Pulp Books

Johnnie Ray Rousseau looks back on his last year of school at the time when he was seventeen and half years old, the year he was rejected for the role of Romeo in the high school play, a year of discovery, realisation, and tragedy. Jonnie Ray, an intelligent cute slim black youth lives with his mother and father in a small conservative town about ninety miles from L.A., his friends are predominantly white, apart from Cherie, his all too understanding and devoted girlfriend. Jonnie Ray has always known that he s different; he is attracted to boys, and suffers a constant natural physical reaction whenever he encounters any of the many attractive boys amongst his peers. Apart from coming out to Skipper (confessing his love for the boy only to be rejected, but who keeps his secret), to Cherie and another trusted girl, he otherwise remains in the closet, but then meets twenty four year old student the sexy Marshall MacNeill at a drama audition. Eventually they consummate their love, but then Marshal suddenly leaves. In the meantime gorgeous Todd Waterson gets the Baptist minister's daughter pregnant, and Jonnie Ray's best friend Efrem Zimbalist Johnson is beaten senseless by his father; the reason for the beating is a not altogether surprising revelation for Jonnie Ray. Following that the church youth minister betrays a confidentiality to Jonnie Ray's parents.
Jonnie Ray comes through all these events and more with surprising maturity, supporting his friends through their difficult times while weathering his own loss and other problems.
I found this a charming tale; Jonnie Ray retells his story positively and with lively humour, a story about love, integrity and loyalty.

I liked reading this book. It's a romance on different levels with caring and likeable characters and I warmly recommend it.

ivan's is a clear and tender voice that is never sentimental. as a feminist what i found consistently striking was how powerful an unanalytical voice can be when it simply details again and again what it means to experience life as a girl when your imagination is hungry enough to identify and crave the different sorts of freedoms that boys have.

ivan is a performer and each story lends itself to being read aloud . try reading one aloud to yourself and be something new - or remember something lost - in your own imagination.

i recommend this volume to educators looking for appropriate stories for grade and high-school exploration of gender, sexism and homophobia. there is wry gentleness here - an open style that lets the reader choose to do as much work as each is ready to. start with "no bikini."

These various tales of women growing up queer and as tomboys in the Yukon are all amazing in their wit and their power. Coyote is a member of Taste This, whose book "Boys Like Her" is still one of my favorites. Two of my favorites in the book are "You're Not in Kansas Anymore" where the narrator (Coyote) faces the name she was given at birth and finds one that reflects her real self, and the last story, "Red Sock Circle Dance", which concerns families of choice and a sort of passing the queer torch to a younger generation of queers. I wish this book were longer!

Ivan E. Coyote is a member of Taste Taste, the lesbian performance collective that published the amazing book Boys like Her a few years ago. This is her first solo story collection, and they're amazing: about growing up as a dyke in the Canadian North. A strong, intimate voice!

Mr. Winthrop tells a compelling story of a double murder during a birthday party for his arch enemy, Henry Drew. Winthrop and Drew worked together in a mining expedition in China. Drew promised Winthrop a share in the profits, but when the money started raking in, he refused to honor his word. The two chanced upon each other on a trip back to the United States through the beautiful Mary Will, Carlotta Drew's companion and Winthrop's sweetheart. At a birthday party thrown by Henry Drew, murder turns the guests against each other and accusations fly, but the culprit's identity is far from obvious.

This book is slow going at first. There is a lot of backstory about a court trial and a Chinaman named Chang See; it is somewhat confusing and dry. However, the story soon picks up with the memoirs of the narrater, Mr. Winthrop. It's an interesting mystery, especially for fans of short and sweet ones like this.

This almost ninety year old mystery from Earl Derr Biggers was the most fun gift I received this past Christmas. Fans of Biggers' Charlie Chan series will find much to love in this light mystery touched with romance.

Just as in Biggers' first Charlie Chan mystery, "The House Without a Key," that romantic link between the Hawaii of a different era and the city of San Francisco is explored and holds the key to the mystery. Not lost either are the cultural and class differences brought about by those migrating from China through the romantic ports of Hawaii and on to San Francisco.

Young Winthrop is smitten with Mary Wills and longs to marry her. His pursuit of her will lead him to a party in the home of a former employer whose shady dealings with Winthrop himself point to him as the killer when he is found murdered. When his attorney son arrives to help police sort out the mess it is discovered that Mary Wills has been protecting her ardant admirer by removing from the scene the weapon which would implicate him.

Young Winthrop's only thoughts, of course, are of surprise and joy that Mary would risk all to save him! Yes it's that kind of old-fashioned romantic charm that make this somewhat short book such a fun read. The solution will involve love once again, but not that of Winthrop and Mary Wills.

Biggers always wrote his mysteries with a romantic eye, knowing that love was usually behind most men's actions, right or wrong. He had the ability to create an atmosphere of nostalgia for a Hawaii and a San Francisco already beginning to change even as he wrote during the 1920's and early 1930's. It is a fun walk through the fog-shrouded San Francisco of another time. A fine book for an evening or two under warm covers when you want to read a light mystery with the glow of innocent romance.

Who was the man, cloaked in fog, who escaped Henry Drew's garden? Was it the murderer? Why throw a huge party, when there's no reason to celebrate? And what does any of this have to do with a man deported to China fifty years before? Another Biggers classic that will leave you guessing until the very last page!

This is a tale of defying convention and attempting the impossible. To travel across unforgiving Africa at a time when so many had tried and ended up dead for their efforts presents quite a challenge. To do so in an untested but ingenious new invention only adds to the romance. As you follow Dr. Ferguson, Mr. Kennedy, and faithful Joe on their daring adventure you get quite a tour of a continent that for centuries had defied European exploration. While most of the voyage is spent in rather peaceful observation and light-hearted conversation, there are a number of times that incredible danger threatens and the heroes must rely on Providence alone to see them through.

As Verne's first book, published in French in 1863, FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON is obviously a product of its time, with frequent phrasings and descriptions of African natives that would likely be pretty insulting to civil rights activists. Also, I'm sure many animal activists would be appalled at the rather brutal and uncaring attitude towards all manner of creatures. It just goes to show you how far we've come in the last 150 years.

Jules Verne's scientific aptitude is on display in this book, with relatively complex and believable descriptions of the mechanisms required for long-distance hydrogen balloon flight. Fancies such as these have led many to consider Verne to be the originator of science fiction. He was also obviously quite a history buff, with complete descriptions of previous African explorations found throughout this book.

A light and fun read, and a great example of Verne's style.

This book is very exiting because ti makes you fell like you are really inside the book i would recomended for kids from 9 years old to adult

Originally published in 1863, "Five Weeks in a Balloon" was Jules Verne's First novel. In its pages, one can see some of the elements that were eventually to come together to form such great stories as "Around The World In Eighty Days", and "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea". In this story, Dr. Ferguson creates a hydrogen balloon for the purpose of exploring the unknown regions of Africa. He decides to take along Dick Kennedy, a Scotsman with whom he became friends when they served in the same regiment and who tries to dissuade him from making the journey, and Joe, who is his faithful servant. As one might expect, parts of this story are dated, and some of the language regarding the natives undoubtedly would offend many people if one were not to take into account when it was written. Still, it is an enjoyable book to read, and rates somewhere between 3 and 4 stars in my opinion.

The [other] publishing firm's bare-bones version of the book. There is no foreword or introduction discussing the life of Jules Verne, or the context of the times in which it was published. It simply contains the story, and nothing else. It has a good solid binding, and the print is easy to read. For some reason, they elected to put an extra line between each of the paragraphs, but this makes it even easier to read. All the extra white space also makes it a much quicker read then one would expect.

I found Pulp Hero a great source of information about the pulp genre. Many of the features of the old Justice Inc were there along with much new material. I thought the $35 price tag a bit steep and they reused some old Justice inc. Artwork.

The Upside:

Warning: Pulp Hero is a very thick book, this is a longer than normal review.

Pulp Hero is a genre guide to creating Pulp Games. It's important to understand what is meant by Pulp Gaming, as the Pulps from the were a medium on which any genre was printed, from Westerns to Futuristic. For the purposes of this source book the Pulp Era is the 1920s and 1930s, the period between the World Wars (when the Pulps themselves were popular entertainment). Within that period a number of genres can be explored for gaming purposes however. Simply for the sake of a reference point, Pulp Hero declares 1935 to be the Current Year.

Chapter One - The Pulp Genre. The books starts with a discussion of just what the Pulps were; which is a reference to the paper they were printed on, and not the writing. It goes into a history of their rise in popularity and provides some authors and titles that are among the most famous.

