Search
-
Recent Posts
- Dishing up Pulp Curry in a new way: why I am starting a Substack newsletter
- Book reviews: Deadly dames, midcentury Brit pulp and 1970s science fiction
- Mackenna’s Gold (1969): Gold, Ghosts and Frontier Violence
- Orphan Road book launch
- Orphan Road now available
- Pre-orders open for my new novel, Orphan Road
- Cover reveal: Orphan Road, my follow up to Gunshine State
- Breakfast in the Ruins podcast: New English Library Bikermania
- Why 1973 was the year Sidney Lumet took on police corruption
- Men’s Adventure Quarterly: Gang Girls issue
Categories
- 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
- Laura Elizabeth Woolett
- 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 Corris
- 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
Nothing but noir
Recommended reading
The lurid world of pulp
- 20th century Danny Boy
- American Pulps
- Bear Alley
- Bloody, Spicy, Books
- Comics Down Under
- Everything second hand
- Existential Ennui
- Greenleaf Classic Books
- Irv O. Neil's Erotica is My Trade
- Killer Covers
- Lost Classics of Teen Lit 1939-1989
- Luminist Archives
- Men's Pulp Mags
- Mporcius Fiction Log
- Murder, Mayhem and Long Dogs
- Neglected Books
- Nocturnal Revelries
- Paperback Warrior
- Paperbacks of the Gods
- Pop Sensation
- Pulp artists
- Pulp Covers
- Pulp Crazy
- Pulp Flakes
- Pulp International
- Pulp Magazines Project
- Pulp Serenade
- Realms of the Night
- Romance Fiction Has a History
- Rough Edges
- Sin Street Sleaze
- Spy Guys and Gals
- The department of Afro American Research Arts & Culture
- The Dusty Bookcase
- The Haunted World of Richard Sala
- The Moon Lens
- The Nick Carter & Carter Brown Blog
- The Pulp & Paperback Fiction Reader
- Too Much Horror Fiction
- True Pulp Fiction
- Vault of Horror
- Vintage Nurse Romance Novels
- Vintage Romance Novels
- Welcome to the Pan Paperback
- Yellow and Creased
Support This Site
If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi
Category Archives: Pulp fiction
Pulp Friday: Cuba – Sugar, Sex, and Slaughter
Earlier this year I posted in my semi-regular Pulp Friday column on Pollen’s Women, a book by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle that examined the career of Samson Pollen, an illustrator for some of the roughly 160 men’s pulp magazines that blossomed on American newsstands in the 1950s and 1960s (you can find my piece here). These magazines combined brilliant, often over the top illustrations, with hard-hitting fiction and lurid ‘non-fiction’ exposes of various mid-century cultural obsessions.
Chief among these obsessions was, as these magazines depicted it, the nefarious and barbaric activities of the various domestic and international communist minions the United States was then locked in global struggle with. A variant of this particular men’s pulp magazine enthusiasm is the subject of Deis and Doyle’s latest book, Cuba: Sugar, Sex, and Slaughter, which examines the way these magazines depicted pre and post revolutionary Cuba.
I recall, while working as journalist in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1990s, many locals fondly remembering the assistance provided to them by Cuba, particular the medical doctors who were sent to these and other fraternal socialist allies in large numbers. Of course, I also realise that many Cubans do not look upon their country’s post-war history so fondly. The repressive nature of aspects of Castro’s rule can also be attested to by any number of intellectuals and the many openly gay Cubans who have been incarcerated by the regime.… Read more
Girl Gangs, Biker Boys & Real Cool Cats at the Bendigo Writers Festival
I am thrilled to be taking part in the 2018 Bendigo Writers Festival. The Festival, which takes place from August 10 to 12, is one of my favourite local writers festivals.
First up, I’ll be talking all things pulp fiction and the book I co-edited, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys & Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980, with fellow pop culture fiend, John Richards, at the La Trobe Art Institute, from 10am on Saturday, August 11. Copies of the book will also be for sale at the Festival.
On the Friday morning, August 10, from 9.30am to 12.30pm, I’ll be running a ‘Crime Starter’ workshop for new and emerging crime writers . I’ll cover the elements of a thrilling crime read and the rules of the genre, as well as providing tips on how to push through blockages and problem passages in your manuscript.
I’ll also be taking part in the festival debate ‘You Can Judge A Book By Its Genre’, with a group of talented writers.
So if you are in Bendigo or its environs and want to come to any of the events, grab a copy of the Girl Gangs book, or just say hello, it would be great to see you.
The full program for the Bendigo Writers Festival is available here.… Read more
Posted in Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980, Horwitz Publications, Pulp fiction, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Pulp paperback cover art, Vintage pulp paperback covers
Tagged Andrew Nette, Bendigo Writers Festival, Girl Gangs Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture 1950 to 1980, Pulp fiction
Pulp Friday: Pollen’s Women
An aspect of pulp culture I don’t cover very often on this site is the world of men’s pulp magazines. While the late 1940s saw the pulp novel take over from the pulp magazine as the most successful and overt manifestation of pulp culture, the magazines did not die out completely. Quite the opposite. The pulp magazine morphed into the true crime magazine, a phenomenally successful format that continued until the very early 1990s. Another successful manifestation was the men’s pulp magazine, titles such as Men, Stag and Swank.
Men’s pulp magazines combined hard hitting fiction with over the top ‘non-fiction’ exposes of various mid century obsessions – sex in suburbia, white slavery, black magic, crime, out of control youth, etc – and lavish, high sexualised illustrations. A large number of these magazines appeared in the 1950s, when the format was at its height, and they continued to be published until well into the 1970s before they died out.
A man who knows a lot about men’s pulp magazines is Bob Deis. He runs an excellent website on the subject. Working with his collaborator, Wyatt Doyle, and many of the people who actually wrote and drew for the magazines back in the day, Deis has also put out a number of stunning books on men’s pulp magazines all of which are published by New Texture.… Read more
Pulp fiction at the Latrobe City Literary Festival
I am not sure how many Pulp Curry readers I have in Gippsland. In the event there are some, just a heads up that I’m appearing at the Latrobe City Literary Festival, in Traralgon, this coming Sunday, May 27. As part of a panel of talented folks, I’ll be talking about the history of Australian pulp fiction and the book I have co-edited, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950-1980. I’ll also have copies of the book for sale.
Full details of the event can be found here. It is free but numbers are limited so you need to register. Hope to see some of you there.… Read more
Posted in Australian popular culture, Australian pulp fiction, British pulp fiction, Fawcett Gold Medal Books, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980, Monarch Books, Pan Books, Pulp fiction, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Pulp paperback cover art
Tagged Girl Gangs Biker Boys and Real Cool Cats Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture 1950-1980, Latrobe City Literary Festival, Pulp fiction
Pulp Friday: Guns with plots
Let’s make one thing clear. I don’t own a gun. Never have and never will. Indeed, the only guns I want to see are in film or on the cover of books like the ones featured in today’s Pulp Friday post.
For a while now I have been obsessed with the cover above of the 1964 Panther edition of Len Deignton’s The Ipcress File. The cover, done by influential English graphic designer, Ray Hawkey, who would go onto to do a number of paperback covers, exudes a style and tone I could never imagine being used today except as a deliberate retro homage.
It speaks to the everyday grime, drudgery and unglamorous boredom of the Cold War spy racket, which the Deighton novels featuring the working class spy, Harry Palmer, evoke so well. There is also the mess that comes with the trade: a cold cup of tea (probably cold); cigarettes, because in the sixties every fictional spy smoked; paperclips for the paperwork; and, a gun and bullets, because sometimes you have to kill someone.
It is a gritty, cluttered layout I associate with mass paperback novels of the type that were largely targeted at men in the 1960s and 1970s. As it turns out, a bit of a dig around reveals it was a style that was widely used in those two decades – but it also bled over into the 1980s – by mass market paperback publishers in the crime, mystery and espionage thriller categories.… Read more
Posted in Belmont Tower Books, British pulp fiction, Crime fiction, George V Higgins, Ian Fleming, Neo Noir, Noir fiction, Pulp fiction, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Pulp Friday, Pulp paperback cover art, Spies, True crime
Tagged Agatha Christie, Brian Garfield, Death Wish, Dog Day Afternoon, Elmore Leonard, Fontana, Funeral in Berlin, George V Higgins, Ian Fleming, Jim Thompson, John Creasey, Len Deighton, Raymond Chandler, The Getaway, The Ipcress File, The Man With the Golden Gun, Thunderball