All This for a Dime
A large box came in the mail earlier this week. Fifteen books, bright covered, exciting, screaming to be read. They're pulp or pulp-related books and it's been a chronic daydream of mine to imagine going back in time around 1930 or so and finding a New York newsstand, filled to overflowing with dozens and dozens of pulp magazines. The Shadow, Doc Savage, the Phantom Detective, the Green Lama, the Black Bat, Operator #5, Secret Agent "X", Weird Tales, westerns, railroad stories, air stories, adventure stories, science fiction stories, and on and on and on...
Makes me breathless. Adventure House will sell you a subscription to their bi-monthly reprint series called High Adventure. For around fifty bucks a year you get wonderful pulp reprints from across the spectrum. Last issue contained a novel of a character called the Shadow, albeit a different one than the one who became famous as the longest running pulp mag (or at least the one with the most issues). The current issue has two tales of the Black Bat, a precursor to the Bat-Man, and a short story.
A number of publishers have put out reprints in standard book form through the years, some being fairly pricey. Altus Press out of Boston has been putting out beautiful versions for years, books of all stripes, and is well worth your time.
I have the first five installments of Operator #5's "Purple War" saga, which means I have to find the last eight. I will, too, because I have to find out how Jimmy Christopher wins back the country from the Central Empire. Right now I'm reading about the Cobra and how he fights crime in various countries, exacting justice by means of his cobra sting, tiny darts shot through an ordinary-looking green cigarette holder. And there's Senorita Scorpion, fighting the baron Anse Hawkman to retain control of her family's lands and mine. The Black Bat, alias the assumed-blind Tony Quinn, is trying to find out who controlled the assassin who walked into a court and poured several slugs into the head of a newly appointed judge.
Good stories, wonderful characters, and quick reading make for an addictive reading experience. That's why these stories will never go away. If you haven't read any, or haven't read any recently, there hasn't been a better opportunity in my lifetime to do so now. Go on, pick up one of these lost gems and settle in for a few hours of fine entertainment. I'll bet you want to pick up another...
Makes me breathless. Adventure House will sell you a subscription to their bi-monthly reprint series called High Adventure. For around fifty bucks a year you get wonderful pulp reprints from across the spectrum. Last issue contained a novel of a character called the Shadow, albeit a different one than the one who became famous as the longest running pulp mag (or at least the one with the most issues). The current issue has two tales of the Black Bat, a precursor to the Bat-Man, and a short story.
A number of publishers have put out reprints in standard book form through the years, some being fairly pricey. Altus Press out of Boston has been putting out beautiful versions for years, books of all stripes, and is well worth your time.
I have the first five installments of Operator #5's "Purple War" saga, which means I have to find the last eight. I will, too, because I have to find out how Jimmy Christopher wins back the country from the Central Empire. Right now I'm reading about the Cobra and how he fights crime in various countries, exacting justice by means of his cobra sting, tiny darts shot through an ordinary-looking green cigarette holder. And there's Senorita Scorpion, fighting the baron Anse Hawkman to retain control of her family's lands and mine. The Black Bat, alias the assumed-blind Tony Quinn, is trying to find out who controlled the assassin who walked into a court and poured several slugs into the head of a newly appointed judge.
Good stories, wonderful characters, and quick reading make for an addictive reading experience. That's why these stories will never go away. If you haven't read any, or haven't read any recently, there hasn't been a better opportunity in my lifetime to do so now. Go on, pick up one of these lost gems and settle in for a few hours of fine entertainment. I'll bet you want to pick up another...
posted by Rick Ollerman at 9:38 AM
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