I always keep an eye out for non-fiction reference works for pulp fiction, and learned of a pair of works by Jonathan W. Sweet called The Beginner’s Guide to Pulp Fiction and published by his Brick Pickle Media. Before I got volume 1, I was sent a copy of volume 2. I did get volume 1 and reviewed of it.
Volume 1 is subtitled “The Heroes, the Villains, and the Writers,” and focuses on the authors of the pulps, along with the major hero and villain pulps. That volume gives an overview of what the pulps are, a large section on several major authors in various genres. We then get an overview of the hero pulps, as well as the villain pulps. There is a list of recommended reading and sources for new and reprinted works.
Volume 2 builds off of this. This time we get a look at the other pulp genres: action & adventure, aviation, detective & crime, horror & weird, and spicy. The only main genre overlooked is science fiction.
We get a brief overview of these genres, then we look at several of the magazines that were in those genres, looking at their history and mentioning the major authors and works that appeared in those magazines. Depending on the magazine, we might get a short paragraph or two pages of information. There are a few that I knew by title, but this gives me more info on them.
Then we get a look at more pulp authors. While there are a few I wasn’t aware of in this list, there were also several that I had only learned about in the last couple of years thanks to recent reprints of their works. This include authors like B.M. Bower, George Bronson-Howard, Arthur J. Burks, Arthur Friel, Howard Lamb, George F. Worts, and others.
We then get an expanded version of the recommended reading from volume 1. In looking over it, I found I had almost all the works. Of the handful I don’t, I either know about and may get them, or didn’t and am not that interested. But that said, it’s a pretty complete list. There may only be a couple of works I’d add.
Overall, this is a great work. I will be getting volume 1, because I think these two works together would be a great intro for people coming into the field. I only saw a couple of mistakes or omissions and hopefully these will be fixed for future printings (as this is print-on-demand).
I recommend this volume for those getting into the pulp field and wanting to learn more about the field.
Thanks for the review, Michael. The tentative plan if there’s a Volume 3 is to hit the other genres, most notably SF and Westerns.
My opinion is skewed beause I have been reading pulp related articles in fanzines for 30 years.