Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The B.M. Bower Megapack
The E.F. Benson Megapack
The Second E.F. Benson Megapack
The Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Megapack
The Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Second Algernon Blackwood Megapack
The Max Brand Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Fredric Brown Megapack
The Second Fredric Brown Megapack
The Frances Hodgson Burnett Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Guy de Maupassant Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Erckmann-Chatrian Megapack
The First R. Austin Freeman Megapack
The Second R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
The Dashiell Hammett Megapack
The C.J. Henderson Megapack
The M.R. James Megapack
The Selma Lagerlof Megapack
The Murray Leinster Megapack***
The Second Murray Leinster Megapack***
The Jonas Lie Megapack
The Arthur Machen Megapack**
The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack
The Talbot Mundy Megapack
The E. Nesbit Megapack
The Andre Norton Megapack
The H. Beam Piper Megapack
The Mack Reynolds Megapack
The Rafael Sabatini Megapack
The Saki Megapack
The Darrell Schweitzer Megapack
The Robert Sheckley Megapack
The Bram Stoker Megapack
The Lon Williams Weird Western Megapack
* Not available in the United States
** Not available in the European Union
***Out of print.
OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY
The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany Megapack”)
The Wildside Book of Fantasy
The Wildside Book of Science Fiction
Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries
FUNNY STUFF, by Ron Goulart
Somebody else had died.
Seemed like lately we were discussing the obituary of one of our colleagues or contemporaries at just about every one of our weekly lunches. On this particular autumn afternoon, Zarley was the first one to bring up the death of Ben Segal.
“I absolutely loved Lucky Duck,” he added, bouncing enthusiastically in his chair. “I don’t mean the animated cartoons, which were okay, but the funny books. Segal wrote and drew most of those, and he was a blooming genius, just like Walt Kelly and Carl Barks.”
“The Times obit,” said Heinz, “said that Segal died a multi-millionaire. It was good to see that Lon Destry Productions didn’t screw him out of every penny.”
“He was a partner in Destry, wasn’t he?” I said.
“Segal owned forty percent of the whole damn studio,” said Mert Younger. He’s semi-retired and is usually the oldest member at our Monday gathering of cartoonists at the Inkwell restaurant in Westport.
Today, though, he’d brought a friend of his. Fellow of seventy or so named Mac Myers. Myers was lean and sunburned and had the sort of bright blue eyes Sinatra is supposed to.
“Fifty percent,” Myers corrected.
“Mac used to work at Destry,” explained Mert.
“Doing what?” Zarley wanted to know.
“After Ben Segal became a vice president,” answered Myers, “I took over the comic book and comic strip department.”
“Then you must’ve had a hand in Maxie Mouse Comics and Veronica Vulture and Bix Bunnyrabbit and all.”
“I did,” admitted Myers with a quiet smile.
Zarley said, “What I’d like to—”
“What I’d like to know,” cut in Heinz, “is how Segal, who started as a bullpen cartoonist, ended up owning half the Destry empire.”
Ty Banner hadn’t said anything for a while. He’d been watching the Saugatuck River out the window and poking at the olive in his second martini. “I could tell you about that,” he said to us, glancing over at Myers. “Destry’s been dead for years, and now that Segal’s gone, too, I guess there’s no reason why not.”
Myers smiled. “That’s right, Ty, you worked for us out there. Back over thirty years ago, wasn’t it?”
“I was a mere lad at the time.” Banner ran a hand over his handsome, though slightly puffy, cheek. “After I got out of the service, I headed for Los Angeles. I had two things I was interested in, acting and drawing, and L.A. seemed like a good place to try both.”
“Three interests,” said Heinz. “You forgot to mention ladies.”
“I did a little of that in Hollywood, too.” Banner sipped his drink. “At any rate, despite my charm and natural good looks I never managed to get more than a few days of work as an extra. My entire acting career consisted of three days in a B-movie called Pago Pago Princess.”
“I bet you looked terrific in a sarong,” said Heinz.
“I did for a fact. Even so, I decided I’d better start pursuing my art career. I was multitalented, but so far I was just multi-starving. I managed to land a job at Destry Studios, working in their comic book department. That’s where I met Ben Segal.”
Zarley, sitting far forward in his chair, asked, “Do you know some backstage scuttlebutt, Ty? Some dark secrets that’ve been buried in the dim past for—”
“I know how come Segal’s career made a great leap ahead,” he said.
“So tell us,” urged Zarley.
“You grew up, being the youth of the bunch, reading Segal’s comic books, Lucky Duck and all that crap,” said Banner. “You have an idealized version of the guy, based on his work. And he was a damn good cartoonist, nobody did better funny