DD 051-055.999 (Tony) The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines: 051.09 HAI

The Classic Era of American Pulp Magazines is an interesting mix of lack luster fiction, mixed with dazzling artwork, added with a dash of old fashioned capitalism, and several ounces of cheesecake to create a book that represents the dark ages of American fiction. It's amazing how many top notch authors got their start hacking out their next paycheck with tomes titled "Brooklyn Moll Shoots Bedmate", or "The Lady in the Bathtub", or "Planet of the Knobheads.

Many of the authors who graced the pulps of yesteryear, are now the subject of study in many of our high school and college classrooms. Fans of the works of Lovecraft, Spillane, and Bradbury, along with students of the early days of Noir and Sci-Fi would benefit the most from this book. The author, Peter Haining, has a extensive collection of Pulp magazines and almost all of the snippets, covers, and artwork are from his personal collection. SO, I believe that he is qualified to consider himself an expert into the history of this genre. Plus, myself being a history major in college, who took a classes in both Sci-Fi and Fantasy writings, found no flaws with his reccounts of the impacts John W. Campbell and Hugo Gernsback had on developing the foundation for Modern Science Fiction. (TRIVIA FACT : The Hugo, which is the sci-fi writers equal to the Oscar, was named after pulp editor Hugo Gernsback).

When I first choose this books, I knew some of the pictures would be rather racy, since publishers used their spicy cover artworks to intice readers. However, while some of the artwork is PG, a suprising portion of art in thsi volume is PG-13 and even R. So parents of children under the age of 16, who may want to read this book, should definitely be wary. There is always been a fine line between art and pornography, as eveidence from recollections of public outcry against the publishers of pulp mags. Yet, I find it hard to consider a half naked woman, with a breast exposed and about to be prodded with some sort of sharp item (pp. 97,146, and 150), to be art.

Sadly, as Haining points out, this was the rule of thumb towards selling pulp magazines in the 30's, 40's ,and 50's. Anything was game, crappy writiens, as long as it enticed, mixed with " flashy coversand sexy girls to sell. AS far as all the publishers were concerned, anything went as long as it made money, and didn't bring the law knocking on the door" (page 209). And this way of entertaining is the norm even today. Even the hobby of collecting pulps is a very lucrative venture, as collectors clamor to collect not only the first writings of Arthur C. Clarke, but the artwork of Hugh Ranklin and Gordon Grant.

This book is interesting, dull, perverse, cruel, and delightful, like many of todays movies, books, and music. Though the last pulp was put to press about 50 years ago, they still impact not only American pop culture, but Europe as well, as soveiner pulp mags discarded by GI's in World War II, created a pulp craze of its own. And one can make the argument that directors like Tarantino, and the directors of "Trainspotting" and "Sin City" are carrying on the tradition of your grandpa's pulp mags. A tradition, rich in pain, power, money, and yes,... cherry cheesecake.