Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

It seems imperative to have a thread for pulp stories. Can you recommend some good AA stories from the golden age of pulp?

What's a "Pulp Story" ?

I think it mostly refers to the magazine serials from the 20s to the 40s or 50s but can also include writers who wrote in the same style but have novels. They came in all genres. Fantasy, science fiction, action, crime, and others. They are light escapist reads. Pure popcorn. Conan. Doc Savage. Even Tarzan can be included. I'm most familiar with science fiction pulp though.

It's not a light read, but it was originally published as short stories in "White Dwarf" Magazine and now is one of the better Sci-fi things I've written. Allan Steele's Coyote series.

Lol. Think cheesy covers with loinclothed men and women in ripped clothing. Science fiction ray guns. Femme fatales and gangsters in fedoras. Robert E Howard. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Here are some of what I consider pulp, but I might be wrong,

I like those books! Burroughs Mars Books! Their classics!

Here is the Wikipedia article on pulp stories:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_mag...

I love those old covers. =)

me too! Old covers (8-{])>

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Here is the Wikipedia article on pulp stories:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_mag..."

Thanks, I had no idea what that was.

So which are we talking about here? Pulp in general? Specifically action/adventure? Or anything that can be considered action/adventure but might be another genre?

All of the above, really. Whatever you want to talk about regarding the pulp genre.

Well, I think it's obviously a viable and powerful media to have gone from comic book pages to the big screen successfully on so many occasions. We shouldn't sell pulp fiction short.

Try reading In here Stan Lee talks about how, when they broke free from DC Comics that they knew there audience was more than just pubescent boys. The knew asdults and young adults were reading comics.

Stan's also a funny writer too. Good sense of humor.

I've been wanting to read Princess of Mars by Borroughs! I'm on a list at my library for it...but I think you can get it at Project Gutenberg. I'm a big fan of reading the books before the movie comes out.

If you have a Kindle you can get it free.

John Carter is a great dynamic (if Victorian) hero!

and the covers... well, lets just say that someone had to inspire Borris Valejo!

(P-{])>

I like the fact that the pulp stories were unashamedly fun and over the top. I think that we can take books and literature way too seriously, and there is an important place for fun/escapist reads.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I like the fact that the pulp stories were unashamedly fun and over the top. I think that we can take books and literature way too seriously, and there is an important place for fun/escapist reads."

Again I am humbled by your ability to convey what I'm thinking in an easier to understand mannor than that which I am accustomed to writing myself, Lady D.

That and I was a high school boy in the 70s when I first read them.... the covers helped.

Hugh - I do have a Kindle. Is it free in the Kindle store?

All of the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories are free. Just do a search for his name and they should pop up!

In fact, you can find most of the "Classics" and old-world Fiction for free on Kindle.

Hugh (The other Hugh) wrote: "All of the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories are free. Just do a search for his name and they should pop up!

In fact, you can find most of the "Classics" and old-world Fiction for free on Kindle."

This includes "Tarzan of the Apes" ... much cooler in book form.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I like the fact that the pulp stories were unashamedly fun and over the top. I think that we can take books and literature way too seriously, and there is an important place for fun/escapist reads."

Ditto. Really couldn't have said it better. :)

Traci wrote: "Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I like the fact that the pulp stories were unashamedly fun and over the top. I think that we can take books and literature way too seriously, and there is ..."

I think it's the "Escapist" quality in them that made them popular.

Burroughs and Doyle are very different from Verne, though often unfairly lumped in the same catagory because of content. Verne was kind of a predecessor to John Wyndham. He had a naturalist message in much of his works. "That's why Nemo wasn't completely villified in his book 20,000 Leagues under the sea.

Hugh (The other Hugh) wrote: "Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I like the fact that the pulp stories were unashamedly fun and over the top. I think that we can take books and literature way too seriously, and there is ..."

Aw, thanks! I really don't like a snobby attitude about books. I guess that comes from being made fun of for many years for my reading choices.

If you don't mind doing a little hunting, you can find a lot of the older/classic pulp and popular fiction free on Kindle, or for less than a dollar.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Hugh (The other Hugh) wrote: "Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I like the fact that the pulp stories were unashamedly fun and over the top. I think that we can take books and literature wa..."

Such statements get the wide eyed "Blink blink" commonly associatd with bottle brush Barbie Doll Blonds from me.

I was a kid who read commic books, Lord of the Rings, John Carter of Mars and played Dungeons and Dragons with the first hard cover edition books (that weren't pamphlets sold out of Gary Guygax's car trunk).

Lets say, my reading choices were a bit outside of "main stream" stream at the time too. (But not now! This is my chance to give the "I told you so/I was there first, villian grin")

another way to find the free books on Kindle is when you go to the Amazon Kindle book page (select Kindle books or "ebooks" from the pull donw menu under departments, then click on fiction (on the left hand column, then you can click on the right top corner and select them in order of "Low to high" and you'll get the free and cheap books on top of the list not mixed in or at the bottom. (I also pick the show only 4 stars and up modifyer on the left column too.)

the classics, being free almost always come up in the top tow pages of selections.

