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Short Stories
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1932.
Wrath of the Purple.
in: Amazing Stories Scientific Fiction, 7:7(602) Oct'32.
(first published Howard Fast story; science-fiction).
(7,666 words).
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| It happens frequently that some marvelous discovery made by a brilliant scientist for the good of humanity proves fatal and catastrophic instead, but that fact is not going to prevent brilliant and enterprising scientists from continuing their painstaking search for something new and startling. How can any man foresee dire results from apparently innocent experiments?The answer is here proved once more--he can't... |
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1936.
The Bookman.
illustrated by John J. Floherty, Jr.
in: The Elks Magazine, June 1936, pp 6-9, 32,40,42.
(reprinted in The Bugle Call (Reserves/National Guard periodical) Seattle, WA nd.).
(4,763 words).
 WE WERE very poor, but we were never so poor as the soldiers. Before the war it had been different, but as the war went on, we got poorer and poorer, yet we were never so poor as the soldiers.
I think it was in the fall of seventeen eighty that the soldiers were all encamped down in the valley beyond our house. It was just at the beginning of the winter, and the day they came, a film of snow covered the whole valley down to the river, which you could see from our house. Our house stood on a hill, commanding the valley and the river and the plain beyond it. Mother always watched the valley. She said that when father came back we should see him rifling up the valley all the way from the river. Father was with the Third Continentals, a captain. But this was before he was killed... |
editions
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1936.
Stockade.
illustrated by Benton Clark.
in: Ladies' Home Journal, 53:12(14-15) Dec'36.
(6,001 words).
*
IF THE summer was over, winter coming on now, it was still more of a time for thanksgiving than anything else; for our men were coming back. In that fall of 1782, they came; some had been gone for six years, and some for more than that.
I was married - do you understand? - and I had not seen my husband for six years. So what would he be like and who would he be? Was it any wonder that I was as excited as a girl of sixteen, and I was twenty-nine then?
The post rider, coming down the river, said they were marching in company, and it would be days yet... |
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1937.
While They Dance.
illustrated by Pierre Brissaud.
in: Ladies' Home Journal, 54:7(11-13) Jul'37.
(4,730 words).
I was twenty, and it was the first real ball of the season, and it was for me - for my birthday. The gown was a Paris import, and Paris imports were hard to come by then, with the Yankee privateers covering the sea from Halifax to the Indies. But this was a beautiful gown - seven hundred dollars - silver mesh with the lowest and most daring bodice in the city.
When it came, Harley and Joan, my colored girls, put it on me, and I walked back and forth in front of the mirror.
"Like an angel," Harley said... |
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1937.
Ransom of the Rose.
illustrated by Gordon Grant.
in: Romance, p.58, Aug-Sep'37.
(7,349 words).
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| THEY had lain overnight in the harbour of St. Dennis, a little port in the Islands, whose name has long been forgotten, to take on water and fresh lemons for the scurvy. St. Dennis was French, and garrisoned with half a hundred men; and though they boldly entered the harbour under the Lions of England, Master Christopher refused his men leave of shore. He and his first officer, both of them handsome men with the appearance of gentlemen, rigged themselves out in all their finery of lace and velvet, and set forth to enjoy the brief pleasures of the town. And ever and anon, Master Kit smiled with delight as he caught the scent of the flower he wore on his great chest. |
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1937.
Beyond the War.
illustrated by Walter Biggs.
in: Ladies' Home Journal, 54:10(16-17) Oct'37.
[Civil War].
(4,626 words).
*
MERCER stood there, hands in his pockets, watching Lady. Cullen, the old black man, had just said, "We ain' afear' - if you want us tu stay. Reckon is our duty tu stay."
"No, You go," Lady told Cullen, and Mercer decided that she was thinking as he was - that an old black man and his wife were not much good; anyway, they were afraid, which Mercer could realize, but not understand... |
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1938.
Men Must Fight.
illustrated by E.F. Ward.
in: Liberty, pp 26-30, Feb. 19, 1938.
(3,646 words).
CARSON waited for me, with Jimmy Murphy. I guess if it had been only Carson alone I could have licked him. I was good and beaten, and they told what would happen if I came up a Yank street again. I told Carson where all the Yanks could go.
It wasn't very nice to live in Maryland then - and not be a Yank... |
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1938.
The Girl and the General.
illustrated by E.F. Ward.
in: Liberty, pp 32-38, February 26, 1938.
