Pulp International - 1953 cover for Desert of the damned by Nelson Nye

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Pulp International - 1953 cover for Desert of the damned by Nelson Nye

Vintage Pulp

Sep 6 2013

It ain’t no damn ascot, mister—it’s a bandana. And I don't mind tellin' you I don’t care for your tone.

Above is a nice but uncredited cover for Nelson Nye’s Desert of the Damned. Nye was an important author of Western fiction who wrote more than one hundred novels and co-founded the Western Writers of America guild. He also used the pseudonyms Clem Colt and Drake C. Denver. Desert of the Damned involves a man named Ben Reifel (kind of like “rifle,” see what he did there?) being hunted for a murder he didn’t commit. He has to find a way to dodge both the law and a character named Breen who’s out for revenge. Nye’s work is quite popular, and this novel was reprinted several times, and appeared electronically from Prologue Books in 2012. This Popular Library version was published in 1953.

Western Writers of America Popular Library Prologue Books Desert of the Damned Nelson Nye Clem Colt Drake C. Denver cover art literature

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