The Pulptress is a heroine created by Pro Se Press to be a sort of icon for the New Pulp movement. This allows for a character which other authors can try their hands at.
The idea for the character is that she is the daughter of two pulp characters (who is not revealed, but considering there are so few female pulp heroes…). After her parents are killed, she is trained by a whole slew of pulp heroes. This means that she can take on aspects of every pulp hero genre: detective, western, adventurer, etc.
A few New Pulp heroes make appearances in the stories in this anthology, titled simply “The Pulptress.” (Note that this book is in the digest-size format that Pro Se Press uses for their Pro Se Presents series, so don’t be surprised.)
In this first collection are five stories.
Tommy Hancock‘s story is a good intro to the character, and also has a brief appearance by Derrick Ferguson‘s Dillon character (one of the Pulpress’ mentors).
Terry Alexander‘s story has the Pulptress go up against a vampire, but a slightly different take on vampires.
Ron Fortier‘s story includes his Brother Bones character. In this story, the Pulptress is more of a western-style bounty hunter, and teams up with Brother Bones, whom I have not read.
Erwin Robert‘s story includes his Voice character (whom I am not familiar with). Here the Pulptress is shown at two different times in her life. The first has her as a young girl who has a brief encounter with The Voice. The second has her as the Pulptress looking for a terrorist threat to the Space Shuttle. Another encounter with The Voice occurs. Plus we get references to some of her mentors, but it’s not clear if these are original characters or ones based on actual pulp characters.
Andrea Judy‘s story is set in Paris, with the Pulptress looking for another of her mentors. She goes up against a new foe, who may come back: The Bone Queen.
The Pulptress is an interesting concept, and I hope we see more of this character. Having her meet other pulp heroes is an interesting concept, a way to introduce readers to them.
Something I would have liked to have seen might be a photo gallery of the character standin seen at Pulp Ark, author bios, and perhaps some ads for New Pulp works, both from Pro Se and others (considering that the purpose of this is to promote the New Pulp movement). Who is Brother Bones and the Voice? Where else have they appeared that one could purchase their works, etc.?
I look forward to more stories with her.
