by Arthur Leo Zagat (1896-1949) was one of the more talented authors publishing during the Golden Age of science fiction. His writing was always smooth and crisp, with well-drawn characters and none of the clunky, old-fashioned prose that characterized the work of many genre authors in those days. Although Zagat wrote a substantial body of science fiction (some in collaboration with Nat Schachner), he was truly a general pulp author, and he published more than 500 stories in many genres, including horror, mystery and crime, weird menace, and series hero stories (his heroes were Doc Turner and Red Finder). His work appeared in mainstream markets like Argosy alongside genre stories in Astounding, Dime Mystery, The Spider, Operator 5, and even the sexy “adult” pulps, such as Spicy Mystery