The Pulp Genre covers genre tropes and aspects. There are four major aspects of Pulp Gaming defined, Action, Shallow Characters, Melodrama, and Black And White Morality. These four aspects appeared in just about every Pulp printed. The secondary aspects that help define the genre are next, thirty-two genre conventions are looked at, from the Abducted Girl to Weird Science (and many gamers will be happy to know that in much of Pulp fiction Violence Solves Everything). There is also a section regarding the ideas of Sexism and Racism, how to treat it with historical accuracy, or how to use it sparingly or completely ignore it (keeping in mind attitudes in the twenties and thirties were vastly different than they are today).

Pulp Subgenres covers different types of Pulp Games, with a note that they often share so many aspects you can easily switch from one to the other. This makes them less "subgenres" and more different sides of the same idea. It covers AIr Adventure, Crimebusting, Detective, Globe Trotting Adventure, and Weird Menace. Meta Genres covers using different styles in the Pulp Game, comedy (used sparingly), Horror (perfect for Occult Adventures), Mystery (practically a requirement in many Pulps), Romance (or the complete lack thereof), and the fact that Tragedy really has no place in Pulp, it's far too optimistic a genre most of the time. Other Genres covers using Pulp Aspects in the other major genres (Champions, Dark Champions, Fantasy, Ninja, Victorian, and Western), and it gives some extra space to Star Hero for sci-fi Pulps.

Using all, or most, of the elements in this chapter one can set up a long running Pulp Game. Especially given some of the universal aspects you can have a story set in the Jungles of Africa tracking down some lost artifact or civilization, and the next story have the group in a Crimefighting story in New York shutting down a madman trying to take over the city! You can also easily bring many of these ideas into other genres, modernizing the Pulps could work well in a less gritty Dark Champions game.

Chapter Two - Pulp History. This chapter is divided into two parts, both covering historical aspects of the 1920s and 1930s. First is a breakdown by year and month of major events around the world. It's divided into Politics And War, Science And Technology, Crime And Punishment, Arts And Entertainment, and Life And Times. It's done in a table format making it easy to reference, each Year is divided into Month and has a General section at the end for things that weren't tied to a specific date. The second part is a brief description of important and famous people from those times.

All this can come in handy when you want some historical facts for a time frame when sending your adventurers out into the world, and for populating it with famous NPCs, which always makes for fun gaming.

Chapter Three - The World Of The Pulp Era. Here we go around the world and get some geographical, political, and historical information on most of the countries that existed in the Pulp Era. Before it goes into each country it covers some other important factors of the world in the 1920s and 1930s. It covers The League Of Nations, the Great Depression, and Colonialism, with advice on how to use each in a Pulp Game. Travel And Transportation covers how people get around; Automobiles, buses, taxis, trains, airplanes and airships, ships, and riding animals. It has some helpful tables for average price ranges and distances from major ports and airports. Communications covers how people got information around the world, from the unreliable mail, to radio, telegram and the newer telephone.

The rest of the chapter is dedicated to the many countries of the era, keeping in mind much of the globe is still unexplored, at least by Western Culture. The United States is a major world power and gets the most space dedicated to it. The Americas covers Canada, Mexico, Central and South America. Europe covers the fourteen most influential countries of the time. Africa is still almost completely Colonial and doesn't have near the number of countries it does today. The Near East covers Turkey, and what is called the MIddle East today. South Asia covers India and the numerous islands between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The Far East covers the rest of Asia, China getting about as much space as the United States does. Oceana covers Australia and the South Pacific Islands. A short section at the end provides some information on the Poles as well.

And with all that you should be ready to traverse the world in search of adventure. It's important to note that for the purposes of many (but not all) games historical accuracy takes a back seat to Adventurous Fun.

Chapter Four - Character Creation. Before the chapter goes into building a Pulp Hero it provides a short section on the attributes your standard Pulp Hero possesses. This is an excellent guide to the qualities that embody the genre from a Character perspective. There are twenty four Package Deals presented, from the Athlete to the Wild Man. Covering Cops, (ex-)Criminals, Detectives (with five variations in type), Soldiers, and other common Pulp Heros of the time. Also included are Background Package Deals, these much smaller sets of skills can be used to explain why the Soldier might have a few science based skills (Scientific Parents Background), or why the devil-may-care Aviator mingles with the rich (Wealthy Upbringing Background). All of these Packages help define the Characters (as well as help create expectations) and are at the very least excellent places to start or get ideas from if you don't use them.

