In addition to The Paperback Fanatic, Justin Marriott has put out several other fanzines. Another is Pulp Horror, which I believe has run for eight issues.
From No. 5 on, they have been available via POD on Amazon.
As with The Paperback Fanatic, Marriott slaps “pulp” on paperback books, so this fanzine covers both actual pulp horror, as well as horror paperbacks. The Collected Pulp Horror reprints the contents of the first three issues from 2015 and 2016. I guess we’re out of luck for No. 4…
As before, I’ll note those articles that are truly pulp-related.
First up, from issue No. 1, originally published in October 2015, is the following. We get a review of Fred Chappell’s novel Dagon (1987), which was his entry into the Cthulhu mythos. I think I have a copy in my collection, but I’m not sure whether I read it at the time it came out. Another review is on William Hope Hodgson’s excellent The House on the Borderland, which I’ve posted on.
Another article looks at Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror (1931–33), a short-lived pulp that tried to compete against Weird Tales. I am trying to assemble a collection of facsimile copies so I can review the whole run. Several major pulp authors had work there.
Then, from issue No. 2 (June 2016), we first get a great article looking at the science fiction and horror crossover. I think anyone who reads or watches movies knows that many horror tales can have a science-fiction, instead of a supernatural, basis. Here we start with works from H.G. Wells (“Valley of the Spiders,” “Empire of the Ants,” et al.), works in early SF pulps like “Shambleau” and “Who Goes There?”, and also works by Clark Ashton Smith and A.E. van Vogt.
Another article kind of continues this, looking at “bug-eyed monsters,” especially in the works of van Vogt. Frank Belknap Long did a trio of insect science-fiction horror stories in the 1930s: “The Last Men,” “Green Glory,” and “The Great Cold.” While they have since been collected, you almost want a collection with just those three.
Finally, from issue No. 3 (June 2016), we get a review of Basil Copper’s Great White Space, which I’ve posted on here. I read the Manor Book edition with the Bob Larkin cover and, despite some issues, thought it was an interesting Cthulhu mythos tale.
There are many other articles in this volume, so if you are interested in horror paperbacks, especially from the 1970s, there are probably several other articles of interest.
I’m not sure whether I’ll get further issues of Pulp Horror, but I’ll take a look to see if there are articles of interest to me.
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