In this post, I look at New Pulp publisher, Bold Venture Press. Established and run by authors and editors Rich Harvey and Audrey Parente, Bold Venture publishes both new and classic pulp stories in a wide range of genres. They also put out some non-fiction works, and run two Pulp Adventurecon conventions: one in New Jersey and another in Florida.
Rich Harvey first got into publishing in 1992 with Pulp Adventures Press, which put out Pulp Adventures fanzine and later started a reprint series of The Spider that was in a semi-facsimile format. Both ended and he later came back with Bold Venture Press in 2014, and restarted Pulp Adventures as a fanzine with both new and classic pulp fiction. I’ve reviewed Pulp Adventures here since it restarted. They later started Awesome Tales with Black Cat Media, also reviewed here.
Joining him now in Bold Venture, Audrey Parente is an author and retired journalist. She had penned bios of three pulp authors — Hugh B. Cave, Theodore Roscoe, and Judson P. Philips (Hugh Pentecost) — as well as writing some fiction and poetry.
Bold Venture publishes a wide range of works. Some are reprints, either classics or from more recent authors. They’ve done a handful of pulp facsimiles. Some are new works. Most are fiction works, but there are some non-fiction works as well.
I think their most notable work is their authorized reprint of Zorro in six volumes. And they have recently come out with an authorized new Zorro novel, Zorro and the Little Devil by Peter David. They have also put out several works by the late author C.J. Henderson,, including several of his Jack Hagee, P.I., novels, and works by pulp author Charles Boeckman. Another interesting work they reprinted is The Plot Genie, which reprints an interesting “writing assistant” with several volumes.
Other notable reprinted work includes the four Inspector Luke Bradley novels by Hugh Pentecost. There is Railroad Stories, which reprints works, usually by E.S. Dellinger, from this focused pulp magazine. They’ve put out seven volumes of this.
For reprints of more recent works, there is the recently completed Twilight Patrol series, which is a different take on the air-war genre crossed with horror by Stuart Hopen that runs seven volumes.
They also put out a reprint of all of the Domino Lady stories in a nice volume with cover artwork by Steranko.
They’ve also been publishing new work by authors, in some cases bring works out here in the US from authors from the UK.
All their works are done using print on demand, but with high-quality book design and artwork. With some publishers who use POD, the quality of design/artwork isn’t very good.
I always keep an eye for the latest Pulp Adventures and Awesome Tales issue, and I look for other works from them as well. There are a few more on my “to buy” list, such as the Thubway Tham Meets the Crimson Clown volume. Whatever your interests in pulp, I think you’ll find something that they’ve put out that you’d enjoy. Be sure to check them out, drop by their table if you are at a pulp convention and say hi.
I recently discovered through word of mouth by a friend the Zorro books and just bought them. I’m delighted to have all the stories at last, even if the print on them is a bit large for my taste. I’d already read what McCulley was available, now I’ll be able to finish the rest Yay!
I just had the supreme pleasure to meet Audrey and Rich at Pulpfest and they are two of the most pleasant and accommodating people I’ve ever met. Picked up Pulp Adventures 15 and To Battle Beyond and had Awesome Tales 1 and the first Zorro shipped to me as they were out. Rich gave a great presentation about Zorro during the weekend as well. I heartily support the work they do.