Bits of pulp is an irregular feature of Yellowed Perils, and gives me a chance to touch upon a collection of items that popped up on my pulp radar recently.
STAR WARS BUILT ON ANOTHER FOUNDATION? Here’s an interesting concept: The Jedi Order is the Star Wars equivalent to the Second Foundation in Isaac Asimov‘s Foundation series.
At least that’s what someone writing as Apolon proposes in “Star Wars News: The Jedi are the Second Foundation” over at iDigitalTimes.
Apolon writes:
Although the Foundations arose in the wake of the collapse of the First Galactic Empire and the Old Republic existed since time immemorial, they have great similarities. Hari Seldon and the early Jedi both recognized that a stable political order wasn’t enough; any such organization, over a long enough period of time, would inevitably become unstable, autocratic or corrupt.
It’s an interesting parallel, which hadn’t crossed my mind. But, you know, it makes sense.
If you enjoy Star Wars as a sweeping epic, then you should consider reading the Foundation series. The first three novels — Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation — were originally serialized in Astounding during the 1940s and early ’50s. The series is a bit talky, but entertaining nonetheless.
SPEAKING OF READING: In addition to the books and pulps that I picked up at PulpFest 2016, several new items have appeared on my reading stack lately, so I thought I might mention them.
• Skelos debuts: First off, is a new “Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy” called Skelos. Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, and Jeffrey Shanks are editing the journal for Jeff’s Skelos Press and are aiming for three issues a year.
I picked up my copy of the first issue at last week’s gathering of Tallahassee pulpsters (a subset of our Southern Pulpsters group on Facebook).
If you’re a fan of Robert E. Howard or H.P. Lovecraft fiction, then there is plenty to read in this 150-plus page issue. It’s a mix of short fiction, novelettes, poetry, essays, reviews, and more.
• The Shadow in Review: There’s a new reference book on my shelves, and one that, as far as I’m concerned, has been sorely needed.
John Olsen, who writes the blog That’s Pulp! for ThePulp.Net, has collected into a book the reviews of all 325 novels from The Shadow Magazine that he wrote for his former website The Shadow in Review.
The 500-page book, similarly named The Shadow in Review: The Ultimate Guide to the Pulp Magazine Series, from John’s Pulplandia Press gathers the reviews in magazine publication order. He has rated them from zero to five based on their quality.
Rounding out the hefty book are an overview of The Shadow, reviews of additional non-pulp exploits of The Shadow, and indexes of the stories and subjects (characters, locations, and objects).
I’ve put the book on a handy shelf next to Bookery Fantasy’s, Adventure House’s, and Blood ‘n’ Thunder‘s guides to the pulps, The Collector’s Handbook of Bronze, and The Shadow Scrapbook.
• Brain Wreck! Not only is PULPlications! putting out the new Bronze Gazette, it’s also publishing New Pulp books.
One of its first is Brain Wreck!, a novel by Dafydd Neal Dyar featuring Dare Devlin, his homage to Doc Savage. (There’s also a secondary story, “Mechanized Death!,” included in the hardcover version of the book.)
Dafydd has been a regular contributor of Doc Savage-related articles to pulp fanzines since the late 1970s, so he’s well prepared for writing a Man of Bronze pastiche. The lead novel pits Dr. Darius Dungannon Devlin and his five “Amazing Associates” against a brain-destroying foe from the Far East who is attacking U.S. troops.
It’s up to Devlin and gang to stop what may be a Japanese demon dressed in samurai armor who is controlling the Brain-Wrecker weapon.
• The Pulpster: I can’t end without a quick plug for the latest issue of The Pulpster.
Issue number 25, which debuted at PulpFest 2016, features a collection of essays by past editors of Amazing Stories in celebration of the magazines’ 90th anniversary. There’s also a look at Philip José Farmer‘s appearances in the magazine, as well.
The rest of the magazine is filled out with articles on Detective Story Magazine, Western Story Magazine, Harlem Stories, The Whisperer, The Skipper, and much more.
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