Pulp

[close] For any people who like (or would like) to read by a river -- real or of their own imagining...

[close] Started somewhat as a reaction to the British cozy mystery of the Agatha Christie style (think Murder She Wrote), there came a demand for something more real, action where the stakes were higher, the participants (good and bad) sleazier, the police on the take, the ladies fatal for any would-be patsy. Thus was born, largely in the 1920s, and often in the pulps (foremost among them Black Mask), the American answer to Sherlock Holmes, the genre that in turn became the basis for the film noir revolution of the 1940s. Our original big three writers in this genre are Dashiel Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and James M. Cain. This modest beginning spawned an international phenomenon with writers in other countries picking up the tropes, some adhering to original themes, others blending in other genres such as science fiction dystopia or urban fantasy, to craft a new literature known simply as noir. These writers and settings come from communities as diverse and complex as can be found throughout the modern world. Half our focus is on original hardboiled crime fiction, its formation in the middle third of twentieth century United States. The other half is on modern noir throughout the world as it has developed since. Join in on the fun as the outsider champion of justice tries to bring its criminal elements to account, won't you?

[close] Pulps were the successor to the penny dreadfuls, dime novels, and short fiction magazines of the 19th century. Although many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines are often remembered for their lurid and exploitative stories and sensational cover art. Just like the pulp fiction of the 60's and 70's. Pulpy Pulp pays homage to writers like, Robert E Howard, Dashiell Hammett and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[close] This is the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers book club, where we take a look at short fiction in the public domain.