Pulp Echoes Review & Podcast

Following is a Review by JoAnna Senger for Tom Johnson’s PULP ECHOES. Tom & Ginger also join Art & Ric on The Book Cave Podcast at http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/webpage to discuss the short story collection this week. However, Tom warns that he might put listeners to sleep, so keep plenty of coffee on hand.

PULP ECHOES

By Tom Johnson

ISBN #978-0982679586

NTD www.bloodredshadow.com/

Price: $15.50

238 Pages

Rating 4 Stars

Memory Lane can take you to some strange places such as comic book stores with impossibly manly heroes even more remote than James Bond.  Unless, of course, they’re women.  Then they are equally remote, impossibly beautiful and deadlier than the male. 

Johnson’s introduction to Pulp Echoes, a collection of pulp fiction stories, qualifies the author as a scholar of pulp fiction as well as a writer.  The reader is privileged to enjoy a history of the genre as well as an index of all the heroes who appeared, disappeared, and now reappear.  The stories are set in various time periods, both modern and wartime. If modern, the author must maintain the action and uncompromising style of the genre while introducing modern touches, such as cell phones.  Johnson does this very well, smoothly and unobtrusively.

The collection includes a Black Ghost story (“Carnival of Death”) ending enigmatically, leaving the reader with a question and waiting for the next story.  The Black Cat appears as “A Cat Among Dogs,” displaying her usual skill with unique weapons and some imaginative ways to short out the lights.  In “Blind as a Bat,” the Bat displays a talent for disguise as well as bringing justice to a Chinese crime operation.  Captain Adventure responds to “Terror in the North Country” and Johnson surprises his readers by referencing Sasquatch and the Mayan language…possibly a first in pulp fiction history.  The Crimson Clown (particularly scary to this reader) takes on the mob and meets The Black Cat, two superheroes in the same story!  Then the reader takes a trip back in time to the late 1700’s in California territory to meet Senora Scorpion on a mission of revenge.

The pulp fiction genre requires that the good guys are clearly distinguished from the bad guys and justice must prevail.  By today’s standards, such requirements would put the writer in a straight jacket.  Johnson breaks out of these limitations by introducing intriguing characters and ingenious weapons, such as a gun that shoots some sort of knock-out gas.  It takes a resourceful writer to stay within the pulp fiction rules and still introduce variety and surprise.

The reader can count on excitement and, if old enough, more than a bit of nostalgia from Pulp Echoes.

            Review by JoAnna Senger

Echoes From The Pulps

From a comic book historian’s viewpoint of the book, “Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art,” we find this statement, which clearly defines comics as an artistic medium.

“For many years, those interested in the history of the art of comics--from scholars to fans--had very few options. The available books were either filled with glaring errors or far too limited in their scope. Along comes Roger Sabin and his near-definitive history. The best thing about this book is that it begins with a strong foundation--that comics is a separate and unique artistic medium--and goes on to leave practically no stone unturned, from mainstream superheroes to underground work to Japanese manga to the new alternatives to the strong European tradition. There's even an entire chapter on comics by and aimed toward women, hopefully dispelling the myth that comics are just for boys.”

Although literature can be classified as an art form in text, it is not an art medium. There are distinct differences in areas of media, from literature to television, movies, radio, and comics. That each may have influenced the other is unmistakable, but to paint them all with the same brush is also wrong. A simplistic view of mass-market literature can be categorized thusly: Story Papers, Dime Novels, Pulps, Digest, Paperbacks & Hardbacks (yes, there were a number of mass-market hardbacks produced). These were not genres. Genres are westerns, science fiction, mystery, romance, thrillers, action, adventure, etc. Pulp is not a genre it is a mass-market literary media.

 Trying to define what we write today, or see on TV or in the movies, as pulp may be a mistake. Even the so-called New Pulp has not become a mass-market product, though the pulps may influence it. As a writer, I am not writing, “pulp”, though I may be writing new stories about characters that appeared in the pulps. Many of the pulp novels and short stories have crossed over to other medias, including comic books, television, radio, and movies. But The Shadow, Doc Savage, and the other great characters originally were products of the pulps. So we can call them pulp. My character of The Black Ghost was not a product of the pulps, only influenced by them. I can’t really call it a new pulp.

Nick Carter is a product of the Dime Novels, Pulps, Paperbacks, Radio & Television. Each incarnation was slightly different from the previous version. The paperback, Nick Carter – Killmaster series was so vastly different from the early Dime Novel series, the character isn’t recognizable today. These paperback vigilante/spy series have been named Aggressor novels to distinguish them from other genres.

In my upcoming short story collection, PULP ECHOES (original title, ECHOES FROM THE PULPS), I wanted to purvey the message that my stories were merely an echo from the pulps. Nothing more. Like many of the new pulp writers, the pulps also influenced me. Hopefully, this book will show homage to the stories that I loved. Included in the book are new stories of The Black Ghost, The Black Cat, The Crimson Clown, Doctor Death, Captain Anthony Adventure, The Bat, and Senora Scorpion. Some characters originated in the pulps, while others are my own creation, all are echoes from the pulps.

The edits should be completed soon, and the book will (hopefully) be ready by the end of October.