Pulp Books

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian is one of my favorites. This book is fully illustrated throughout by Mark Schultz who does an excellent job! The Phoenix on the Sword is REH's first story of Conan. Some of REH's best stories are here: The God in The Bowl, The Tower in the Elephant, The Frost Giants Daughter, Queen of the Black Coast, Rogues in the House, and more.

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) was an extra-ordindary creative writer who in my opinion was the best! His vision, talent, creative writing, and action packed stories can and will never be replicated! To learn more about this unique man read The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn. Also, read the Best of REH 1 & 2, Beyond The Black River, The Black Stranger and Other American Tales has the scariest story EVER Pigeons From Hell! Be sure to read it at night with plenty of light.

Must Reads: REH The Last of the Trunk, Solomon Kane, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, The Bloody Crown of Conan, All of the Weird Works REH, All of Weird Tales, and Selected Letters of REH, and my favorite about Cats the Abyss, Cormac Mac Art, Dark Horse comics Conan and Pigeons from Hell, One Who Walked Alone by REH's girlfriend Novalyn Ellis, Two-Gun Bob, A Centennial Study of REH-This anthology of essays by 16 professionals offers a centenary tribute to REH and his literary achievement; In Two-Gun Bob I found out that REH had only been to the seashore only once in his life!

A special thanks to Glenn Lord, Patrice Louinet, Rusty Burke, Stuart Williams, Mark Finn, Paul Herman, Dark Horse comics, Del Rey, and everyone else who has kept REH's legacy alive and well.

This compilation of robert e howards prolific amoral barbarian is a must for every conan fan. These stories are so well written that you feel you are actualy in the ancient mythical world of hyboria. The illustrations within the book are a beautifull compliment to each story. I just wish the stories were longer since i am used to reading the full length novels but, most people like short stories so if you like action packed stories in faraway exotic places you will love this collection.

Finally, after years of suffering through the weak maunderings of other writers:
The real thing, as the Cimmerian's tortured creator intended.

Often imitated, never (ever) duplicated, Robert E.Howard was one of a kind.

No one can write Conan like Robert E. Howard. The man actually turned the word brain into a verb, how awesome is that? This collection of short stories will keep you on the edge of your seat. Conan is the ultimate hero, extremely strong, intelligent, honest, loyal, and violent. The envy of every man and desire of every woman. It is such a shame that Howard cut his own life short without continuing this legend for himself.

This is a great book. I normally wait until I am finished with a book to read it but since this one is a collection of short stories I am reviewing it now. I am only half way through it and even if the rest of the book stinks I would still give the first half of the book 5 stars. If you like sword and sorcery books than you will love this one as well. I have read most of the books not written by Howard and enjoyed all of them and have read hundreds of the Conan comics. Howard's stories are very well written and enjoyable to read.

Strongly recommended to fans and even to fans that just want to try out a good sword and sorcery book I can not think of a better place to start.

I have the Kindle version and there is a problem. This book I believe had pictures or illustrations in it. At least that is the impression you get from the forward section of the book. My first impressions with Kindle books is you will miss out on this type of things. Even the book cover on this version is really bad. It takes up about 15 to 20% of the screen and is in such poor resolution that it is almost pointless. I do not get this as I have out of copyright books from other sources that have much better pictures than the books you pay for. I really do not understand this practice. But this is still a minor point to me so I am still giving this book 4 stars. Would be 4.5 but there is no way to do that. The text is 5 stars and the Kindle really is a great screen to read off of.

our first recipe was the spicoli patties. my carnivore hubby ate the 'em like a fiend for meal after meal...as did the rest of the fandamily. yumlicious.

One of the first cookbooks I got after going vegan. Dreena's recipes showcase the fresh, flavorful foods that comprise a healthful vegan diet. My favorites so far are the Tempeh Hashbrown Cassarole (perfect brunch food), the Orange Sesame Tofu (perfect with brown rice and swiss chard), the spelt Breakfast Crepes (heavenly with grilled fruit inside), and the Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes with Celestial Cream (comfort food at its best - I could eat the Celestial Cream with a spoon). This is as good as it gets. I recommend this cookbook to anyone just starting to explore vegan cooking because these recipes always win people over!

Just made the Tamari Chickpeas! Yummy! I enjoy Dreena's approach to cooking--relaxed and healthy. Great recipes.

Eat, Drink & be Vegan is a great compilation of vegan cooking. I love how Dreena adds personal notes and helpful hints throughout the book and is not afraid to recommend her favorite brands. I actually sat down and read the book from cover to cover before trying a single recipe!

I love this cookbook. I have many other popular vegan cookbooks, but I use this one all the time. I like the use of whole grains, and the limited use of refined sugars.

MONEY SHOT is captured my attention so completely that, while reading it on my lunch hour one day, I didn't hear my food order called out and the cook actually had to come over to my table to get my attention.

