by Duane Spurlock
I’m not a Black Friday shopper, although I have some relatives who revel in that day’s frenzy. But for those like me, who may be a bit more circumspect in their personal shopping, or whose own Want List may not be possible to fill at the typical bricks-and-mortar retail establishment on the day after Thanksgiving, I’ve put together the following list of 10 goodies from the 2006 pulp publications that will likely appeal to pulp fans.
Certainly this list will say more about me and my particular interests than it will meet the desires of all other pulp readers. For that, it’s probably not only eccentric but idiosyncratic, to boot.
And even a brief glance at Bill Thom’s Coming Attractions site will let you know 2006 has brought forth a bumper crop of stuff to delight a pulp fan. Heck, one month’s publications will fill a full-page Drool List.
So, why 10? First, it’s not a Best Of list. Second, 10 is a nice, reasonable number; listing more than 10 items would only reveal more of my own eccentricities.
You can purchase some of these items from Amazon.com. By clicking the link accompanying my item notes and purchasing there -- or by purchasing some other item during the same Amazon session -- you'll drop a few pennies into the Pulp Rack’s pocket and help defray its online expenses, for which I thank you.
Other items are available elsewhere -- for example, from book dealers Mike Chomko (at chomko@enter.net) or John Gunnison (Adventure House), or directly from the publishers -- and we’ll note that for those items.
Now, on to the Eccentric List!
1.
Perhaps the biggest news for hero-pulp fans during the year was the return to print in authorized editions of The Shadow and Doc Savage, courtesy of Anthony Tollin’s Nostalgia Ventures. These are handsome two-in-one books, which feature reset type and introductory material by Will Murray. They’re available from Amazon, Adventure House [http://www.adventurehouse.com/theshadow.htm], Mike Chomko, and Nostalgia Ventures.
2.
For those readers who want new pulp-style fiction to mix in with their pulp reprints, Wild Cat Books’ series of new anthologies featuring public domain characters from the golden age of pulp heroes are nicely designed and entertainingly written books that will return you to those “golden days of yesteryear.” Kudos to Ron Hanna and Ron Fortier for launching this series of anthologies! Featured characters so far have been Secret Agent X, the Moon Man, Dr. Satan, Captain Hazzard, and Lance Star, an aviation hero. Forthcoming collections will feature Ki-Gor, the Domino Lady, various aviation heroes, the Black Bat, Jim Anthony, and Dan Fowler. You can find these titles at Amazon, or Wild Cat Books’ Lulu.com home page.
3.
Jess Nevins’ Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana is a Big, Fat, Amazing collection of info about the popular fiction of the middle and late 19th Century (and early 20th Century) that influenced and helped give birth to pulp fiction. Monkey Brain Books technically published this tome in 2005, but it’s big enough to fit into 2006 as well. This alphabetical exploration of characters (the famous -- Sherlock Holmes, Edmond Dantes -- as well as the obscure -- Devil Bug, Electric Bob) and subgenres (the Edisonnade, the Yellow Peril, the Gothic) is something of a treasure trove. Each time I open it, I find something I’d not known before. As the astute Mr. Nevins states, “This book is subjective, not objective. I could have written dry plot analyses and dispassionate character descriptions, but books like [E.F.] Bleiler’s and the Trouser Press Record Guide are always the most fun when the authors laud the worthy and savage the vile, and that is what I have tried to do.” Thank goodness! You can find this 1010-page beauty of a book at Amazon.
4.
The Hard Case Crime series of paperback novels has returned to booksellers the glories of the hard-boiled adventure fiction that marked the original paperback boom of the 1950s and ‘60s. (Now I'm itching to find 'em on wire spinner racks at truck stops!) With the passing of publishers like Gold Medal, it looked like the paperback world was going to be forever dominated by fat, “beach-reading” blockbusters. Thanks to publisher Charles Ardai and his deal with Leisure Books, the type of hard-boiled writing that grew from the pulp traditions of Hammett and Chandler are back to please readers again, with reprints and new offerings from Hard Case Crime. A recent entry, Grave Descend, is a reprint of a 1970 novel by John Lange, a pseudonym of Michael Crichton before he made it Really Big as Michael Crichton. If contemporary pulp versions of Argosy or Blue Book were being published now, this novel would fit perfectly in their pages -- lean prose, heroic heroes, an intriguing mystery, and solid action. You can purchase it from Amazon, or check out the entire series there or from Mike Chomko.
5.
University of Nebraska Press’ Bison Books imprint has published two goodies for Adventure fans and Harold Lamb readers. Wolf of the Steppes and Warriors of the Steppes (and in 2007, Riders of the Steppes) collect Lamb’s Khlit the Cossack stories in far more definitive editions than Doubleday Books managed many years ago. These are handsome trade paperbacks; and they include notes by Lamb scholar Howard Jones. These volumes are nice additions to anyone’s Adventure-related book collection. Available from Amazon or Mike Chomko.
