NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Pulp novel

Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines. They were widely published from the 1920s through the 1950s. The term pulp fiction can also refer to mass market paperbacks since the 1950s. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1900x2500, 1259 KB) Summary Pulp fiction magazine; (Flynns) Detective Fiction, (November 15, 1941), with cover art by Emmett Watson. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1900x2500, 1259 KB) Summary Pulp fiction magazine; (Flynns) Detective Fiction, (November 15, 1941), with cover art by Emmett Watson. ... This article contains speculation and may try to argue its points. ... The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... The 1920s was a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning the years 1950 to 1959. ... Categories: Stub | Books ... The 1950s was the decade spanning the years 1950 to 1959. ...

Terminology and history

The name "pulp" comes from the cheap wood pulp paper on which such magazines were printed. Magazines printed on better paper and usually offering family-oriented content were often called "glossies" or "slicks". Pulps were the successor to the "penny dreadfuls", "dime novels", and short fiction magazines of the nineteenth century. Although many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines are perhaps best remembered for their fast-paced, lurid, sensational and exploitative stories and thrilling cover art. Modern superhero comic books are sometimes considered descendants of "hero pulps"; pulp magazines often featured illustrated novel-length stories of heroic characters such as the Shadow, Doc Savage, and the Phantom Detective. However the pulps were aimed more at adult readers whereas comic books were traditionally written for children and adolescents. International Paper Company Wood pulp is the most common material used to make paper. ... Penny Dreadful can refer to: The 19th century British penny dreadful publications. ... In the United States in the late 19th century and very early 20th century, a dime novel was a low-priced novel, typically priced at 10 cents (a dime). ... Events and Trends Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). ... Sensationalism is a manner of being extremely controversial, loud, attention-grabbing, or otherwise sensationalistic. ... Exploitation fiction is a type of literature that includes novels and magazines that exploit sex, violence, drugs, or other elements meant to attract readers primarily by arousing prurient interest without being labeled as obscene or pornographic. ... Batman and Superman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Who knows what evil lurks. ... Doc Savage is a fictional character, one of the most enduring pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. ... The Phantom Detective was the second character pulp hero published after The Shadow. ...

Because of the copyright laws at the time, there were distinct lines of this sort of magazine in Britain as well. These magazines, called "story papers", were distributed throughout the British Empire. Story paper characters such as Sexton Blake and Nelson Lee were similar to American pulp characters. At the time, there was no global media market, so even though these were written in the same language, there was no recognition of the characters by each nation, just as in much of television today. A story paper is a periodical publication similar to a literary magazine, but featuring illustrations and adventure stories, and aimed towards children and teenagers. ... Sexton Blake Sexton Blake is a fictional detective who has appeared in many British comic strips and novels. ... Nelson Lee is a Taiwanese born Canadian actor currently starring in the first season of Blade: The Series as Shen, Blades current sidekick and technical support. ...

Pulp covers were famous for their half-dressed damsels in distress, usually awaiting a rescuing hero. A poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ... From the Greek , in mythology and folklore, a hero (male) or heroine (female). ...

The first "pulp" is considered to be Frank Munsey's revamped Argosy Magazine of 1896. At their peak of popularity in the 1920s, the most successful pulps could sell up to one million copies per issue. The format eventually declined (especially in the 1950s) with rising paper costs, competition from comic books, television, and the paperback novel. The 1957 bankruptcy of the American News Company, then the primary distributor of pulp magazines, has sometimes been taken as marking the end of the "pulp era;" by that date, many of the famous pulps of the previous generation, including Black Mask, The Shadow, Doc Savage, and Weird Tales, were defunct. Most remaining pulp magazines are science fiction or mystery magazines now in digest form. The format is still in use for some lengthy serials, like the German science fiction weekly Perry Rhodan (over 2300 issues as of 2005). Frank Andrew Munsey (21 August 1854, Mercer, Maine, U.S. - 22 December 1925, New York City) was an American newspaper and magazine publisher and author. ... Argosy Magazine is an American pulp magazine. ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... For information on Black Mask, the surrealist group, see Black Mask (NYC). ... Who knows what evil lurks. ... Doc Savage is a fictional character, one of the most enduring pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. ... This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Mystery fiction is a distinct subgenre of detective fiction that entails the occurrence of an unknown event which requires the protagonist to make known (or solve). ... Perry Rhodan is the worlds most prolific literary science fiction (SF) series, published since 1961 in Germany. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Genres

A common misconception is that 'pulp fiction' is limited in scope to 1940s adventure fiction in the vein of Indiana Jones. While such fiction is, in fact, encompassed under the heading of 'pulp fiction', the heading itself is by no means limited to describing only that type of fiction. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949. ... Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Dr. Henry Indiana Jones, Jr. ...

