With a title like Thrilling Mystery you aren’t expecting robots. That’s Amazing Stories or Astounding Science Fiction, right? Two important robot authors of those magazines wrote for the Shudder Pulps, offering what else? Killer robots. Writing these odd little stories may have helped improve future tales. It’s a lot easier to avoid bad ideas when you’ve already got them out of your system. More importantly, these connect with the Asimov robot mystery puzzle I have discussed previously.
“The Devil in Steel” is by Jack Williamson (July 1937). This tale has newspaperman, Jimmy Beckland going to a remote island to see a robotics demonstration at the request of the inventor, Runyon Daker. Beckland is joined by Andrew Delcrain of Effo Electricity, Jeff Kelly, a rival bidder, Tony Marvis, the inventor’s step-son, and the beautiful, Melanie Doyle, Daker’s niece. Franz Roth is an employee of Daker’s. The assembled witness a fairly boring demo of Roxar, the giant robot. Daker has it answer questions and do very little. Daker brags about the robot’s self-contained battery unit.
Later a thunderstorm threatens. The robot goes crazy from the lightning and kills Jeff Kelly. Jimmy discovers his bloody body on the lawn. He also rescues Melanie in time to see the robot kill its master. After it leaves, Beckland takes the body indoors. He wants Tony’s rifle but both Tony and the gun are gone. Instead he gets an old shotgun from the black servants. The monster smashes through the front door, intent on killing Melanie, since she is related to Daker. Beckland tries to shoot it and gets electrocuted.
When he wakes up he finds himself outside, his head in Melanie’s lap. The small group goes to the lab. They find Delcrain’s body in the bushes. Inside, they find a bearded stranger rifling through the papers. He is Leland Birkhead, Daker’s old assistant. The man insists Daker stole his robot design. He flees. Jimmy looks at the other failed prototypes. He lays a greenish copper wire on the floor.
If you’d like to read the rest, please check out Monster 3:From the Pages of Dark Worlds Quarterly