As a way of introduction, I thought I’d give some background on myself, focusing on my pulp influences. This will give people a better understanding of where I am coming from and what they might expect from this blog.
I guess I am what is usually called a “nerd.” I’ve always had a scientific bent, as well as a focus on researching and learning. At a young age I got into science fiction, mainly the classics. I was reading H.G. Wells, Jules Verne (what I could find at the time), and classic science fiction authors like Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, etc. I would also read about science fiction, being exposed to the foundations of science fiction (the old pulp sf magazines, etc.). I liked watching SF movies and TV shows, but am more of a reader of science fiction then a watcher (because I found most SF movies and TV was pretty bad).
One author I got into early on was Edgar Rice Burroughs. I read most of what he wrote (Mars series, Venus series, Pellucidar series), except for Tarzan. Go figure.
I also got into comic books, but mainly got into Gold Key Comics (“Space Family Robinson”, “Magnus: Robot Fighter”, “Doctor Solar”, etc) and only later on go into DC and Marvel comics. And I also got into comic strips (Flash Gordon, what Buck Rogers I could find, Brick Bradford, the Phantom, etc).
At some point in middle school, I discovered Doc Savage. I was soon getting the old books in used bookstores and the new ones as they came out. This lead me into other hero pulps like The Avenger, The Shadow, The Spider, G-8 and others that were reprinted in paperback. This was before the Internet, so I had to find them via used bookstores. (Note: I got Farmer’s book on Doc Savage, so am familiar with the “Wold Newton” concept. I find it an interesting one I will say.)
Around high school I read all the Sherlock Holmes works by Doyle. Am still a Holmes fan. I also got into the German pulp SF series Perry Rhodan and got all the American editions. Later on I got into HP Lovecraft, and from him to other writers working within the larger “Cthulhu Mythos,” as well as occult detectives like John Silence, Carnacki, and the characters created by Manly Wade Wellman.
Still later, I got onto the Internet and discovered Usenet. There I got onto the alt.pulp newsgroup. I created the FAQ for that group, and working with another individual put together indexes of various hero pulps, adding info on their reprints and keeping them up-to-date (which I do to this day). Thanks to the Internet, I learned of several pulp fanzines of the time and got them: Howard Hopkins’ Golden Perils, The Bronze Gazette, The Pulp Vault, Echoes, The Pulp Collector and more. Also around this time the first attempt at a reprint effort for The Spider began, and The Vintage Library launched.
Thanks to some recommendations I had read, I started to read techno thrillers, starting with Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt, which some have called a modern Doc Savage. This lead me to other authors and characters like F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack and Preston & Child’s Agent Pendergast (a sort-of modern Shadow).
For a while I let my interest in pulp fanzines drop. Some was due to some of these ending, other reasons may have been lack of time and money. I did discover Pulp Coming Attractions and would check it out once in awhile, but didn’t really get stuff. (I did keep up on my comic book and techno thriller reading, though.)
I think what pulled me back was the impact of Print on Demand-based publishers like Wild Cat Books and the like. Barry Reese‘s The Rook interested me, plus the new Doc and Shadow reprints coming from Anthony Tollin (then in association with Nostalgia Ventures). So I got back involved ordering books from Wild Cat, Altus Press and others. I got involved with some of the Yahoo Groups (a sort of replacement for the old Usenet groups I was on), then Facebook Groups and started to read blogs and listen to some podcasts. I also started posting reviews up on Amazon, as I found many of the small press works had few reviews and I wanted to help out.
I’ve had a few of pulpsters out there call me a “pulp super fan.” I was first called this in an interview that ran on All Pulp. And was called this as well on a recent Pulped podcast. It’s not a term I’d use on myself, but if others are calling me that, so be it. One thing that I think separates me from most fans is that I try to educate myself on the genre and the background. I read reference works on the subject, and listen to the experts out there, which is something I find the average fan does not.
Since this time I have joined PEAPS, contributing my one fanzine From the Den of a Pulp Super-fan. I do some proofing for one of the pulp reprinters. And I hope to start a YT channel as an adjunct to this blog.
So this should give you more background on me and give you an idea of some of the topics we’ll cover on this blog.