Within the first few pages, I developed a fondness for Angel Dare and truly cared what happened to her. I was angry when she found out about [data embargo] and felt her grief over [data embargo]. I was also sad when [data embargo] and totally caught off guard by [data embargo].

My apologies for the vague review, but giving spoilers for this novel really would be doing the reader a great disservice. Check out MONEY SHOT for yourself. It's an affordable little paperback that packs one hell of a wallop.

This is one hardboiled broad... and the character in her book isn't bad either! I picked this up and just about s**t myself. I'll be honest. There's not a whole lot of female writers that are able to grab my attention let alone keep it. Christa Faust did just that. The first page of the story grabbed me by the balls, and by the second chapter they got ripped clean off!! The only thing I didn't like is that it's a real quick read. I wished that it was about 500 pages longer!! I didn't want it to end! Now here's my usual comparison review for ya...

If Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler had a daughter and she was raised by Linda Loveace... she would read "Money Shot"!

Personally, I've grown weary of bloated, over-written novels. This book is exactly what I needed. It is every bit as good as the other reviews suggest. I'll get back to the "big" books sooner or later, but for now, I'm going to be reading Hard Case Crime novels.

Here is the real reason why Noir will never die. Christa Faust is amazing in her descriptions of places and people. I especially loved reading about Angel Dare. Great Work!!!

"Money Shot" reaffirms my belief that the best selections from Hard Case Crime are modern, original works and not reprints of long lost noir novels from the 50's and 60's. "Money Shot" is fresh and exciting in a way that the reprints never are if for no other reason than it is told by a woman from a woman's point of view. I highly recommend this novel as one of the best, if not the best Hard Case Crime offerings. I hope that author Christa Faust is a name we will be seeing again in the Hard Case line-up.

Gomez-Arcos, Augustin. "The Carnivorous Lamb", Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007.

Haunting and Weirdly Unusual

Amos Lassen

Arsenal Pulp Press of Vancouver, Canada has been resurrecting gay and lesbian literature with Little Sister's Classics series. The newest addition is Augustin Gomez-Arcos' "The Carnivorous Lamb", written in 1975, which was translated into English in 1984 (from the original French). Gomez-Arcos was a Spanish anarchist, a dramatist and a playwright who self-exiled to France where he wrote primarily about Franco's Spain.
This book is an allegory about that period and centers on a young gay male who comes of age within a troubled family--his mother abhors him, his father cannot be bothered with him and ignores him. He does have a brother that loves him deeply.
The young man is the narrator and the carnivorous lamb. He begins his story when he was thirteen and when his innocence is lost. It is the 1950's when he, the younger of two sons is kept in the shelter of his home by his overbearing mother and at 13 he manages to begin to break away. He has a tutor, a strict disciplinarian and a family priest who is intent upon seeing that the boy reach adulthood by the right path. He, however, feels that he must rebel against those that oppress him and as he comes of age, he does so as a reaction to his mother and father and to the authority of church and state.
It is not an easy to reach maturity and as we read the tale of the family, we see that is political satire of the time. Gomez-Arcos not only takes on Spain but the Catholic Church as well. He does so with humor that disguises the true horrors and the tyrannical rule of Federico Franco. Likewise the book deals with the repression of religion and the structure of the family. The concept of authority is blown away and in its place we get identity and liberty as the author defies all in beautiful and provocative ways. This is a book not only to be read for the excitement of reading a masterpiece but it is to be cherished as a document that has returned to us from the dead.

((I award a Secondary Title for this review: "A One-Of-A-Kind Take on Brotherly Love"))

I can't tell you if this was a beautifully written book.......but I can advise you that it is a beautifully translated tale. Since it was first published in French (I know only a few phrases and a number of individual words), I cannot quarrel the earlier, Paris-residing reviewer who seems to think not so much of this translation. But, to this reader, to me, the translated writing seems near perfect, making this one of those few books to un-shelf from time to time and in which to become quickly engrossed.

It's a love story......but one probably unlike any you've read before (its nature has been described elsewhere in these reviews). And it is also a history lesson--one told from very personal points of view (as so much of history is told). But mostly, it's a tale which tells us that love in any guise can be found between two people, no matter their situation one to the other, and that as the strongest of our emotions it can redeem us from the worst difficulties we may think we face.

****

Of all the many books I've read, this is my favorite.

Its been a while since reading a book that was so profoundly satisfying and well-finished. It is a beautiful book celebrating an exuberant, deep love. It sells the book short to call it simply homo-erotic, just because the main protaganist is a man who loves his brother. The book deals with love and its devastating mutations in a protective confined stultyfying Spanish home in the Franco years. The metaphors for the "chronically dead" fascist regime are so graphic that you find yourself gasping for air...and the characters, as portrayed by Ignacio, the younger brother, are gruesomely real as he tells his story with wit and skill that have you smiling hard as you read. Very sexy too, even for a hetero woman.