Pulp magazines often contained a wide variety of genre fiction, including, but not limited to, fantasy/sword and sorcery, detective/mystery, science fiction, adventure, westerns (also see Dime Western), war, sports, railroad, men's adventure ("the sweats"), romance, horror/occult ("weird menace"), and Série Noire (French crime mystery). The American Old West was a mainstay genre of early turn of the century novels as well as later pulp magazines, and lasted longest of all the traditional pulps. Genre fiction is a term for fictional works (novels, short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to the fans of that genre. ... Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. ... This article is about a fantasy sub-genre. ... A detective (also commonly called a dick or gumshoe) is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. ... Mystery fiction is a distinct subgenre of detective fiction that entails the occurrence of an unknown event which requires the protagonist to make known (or solve). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Adventure novels have adventure as a main theme. ... Broncho Billy Anderson, from The Great Train Robbery The Western movie is one of the classic American film genres. ... A Dime Western was a cheap Western comic or novel, generally sold for a dime during their era spanning 1860sâ€”1900s. ... The United States detonated an atomic bomb over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... The March, 1963 cover of For Men Only promises, among other things, a tale of Swastika Slave Girls in Argentinas No-Escape Brothel Camp! Mens adventure is a genre of pulp magazines that had its heyday in the 1950s and early 1960s. ... A romance novel is a novel from the genre currently known as romance. ... Horror can mean several things: Horror (emotion) Horror fiction Horror film This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hardboiled crime fiction is a uniquely American style pioneered by Dashiell Hammett, refined by Raymond Chandler, and endlessly imitated since by writers such as Mickey Spillane. ... A typical archetype, the cowboy, in the Wild West. ... Fin de siècle is French for End of the Century. The term turn-of-the-century is sometimes used as a synonym, but is more neutral (lacking some or most of the connotations described below), and can include the first years of a new century. ...

Many classic science fiction and crime novels were originally serialized in pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, and Black Mask. Serial is a term, originating in literature, for a format by which a story is told in contiguous installments in sequential issues of a single periodical publication. ... This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ... Amazing Stories magazine, sometimes retitled Amazing Science Fiction, began in April 1926, becoming the first science fiction magazine and one of the pioneers of science fiction in the United States. ... For information on Black Mask, the surrealist group, see Black Mask (NYC). ...

Famous and infamous characters of pulp fiction

Popular regular pulp fiction characters included: Image File history File links Phantom_Detective_5-36. ...

Kilgore Trout, the perennial character in the work of Kurt Vonnegut, is a fictional pulp fiction writer. The dust jacket of an early 1970s edition of Johns Biggles, Pioneer Air Fighter Major James Bigglesworth, known to all as Biggles, is a fictional pilot and adventurer created by W. E. Johns. ... Bran Mak Morn is a hero of several pulp fiction short stories by Robert E. Howard. ... Captain Future is a fictional character, the creation of science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton. ... Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet. ... Doc Savage is a fictional character, one of the most enduring pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. ... Doctor Death was both the name of a short-lived pulp magazine published by Dell Magazines in 1935, and the name of a character featured in that magazine and in its predecessor All Detective Magazine. ... This article is about the fictional literature character. ... G-8 was an heroic aviator during World War I in pulp fiction. ... Hopalong Cassidy #30, April 1949, published by Fawcett Comics. ... In 1911, Edgar Rice Burroughs, now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan, began his writing career with A Princess of Mars, a rousing tale of pulp adventure on the planet Barsoom or Mars. ... Jules de Grandin is a fictional supernatural detective created by Seabury Quinn for Weird Tales magazine. ... Ka-Zar (pronounced KAY-sar) is the name of two jungle-dwelling fictional characters, both published by Marvel Comics. ... A complete edition of Kulls stories from 1995 Kull of Atlantis or Kull the Conqueror is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. ... Nick Carter is the name of a popular fictional detective who first appeared in dime novels published by Street & Smith in the 1890s. ... Operator No. ... Sexton Blake Sexton Blake is a fictional detective who has appeared in many British comic strips and novels. ... Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. ... James H. Pierce and Joan Burroughs Pierce starred in the 1932-34 Tarzan radio series Tarzan, a character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1914 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in twenty-three sequels. ... The Avenger is a fictional character whose original adventures appeared from 1939 to 1942 in The Avenger magazine, published by Street and Smith. ... The Black Bat was the name of two characters featured in different pulp magazine series in the 1930s. ... The Continental Op is a fictional character created by Dashiell Hammett. ... The Eel is a pulp fiction character, a man of courageous action and questionable morals, created by Hugh B. Cave, writing under the pseudonym Justin Case. ... The Phantom Detective was the second character pulp hero published after The Shadow. ... Who knows what evil lurks. ... This article is about the pulp magazine character. ... El Zorro (Guy Williams) Zorro (sometimes with the definite article: El Zorro), Spanish for fox, is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally Don Diego Vega), a fictional nobleman and master swordsman living in Spanish-era California. ... Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut. ... Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ...

