I just finished Paul Malmont‘s The Astounding, the Amazing and the Unknown.
I realize I’m a bit late on this topic; the book has been out since July. It finally made it to the top of my reading stack a week or so ago.
Despite a few quibbles here and there, it was a fun read. Having previously read quite a bit of Isaac Asimov, several L. Sprague de Camp novels and some Robert Heinlein (see photo below; click for a larger view), I felt as if I got to know the pulp writers better — though clearly in a fictionalized form that may have little in common with their real-life counterparts.
The plot of Malmont’s previous adventure of the pulp writers, 2007’s The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, fit chronologically and thematically in the 1930s. (If you haven’t read it, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril basically follows pulp fictioneers Walter Gibson and Lester Dent — along with numerous supporting fictioneers — as they trace clues to thwart a plot to use poisonous gas on New York City.)
Astounding‘s plot takes on the espionage trappings of a 1940s adventure story. Actual history is twisted around to fit the elaborate plot. But like any adventure story, you don’t expect it to be factual; it’s fiction, of course.
As in the previous novel, Astounding features a parade of cameos of other pulp writers, science-fiction writers-to-be and historical figures from that period. You’re always keeping an eye out for someone to pop up in a cameo.
Don’t worry if you haven’t read Peril; though the books are linked by mutual characters, it’s not necessary to know the previous story before reading Astounding.
The Astounding, the Amazing and the Unknown isn’t a pulp-style novel, but it is an adventure and does feature pulp writers. But above all, it’s highly entertaining to read.
