Tom's Short Story Collection

Short Story Collections

These Short Story collections are in the tradition of the classic fiction stories that appeared in the heyday of the pulp magazines; new stories of original characters, as well as new characters in contemporary and historical settings. Although I do take a few liberties with the original characters, I try to keep them true to their origins. For the fan of those great action heroes, as well as the new fan, these stories will give the reader a sampling of the old style while not lacking in action and excitement. As a long time fan and collector, I have complete runs of the major character magazines, and have read them all, so I am truly familiar with the characters I write. I am not just a fan of Doc Savage, and not just a fan of The Shadow, but I am a fan of them all. And I hope that comes through to the reader as s/he reads the following short story collections.

PULP DETECTIVES by Tom Johnson. For the first time, nine all-new stories starring the classic pulp heroes of the 1930s, featuring characters such as The Phantom Detective, The Black Bat, The Lone Eagle, The Masked Detective, Secret Agent X and Nightwind. Written by pulp scholar Tom Johnson, it’s nearly 350 pages of excitement! $24.95 from Amazon and Altus Press www.altuspress.com/

PULP ECHOES by Tom Johnson. The Bat returns in "Blind As A Bat", The Crimson Clown returns in "The Crimson Clown – Killer", Nibs Holloway battles Dr. Death in "Till Death Do Us Part", The Black Ghost is back in "Carnival of Death", Captain Anthony Adventure in "Terror In The North Country", The Black Cat in "A Cat Among Dogs", and Senora Scorpion in "Senora Scorpion". The cover features Senora Scorpion! 238 pages. $14.50 from Amazon and NTD www.bloodredshadow.com/

EXCITING PULP TALES by Tom Johnson. The exciting sequel to PULP DETECTIVES, this collection brings you ten more all-new stories featuring classic pulp heroes such as The Angel, The Green Ghost, The Cobra, The Crimson Mask, Gentle Jones, The Purple Scar, Funny Face, Mr. Death,  The Jungle Queen, and Ki-Gor. $24.95 from Amazon and Altus Press www.altuspress.com/

NEW CLASSIC PULP FICTION STORIES by Tom Johnson. Featuring the Moon Man in “Hunter’s Moon”, Secret Agent X in “The Death Tower”, The Man In Purple in “Seven Men of Greed”, Dorus Noel in “The Black Shadow”, and Colonel Jeremiah Custer in “The Silence of Death” (originally written as a Dr. Harker story). 200 pages. $12.00 from the author at fadingshadows40@gmail.com

New Pulp

I often hear that New Pulp started around 2005, with never a mention of how it actually came about. New Pulp, so called because it tries to emulate the original pulp stories of the 1930s & ‘40s, began around 1994 with the publication of Will Murray’s new Doc Savage novels, and Jim Van Hise’s new novelettes featuring The Spider and Operator 5. At least we felt the water getting warm at that time.

In February 1995, Clansy O’Hara published the first issue of a new small press pulp magazine titled, PULP FICTION, beginning a short run of pulp type fiction, then in June 1995, Tom & Ginger Johnson released CLASSIC PULP FICTION STORIES, the first of several pulp titles in small press format, and the New Pulp was in full swing. For the next nine years Tom & Ginger published a string of titles, which included CLASSIC PULP FICTION STORIES, DOUBLE DANGER TALES, ALIEN WORLDS, STARTLING SCIENCE STORIES, WEIRD STORIES, DETECTIVE MYSTERY STORIES, and EXCITING UFO STORIES, as well as several reprint magazines like ACTION ADVENTURE STORIES & BEHIND THE MASK. All the magazines were in the pulp tradition. New writers were turning out new stories of The Phantom Detective, The Black Bat, Ki-Gor, The Masked Rider, Jim Haitfield, Doctor Death, and many others. The series all came to an end in 2004, but in 2005 Ginger collected the first of four anthologies titled, TALES OF MASKS & MAHEM, continuing the new pulp theme, but this time in modern POD technology.

Today, there are many publishers involved in New Pulp, including Wild Cat Books, Airship27, Altus Press, Pro Se Press, and NTD, among others. But the innovation began with Clancy O’Hara and Tom & Ginger Johnson in 1995.