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The New Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction
A truly mammoth collection of seven decades of pure, unadulterated pulp fiction, jam-packed with tough guys and femme fatales - first class entertainment and thrills. Join shady operators, voluptuous molls, ruthless big-shots, and crooked - or just occasionally honest - cops on a roller-coaster ride through the mean streets of popular literature.
Alongside the work of deservedly well-known writers of hard-boiled crime are gems from some long-forgotten authors well worth rediscovering. The collection includes what we believe to be a lost story by Dashiell Hammett, 'The Diamond Wager'. This story does not appear in any of Hammett's bibliographies, despite having been written under the somewhat see-through pseudonym of Samuel Dashiell.
Alongside the work of deservedly well-known writers of hard-boiled crime are gems from some long-forgotten authors well worth rediscovering. The collection includes what we believe to be a lost story by Dashiell Hammett, 'The Diamond Wager'. This story does not appear in any of Hammett's bibliographies, despite having been written under the somewhat see-through pseudonym of Samuel Dashiell.
814 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
About the author
Maxim Jakubowski
287 books167 followersMaxim Jakubowski is a crime, erotic, and science fiction writer and critic.
Jakubowski was born in England by Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has travelled extensively. Jakubowski edited the science fiction anthology Twenty Houses of the Zodiac in 1979 for the 37th World Science Fiction Convention (Seacon '79) in Brighton. He also contributed a short story to that anthology. He has now published almost 100 books in a variety of areas.
He has worked in book publishing for many years, which he left to open the Murder One bookshop[1], the UK's first specialist crime and mystery bookstore. He contributes to a variety of newspapers and magazines, and was for eight years the crime columnist for Time Out and, presently, since 2000, the crime reviewer for The Guardian. He is also the literary director of London's Crime Scene Festival and a consultant for the International Mystery Film Festival, Noir in Fest, held annually in Courmayeur, Italy. He is one the leading editors in the crime and mystery and erotica field, in which he has published many major anthologies.
His novels include "It's You That I Want To Kiss", "Because She Thought She Loved Me", "The State Of Montana", "On Tenderness Express", "Kiss me Sadly" and "Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer". His short story collections are "Life in the World of Women", "Fools for Lust" and the collaborative "American Casanova". He is a regular broadcaster on British TV and radio and was recently voted the 4th Sexiest Writer of 2,007 on a poll on the crimespace website.
Jakubowski was born in England by Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has travelled extensively. Jakubowski edited the science fiction anthology Twenty Houses of the Zodiac in 1979 for the 37th World Science Fiction Convention (Seacon '79) in Brighton. He also contributed a short story to that anthology. He has now published almost 100 books in a variety of areas.
He has worked in book publishing for many years, which he left to open the Murder One bookshop[1], the UK's first specialist crime and mystery bookstore. He contributes to a variety of newspapers and magazines, and was for eight years the crime columnist for Time Out and, presently, since 2000, the crime reviewer for The Guardian. He is also the literary director of London's Crime Scene Festival and a consultant for the International Mystery Film Festival, Noir in Fest, held annually in Courmayeur, Italy. He is one the leading editors in the crime and mystery and erotica field, in which he has published many major anthologies.
His novels include "It's You That I Want To Kiss", "Because She Thought She Loved Me", "The State Of Montana", "On Tenderness Express", "Kiss me Sadly" and "Confessions of a Romantic Pornographer". His short story collections are "Life in the World of Women", "Fools for Lust" and the collaborative "American Casanova". He is a regular broadcaster on British TV and radio and was recently voted the 4th Sexiest Writer of 2,007 on a poll on the crimespace website.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 4, 2014
It is never easy to review an anthology or a collection of stories written by such a large variety of authors. The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction is no different. This collection of mostly short stories and a 100+ page novella offers us a large selection of writing styles, settings and plots. From simple murder investigations to scams and those particular ones where you don't seem to never quite get to the bottom of the whole thing.
It's absolutely great reading though. Not surprising really, when you think of some of the authors that have been given some real estate in this volume. I have sincerely enjoyed almost every piece of fiction in this collection and can highly recommend this to any fan of the genre.
It's absolutely great reading though. Not surprising really, when you think of some of the authors that have been given some real estate in this volume. I have sincerely enjoyed almost every piece of fiction in this collection and can highly recommend this to any fan of the genre.
August 31, 2018
A Real Nice Guy, by William F. Nolan
The Girl Behind the Hedge, by Micky Spillane
These were the only two stories, out of the whole 814 pages of this book, that I would give more than two stars for. And the Spillane story is really spoiled by being too sexist.
Pulp is what it says, and pulp is what you get; one really shouldn't expect more. But it made me a bit weary and frustrated to read over and over how women were portrayed, and unrealistic situations were written, and were there any characters who didn't smoke all the time (and never outside), and how did they all get to drink alcohol at work?
The Girl Behind the Hedge, by Micky Spillane
These were the only two stories, out of the whole 814 pages of this book, that I would give more than two stars for. And the Spillane story is really spoiled by being too sexist.
Pulp is what it says, and pulp is what you get; one really shouldn't expect more. But it made me a bit weary and frustrated to read over and over how women were portrayed, and unrealistic situations were written, and were there any characters who didn't smoke all the time (and never outside), and how did they all get to drink alcohol at work?
July 22, 2025
These are the kind of stories I know mostly through pop-cultural osmosis: private eyes and treacherous dames, gangsters and bank heists, all that good stuff. It was a fun read, although I have to admit, most of the stories kinda blend together in my mind now.
My favorites: Ordo, We Are All Dead, A Candle for the Bag Lady.
Other memorable stories: The Diamond Wager, Black Pudding, A Real Nice Guy, The Second Coming.
My favorites: Ordo, We Are All Dead, A Candle for the Bag Lady.
Other memorable stories: The Diamond Wager, Black Pudding, A Real Nice Guy, The Second Coming.
September 28, 2020
A read of this book proves there's good reason why pulp stories sold like crazy in their golden age.
May 2, 2025
Very much a mixed bag
March 20, 2024
I was surprised at the relatively low quality of the stories in this anthology. There were plenty of great writers represented but the stories selected must have come out of the reject stack. You would think that a collection that included stories by great pulp writers like Dashiell Hammett, Charles Williams, Paul Cain, John D. MacDonald, James M. Cain, Gil Brewer, Jim Thompson, Day Keene, Wiliam P. McGivern, Mickey Spillane, Lawrence Block, David Goodis, Max Allan Collins, Charles Willeford, Ross Macdonald, Fredric Brown, Bruno Fischer, Bill Pronzini, Joe Gores, William Campbell Gault and Donald E. Westlake would have been much, much better. It seems like Jakubowski has a very different taste in pulp fiction then me then I don't consider any of these stories representative of these author's works.
January 8, 2015
A great collection. Every story quite exciting, interesting or gripping. What value.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews