#pulp adventures

[veronicaleighauthor]

Fun Facts About “Burning Bright”

I’m behind doing a Fun Facts post on my story “Burning Bright.” It was recently published in the #44 of Pulp Adventures. If you’re interested in purchasing an issue, click here. Usually posts share some fun little tidbits about the story and what inspired it.

Let’s begin with the title. The phrase “Burning Bright,” comes from William Blake’s poem “Tyger, Tyger.” I’m not a great lover of poetry, but I do love this one. Another phrase from it, “Fearful Symmetry” is the title of a book in the story.

The author, Barbara Newhall Follett and her odd disappearance partly inspired this story. A genius, she wrote a bestselling book when she was young and though she published a few other things, she fell into obscurity. When she was twenty-five, she left her apartment and was never seen again. To this day they don’t know if there was an accident, if she was murdered, or if she killed herself.

Another inspiration for this story is Agatha Christie. After the death of her mother and break down of her marriage, she disappeared for eleven days and sent the world into a panic. When she was recovered at a hotel, safe and oblivious to the upset, using her husband’s lover’s surname. Doctors determined that she had memory loss. Some believed it was a stunt, to revenge herself on her husband for his infidelity and demand for a divorce. Other’s think it was a nervous breakdown, from grief and stress. Agatha Christie herself never addressed the episode in interviews or her autobiography.

In this story, a character is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for their book. The first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer was Edith Wharton, for “The Age of Innocence,” in 1920.

While it’s only referenced briefly, this story takes place in Terre Haute in the 1930s. Yes, it’s one of my many Great Depression stories.

The Vigo County Poor Farm is referenced. In the 19th century, Poor Farms were set up for those living in poverty, who needed care. It wasn’t as altruistic as it sounded: from many accounts, Poor Farms were depressing places and didn’t treat their residents very well. The Vigo County Poor Farm featured in this story, was the one constructed in the 1930s, up in north Terre Haute, on Maple Avenue. Later, it was turned into a nursing home, and then torn down and new building for the nursing home was built in the area. For more information on the Vigo County Poor Farm, check out this article and this one from the Tribune Star. My great-grandfather was a resident at the Vigo County Poor Farm in the late 1940s.

Prairie Creek is shown in the story. My grandfather lived there when he was young and I have cousins who live in the home there.

Until next time!

[esonetwork]

'Men's Adventure Quarterly' Book Review By Ron Fortier

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/mens-adventure-quarterly-book-review-by-ron-fortier-2/

'Men's Adventure Quarterly' Book Review By Ron Fortier

MEN’S ADVENTURE QUARTERLY Issue # 5 Edited by Robert Deis & Bill Cunningham Pulp 2.0 166 pgs

Issue 5 of this terrific magazine arrived like a 4th of July rocket-blaster. Jammed packed with the usual assortment of informative articles and awesome illustrations, we didn’t waste a second digging into it. The visual prize this time was the Eva Lynd pictorials, both actual photographs of this one-time model/actress and the MAMS’ drawings they inspired by the leading artists in the field. Photo after photo followed by dozens of bright cover reproductions were wonderfully compiled. It was also nice to see modern-day pin-up model, Mala Mastroberte’s own redone pulp covers wherein she inserted herself in the images via photo-shop magic.

This issue’s fiction team was “Dirty Missions” suggesting that movies like “The Dirty Dozen” had a big impact on MAMS. It was clear they inspired many exaggerated tales of daring, secret missions mixing fact and fiction all adhering to the MAMS’ formula of tough-as-nail action heroes battling alongside enticing, bodacious female freedom fighters. There’s a great article on British war comics by Justin Marriot and a second introduction piece by Joe Kenney relating how he discovered both Golden Age comics and MAMS in his father’s barbershop at a young age. That struck a chord, as this reviewer grew up in the 50s and our neighborhood barber also owned a huge collection of Golden Age comics. We discovered so many incredible heroes in those worn comics from Plastic Man to Captain Marvel.  As for the MAMS, we never really paid them any attention until getting out of the army in 1968.

There are nine “dirty missions” reprinted in this volume and each delivers what MAM readers expected; wild, incredible stories featuring go-for-broke Yanks taking on sadistic Nazi butchers.  MAMS was literary junk food for World War II vets and it is easy to see with this new edition of Men’s Adventure Quarterly the why of that. Hats off to editors Bob Deis and Bill Cunningham for hitting another one out of the park. Keep’em coming, gents. This is the good stuff.

[weirdlookindog]

"There on the river bank lay a lovely girl of twenty . . ."

