Pulp Fiction

[Mighty Halfling]

To take a look at ton of amazing pulp magazine covers, visit this link:
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1655461
Take about an hour and look through this site and you'll be an instant fan of the pulps.

 

[Buttercup]

BTW, the term 'pulp fiction' refers to the cheap pulpwood paper the magazines were printed on, which lended to the generally poor repuation they had among upper-esptablishment types.

Exactly. And because the writers for those magazines were churning out stories at a pretty rapid rate, they tended to cut corners when they could--with the results that their work was formulaic, consisting of plots that were linear and characters that were two dimensional. This was another fact that did not endear them to critics or people with high-brow tastes.

There aren't really any modern analogs to the old pulp fiction writers, because, while there are still authors who churn out formulaic fiction at a rapid rate, the publishers have figured out that people will pay top dollar for their work, so it's printed on acid-free paper and bound in the usual manner.

So now that I've said there aren't any modern analogs, I'll offer a few. But first, keep in mind that the comparison isn't exact, and that I'm not bashing the authors. David Eddings produced more than a novel a year during the 1980s, and essentialy he kept writing the same formulaic story. Heck, he even admitted that what he was doing was part of his master plan. The stories are great, but if you've read one, you can recite the plot of all of 'em. His works were all released as paperback originals, until the publisher finally agreed to release his 3rd series (book 11?) in hardback. Presently, Danielle Steel churns out about 7 or 8 books a year, though she didn't always. They all have more or less the same story, with the character names changed. Her publisher has been releasing all her works in hardback for the last 15 or 20 years, though.

 

[johnsemlak]

As Buttercup posted, there are few modern examples we can compare to pulp fiction.

I think the best examples of pulp fiction are exactly that-- the stories printed in the pulp fiction magazines of the 20s and 30s, and a bit later. Weird Tales is the most famous, but there were others.

In the fantasy genre, stories by Robert Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, HP Lovecraft. Some of Fritz Lieber's and Ray Bradbury's earlier works were also published in Weird Tales.

However, because pulp fiction spanned over several genres (Howard himself also wrote stories of sports heroes, wild west heroes, swashbuckler stories, etc), pulp fiction can be difficult to classify.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Comics of the past and present owe a lot to the pulps, especially in terms of pacing, but also in subject matter. In fact, given how diverse comics are now, much as the pulps were back then (although the pulps ranged into boxing fiction, Westerns, etc.) it's not unreasonable, in my opinion, to say that comics are the modern incarnation of the pulps.

 

[BryonD]

"Pulp" isn't actually a genre of its own, so much as it is a style. You can have pulp adventure, pulp horror, pulp fantasy, noire, etc.

Pulp comes from the early decades of this century, and it refers to a style of story in which many of the elements are fairly sensational or over the top.

<SNIP>

... Eberron is specifically D&D-style fantasy pulp...

As is Greyhawk...

As is FR...

(By the definition you provided)

 

[WizarDru]

Exactly. And because the writers for those magazines were churning out stories at a pretty rapid rate, they tended to cut corners when they could--with the results that their work was formulaic, consisting of plots that were linear and characters that were two dimensional. This was another fact that did not endear them to critics or people with high-brow tastes.

Well, yes, there were a lot of hacks...but there were also some true innovators in the crowd. Many authors found the pulps as a way to step-up to a career as a novelist, such as Dashiel Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane and Erle Stanley Gardner (creators of Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, Mike Hammer and Perry Mason, respectively). Howard, Lovecraft and others have also been mentioned. Bradbury, Bloch ("Psycho"), Asimov, deCamp, Heinlein and 'Doc' Smith ("Lensman") all started in the pulps. Louis L'amour, Zane Grey, Edgar Rice Borroughs, Agatha Christie, Elmore Leonard, Sinclair Lewis, Nowlan ("Buck Rogers") and even Tennessee Williams got their start or appeared in the pulps.

The pulps were the popular serialized fiction of their time. Television has largely displaced them, and the format lost popularity over time....but their influence was huge, not unlike Jazz's influence on music, for example. The pulps placed the emphasis on action, short stories with a quick punch and a crowd-pleasing ride. Since each pulp would have several stories, one of them was sure to be worth reading, regardless of the dubious quality or speedy releases. One week, you might get the Shadow beating a criminal mastermind, Buck Rogers adventuring the future, cowboys running down a runaway herd, Tarzan finding a lost city, dunwich explorers finding a very different lost city, Perry Mason solving a mysterious case, the Lensman fighting the Boskone and John Carter conquering Mars.

The pulps were often aimed at delivering a ripping yarn, and rarely were concerned with challenging their readers or forcing them into introspection. They were telling an exciting tale, sometimes in very different, experimental or exciting ways...but telling a tale, nonetheless. Many pulp authors would go on to become very popular novelists...after they'd honed their craft in the pulps. Stories like "Psycho", "The Maltese Falcon", "The Dunwich Horror", "Riders of the Purple Sage", "Elmer Gantry", and even "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" all owe their existence to the pulps. The closest modern analog I can think of is Japanese Manga magazines, although not just the mainstream stuff that makes it here, but more esoteric stuff like Master Keaton, for example.

 

[WizarDru]

Comics of the past and present owe a lot to the pulps, especially in terms of pacing, but also in subject matter. In fact, given how diverse comics are now, much as the pulps were back then (although the pulps ranged into boxing fiction, Westerns, etc.) it's not unreasonable, in my opinion, to say that comics are the modern incarnation of the pulps.

I agree, but comics are still trying to earn back the respectability that pulps had (i.e. more likely to be read by adults with less stigma). Comics also need to diversify more: we need more 'Y the Last Man's and fewer JLA cross-overs. Reading a pulp in the 30s was more akin to reading a Jackie Collins novel than reading a Donald Duck comic book.

Of course, Carl Barks' Donald Duck comics would turn out to be a major influence on the next generation of comic artists, such as Byrne, Perez, Rude and others....so we just came full circle.

btw: nice to see you, man. Were you away for a while, or had I just been missing the threads you were in?

 

[JoeBlank]

If you like some pulp in your fantasy then try Glen Cook's (of Black Company fame) Garrett series. Set in a traditional fantasy world, with all the stock races, but the main character is a private investigator and the stories are told in Sam Spade style.

A fun read.

 

[Henry]

www.blackmask.com

That site should have been included in the Eberron book.

If you want a glimpse of true pulp adventure style, there's nothing better for it than to actually read some of the stories in that genre.

 

[Faraer]

http://members.cox.net/comingattractions/index.html