PROFESSOR I.V. FROSTBack in 1934, the publishing giant, Street & Smith found themselves frustrated on a monthly basis because their one dedicated mystery magazine, Clues, was forever being outsold by their competitor’s Black Mask. The boys at S & S did not like coming in second to anyone, after all they were the home of the pulp’s greatest crime fighters, The Shadow and Doc Savage. They desperately needed a new series that would attract more readers and turned to established writer, Donald Wandrei to fulfill that need.
Wandrei, a veteran pulp scribe, had been in successful in most fields, particular the weird horror genres and he set about inventing a truly unique, one-of-a-kind hero the likes of which no one had ever seen before, Prof. I.V. Frost.
Wandrei created the tall, thin, hatchet-faced “Ivy” Frost to be an American Sherlock Holmes; a brilliant scientific and analytical mind powered this eccentric character but he was also a man of action, capable of getting his hands dirty when the action heated up.
Like Holmes, Frost had an assistant but this one wasn’t some stodgy, ex-army doctor. Jean Moray was a sexy looking blonde who carried a .25 caliber derringer in her garter and possessed a genius I.Q. thus making her a fitting companion to the eccentric and colorful professor. Think Jean Harlow with a gun and that’s Miss Moray. During its run, Wandrei would pen eighteen Frost adventures.
Getting to write the new adventures of this pair is both a thrill and challenge. Each tale requires an even mix of both fantastic mystery and gun-blazing action. Too much of one and not enough of the other and it’s not I.V. Frost. It is this unique combination that sets him apart of all other pulp heroes. Writing for I.V. Frost is the start of a new and exciting journey of wondrous discovery for me and I hope you’ll tag along for the ride. Knowing Frost and Jean Moray, I can promise you it is going to be anything but dull.
Ron Fortier for
Moonstone Originals
3 comments:
Hmmm. Never heard of IV Frost. Be nice if someone did a complete reprint of these works. I see that F&B did a limited edition collection of some of them.
Yup, which is where I first discovered the character. As they explained, there were only 18 Frost stories ever done. F & B published in 8 in their volume and were suppose to follow it up with a second volume containing the remaining 10. But they folded and it never happened. Sigh. Oh, well, here's hoping fans will welcome my all new stories.
According to the latest Locus, Haffner Press will publish a complete Frost volume in March next year.
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