Virgil Finlay (1914–1971) - Illustration for Warren A. Reed's 'Little Yowlie'

(Fantastic Adventures Vol.5 #7, July, 1943)

[time-woods]

I DID IT OK I MADE HIM A PROPER EXOSKELETON

its like his true exoskeleton or smthing the suit is a false one blahblahblah

[surfingkaliyuga]

“Flash Gordon and the Princess of Mongo” Frank Frazetta 1976

[bebrave-live]

If I had a nickel for every time the idea of shooting out one giant sperm has been proposed on a Dropout show this year, I would have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's REALLY FUCKING WEIRD that it's happened twice.

[spacenoirdetective]

Paul Stahr, May 1935

"Hell Island" is a pretty good title.

[dericbindel]

The Core - A Setting Guide

The Core is a place deep, deep underground. Some might say impossibly deep.

While its societies may look familiar, dig a little deeper and one will find they differ greatly. Every person here is part of a rich tapestry, a blending of many species and constructs and their cultures.

Hey there, as part of the Tiny Worlds TTRPG Jam, I've assembled some of my worldbuilding into a 7 page setting guide! Get down to the Core for some pulpy retro-future sci-fi adventure and intrigue!

Within, you'll find information on:

The Core overall

DownTown, a place of tinkering and adventure

The Haydrian Mass Foundries, a city-factory of industry and spirituality

The Shattered Pillar, a place where reality itself has fallen apart

The Nexus, a secluded machine hivemind

I had a lot of fun working on this, and making the section marker art! Here are all five collected together:

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Loot for the Lords of Doom - art by Hugh Joseph Ward (1940)

[goatvaxing]

bad habits and worse friends

[oakendesk]

Adventure For Men Feb 1967

Victor Olson

[veronicaleighauthor]

Pulp Adventures #44

I was nosing around the web this morning and learned a story of mine was published in Pulp Adventures #44.

The title is “Burning Bright.” It is a gothic mystery set in 1930s Indiana. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy, you can do so at Bold Venture’s website.

I plan to do a Fun Facts post in a few days.

I hope you all have a good weekend!

[esonetwork]

'Avengers of the Moon' Book Review By Ron Fortier

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/avengers-of-the-moon-book-review-by-ron-fortier/

'Avengers of the Moon' Book Review By Ron Fortier

AVENGERS OF THE MOON (A Captain Future Novel) By Allen Steele Tor Books – Pub 2017 300 pages

In the early part of 1939, veteran sci-fi pulp writer Edmond Hamilton met with Leo Margulies, Better Publication’s editorial director, to discuss the creation of a new title, Captain Future. The lead character of Curt Newton, a super-scientist who lives on the moon and goes by the name Captain Future. The original idea for the character may have come from Mort Weisinger. Captain Future’s companions in the series included an enormously strong robot named Grag, an android named Otho, and the brain of Simon Wright, Newton’s mentor. Joan Randall, Newton’s girlfriend, was also a regular character

Margulies announced the new magazine at the first-ever World Science Fiction Convention held in New York in July 1939. The first issue, edited by Weisinger, appeared in January of the following year. It would last for seventeen issues and is still today considered one of the finest hero pulps ever produced. Still old heroes never die and in 2017, sci-fi author Allen Steele took it up upon himself to revive the series and thus write brand new adventures of Captain Future and the Futuremen.

It appears (and we could be wrong) that he’s written four, this being the first. Of course, Steele could have merely reinvented the entire concept given us new characters, and been unimpeded by what Hamilton had done. Instead, to our delirious delight, he merely adapted the originals to work in an era compatible with our current knowledge of science and space exploration. This is a full-blown origin story built on a Hamilton tale that was only hinted at in the magazine stories. The Futuremen are all here, and Steele has given them unique personalities as are classic Captain Future villains from the pulp days.

In “Avengers of the Moon,” a young Curt Newton is after the man who murdered his parents. With the aid of the Brain, Otho, and Grag, his hunt leads him to uncover a nest of radicals plotting a revolution on Mars against the Solar Coalition. Steele’s pacing is perfect and if you love old-fashioned space operas, it is high time you met Captain Future. For the record, we found out copy in a second-hand bookstore. It’s the kind of treasure any pulp lover would love.

[weirdlookindog]

"The prince found himself looking at a horned woman of a very strange beauty, and she was smiling"

Rod Ruth (1912-1987) - Illustration for Richard S. Shaver's 'The Princess and Her pig'

(Fantastic Adventures Vol.9 #2, March 1947)

[retro-scifi-and-fantasy-art]

Cover artist: Ed Valigursky (1926-2009) Fantastic Adventures (1951) The Man Who Stopped At Nothing

[rowecommaadam]

Rudolf-Sieber-Lonati's cover art for Kommissar X #338. Innovation in pulp adventure art.