Editing Pulp magazine

{{Short description|Fiction magazines made from 1896 to the 1950s}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}

'''Pulp magazines''' (also referred to as "'''the pulps'''") were inexpensive fiction [[magazine]]s that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the [[Pulp (paper)|wood pulp]] paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their cheap nature. In contrast, magazines printed on higher-quality paper were called "glossies" or "slicks". The typical pulp magazine had 128 pages;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Tony |date=2021-10-01 |title=Pulps: the early years |url=https://thepulp.net/pulp-articles/pulps-the-early-years/ |access-date=2024-03-23 |website=ThePulp.Net |language=en-US}}</ref> it was {{convert|7|in|cm}} wide by {{convert|10|in|cm}} high, and {{convert|0.5|inch|cm}} thick, with ragged, untrimmed edges. Pulps were the successors to the [[penny dreadful]]s, [[dime novel]]s, and short-fiction magazines of the 19th century.

Although many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines were best known for their lurid, [[exploitation fiction|exploitative]], and sensational subject matter, even though this was but a small part of what existed in the pulps. Digest magazines and men's adventure magazines were incorrectly regarded as pulps, though they have different editorial and production standards and are instead replacements. Modern [[superhero]] [[Superhero comics|comic books]] are sometimes considered descendants of "hero pulps"; pulp magazines often featured illustrated novel-length stories of heroic characters, such as [[Flash Gordon]], [[The Shadow]], [[Doc Savage]], and [[The Phantom Detective]].

The pulps gave rise to the term '''pulp fiction''' in reference to run-of-the-mill, low-quality literature. Successors of pulps include paperback books, such as [[hardboiled]] detective stories and [[Erotic literature#Erotic fiction|erotic fiction]].<ref name=Romney>{{cite web|last1=Romney |first1=Rebecca |title=When Classic Detective Novels Became Sexy Pulps |url=https://crimereads.com/when-classic-detective-novels-became-sexy-pulps/ |website=[[CrimeReads]] |date=April 6, 2018 |access-date=23 July 2023}}</ref><ref name=Sharp>{{cite magazine|last1=Sharp |first1=Sarah Rose |title=The Erotic Nostalgia of Lesbian Pulp Fiction |url=https://hyperallergic.com/667108/erotic-nostalgia-of-lesbian-pulp-fiction/ |magazine=[[Hyperallergic]] |date=August 4, 2021 |access-date=23 July 2023}}</ref><ref name=Rabinowitz2014>{{cite book |last1=Rabinowitz |first1=Paula |title=American Pulp: How Paperbacks Brought Modernism to Main Street |date=2014 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |location=Princeton, New Jersey |isbn=978-0691150604}}</ref>

==History==
===Origins===
Before pulp magazines, [[Newgate novel]]s (1840s-1860s) fictionalized the exploits of real-life criminals. Later, British [[sensation novel]]s gained peak popularity in the 1860s-1870s. Sensation novels focused on shocking stories that reflected modern-day anxieties, and were the direct precursors of pulp fiction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoglund |first=Johan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBrACwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Sensation+novel%22+vs+%22pulp+fiction%22&pg=PA42 |title=The American Imperial Gothic: Popular Culture, Empire, Violence |date=2016-03-16 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-04519-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_o3fI-b5WGAC&dq=%22Sensation+novel%22+vs+%22pulp+fiction%22&pg=PA146 |title=Acting with the Voice: The Art of Recording Books |date=2004 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-0-87910-301-9 |language=en}}</ref>

The first "pulp" was [[Frank Munsey]]'s revamped ''[[Argosy (magazine)|Argosy]]'' magazine of 1896, with about 135,000 words (192 pages) per issue, on pulp paper with untrimmed edges, and no illustrations, even on the cover. The steam-powered printing press had been in widespread use for some time, enabling the boom in dime novels; prior to Munsey, however, no one had combined cheap printing, cheap paper and cheap authors in a package that provided affordable entertainment to young working-class people. In six years, ''Argosy'' went from a few thousand copies per month to over half a million.<ref name="ahgttp">"A Two-Minute History of the Pulps", in ''The Adventure House Guide to the Pulps'', edited by [[Doug Ellis (editor)|Doug Ellis]], [[John Locke (editor)|John Locke]], and [[John Gunnison]]. Silver Spring, MD, Adventure House, 2000. (p. ii–iv).</ref>