(4,682 words).
I CAME to tell my brother Will what I had seen; but Will had stockings on his mind. You do, if not on your feet. He sat with his bare feet stretched out to the fire, and he was rubbing his head with one hand and rubbing a leg with the other.
"It's all just about over," I told Will.
He held up a pair of Hessian boots that were not too old and not too new either. Whenever we had anything new, it was usually Hessian, because they kept wandering through the country in little parties, and sometimes, if you were lucky, you could knock one over... |
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1938.
A Girl With Yellow Hair.
in: Liberty, pp 15-18, May 7, 1938.
(3,485 words).
CULVER, who was only a boy, fanned himself with his hat. He grinned and put back the hat. "I like this," he said. "I like a picnic. Ain't this like a picnic?"
"War ain't no picnic," old Bradly replied. Old Bradly had been in it since '61.
"You seen nothing. You're just a cocky kid," Morrison told Culver.
"Watch the ditch," Captain Seeburt called back. "Watch the ditch!" |
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1938.
Spoil the Child.
illustrated by Benton Clark.
in: Saturday Evening Post, 211(7) Aug 6'38.
(4,346 words).
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THE first morning pa was gone, I tried to ride one of the mules. I didn't think that would hurt, because the mules were unharnessed anyway. But Maude told ma, and ma licked me. Ma was in the wagon, and she wouldn't have seen. I told Maude I'd remember.
Pa left about six in the morning while ma still slept. "Goin' after meat?" I asked him. He had his rifle.
He nodded.
"Kin I go?"
"Stay with ma, sonny," he said. "She ain't well."
"You said I could hunt-"
"You stay with ma, sonny." |
editions, audio
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1938.
Sun in the West.
illustrated by Benton Clark.
in: Ladies' Home Journal, 55:10(26-27) Oct'38.
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editions
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1938.
A Child Is Born.
in: Liberty, p.54, October 22, 1938.
(965 words).
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ALMA didn't let me forget that I was a fool to drive. When all the planes were grounded because of the storm, I said I'd drive and be home for Christmas morning anyway, and Alma said a lot of other things.
We had been driving all day, east from Hollywood, and now it was night, and Alma wanted to know where Las Vegas was. It was snowing, and I had an idea I was off the main road, but I didn't want to tell Alma that.
"I'm good and disgusted," Alma said. I said: "Maybe I am too." |
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1938.
Merry Gentlemen.
in: Elks Magazine, December, 1938.
| A CHRISTMAS story, or a love story – I don't know. I know that we were hungry and cold, but we could laugh; men have to. That was in Seventy-seven, toward what we thought was the end, when the tall man had put us all into the valley for the winter. It was cold, but otherwise Valley Forge was a lot like hell... |
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1939.
Schoolmaster's Empire.
in: Liberty magazine, Jan. 28, 1939.
(4,444 words).
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TODAY, even before Captain Heeny spoke to him, Mr. Adams had a feeling that this was the last day of school. He had a pleasant half hour talking with Maud Carter, but even that could not raise his spirits. And at this time pleasant half hours were few and far between.
The tall thin schoolmaster, peering nearsightedly through his spectacles, stood at the door to the schoolhouse. The schoolhouse stood in the center of the common; behind it were the stables; it was in a very protected position... |
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1939.
A Man's Wife.
painting by Norman Rockwell.
in: Ladies' Home Journal, 56:2 (11-13, 62-63) Feb'39.
[Martha Washington. American Revolution].
(4,689 words).
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EARLY in the afternoon, when she went outside for a little clean snow to dress the stewed fruit with, she found him standing there; and he was without his hat and without his overshoes. As if he didn't know that it was the coldest day of the winter, so cold that a pail of water would skin with ice in a minute or two.
The two sentries, one on either side the door, were hunched over their muskets, their faces blue with cold. A wind from the river raised the snow like dry dust... |
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1939.
Not Too Hard.
illustrated by Benton Clark.
in: Saturday Evening Post, 211(30) Feb 18'39.
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1939.
For Always.
in: Liberty magazine, July 15, 1939, p. 52.
"Liberty's short short".
(1,117 words).
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| I MADE up my mind the only way was to murder him. That, after five years. Maybe I had thought of it before, but I don't think so. The five years were pointless and aimless. Going to the office, leaving the office, eating, sleeping, thinking of Gerry sometimes - for five years. Some men love one woman, and then another woman, and then another woman. Some men love one woman; they can't change.