6.
Did I mention I’m a fan of Harold Lamb? For me, Lamb and Talbot Mundy form a Dynamic Duo that epitomizes the strengths of classic Adventure magazine fiction. Tom Roberts has fed my Lamb-fan fires this year by publishing Lamb’s The Skull of Shirzad Mir through his Black Dog Books imprint. This volume collects stories about Abdul Dost, a Moslem swordsman who teams up with Englishman Sir Ralph Weyand through five consecutive adventures—"The Skull of Shirzad Mir," "Said Afzel's Elephant," "Prophecy of the Blind," "Rose Face,” and "Ameer of the Sea." This is a larger, trade-size book than Tom’s usual chapbook-style reprints. And it features a nice color cover illustration by Tom. It’s available from Amazon, from Adventure House, and from Mike Chomko.
7.
Every issue of Dan Zimmer’s Illustration Magazine is a delight -- not only for the informative articles, but also the beautiful reproduction of great illustrative art from past masters. Pulp artists (and modern illustrators favored by pulp fans, such as Frank Frazetta) are present in nearly every issue. For example, issue 8 carried David Saunders’ great article and pulp check list for cover artist Ernest Chiriaka, plus Zimmer’s article on William George, cover artist for Dell Comics’ Zane Grey’s King of the Royal Mounted and many other comics and paperbacks; issue 10 featured Saunders’ article on Rafael DeSoto; issue 11 includes an article by Saunders about Larry Admire, model for a number of pulp cover artists. And that’s just a random sampling. Illustration is available from Amazon, Mike Chomko, and many comic shops.
8.
Jules Verne had an immense influence on the pulps and the popular fiction that led to and from the pulp era. Although frequently cited as the father of science fiction, Verne was more of an adventure writer than a science fictionist, because primarily he extrapolated his fictional adventures from the known science of his time. For instance, his first published novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, concerns a search for the source of the Nile from the air -- nothing SF-ish about that, although it may have been high on the audacity scale at the time. Verne’s reputation in English-speaking countries has always been less than his stature in other countries -- in the U.S., he’s considered a children’s author. But that’s mainly due to the lackluster and botched translations into English his works have suffered. (I tried to read Verne as a kid, and I just couldn’t stomach it.) Further, some of the posthumously published novels supposed written entirely by Verne were actually radically changed by his son Michel before they were published.
Fortunately, in recent years a revival of critical interest in Verne’s work has led to new, superior translations into English (by translators who can actually read both French and English) that authentically capture Verne’s storytelling prowess. Many of these new translations are accompanied by interesting essays and annotations that bring alive the novels’ context and Verne’s impressive accomplishments. Most of these are appearing in affordable paperback editions from Oxford University Press and Bison Books, but others are being published by Wesleyan University Press. Note that many of the original, badly translated editions are still being reprinted by many large and small publishers. Typically the newer, better translators are William Butcher, Frederick Paul Walter, Walter James Miller, Edward Baxter, and Arthur Evans. (You'll find some interesting essays about Verne, his work, and his translations at the North American Jules Verne Society site. 2006 brought us these new English translations of Verne’s work: Invasion of the Sea from Wesleyan, at Amazon; and The Meteor Hunt from Bison Books, also at Amazon.
9.
Pulp fandom saw a real crossover publication this year: The novel The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont, which features Lester Dent and Walter Gibson as its heroes. A variety of other pulp writers show up in secondary roles, and it’s a fun romp all the way through. If you haven’t read it yet, now’s the time! Available from Amazon.
10.
Okay, this one is a little off the beaten pulp path. True, it’s a comic book. But its heart beats with a pulp rhythm, and its heroes and villains and thrills and chills are all authentic pulp-quality stuff. It’s the Showcase Presents edition of DC Comics’ The Challengers of the Unknown -- more than 500 pages of beautiful black-and-white art by Jack Kirby (co-creator of Captain America and a slew of Marvel Comics characters) and including inks by Wally Wood (EC Comics artist, creator of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Tower Comics, and more). This volume covers 1957-1961 and reprints Showcase #6, #7, #11, #12 and Challengers Of The Unknown #1-17. I love this stuff! (I warned you this list says too much about me.) Available from Amazon.
11.
Eleven? Okay, one last lagniappe: Literary Walking Tours of Gothic Dublin. Not really pulp related, but I illustrated the three stories included in this nonfiction examination of Irish ghost story writers Charles Maturin, Sheridan Le Fanu, and Bram Stoker. I’m not sure if it’s available anywhere in the U.S. yet, but Shocklines.com lists it as upcoming. Take a look there and at author Brian Showers’ web site for more info. You can get copies from me -- signed by both the author and artist. Just send a note to the Pulp Rack's Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pulprack/.
That's it for this year's inaugural shopping list. Hope you enjoyed it. Happy shopping and happy holidays!
Posted by ds at November 30, 2006 07:52 PM
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