Gang Pulp

Racketeer Stories, February 1930

The story is the thing.

Yet we must not forget, that no matter how real it seems, it is, after all, only the weaving of a writer’s imagination. The characters are also only figments of the mind. The exciting situations are merely the creations of brilliant authors.

Keep these things before you as you read the amazing collection of yarns we have gathered together in the first issue of RACKETEER STORIES. They are — every one of them — only stories. They are intended for your entertainment — an escape from the routine of dull, daily life.

Many of the characters seem to triumph in crime, but if we could go on with them beyond the ends of these stories, we would read of their eventual downfall. Glittering as they seem crime can never pay, in the long run.

Crime is the product of weakness. And weakness is a disease of the mind and body. Therefore, in reading of the underworld, one must remember always that these pitiful children of evil are only red shadows in the shadowy realm of unreality. Let us read of them, but believe in them — no!

Rather let us gain a lesson from their ragged existence — a lesson in terror and pity that should help us to watch our own steps and beware of stupid temptations and idle pleasures gained at the price of our souls.

In these pages, you find the dregs of existence — moving paragraphs of horror, drama and even humor — and these pages are but loose leaves from the book of an imaginary life created for your entertainment and also your guidance.

Faithfully yours,

Harold Hersey