Characteristics goes into ways to prevent everyone from looking them same from a Characteristics point of view (everyone buys there stats to the same levels), as well as going into each Characteristic and which archetypes it's most appropriate for. Some important bits covered in Skills include how Criminology works with the technology of the 1920s and 1930s. The importance of Disguise in the Pulps, and Transport Familiarity of the Pulps. The Follower Perk provides some suggestions on the types of Followers common to the genre. The Money Perk also covers the amount of money each level has in Era Dollars. Three new Talents are introduced that are good additions to Pulp games; Animal Friendship (that uncanny knack to get along with the wild), Hot Shot Pilot, and Inspire (good for the Two-Fisted Hero). Disadvantages provides some excellent ideas for Pulp characters foibles and quirks.

Heroic Talents is the rest of the Chapter. These Talents are built using the Powers section, and represent some of the amazing feats seen in the Pulps, such as the ability to bite through nails (after training your jaw muscles!), the uncanny knack to take in a breath of air just before being pulled underwater, and any number of abilities. It's broken down into Offensive, Defensive, Movement, Sensory, Miscellaneous Abilities, and Psychic Powers (for games including that element). A total of eighty-four Heroic Talents are provided to add color and flavor to your Pulp Hero.

Chapter Five - Pulp Equipment. Pulp Technology starts the chapter, providing a nice big list of what things were invented (or became common) in what years of the Pulp Era, and what technology never exists in this time frame. Weapons, because Pulp Heros used a lot of them, covers everything from Revolvers to Grenades (such as they were). Pulp Vehicles provides the important stats for a whole bunch of pulp era transportation, for when the Heroes get into a car chance or dog fight.

And then there's Weird Science, because many of the Pulps made up all kinds of stuff in the name of science for their plots. So Pulp Gaming inevitably does the same a lot of the time. It covers the kinds of Weird Science from just improved known technology to making things up whole clothe. How to explain (or not explain) how it works, and using it in a game. After that it provides all kinds of examples of Weird Science to use in your games. Eighteen weapons, two Defensive gadgets, five inventions used to get around, ten Commnuciation and Sensory gadgets, and eight miscellaneous items.

A giant Price List of both mundane and adventuring items ends the chapter, along with a Currency Conversion Chart for 1935. With this chapter you should have no trouble loading up your character with appropriate era equipment, and a few weird gadgets to set them above the rest.

Chapter Six - Gamemastering The Pulps. This chapter covers how to take the first five chapters and turn them into a Pulp Game. Starting with what "Pulp Means" in a series of bits of how to capture the feel of the Pulps in game terms (Pulp means Bold, Perilous, Sinister, Lurid, Idealistic, Energetic, and Hopeful). There's a good piece on how to treat Mystic and Psychic Powers in a Pulp game. And how to treat the Sub-Genres introduced in Chapter One in game terms. Running The Game covers setting up the world, adding NPCs, casting the victims and villains, and all the stuff that goes on behind the GMs screen, from a Pulp Perspective in this case. There's also a some very good advice for using the Deduction Skill in a Pulp Game (advice that can be used in any game really). The side bars of this section are peppered with "Advice from the Masters," which are some of the thoughts from the real Pulp Writers of the Era on how they constructed their stories; advice any GM can make use of.

A new concept is introduced for Hero here, Heroic Action Points. These are points that Players get and can use to affect the game world a little in their favor. They're best used when the Player wants to create one of the myriad Amazing Coincidences so common in the Pulps (from finding a working torch and matches to light it, to the guards forgetting to search the Hero before tossing him in the cell).

Environmental Threats covers all those things that Pulp Heroes encounter that hinder them - and create Adventure! Diseases of the times, while not Heroic to get but provide story fodder (your Heros need to rush the vaccine/cure somewhere). Quicksand gets a bit of coverage. My favorite is Rope Bridges! a whole section dedicated to using them is provided. And there's a good long section on Traps for when you reach the lost temples, including eight example Trap builds to use.