Augustin Gomez Arcos makes several political statements on the appearance of a love story.
At first, everything looks wrong: incestuous love, uncaring parents...
Then the colors appear: red - yellow - red...
Yellow is the color of the church and the military 'dictatura'
Red is the one for Revolution, with defeated freedom dreams.
Augustin plays his colors with a very fine hand. Self-exhiled from Spain, he writes in French as a first statement against Franco. The love story will move you, but still the surface of it may repel the puritan in you. And those two colours will haunt you until you finish this book... But you have to restrain yourself... if you still want some for tomorrow...

My only complain is the translation: the original text is so beautiful and yet it's been translated into slang... Hum, if you understand two words of french, that would be a good twisted training book- and it's not 'out of print' over there!

This is a further exploration of the relationships in Philip Jose Farmer' s Wold Newton Universe, as seen in books like Tarzan Alive, Doc Savage - His Apocalyptic Life, and the Other Log of Phileas Fogg.

Myths for the Modern Age is worth it for the Captain Nemo is Moriarty piece alone, not to mention the fabulous cover, complete with Modesty Blaise!

Here you have a collection of essays that inter-relate various characters, families and other information, by several different authors, including a compatriot, as well as Eckert himself, not to mention Farmer himself, so you could call this an anthology.
Please be aware that this is not a novel, if that is what you are looking for.

Eckert has a passion for this stuff, yes, you could call it obsessive monomania, but that is what collecting, which is really what this is all about, 'collecting' characters into universes and relationships, and utter, utter, fandom.

He is also a Philip Jose Farmer expert, to boot.

This is just fantastic stuff. Check out his and Farmer's various websites too, they are great. There are also related mailing lists that are worth it, if you are interested to this level.

Something else I have found : if you ask these authors a question, or anything like that, they will answer. They are completely devoted.

Outstanding book, in presentation, content, and participation. I am sure Farmer is quite pleased.

5 out of 5

Philip Jose Farmer had created the Wold Newton Universe. The 'stargate' necessary to access that Universe is the book in question. Read it fast and by the end of it, you would be hooked. Read it slowly, you might feel sleepy. Neverthless, the book is wonderful.

The contributors for this book provide a wonderful look into the world of Philip Jose Farmer. I had only read one Farmer book (The Tongues of the Moon) before delving into Myths. The excitement and intelligent discussion of Farmer's works in this volume prompted me to order several other titles. I am now on my third.

Having read both this book from cover to cover and the reviews that are posted on this sight, I can only conclude that one of the reviewers has an axe to grind with one or more of the writers responsible. Don't let that sway you; this is an excellent book that, yes, occasionally offers up contradictory information - if you take the time to read the introductory portion CAREFULLY, you will note that not only does Mr. Eckert acknowledge as much, but goes on to state that this is part of the fun in the game these writers are playing. Some people should lighten up and learn how to have fun already!

I'm so glad that all these bits about The WNU have been collected in one volume. I first got interested in PJF's concept when I read his Doc Savage bio. I've been lucky enough to track down a mint HC version of it...at a very reasonable price! This book has made me almost miss my Metro stop on more than one occasion. If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, pulp heroes, or just want to read some very creative writing then you must buy this book. I plan on giving a couple as gifts this year.
I am also lucky enough to have been accepted into the Johns Hopkins University's Master of Arts in Writing Program. I showed this book to one of my instructors and he was fascinated by it. I gave him the nutshell explanation of WNU and told him that, after I get my degree, I would like to teach a course or two about it. If you are already an English/Writing teacher, please do the same. Let's srpead the fun around!!!

I always like to read new works and it's especially gratifying when new writers are so creative and daring and are willing to break the rules of traditional "novel writing". This combination of genres is a dizzying entertaining exercise of creative storytelling and well worth the read.

This is a totally bizarre book that had me laughing out loud over and over. It's about a gay poet and his two female friends--each one forging their future a little differently. The humor is irreverent, the commentary sobering and the romantic elements very sweet. The several writing styles threw me at first, but then it all starts to gel and you see how clever and effective it really is. Once you're hooked, it's hard to put down...and it's over way too fast. I hope there's a part two!

If you enjoy funny, clever, off the wall and back to the chair humor, you will enjoy this book. Every word in all the reviews so far is true. Yeah...what they said!

A Roller Coaster Ride of Humor, Whitticisms, Wild Bi-Coastal Observations, and Word Smithing.

How many of us have had a friend drift in and out of our lives, seemingly changing before our eyes and then becoming again the good friend we know and love? How many of us have spotted someone across a room and wondered what kind of relationship could be had with this person? How many of us wish we could give up our material lives to follow a poorer but more creative and satisfying path? This book is a funny, heartfelt slice of the lives of three friends. Read it!

Early into this superb biography on the Late, Great Robert E. Howard, Mark Finn discusses the difficulty of getting to the facts in Mr. Howards' life. Many of his own accounts of himself are exaggerated when told to friends through mail correspondence. His parents were both prone to trumping up their ancestors' feats and accomplishments as well, thus feeding Howards tendency of spinning autobiographical yarns. By extension, it is only natural that such a gifted embellisher would end up with a flair for pulp writing.

Mark Finn has found a way to make this an asset for understanding Howard's life and times, and how his environment shaped his fiction. Picture this: A booming center of humanity. Imperialistic men wanting to consolidate power, with corrupt officials only too eager to help. The rich land attracting all types of freebooters, and all the vice dealers who tail behind them to take their wages. Does this sound like it could be Boomtown Texas? Does it also sound equally like a Stygian outpost of Conan's Hyborian Age? Finn's connections are startling and illuminating.

If you are thinking after I say this that perhaps Finn has failed to capture the facts on Howard's life, rest assured. Finn is well researched, and has an obvious fondness for Howard and desire to see the record set straight about this man's short and tragically short life. He also desires, like many readers and authors who come after him, to acknowledge Howard as a gifted and influential writer, not just in pulp, but in popular literature. PERIOD. The real joy, however, is seeing how Finn weaves this all together with gifted storytelling in his own right to make an incredibly entertaining and simultaneously informative page turner. It is seriously one of the most accomplished works of non-fiction I have come across in terms of creativity.

Ultimately, even without the clever and entertaining structure, this would still remain the best Bio on Howard to date. No new info is likely to surface at this point that Finn hasn't covered, and there will not be many people left who remember Robert first-hand much longer, making this the Definitive Biography.

A must for R.E. Howard fans, and a definite reccomendation to anyone who appreciates the art of the Biography.

This book explores the life and times of one of the most famous writers ever to come out of the state of Texas. During his brief writing career in the 1920s and 1930s, Robert E. Howard did a lot more for imaginative literature than simply create the character of Conan the Cimmerian.

In the early 1900s, Texas was experiencing an oil boom. Practically overnight, a town would spring up around oil wells, bringing all sorts of people, from roughnecks to work the wells, to barkeepers to prostitutes. They would stay until the oil ran out, then move on to the next boom town. Howard grew up in one boom town after another; Isaac, his father, was a frontier doctor, so they also followed the oil. Howard got to see, up close and personal, the dark underside of civilization, and it disgusted him. Finally settling in Cross Plains, he was a voracious reader who hated the regimentation of school. He lived on pulp magazines, like Weird Tales, available at the local general store. Howard was the shy, quiet kid in town with no interest in joining the oil boom.

A major influence on Howard's development as a writer was the Texas tradition of telling tall tales. Isaac was an expert spinner of tales, and in her own way, Hester, his mother and an Irish immigrant, was pretty good at it, too. Hester had tuberculosis for most of Robert's life, which forced him to stay home and help take care of her, because Isaac was frequently gone for days on his "rounds." After he became a published author, Howard was one of the mainstays at Weird Tales. He sent them all sorts of stories, usually set in the distant past, showing civilizations that had already degraded into barbarism (like Texas of the early 20th Century). In those days, pulp magazines usually paid half a cent to one cent per word, payment was usually on publication, which could be several months after acceptance, and even then, payment was sporadic. Howard spent hours a day at his typewriter, writing boxing stories (a huge interest of his), poetry and westerns, along with tales of Conan, his most famous creation.

Anyone who has ever picked up a pulp magazine, or who knows REH as more than just the creator of Conan, will love this book, as I did. While Howard's books are still in print, Howard's life has fallen into obscurity. This book does a really good job of remedying that situation.

This is an excellent book and Mark Finn did a good job! Rather than go into detail about this wonderful must have book which the previous reviewers did, I'd like to share with you another terrific book that enlightens and opens up REH's world from a perspective of his girlfriend Novalyne Price. The book Novalyne wrote is entitled One Who Walked Alone and made into a movie The Whole Wide World on DVD starring Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio as REH. I got this book on Amazon.com in about three days and read it in a few hours. The third book to have is The Last of the Trunk by Paul Herman which are what literally was left in REH's trunk of unfinished scripts, notes, etc. that Glenn Lord had and let REH Foundation publish and I'm so glad they did. In this book REH describes what it's going to be like in 1997 and he was so accurate! It's like he had a crystal ball. He did believe in reincarnation as Novalyne stated in WWW. The other book that is my favorite is The Black Stranger and other American Tales which has the scariest story entitled Pigeons From Hell that is scarier than Poe or Hitchcock; Read it at night with all the lights on and the next time you hear a whistle it will make the hairs on your skin stand on edge! The recent Best of REH volumes I & II are must haves, too! Some of my favorites are Red Nails, Beyond the Black River, and Rogues in the House. Most current book I've read is TWO GUN BOB which has Superb insight into REH's mind and stories. Neat factoid, REH had only visited the sea shore once in his life! Get Two Gun Bob before it's gone! If you've never read REH before you're in for a real treat - Enjoy and tell others about him.

I read the old Conan 1-12 Ace published paperbacks religiously as a teenager, and have delved back into them (or the Del Ray Conan re-prints) for a re-read from time to time. I have always counted Howards Conan stories among my favorite books. As far as Howard himself I always found him to be a fascinating but confusing figure. I had heard such wildly varying stories of how he was. On one hand he had been portrayed as a macho, brawling, boxing, roughneck fitness fanatic, that in some ways mirrored Conan and some of the characters in his other work, and on the other hand I had heard he was a mental basketcase mamas boy that died a virgin when he commited suicide at the age of 30. Since reading this book I have come to the conclusion that there is a ring of truth to both of those extremes.

Finn does a great job with this book connecting the dots and proving and disproving much of the mythology that is out there about Robert E. Howard. A big thing Finn does here, in fact it comprises a good bulk of the book, is he talks about Howards Texas environment and how much of an influence it was on his writing. From the day to day violence that he was exposed to in the scoundrel and roughneck infested oil boom towns that he grew up in, to the local Texas folklore, to the front porch story tellers that held court while Howard gave listen. All of these had a big impact on Howard and his writing. REH even stated that Conan himself was to a large degree a mix of various boxers, oil field workers and cowboys that he knew over the years.

This book also goes into greater depth with Howards non Conan work than anything else I have ever read. In some ways this book is as much a literary analysis of Howards writings as much as it is about Howard himself. Other subjects delved into are his relationship with his only girlfriend, his ups and downs as a pulp fiction writer, his physical fitness and boxing obsession, his feelings as an outcast in the small town he lived mainly because he earned a living as a writer instead of in the oil field or as a farmer, his legendary correspondses with HP Lovecraft, and especially his strange relationship with his parents (he never moved out of his parents house) and Howards suicide.

I do think this is a great book. There is so much great information in this and Finn is an engrossing writer, I could hardly put this book down once I started reading it. But I do have a few criticisms. One he goes into apologetics over Howards attitudes on race. Downplaying and even denying that Howard was a racist as well as making the false statements that Eugenics have been scientificly discredited, the Aryan race does not exist and Finn also makes the wacky statement at one point that what was once called race are now referred to as "cultures". Huh? We must be living on another planet. But anyway while I think you could make a solid argument that he wasn't a racist in the stereotypical Nazi way and he certainly wasn't mean or abusive to people because they were not white it can't be denied that Howard was a man who was heavily into and obsessed with his own "dark Irish" heritage and other northern European cultures, in particular the Picts and he certainly had no problem portraying other races in less than complimentary ways. Not to mention the multitudes of stories he wrote with "racial memory" themes. It can't be denied that Howard was a heavily racially concious man and in my mind it makes him that much more admirable.

Another criticism I have is there is only one chapter dedicated to the Conan character and that chapter weighs in at only 10 pages! I think its great that Howards other work was explored in depth here but so many people do not understand the true nature, depth, and greatness of the Conan character only seeing him as the corny comic book muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger movie cliche. The Conan stories are often as much horror stories as much as they are sword and sorcery adventure tales, or at least a fusion of the two. There is also a philosophical side of Conan that is one part might is right style social darwinism, mixed with an Aryan warriors sense of honor and chivalry along with a Viking berserkers battle ecstacy. These things, especially the philosophical side of Conan should have been delved into much more.

I would have also liked to have heard more (they are covered but just not as much or as in depth as I would have liked) about Howards barbarism vs civilization debate that went on through mail with HP Lovecraft as well as REH being a hardcore Celtophile.

But those criticisms aside I really thought this was a great book. I can't help but think while gazing at a photograph of REH at the end of this book where he has a huge almost viking like beer glass raised to his lips in an almost salutatory manner that Howard is one of the great divínely inspired Odinic writers who were given a drink of Odins mead of inspiration. I hope to have a drink in Valhalla with you some day Bob.

It's always surprising to me how little reliable biographical information is avaiable about REH, and how difficult it is to find editions of his works that are as he wrote them, rather than prissily "edited". Here's a biography whose author has gone to some trouble to place REH into his environment, the fringes of the oil fields of rural Texas in the first three decades of the 20th Century. In those days before radio, with movies a rare treat, when people got together they often entertained one another by telling stories, and one can easily picture the young REH lapping it all up, and when he came of story-telling age, eagerly joining in.

Finn does a pretty good job with some tickish topics, such as Howard's near-obsession with suicide, the very complex relationship he had with his mother and father, and the almost altogether sinister role played by washed-up sci-fi author L. Sprague de Camp in co-opting and copyrighting Howard's work for his own exclusive financial benefit.

This small-press book is relatively free of misprints. However, the text could also have used a sympathetic editor to iron the kinks out of some of Finn's stranger sentences.

As other reviewers have noted, the chapter about Conan seems a bit short, but the coverage of Conan's more interesting forerunner Kull is even shorter. Brevity is no sin with Howard's impressive pulp output to be surveyed and commented upon.

Recommended.

Ephraim MacIver is escaping his one time lover, following the course a wise man has advised him - a course to discover himself - when he encounters an Indian Singing Heron. Singing Heron already knows Ephraim's name, and begins to instruct him in the ways of the Loon Society, and before sending him further on his journey of discovery they fall in love. As Ephraim's quest continues he meets more Indians as well as Cyrus, and he fall in love with them all.

As Ephraim learns more of the exclusively male Loon Society, and their ways of unselfish love, he tries to understand how he also can love more than one person. Yet at the same time he learns that he may also find a special partner from among all those who have fallen in love with him while on his quest. For this is what marks those of the Loon society out from others, they can share their love while still holding to one partner, they do not know jealously.

This is quite remarkable story, especially considering it was written over forty years ago. At its core is the thought of free love along with its unrestrained physical fulfilment, without jealousy. The story has the feel of fantasy about it as everything falls perfectly in place as Ephraim continues his journey, and with the meaningful dreams. The story is contains many explicit passages of love making; passages which manage to avoid being crude and put to shame much of what is written today.

The story does raise concerns though. The men all seem to be handsome and well equipped, and readily declare undying love within a few days or possibly hours of meeting and before they have had a chance to really know one another. It is easy to get the impression that this love is built on physical attraction; although in fairness it does also speak of the beauty within, and Ephraim at least does not restrict his attentions just to the young. And maybe this is part of the fantasy, this ability accurately to read one another so quickly.

There are two sequels to the Song of the Loon: Song of Aaron and Willow Song.

Given the age of this book, and the fact that it was revolutionary when it was published, this book is well worth reading, if only for the "historical" perspective. The writing is STILTED, the situations, CONTRIVED, and the sex, PREDICTABLE, but...and I must hesitate here in reviewing this book, in it's HISTORICAL CONTEXT, i.e., the period in which it was written and published, it is ground breaking. Is it a scorcer?..Nah!...is it entertaining?...Yes!...will it have you breathing heavily?...uh..that depends upon your imagination and libido. Read it and make up your own mind.

One of my all time favorite gay stories. I'm glad it's back in print for the youger people to read.

Even if the book wasn't attached, Michael Bronski's introduction would be reason enough to buy this edition of SONG OF THE LOON by the late "Richard Amory."

But this way you get the novel too, a groundbreaking, yet oddly ultra traditional novel--really a romance in Northrop Frye's terms--in which the white man and the Indian meet on a field of Eros rather than Thanatos. Yes folks, this is the real Brokeback Mountain in which buckskinned pioneers meet up with and pursue Indian braves on the banks of the "Umpqua" in a territory of long ago. Thinking about the storyline, you realize how ridiculous the plot is, for there aren't very many people on the frontier and every last one of them is a man and every last one of them is either openly or secretly a member of the Loon Brotherhood. Yes, it strains plausibility but Amory's power as a writer is such that while it is taking place you don't really quibble, Sybil.

He was a great poet as well, and the book gets a haunting resonance from Amory's descriptions of American nature, its flora and fauna, in the days before heavy industry moved in to shovel it into parking lots. The skies are an amazing blue, the rivers swift and clear. Over the great forests you can hear every animal's step in the fallen twigs, and the insects hum. "Darker green, the waters of the Umpqua fell in tiny crystals from the paddle--the waves from the canoe sighed in the shadows of white elders and lacy vine maples. A pair of jays screamed high in the treetops, then streaked far into the woods, crying hoarsely."

And because it is porn, it has men galore, all of them with heavily veined, vibrant, pulsating members under their loincloths. Ephraim is a white man on the run from a miserable relationship with Montgomery, a self-hating homosexual who could only have sex when he was drunk, who showed his naked form only to taunt the besotted Ephraim. Breaking free, Ephraim is on a long canoe ride into Indian territory where he meets one man after another, each more luscious than the last, and the members of the tribe teach him about polygamy and the joys of giving up your virginity in the scented wigwam rings. If it isn't Singing Heron, it's Bear Who Dreams--even an elderly medicine man, nice to see that old people have sex in the porn of the 1960s. And finally Ephraim meets his opposite number, the dreamy Cyrus, who is so big it takes three hands to hold all of him steady.

The book comes packaged with a dossier of contemporary reviews, interviews, photos and other invaluable documents, just as though we were reading some "classic" by Dreiser or Balzac or Cather.

It is a wonderful version of time travel and comes highly recommended by thousands and thousands of one-handed readers. What a way to kick off this promising series from Vancouver's estimable Arsenal Pulp Press in tandem with the venerable Little Sister's bookstore of BC.

