I’ve been talking about the future of pulps in a couple of previous posts, but haven’t discussed it in respect to the Google Books project.
The project – Google’s attempt to scan entire libraries of books – got mired in copyright lawsuits. The Web site io9’s Annalee Newitz attempts to explain the latest developments in “5 Ways the Google Book Settlement Will Change the Future of Reading.”
What might be of most interest to pulp fans falls under her last point: “5. Pulp science fiction will make a comeback in ways you might not expect.” Here are a couple of paragraphs:
The good news for science fiction fans is that a merger of libraries and bookstores can only mean one thing: More pulp fiction, or cheaply-produced and distributed novels. We will have unprecedented access to pulps published in the first half of the 20th century. Many of those novels and stories were classics that deserve a wide readership today – but they’ve been lost in the depths of libraries and archives.
More importantly, I think we could see a renaissance in contemporary pulp fiction. We can once again have access to weird, unusual stories that are both awesome and not sustainable under publishing’s current blockbuster model. Writers of small and midlist SF books could start making money on their writing again. This is a good thing for authors and readers who love imaginative fiction.
I certainly agree with her comments that pulp stories – not just science fiction ones, I might add – deserve a wider readership.
– William
