The pulp series that has been the focus for me is The Shadow series. As of yesterday, I have read 172 of the novellas. Action, mystery, suspense - plenty to keep me coming back.
Would you consider Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi and fantasy magazines pulp? I grew up reading those that I found at yard and library sales. I can still remember the smell.
Not final by any means. There are now several small press publishers in America, such as Pro Se, and Airship 27, to name but two, who are what is known as 'New Pulp'.
I remember when my little brother found Conan the Barbarian. We had to read them in secret as they were not on our reading list😂😂 but we absolutely loved them. So much fun.
Excellent summation, with good examples. When you start studying this phenomenon, the patterns become obvious. The original incarnation of Nick Carter got a little more extreme later on as The Shadow and The Spider, etc., and then the paperback boom happened and you got Mike Hammer and The Executioner, etc. Think of the early pulps as being like the literary equivalent of movie serials, and the 50's paperbacks being like film noir, and the 70's and 80's paperbacks being literary grindhouse. :)
Do you think the current era, of super easy self-publishing combined with the ability/capitalist need to constantly produce ever more content might be ushering in a fifth period of pulp, or pulp adjacent fiction? It certainly seems that way to me. Then you also have contemporary consumers of classic pulp, an appreciation that is part halcyon, part affection, and maybe semi-ironic... From an anthropological perspective this isn't producing new pulp fiction but resurrecting and celebrating previously written pulp fiction, this also seems like a new or different period on the life of pulp fiction. A cluster of genres/production styles that were written to be disposable being saved, collected, collated, and consumed in an entirely different way... So if your four periods (and maybe the fifth I mention above) were periods demarcating the writing of pulp fiction, I wonder if it is also worthwhile to differentiate the reception or consumption of pulp fiction from its production...
That’s a very interesting point! Digitisation has definitely given new life to what would otherwise have been lost. I think you’re right about the kind of new content being published, but I think a lot of it doesn’t get recognised as being “pulpy” as more of it is in the romance/erotica genres rather than being what people more closely associate with the term pulp. The next era might be AI generated I guess
I’ve noticed a sub genre within pulps that I could only describe as crime or noir. These books or stories usually involve a woman (love interest and/or villain) and have either a criminal or a detective as the main character. These are my favorites and I wonder if there’s anything more to learn about this sub genre. Is there a name or terms associated with them besides crime? “1940’s-60’s crime” doesn’t seem specific enough. Appreciate any knowledge you’d be willing to share with me.
@@CriminOllyBlog Of course. The Girl with the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block, The Deep Blue Good-By by John MacDonald, The Hot Spot by Charles Williams. It’s a good bet if there’s a woman on the cover.
I need to add more Pulp to my Collection. Great video!😀👍 (I have an idea for a video, your Top 10 Tomes, books that are 800 pages or more, come on, you can do it)
Thank you, this was a fun post. But you forgot a pulp that was very important to my Dad; Amazing Stories is an American science fiction magazine published by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. Some of the greatest science fiction writers are in it; Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Richard Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon and Harlan Ellison. My Dad read these stories even when he was in the service and he stayed devoted to these authors all his life and passed down the love these authors to my brother and I. So I thought I would mention it.
The pulp series that has been the focus for me is The Shadow series. As of yesterday, I have read 172 of the novellas. Action, mystery, suspense - plenty to keep me coming back.
I really need to track some of those down!
Great overview! It’s a shame those old mags were printed on such crappy paper… can be hard to turn the pages without the edges crumbling on you 😫
This was great Olly. I believe Matt Wall has some videos on this as well that focus on the paperback pulp era.
Couldn't click on this video fast enough. Great stuff
Can't thank you enough for introducing Jim Thompson's work to me!
My pleasure!
This was really interesting, Olly! Thanks so much!
Thanks Pat!
Would you consider Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi and fantasy magazines pulp? I grew up reading those that I found at yard and library sales. I can still remember the smell.
Thank you for covering this, Olly! This was super interesting.
Nice, cogent, concise overview of pulp!
Thank you!