So I made up my mind to kill him, and it was like making up your mind to take a six-day cruise, or to quit your job... |
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1939.
A President's Wife.
illustrated by Norman Rockwell.
in: Ladies' Home Journal, 56:8 (16-17, 62-63) Aug'39.
[Dolly Madison, War of 1812].
(3,395 words).
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From the burning ruins of a country lost and afraid, Dolly Madison saved two things - the honor of a husband and that Declaration of Independence which will always be held dear by men and women who know no defeat.
THIS day, when a nation was to fall, she could still smile and sip at a cup of tea - as if to sip at a cup of tea were a complete achievement by itself, and done superlatively only by Dolly Madison. She could dress herself in a gown of black crinoline, stiff and rustling, a material that speaks of peace and things as they are. She could be charming, as always... |
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1939.
The Last Night.
illustrated by W.E. Heitland.
in: Liberty magazine, Oct. 7, 1939, pp 9-12.
(4,295 words).
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| A LONG time ago, they danced not so differently from the way we dance now. The measure of the waltz was the same, but the man and the woman wider apart, watching each other and held together with the lock of fingertips; and the minuet, forgotten, was not forgotten then, but each movement studied, each movement precise, each movement graceful with the planned gracefulness of generations who had danced that same dance. In a long line, men, in another women, facing each other, bowing, stepping, curtsying... |
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1939.
The Brood.
illustrated by Benton Clark.
in: Good Housekeeping, 109(24-25) Dec'39.
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1940.
Love Marches at Midnight.
illustrated by I.B. Hazelton.
in: Romance, p.90-99, Apr'40.
[American Revolution].
(4,517 words).
Fictioneers, Inc. 2256 Grove St. Chicago. (Editorial Offices: 210 E. 43rd St, New York).
*
Katy Sawyer didn't care who ruled America - King or Continental Congress. All she wanted was her man and whether he wore a red coat or homespun could make his kisses taste no sweeter. Or so she thought till the night of the Governor's ball.
HARRY, when he kissed me, said that we would marry in two months. That made it close, but he wanted it so. "Early in June," he said... |
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1940.
Because He Trusted Me.
illustrated by John Falter.
in: Good Housekeeping, 111(36-37) Jul'40.
[American Revolution].
(5,705 words).
*
She said, "You can't marry a man, love a man, have children by a man - and then forget." You cannot, not even if you are the loveliest lady in all America, which, in that long ago, she was.
Do you know how it is when you look in your mirror, and the lines are a little deeper, and you stand there gripping the edge of the table and trying to find a young person? The more so if inside you are washed out clean, and you think of a hundred things you should have but haven't... |
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1940.
To Marry With A Stranger.
illustrated by Walter Biggs.
in: Ladies' Home Journal, 57:7 (16-17, 92-95) Jul'40.
(6,537 words).
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"There's some who like him, some who hate him," said the captain to the frightened girl at his side. And that was the man she was going to marry - a man whom she had never seen.
HER name was Ellen Sodworth; she was twenty-two, unmarried, and she lived in London in Draper's Row... |
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1941.
Rachel.
illustrated by Amos Sewell.
in: Saturday Evening Post, 213(16-17) Jun 14'41.
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1942.
Neighbor Sam.
in: The American Magazine, 133(38-40) Mar'42.
29.5 cm,
Crowell-Collier Publishing.
Springfield, Ohio.
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1942.
New Guinea Commandos.
in: Young America, p.8, Sep 16'42.
(1,108 words).
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| "'Heroes All' is something brand new for YOUNG AMERICA -- a series of thrilling true stories about the men and women who are fighting all over the world today. These stories are based on official reports, only the names are fictitious. 'Heroes All' will appear on this page every other issue, alternating with first-run fiction. Howard Fast, who is writing this series especially for YOUNG AMERICA, is a prominent author of novels, short stories and biographies. His latest novel is 'The Unvanquished,' a stirring tale of General George Washington and the American Revolution." |
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1942.
Air Base.
in: Young America, p.8, Sep 30'42.
(1,222 words).
*
THIS is the story of Sam Warren, who is 22 years old and a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Forces, Engineers detachment — and of course Sam Warren is not his real name.
