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Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines
Pulp fiction’s lurid adventures were vividly reflected on the magazines’ eye-catching covers. Hard-boiled dames, bizarre monsters, dicks and ‘tecs, sinister villains, and muscled warriors all appeared each month to tempt readers out of their hard-earned dimes. This gorgeous full-color compilation features hundreds of the genre’s most thrilling covers and includes an index. Taken collectively, they provide a dazzling panorama of some 60 years of illustration and social commentary.
206 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
63 people want to read
About the author
Frank M. Robinson
122 books59 followersFrank M. Robinson was an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer. he got his start writing for the old pulp fiction magazines. He wrote several novels with Thomas N. Scortia until Scortia's death in 1986.
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 8, 2021
All those exploitation pulps exploring exotic lands, the wild west, super heroes and super villains, mad-slasher ghouls, teenage dreams of glory, the lure of romance, wartime adventures, sci-fi, love, sin and sex, detective yarns and sporting glories all brought back via this awesome book featuring the tantalizing covers of magazines past, all splashed out in glorious color.
"From its origins in the late 19th. century, when adventures stories reigned, through almost six decades of slinking sleuths, galloping ghouls, nitty-gritty gals, and invincible warriors, the pulp magazines transported readers into new territories of the mind."
These magazines helped popularize authors such as Dashiell Hammett, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Bloch, Max Brand and numerous others. Plus the artwork of the covers are just mind boggling. Remember those newsstands of the past you see in old movies and newsreels, just plastered with newspapers and magazines - well here are some of those magazines which must have fascinated customers young and old for yonks!
Each reproduced magazine cover is listed with date, name of artist and brief description of the title's history. As well, each genre depicted gets a critical history.
Truly a fabulous collection, put together in a classy edition by Collectors Press.
Must admit I am a sucker for these types of books - so full of beautiful incredible stuff, I can't resist them!!
"From its origins in the late 19th. century, when adventures stories reigned, through almost six decades of slinking sleuths, galloping ghouls, nitty-gritty gals, and invincible warriors, the pulp magazines transported readers into new territories of the mind."
These magazines helped popularize authors such as Dashiell Hammett, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Bloch, Max Brand and numerous others. Plus the artwork of the covers are just mind boggling. Remember those newsstands of the past you see in old movies and newsreels, just plastered with newspapers and magazines - well here are some of those magazines which must have fascinated customers young and old for yonks!
Each reproduced magazine cover is listed with date, name of artist and brief description of the title's history. As well, each genre depicted gets a critical history.
Truly a fabulous collection, put together in a classy edition by Collectors Press.
Must admit I am a sucker for these types of books - so full of beautiful incredible stuff, I can't resist them!!
February 27, 2016
There are different covers for this book, depending on the date it was printed. The book is an excellent examination of pulps, starting from their very beginnings and going right on till the time they stopped. Virtually every kind of pulp can be found in the book, which is illustrated with numerous beautiful cover reproductions.
The information in the book is also well done, making this book an absolute must for anyone who is into collecting pulps.
The information in the book is also well done, making this book an absolute must for anyone who is into collecting pulps.
October 25, 2023
Been diving into the nonfiction on my shelves for some research and plotting for a new project. While the authors give a nice quick introduction to the wide variety of "pulp" magazines popular in the first half of the 20th century, the big colorful pages are devoted to the equally big colorful covers of these glories of genre fiction from 1900 through 1950s. Of course I wish there were more 1920s and earlier covers shown but the art shown is fabulous. And yes, I'd love to own a copy of "Gorilla of the Gas Bags" with a gorilla rappelling down from a zeppelin to attack the hero. But at least I can see that wacky cover here and so much more.
February 3, 2023
If pulp stories were as thrilling as their cover art, the pulps would ever gone out of style. Pulp Culture is a fun romp through the best of pulp art. Highly recommended.
August 30, 2009
This is a coffee table sized book, jam packed with wizbang reproductions of zillions, well maybe just hundreds, of covers from the pulp era. If it is possible to bring back memories of an era most of us never knew; then this book succeeds brilliantly. The vibrantly alive, dazzlingly colored, action covers bring these pulps to life much as they did for our parents and grandparents of the 20's and 30's. Highly recommended for the young in spirit and the gray of hair alike, for who knows what evil lurks in these pages.
February 13, 2010
A fun coffee table book. Page after page of cover reproductions, plus a broad survey of the pulp field: SF, detective, hero, western, romance, sports, aviation, war and horror. Engaging and amusing: The authors love this stuff but they have a good eye for the ridiculous. Like the cover art of a biplane with the pilot menaced by (why not?) a tiger who leapt from an enemy plane.
January 23, 2016
If you want to learn how the pulps started here is a great book. Not only does the book cover the history of the pulps form their humble beginnings to the end of the era you are treated to tons of cover reproductions. Great source book. Very recommended
June 14, 2008
Terrific collection of pulp fiction covers, with added dimension from the informative and sometimes quite funny commentary and background from author Robinson.
April 13, 2011
Great fun! I only wish it could've been longer.
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September 11, 2015741.65209 R6599 1998
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews