Modern Pulp and Adulthood

Second issue with a cover by
Roxanne Patruznick.Sometimes I feel less than adult.
Too many comic books? Too many action figures as a youngster? Too many video-game characters to emulate? Is it my desire for Klingon coffee or is it my desire to see a Sliders Motion Picture that fill my thoughts? 
I should probably be more concerned about politics and retirement-planning at my age, but to be honest I know more about Robocop than I do 401Ks. But I'm getting there. I'm getting older. And someday I'll own my own ED-209.
Heady books help shape my adult life. They're the sort of things I know adults should read; Newbery Award winners, Pulitzer winners, folks who write about terrible things that really occur on the planet, hoping as most authors do their mechanically deft words will herald change - the good stuff that will make people think I'm smart. Like my allergy medicine and muscle relaxers, I enjoy them with more and more regularity.
But I often seek escapism in my literature as a way to combat the fatigue of award-winning literature. By these I mean the old pulps and adventure novels that once decorated the densely populated book realm. Besides classics such as The Shadow and The Spider, I read Ian Fleming and Stephen King, Nick Carter Killmaster novels and Edgar Rice Burroughs as often as I flipped through Ghost Rider's latest exploits and lost myself in the latest issue of Moon Knight and the Master of Kung-Fu, which of course turned me on to Sax Rohmer's weirdly compelling pulps. 
Later I copied my friends and steered some time into Steinbeck, Rushdie, Vonnegut and Anne Rice. Back then, modern pulps still existed on swirling racks at the local grocery store. There you could find the Executioner novels, Killmaster and even characters like Dirty Harry spun into their own pulpy adventure novels. And I always snuck them in, in between bouts of James Joyce and Anais Nin.
Eventually those modern pulps burned out. They can still be found here and there, but not in their former volume. More often you find them at thrift stores or balancing the short leg of a bar stool.
The landscape altered. Novels chose intellect over story, awards over characters. Gaining critical acclaim became more important than entertainment value. Clever authors can combine them all, of course, but those were hard to come by. Getting an MFA in writing or literature trumped seclusion and alcohol when it came to a writer's resume, and still does for the most part.
But once again the landscape altered. Digital books, Kindles and Nooks, self-publishing and print on demand became the new hot topic in the literary world. With them comes authors born of seclusion and alcohol and, more importantly, a return to digital pulp. Publishers, such as PageTurner Editions, offer a variety of great novels by Jack Bludis, Michael Kurland and many others. Here readers can find a return to gritty, stylized action reminiscent of Spillane and Chandler, with a dash of Bolan's Executioner and Murphy's Destroyer thrown in for good measure. Here stories prevail over awards, though these works deserve more than their fair share. The world of e-books has created a nation of new ideas and the means to expose them to the world. Other authors who share a love of modern pulp can find one another so much easier thanks to sites like Amazon.com and Goodreads. 
One sterling example are the folks cranking out Blood and Tacos, an awesome throwback to pulpy “Man of Action” grit in a wholly original way. Here, various modern writers create heroes in the era of late pulp, namely the 60s through the 80s, but also dream up irreverent, disco-hip authors to go with them, some with tough guy mustaches and all. It's a wonderful idea and a flashy, souped-up reading experience with nary a tablet or wifi connection to be found. 
While I may not be the grown-up society expects, at least I'm not alone. I'm in no hurry to grow a mustache and wear a blazer anyway.