[[Street & Smith]], a [[dime novel]] and boys' weekly publisher, was next on the market. Seeing ''Argosy''{{'}}s success, they launched ''[[The Popular Magazine]]'' in 1903, which they billed as the "biggest magazine in the world" by virtue of its being two pages (the interior sides of the front and back cover) longer than ''Argosy''. Due to differences in [[page layout]] however, the magazine had substantially less text than ''Argosy''. ''The Popular Magazine'' did introduce color covers to pulp publishing, and the magazine began to take off when in 1905 the publishers acquired the rights to serialize ''[[Ayesha (novel)|Ayesha]]'' (1905), by [[H. Rider Haggard]], a sequel to his popular novel ''[[She: A History of Adventure|She]]'' (1887). Haggard's [[Lost world|Lost World]] genre influenced several key pulp writers, including [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], [[Robert E. Howard]], [[Talbot Mundy]] and [[A. Merritt|Abraham Merritt]].<ref>See Lee Server, ''Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers'' (2002), pg.131.</ref> In 1907, the cover price rose to 15 cents and 30 pages were added to each issue; along with establishing a stable of authors for each magazine, this change proved successful and circulation began to approach that of ''Argosy''. Street and Smith's next innovation was the introduction of specialized genre pulps, with each magazine focusing on a particular genre, such as detective stories, romance, etc.<ref>Reynolds, Quentin. ''The Fiction Factory; Or, From Pulp Row to Quality Street: The Story of 100 Years of Publishing at Street & Smith''. Random House, 1955. (Covers: Street & Smith, [[Nick Carter (literary character)|Nick Carter]], Max Brand, Buffalo Bill, Frank Merriwell, Gerald Smith, Richard Duffy, Frederick Faust, dime novel, Horatio Alger, Henry Ralston, Ned Buntline, Ormond Smith, Beadle's, Edward Stratemeyer, detective fiction, Laura Jean Libbey, ''Astounding Science Fiction'', Edith Evans)</ref>
[[File:Spicy Detective Stories April 1935.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Cover of the pulp magazine ''Spicy Detective Stories'' vol. 2, #6 (April 1935) featuring "Bullet from Nowhere" by [[Robert Leslie Bellem]]]]

===Peak of popularity===
At their peak of popularity in the 1920s–1940s,<ref name="illustrationhistory.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.illustrationhistory.org/genres/pulp-illustration-pulp-magazines|title=Pulp Illustration: Pulp Magazines – Illustration History|website=illustrationhistory.org|access-date=2020-01-22|archive-date=February 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214193300/https://www.illustrationhistory.org/genres/pulp-illustration-pulp-magazines|url-status=live}}</ref> the most successful pulps sold up to one million copies per issue. In 1934, [[Frank Gruber]] said there were some 150 pulp titles. The most successful pulp magazines were ''[[Argosy (magazine)|Argosy]]'', ''[[Adventure (magazine)|Adventure]]'', ''[[Blue Book (magazine)|Blue Book]]'' and ''[[Short Stories (magazine)|Short Stories]]'', collectively described by some pulp historians as "The Big Four".<ref>{{cite book|last =Hulse|first = Ed|date =2009|chapter =The Big Four (Plus One)|title = The Blood 'n' Thunder Guide to Collecting Pulps|publisher = Murania Press|isbn = 978-0-9795955-0-9|pages = 19–47}}</ref> Among the best-known other titles of this period were ''[[Amazing Stories]]'', ''[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]'', ''Dime Detective'', ''[[Flying Aces (magazine)|Flying Aces]]'', ''[[Horror Stories (magazine)|Horror Stories]]'', ''[[Love Story Magazine]]'', ''[[Marvel Tales and Unusual Stories|Marvel Tales]]'',<ref name="ls">{{cite book |first=Lee |last=Server |author-link=Lee Server |title=Danger Is My Business: an illustrated history of the Fabulous Pulp Magazines |location=San Francisco |publisher=Chronicle Books |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-8118-0112-6 |pages=62–65 }}</ref> ''[[Oriental Stories]]'', ''[[Planet Stories]]'', ''Spicy Detective'', ''[[Startling Stories]]'', ''[[Wonder Stories|Thrilling Wonder Stories]]'', ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]]'', ''[[Weird Tales]]'' and ''[[Western Story Magazine]]''.<ref name="ls" />

