In the past, I’ve done several series of articles that looked at the original pulp publishers, the comic lines connected to pulp publishers, and the like. There have been series looking at pulp fanzines, movies, and more.
I’ve decided to start a new series of articles looking at the modern publishers of pulp, both those that focus on New Pulp, those that focus on pulp reprints, and those that do a bit of both. This will look at the quality of what they put out (with print-on-demand, this will be more on design, formatting of text, quality of proofreading, and extras such as art and introductory articles), their selection (cover all genres or focus on particular ones), and the like.
When it comes to pulp reprints, there is a range of how its done. In the old days, if it didn’t come from a major publisher, what we got was close to basically being photocopies from the pulp magazines. Then as printing technology improved and was more easily accessible, we got printed version of scans of the pulp mags, with either black and white or color covers. Better are the publishers who scanned and cleaned up the text. Added bonus was when they give you artwork from the pulp stories. Top tier are when we get additions like forwards on the work and author, helping us better appreciate the work.
Print on demand has improved things, but if the print on demand book gives you what looks like a bad photocopy, was it really an improvement?
These articles will, of course, be my personal views. I have my particular likes and tastes, and know that others will not have the same, so will try to be fair in highlighting the material these publishers put out. Instead of reviews of books, magazines, or fanzines, these will be reviews of the publishers themselves.
Now, as I am not a big fan of either e-text or audible books, publishers that only do this probably won’t be covered. Sorry. If the publishers I touch on do these as well, I will try to mention them.
This series will probably not be exhaustive. And, sadly, I will have to pass on defunct publishers, of which there are more than a few.
Expect to see the first of these articles soon.
