{"id":1549,"date":"2011-09-28T13:45:16","date_gmt":"2011-09-28T20:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/?p=1549"},"modified":"2011-09-28T13:35:26","modified_gmt":"2011-09-28T20:35:26","slug":"astounding-amazing-unknown-and-entertaining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/2011\/09\/28\/astounding-amazing-unknown-and-entertaining\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Astounding, Amazing’ and entertaining"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I just finished Paul Malmont<\/strong>‘s The Astounding, the Amazing and the Unknown<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Despite a few quibbles here and there, it was a fun read. Having previously read quite a bit of Isaac Asimov<\/strong><\/a>, several L. Sprague de Camp<\/strong><\/a> novels and some Robert Heinlein<\/strong><\/a> (see photo below; click for a larger view), I felt as if I got to know the pulp writers better \u2014 though clearly in a fictionalized form that may have little in common with their real-life counterparts.<\/p>\n

The plot of Malmont’s previous adventure of the pulp writers, 2007’s The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril<\/em>, fit chronologically and thematically in the 1930s. (If you haven’t read it, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril<\/em> basically follows pulp fictioneers Walter Gibson<\/strong><\/a> and Lester Dent<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 along with numerous supporting fictioneers \u2014 as they trace clues to thwart a plot to use poisonous gas on New York City.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Astounding<\/em>‘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.<\/p>\n

As in the previous novel, Astounding<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry if you haven’t read Peril<\/em>; though the books are linked by mutual characters, it’s not necessary to know the previous story before reading Astounding<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Astounding, the Amazing and the Unknown<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[4,8,12,13],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-1549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-opinion","category-pulpsters","category-review"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2qgXO-oZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1549"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1557,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions\/1557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1549"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepulp.net\/yellowedperils\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=1549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}