I have two copies of this book, one a tattered original Greenleaf edition, and the other this wonderful reprint. I've never read a book like "Song of The Loon." From the perspective of history, it's clear that Richard Love anticipated some of what later became major aspects of so-called gay culture - the Radical Faerie movement, the Bear movement, the reaction against monogamy. This book is highly political - inbetween the steamy hot (but always tender) sex scenes is a fairly explicit blueprint for how the author felt gay men should conduct their lives. What will strike most readers - and which certainly struck me - is the unbridled celebration of male-on-male love and desire. How refreshing! It's unashamed. There's no self-consciousness. There's nothing the least bit apologetic. And no trace of the word "queer" anywhere. Totally affirming. There should be a lesbian counterpart to this book. There should be a new film made of it, either for screen or television. There should be far more reviews of this reissue in the gay media. EVERY GAY MAN NEEDS TO READ "SONG OF THE LOON!!!!!!"

The BEST collection of pulp genre ever. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Is there a Doc Savage in the house? Can I get that Fu Manchu to go? how about some Lovecraft? I guess it all should have warped us, but it didn't, and all that we watch and read today has drawn strength from these wonderfully cheap reads. Totally sweet from design to content. Robinson knows his stuff and it all makes for a CHERISHED collectible book!

This is a fully revised edition of the first pictorial history of the pulp magazines to be published and the authors finally got it right. There is a complete index of magazine titles and the artists who painted their covers, the images have been rescanned to eliminate any "moire" patterns that may have degraded the paintings, and the most unusual cover ever published has now been included (a painting by John Held Jr., famous for his "sheiks and shebas" of the Jazz Age). The cover has been redesigned and features the image of a pirate far more fearsome than Johnny Depp. This is the book that started it all and the price is now more than right. --Frank M. Robinson (I'm one of the authors).

I puchased this book for 50% off, and after reading it, I can say that even at full price, it would have been worth it. Page after page of bright clear reproductions of pulp covers, many almost full-page, with any extra space filled with smaller images. The book is divided into chapters based on subject matter: Westerns, Super Heroes, Sci-Fi, Horror, Gangsters, etc. The text is informative, but minimal - it provides just enough background on each chapter's subject and then lets the art speak for itself. Each cover is accompanied with information on the issue and artist, plus some informative personal commentary from the author. Plenty of top-notch artists are included, such as Wyeth, Baumhofer, etc. Don't buy this for an in-depth analysis of pulp magazines; the star here is definitely the art, and it delivers in spades.

Hard-boiled Detectives, mysterious heroes, shadowy villains, evil oriental masterminds, and dames in distress...they are the stuff of the pulp magazines and the subject of this wonderful book by Frank Robinson which traces the history of pulp magazines and provides covers to hundreds of these great pulp magazines, so many lost in the antiquity of time...not to mention paper drives of the 1940's war years.

Robinson begins by tracing the roots of the pulps back to the dime novels of the late 1800's. Argosy would premiere as the first true pulp back in 1896 and before long dozens of competitors would emerge such as Popular Magazine, All-Story Weekly, New Story and so many more. Street & Smith, long a major publisher of dime novels would convert their Nick Carter series into Detective Story Magazine in 1915. The pulps were born!

Early on, adventure pulps were the most popular as they transported readers to strange and exotic lands in a time when few would ever leave their own state. It's where we first read the exploits of Tarzan, and heard the names of writers such as Burroughs, Mundy and Rohmer. Adventure magazine was among the most popular of those early days and they even had their own organization you could join called "The Legion" which would one day evolve into the American Legion. Adventure printed more than just fiction, they had many regular columns including "Wanted: Men & Adventurers" where real life mercenaries could advertise their skills for hire.

In the 1930's, detective pulps became the most popular as there were literally dozens of detective pulps being published. Among the most prominent pulps of the day was Black Mask Magazine, started by prominent newspaperman and political commentator H.L. Mencken. But he considered the pulps so low-brow that he didn't want his name associated with them. Still, Blackmask was a breeding ground for some for some of the great mystery and detective writers ever to pen a story including Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner, Lester Dent, and Raymond Chandler.

Robinson's narrative moves from one pulp genre to the next, with a short, but concise history of each. He examines the Western pulps and the interesting history of the man known as Max Brand. Brand was the most prolific pulp writer ever, appearing in 622 issues of Western Story magazine from 1920 - 1935. From there it's on to the hero pulps and the birth of the most famous pulp characters of all including "The Shadow", "Doc Savage", and "The Spider". The Shadow's covers were always among the most evocative and terrifying, especially those by the great George Rozen.

But the genre that gave us the most outrageous and grisly covers of the pulp era belongs to the "shudder pulps". Bondage, torture, sadism, nudity...nothing was held back in covers for such pulps as "Terror Tales" and "Horror Stories". These pulps are some of the most sought after today by collectors.

