Pulp Books

This is very much an old man's book, full of digressions, stories without a point, and endless, endless repetition and ranting. Nor is the author, pulp veteran E. Hoffmann Price, a man of much intelligence or discernment--- at one point he proudly tells us how he advised a friend who needed immediate surgery to correct a life-treatening condition not to have it, because "the stars were wrong!" Fortunately, the friend ignored Price's astrological advice.

However, Price is the only man to have met personally and spent considerable time with all three of the titans of WEIRD TALES, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith, during their heyday as pulp writers, and he can and does uniquely offer first-hand, fairly vivid (if frustrating) word portraits of these immortal creators. The book is filled out with a number of other similar portraits of fictioneers, such as Henry Kuttner, August Derleth and Edmond Hamilton, and even Price's favorite Turkish rug dealer. There are also attached some vaguely related essays by Price, and a useful bibliography of Price's literary output.

Price's general cluelessness and lack of perspective often results in some rich, unintended humor, as in his blandly told tale of a friend and colleague who graduated from the pulps to become a successful novelist and screenwriter, who was also a dedicated Communist, who spent years in Russia and took courses in Marxist philosophy at Moscow State University, and who upon return to the US immediately got a job as screenwriter with the Walt Disney Studios!

Price spends a huge amount of space scolding his friend H. P. Lovecraft for viewing fiction writing as a private art rather than a cash-earning profession, and he takes every opportunity to ridicule the overweight, semiliterate, cultureless Lovecraft fanboys of the 1970s. But, of course, obnoxious fans aside, it is precisely Lovecraft's commitment to art that makes him the best-known of all WEIRD TALES' regular contributors, and the only one who will ever be conceivably of interest within the towers of academia.

Over a period of almost 60 years E. Hoffman Price, a writer during the pulp magazine era, befriended great writers from Lovecraft and Derleth to Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Williamson. He kept diaries and letters of his cross-country trips and encounters and in Book Of The Dead provides a set of fascinating biographical essays on his experiences and relationships with the authors, offering many insights and personal encounters.

i have a large collection of vegetarian/vegan cookbooks, so this one tends to just stay buried on the shelf. i can't really vouch for its recipes. HOWEVER: the introduction is fabulous. most veggie cookbooks have an intro explaining the benefits of that lifestyle with some tips on making it happen, but this one is the most inspiring, least judgemental one i've ever seen. i've gone so far as to photocopy it and give it to friends to help them with their transition to veggie-ness.

Being a vegan I like recipe books that are for vegans, since I don't have to spend time looking for recipes without products from animals.. It can become frustrating when you find a great sounding recipe only to see that several items, which would be difficult to substitute, are from animals.

Vegetarians considering switching to veganism will want a copy of Foods That Don't Bite Back: Vegan Foods Made Simple as the author, Sue Donaldson, has included important information in the section entitled "Why Become a Vegan?" where she looks at numerous reasons why this healthy, compassionate diet should be embraced. In the preface, Donaldson describes the cruel conditions that nonhuman animals enslaved for their flesh, milk and eggs are forced to endure before they are killed. She also provides many arguments as to why a compassionate, vegan diet is preferable for human and nonhuman animals as well as the environment and how it can be attained.

"If you are concerned about the environment, there are a number of dietary steps you can take to demonstrate your concern. The single most important step is to become a vegan. Only by drastically limiting our dependence on animal-based foods can we develop a sustainable relationship with the environment. Another key step is to buy organic produce whenever possible, thus encouraging the agricultural industry to lessen its dependency on chemicals. A further benefit of going organic is that you thereby support what are typically small, family-run farms over agribusiness. Large-scale and intensive farming is responsible for most environmental degradation." (page 21)

Donaldson also provides suggestions and tips pertaining to "raising vegan kids in a non-vegan world" including some of the books and websites listed in the "Resources for Further Reading." She also covers "Hidden Animal Ingredients" as well as where to go online for more information on this important subject. A short section on "Vegan Substitutions for Cooking and Baking" is also helpful.

Donaldson's recipes are varied and are divided into sections on: starters, soups, side dishes, main dishes and desserts. Many of the recipes are easy to make and Donaldson provides variations for several of them.

The glossary of ingredients is informative and provides the reader with definitions for many vegan foods and ingredients. This section will be particularly helpful to those who have recently made the transition to this healthy, kind and environmentally friendly diet. There is even a section on "Vegan Pets."