This happened a while back when things were bad in North Africa. The British needed planes very desperately in Egypt and it was decided, abruptly, to fly American bombers straight through. That is, down to Brazil, across the Atlantic to Africa, and over the body of Africa to Egypt. It happened overnight — a super-urgent rush job for our Air Force Ferry Command, as it was then called... |
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1942.
American Seaman.
in: Young America, p.8, Oct 14'42.
THIS is the story of Bill Ryan.
It's one of the few stories in this series where the name used is the hero's real name. That's because Bill belongs to no fighting service; he wears no uniform and he bears no arms. He can walk on the streets of New York or San Francisco or New Orleans, and a passerby wouldn't notice him – except perhaps to wonder why a boy so healthy and husky is out of uniform.
Bill doesn't mind that, because Bill is a merchant seaman. Before the war he was an art student, and a sincere one. He left his studies only long enough to make a trip or two before the mast each summer... |
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1942.
Nurse on Bataan.
in: Young America, p.8, Oct 28'42.
TO look at Helen Lang, you'd find it hard to believe her story. Picture a small, plump, very pretty girl of 21. Blue eyes, brown hair. Dressed in skirt and sweater – sleeves pushed up – tan-and-white shoes, anklets. Like any other small-town American girl.
But Helen Lang was a nurse on Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. And her story's absolutely true. The day she told it to us, she was expecting a commission as an Army nurse in the next mail. During the terrible days on Bataan, you see, she'd been a registered nurse – a civilian... |
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The Story of Slim.
in: Young America, p.8 Nov 11'42.
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1942.
Before Dawn.
illustration by Charles La Salle.
in: Woman's Day, p.8, Dec'42.
(1,179 words).
*
"Admittance to the shelter shall be denied to those who have one quarter strain of non-Aryan blood—"
And the mother said to the child, "Sleep, and all will be well." Five years old was the child, and what other times had he known? "And it was that way before," the mother said. "On a night like this, there is nothing to fear."
But the child knew of the bombers, of death and misery... |
editions
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1943.
How Yuang Died for China.
in: Young America, p.10, Jan 13'43.
(994 words).
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| JERRY HIGGINS, a friend of mine, came back from Chungking, China's wartime capital, with a bullethole in his thigh. He was in bed for two weeks, and he didn't have much to do except tell stories. He told me the story of Sergeant Yuang, who was raised to be a scholar... |
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1943.
Front-Line Newsman.
(Jack Crane - 1).
in: Young America, p.8, Jan 20'43.
(993 words).
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| "Jack Crane's adventures on the battlefronts of the world now appear in each issue of Young America. Every war incident in them REALLY HAPPENED to someone. Jack is a symbol of the men who risk their lives daily to send news of our fighting forces to America. He is not a real person: but every war event in these Jack Crane stories is a TRUE INCIDENT of the war!" |
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1943.
The Day of Victory.
illustrated with a photograph by Charles Dixon.
in: Woman's Home Companion, 70(22-) Feb'43.
(5,421 words).
*
General Washington faces the uncertainties of our first people's war and people's peace, for even a great general must ponder the price men pay for democracy.
When he awoke on the cool brisk morning of the twenty-fifth of November, in that gray time between the dawn and the sunrise, it was with the partly conscious realization that today was different from other days.
Today was a part of November in the year 1783, yet today was marked indelibly... |
editions
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1943.
Sunk by Jap Bombs!
(Jack Crane - 2).
in: Young America, p.8, Feb 03'43.
(1,012 words).
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| "Right after Pearl Harbor, Jack Crane, ace war correspondent of the Consolidated Press, left Egypt by air for India. His orders were to fly to the Philippines and cover the stand of Gen. MacArthur's men. Jack Crane's adventures begin below. They will continue in each issue of "Young America." Although Jack is not a real person, every fighting incident in these stories REALLY HAPPENED to someone during the present war." |
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1943.
Rescue in Singapore.
(Jack Crane - 3).
in: Young America, p.8, Feb 10'43.
(1,003 words).
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| "Right after Pearl Harbor, Jack Crane, ace war correspondent of the Consolidated Press, left Egypt by air for India. His orders were to fly to the Philippines and cover the stand of Gen. MacArthur's men. Each Jack Crane adventure is complete. A new adventure appears in each issue of "Young America." Although Jack is not a real person, every fighting incident in these stories REALLY HAPPENED to someone during the present war." |
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1943.
Stand by for Dive!
(Jack Crane - 4).
in: Young America, p.8, Feb 17'43.
(963 words).
*
JACK CRANE took another look at Singapore. Heavy smoke hung over it, lit up with tongues of flame that grew redder as darkness fell. It was like a city destroyed by an earthquake; the people gone, not even hope in its deserted streets.
So Crane was thinking. But there was little time for such thoughts. The tiny boat was leaking. Unless Crane could plug the hole with something, it would sink within the hour... |
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1943.
Something had to be told.
(Jack Crane - 5).
in: Young America, p.8, Feb 24'43.
(870 words).
*
AT the Consolidated Press office in New York they had been wondering anxiously for two months: "Where is Jack Crane?"
Since the fall of Singapore only two cables had come through over Crane's signature. The first had described his escape from Singapore with Helen Evans, a Red Cross nurse from Chicago... |
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1943.
Marine on Guadalcanal.
(Jack Crane - 6).
in: Young America, p.8, Mar 5'43.
(1,078 words).
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| AFTER Crane was discharged from the hospital in Melbourne he went north to a rest camp near Canberra, the Australian capital. His eyesight was coming quickly back to normal, but Crane still felt shaky from the fever he had caught on Bataan... |
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1943.
Airbase in the Jungle.
(Jack Crane - 7).
in: Young America, p.8, Mar12'43.
(913 words).
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| "Told by Howard Fast" — "Editor's Note: Howard Fast is now engaged on government work, the nature of which does not permit him to write for publication at the present time. These stories are based on facts originally supplied to the editors by Mr. Fast." |
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1943.
Gnats Against Elephants.
(Jack Crane - 8).
in: Young America, p.8, Mar 19'43.
(845 words).
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| "Told by Howard Fast" — "Editor's Note: Howard Fast is now engaged on government work, the nature of which does not permit him to write for publication at the present time. These stories are based on facts originally supplied to the editors by Mr. Fast." |
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1943.
"Ceiling Zero" over Kiska.
(Jack Crane - 9).
in: Young America, p.8, Mar 26'43.
(903 words).
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| "Told by Howard Fast" — JACK CRANE spent longer than he had expected in Hawaii. Transportation was hard to get. It might be two weeks, so Crane was told, before he could make a reservation on a plane or ship. Crane enjoyed his enforced vacation. Honolulu's famous beaches were ringed with barbed wire now. But Crane was able to use them, after he obtained a military pass.... Complete issue here in pdf |
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1943.
A Friendly Hand to Help Him...
(Jack Crane - 10).
in: Young America, p.8, Apr 2'43.
(937 words).
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| Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America continues, but his byline no longer appears on the stories, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
One Ship Was Lost.
(Jack Crane - 11).
in: Young America, p.8, Apr 9,'43.
(1,039 words).
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| Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America continues, but his byline no longer appears on the stories, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
Port in the Arctic.
(Jack Crane - 12).
in: Young America, p.8, Apr 16,'43.
(903 words).
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| Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America continues, but his byline no longer appears on the stories, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
New Hope - From the Sky!
(Jack Crane - 13).
in: Young America, p.8, Apr 23,'43.
(973 words).
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| Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America continues, but his byline no longer appears on the stories, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
Detroit in the Desert.
(Jack Crane - 14).
in: Young America, p.8, May 7,'43.
(975 words).
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| Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America continues, but his byline no longer appears on the stories, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
The 'Eggshell' Escapes.
(Jack Crane - 15).
in: Young America, p.8, May 14,'43.
(859 words).
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| Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America continues, but his byline no longer appears on the stories, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
Private Scott and the Axis.
(Jack Crane - 16).
in: Young America, p.8, May 21,'43.
(920 words).
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| Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America continues, but his byline no longer appears on the stories, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
The "Tommies" Got Special Delivery.
(Jack Crane - 17).
in: Young America, p.8, May 28,'43.
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| The final installment of Howard Fast's Jack Crane series in Young America. His byline doesn't appear, nor is there the Editor's Note indicating that they are based on his notes. |
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1943.
Amos Todd's Vinegar.
illustration by Charles La Salle.
in: Woman's Day, p.18, Sep.'43.
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editions
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| 1944.
Who Is Jesus Christ?
in: New Currents, p.20, May'44.
editions
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1944.
Freedom Road (excerpt).
in: Negro Digest, pp 77-92, October 1944.
(6,451 words).
