The Trail of Doomsday

The Trail of Doomsday by Lohr McKinstry was the first authorized post pulp Doc Savage fiction. It was published in May 1969. McKinstry told the story of the making of the novella in Bronze Gazette #88.

Trail of DoomsdayThe Trail of Doomsday by Lohr McKinstry was the first authorized post pulp Doc Savage fiction. It was published in The Doc Savage Jornal #1 (May 1969.) The cover reproduced the Repel pulp cover. (Recreated at left.)

McKinstry told the story of the making of the novella in Bronze Gazette #88.

“In 1969, I was a senior in high school and headed to a career as a journalist, when my friend, Lynn Myers Jr., suggested I write a Doc Savage story…

Before we printed this super-saga, we needed permission from Condé Nast, the rights holder.
Things were much simpler in 1969 than today. Lynn wrote a letter to Paul Bonner, the Condé Nast liaison to Bantam Books who was in charge of the reprints.
Bonner responded with a letter that we had permission. After all, it was basically a fan publication and we didn’t intend to make any money from it.” — Lohr McKinstry

An example of the text:

“When the disruptor blast had ceased, an utter lack of noise lay thick in the area. They looked back into the cavern and saw the white heat burned the rock molten and fused it into a solid mass, about two-hundred feet back. Although cooling, it still glowed red in the blackness. The secret of the weird laboratory, their kidnapping and preservation over the years, seemed fated to repose in the shadow of the unknown.”

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