Pulp Villains covers the important aspect of creating the perfect Pulp Mastermind. From their nature to the motives. Five major Villain Motivations are presented. Along with this is a section on Role Playing the Villain to the best effect. Seven classic Pulp Villain Archetypes are presented, The Crimelord, Cult Leader, Femme Fatale, Fiendish Oriental Mastermind, Mad Scientist, Unscrupulous Industrialist, and the Nazi (not so common in the actual Pulps, but irrevocably part of the modern perception of the Pulps today). The last part covers creating other NPCs for the Characters to interact with.

Chapter Seven - Randall's Raiders. This is the NPC section of the book. It contains a group of Heroes (Randall's Raiders) that the GM can either use as friendly competition for the PCs, or the Player's can use for ideas on how to build a good classic Pulp Hero.

Villains provides five fiends to pit against your Players. A Nazi, a selfish Archaeologist, a Mad Scientist, a Mob Boss, and an Indian Mastermind out to rule the world. Adversaries provides five quick NPC sheets that can be used as thugs, henchmen and other people the Characters interact with (Cop, Cultist, Dacoit, Gangster, and Soldier).

The book doesn't end there though, the last part is a large section of Pulp Slang to add even more color to your game. If you need more information on the Pulp Genre, or want more source material there's a comprehensive Bibliography that includes Pulps themselves, books on the Pulps, and historical references.

The Downside:

There's almost too much focus on running a 1920s-1930s Pulp Game. For running a Buck Rogers style Pulp Game you'll need to get Star Hero as well and use both books. There's also very little space given to Pulp Games before The Great War, on the other hand those almost completely fall into different genres that deserve their own books.


The Otherside:

As a guide to creating a game in the Pulp Genre with a good solid Pulp Feel to it, this book is excellent. And it is useful to anyone wanting to run such a game, in the Hero System or otherwise.

But it doesn't stop it's usefulness there. Superhero Comics evolved almost directly from Pulp Serials, and in fact the early comics shared a lot in plot and writing style. Anyone wanting some more advice on playing Heroic Characters to the hilt in a Superheroic Setting can get good mileage out of the advice in this book. Particularly the Characters chapter - it wouldn't take much to adapt some of the Character Archetypes (Package Deals) to a full fledged Superhero. And GMs can mine the Campaign Chapter for adventure and villain archetype ideas.

Overall this is probably one of the better Genre Books put out, and worth every penny of the cover price. One nice touch on the layout of this book were the numerous quotes from actual Pulps to illustrate points (and the typeface for these was in an old type writer style).

This is a great book. Anyone interested in an Role Playing Game that is based on the Pulp Genre, well, this is what you should buy. The book is THICK and full of information. Lots of examples and a great timeline for the "Pulp" era.
What is "Pulp"? Think Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Spider, Tarzan, Wierd Science, Rockets to Mars....That's Pulp and More!
Steve's writing shines here. You can tell he likes the era. Usually, his writing is workman-like...dry, but not here. Sample characters are included as well as villians for the GM to use. Everything you need is right here under one cover. Buy it!

I admit that I was pleasantly surprised. The excerpts actually make me want to read several of those dime-store novels. It is nicely packaged with short clips from these novels, and is perfect for your vacation, a bedtime story (or two), or fun reading for a lazy hammock day.

Once upon a time, the multitude of lesbians lived closeted, secret lives, isolated from others and often from their own true feelings and aspirations. There was no Internet, no gay radio, no magazine or journal or organization to turn to for affirmation. Until the 1950s, precious few books reflected anything at all about the lesbian experience. This changed in 1950 when Fawcett Publications inaugurated the Gold Medal imprint and kicked off a wave of pulp fiction publishing that included both gay and lesbian novels. For the first time in history, women could find cheap paperbacks featuring lesbians, and the books sold in the millions. Pulp novels constituted one of the first steps toward lesbians having a written presence in any kind of literature. As Katherine V. Forrest writes in the introduction to LESBIAN PULP FICTION:

"The importance of all our pulp fiction novels cannot possibly be overstated. Whatever their negative images or messages, they told us we were not alone. Because they told us about each other, they led us to look for and find each other, they led us to the end of the isolation that had divided and conquered us. And once we found each other, once we began to question the judgments made of us, our civil rights movement was born" (p. xviii).

In moving style, Forrest also writes of finding in 1957 a copy of Ann Bannon's ODD GIRL OUT, "a book as necessary to me as air" (p. ix). How fitting that Forrest should edit this wonderful homage to these early writers when her own works are frequently cited as having the same effect upon other women as Bannon's work had upon her. CURIOUS WINE (1983) is frequently cited by lesbians as a book that saved their lives. I believe it when Forrest writes, "I write my books out of the profound wish that no one will ever have to be there again" (p. ix).