Yeah, an open mind can lead to a lot more Goodreads, huh?

That's a really good way to find more free ebooks. Thanks, Hugh!

Yes, I find a lot of them, that way, including.... duh-ta..duuuuuh. "Bubba and the Dead Body"... du-tuumm!

free... on kindle! (there are also lists in Amazon for best free 4 and 5 star books too.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Yeah, an open mind can lead to a lot more Goodreads, huh?

That's a really good way to find more free ebooks. Thanks, Hugh!"

I should also add, that this process (low to high and 4 stars and up) also works on the sub catagories under fiction and for non-fiction. it's about what you select and the free stuff comes up first!

I've been reading pulp for a couple of years now and have tons lined up to read. I love them. Just simple fun. And I find them charming. I mostly read for entertainment so I'm about as unsnobish as you can get with books. And I have been getting a little burned out on recent releases and looking fondly at all of my used books.

Like I stated above I've mostly read fantasy, science fiction, and horror pulp. But I want to recommend the short story Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson. If you've seen Avatar this story will be very familiar.

The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett is a Star Wars type adventure with a Han Solo esque character.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I like the fact that the pulp stories were unashamedly fun and over the top. I think that we can take books and literature way too seriously, and there is an important place for fun/escapist reads."

Me, too! I just love slipping away into over the top, terribly fun reads! Last week I read Bigfoot War, and this week I'm reading Bigfoot War 2: Dead in the Woods. They are very pulpy horror action adventure, and they are so much fun!

Those do sound fun, Jason!

They are a lot of fun, Lady D! Very well-written, too! One thing about these books that I don't think you'd like, though, is that there is a lot of gore.

LOTS. OF. GORE!

lol

Let me guess, LOL, "The Legend of Babble Creek?" (Dare I say, another Fouke Monster Mystery?) ... sorry.... I just got taken over by the ghost of old monster movies past for a moment.

I put these on my TBR. They do look like fun.

You know me well, Jason!

Hugh, they are as fun as...well, really gory and violent pulp fiction. I think you'll enjoy them!

And I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't, Lady D! I know that you're not a big fan of gore. And these books can get pretty gory. Lots and lots of intestines and what not. LOL

So... definately a "before lunch, all for the diet" read huh?

Yeah, Ew!! I don't really like reading about entrails, despite my medical background.

Ew!!!! That's sound too gross for me.

You got it, Hugh. Don't read while eating. lol

Mack Bolan, Phoenix Force, Able Team. That's the pulp I grew up on. But my all time favorite was the Traveler series by DB Drumm http://bit.ly/nLieWM

Pax wrote: "Mack Bolan, Phoenix Force, Able Team. That's the pulp I grew up on. But my all time favorite was the Traveler series by DB Drumm http://bit.ly/nLieWM"

YES... when my mind started thinking along the lines of Action Adventure these books kept coming to mind. I havent read any of them. (Boo-Hugh)

but I've been dying to find someone who can give me a hint what their like. (worth starting?)

Hugh (The other Hugh) wrote: "but I've been dying to find someone who can give me a hint what their like. (worth starting?"

Just what the covers promise, gun shootin, rootin tootin good times. The Traveler series probably had a bit more quality and was kind of a Mad Max thing, Phoenix and Able were less formulaic than Bolan. Can't say I've read them since I was a teen so I'm not sure how they hold up.

The Traveler series concept sounds enticing. Would the "Guardians" series have fit in here, or is that a bit closer to mainstream for a "Pulp Fiction" shelftag?

(and I read a near future, semi-to-post appocalytic story by Johnstone once but I can't remember the Title or the author's first name, but that's the first thing that came to mind when the short run Tv show "Jerico" came out.

i'm not familiar with either of those.

Blood in the AshesWilliam Johnstone (Found, and it was "near future" when I read it, but now it's more of an "alternate Reality" thing. How times flies?)

I only read the first one, but I remember really liking it. I was on Deployment (in the 80s) and had trouble getting the next in the series so I put it down.

It deserves a re-read, I think.

The other is... wow, to many come up on the add book/author search under that title. I'll have to pull it out of my shelving... stand buy (The Guardians)

What a cool group! And an excellent thread!

A site just opened that should be up everyone's alley who posted here: http://www.virtualpulppress.com.

Me and a couple other pulpesque fiction lovers put it together (and are still fine-tuning).

Enjoy!

I'll have to check out the Traveler. I'm just getting into Jerry Ahern's Survivalist series. Read a couple of Johnstone's Ashes books. Back in the day I was an avid devourer of post-apocalyptic series like Doomsday Warrior and The Last Ranger. In fact, I have an already-extensive post-apocalypse section on the site.

Nothing quite as comforting as cuddling up with a sensationalistic novel about nuclear holocaust.

Thank you Henry.

if your a kindle Reader I found the entire Barsoom series (wich seems to change names as it cycles through) for a $2.99.