Authors featured in pulp

Many well-known authors began their careers writing for pulps under assumed names. Well-known authors who wrote for the pulps include:

Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 â€“ July 31, 2001) was a prolific science fiction author of the genres Golden Age; some of his short stories were first published using the pseudonyms A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, and Winston P. Sanders. Poul Anderson also wrote fantasy such as the King... Isaac Asimov, Ph. ... Alfred Bester Alfred Bester (born December 18, 1913 in New York City, died September 30, 1987) was a science fiction author and the winner of the first Hugo Award in 1953 for his novel The Demolished Man. ... Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917, Chicago, Illinois-September 23, 1994, Los Angeles) was a prolific American writer. ... Leigh Brackett (December 7, 1915 - March 18, 1978), was a writer of fantasy and science fiction, mystery novels and - best known to the general public - Hollywood screenplays, most notably The Big Sleep (1945), Rio Bravo (1959), The Long Goodbye (1973) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). ... Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer best known for The Martian Chronicles, a 1950 book which has been described both as a short story collection and a novel, and his 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. ... Frederick Schiller Faust May 29, 1892 - May 12, 1944 was an American western fiction author. ... Fredric Brown (October 29, 1906, Cincinnati â€“ March 11, 1972) is a science fiction and mystery author best known for writing short stories with a humorous flair and surprise endings. ... Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 â€“ March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan, although he also produced works in many genres. ... Ellis Parker Butler (December 5, 1869â€“September 13, 1937) was an American author. ... Hugh Barnett Cave (July 11, 1910â€“June 27, 2004) was a writer of pulp fiction, contributing to Black Mask, Weird Tales, and similar publications. ... Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 â€“ March 26, 1959) was an Anglo-American author of crime stories and novels. ... Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (born December 16, 1917) is a British author and inventor, most famous for his science-fiction novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. ... Lester Dent (b. ... Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 â€“ March 2, 1982) was an American science fiction writer. ... Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 - March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author of detective stories who also published under the names A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray, and Robert Parr. ... Samuel Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 â€“ January 10, 1961) was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986) Frank Patrick Herbert (October 8, 1920 â€“ February 11, 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. ... Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 â€“ June 11, 1936) was a writer of fantasy and historical adventure pulp stories published mainly in Weird Tales magazine in the 1930s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Cover Louis LAmour book, Showdown at Yellow Butte. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Elmore John Leonard (born October 11, 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a popular American novelist. ... Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 â€“ March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ... Giles Alfred Lutz (March 1910â€“June 1982) was a prolific author of fiction in the Western genre. ... John D. MacDonald John Dann MacDonald (July 24, 1916 â€“ December 28, 1986), writing as John D. MacDonald, was an American writer best known for his series of detective novels featuring protagonist Travis McGee. ... Guy Williams, Disney/ABCs Zorro from 1957 to 1959, joking with Johnston McCulley Johnston McCulley (b. ... Walter (Walt) Morey (born February 3, 1907 in Hoquiam, Washington, USA; died January 12, 1992 in Wilsonville, Oregon), is an award-winning author of numerous works of childrens fiction, mostly set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Alaska, the places where Morey lived for all of his life. ... Talbot Mundy was a British-born writer of adventure stories during the early twentieth century. ... Seabury Grandin Quinn (aka Jerome Burke) (1889 - 1969) was a pulp magazine author most famous for his stories of the supernatural detective Jules de Grandin, published in Weird Tales to great success. ... Richard Sharpe Shaver (b. ... At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Robert Silverberg (January 15, 1935, Brooklyn, New York) is a prolific American author best known for writing science fiction, a multiple winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. ... Upton Sinclair I never met a Socialist, or a Socialist cause, that I didnt like. ... Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893-August 14, 1961) was a poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... James Myers Thompson (September 27, 1906, Anadarko, Oklahoma Territoryâ€“April 7, 1977, Los Angeles, California) was an American writer of short stories, screenplays and novels, largely of the pulp fiction kind. ... Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (b. ...

Pulp publishers

Frank Andrew Munsey (21 August 1854, Mercer, Maine, U.S. - 22 December 1925, New York City) was an American newspaper and magazine publisher and author. ... Popular Publications was the largest publisher of pulp magazines during its existence. ... Thrilling Publications (also known as Beacon Magazines, 1936-37; Better Publications, 1937-43, and Standard Magazines, 1943-55) was a pulp magazine publisher run by Ned Pines that existed since the 1920s. ... Street & Smith book department in 1906 Street & Smith composing room circa 1905-1910 Street & Smith bindery in 1910 Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. ... Hugo Gernsback (August 16, 1884 - August 19, 1967) was an inventor and magazine publisher who also wrote science fiction and whose publication included the first science fiction magazine. ...

Pulp fiction today

After the year 2000, several small independent publishers released magazines which published short fiction, either short stories or novel-length presentations, in the tradition of the pulp magazines of the early twentieth century. These included Blood 'N Thunder and High Adventure. There was also a short lived magazine which revived the title Argosy. These were specialist publications printed in limited press runs. These were pointedly not printed on the brittle, high-acid wood pulp paper of the old publications, and were not mass market publications targeted at a wide audience.

In 2002, McSweeney's Quarterly ([www.mcsweeneys.net]) was guest edited by Michael Chabon. Published as McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, it is a collection of "pulp fiction" stories written by some recently well-known authors such as Stephen King, Nick Hornby, Aimee Bender, and Dave Eggers. Chabon, in explaining the impetus of his vision for the project, writes in the Treasury's introduction, "I think that we have forgotten how much fun reading a short story can be, and I hope that if nothing else, this treasury goes some small distance toward reminding us of that lost but fundamental truth."

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