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| "A thrilling, sensational novel of the controversial Reconstruction era that gives an entirely new picture of the Southern society of freed Negro slaves and poor whites in the post-Civil War days. Here is a strong rebuttal to the Gone with the Wind and The Clansmen school of writing. The editors of NEGRO DIGEST believe it one of the finest books ever written about the Negro." |
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1945.
The Pirate and the General.
in: Esquire 23:4(42) Apr'45.
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1945.
The Old Wagon.
in: Woman's Day, p42, May'45.
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1946.
The Gray Ship.
in: New Masses 58:2(3) Jan 8'46.
(2,157 words).
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| THIRD ENGINEER: When you come down to it, they all claim credit, and there's enough for all of them, isn't there? What the Marines done, that don't take credit from the Army, and the Army's victories, that don't come off from the Navy's share. We don't ask to forget what the Russians done because we went into France and Germany. But I ask you, where would any of them be, any of them, the Marines or the Russians or the French Underground, if it wasn't for the gray ships? |
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1946.
The Gallant Ship.
in: New Masses 58:3(16) Jan 15'46.
(1,639 words).
| BEFORE the war, the gray ships had a certain individuality, a name, a color, a flag; but with that curtain of gray came anonymity, a fleet of faceless ghost ships, even the ships' names turned down on hinged boards. The gray ships became an accepted commonplace; one night they filled a harbor; the next night they were gone. To the layman, there was nothing to differentiate them; seen from Riverside Drive in New York, from the docks at Antwerp, or from the beach at Iwo, the gray hulls were peas out of the same pod... |
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1946.
The Gray Ship's Crew.
in: New Masses 58:4(3) Jan 22'46.
(3,215 words).
*
The following is the third of a series of sketches, "The Gray Ship," written by Mr. Fast on a voyage to India before V-J Day. The first two appeared in the preceding two issues of NM.
The enduring part of the gray ships, the continuity of them, the thing that linked one with another through the long war years, was the crew. The ships were, first and foremost, expendable; when the torpedo hit, nothing was left except broken dunnage, and oil slick, and those of the crew who were fortunate enough to live. Sometimes it happened that a merchant ship took a heavy battering and came back to port, to be repaired and to sail again; but that was the rare thing, the exception; for the most part, one smashing blow and they died. And the crew rowed away, or sailed for a thousand miles in cockleshells, or clung to rafts, or choked on oil and died; but for the most part, some of the crew were left. |
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1946.
The Gray Ship's Captain.
in: New Masses 58:5(10) Jan 29'46.
(2,487 words).
*
The following is the fourth and last of a series of sketches written by Mr. Fast on a voyage to India just before V-J Day. The first three have appeared in the preceding issues of NM.
The captain of the gray ship had learned with sail, which means that his seamed face had seen half a century of seafaring and more; actually, he had first shipped out on the square-rigger in which, at a later date, Joseph Conrad had cruised around the world; and so small a world is this, with all its millions, that three generations later the captain sat in a German concentration camp with Conrad's brother... |
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| 1946.
By Broken Pike, Iron Chain.
in: The Story Digest, Nov. 1946.
144 pp,
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1947.
Departure.
in: Mainstream: A Literary Quarterly (Vol 1 #3, pp 338-344, Summer, 1947).
Mainstream Associates.
New York.
*
editions
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1947.
Mr. Lincoln.
illus. by Mario Cooper.
in: Colliers, 119:18-19, 49-52. Feb 15'47.
35 cm,
(5,375 words).
Crowell-Collier.
Springfield, Ohio.
*
Maybe this story never really happened - but, in all humility, we feel that it gives a likeness of Mr. Lincoln that he would not have been ashamed of
MRS. JAMES ALEX was as pretty as a picture. She was twenty-four years old and she had blue eyes and brown hair and a Cupid's-bow mouth. Before she married James Alex, she had been a Carrington of Bridgeport, and she had the haughty polish that goes with the Carringtons of Bridgeport. |
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1947.
The Rickshaw.
in: New Masses 63:7(11) May 13'47.
(3,015 words).
| IT WAS one hundred and twenty degrees in the shade but I walked I back to the Press Club because I had principles, and one of them was that I would not be drawn by a man who serves the function of a beast. I had lately come from the north, where sometimes it was one hundred and forty degrees in the shade, but it was dry there, and in an hour you could dehydrate yourself completely, yet never get a drop of moisture on your shirt... |
editions, translations
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1948.