To spotlight those early pulp novels, Forrest has selected twenty-two excerpts by nineteen authors including Ann Bannon, Vin Packer, Paula Christian, Tereska Torres, Valerie Taylor, and Marion Zimmer Bradley writing as Miriam Gardner. Among reasons for selecting these particular excerpts, Forrest cites pioneering status, sexual content, happy endings, reflections of the times, and quality of writing. Many of these books have been reprinted (several by Cleis Press), and with a little diligence, all of them can be located and purchased. Each of them is well worth reading in its entirety, but this wonderful collection will provide hours of delight and enjoyment to anyone willing to enter into the sexually intrepid world of lesbian paperback novels. An essential text for all libraries, both private and public, this book is highly recommended. ~Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review

The collection gives a sampling of classic novels and a wee bit of background on each. Reading it has made me seek out the selected author's titles. A wonderful addition to anyone's library.

Overall, I must say that this was an interesting and engaging production. I highly recommend it!

In particular, Ryan Farmer's cameo is phenomenal. This guy is sure be a new star in the industry....

5 stars!

Lost Angel is one of the best books I have ever read. It grabs your attention and holds it, you won't want to put it down. Cyrus has a way with words!

I am sure that John Lennon would have loved this book, it reminds me of his song "Watching the Wheels Go Round." Lost Angel is movie material, I think, honestly.

Jess

"Lost Angel" is an intimate novella that is an open window into the mind and soul of its author. Through poetry and interrelated short stories, the reader experiences a tale between four strangers whose lives become forever changed by their short time with each other. I found it refreshing that each chapter represents a theme as well, which challenges the reader to discover a larger meaning. Through several readings I found a deeper, almost hidden story that describes more than a single moment between the characters, but a story the affects our own lives. One that asks you to question what you believe in, what is it you see, and why are you doing what you are doing. At just 80 pages, you'll be suprised at how large the story actually is, and when you are finished, you'll be yearning for more. And that is the only reason why I gave this a 4 star rating, I wanted more, because I feel the characters have much more to offer. I feel that maybe the story was stopped short, but perhaps for reasons unknown. But don't let this stop you, because I believe the characters will one day come back to life, for they have much more to say. This first effort by Cyrus Emerson shows promise of what is to come by showing brilliance in his first published work. So, my friends, a recommendation for you is to treat yourself to a splendid read! Purchase a story of a people lost, and may their tales help you find yourself.

The Doc Savage sagas originally appeared between 1933 and 1949 in a monthly magazine, featuring one novel a month. In 1965, Bantam Books began reprinting the series in a set of distinctive paperbacks; in 1990, they published the last of the 182 original stories, and issued a few new books. After that, interest in the character appears to have faded out.

Now e-publisher Blackmask is reprinting the series again, two to a volume. (The later stories are much shorter and will probably appear four or five to a volume.) For the first time, Blackmask is presenting the pulp magazine covers and interior illustrations, and has reset the type so that it's easier to read than the old Bantam paperbacks.

A few minor flaws in these editions: the paragraph indents are too small, making the left margin look ragged; chapter titles sometimes appear at the bottom of a page, with the text on the next page, and periodically there are inexplicable extra blank lines added. Most folks will likely not care much about this; the paper is of high quality and the books are a trade paperback size that is an improvement over the small Bantam paperbacks.

But... nothing will ever surpass those Bantam covers. It was the covers that snagged me in 1965, when I was eleven years old, and it was the covers that kept me coming back every once in a while for more. Ideally, collectors will want the Bantams for the covers, and these new editions for reading.

One other improvement: the stories are being republished in their original order. Bantam reprinted them seemingly at random, so that the third story was published as #68.

I would give this five stars, except for the sloppiness in typesetting. And, let's face it: Lester Dent, who wrote most of these "novels" at breakneck, assembly line speeds, is hardly the world's most skilled writer. Lots of exclamation points! When none are necessary! The passive voice is used frequently (i.e., "several cigarettes were smoked by the criminals as the minutes passed"). The characters are stick figures and Doc Savage is so omniscient and omnipotent that no one has a chance against him. Unlike Superman, who is at least vulnerable to kryptonite, Doc has no real weaknesses and is always one step ahead of his opponents.

