Pow, Slam, Bam! – Six Modern Voices for Hard-Boiled Pulp

Typing On A Vintage Typewriter

Typing On A Vintage TypewriterIt started in the early part of the 20th century, when “pulp” meant more than orange juice or wood chips.

It meant The Shadow, Doc Savage and the Avenger. It meant the Green Lama and the Spider. It meant mystery men (and women) locked in a life-and-death struggle against the evil and the macabre.

It also meant cowboys and detectives, athletes and astronauts, and any sort of adventure that the covers of a dime store novel could contain.

The pulps were percolators for adventure and intrigue and their storytelling legacy goes on today. Most of the cinematic blockbusters of today owe more than a passing nod to the pulps.

And the adventure novels and comics, particularly the good ones, trace their lineage straight back to the golden age.

The pulp style is alive and well today, and in very capable hands. Below are some of the best practitioners of the art today.

** Special thanks and a nod of the fedora to my pal Lucas Garrett for his guidance and expertise for helping me to compile this list. He is not only a scholar and expert in all things comic and pulp, but a consume gentleman as well. You can find his musings on Facebook as well as at Luc’s Speculations.


 

Decoder Ring Theater Logo1) Decoder Ring Theatre

If you aren’t throwing your money at the feet of Gregg Taylor each and every month, then shame on you.

Each and every month he and the gang at Decoder Ring Theatre fill the podcast-waves (or whatever the hell you call it) with the pulpy goodness that is the Red Panda Adventures, and more importantly (and my personal favorite) Black Jack Justice.

Both of these shows are monthly, with one airing on the fifteenth and the other on the last day of the month, and they combine the best vocal talents of mighty Canada with fun, fresh, and quick-moving dialogue and strong characters with winning personalities.

And they do this twice a month for free.

Let me repeat that. FOR FREE!!! They exist primarily on donations, so if you are drinking lattes, super-sizing your french fries or wearing shoes, STOP! And spread some cash their way.

And while you’re at it, check out Red Panda Comics, Red Panda and Black Jack Justice novels for even more of the classic Decoder Ring characters.

 


 

Fight Card Logo2) Fight Card Books

Boxing stories were a staple of the pulps for years in magazines such as the likes of Robert E. Howard’s Steve Costigan stories and Fight Stories Magazine. Fight Card Books carries on that legacy today and no one does it better.

With some of the best writers today pounding out tales of boxing, MMA fighting, and now masked Luchador stories, Fight Card stories range from Sherlock Holmes’ Bartitsu fighting style to the steel cage matches of today.

Created and run by Paul Bishop and Mel Odom, every story has a pulp feel to it, and with titles like Felony Fists, Mouthful of Blood, and Tomato Can Comeback, you can’t help but hear the crowds yell and smell the cigar smoke.

On top of the pulp novel excellence they regularly put out at Fight Card, they also produce a series of Fight Card Anthologies for charity, proving that the Sweet Science can also be kind.

 


 

Pro Se Productions Logo3) Pro Se Productions

You just know that the cats at Pro Se Productions spent their formative years hip deep in second-hand paperbacks and old pulp novels. With characters like The Rook, Hugh Monn, Private Detective, and Liberty Girl, Pro Se pumps out pulpy goodness each and every month at a pace that’s hard to keep up.

With more than just a nod to the past, Pro Se works with Altus Press to produce Pulp Obscura, an imprint that brings forgotten pulp heroes of yesterday, such as Diamondstone the Magician, Thunder Jim Wade, and Richard Knight into stories written by the brightest writers of today.

In addition to the forgotten heroes, Pro Se also publishes the works of a pulp master with Charles Boeckman Presents, publishing the characters, such as Johnny Nickle, by authors of today.

If that weren’t enough to empty your wallet, Pro Se also produces works in horror, science fiction, fantasy, and good, old-fashioned suspense.

 


 

Airship 27 Logo4) Airship 27

With Ron Fortier at the helm, Airship 27 has over thirty-five years of publishing muscle on deck, working with the likes of TSR and Marvel Comics. In that time Fortier has worked with some of the biggest names in genre stories and brings that expertise to Airship 27.

Bringing life to the classics, Airship 27’s flagship series are Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, Sinbad and Robin Hood, King of Sherwood, forming a sturdy hull of the ship.

In addition to the classics, Airship 27 also publishes original genre stories like Zeppelin Tales and stories based on Captain Action, as well as their one-offs, such as the Crimson Mask, Jungle Tales, and Sgt. Janus, Spirit Breaker.

The spirit of pulps lives well in the capable hands of Ron Fortier, and you’d do well to thank him if you ever run into him at a convention.

Just don’t ask about Airsphips 1-26.

 


 

Pulpwood Press Logo5) Pulpwood Press

The shadows grow long in the sunshine state, and no one casts them like the authors at Pulpwood Press.

Covering a range of genres, authors like Michael Lister’s Big series take readers back to the two-fisted era of big crime and bigger thrills.

The action begins with PI Jimmy “Soldier” Riley in The Big Goodbye, continues in The Big Beyond, and comes to a head in the dark, panhandle world of The Big Hello.

Another great title to thrill genre lovers from Pulpwood is Dial M For Matrimony, where unsuspecting film students are killed in traps that resemble the plots to classic Hitchcock movies. Dial M is a quick-moving story that will absolutely kill any classic movie fan, metaphorically speaking.

You can find the latest at the Pulpwood Press website, where mystery, noir, and suspense is always in the ink.

 


 

Altus Press Logo6) Altus Press

As the keeper of the flame to some of the most legendary names in pulp fiction, Altus Press is on the cutting edge of the old world and the new.

In the New Doc Savage Adventures, Altus has already published a fistful of mythic tales of the “Man of Bronze” as well as breathing new life into his Fabulous Five companions.

In addition to Doc Savage, Altus Press also publishes the Adventures of the Green Lama, Secret Agent X, and Tales of Masks and Mayhem, each with new takes on the most storied tales in pulp legend.

As sellers of pulp stories new and old, Altus Press continues to bring new life into the masks and ray guns of yesteryear, and for that, they deserve our thanks as well as a read.

 


Standing Eight BookcoverWant to whet your appetite on a pulp appetizer before you load up at the buffet?

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