What do you think?
Rate this book
The Dictionary of Snow Hill
The Dictionary of Snow Hill is a novel in the form of an encyclopedia guide to the greatest metropolis of the 1930s and the heroes and villains within it. Science adventurers, mad scientists, insane killer vigilantes, giant apes--they all lived in and around the sprawling, energetic city of Snow Hill, Maryland (the largest city in America) and adventured there. Readers will discover the exploits and losses, the triumphs and tragedies, of Michael Ferrum (a.k.a. "Doc Bronze), the greatest adventurer in the world, assisted by his lieutenants, the Sensational Six; Havelock Black, the unmatched consulting detective; Howard Stein, the Garbo-obsessed mad scientist and creator of a variety of species of talking gorillas; El Aguila, the foremost luchador and hero of all Mexico; L'Ivoire Comte, the world weary albino European master thief; Anton Weird, the "Doctor of Destinies;" and many more.
The Dictionary of Snow Hill is a loving homage to the best aspects of the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s and to authors as varied as Peter Ackroyd, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Margaret Irwin, H.P. Lovecraft, Nelson Algren, and William Hope Hodgson. Written as an homage of Milorad Pavic's The Dictionary of the Khazars , the Dictionary of Snow Hill is both New Pulp and Old, pastiche and tribute, adventure novel and tragedy, romance and science fiction. Fans of the pulp characters will find the familiar and the unexpected in the Dictionary ; those who have never read the pulps will find much to enjoy.
The Dictionary of Snow Hill is a loving homage to the best aspects of the pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s and to authors as varied as Peter Ackroyd, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Margaret Irwin, H.P. Lovecraft, Nelson Algren, and William Hope Hodgson. Written as an homage of Milorad Pavic's The Dictionary of the Khazars , the Dictionary of Snow Hill is both New Pulp and Old, pastiche and tribute, adventure novel and tragedy, romance and science fiction. Fans of the pulp characters will find the familiar and the unexpected in the Dictionary ; those who have never read the pulps will find much to enjoy.
- GenresFiction
282 pages, Paperback
Published February 9, 2022
9 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 28, 2025
Hell yeah! A self published book that I actually enjoyed!!! I'm feeling good on this day.
It's a fun and inventive structure that works really well for encompassing what would otherwise fill a decade or more of comics canon into a fairly short novel. I do wish it had leaned harder on the light critique it offered of Michael Ferrum - I think not exploring that further and ending with him being right in his methods felt less interesting and more eye roll inducing than the rest of the book did.
The second story about the Hell Screen is an absolute highlight though. Absolute shivers when Weird saw the No-Buddah
It's a fun and inventive structure that works really well for encompassing what would otherwise fill a decade or more of comics canon into a fairly short novel. I do wish it had leaned harder on the light critique it offered of Michael Ferrum - I think not exploring that further and ending with him being right in his methods felt less interesting and more eye roll inducing than the rest of the book did.
The second story about the Hell Screen is an absolute highlight though. Absolute shivers when Weird saw the No-Buddah
November 25, 2022
It takes a little while to get what is going on but once you figure out what it is you are reading, boy you are in for a treat! A great pulp adventure - or series of adventures, mysteries, romances, and more. I look forward to discovering the world of Snow Hill again in a few years.
October 5, 2023
A novel designed in the manner of Milorad Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars, only with fictional (fictional in our dimension, anyway) Pulp heroes. If you love Pulp Heroes from that time between world wars, I expect you'll love this. I did. The world is a better place for this book just existing.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews