Yellowed Perils: Thoughts and Comments on the World of the Pulp Magazines http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php Copyright 2010, William Lampkin William Lampkin en-US SPHPBLOG 0.4.8 Do you have a pulp lair? http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100309-220000 Doc Mystery posted a blog item about someone’s elaborate gaming basement, and that got me wondering, “Who has a pulp lair?”

My so-called pulp lair.
I wouldn’t call my “pulp lair” much of a pulp lair. It’s just a six-foot bookshelf — stuffed with pulp reference books, reprints and paperbacks, and several boxes on top full of pulps — on one wall of our home office; two filing cabinet drawers full of pulp fanzines across the room; a framed transcription disc of an old-time radio episode of The Shadow hanging on another wall; and a terrific reproduction of The Shadow by Scotty Phillips hanging next to the bookshelf. Other pulp books are on bookshelves scattered throughout the house, plus more are stored away in boxes.

Not an overwhelming sight. But it’s my “pulp lair.”

Now, several of my Arizona pulp friends have quite nice pulp lairs. Jay Ryan converted his home office into the ultimate Doc Savage pulp lair. Jay’s Doc room is filled just about everything he mentions in his Collector’s Handbook of Bronze. (You get a glimpse of it about 8 minutes, 35 seconds into the Arizona Doc Con 2006 Highlights video on YouTube.com.)

Courtney Rogers and Rob Smalley have converted spare bedrooms into pulp lairs, with bookcases of pulps and pulp reprints and pulp-related (of mostly Doc Savage) prints on the walls.

But, getting back to my initial question: “Who has pulp lair?” Do you? Care to share it with other pulp fans? Post a comment or drop me an e-mail. If you have good photos, I’ll set up a gallery to share.

So, show off your pulp lair!

— William]]> Pulps, People http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100309-220000 William Lampkin Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100309-220000 Two books pulp fans should have http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100308-155500
First up is Norman Saunders, David Saunders’ tribute to his father. It’s possibly the best book devoted to a pulp artist yet.

At $40, it’s not inexpensive, but what you’re investing in is a 12-by-9.25-inch, 368-page hardback book (and an inch-and-a-half thick, though I don’t judge a book by it’s thickness) that’s packed full of tremendous paintings displayed full page, or at least a quarter of a page. No thumbnails in this book.

Though pulp covers were only a small portion of the elder Saunders’ output, they are well represented here. A lot of pulp covers were the works of moderately talented folks. In this volume (if you hadn’t already realized it), it’s clear Saunders was a true artist.

For fans of pulp cover art, Norman Saunders is a book you shouldn’t pass up.

Second is clearly a labor of love. Chris Kalb’s The Spider Vs. The Empire State for Age of Aces Books is one of the best pulp reprint books I’ve seen.

The book collects three stories from Popular Publication’s The Spider — “The City that Paid to Die,” “The Spider at Bay” and “Scourge of the Black Legion” — that appeared in the September, October and November 1938 issues.

A foreword by Thomas Krabacher, a professor at California State University, Sacramento, and a pulp collector, sets the scene for the Black Police trilogy by looking at current events during the 1930s. Profiles of Norvell Page, illustrator John Fleming Gould and cover painter John Newton Howitt, and a “Further Reading” section wrap up the 428-page book. (It’s over an inch thick, too. But, really, I don’t generally go around measuring the thickness of books.)

There are a number of The Spider novels that have been repeatedly reprinted. This is the first time these three stories have appeared in print since the pulps hit the newsstands over 71 years ago. For $17, you’ll be in for plenty of rousing pulp excitement.

— William]]> Pulps, Books, Opinion http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100308-155500 William Lampkin Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:55:00 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100308-155500 Who will be the Man of Bronze? http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100225-083000 Forget baseball, casting the Doc Savage movie has been America’s popular pastime in the Man of Bronze newsgroups over the years. Why not get the ball rolling again?

IGN Movies offers up its suggestion for the Man of Bronze in the latest Columbia possibility.

Without further ado, here are IGN’s picks (in alphabetical order) and the actors’ recent roles:

• Gerard Butler, Leonidas in 300

• Daniel Craig, Bond, James Bond

• Matt Damon, the Jason Bourne trilogy

• Jon Hamm, Don Draper on Mad Men

• Chris Hemsworth, Capt. George Krik (James T. Kirk’s father) in 2009’s Star Trek and Thor in the upcoming movies Thor and The Avengers

• Hugh Jackman, Wolverine in the X-Men movies

• Thomas Jane, Frank Castle in 2004’s The Punisher

• Dwayne Johnson, Tooth Fairy, The Mummy Returns and a lot of wrestling shows (a frequent suggestion in online discussions)

• Matthew McConaughey, Tropic Thunder, We Are Marshall and Dirk Pitt in Sahara

• Brad Pitt, Inglourious Basterds and Achilles in Troy

• Mark Valley, TV’s Fringe and Human Target (That’s him pictured above left.)

• Sam Worthington, Avatar and the upcoming Clash of the Titans remake

Some interesting choices.

— William]]> Pulps, Movies/TV/Radio http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100225-083000 William Lampkin Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:30:00 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100225-083000 ‘Doc Savage’ movie has a director http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100223-151200 Variety (among numerous other movie sites) reported Monday that a director has been linked to a potential Doc Savage movie:
Shane Black is attached to direct the film from a screenplay he is penning with Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry. Neal Moritz (Fast and Furious) will produce through his Sony-based Original Film banner.

Black also wrote Lethal Weapon 1 and 2, The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero (which, coincidentally, starred Arnold Schwarzenegger who was also once linked to a Doc Savage movie), The Long Kiss Goodnight and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

He’s had some hits in there, but I don’t think any of his movies would be considered great. Variety says that he’s also known for his “vast collection” of pulp fiction.

But Variety also reports:
One of the most popular characters in the pulps of the 1930s and '40s, Doc Savage was also popularized on radio, film and TV.

Guess I missed that TV series.

— William]]> Pulps, News, Movies/TV/Radio http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100223-151200 William Lampkin Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:12:00 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100223-151200 The future of pulps? http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100220-234500
What if you read digital pulps on your iPad?
I'm afraid of spending too much time holding my pulp magazines for fear they will turn to dust in my hands. They range from 55- to 114-years-old, and they are disappearing sliver by sliver. So I rarely open them up to read.

Is it worth paying $20, $50, $150 or, sometimes, much, much more for a pulpwood paper magazine that may not be around much longer? You seal them in a mylar bag and put them on the shelf, afraid to do much more than pick them up to look at the fade cover that once was vivid in its yellows, reds and blues.

I keep thinking about the quote attributed to publisher Frank Munsey: “The story is worth more than the paper it is printed on.”

Are the stories what you collect or the containers of the stories, the pulp magazines themselves?

Clearly there’s a market for printed pulp reproductions. Girasol Collectibles, Age of Aces, Sanctum Books, Wildcat Books, Altus Press and others are regularly producing pulp facsimiles or reprints.

But I’m thinking about just the stories and artwork alone. In e-book form.

The crew over on the Yahoo Group, Pulp Scans, have been scanning pulps and microfilm of pulps for several years now and have accumulated quite a selection of vintage fiction.

“Three years ago I started the Pulp Scans group,” Dave Reeder says, “and have been incredibly fortunate in attracting a number of dedicated pulp scanners, keen to preserve our heritage. I haven't kept count, but I think we’ve shared around 350 pulps so far, from early saucy titles to mainstream science fiction to western. The hero pulps we’ve stayed away from after a wake-up mail from Conde Nast's lawyers!”

Reeder says the group focuses on pulps that aren’t being reprinted, so as not to compete with reprint publishers.

“In a sense, I see our role as cultural archivists,” Reeder explains. “If this material is lost then nobody will ever be able top reprint it commercially. Plus it’s great to read! ...”

“The past crumbles. Digital preserves and shares. I guess it’s as simple as that,” Reeder says.

Is this the future of pulp collecting? As much as a lot of us are loath to admit, it probably is.

What if the cover of your pulp was vibrant? The text and interior illustrations a solid black on crispy white? What if you could tap twice to zoom in to make the story more legible? And you could carry your entire pulp collection around with you in your Apple iPad or other digital reader, without worrying about it crumbling to bits?

For me, the concept is getting more and more likable.

— William]]> Pulps, Opinion http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100220-234500 William Lampkin Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:45:00 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100220-234500 Pulpster Phil Klass has died http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100207-154019 Phil Klass, who wrote under the name William Tenn, died Sunday, Feb. 7. He was 89.

Mr. Klass started his writing career with stories in Astounding and Weird Tales beginning in 1946 and ’47. He went on to have dozens of stories, often with a humorous slant, printed in a number of science fiction pulps.

He retired in the late 1980s from Penn State University, where he had taught english and literature since the mid-’60s.

I never knew Mr. Klass personally, but I had the great fortune of meeting him and his wife, Fruma, at PulpCon 35 in 2006. He was one of that year’s guests of honor and gave an hour-long talk about his life in the science fiction pulps.

You can hear him reminisce about his writing years in our PulpCon 35 Report.

It’s always sad to hear the passing of a pulpster. Our thoughts are with his wife, family and friends.

