Pulp Books

The second I saw this journal in my local bookstore, I HAD to have it. If you saw my bookshelf you'd know that I have TONS of journals and this one, by far, is the most intriguing.

The cover looks like a bona-fide dime-store trash novel with the red-dye page-edging to match. The cover is soft which, for me, is preferred because it makes it much easier to write in.

It's larger than the original book. It's not as small as a paperback (trash) novel would be.

The moment I bought it I went online (here) and bought the rest of the series. I believe there are 4 in all and I wish there were many more.

If you like journals of intriguing cover value that are easy to write in, you'll LOVE this journal series. Get them all! You won't be disappointed.

Get this journal (or all 4 of them) for someone who is a writer or someone who loves to journal!

Never having had an interest in traditional poetry, Bud Osborn has opened my eyes to a new art form. He writes of (and for) people who've never felt safe: chronic drug-users, prostitutes, the mentally ill, and all other outcasts. His poetry encourages you to shed any prior conceptions you might have of "failures" and see how beautiful these people really are. These poems really touched me.

This book is an excellent index to the pulp heroes not covered in the Weinberg-McKinstry Hero Pulp Index. It should be a companion volume to the original book.

Man some of these quotations are just downright scary Kind of like the movies they came from. What a great book I take my hat off to the author this really impressed me. All I can add is buy this one now.

Ivan Coyote is a born storyteller. To judge from his (or herægender fluidity is part and parcel of Coyote's work, which is why I alternate pronouns here) latest collection, Loose End, he sees, hears, and processes nearly every interaction, from a stranger's hello to fish stories to everyday errands to a family visit during the holidays. No detail is too small to escape Coyote's discerning eye, and in this collection of short but potent pieces, he reveals the heart of the interactions he has with those he encounters. The collection opens with a young tomboy who appraises Coyote and this sets the stage for the author to explain who "her people" are. We get the sense they are a tribe of sorts, ones connected not by blood, but perhaps by something deeper. You can practically feel this hungry little girl soaking in Coyote's aura, storing it away to savor for later, and whether it really happened like that for the girl or not is irrelevant. That is Coyote's vision and version and it starts the collection off strong, a power that doesn't abate. While some pieces stand out for their inherent drama, such as a vicious public daytime gay bashing, during which nobody offers Coyote any help, it's actually the quieter moments that are the most powerful here, and where you can tell that Coyote is always thinking, observing, forming stories in his head to mull over and craft into very precise 1,000 word pieces.

If you've read Coyote's previous collections, you'll appreciate that family and chosen family, especially the young, crossdressing, very queer Francis, make repeat appearances, and Coyote addresses the possibility that he may not like what's been written about him thus far. It's moments like these, flickers of apprehension, acknowledgements that writing is a by-the-seat-of-your-pants endeavor, even when it's studied and practiced, that make Coyote's insights so powerful. Readers and listeners have formed relationships with Francis, are invested in his well-being, and Coyote repeatedly acknowledges the relationship between listener and storyteller, but also clearly considers the impact of her words on her subjects.

You don't have to know a thing about Coyote to be immediately sucked into her world, the East Vancouver neighborhood so vividly described here. Like the photos that punctuate some of the gaps between stories, Coyote uses words sparingly, giving the details we need, no more and no less, and forming connections between disparate people he meets, seeing the big picture and commonalities between neighbors, friends, family and strangers. It's not that everything is peaceful and hunky-dory here, but that conflict is usually seen as a means to figure something out about human nature. You get the sense that every day is an opportunity to create a story for Coyote, and the craft's been honed so perfectly that the ones being told transcend location, age, gender, and sexual orientation, even as they are about them. Sure, one essay might be about dykes playing hockey in the street to mourn the deaths of great male musical legends and others, but it's also about much, much more than that. Coyote can draw lessons out of single incidents without sounding preachy or omniscient; it's more a sense of awe, surprise, shock and sometimes humility at the variety of ways of being human

The last few essays are about Coyote dealing with the loss of her home due to a fire and having to move, and while they shift the entire tone of the book, they do so in a profound way that makes the reader feel as if they too have been upended. Just as we've settled into Coyote's neighborhood alongside him, ready to continue sightseeing, the rug is pulled out and we realize, like Coyote, that we only have the momentary pleasures and problems of our lives, and that even words are ephemeral. When we learn that the original introduction also burned in the fire, it's both heartbreaking and hopeful, because the book has been fashioned in the fire's wake, bringing Coyote to a new neighborhood to explore, a new mental and physical landscape. It's a darker note, but not a hopeless one, and shows Coyote's ability to pick up the pen (or keyboard) again and do what a writer does best when faced with the seemingly indescribable or insurmountable: write.

The Upside:



Masterminds And Madmen is an enemies source book for Pulp Hero. It provides five master villains, four organizations and dozens of other villains to pit against your two-fisted heros.



Chapter One - Masterminds. First master villain, Dr. Fang Shen, a Chinese Nationalist who is out to destroy western civilization. His organization is flung far and wide and into everything, with the help of his twin daughters and legions of enforcers he makes the perfect villain for a Pulp Hero set in the Orient, or with a Martial Arts focus. His two daughters capture the aspects of the classic Asian Femme Fatale nicely. The next mastermind is The Skymaster, after all what's a pulp game without airplanes! If your pulp game focuses on aviation Skymaster makes an excellent campaign arch villain, he's also useful anytime you need a mastermind in the air for your evil plans. The Crimson Wraithe is next, not nearly as epic as the other master villains, he's a good low level "The Shadow" style villain for pulp campaigns that aren't quite as far reaching as others. Geiskapitan is a master villain based at sea, using a stolen U-Boat to create havoc amongst former allied shipping lanes. If your focus is the oceans, or you simply need a villain to plague the heros as they get from one continent to another Geiskapitan is a good villain, with a bit of a twist to the mysterious. The Iron Claw is similar to the Crimson Wraithe, only large in scope, more deadly and perfect for Pulp Games set in a single city rather than as globe trotting adventures. He would have an excellent long time adversary to PCs looking to clean up their city.



The master villains are diverse, interesting, and can be used as the focus of entire campaigns or simply as major menaces in story arcs.



Chapter Two - Fiendish Organizations. Four groups are presented for use against the PCs. First, The Cabal, which is an organization of men and women bent on making as much money as possible and nothing else. While a good pulp enemy they aren't as strait forward as most villains, they would make a good backing group for any number of other organizations. Of all the enemies presented, this group has the most potential to be taken completely out of the Pulp Genre - they would make the perfect Board Of Directors to pit against PCs in a Cyberpunk game. The Coletti Mob, your classic Italian Mob, who doesn't need mobsters in their Pulp games? The Cult Of The Nine Degrees, for Pulp games feature of a bit of Mystic and Occult happenings this group makes a good mid-tier enemy. Large enough to pose a serious threat, small enough to be dismantled by some hard work and a good fist fight or three. The Cult is part demon worshipping cultists and part criminal organization. Most of their desire is the accumulation of material wealth more than the domination of mankind. The last group, The Frankenstein Mob, is good if your Pulp game involves some of the weird, if not out right supernatural. They're a low-level group of thugs who are mostly trying to get by in a world that rejects them as freaks.



Again, the organizations section provides a wide variety of foes for several kinds of games, or different types of longer story arcs. The Coletti Mob and The Cabal have the most potential to be used in other genre's or to become mastermind level threats should their operations expand.



Chapter Three - Solo Villains. Thirty four adversaries to pit against the PCs. Ranging from common thieves to madmen trying to take over the world. Here's a brief description of each one. Gilbert Allen, a man out to make money through land deals in the open west. El Azor, a self styled Robin Hood in Argentina. Achmed Ben-Ali, fencing anything you've got from out of Egypt. Cimba Janakadi, the spirit of the African Jungle (and naturally she's blonde haired and blue eyed). La Colombe Noir, an expert sneak thief. Il Corridore Notte, fastest driver in Europe, he'll smuggle the goods you've got across any border. Eppie Curran, the Ghoul Queen, good for Pulp games with a mystical twist. Etienne and Vincent D'Arques, two men with one soul between them, another good mystical Pulp opponent. El Diablo Robotico, what's a Pulp game without mad sentient robots? Der Dunkelladler, if the Skymaster is too far reaching he's a good substitute. Sir Jonathan Earle, classic great white hunter with no morals. The Electrocutioner, good for a Weird Science Pulp game. Fafnir, another sneak thief. Flambeaux, beautiful as she is deadly, good for weird science Pulp. Colonel Bruce Forsythe, a good classic Pulp villain, nothing nice about him at all. Alejandro Fuentes, guide to Central and South America, for a price of course. Darren "Gats" Gruner, a hit man with deadly aim. Ikeda Hideo, spy and assassin for the Japanese Emperor. Doctor Valentine Keene, pilfering artifacts from adventurers world wide. Maximilliam Kreiger, what's a Pulp game without a giant Nazi to beat you up a couple times. Li-Ming Jade, Pirate Queen of the South Seas. Caroline Nefertari Madison, reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian priestess, good for Pulp games with a mystical twist. Anezka Mrazovic, Decendant of Elizabeth Bathroy, and all that implies. Viktor Petrov, a classic werewolf. Professor Prospero, a magician thief, good for clue hunting Pulp adventures. The Red Sickle, the rising Communist power has agents even in America. The Scorpion, classic Pulp crime lord, a criminal with a theme. Jimmy Seldon, what's Pulp without it's hardboilded detectives? Peter Sinclair, upper crust snob, sure to infuriate the PCs. The Skywayman, some more weird science, this time a jetpack. The Terrormonger, another classic Pulp standby, the costumed mastermind, whose completely insane. Drisani Varmandali, heiress to a vast criminal empire, should something happen to her father. The Volcano Master, more weird science, because you can't have enough mad scientists. The Yellow Scar, out to destroy all of China's enemies, good for Martial Arts in a Pulp game.



As you can see there's a good wide variety of characters is this collection, from the mundane to the fantastic and on up to the just plain weird. All of them are well written, many with interesting twists. And of course, every character comes with three plot seeds in case you don't have any nerfarious ideas of your own to introduce them to your game. And the most fun comes when you start to combine and twist plot seeds together, the PCs won't know which way to turn next.



The Downside:



Several blank pages at the end and no Summary Table of NPC stats. I've noticed HERO stopped putting the summary tables in their last few Enemies Books. Which is too bad, they're extremely useful to quickly find important NPC stats.



Of course, those are the only bad things I can really say about this supplement.



The Otherside:



Unless you're into converting to your system of choice the stat blocks aren't much help to you. But the character backgrounds are more than worth the price of the book.



This is a collection of classic and interesting Pulp villains, adversaries and characters. All of the backgrounds are well thought out, there isn't much repetition or overlap in archetypes. From street thug to world conquering master villain it's in here. An excellent addition to any Pulp game.

A Mate for Murder is a collection of six 1940's pulp magazine mystery stories by Bruno Fischer. Although most folks today have never heard of Fischer, he was one of the pioneers of hardboiled detective fiction. As such, this book is a real treat for mystery lovers. One note of caution: The stories in this book reflect the prejudices of the times. Modern day audiences are likely to find some of the elements in some of the stories offensive. That being the case, this book is an excellent artifact of politically incorrect times gone by.

This is an enoyable, well-written and very even-handed treatment of a fascinating, discrete subject. One marvels at the heroism, tradition and bravery of the RN, and the author gives due credit to the aggressive tactics of the Luftwaffe. As for the Italian Navy,well, the author is fair, and says good things about the few things he can. I actually had no idea the Italian navy could have so easily swept the British from the Eastern Mediterranean, if they had the will, and the tradition. It always amazes me when I read books like this, meaning well-written ones, how brave people at war can be. Also a very fair view taken of Cunningham, not just hagiography. Finally, after getting their behinds kicked by the Luftwaffe due to no air cover for its ships, how could the Brits possibly have sent out the Repulse and Prince of Wales (w/o air cover) in December of the same year?

You would be crazy to buy any other Bill Gates book. This is an insightful look at the world's richest man -- from the days of his youth, the big battles with Apple and IBM, and revealing insights into the big anti-trust case.

It also includes a "built-in" flip book too that allows you to re-live the "pie-in-the-face" -- COOL!

There are reasons why French cooking enjoys a world-wide reputation for the excellence of its cuisine. Now the husband-and-wife team of Alessandra and Jean-Francis Quaglia (proprietor-chefs of the immently respected Provence Mediterranean Grill and the Provence Marinaside restaurants in Vancouver, Canada) have compiled "New World Provence: Modern French Cooking For Friends And Family", a cookbook collection featuring an impressive series of simple but elegant recipes specifically designed for the palates and preferences of contemporary North Americans. Graced with beautiful full color photography of finished dishes, "New World Provence" recipes are enhanced with a succinct anecdotal introduction introducing the recipe, which then lists the necessary ingredients and a series of thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' instructions for preparing the dish. From such gourmet delicacies as Stewed Squid in Tomato Saffron Sauce, to such hearty fare as Warm Potato Salad with L'Ancienne Mustard Vinaigrette, to impressive entrees like Seared Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine & Peppercorn Jus, to dessert delicacies such as a Lemon Tart, "New World Provence" is an elegant and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.