Thanks for this tutorial.
Both channels mentioned are a great source of information.
Gary Lovisi (channel is his name I believe) is another one.
Not final by any means. There are now several small press publishers in America, such as Pro Se, and Airship 27, to name but two, who are what is known as 'New Pulp'.
Do you think Jack Reacher novels could be considered in the same family as pulp? But just on a bigger scale?
I remember when my little brother found Conan the Barbarian. We had to read them in secret as they were not on our reading list😂😂 but we absolutely loved them. So much fun.
Excellent summation, with good examples. When you start studying this phenomenon, the patterns become obvious. The original incarnation of Nick Carter got a little more extreme later on as The Shadow and The Spider, etc., and then the paperback boom happened and you got Mike Hammer and The Executioner, etc. Think of the early pulps as being like the literary equivalent of movie serials, and the 50's paperbacks being like film noir, and the 70's and 80's paperbacks being literary grindhouse. :)
Thanks for making this! I always wondered :)
Nailed it! Loved all of that.
Much appreciated video Olly. My only context to the word pulp is associated with Pulp Fiction the movie.
Full speed ahead with that Mens Adventure library video please. Come on, drop everything, it's all that matters. Priorities. 🤭🤭
Do you think the current era, of super easy self-publishing combined with the ability/capitalist need to constantly produce ever more content might be ushering in a fifth period of pulp, or pulp adjacent fiction? It certainly seems that way to me.
Then you also have contemporary consumers of classic pulp, an appreciation that is part halcyon, part affection, and maybe semi-ironic... From an anthropological perspective this isn't producing new pulp fiction but resurrecting and celebrating previously written pulp fiction, this also seems like a new or different period on the life of pulp fiction. A cluster of genres/production styles that were written to be disposable being saved, collected, collated, and consumed in an entirely different way... So if your four periods (and maybe the fifth I mention above) were periods demarcating the writing of pulp fiction, I wonder if it is also worthwhile to differentiate the reception or consumption of pulp fiction from its production...
That’s a very interesting point! Digitisation has definitely given new life to what would otherwise have been lost.
I think you’re right about the kind of new content being published, but I think a lot of it doesn’t get recognised as being “pulpy” as more of it is in the romance/erotica genres rather than being what people more closely associate with the term pulp. The next era might be AI generated I guess
I’ve noticed a sub genre within pulps that I could only describe as crime or noir. These books or stories usually involve a woman (love interest and/or villain) and have either a criminal or a detective as the main character.
These are my favorites and I wonder if there’s anything more to learn about this sub genre. Is there a name or terms associated with them besides crime? “1940’s-60’s crime” doesn’t seem specific enough. Appreciate any knowledge you’d be willing to share with me.
Have you got some examples? Noir or hardboiled detective would be my first suggestions
@@CriminOllyBlog Of course. The Girl with the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block, The Deep Blue Good-By by John MacDonald, The Hot Spot by Charles Williams. It’s a good bet if there’s a woman on the cover.
@@Anna-ft2mi Yeah I'd probably label those as hardboiled
@@CriminOllyBlog thanks for your insight and your time 👊♥️
I need to add more Pulp to my Collection. Great video!😀👍
(I have an idea for a video, your Top 10 Tomes, books that are 800 pages or more, come on, you can do it)
Oooh, I like that!
Great video. I'd also include comic books as the first successor of the pulp magazines.
Thank you, this was a fun post. But you forgot a pulp that was very important to my Dad; Amazing Stories is an American science fiction magazine published by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. Some of the greatest science fiction writers are in it; Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Richard Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon and Harlan Ellison. My Dad read these stories even when he was in the service and he stayed devoted to these authors all his life and passed down the love these authors to my brother and I. So I thought I would mention it.
That is a good suggestion! Thanks Sherri
@@CriminOllyBlog you're welcome, we inherited all my parents books when they passed, so it is here with me. I hope you enjoy them.
Rock on Ollie!
For a minute I thought that I forgot that you were a Tarantino fan lol Jk
💚🖤