Romance, spicy adventures, sports, war...all of these get their just do in Pulp Culture but it's the sci-fi and fantasy section that will be a major appeal for many fans. It was here where some of the most famous and long-running pulps made their mark. Hugo Gernsback would usher in the age of Sci-fi pulps in 1926 with Amazing Stories. Soon there were dozens of competitors including Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and many more. And then there is perhaps the most famous, most collectible of all pulps, Weird Tales. Weird Tales would unleash the enormous talents of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, August Derleth, and countless others with stories that would endure, and continue to be reprinted, decades after their original publication. There are dozens of covers provided featuring the works of artists like Margaret Brundage and Virgil Finlay.

Robinson closes his book by providing an appendix to a handful of pulp dealers and notes on pulp values. This book would be worth the $40 price tag alone JUST for the hundreds of stunning covers re-printed, but Robinson's concise history of pulps just adds to the luster of the book. Simply a magnificent book for any fan or collector of pulp magazines.

Reviewed By Tim Janson

This book is a marvelous journey to a time that will not come back.Guided by two wonderful connoisseurs: writer ,pulp magazines scholar and collector Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson,"PULP CULTURE" was a beautiful gift that I bought(via Amazon.com ,from the NIGHT OWL CAFE Bookshop in North Hampton,NH) for myself.Reviewing this work for January magazine,David Middleton said:"For me it's mostly about covers.Those lurid,sensational covers." Well,for me it's about everything.I love the covers,of course(see the HANNES BOK painting for the November 1941 cover of WEIRD TALES),but I admire, too,the stories and writers.The adventure tales written by H.BEDFORD JONES and TALBOT MUNDY;the mystery and detective stories created by legends like DASHIELL HAMMETT and RAYMOND CHANDLER;the western yarns concocted by pulp giants like MAX BRAND and FRANK GRUBER.And the Magazines!It's titles!It's alluring titles:THE ARGOSY,THE ALL-STORY,BLACK MASK,DIME DETECTIVE MAGAZINE,ADVENTURE,THE BLUE BOOK,THE POPULAR MAGAZINE,WESTERN STORY,THE SHADOW MAGAZINE,G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES,TERROR TALES,HORROR STORIES,STRANGE STORIES,AMAZING STORIES,ASTOUNDING STORIES,FANTASTIC ADVENTURES,FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES,THRILLING WONDER STORIES,PLANET STORIES and so on...I have a good envy of collectors like Frank M. Robinson who owns hundreds and hundreds of these shiny magazines with their garish covers,a happy guardian of these rare and precious popular art objects.
The books published by Collectors Press are already much sought after for it's exquisite design and intrinsic quality."PULP CULTURE" is one of them.

If you like to laugh, then you have to read Mr. Klutz is Nuts by Dan Gutman. It is a humorous fiction book. This story takes place at a school during the school year. A.J. is a lazy amd unmotivated student at school. He is always saying that school is a waste of time. Mr. Klutz is a wacky and crazy risk-taker. He is always doing dangerous stunts. A.J. doesn't want Mr. Klutz to get hurt. Throughout the school year, Mr. Klutz tries to get the students invloved and interested in school. In the book, A.J. tries to problem solve. He tries to stop Mr. Klutz from doing crazy things. Mr. Klutz climbed the flag pole one day and couldn't get down, so the school called the fire department. My favorite character was Mr. Klutz, because he is a very cool principal. He tries to get the students to enjoy school.

I cannot relate to the characters in the book, because they do very silly things in school. At my school, we take school more seriously. I've acted like Mr. Klutz before. I like to motivate the boys on my baseball team to do well. This is my text-to-self connection. Mr. Klutz motivated the kids to do well in school.

This book was so exciting. I loved it. I would not like to change anything in this book, because it was well written. I think any kid with a sense of humor would enjoy this book. I believe third and fourth graders would really enjoy reading this book.

My daughter and I read this book and we had fun reading it together. I would recommend to other kids. She liked this book because they had a chocolate party as part of one of their incentives.

I am 8 years old and Mr. Klutz is Nuts is another great addition to the My Weird School Series. There are 19 books in this series. This series is about a kid named AJ and his two best friends. He goes to this very, very, very, very, very weird school. So, I think that if you like funny stories you will sure like this. You do not have to read them in order so you get to choose which you should read first.

By AG

I read this book aloud to my 1st and 3rd grade daughters. They loved evrey bit of the story. This book is a lot of fun.

I really enjoyed this book. I would love to have a principal like Mr Klutz because he would do really funny things and if we studied extremely hard he would give us very interesting field trips. I think this is better than the first book (Miss Daisy is Crazy) because it has more interesting ideas for example in the first book AJ made Mr Klutz wear a gorilla outfit and change the school into a video arcade but in this book AJ makes him kiss a pig and climb a flagpole. In addition once when AJ was sent to the principal's office, Mr Klutz was hanging upside down from the ceiling like a bat. I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.