Category Archives: Book Reviews

Dishing up Pulp Curry in a new way: why I am starting a Substack newsletter

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Andrew Nette| 2 Comments

After much thought I have decided that to experiment with moving the focus of my blogging from this site to a new Pulp Curry Substack newsletter.

Why am I doing this?

The first post on this website appeared on July 2010 (about the incredibly underrated 1979 Australian heist film, Money Movers – you can read the post here). I’ve been writing on the site with varying frequency ever since (579 posts in all), and for the most part have enjoyed it immensely.

But for the last 12 or so months I just haven’t been feeling it – or getting the hits to make it seem worthwhile – and have started to wonder whether it’s worth continuing with the effort. Posting on a website has been starting to feel like the equivalent of trying to read a broadsheet newspaper in a crowded tram carriage, unwieldy and inconvenient.

And, thinking about it, I suspect the blog format is starting to get a bit stale for me and is actually now a brake on my posting more regularly.

I know that I’m no Robinson Crusoe in this regard. The majority of the blogs I used to follow have gradually fallen by the wayside, as people have moved on, grown weary of the effort, found other interests, adopted other means to get their message out, or, in some cases (gulp), died.… Read more

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Posted in 1960s American crime films, 1970s American crime films, 1980s American crime films, 1990s American crime films, Adrian McKinty, Albert Dekker, Andre De Toth, Angela Savage, Angie Dickinson, Anthony Zerbe, Asian noir, Australian crime fiction, Australian crime film, Australian noir, Australian popular culture, Australian pulp fiction, Australian television history, Ava Gardner, Beat culture, Belmont Tower Books, Ben Wheatley, Billie Whitelaw, Black pulp fiction, Blaxsploitation, Book cover design, Book Reviews, British crime cinema, British pulp fiction, Bryan Brown, Burt Lancaster, Carter Brown, Charles Durning, Charles Willeford, Chester Himes, Christopher G Moore, Christopher Lee, Cinema culture, Claude Atkins, Coronet Books, Crawford Productions, Crime Factory, Crime Factory Publications, Crime fiction, Crime fiction and film from Africa, Crime fiction and film from Cambodia, Crime fiction and film from China, Crime fiction and film from India, Crime fiction and film from Indonesia, Crime fiction and film from Japan, Crime fiction and film from Laos, Crime fiction and film from Latin and Central America, Crime fiction and film from Malaysia, Crime fiction and film from New Zealand, Crime fiction and film from Scandinavia, Crime fiction and film from Singapore, Crime fiction and film from South Korea, Crime fiction and film from Thailand, Crime fiction and film from the Philippines, Crime Fiction and film set in Vietnam, Crime film, Dangerous Visions and New Worlds Radical Science Fiction 1950 to 1985, David Goodis, David Peace, David Whish-Wilson, Derek Raymond, Diana Dors, Dirk Bogarde, Don Siegel, Don Winslow, Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark, Dystopian cinema, Ernest Borgnine, Eurocrime, Fawcett Gold Medal Books, Femme fatale, Fernando Di Leo, Filipino genre films, Film Noir, Forgotten Melbourne, French cinema, French crime fiction, Garry Disher, Gene Hackman, George V Higgins, Georges Simenon, Ghost Money, Giallo cinema, Gil Brewer, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980, Gloria Grahame, Gold Star Publications, Gregory Peck, Gunshine State, Heist films, Horror, Horwitz Publications, Humphrey Bogart, Ian Fleming, Interviews, Ira Levin, James Caan, James Crumley, James Ellroy, James Hadley Chase, James Woods, Jim Brown, Jim Thompson, Joel Edgerton, John Frankenheimer, Joseph Losey, Karen Black, Kerry Greenwood, Kinji Fukasaku, Larry Kent, Lee Marvin, Leigh Redhead, Lindy Cameron, M Emmet Walsh, Mad Max, Mafia, Malla Nunn, Martin Limon, Megan Abbott, Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Men's Adventure Magazines, Michael Caine, Michael Fassbender, Mickey Spillane, Monarch Books, Ned Kelly Awards, Neo Noir, New English Library, Newton Thornburg, Noir Con, Noir fiction, Non-crime reviews, Oren Moverman, Orphan Road, Ozsploitation, Pan Books, Parker, Paul Newman, Peter Boyle, Peter Strickland, Peter Yates, Poliziotteschi, Pulp fiction, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Pulp fiction set in Asia, Pulp Friday, Pulp paperback cover art, Qui Xiaolong, Raymond Chandler, Richard Burton, Richard Conte, Robert Aldrich, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Robert Stone, Rock Hudson, Roger Smith, Rollerball, Rosaleen Norton, Roy Scheider, Rural noir, Sam Levene, Sam Peckinpah, Samuel Fuller, Science fiction and fantasy, Scripts Publications, Sidney Lumet, Sidney Poitier, Simon Harvester, Snowtown, Snubnose Press, Spies, Stanley Baker, Sterling Hayden, Steve McQueen, Sticking it the the Man Revolution and Counter Culture in Pulp and Popular Fiction 1950 1980, Stuart Rosenberg, Tandem Books, Tart noir, Tartan Noir, Ted Lewis, Toni Johnson Woods, True crime, Vicki Hendricks, Victor Mature, Vintage mug shots, Vintage pulp paperback covers, Wallace Stroby, War film, Westerns, William Friedkin, Woody Strode, Yakuza films, Yaphet Kotto

Book reviews: Deadly dames, midcentury Brit pulp and 1970s science fiction

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

Yes, it’s been a while since my last post, and during this time a few pulp and popular fiction related studies have come across my radar that I’m very keen to let Pulp Curry readers know about.