The Little Folk from the Hills.
in: Masses & Mainstream, pp 19-25, Dec'48.
(2,553 words).
*
| THIS thing happened to me in an old, old land, where I had been riding forever with a tech sergeant, a staff sergeant and 2,000 pounds of United States mail. The train stopped every six miles or so, and each time there was no real certainty that it would ever start again. We were at Agra or Lucknow or Patna or some place like that; it doesn't matter very much, and one town looks like another in such a land. When we rolled into a town to stay for an hour or six hours or maybe all night, a bearer in a green and red and white uniform, with a great piled white turban topped by a splendid feather, more imposing than a Coldstream Guard on dress parade, leaped onto the running board outside of our compartment and said, "Tea, sahib?" or "Tray, sahib?" |
editions, translations
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1949.
An Epitaph for Sidney.
in: Howard Fast: Departure and Other Stories 56-77 (22pp).
(first published in Jewish Life).
(5,592 words).
Little, Brown & Co.
Boston.
*
| We thought at first that an epitaph for Sidney should be more than a few words, and I and some of the others who had known him well set out to collate what information we had; but in the end we did not use the material, and it was handed over to me. From what we have, you will be able to see why we were able to write an epitaph for Sidney in a line... |
editions, translations
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| 1949.
The Police Spy.
in: Howard Fast: Departure and Other Stories 216-232 (17pp).
[about an Indian Communist whose leg was broken by the British].
Little, Brown & Co.
Boston.
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1949.
Journey to Boston.
in: Masses & Mainstream 2:11(28-41) Nov'49.
(5,873 words).
*
| FROM the journal of Reuben Joshua Dover, it will be noted that even after he had well passed the allotted three score years and ten, he wrote with a firm, round hand. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the age of only sixty-six, he was a sound, dry and healthy man, able to do his day's work if it was necessary for him to do it; the trouble was that it was not wholly necessary, since he had four strong sons and two buxom daughters - and they were good children, which is not so often the case. |
editions
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1950.
The Child and the Ship.
in: Masses & Mainstream p.61-70, Apr'50.
*
THE child was then eleven years old, and if you must have a time, it was the year 1733, in the town of Boston in Massachusetts Bay Colony. The ship came from the West Indies, to where she came from the old country, a dirty old bark that still could make enough money for the owners, and she came sailing into the harbor like a monster from hell.
A bark is a three-masted sailing ship. Foremast and mainmast are square-rigged, and the mizzenmast, which is the shortest mast, at the stern of the ship, is rigged fore and aft - in other words, two booms carry a sail slung between them, and this can be swung and set any place in a full arc of a hundred and eighty degrees. This was the kind of a ship which sailed slowly and not too well into Boston harbor, and the boy saw it. |
editions
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1950.
Kent, Simon (Howard Fast).
A Child is Lost.
in: This Week magazine, Nov. 19, 1950.
Howard Fast in Being Red on "A Child is Lost".
(1,277 words).
| "Ellen is lost. Ellen is lost." The words kept ringing in my ears as my cab fought its way to uptown New York. I had returned to my office from lunch, to be told by a tearful secretary that my wife had called four times. Our little girl, age three, was lost. I didn't wait to hear any more... |
editions
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1951.
Spartacus [from a Novel by Howard Fast].
in: Masses & Mainstream, p.21-35, Jul'51.
chapter from (forthcoming) Spartacus with preceding author's note on the composition and publication.
(56,280 words).
[Part II Section III].
*
| AUTHORS NOTE: In January of 1950, I began to lay out in my mind and assemble material for a book on Spartacus and the servile insurrection which he led. I had always been fascinated by the story of this slave who shook great Rome to her very foundations and who became a deathless symbol of class resistance and class struggle. Not only was there, in our own time, the brave struggle against such odds of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht and their League of Spartacus; but through the centuries the name of Spartacus was always on the lips of the most oppressed, the most wretched, and yet the most militant elements of society. I read a great deal; I struggled with the material, as writers do; and then, in April of that year, I began to write... |
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1954.
The Protest.
in: Masses & Mainstream, pp 12-23, July, 1954.
[pre-publication chapter from the novel Silas Timberman].
(5,578 words).
