic superheroes and supervillains to come!

[Flora]

We read the series for my short story book club, and we had SUCH a blast. Shout-out to Horrorbabble on YT for their wonderful readings of some of the earlier stories.

[Mh430]

The short stories collected here aren't actually bad, but they just have too many weakness to make this series stand out among the many Pulp Fiction heroes presented to the public in the 1930s. First, Ernst sets up these epic Good vs Evil battles but then has to complete the story in just ten thousand words. The brevity is by editorial fiat I'm sure but still, it makes for some rushed and yes anticlimactic endings. Then there's the two leads. Ascott Keane is not as ridiculous name as say, Bingham Harvard (aka the Night Wind), but it seems to symbolize a series that gives every indication of being thrown together in a hurry. As for Doctor Satan himself, well that name IS ridiculous, undeniably so. The not-so-good doctor is equally adept at science and the occult and that's another problem I have with the stories. Those two concepts just don't mix well, not here anyway. Most damming of all, Keane and Satan are, even by pulp magazine standards, completely one-dimensional characters. We are shown what they do but the reader has no idea why they do it.

In its broad outline the series had promise. Certainly Ernst was a competent writer and COULD have made it work under less restrictive circumstances. I believe the characters are in the public domain now so perhaps some New Pulp author will resurrect them. A villain who can speak with the dead, RAISE the dead, and even manipulate time itself, deserves another chance at world domination.

[Fraser Sherman]

Much as I love the pulps, I do not love this pulp.Much as I love the pulps, I do not love this pulp. The premise: Doctor Satan is the scion of a fabulously wealthy upper crust family, bored with everything his wealth can bring him. Crime though, terrifying people with his mix of occult and scientific knowledge, there's some excitement!
i like that premise—lord knows I could buy someone like Elon Musk or Peter Thiel going the same route. In practice, alas, it doesn't make Doctor Satan any different from any other evil cackling fiend of the era. His grotesque henchmen have no personality. And neither does Ascott Keane, the occultist/crimefighter who sets himself against Doctor Satan.
While the openings are usually spectacular, like a man dying from a tree growing through his skull, the stories never catch fire.

[Rubén Lorenzo]

Las cuatro estrellas de esta recopilación pueden ser demasiadas, porque un relato tras otro se repite una fórmula que ni siquiera es original. A saber: un millonario es víctima de una extraña muerte y otros muchos son extorsionados por el asesino Doctor Satán, las víctimas recurren a Ascott Keane, detective y millonario que investiga el extravagante asesinato hasta dar con una pista, para llegar a un mano a mano con el malo que acaba en tablas, pues Keane desbarata el plan del doctor pero este último huye.

Sin embargo, la curiosidad por ver la nueva y fantástica manera de matar del villano hace que quieras seguir leyendo. Además, la prosa es ágil y los relatos divertidos.

No dejará huella y no creo que nadie lo vaya a leer dos veces, pero es un entretenimiento muy válido.

[Michael Hill]

John Pelan tells us the stories were before their time, so not well accepted by horror fans. Really, they were just not that good, and they were repetitive (he advises us to read them over a number of days.)
Doctor Satan is well off but some kink in his mind has him murder people using science and the occult to gouge money out of very rich people. His nemesis is Ascott Keane, who is versed in the same skills as Satan, so is able to thwart him using them.
A number of times, Keane tries to kill Satan and fails, as Satan's own efforts fail to kill Keane.
The story "Beyond Death's Gateway" seems to be unfinished.

[Zoltán Szabó]

Weird fiction, horror és klasszikus ponyva-detektívtörténet igen gyenge kombinációban. Inkább csak irodalom/horrorirodalomtörténelmi szempontból érdekes kötet, a Weird Tales és társmagazinjainak kísérletező szakaszából, a novellák, karakterek alig két fejezet után kiszámíthatóvá, kliséssé, ismétlődővé válnak. Gyorsan kiolvasható, és minimális elvárásokkal, hosszú szünetekkel az egyes fejezetek között bűnös élvezet.

[Richard Larmer]

This was a slightly inferior attempting to mix the Fu Manchu/ Shadow / Doc Savage concepts; it didn't quite achieve it's goal. Okay, but not really good.

[Jonathan Dunne]

More dark fantasy than horror. Reminiscent of modern day super hero comics. Well-written and a little quirky in places but not my cup of tea.

[Bee]

Read:

Doctor Satan - 2/5

[Logan Green]

I wish I loved anything as much as Doctor Satan loves EVIL.