Whether you are looking for good vegan recipes, reasons why a vegan diet is important or more information pertaining to hidden animal ingredients in foods, Foods That Don't Bite Back is definitely worth a read.

This compilation of six of Fredric Brown's rarer mystery stories is volume number five in publisher Dennis McMillan's Fredric Brown Pulp Detective Series. McMillan did a great service in the 1980's and 90's by reprinting a good deal of Brown's pulp fiction magazine mystery and thriller stories. This is one of the more obtainable volumes from that series. Some of the others are quite rare and expensive. Besides the title story, which is a novelette set in the world of the traveling carnival, or "carnie", there is "Double Murder", "Two Biers for Two", "See No Murder", "Fugitive Imposter", and "Client Unknown". While none of these stories rises to the level of Brown's great novels or classic science fiction stories, such as "Arena", all are interesting period pieces, still readable after 60 years. Each has Brown's trademark unusual twist or ending, and in some, such as the title story and "Client Unknown" one can see the beginnings of some of the ideas and characters that would later become the "Ed and Am Hunter" novels. If none of these names mean anything to you, I firmly suggest that you get a hold of as much Fredric Brown literature as possible and start reading. You won't be disappointed. While the novels are probably the best place to start, this collection is certainly a good intro to the early Brown.

In addition to the stories themselves, all of which were originally printed in Detective pulp magazines in the 1940's and 50's, there is a wonderful introduction by Richard A. Lupoff, a famed writer in various genres, much as Brown himself was. Lupoff examines the direction the mystery story took in America after the pulp influence of Chandler and Hammett, along with Brown's own comments on how he arrived at his ideas and plots. There is also an interesting comment or two on the differences in character development in the short story vis-à-vis the novel. Once again, highly recommended.

This compilation of six of Fredric Brown's rarer mystery stories is volume number five in publisher Dennis McMillan's Fredric Brown Pulp Detective Series. McMillan did a great service in the 1980's and 90's by reprinting a good deal of Brown's pulp fiction magazine mystery and thriller stories. This is one of the more obtainable volumes from that series. Some of the others are quite rare ... Besides the title story, which is a novelette set in the world of the traveling carnival, or "carnie", there is "Double Murder", "Two Biers for Two", "See No Murder", "Fugitive Imposter", and "Client Unknown". While none of these stories rises to the level of Brown's great novels or classic science fiction stories, such as "Arena", all are interesting period pieces, still readable after 60 years. Each has Brown's trademark unusual twist or ending, and in some, such as the title story and "Client Unknown" one can see the beginnings of some of the ideas and characters that would later become the "Ed and Am Hunter" novels. If none of these names mean anything to you, I firmly suggest that you get a hold of as much Fredric Brown literature as possible and start reading. You won't be disappointed. While the novels are probably the best place to start, this collection is certainly a good intro to the early Brown.

Highly recommended to all art lovers. The themes and layouts are well done.

One complaint - at least a few of the artworks could have been printed in colour to enhance the visual appeal of the book.

Otherwise a worthy selection of erotic gay art !

Felix Lance Falkon's historic collection of Gay Art was the first and only one of its kind when it was first published in 1972. Happily, Falkon is still around to revise and republish his long-lost classic. In this he is ably assisted by art historian Thomas Waugh, who provides invaluable commentary. Thanks to Waugh, we learn the names of some of the artists, who were "closeted" back in 1972. (For example, only now do we learn that some of the art is by Falkon himself.) The only reason I do not give this book 5 stars is because the current political climate has forced the authors to censor some of the art that feature gay youths. What was perfectly acceptable in 1972 is forbidden today. Such is "progress."

Gear Krieg: The Roleplaying Game

This book is the core rules book and all you really need to set up a single night roleplaying session of Gear Kreig for any number of players. Why would you do that? I'm glad you asked. Imagine playing through a chase scene in which your cat (man) is in a limo following some goon, a suspected nazi spy, in bent boiler (stolen car) to a dive by docks. The goon has lifted the plans for the new Telsa Death Ray, and you have the job of getting them back. Suddenly, a Japanese submersible gear (two legged, piloted robot-tank) rises out of the water and opens its heaters (guns) on you. Your limo transforms into another gear and begins throwing beans (bullets) right back. Ever done that before, Palooka?



If your group is looking for something different to play for a while, Gear Krieg is a great choice. In-depth roleplayers will appreciate the pulp-style and detailed world setting. Dice rollers will appreciate the concept that both the minis combat game and the RPG use the exact same rules, so an adventure can switch between one style of play and another without using different stats for characters or vehicles and without any conversion work.