During the economic hardships of the [[Great Depression]], pulps provided affordable content to the masses, and were one of the primary forms of entertainment, along with [[Classical Hollywood cinema|film]] and [[Golden Age of Radio|radio]].<ref name="illustrationhistory.org"/>

Although pulp magazines were primarily an American phenomenon, there were also a number of British pulp magazines published between the [[Edwardian era]] and [[World War II]]. Notable UK pulps included ''[[The Pall Mall Magazine]]'', ''The Novel Magazine'', ''[[Cassell's Magazine]]'', ''[[The Story-Teller]]'', ''The Sovereign Magazine'', ''Hutchinson's Adventure-Story'' and ''Hutchinson's Mystery-Story''.<ref name="age">Ashley, Michael (2006). ''The Age of the Storytellers: British Popular Fiction Magazines, 1880–1950''. British Library. {{ISBN|1-58456-170-X}}</ref> The German fantasy magazine ''[[Der Orchideengarten]]'' had a similar format to American pulp magazines, in that it was printed on rough pulp paper and heavily illustrated.<ref>"Orchideengarten, Der". in: M.B. Tymn and Mike Ashley, ''Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines''. Westport: Greenwood, 1985. pp. 866. {{ISBN|0-313-21221-X}}</ref>

===World War II and market decline===
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During the [[Second World War]], paper shortages had a serious impact on pulp production, starting a steady rise in costs and the decline of the pulps. Following the model of ''[[Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine]]'' in 1941, some magazines began to switch to [[digest size]]: smaller, sometimes thicker magazines. In 1949, Street & Smith closed most of their pulp magazines in order to move upmarket and produce [[Slick (magazine format)|slicks]].<ref>Ashley, Michael. ''Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970'', Volume 2 (2005), pg. 3 {{ISBN|978-0-85323-779-2}}</ref>

Competition from [[Comic book|comic-books]] and [[Paperback|paperback novels]] further eroded the pulps' market share, but it has been suggested the widespread expansion of [[television]] also drew away the readership of the pulps.<ref name="illustrationhistory.org"/> In a more affluent post-war America, the price gap compared to slick magazines was far less significant. In the 1950s, [[men's adventure]] magazines also began to draw some former pulp readers.

The 1957 liquidation of the [[American News Company]], then the primary distributor of pulp magazines, has sometimes been taken as marking the end of the "pulp era"; by that date, many of the famous pulps of the previous generation, including ''Black Mask,'' ''[[The Shadow (magazine)|The Shadow]],'' ''[[Doc Savage (magazine)|Doc Savage]],'' and ''[[Weird Tales]],'' were defunct (though some of those titles have been revived in various formats in the decades since).<ref name="ahgttp" /> Almost all of the few remaining former pulp magazines are science fiction or [[mystery fiction|mystery]] magazines, now in formats similar to "[[digest size]]", such as ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact]]'', though the most durable revival of ''Weird Tales'' began in pulp format, though published on good-quality paper. The old format is still in use for some lengthy serials, like the German science fiction weekly ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'' (over 3,000 issues as of 2019).

Over the course of their evolution, there were a huge number of pulp magazine titles; [[Harry Steeger]] of [[Popular Publications]] claimed that his company alone had published over 300, and at their peak they were publishing 42 titles per month.<ref name = "Haining02">{{cite book | last=Haining |first=Peter |title=The Fantastic Pulps | year=1975 |publisher=Vintage Books, a division of Random House |isbn=0-394-72109-8}}</ref> Many titles of course survived only briefly. While the most popular titles were monthly, many were bimonthly and some were quarterly.

