American Pulp

Rating:
Summary: I feel cheated
Review: "Pulp" stories/fiction/magazines are defined by a specific era and form of American literature. In the Introduction, the editors state this, that the period was from about 1920 to about 1950, then proceed to say most of the stories were cliched and godawful. OK, that's fine, but surely you've collected some of the cliche-lite, not-so-god-awful ones, right? Wrong! The collection of stories is from the 50's to the late 90's, AFTER the pulp era. Are there Victorian novels written in the 60's? Surely there were many that appeared Victorian, but that is after the period is defined. I was looking for stories from that era, the godawful and the brilliant.

Look at this quote on Amazon...

"Ingram
Collects the best American crime stories ever published, culled from the pulp magazines of the thirties, forties, and fifties and featuring such titles as ""Dime Detective,"" ""Black Mask,"" and ""The Shadow."" Original."

What the hell?!?!? This has NOTHING to do with this collection. There a handful of stories from the 30's through the 50's, and a ton from the 80's and 90's. Totally misleading and disappointing - not the collection I had hoped for.

Would it have been detestable to gather up a few dozen great stories from that era and actually publish a definitive American Pulp collection?

Rating:
Summary: My God Does This Book Suck
Review: Excellent introduction to the pulp fiction writers of the middle third of the 20th Century. This has a nice variety of authors and an excellent blend of styles and stories. Well worth the price of admission.

Rating:
Summary: A decent collection
Review: Kinda bizarre that the editors of this book claim pulp's true Golden Age was not the one commonly thought of as its Golden Age (30s/40s), but the time immediately following it (50's/60s). Some of the stories in this anthology were even written as recently as the 80's. The 80's?! A bit questionable, but they're entitled to their opinion.

There are a few really amazing stories in this collection (That Stranger, My Son; Don't Twist My Arm... interesting they're both about dodgy father/son relationships) some slighty above average ones (In A Small Motel; Horn Man; The Frigid Flame) some precious ones, ie, with a twist or 'punchline' at the end (High Stakes; Tick Tock), and some that were just meh (Cop Without A Shield; Terrorists). But what really disturbed me was that a few of the selections in this book are, shall we say, suspect. There was one story in particular that was so painfully boring and lifeless it was absolute torture to finish (Leigh Brackett's 'I Feel Bad Killing You'...despite the little blurb accompanying her story, Chandler she most definitely ain't). But I guess every anthology is bound to have a few clunkers.

All in all, I discovered some talented writers through this collection, which made up for the not-so-great moments. If anything, it's a great introduction to some little-known authors.

Rating:
Summary: My God Does This Book Suck
Review: This anthology has a number of stories from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, which are well outside the range of time when anything which could reasonably be called pulp fiction was published. Some of these stories are bad beyond belief. The editorial introductions lack all discernment, and the editors can't seem to tell the good from the unbelievably horrendous. Some of the stories are good, notably the one by David Goodis, but overall the quality is low. The book seems to have been thrown together to capitalize on the movie Pulp Fiction. You'd be well advised not to waste your time or your money on this.