So why do these stories work so well? Despite his flaws as a writer, Dent had a certain vision. If he'd had more time to polish his work, he might have been taken more seriously. Could you crank out a 150-page novel every month and have any of it make sense? Something has to happen on every page, in every paragraph. Action, action, action... and it has to hang together. Dent could do it, and he deserves some credit for making these stories, as camp and hokey as they sometimes are, so entertaining.

I can't get enough adventure fiction and I've found precious little of my favorite variety; high adrenaline action that doesn't get too technical or political. After having devoured all of Cussler and his ilk, my mind dredged up a memory of a movie and a couple paperbacks left lying around the house when I was a kid, so I put Doc Savage in the search engine. I found a treasure trove: 182 volumes of high-octane pulp fiction await! [...] has already published the first half in 2-book volumes, so I bought one to test the waters.

This is only the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Doc Savage is Dr. Clark Savage Junior. He's gorgeous, brainy, strong, and is too busy working out solutions to vexing problems and using his amazing strength to save humanity to give women a thought. Begun publishing in 1933, political correctness is nonexistent, yet Doc Savage and his crew possess a surprising sensitivity to the environment and native culture. Brainiac Doc has invented or improved upon a number of gadgets that in 1933 must have tested the limits of one's imagination. Today, they're the norm.

"The Man of Bronze" is the first Doc Savage adventure. He has just returned to his 86th floor home in New York after several weeks spent exercising his body and mind in his Arctic Fortress of Solitude, which he does from time to time to hone his already amazing skills, to find that his father is dead, killed by a strange malady. Doc gathers his five sidekicks and dodges several attempts on his life to travel to Central America to claim his inheritance, a tract of remote jungle. Doc's inheritance is tied up in a fiendish plot to overthrow the government of fictitious Hidalgo and steal riches from a tribe of ancient Mayans, and Doc has to defeat the bad guys and save the day.

In "The Land of Terror," a friend of Doc's disappears almost before his eyes, and the only trace left of him is a forearm and a vile cloud of smoke. Doc chases his friend's murderer, and finds that a fiendish mastermind is behind the murder-by-Smoke-of-Eternity, a compound that dissolves everything it touches. Doc and company follow the villain, Kar, to a strange island in the far South Pacific, where dinosaurs roam wild. Their plane crashes courtesy of a pterodactyl, and upon parachuting to the ground, they must dodge T-rexes and other dangerous dinosaur predators, all the while hunting their quarry, Kar. In the end, Doc's amazing brains, brawn, and skill save the day and defeat the villain, who meets a gruesome end.

Seekers of realism should look elsewhere. This is pure adventure fiction, as Doc uses his amazing abilities to pull off impossible stunts and outthink his enemies at every turn. Every page underscores what an unusual specimen Doc Savage is, but he is a man devoid of arrogance, so I was smilingly rooting him on before long. His sidekicks are an eclectic, bantering lot it might take a couple books to become familiar with, there being five and all, but they, too, are a likeable bunch. Overall, the books are a very satisfying experience, and I can't wait to read more!

These editions are wonderful! They have the original pulp covers and the illustrations form the 1930's, so you get the flavor of the era. Plush the type is all reset and in a large and readable format. They blow the 1970's Bantam, editions out of the water!

I was initially disappointed when I received this, because I was expecting Mexican book covers with lurid titles on the images. It turns out these are painted COMIC BOOK covers, not book covers. The images were taken from the original paintings, so there are no graphics on the images. The style is pretty consistent from painting to painting, so I'm guessing it's all the work of a couple guys. The more I look at the book, the more I like it. Bizarre imagery, similar in style to the old Dell and Gold Key painted covers, but much weirder. No sex, but lotsa strange. Any chance of someone putting out a book of just Mexican wrestling movie posters and lobby cards? Ay curamba, that would be cool!

I love the pictures in this book, but the dimensions of the book are small. It would have been much better if the book had been larger.

In the 1960's America saw the rise of the erotic pulp paperback. The simple object of the covers of these books was to lure in the potential buyer with the promise of sex. The more lurid the cover was, the better the chance that the book would be purchased. The marketing plan worked to perfection and millions of the books were sold. Close to the same time a similar strain of book was being released in Mexico and the covers were designed in the same manner, to entice purchase. The difference between the marketing in America and the marketing in Mexico was vast. In the States they peddled softcore porn and prurient interests on the cover of their pulps, while Mexico went for the straight up bizarre. Mexican Pulp Art is a celebration of the art that graced the covers of the paperbacks that were released south of the US border.

