Pulp Magazine Authors and Literature Fans discussion
Common reads
>
Possible Group Reads?
As long as it's something relatively easy to acquire (preferably that I haven't already read), I'm down for whatever. Just a quick look at the bookshelf here in my home office, I see Double Indemnity, multiple REH omnibuses (omnibi?), multiple Shadows and Doc Savages, and Justice Inc.
While I certainly wouldn't mind (re)reading Ligotti, in my opinion his work falls outside something being "pulp."But of course, the only reason I accept Lovecraft being called a "pulp writer" is because he actually published in pulp magazines in their heydays. (Excepting that some of his stories are not always as "serious" as his, IMO, best work is; so I am painting roughly only when saying this.) So maybe I have too narrow a definition of it, Steven;-)
But I am open for any ideas too. Can't come up with any, though; and can't promise to be part of the first couple of debates either, since we have a newborn due soon...
I'm interested. I have other groups I do this with, so there could be a time conflict. The books/stories have to be readily accessible, of course.I'm not particular about the type of pulp; SF, Fantasy, Detective is all OK. I won't do Romance & I'd rather not get into pulp influences.
Mod
As for Ligotti, I agree Hendrik that he isn't "pulp" I was simply trying to think of modern authors who have been influenced by Pulp era writers - perhaps better mentions might have been Paul Malmont, Michael Chabon, Wm. Michael Mott, and others who write in the adventure or fantasy or hard boiled vein.
Another point for discussion might be having a couple of choices during the reading period - say, one for fantasy/adventure and another one for hard boiled/mystery or horror/weird ? The only reason I suggest this is that I know some in the group prefer one or two Pulp genres over another. Or perhaps a better way to do it would be to make sure that a genre isn't repeated - in other words, if our first choice is Double Indemnity, then the next period's "read" couldn't be the same genre (say Raymond Chandler) but would be Robert E. Howard or Doc Savage ?
Any rate I appreciate the comments and suggestions so far and look forward (hopefully :) to more...
PS - Henrik, best wishes with your newborn - they do cut into your reading time a little, but I think you'll still love being a parent !
I'm definitely interested, and don't care too much what it is. If this is an ongoing thing though, I'd suggest we do start out with a "classic" pulp for the first choice, something say pre-1960 anyway which allows a possibility of including the hardboiled writers' earlier works.I'd prefer a crime/hardboiled work personally, because I've read very little in that area, but like I said it doesn't matter too much. If I were to make a specific suggestion I'd pick a Jim Thompson or Raymond Chandler.
One thing to keep in mind is, if the choice ends up being shorter works, a collection of some kind from someone who wrote mostly shorter stuff -- like REH, CAS, HPL -- it might be a challenge to figure out what edition(s) to use.
Two groups that I'm in already do periodic group reads (on a voluntary basis, which I think is the only way to do it); and in the Supernatural Fiction Readers group, it really helped to increase participation and interest, so I'm sure it would here, too. Every four months or so would be a good time frame, I think --if we do it monthly, some of us wouldn't get much time to read anything else! I've proposed the same idea in another group I'm in, the Classics group. There has been no response to that posting; but I committed myself there to read Mr. Midshipman Hornblower in January, and need to follow through. And we'll likely be doing a Supernatural Fiction Readers group read in February. So, like Henrik, I'll opt out of our group's first common read --unless you'd want to discuss a book I've already read, like Hammett's The Maltese Falcon? In fact, I'll nominate that one! :-)
Pulp noir isn't my favorite genre; but sometimes it's good for us to be exposed to genres we don't usually read. The idea of alternating selections among the different pulp genres is a good one, IMO.
Maltese Falcon would be a good choice by me -- pretty sure I own a copy and if not I'm 99% sure the library has one -- not up for spending money on books at the moment alas.
Thanks, Steven:-) I look forward to learn our child the wonderful art of reading:-D
Mod
While I enjoyed the The Maltese Falcon years ago & wouldn't mind re-reading it, just to make sure it's not a one-horse race, I'm going to nominate a few others: The Erection Set or My Gun Is Quick by Mickey Spillane
A Princess of Mars or Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Conan,Almuric or The Sowers of the Thunder by Robert E. Howard
If we can "vote" for more than one "candidate," like we can in the Supernatural Fiction Readers group, then either of the Burroughs titles would work for me right now as well. I've read (and liked) both of them, and could easily join in a discussion without a re-read.