The game is created by the much underrated and underappreciated Dreampod-9 team who previously created the gorgeous _Macross II Deckplan_ books for Palladium. Whereas their _Jovian Chronicles_ game looks a little bland and generic by comparison, Gear Kreig is bursting with tone and retro-coolness. The pulp fiction glossary on Page 204 is alone nearly worth the cover price.



There is a chapter in the back for gamemasters. It's got very useful information like a random adventure tables. What would have been most useful, however, is a short sample adventure module. Lacking that, the book seems somewhat unfinished. Also, it lacks enough meat (characters, gear stats, and the like) for an extended campaign. For that, you'll need to pick up the _Superscience Roleplaying Supplement_ as well.

Rarely have I come by a role-playing rule book that I actually enjoyed reading as a stand alone book, but this is one of them. If you are a fan of alternative history (Harry Turtledove et al) you will enjoy this.
Setting, sometime during WWII. The difference is that the sort of wacky science fiction that was being written during the 1920's starts to actually become true. Jet and rocket fighers are introduced earily in the war. Ground war is altered by the addition of primitive "walkers" (e.g. Battletech). In the backround, there are superscience villins that need to be brought to justice.
The game mechanics seem simple enough and the kicker is that it is also a table game too, but, you have to get the other suppliments to run that as well. All in all, very satisfying.

This was an enjoyable read. The characters were delightful. Well written and absorbing. LaMonte Heflick, author Pup Fiction(TM) Books

In this classic pulp reprint, three young women move from a small town to the hustle and bustle of Chicago, where they hope to fulfill their dreams. Pat is saving herself for marriage and develops a crush on a man in her office who seems so out of reach. Annice is studying poetry at college, at least until she can get married, but when she meets Alan, their relationship doesn't exactly progress as she hoped. Barby breathes easier now that she's away from home, but feels as though she will always be easy prey for men. When Barby begins a friendship with her boss Miss Gordon, she finds herself awakening to something for which she has no words. In her afterword, Lisa Walker posits "The Girls in 3-B" within the pulp genre of the 1950s and `60s and details the subversive ways Valerie Taylor undermined the genre by including independent women and wholesome lesbian characters. This book is a shining example of early feminist works that shows the complexities of women's lives in the 1950s, as well as expressing the often-overlooked vibrancy of women's novels.

Anthony Olcott wrote one of my favorite detective novels with a Russian setting, Murder at the Red October, so it was with much anticipation that I began reading his distillation of the "detektiv" genre of Russian fiction. In general, one can say that Mr. Olcott's valuable insight into the genre is to point out that a Russian's view of the world is not the same as a westerner's and that we just do not comprehend things in the same manner. While we, for example, generally tend to regard individualism as good and collectivism as bad, a Russian is very likely to hold the exact opposite view.

Mr. Olcott cites numerous - in fact, far too many - examples of this from various authors of Russian detektivy. Repetition may be the mother of learning, but re-repetition is just filling up space.

What was especially disappointing, though, was Olcott's thinly veiled attacks on those western authors who write works of fiction with a Russian setting. He disingenuously admits that these authors are successful and have sold millions of books, but he then attacks them for their egregious inaccuracy, especially in matters of Russian language usage. (Hint: Olcott is a professor of Russian.) It seems no one is spared, including Albeury, Clancy, Hyde, Ignatius, LeCarre, et al. The obvious answer, of course, is that these authors write commercially for a non-Russian audience that merely wants a good read. Those readers want as much accuracy and truth in their fiction as possible, but who in his right mind would ever expect true insight from anything written, for example, by Tom Clancy? Criticizing these authors for lacking something they never claimed to possess in the first place is just being petulant.

What's more, I expect that buyers of Olcott's Russian Pulp mostly want an examination of Russian authors' detektivy, not a criticism of the Russian-related fiction of American and British writers. Instead, though, Olcott devotes an entire chapter to this petty nit-picking. In any event, he should already know that he's preaching to the choir.

Olcott wears two hats, one as a writer of award-winning mysteries and the other as an academic. In Russian Pulp it seems that a pedantic academic has won out over the accomplished fiction writer.

Russian Pulp deserves a wide audience. Regrettably, it probably won't find it unless more people come to appreciate its wide ranging implications.

