The Pulptress is a New Pulp character created by Pro Se Press that others can use, sort of a shared character. She is the daughter of two pulp heroes (not told whom), and was raised and trained by the greatest pulp heroes (and some villains) in the world.
She first appeared in a self-titled collection of stories that I previously reviewed, then a novel were she went up against the Bone Queen. Now we get a second collection of stories, this time by three authors: Richard Lee Byers, Nancy A. Hansen, and Ethan Nathe. While all the authors have written quite a bit, I had only previously been aware of Hansen, due to the several works published by Pro Se Press. I hadn’t read any of their previous works, but all the stories here are good.
Byers kicks things off with “The Air Loom.” One of The Pulptress’s mentors from England has been stricken by something, and she goes there to find out what. Readers should hopefully be able to figure out who this mentor is. Several anti-war politicians have either gone crazy or switched to being pro-war, and her mentor was looking into this when he is seemingly goes crazy as well.
Looking into things, The Pulptress soon discovers that this is something that has been happening for a couple of centuries, maybe longer. A group of strange individuals, using something called an “air loom” is behind it all. Who or what is behind them is unknown. While The Pulptress deals with things, the tale leaves open further stories about what is behind it all.
Nathe’s story has The Pulptress taking a vacation to Hawaii, in particular the “big island” of Hawaii. But, as with any pulp hero, you know that something will come up even on vacation. So she soon gets involved in a matter of pirates, a mad scientist, and lava monsters. Frankly, considering that Hawaii is right now dealing with lava eruptions in the same general area, I thought it pretty weird to read this story at this time.
Finally Hansen gives us a strange case. The Pulptress is asked to looking into the strange deal of a young actress who’s life descended into drug abuse and death after she started to date the son of drug company CEO. When she found that similar cases have occurred with other past dates, she takes the case. A strange element are dolls made to look like his former dates, but with two faces, one normal and one damaged. How do these fit into the case?
However, who is behind it all, and how the strange dolls ties into it is not what you would think. Certainly turned out differently then I expected. A well done story.
This collection came out in 2016, but somehow I didn’t notice it when it came out, only recently discovering it. The Pulptress is an interesting character and concept, and I would really like to see more stories using her. Check this collection out, and if you haven’t gotten the prior two books, get them as well. Pro Se has just put out a call for writers for a new collection of Pulptress stories, so hopefully we’ll see a new one soon.