Maria Cristina Tavera pens the introduction to this collection. Tavera relates how the covers were used to lure the purchaser in and with 30 million pulps being produced monthly the competition was tough. The introduction is brief but revealing, telling of the different types of pulp titles that were produced in Mexico and how they were marketed to the public. She also relates how the books were assembled by the creative teams that put them together as well as how the themes covered in the pulps related to the Mexican way of life. After the introduction we get to the meat of the book and that is the vibrant, full-page reproductions of the cover art.

Mexican pulp covers celebrate sex as much as their American counterparts, but they also throw in violence, sci-fi weirdness, lucha libre, psychedelia, murder, and crime. The covers that are collected in this book are from the 60's and 70's and all covers contained in this book are from a defunct publisher, Editorial Continental. All the artwork reproduced in this book is from the personal collections of two individuals Bobbette Axelrod and Ted Frankel.

The artwork in this book is vivid, colorful and downright weird at some points. As Maria Cristina Tavera states in her introduction, "the fantasy elements reflect Mexican attitudes about life, death, mysticism, and the supernatural." Some of the highlights of the art: A gorilla breaking through a door to assault a man, giant ants attacking men, fighting invisible men, a fire starter, scenes of murder, suicide and mayhem, ghosts, corpses, the supernatural, gun toting children, sexpot women, aliens and much more. As the introduction states, the pulp covers blur the line between the mundane and the fantastic.

I have a soft spot for all things from Mexico. This is probably the result of an active imagination as a child. When I was growing up I told of how, in a past life, I had lived in Mexico. My story was that I was a toothless mute who pumped gas on a dirt airfield somewhere in Mexico. Ever since then I have immersed myself in Mexican culture, this book adds to my collection of Mexican art and also to the knowledge of a culture and history that is usually unfairly ignored in most of the United States. Mexican Pulp Art documents a forgotten art form and belongs on the coffee table or bookshelf of anyone that appreciates fantatstic art.

The Money Harvest by Ross Thomas takes place in the Washington, D.C. of 1975. The protagonist of this rather unlikely tale answers to the name Jake Pope. Having overcome his impoverished roots in rural West Virginia, Jake went on to distinguish himself as one of the U.S. Senate's most formidable investigators. Now he finds himself called upon to foil a bold scheme to manipulate the wheat futures market.

Thomas has populated this wickedly funny novel with an abundance of interestingly drawn characters. From a corrupt former Congressman to a ruthless and sadistic Chicago gangster to a wife-beating agricultural econonmist, these are literary creations notable for being over-the-top, exaggerated caricatures of real life personality types.

Written with an insider's keen knowledge of how things get done within the unique world of Washington, The Money Harvest is delightfully cynical and unapologetically irreverent.

This is not Ross Thomas' best novel nor is it his worst. It falls somewhere right in the middle. But an average Ross Thomas novel runs rings around 90% of the fiction currently on bookstore shelves. Recommended to those who appreciate good satire.

It's a fun little romp that just keeps you wanting to read another page,with characters so vivdly described you can see them standing at the corner.You keep reading just find out what happens next.

This book demonstrates one of the strengths of Ross Thomas's writing, a grounding in truth derived from experience. His own backgrown allowed him a number of jobs that touched on politics, labor organizations, and public relations. He understands the behind the scenes aspects of financial and political power and he uses that knowledge to great effect in The Money Harvest. This is a political thriller that feels like it is true. No exaggerations and no two dimensional characters. This is the real stuff of human give and take, betrayal, murder and coverup. Like all of his books, the central figure is confronted with a world where nothing is as it seems and no one, seemingly, can be trusted.

If you enjoy a mystery, interesting character presentation, surprising plot twists, wonderful dialogue and a satisfying conclusion, you will love this book. I started reading Ross Thomas because I enjoy books set in Washington, DC - but this proved to be the least important reason to read him. His books aren't 'inside the beltway' books so much as they are human stories of intrique, betrayal and survival. He wrote a lot about Washington because he lived here but what one gets in the full range of Thomas's writing is the modern world in all its ugly and beautiful complexity, seen from the somewhat cynical eyes of one who has seen, perhaps, too much.