A short-lived fanzine devoted to New Pulp stories is Pulp Tales. Published by the owners of Girasol Collectibles, but under their other company, Prime Directive Inc.
Only two issues were published, both with covers and interior art by Neil Mechem. I’m not sure why there weren’t more. Each issue has a trio of stories, plus a non-fiction article. The stories were all mystery/detective, which I found a bit limiting. I think a broader mixture of genres would have been better.
Issue #1 came out in Spring 1999. The cover story is of private detective Harry Cornell on the search for a missing girl and getting into a bigger crime. Two short stories are about a collector killed over his collection… of pulp magazines, and of a man involved in a very strange crime.
The non-fiction article focuses on Walter Gibson, author of The Shadow. We get to see covers from several of his works, including his non-Shadow works.
Issue #2 came out in Spring 2000. The cover story stars The Judge (though he’s not featured on the cover), a masked/hooded pulp hero. Detective Harry Cornell returns, but in a shorter story. The final story is another detective story set in post WWII England.
Interestingly, two of the authors from the first issue, return in the second. I’m not aware if they’ve been involved in subsequent New Pulp works.
The non-fiction article is on the pulp artwork of H.J. Ward, and includes a color section. This was before the more recent book on his works.
A nice set of magazines. Both are on heavy paper, with color covers and over a hundred pages long, square bound. I’m not sure why it didn’t last more then two issues. Guess it just didn’t sell enough, even being more or less annual. Maybe it was just too soon to catch on. I think this was the first attempt at an all new fiction magazine of this level of quality. I think at the time, New Pulp fiction mags were more cheaper fanzines. If you missed it, look around, you may find copies.
