Lloyd Arthur Eshbach was an American science fiction fan, publisher and writer, secular and religious publisher, and minister.
Lloyd Arthur Eshbach c. 1949
Eshbach as pictured in Wonder Stories in 1932
Weird Tales (October 1936, volume 28, number 3), featuring Isle of the Undead by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach
Marvel Tales and Unusual Stories
Marvel Tales and Unusual Stories were two related American semi-professional science fiction magazines published in 1934 and 1935 by William L. Crawford. Crawford was a science fiction fan who believed that the pulp magazines of the time were too limited in what they would publish. In 1933, he distributed a flyer announcing Unusual Stories, and declaring that no taboos would prevent him from publishing worthwhile fiction. The flyer included a page from P. Schuyler Miller's "The Titan", which Miller had been unable to sell to the professional magazines because of its sexual content. A partial issue of Unusual Stories was distributed in early 1934, but Crawford then launched a new title, Marvel Tales, in May 1934. A total of five issues of Marvel Tales and three of Unusual Stories appeared over the next two years.
Cover of the flyer announcing Unusual Stories
One of the two variant covers of the July/August 1934 issue of Marvel Tales
Cover of the March/April 1935 issue of Marvel Tales