I was twelve when I read my first pulp story. It was “The Phoenix on the Sword” by Robert E. Howard. The story featured Conan the Barbarian as he fought off would-be assassins after being warned about it by a phoenix in a dream. It was short, but it was satisfying and left me wanting more. That was the first story in an anthology I had recently bought and it had introduced me to the fantastic world of pulp magazines.
A bit of history, the pulps were a form of literary magazine published in the early twenties that featured sensational speculative fiction stories. Topics ranged from amoral warriors making a violent stake in a harsh landscape to costumed crime fighters battling mob bosses in the Big Apple. They were often very exploitative stories that would, for the most part, be labeled politically incorrect by today’s standards. Despite this, many respectable authors had their works published by the likes of a pulp magazines entitled Adventure, Weird Tales, and Marvel Science Stories. Some of these well-known authors are Agatha Christie, Joseph Campbell, Mark Twain, Ray Bradbury, Upton Sinclair, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Pulp magazines stopped circulating at the dawn of the second World War because pulp paper (where the Pulps get their name) was in high demand during the war. They are survived, however, by the comic book heroes and their rivals “the slicks” (modern day speculative fiction magazines). Both have carried on their legacy in one way or another; many pulp heroes like Doc Savage for example simply transitioned from short stories to comic books. Some modern day comic lines, such as Hellboy, Atomic Robo, and The Rocketeer pay homage to the heroes and stories of yesteryear. Some pulp authors simply started submitting their work to slick publications or even giving their name to publications (as the case with Isaac Asimov).
I feel as though pulps need to make a comeback for several reasons. One reason is that many of them are great reads if not mere time killers. Another reason is that many popular characters got their start in pulps, such as Conan, Tarzan, Zorro, Hopalong Cassidy, and John Carter on Mars. It would be interesting to read about their origins. Lastly, since many of the pulp writers have been deceased for over half a century or more, many of their works can be found in public domain such as The Pulp Magazine Archives.
Read a couple of them and see what you think. Hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