The first is of these is The Trials of Hank Janson by Steve Holland. If you are not familiar with Steve’s work then you need to rectify that and a good way to do this is to visit his site Bear Alley, where you will find a wealth of writing about British comics and pulp fiction. The second step is to pick up a copy of The Trials of Hank Janson, a slightly expanded reissue of a book originally published by Holland in 2004, when it shortlisted for the prestigious Gold Dagger Award by the UK Crime Writers’ Association.

Janson was one of the most successful British pulp writers of the 1940s and early 1950s. His books during this time were violent faux American crime tales in a similar vein to the work of James Hadley Chase and Australia’s Carter Brown: gritty gangster tales, full of American slang and detail, set in large American cities such as Chicago or New York. In the UK context, these books were part of a much larger wave of faux American crime fiction that swept the country in the postwar period (a trend which I wrote about for US site CrimeReads here).… Read more

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Posted in Australian crime fiction, Book cover design, Book Reviews, British crime cinema, British pulp fiction, Carter Brown, Dangerous Visions and New Worlds Radical Science Fiction 1950 to 1985, James Hadley Chase, Men's Adventure Magazines, Pulp fiction, Pulp Friday, Pulp paperback cover art, Science fiction and fantasy, Vintage pulp paperback covers

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Breakfast in the Ruins podcast: New English Library Bikermania

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

I suspect most of you have not heard of the Breakfast in the Ruins podcast. Taking its name from the title of a 1972 science fiction novel by Michael Moorcock, the podcast has a major focus on the work and influence of the British writer. But it also delves much further afield to take in related subcultural and niche books and films, particularly from the late 1960s and 1970s.

It is one of my favourite podcasts.

Anyway, I was very happy to be a guest on the latest episode, my second Breakfast in the Ruins appearance, talking about the sleazy, exploitative but sociologically savvy English publisher New English Library and their lengthy run of biker paperbacks.

In particular we focused on two books: Angels from Hell (1973), written by Mick Norma, a pseudonym for Laurence James, an NEL editor who would go onto have major paperback writing career; and The Devil’s Rider (1973) by Alex R Stuart, aka Scottish author Stuart Gordon.

In addition to these books, we also cover off on the occult, the history of bikers in pulp fiction and exploitation film, and the state of British society in the 1970s, among many other topics. These books have some fairly out there content, so the usual content warning applies.… Read more

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Posted in Australian pulp fiction, Book Reviews, British crime cinema, British pulp fiction, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980, Men's Adventure Magazines, New English Library, Pulp fiction, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Pulp Friday, Pulp paperback cover art, Sticking it the the Man Revolution and Counter Culture in Pulp and Popular Fiction 1950 1980

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My cultural highlights of 2022

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Andrew Nette| 5 Comments

The end of the year nears. That means it is time for my year cultural highlights of 2022. So, without further introduction, let’s get into it.

Film

Possibly the best new release I saw in the past 12 months was Iranian director Ali Abbasi’s The Holy Spider (2022). The story of a young female journalist (a powerhouse performance by Zar Amir-Ebrahimi) investigating a religious serial killer in a rural Iranian city, little did I know when I saw it as part of Melbourne International Film Festival in September that it’s damning commentary on the male dominated nature of Iranian society, would find such a strong real world echo in the female led protest movement shaking the country to its foundations today. While The Holy Spider is not for the faint hearted, its horror is brilliantly conveyed through show don’t tell storytelling. Seriously, a lot of directors could learn from watching this film that you don’t always have to hit the audience over the head with a narrative sledgehammer.

Two other 2022 releases make my best of film list for the year. The first is Emily the Criminal. This is a whip smart neo noir about a young woman who falls into crime, featuring Aubrey Plaza in the lead role. I call it a millennial revenge film, which I think is THE upcoming crime genre with a bullet.… Read more

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Posted in 1970s American crime films, Book Reviews, British crime cinema, Burt Lancaster, Crime fiction, Crime film, David Peace, David Whish-Wilson, French crime fiction, Georges Simenon, Horror, Joel Edgerton, Melbourne International Film Festival, Neo Noir, Spies, True crime, Yaphet Kotto

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Book Review: We Are the Mutants – The Battle for Hollywood from Rosemary’s Baby to Lethal Weapon

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

Is there anything new left to say about the period of American film production from the late 1960s to the early 1980s?

This is the period that began with the so-called ‘New Hollywood’ and continued with its collapse under the weight of its own cinematic hubris and excess, bumped along considerably by the 1977 release of Star Wars, after which the blockbuster franchise, with its lucrative pre-sold merchandising deals, evolved into the majority of what now passes for the American film industry. Of course, this is just one facet of the story. Influencing this trajectory was Vietnam, the rise and fall of the counterculture, the election of Ronald Reagan and the rise of neoliberalism.

To say something different about all of this is a tough task. But it is is precisely the aim of We are the Mutants: The Battle for Hollywood from Rosemary’s Baby to Lethal Weapon. That the book largely succeeds in its mission is due to a quality I initially found hard to define until I hit on a way to do so by way of a comparison. The book reminds me of the work of British documentary maker Adam Curtis, particularly his most recent effort, I Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World.… Read more

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Posted in 1960s American crime films, 1970s American crime films, 1980s American crime films, Book Reviews, Cinema culture, Dystopian cinema, Horror, Ira Levin, Neo Noir, Non-crime reviews, Science fiction and fantasy, True crime, War film, William Friedkin

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