Although ostensibly "about" the Russian detective novel today, the real value of this gem of a book lies in the author's splendid grasp of what the Detektiv genre tells us about Russian democracy today. As Olcott demonstrates, Russian detective novels reflect rampant cynicism and distrust of law, individualism, capitalism and materialism. Rather empowering the reader to help "solve the crime", through the use of clues and evidence, as Western detective novels typically do, the Russian detektiv is little more than a "morality play" designed to show that individuals cannot ignore the will of society.

Reflecting conditions and mores in Russia today, the detektiv depicts good cops as people who are willing to bend the law, while criminals are often portrayed as people who have the temerity to want to improve their own circumstances (the "zero-sum" implication being that, sooner or later, the society will suffer as a result).

For anyone who cares about democracy, Russia, US-Russian relations, public ethics, and many other matters, this is a lively, well-written book that will offer fresh, if disturbing insights, on every page.

One of the things I love about this book is its depiction of sorority life. That is the real story here: the inside workings of rush week, pledge life etc. Of course the lesbian love story is very touching in the light of what's going on today. All in all this is a rich read.

It's a bit strange to evaluate this as literature, given that the author had to alter the novel to get it past censors (who the publisher believed would have stopped the book's distribution through the mail, apparently using a federal statute -- I'd speculate relating to obscenity -- if it had been found to proselytize for homosexuality). The alterations are half-baked -- you can almost see what the plot would have been anyway, and you can definitely see the parts grafted on that just don't fit the rest of the story. Whether the alterations were deliberately glaring (a wink-wink to the lesbian readership), or whether they were just the poor plot design of a young author, it's hard to say.

The portrayal of 1950s sorority life is a pretty dramatic side point, at least to a 21st-century reader (who, admittedly, still went to college in the 20th). The cliquishness and the sorority's singleminded pursuit of organizational status provide an interesting window into how timeless social maneuvering is (I associate it more with high school than college, but then I was not in the fraternity/sorority system). There's one character other than the protagonist who is a somewhat independent thinker who gets chewed up and spit out by the groupthink.

The love story is interesting as a study. This book was widely read by lesbians of the time; it's tempting to conclude this is a reasonably good portrayal of 1950s lesbianism. But it could be that no other portrayals were readily available. Or it could be that this is appealing as erotica, but is not realistic. In any case, the guilt and self-loathing one might expect are there in varying degrees amongst the characters. And the way that guilt and self-loathing probably make relationships more difficult (particularly when you're still exploring your sexual identity) rings true.

There's a guy who might be gay (that's what I got reading between the lines, but it's not addressed and not resolved), and is portrayed somewhat sympathetically, although most of the men portrayed are pigs. Female bisexuality is touched upon as well.

I've spent some time with lesbians, and I'm not sure whether this enhances my understanding of them or not. But it was fun to read as history, both of 1950s college and as a lesbian milestone. And it's a fast read, too, if that matters to you. Read the introduction after you read the book; it was written by the author about 50 years later and discusses things like the ending ... I like to read a book before I read someone else's critique (let alone the author's).

By the way, the seemingly-random title (it is revealed in the introduction) comes from the fact that James Michener's The Fires of Spring was coming out around the same time, and they hoped to sell some books via confusion.

I was only searching for this book; I was reading a book by the old master,R.A. HEINLEIN,(rocket ship galileo), when i caught a reference to Haggard's "when the earth TREMBLED". HOW COME THE NAME DISCREPENCY?

WHEN THE WORLD SHOOK is late Haggard, written during the Great War, not very long before his death in 1925. Sad to say, it's a retread of the themes and ideas that made such an impact in early works like SHE, KING SOLOMON'S MINES and ALLAN QUATERMAIN. Three English chaps are marooned on a mysterious South Seas island. The natives tell of their powerful god Oro; whom the chaps find has been sleeping for 250,000 years. They wake him, and his beautiful daughter, who is the spitting image of our hero's dead wife, while he is a dead ringer for her lost love...

The story continues along familiar HRH lines, building to a climax which is not too different from that of SHE. However, there are a couple of things which make this yarn worth investigation for HRH fans. Firstly, the 20th century intervenes, with its aeroplanes, Kodaks and telephones. This is a novelty in the otherwise strictly Victorian goings-on. Secondly, the Great War parts of the story, while revealing unpleasantly jingoistic aspects of HRH's writing, are also illuminating in so far as they give a view of that conflict that differs from that put forward by the War Poets, but is nevertheless penned by a writer with a powerful romantic imagination.

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