COPYRIGHT INFO

      The Red Finger Mystery Megapack is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved. The Arthur Leo Zagat copyrights are owned by John Betancourt and used with permission. Cover art © Andranik7 / Fotolia.

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      “Second-Hand Death” originally appeared in Operator #5, October 1934. Copyright. Copyright © 1934 by Popular Publications, Inc.

      “Death Rides the Sound” originally appeared in Operator #5, November 1934. Copyright © 1934 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1961 (renewal # R284909).

      “Red Finger—Death Dealer” originally appeared in Operator #5, December 1934. Copyright © 1934 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1961 (renewal # R284967).

      “Caged Horror” originally appeared in Operator #5, April 1935. Copyright. Copyright © 1935 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1962 (renewal # R304319).

      “Death’s Red Finger” originally appeared in Operator #5, September 1935. Copyright © 1935 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1962 (renewal # R304480).

      “Red Finger Meets His Match” originally appeared in Operator #5, March 1936. Copyright © 1936 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 (renewal # R325352).

      “Red Finger—Spy Poison!” originally appeared in Operator #5, June/July 1936. Copyright © 1936 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 (renewal # R325441).

      “Locked in with Death” originally appeared in Operator #5, August 1936. Copyright © 1936 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1963 (renewal # R325517).

      “Death’s Toy Shop” originally appeared in Operator #5, January 1937. Copyright © 1937 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1964 (renewal # R348858).

      “Envoy Of Doom” originally appeared in Operator #5, July/August 1937. Copyright © 1937 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1964 (renewal # ).

      “The Spy Who Sold Death” originally appeared in Operator #5, September/October 1937. Copyright © 1937 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1964 (renewal # R348688).

      “Red Finger’s Murder Messenger” originally appeared in Operator #5, March/April 1938. Copyright © 1938 by Popular Publications, Inc. Copyright renewed 1965 (renewal # R372389).

      A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

      Red Finger! In the spy vs. spy world of the late 1930s, this masked hero prowled the underworld, dressed in an “amorphous fluttering black robe, bat-like, [with] a gray-masked head through whose twin eye-slits menace glinted.” But it was not so much the costume as the “hand, ebony-black in its glove—but for the finger curled around the trigger of that gun. That finger was not black but vividly, awesomely scarlet.” (From “Caged Horror.”) Powerful stuff in those days!

      Arthur Leo Zagat (1896-1949) was a prolific pulp writer (by my estimates he authored more than 500 stories). Trained in the law, he gave it up to write. During the last two decades of his life, Zagat wrote short stories prolifically. His work appeared in a variety of pulp magazines, including Thrilling Wonder Stories, Argosy, Dime Mystery Magazine, Horror Stories, Operator No. 5, Astounding, and he wrote the “Doc Turner” stories that regularly appeared in The Spider pulp magazine throughout the 1930s. A novel, Seven Out of Time, was published by Fantasy Press in 1949, the year he died. Had he lived longer, he undoubtedly would have made the transition to paperbacks and been a highly successful novelist.

      Wildside Press tracked down and purchased Arthur Leo Zagat’s literary estate from his daughter in July 2014. His work had been widely pirated on the internet (even by companies that should have known better) because his estate was deemed “lost.” Now Wildside is preparing new, definitive texts of his works, so look for many more Arthur Leo Zagat titles from Wildside in coming months.

      —John Betancourt

      Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

      www.wildsidepress.com

      ABOUT THE MEGAPACKS

      Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has grown to be among our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

      The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

      RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

      Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

      Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

      TYPOS

      Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

      If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

      THE MEGAPACK SERIES

      MYSTERY

      The Achmed Abdullah Megapack

      The Bulldog Drummond Megapack*

      The Carolyn Wells Mystery Megapack

      The Charlie Chan Megapack*

      The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack

      The Detective Megapack

      The Father Brown Megapack

      The Girl Detective Megapack

      The Second Girl Detective Megapack

      The First R. Austin Freeman Megapack

      The Second R. Austin Freeman Megapack*

      The Third R. Austin Freeman Megapack*

      The Jacques Futrelle Megapack

      The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack

      The First Mystery Megapack

      The Second Mystery Megapack

      The Penny Parker Megapack

      The Philo Vance Megapack*

      The Pulp Fiction Megapack

      The Raffles Megapack

      The Sherlock Holmes Megapack

      The Victorian Mystery Megapack

      The Wilkie Collins Megapack

      GENERAL INTEREST

      The Adventure Megapack

      The Baseball Megapack

      The Cat Story Megapack

      The Second Cat Story Megapack

      The Third Cat Story Megapack

      The Third Cat Story Megapack

      The Christmas Megapack

      The Second Christmas Megapack

      The Classic American Short Stories Megapack, Vol. 1.

      The Classic Humor Megapack

      The Dog Story Megapack

      The Doll Story Megapack

      The Horse Story Megapack

      The