*
We are pleased to present the following chapter from Howard Fast's new novel, Silas Timberman, which is scheduled for publication this fall. Silas Timberman is the story of an obscure college professor in a middle-western university caught up in all the sound and fury of the current academic witch-hunt. The novel will be published by the Blue Heron Press.
ON WEDNESDAY night, November 2nd, the day before the scheduled campus protest meeting in defense of Ike Amsterdam, Silas sat up late working on the text of his remarks for the following day. |
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1955.
Christ in Cuernavaca.
in: Howard Fast: The Last Supper and Other Stories.
(9,105 words).
Blue Heron Press.
New York.
*
| ON a cool, clear summer morning, as my wife and I were walking down Dwight D. Morrow Street in Cuernavaca, down from the hilltop toward the old Market, we saw a man riding on a little donkey — or burro, as they call them there — and he looked like Jesus Christ. You might remark that no one knows just what Christ looked like, but there is a face that has formed with time and taken shape in ten thousand paintings and sculptures, and this was the face of that man. |
editions
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1955.
The Last Supper.
in: Masses & Mainstream, pp. 22-34, Mar.'55.
*
| ONE of the advantages of living in a tower apartment in the Elmsford on Fifth Avenue was that your place was the only stop on the floor for the elevator. It gave one the maximum amount of privacy that one could expect living in New York, and Harvey Crane enjoyed privacy when he wanted privacy. He felt that he had earned the privilege of privacy. He was forty-six years old, tall, broad-shouldered and distinguished in appearance except that he bulged a little over his belt, and he felt that at forty-six, with a career that stretched back over a quarter of an century, one deserved a little privacy... |
editions
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1956.
Lola Gregg.
in: Masses & Mainstream, pp 17-23, May 1956.
[prepublication chapter from The Story of Lola Gregg (Ch. 4, An Interesting Event, 41-51)].
(2,576 words).
*
| This is a composition of something about myself, and also an interesting event. My name is Lola Fremont. I am twelve years old and live in Hagertown, New Jersey, where I was born in the year 1918. We are Presbyterians, but my mother was a Methodist before she married my father who was a Presbyterian. Our teacher suggested information about ourselves and some description of a general nature before the description of an interesting event... |
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1959.
Of Time and Cats.
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mar'59.
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editions, translations
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1959.
The Cold, Cold Box.
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jul'59.
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editions, translations
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1959.
The Martian Shop.
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nov'59.
(8,572 words).
*
| These are the background facts given to Detective Sergeant Tom Bristol when he was instructed to break down the door and go into the place. It is true that the locksmiths at Centre Street have earned the reputation of being able to open anything that has been closed, and that reputation is not undeserved. But this door was an exception. So Bristol went to break down the door with two men in uniform and crowbars and all the other tools that might be necessary. But before that he studied a précis of the pertinent facts... |
editions, translations
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| 1960.
Old Sam Adams (Three Tales).
in: Howard Fast: The Howard Fast Reader.
Journey To Boston, The Ancestor, The Child and the Ship.
Crown Publishers.
New York.
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1960.
The First Men (The Trap).
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Feb'60, p.1-31 (31pp).
(11,388 words).
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| I found it. I saw it with my own eyes, and thereby I am convinced that I have a useful purpose in life--overseas investigator for the anthropological whims of my sister. That, in any case, is better than boredom. I have no desire to return home; I will not go into any further explanations or reasons. I am neurotic, unsettled and adrift. I got my discharge in Karachi, as you know. I am very happy to be an ex-GI and a tourist, but it took me only a few weeks to become bored to distraction. So I was quite pleased to have a mission from you. The mission is completed... |
editions, translations
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1960.
The Large Ant.
in: Fantastic Universe Feb '60, p.80-86.
23.5 cm,
Great America Publications.
New York.
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editions, translations
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1960.
Cato the Martian.
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 18(6):28-38, Jun'60.
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editions, translations
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1960.
The Sight of Eden.
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Oct'60.
*
editions, translations
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1969.
The Mouse.
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nov'69.
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editions
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1972.
The Hoop.
in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Oct'72.
*
editions
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| 1975.
Echinomastus Contentii.
in: Howard Fast, Time and the Riddle.
Ward Ritchie.
Pasadena, CA.
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TOP
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Blue Heron Press
Citizen Tom Paine
Freedom Road
Last Frontier
My Glorious Brothers
Spartacus
The Children
Peekskill
Unvanquished
Masuto
EVC's Women