— William]]> Pulps, News, People http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100207-154019 William Lampkin Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:40:19 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100207-154019 Review of “The Shadow” movie script online http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100202-203753 There’s a review onine of a purported script for The Shadow movie that’s been in the works the past couple of years. It’s available on the IESB.com Web site.

I’m not familiar with the Web site or the review’s author, Peter Georgiou, but it’s interesting to hear what may be in the works for a movie. It sounds positive (despite a bit of confused knowledge of The Shadow by Georgiou).

Tip of the hat to “Kent Allard” who posted this on the alt.pulp news group after having it passed along to him by John Olsen, proprietor of The Shadow in Review.

— William]]> Pulps, News, Movies/TV/Radio http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100202-203753 William Lampkin Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:37:53 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100202-203753 Doc Con 13 set for Nov. 12-14 http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100201-233453
The logo for the 13th Arizona Doc Con.
Saturday at week ago was a “Doc Day” here in the Phoenix area. That’s a day when members of the Arizona Fans of Bronze get together to plan the next Arizona Doc Con (as well as talk pulps, books and movies).

We met at Phil Matthews’ home. He’s been ill recently and was unable to attend November’s Doc Con. So it was great to spend a few hours visiting with him.

It turned out to be a very productive meeting. We set the dates, location and theme for Doc Con 13, and talked about sharing the organizing responsibilities, rather than laying it all on the shoulders of the host.

Doc Con 13 will be Friday-Sunday, Nov. 12-14, at Glendale, Ariz. Friday evening will be the annual old-time radio re-enactment, held this year at Courtney Rogers’ house. Saturday will be the day-long gathering, hosted by uber-Doc Savage collector Jay Ryan. The con ends Sunday morning with a breakfast at a local restaurant.

Yours truly will be the event co-ordinator for Doc Con 13. I’ll be putting together the Doc Con’s Saturday schedule, so if you’re interested in making a presentation, please let me know.

This year’s theme is two-fold. We’ll be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the debut of Street & Smith’s Doc Savage Comics and the 75th anniversary of the introduction of Chemistry the ape into the novels. (Well, “celebrating” may not describe that last one very well.)

You can keep up with developments through the Doc Con group at Yahoo.

Mark your calendar. It’s a great time for Doc (and pulp) fans. Hope to see you there!

— William]]> News, Announcements, Events, Doc Con http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100201-233453 William Lampkin Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:34:53 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100201-233453 Variety is the Spicys of life* http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100123-232636 A former sections editor of mine used to have a “happy drawer” in our department that was filled with candy. You could grab a piece whenever you needed a boost. The drawer was always full following Halloween, when everyone would bring in their leftovers.

One year, I got in a routine of pulling out a box of Nerds every day about mid-afternoon. You know, those little pebble-shaped sugar candies. After more than a week of Nerds, my teeth started hurting after the second or third mouthful of the candy. That was it. I couldn’t eat any more, even though I thought they were delicious.

The same applies to pulp stories. After a string of, say, Captain Future or Doc Savage stories, I reach a point where say, “That’s it. I can’t read another one.” This goes on with any pulp series.

You begin to notice how formulaic and predictable the stories are. You start noticing repetitive descriptions of the series’ characters. You’re reading them for pleasure, but they begin to stop being a pleasure to read.

Back when the pulps were being published, it might have been a month between issues, or longer if the series you were reading didn’t have its own magazine. After a month or six months or even a year, when the new story came out, you were eager for it.

It’s certainly not that the stories aren’t worth reading. But like with Nerds, you want to stop before they start hurting your teeth, and switch to another treat.

— William

* Sorry, but there’s no mention of Spicy magazines in this entry. I just couldn’t resist the punning headline.]]> Pulps, Opinion http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100123-232636 William Lampkin Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:26:36 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=01&entry=entry100123-232636 Did you have a pulp site on GeoCities? http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100115-163402 As most of you probably realize by now, GeoCities, the 14-year-old free Web hosting site currently owned by Yahoo, shuttered all free sites last fall.

Quite a number of pulp-related Web sites had GeoCities addresses. If you browse around ThePulp.Net, you’ll notice most of the links to those sites are gone (and the few that remain are broken).

If you had a pulp-related site on GeoCities and you’ve moved it to another Web address, please let me know and we’ll get your link restored or updated. (Heck, if you know of one that’s moved, please feel free to let us know its new address.)

You can either add your new link to the comments field below this entry or click on the Contact TPN link at left and send in an e-mail.

I hope those pulp sites aren’t gone forever.

— William]]> Announcements, Web sites http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/index.php?entry=entry100115-163402 William Lampkin Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:34:02 GMT http://thepulp.net/PulpBlogs/YellowedPerils/comments.php?y=10&m=01&entry=entry100115-163402