Let’s talk about ALL-STORY—the magazine that quietly helped invent modern pop fiction.
Frank Munsey launched The All-Story magazine in January 1905 as a companion to ARGOSY, and it quickly became a playground for imagination.
By 1914, readers were hooked on fast-moving serials, so it switched from a monthly to a weekly and, after merging with The Cavalier, became All-Story Cavalier Weekly for about a year before settling on All-Story Weekly.
The stories came at a breakneck pace—fantasy, romance, science fiction, adventure—all designed to keep readers desperate for the next installment.
What really makes All-Story special is how many legends it launched. Edgar Rice Burroughs introduced John Carter of Mars here, and not long after, Tarzan swung into the pages and straight into pop-culture history.
A. Merritt built entire dream worlds out of words, and Johnston McCulley created Zorro—the original masked hero who set the mold for everyone from Batman to The Scarlet Pimpernel’s modern cousins.
Even mystery master Rex Stout passed through, experimenting with serialized storytelling before inventing Nero WOLFE.
By the time All-Story Weekly merged into Argosy in 1920, it had already changed the rules of commercial fiction forever.
Here are 5 standout tales from the magazines:
1. "Under the Moons of Mars” - Edgar Rice Burroughs February through July 1912.
This is where it all began for John Carter—an ordinary man flung to Mars, sword in hand, leaping across red deserts and falling for a princess. Pure pulp magic!
2. “Tarzan of the Apes” - Edgar Rice Burroughs October 1912.
Tarzan’s first swing into print turned one issue into publishing gold. It’s adventure, identity, and myth all rolled into one!
3. “The Moon Pool” - A. Merritt June 22, 1918.
A glowing doorway to another world, lush and terrifying, filled with strange light and stranger beings. Merritt’s prose made fantasy feel cosmic!
4. “THE CURSE OF CAPISTRANO” - Johnston McCulley August 9 throughSeptember 6, 1919.
Zorro makes his masked debut, charming by day and slashing justice by night. It practically invented the swashbuckling hero we still love!
5. "A PRIZE FOR PRINCES” - Rex Stout May 2 through 30, 1914.
Before Nero Wolfe, Stout wrote this high-stakes romantic adventure packed with political intrigue and moral tension. Proof that pulps could also aim for sophistication.
