Pulp Fiction discussion

Gotta love the old paperbacks with their often salacious painted artwork and outrageous blurbs. One of the most prolific cover artists of the past 60 years is Robert McGinnis, who is still active painting Hard Case Crime covers. Here's an informative tribute to McGinnis' work that I'm sure will delight those of us who enjoy this style of pulp paperback artwork. http://killercoversoftheweek.blogspot...

Did he do the Micky Spillane covers?

Here are some interesting designs from the 2013 Penguin Design Competition to design a new cover for 'The Big Sleep'
http://www.theguardian.com/books/gall...

McGinnis provided plenty of Spillane covers. For example:

Looks like Jane Fonda!

I got my cover art from a photographer named Retroatelier who happens to be in the Ukraine. As soon as I saw the photo, I knew it was perfect for the book.

Spot on !

Gerard wrote: "Here are some interesting designs from the 2013 Penguin Design Competition to design a new cover for 'The Big Sleep'
http://www.theguardian.com/books/gall..."

I do not like the camera motif. The vicarious pleasure in capturing people with one's eyes, or extensions of one's eyes, really has little to do with the novel, and prioritizes voyeurism over a complex set of moral compromises that the novel is about. I don't like the city motifs either. They are too clever and stylish to get at all close to what the reader finds out about "how cities are run."

Gerard ; I agree with you re the camera image covers, but personally like the cityscapes. Surprised by the winner and runner up.

most were interesting. Comic book one least for me in this selection

Great cover image here:


Don't Ever Love me

Greg wrote: "Great cover image here:

Lovable, kissable, killable. Whatta dame.

I love this cover! It's one of my favorites and I've used it a couple of times to illustrate a blog post.

I love the pulpy book covers. Sexy dames and bad ass dudes! Here are some of my faves. Especially The Woman Aroused. The title combined with that crazed look on her face and how she's attacking the guy makes me chuckle every time I see it.

Great selection , Richard.
There's a lot from Gil Brewer here. I might give him a try.

I love the covers on the Fredric Brown books. Great examples of Pulp art:

- - - - - .

Great names for Pulp books too. 'The Screaming Mimi' & 'The Fabulous Clipjoint'. Great stuff!!

Love these cover Paul! Fredric Brown has been on radar awhile so thanks for the recommendations...

And your right, great titles! He has another great title called The Wench Is Dead! :)

Richard Vialet wrote: "Love these cover Paul! Fredric Brown has been on radar awhile so thanks for the recommendations...

And your right, great titles! He has another great title called The Wench Is Dead! ..."

Ha, yeah. Got that one too. GR has a limited range of his covers, unfortunately.

I really love the Pulp covers from the 40's-50's. It's interesting to see the transition of covers of authors whose books have been re-released over the years. Covers from the 70's are often inferior, in my opinion. They are often rather tacky photos of supposedly alluring females, but they're not a patch on the artwork of earlier covers.

A few of my acquisitions for today:

; ; .

Algernon wrote: "Great selection , Richard.
There's a lot from Gil Brewer here. I might give him a try."

Gil Brewer was one of the top pulp writers of the '50s. His books are long out of print and hard to find though.

Richard Vialet wrote: "I love the pulpy book covers. Sexy dames and bad ass dudes! Here are some of my faves. Especially The Woman Aroused. The title combined with that crazed look on her face and how she's attacking the..."

Great selection Richard.

Although it's always preferable to have a physical copy, it's good to see many Pulp eBooks have retained their wonderful original artwork.
I have a bunch of Goodis eBooks with their original covers: ; ; ; ; .

Been on a Goodis binge lately, including most of the above.

I am sad to hear of the death of Glen Orbik on Monday, May 11. An American illustrator Glen Orbik was perhaps known best for the pulpy art he created for Hard Case Crime’s line of paperback mysteries and thrillers. He also worked for Subterranean Press producing many fine dust jackets. He will be missed. Some of his work can be found here:

http://killercoversoftheweek.blogspot...

Karl wrote: "I am sad to hear of the death of Glen Orbik on Monday, May 11. An American illustrator Glen Orbik was perhaps known best for the pulpy art he created for Hard Case Crime’s line of paperback mysteri..."

Beautiful artwork Karl. Thanks for the link.

Paul wrote: "Karl wrote: "I am sad to hear of the death of Glen Orbik on Monday, May 11. An American illustrator Glen Orbik was perhaps known best for the pulpy art he created for Hard Case Crime’s line of pape..."

I think he was one of today's best book illustrators, what a loss.

I picked up at a half-price bookstore last weekend.

Tom wrote: "I picked up at a half-price bookstore last weekend."

That's a good one.

I don't think many other artists are doing much work like he or McGinnis today that I am aware of.

Edwin wrote: "Gotta love the old paperbacks with their often salacious painted artwork and outrageous blurbs. One of the most prolific cover artists of the past 60 years is Robert McGinnis, who is still active p..."

Your link is no longer McGinnis, It's now Glen Orbik,

Jim wrote: "Tom wrote: "I picked up at a half-price bookstore last weekend."

That's a good one."

Great Glen Orbik cover art too.

Edwin wrote: "One of the most prolific cover artists of the past 60 years is Robert McGinnis, who is still active p..."

Karl wrote: "Your link is no longer McGinnis, It's now Glen Orbik, "

Here's the McGinnis link:
http://killercoversoftheweek.blogspot...

By pure coincidence, a GR friend asked me (earlier today) about Hard Case Crime books & i found a link which mentions Glen Orbik's demise & features his stunning artwork on Hard Case Crime novels:

http://www.hardcasecrime.com/index.shtml

Dashiell Hammett is one of my favs.
good cover!

Image from http://blankbooks.co.za/16264/the-gla....

Picked these up yesterday: ; ; ; & .

Although my cover for 'Some Day I'll Kill You' differs from the only cover available on GR.

I love those art cover works.
Always wishing i had a great collection of good cover pulp novels.
Recently I bought the below.

Image from http://www.pissedoffgeek.com/wordpres....

KOHEY.Y. wrote: "I love those art cover works.
Always wishing i had a great collection of good cover pulp novels.
Recently I bought the below.

Image from http://www.pissedoffgeek.com/wordpres......"

Yes, nice cover Kohey.y. I have that one as an eBook. Another favorite Cain cover i have is: .

That is stylish,Paul.
I haven't read that one, but hear it is a good one. There are several artworks with the same touch, I wonder.

I have a copy of

Image from http://www.mollysbooksandrecords.com/....

Love this cover of Deadlier Than The Male

Acquired these today: & .

I particularly like the Lawrence Block cover.

Came across these beautiful James M. Cain books/covers recently: ; ; & .

Nice stuff, Good finds !

Hey Karl.

It's interesting to see the transition in cover artwork, with books originally published in the 1930-40's, reissued in the 60's/70's & more recently, through to the present day, & how covers have changed.

For books originally published in the early days, we have these beautiful artworks. Then in the 70's, the same books were invariably reissued adorned with supposedly alluring photos of women, which always appeared tacky & cheap to me, through to the present day, where the 'artwork' looks slick, but somehow soul-less.

The above covers i would gladly frame & hang on a wall at home, the latter belong in 'Men's' calendars, thumb-tacked to the back of a lavatory door.

Of course, there are exceptions. Charlie Huston, Derek Raymond, Megan Abbott, et al, have some excellent book covers.

Paul wrote: "Hey Karl.

It's interesting to see the transition in cover artwork, with books originally published in the 1930-40's, reissued in the 60's/70's & more recently, through to the present day, & how co..."

I have repeatedly requested that the folks at Hard Case Crime just publish of large size art book of the covers to the books they have published. So far no luck. I think there would be a market for that.

Karl wrote: "Paul wrote: "Hey Karl.

It's interesting to see the transition in cover artwork, with books originally published in the 1930-40's, reissued in the 60's/70's & more recently, through to the present ..."

Yes, i agree. Our local bookshop had a calendar for sale, around Dec/Jan, with HCC book covers for every month of the year. They were on good quality glossy paper & was tempted, but who uses a calendar these days?

Paul wrote: "Karl wrote: "Paul wrote: "Hey Karl.

It's interesting to see the transition in cover artwork, with books originally published in the 1930-40's, reissued in the 60's/70's & more recently, through to..."

Must have missed that calendar- no one really uses one, however that would have been nice to see bigger representations of the covers, I don't think any one around here carried that. Now that they are owned by Titan books in the UK things appear to have changed a bit.

Karl wrote: "Paul wrote: "Karl wrote: "Paul wrote: "Hey Karl.

It's interesting to see the transition in cover artwork, with books originally published in the 1930-40's, reissued in the 60's/70's & more recentl..."

I can imagine such prints taking pride of place in one's study, games room or Man-Cave. LOL

Gaiman, Neil evidently loves this style of cover artwork as he has recruited 90 year old legend Robert McGinnis to paint the covers of his new edition paperbacks. The cover for "American Gods" is terrific - http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2016/07...

-- I love the works of Robert McGinnis, I think he has done over 1000 book covers in his career. If you ever get the chance to see any of his work in a live (not re-produced) format, they are even more stunning, --

Tom wrote: "I picked up at a half-price bookstore last weekend."

Oh man, this is one of my favorites book covers. Christa Faust has become one of my favorite pulpy writers, which reminds me; I should get a paperback copy of this (read the e-book, and enjoyed it). Good one.

Yeah, I loved "Money Shot" too. I rushed online to get the sequel, "Choke Hold", and was equally as impressed. I love Christa Faust's work. Hoping for another instalment.

A.B. wrote: "Yeah, I loved "Money Shot" too. I rushed online to get the sequel, "Choke Hold", and was equally as impressed. I love Christa Faust's work. Hoping for another instalment."

If in when I have the time 'Choke Hold' will be read next. I found her YouTube channel, didn't know she had one, she's got a video where she reads four minutes of a book she's got coming up call: Butch Fatale.