Jim wrote: "While I enjoyed the The Maltese Falcon years ago & wouldn't mind re-reading it, just to m..."
Having just about finished reading Almuric today, it would be easy for me to vote for that! But I would be happy to read any of the other titles as well!
I have never read any Mickey Spillane (or the Maltese Falcon for that matter), so I am quite interested in moving into that genre, but ERB and REH are always Ok by me!
Having just about finished reading Almuric today, it would be easy for me to vote for that! But I would be happy to read any of the other titles as well!
I have never read any Mickey Spillane (or the Maltese Falcon for that matter), so I am quite interested in moving into that genre, but ERB and REH are always Ok by me!
Mod
Sounds good to me. I've read a bit of Conan but never got around to Hour of the Dragon, and either Spillane or Hammett would be great. Heck, anything suggested so far pretty much...
I'd suggest another read I'm eagerly awaiting its rerelease soon: The Dark World by Henry Kuttner. Due out from Paizo's Planet Stories imprint. Link below:http://www.amazon.com/Dark-World-Henr...
http://paizo.com/store/fiction/planet...
Paizo's done some very nice reprints of long out of print material and I'm enjoying their series. Thanks to it, I've picked up Almuric, Jirel of Joiry, Northwest Smith, and some old Moorcock Mars material.
Mod
Paizo has (very nicely) supplied me with 7 of their Sword and Planet releases for review. The three I have so far read have all been excellent, with nice new introductions from well-known writers around just now!
Great work, and I am looking forward to reading the other 4!
My only disappointment is that they didn't send me any of the Moorcock Kane books!
Great work, and I am looking forward to reading the other 4!
My only disappointment is that they didn't send me any of the Moorcock Kane books!
I don't know about a group read, but I thought the group might be interested in Pulp Fiction - The Dames. There are also a couple of others, one on villians & one on crime fighters. I put them all on my 'need-to-buy' list. One is edited by Harlan Ellison.Oddly enough, the most exciting find while looking those books up on Amazon was that there is going to be a new book by Roger Zelazny. He's a SF/Fantasy writer, but this new book was listed as a pulp type murder mystery. Since he died 13 years ago, it's obviously from his old, unpublished papers. His son wrote the intro. I hope it's OK, but I had to pre-order it. I've got every other book the man wrote, I think.
I'm looking forward to this Zelazny, too. I think it's called The Dead Man's Brother and is one of the Hard Case Crime series.
It is indeed The Dead Man's Brother: http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bi...
I enjoyed the sample chapter. Definitely atypical Zelazny... I'm looking forward to reading this one...
I enjoyed the sample chapter. Definitely atypical Zelazny... I'm looking forward to reading this one...
I had no idea there were other Zelazny fans here. Shouldn't be surprised. Superb writer.Has anyone else read those Pulp compilations?
Mod
Regarding Zelazny, I'm a long time fan of his. My favorite work of his "Jack of Shadows" had a little bit of hard boiled noir feeling to it I thought (although it is definitely in the realm of fantasy) so I'm not surprised that he might have written something in that line. I'm adding it to my list.
So Jim, and Joe, I guess the old line of "great minds think alike" holds true, since we're all Zelazny fans, and noticed the pulp compilations at about the same time - course I guess that would make sense since we're all in a pulp mag reading group.
Best wishes and holiday greetings to everyone :)
I believe those pulp compilations mentioned above were published in the U.S. in one very large volume called THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF PULPS, edited by Otto Penzler.
James, I hadn't realized that. Thank you as I have that one as well as the other 3 on my 'to-buy' list. Reading money isn't that easy to come by to buy the same thing twice.Steven, I can't pick a favorite Zelazny novel. "This Immortal", "Lord of Light" & "Doorways in the Sand" as well as the "Jack of Shadows", not to mention the Amber chronicles... Well, it depends on my mood, I guess. I thought of "Today We Change Faces" & "The Furies" when I thought about him writing a mystery. Yes, I think he'll do the genre proud. I'm really looking forward to it.
Mod
It looks like The Maltese Falcon by Hammett is our first group read, as it won the vote by a fairly handy margin. The amount of time for the group read isn't nearly as clear cut, with 10 votes for 1 month and 10 votes for 2 months. However, Jim missed the poll and said he would have voted for 2 months. Also there were a couple of votes for 3 months and / or 4 months. What I'm thinking of suggesting is that we go with 2 months for this initial read since there was a slight majority for 2 months or more, unless anyone has a violent (in the hard boiled sense) objection.
I haven't read TMF so I'm looking forward to it, and plan on starting this evening.
Regarding those of you who are faster readers, what are y'all's thoughts about having a novel or complete anthology read every 2 months, but also adding a short story or two each month for group reads also?
At any rate, hope everyone is doing well and has had a good start to 2009!
Sounds good, including the extra story. I've got the The Maltese Falcon on its way through PaperBackSwap - my copy is defunct, a 1950's paperback that fell apart last night. While in there looking, I also grabbed The Big Knockover: Selected Stories and Short Novels.I'll recommend PaperBackSwap &/or BookMooch to everyone. On PBS, if you run out of credits (get more books than you sent) you can pick them up for $3.45 each. That's the most any book, including hardbacks, ever costs me. Of course, not all are available, but when they are, it's a great way to pick up books cheap.
Steven wrote: "Are any of you interested in having a book or choice of books to read on a monthly or a bi-monthly (or whatever monthly) basis?If so, I'd like to ask any of you who are interested to please post ..."
Yes Steven, I certainly am very interested in that option. Just as long as the book are accessible for those of us who are not living in the States.
Thanks.
Hi Steven, hi everybody!Coincidentally, I´m just re-reading The Maltese Falcon and I just joined Goodreads and this group. So, if you don´t mind, I´m in for the group discussion of thie great Hammett classic.
Welcome, Fabio. I just finished the book & the movie with Bogie. Loved both. Careful of the 'Spoiler' topic until you're all done.
Thanks, Jim. I don´t think I´ll need to be afraid of spoilers, though -- this is my third reading of TMF, and I´ve seen the Bogie movie twice (I need to buy the DVD, BTW. :-)
I found a book at the Good Will store today. It's a hardback in good condition from 1983 called, The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense compiled by Bill Pronzini (compiler). It has a bunch of the 'best' pulp stories from the 40' & 50's in it. It cost me $0.75. Think I paid too much?;-)
ed. Not a group read. I just wanted to chortle & didn't know where else to post it.
Congrats, Jim! I'm a great fan of secondhand stores, used book stores, yard sales and flea markets as venues for purchasing books (not to mention library book sales and free racks). :-) Most of the books I own come from places like that, and they're a great way to find some wonderful bargains --as your 75-cent buy just proved!I'd forgotten we had this thread! Steven and I shared some messages earlier about the idea of having one ongoing thread in this group that we can use whenever we're picking a book for a group read. I'd say we might as well use this one for that, rather than starting a brand new one --what do you all think?
Sounds good to me. Maybe we should have a thread for what individuals are currently reading &/or new acquisitions. I saw that the last story is written by John Jakes. He's an author I've admired & often wondered if there was more than one. His Brak the Barbarian is kind of fun, but wears out quickly. He also wrote the Bicentennial Series which I really enjoyed. It spurred me to read & understand a lot more about US history than school ever did by making it come alive & seem real.
John D. MacDonald has two stories of the 15, the only author to do so. I find it odd that any author would have two stories in an anthology of this size. Still, I've enjoyed his writing. I never got into the Travis MacGee series too much - I could never find all the books, so never bothered except for one here or there. I enjoyed his SF writings though. "The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything" always makes me chuckle.
Dashiel Hammet has the first story in the book.
John Jakes used to live in my home town of Dayton, OH. I believe his wife was a school teacher and supported the family with her income while he was a struggling writer. Then he got the big "Bicentennial" contract and was in the money. Afterwards, his fantasy and pulp stuff began showing up as paperback reprints.He's still writing:
http://www.johnjakes.com/index.htm
I read Post-Human by David Simpson over the holidays & reviewed it, if anyone is interested. It's SF, but had kind of a pulp feel to it. I enjoyed it.
Has anyone read Talbot Mundy, Harold Lamb ?
Mohammed wrote: "Has anyone read Talbot Mundy, Harold Lamb ?"I read the first Harold Lamb collection of cossack stories, Wolf of the Steppes. It's pretty good.
I have Wolf of the Steppes on my tbr pile.
I'm gonna read Wolf of the Steppes too and wondering why not group read one of the best pulp writers there has been.I sampled that collection online, he showed quality.
I still have a bunch of my father's old Harold Lamb books. Omar Khayyam was my favorite, but I also loved Tamerlane the Earth Shaker. I haven't read "Wolf of the Steppes".
I've just started Eclipse, the third novel in the Twilight series, and that's a thick book --629 pp. So I expect it'll keep me busy most of the month. But if the rest of you folks would like to do the Lamb book as a common read, I'll follow the posts with interest!
Mod
read? I note that Mohammed, Lady Danielle, and Dan already have copies of
, but I'm open to any book by Lamb. I've found that a large numer of his works are still available in libraries.
I'm not averse to doing a common read of this book sometime. But, don't wait on me to be able to take part, if you can get a big enough group together now! I'm in so many groups and have so many commitments that it's hard to schedule group reads so I can participate, and its not fair to make everybody else wait. Right now, I'm waiting for a copy of a Goodreads friend's new novel I promised her I'd review; and two of my other groups are thinking of doing common reads very soon.
Steven wrote: "Just noting this, anyone else up for a common Harold Lamb read? I note that Mohammed, Lady Danielle, and Dan already have copies of [bookcover:Wolf ..."Steven im up for Lamb read if we 2-4 or more doesnt matter.
I'm surprised Lamb's books aren't in the public domain.
Jim, you'd think they would be! But under current U.S. copyright law, almost nothing written after 1922 is in the public domain yet. Copyrights are not only for an author's lifetime, but extend to the heirs for 70 years after his/her death.Under the original British copyright law in the early 1700s, the term was seven years, renewable for another seven. Many people feel (and I agree, even though I'm an author of sorts myself!) that the recent trend in copyright law is a perverse approach that's lost all sense of legitimate balance between the private and the public interest.
It's a mess, Werner. I remember Louis L'Amour being up in arms about the 50 year copyright law. There for a while in the 80's or 90's, I'd see books of his with notes on them that he authorized them. Others were published without his consent or giving him any money, so I could see his point. Folks cashing in on his name & work while he was still alive hardly seems fair.Disney also really pushed for the longer copyrights. They're well known for cracking down on anyone that uses their characters. I read they went so far as to threaten a lawsuit on a grade school teacher who made up Disney characters to decorate her classroom.
Of course, there's a real downside, too. Harlan Ellison is so well known for suing for anything resembling derivations of his work that they credited him on the Terminator movie even though he had absolutely nothing to do with it. He had written an old Outer Limits episode (starring Robert Culp) about a time traveling cyborg plus he did the original script for "The City on the Edge of Forever", one of the original Star Trek episodes, so they felt they'd credit him & avoid the lawsuit they were sure would come.
Spider Robinson had an issue with such long copyrights & the outcome of some the associated lawsuits for derivations. He wrote a wonderful short story, Melancholy Elephants, in protest. His point is that all art is derivative &, when human life grows long, art will be stifled. I can see his point, too.
Mod
Hi Jim,
I just noticed this post of yours. The book does sound really good. I'll have to keep an eye out for it, but I probably won't find it for as good a deal as you did :)
If I ever get to it, I'll likely pass it along. I keep trying to get my TBR pile smaller, but it keeps getting bigger. I'll try to get to it soon, if you're interested. I'm sort of scatter-brained in my reading though. Mom just told me about a book she couldn't find Sheep: The Remarkable Story of the Humble Animal That Built the Modern World. Of course, I bought it & am now reading it before passing it along to her. It really is interesting - if you have any interest in sheep. Mom had a flock of 50 or so Dorsets for years & now I have a couple of Kinder goats, so it's good reading.
Pulp Magazine Authors and Literature Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Jirel of Joiry (other topics)The Man of Bronze (other topics)
Sheep (other topics)
The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense (other topics)
Melancholy Elephants (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Harlan Ellison (other topics)Spider Robinson (other topics)
Louis L'Amour (other topics)
Harold Lamb (other topics)
Harold Lamb (other topics)
More...
If so, I'd like to ask any of you who are interested to please post some possible nominations for January, 2009. We could then vote on the nominations. I'm open to any suggestions, but I would enjoy having a group read on a regular basis and was just wondering if anyone else was?
Last note: One of the things I like about "Pulp" is that the term is so ambiguous and crosses so many genres. That being said, I would think it would be as valid to read a story from the 20's by H. P. Lovecraft or Dashiel Hammett as it would be to read a modern author influenced by them, such as Walter Mosley or Thomas Ligotti, or for that matter a story by one of the classic authors who influenced the Pulp era writers, such as Edgar Allan Poe or Lord Dunsany or Jack London. But perhaps I'm being too broad - I'm really interested in what other group members think about this...