If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember the pulp novel. The covers were generally provocative and eye popping. Pulp novels came in all flavors detective stories, westerns, science fiction and many others. Authors such as Raymond Chandler, Robert Heinlein, Robert E. Howard, and many others either began their careers, or made a name for themselves by writing pulpers. Pulp novels are experiencing a revival of interest amongst consumers and academics.
Hard Case Crime is bringing back the pulp novel by re-issuing some stories while also providing authors such as Stephen King to write in the hard boiled style. King’s novel The Colorado Kid, was the first story published in the series. Sno-Isle has quite a few of these fun stories, you can find them by doing a series search in the catalog. ( //shard case crime book)
I just finished “Quarry in the Middle” by Max Allan Collins and enjoyed it alot. The story was fast paced, and perfect for a quick read on a rainy evening. I was hooked after the first few paragraphs.
“I had a body in the trunk of my car.
I hadn’t planned it that way, but it wasn’t that kind of job. It wasn’t a job at all, really, rather a speculative venture, and now I’d made more of an investment than just my time and a little money.
This was in the summer, and Reagan was still president, early enough that he wasn’t showing his Alzheimer’s yet and late enough that he was keeping a good distance between himself and the Press Corps, waving and smiling and pretending he couldn’t hear them….”
So if you’re looking for something to read this weekend try one of these retro pulp novels, you may like it so much you’ll want the tee shirt.
posting by jim
2 responses so far ↓
myounker // November 13, 2009 at 1:04 pm
sadly, the circulation on these guys is pretty dang low. maybe your marketing will change that
david // November 13, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I’d suggest posting the cover of another Hard Case title, Lawrence Block’s”The Girl with the Long Green Heart”. As my grandmother used to say, hubba hubba.