Welcome to The Pulp Companion
What’s this? What’s The Pulp Companion? The Pulp Companion is here to help you in your pulp quest. Each month, we’ll take a look at a selection of zines, articles, books and other pulp-related things that might help you better understand and enjoy the pulps.
Do you have something you’d like to share with fellow pulp fans? Have you come across an interesting article or book? Please let us know and we’ll share it.
Hawking the Gazette
The latest issue of Howard Wright’s Bronze Gazette, the Unofficial Magazine for the Fan of Bronze, arrived recently in the mail. The first thing that catches your attention is the cover: Bob Larkin’s unpublished painting for “The Running Skeletons.” It was to be half of a Bantam Doc Savage double, with “All-White Elf,” but was never published. On the Gazette’s back is a reprint of the original pulp cover.
Inside, Will Murray delves into “The Mystery of the Majii”: Was the Doc Savage adventure originally written, not by Lester Dent, but by a ghost writer? Keith Julius examines the creatures featured in the Man of Bronze’s adventures, while Mary Streblow offers revelations from her readings of “The Phantom City” and “The Spotted Men.”
Contact the Bronze Gazette at Green Eagle Publications, PMB #136, 2900 Standiford Ave. 16B, Modesto, CA 95350-6567.
Original reproductions
When he’s not working up magic tricks and shows, Scotty Phillips is painstakingly reproducing covers from The Shadow magazine in oil on canvas. He’s completed a half-dozen or so covers (including the one at right) and sold a few, including one on eBay as a test. Recently, I had a chance to take a closeup look at four of his paintings. It’s one thing to see the faded old pulps, scans or photocopies, but to see The Shadow in bright, vivid colors is quite another. He’s a big fan of George Rozen and pays close attention to the painting’s details.
An electronic return
Golden Perils, the longtime printed pulp zine, has returned in Adobe pdf format. Howard Hopkins has been publishing the e-zine on an irregular basis for about a year, beginning with issue 21. Issue 25 was released in June and is available by e-mailing him or by visiting the Golden Perils Web page (Archived).
In the latest Golden Perils, Tom Barnett takes a look at “Secret Sequels,” the hidden links between Doc Savage adventures. The previous issue featured a look at Harold Davis, a ghost writer for Lester Dent and also a writer of backup stories for the Doc Savage pulp. And included an index of Davis’ stories that appeared in Doc Savage magazine. Both issues offer news and reviews.
(So, should pdf — portable document format — be renamed “pulp document format”?)
Also…
Pulp Q&A
I am looking for pulp stories in the action spy genre and was wondering if you could help me find a novel or book of short stories wth those types of stories in it. Thank you.
The first thing that comes to mind is Adventure House’s High Adventures reprint magazine. It has featured reprinted pulp stories of Operator #5, Secret Agent “X” and others. For information on back issues or subscribing, check the Adventure House Web site.
Also, the Vintage Library’s Pulp Fiction Central sells pdf versions of stories featuring the same characters.
We’re not aware of any online sources for free e-texts, nor are we familiar with any recent books or short story anthologies available now.