The collapse of the pulp industry changed the landscape of publishing because pulps were the single largest sales outlet for short stories. Combined with the decrease in slick magazine fiction markets, writers trying to support themselves by creating fiction switched to novels and book-length anthologies of shorter pieces. Some ex-pulp writers like [[Hugh B. Cave]] and [[Robert Leslie Bellem]] had moved on to writing for television by the 1950s.

The last pulp to cease publication was ''[[Ranch Romances]]'' in 1971.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nevins |first=Jess |author-link=Jess Nevins |url= |title=The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-983884-4 |editor-last=Latham |editor-first=Rob |editor-link=Rob Latham |pages=93 |language=en |chapter=Pulp Science Fiction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D44dBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA93}}</ref>

==Genres<!--'Girlie pulp' and 'Sex pulp' redirect here-->==
[[File:Planet stories 1940fal.jpg|thumb|250px|''[[Planet Stories]]'', a science fiction pulp published between 1939 and 1955]]
Pulp magazines often contained a wide variety of [[genre fiction]], including, but not limited to:
*[[adventure novel|adventure]]
*aviation
*[[Detective fiction|detective]]/[[Mystery fiction|mystery]]
*[[Spy fiction|espionage]]
*[[fantasy]]
*[[gangster]]
*"'''girlie pulps'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->",<ref>Douglas Ellis, ''Uncovered: The Hidden Art of the Girlie Pulp'', Adventure House, 2003.</ref> also called "saucy/spicy pulps" or "sex pulps" (including [[soft porn]])
*[[horror (genre)|horror]]/[[occult]] (including "[[weird menace]]")
*humor
*railroad
*romance
*[[science fiction]]
*[[Noir fiction|''série noire'']] (French [[crime fiction]])
*sports
*war
*[[Westerns]] (also see [[dime Western]]s); the [[Colorado]] artist [[Arthur Roy Mitchell]] is particularly known for his sketches of the covers of such magazines.

The [[American Old West]] was a mainstay genre of early turn of the 20th-century novels as well as later pulp magazines, and lasted longest of all the traditional pulps. In many ways, the later [[men's adventure]] ("the sweats") was the replacement of pulps.

Many classic science fiction and crime novels were originally [[Serial (literature)|serialized]] in pulp magazines such as ''[[Weird Tales]]'', ''[[Amazing Stories]]'', and ''[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]''.

==Notable original characters==
[[File:Black Mask November 1927 - Poisonville.jpg|thumb|November 1927 issue of ''[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]'', featuring [[The Continental Op]]]]
While the majority of pulp magazines were anthology titles featuring many different authors, characters and settings, some of the most enduring magazines were those that featured a single recurring character. These were often referred to as "hero pulps" because the recurring character was almost always a larger-than-life hero in the mold of [[Doc Savage]] or [[The Shadow]].<ref name = "Hutchison">{{cite book |last=Hutchison |first=Don |title=The Great Pulp Heroes |year=1995 |publisher=Mosaic Press |isbn=0-88962-585-9 }}</ref>

Popular pulp characters that headlined in their own magazines:
{{Columns-list|colwidth=15em|
<!---Heavy Metal (magazine) don't include it its mostly comics--->
*[[Avenger (pulp-magazine character)|The Avenger]]
*[[The Black Bat]]
*[[Captain Future]]
*[[El Coyote (character)|El Coyote]]
*[[Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective]]
*[[Doc Savage]]
*[[Doctor Death (magazine)|Doctor Death]]
*[[Dr. Yen Sin]]
*[[G-8 (character)|G-8]]
*[[Hopalong Cassidy]]
*[[Ka-Zar (pulp series)|Ka-Zar]]
*[[Raffles (Lord Lister)|Lord Lister (aka Raffles)]]
*[[Nick Carter (literary character)|Nick Carter]]
*[[Operator No. 5]]
*[[The Phantom Detective]]
*[[Secret Agent X]]
*[[The Shadow]]
*[[The Spider]]
}}

Popular pulp characters who appeared in anthology titles such as ''[[Argosy (magazine)|All-Story]]'' or ''[[Weird Tales]]'':
{{Columns-list|colwidth=15em|
*[[Biggles]]
*[[Bran Mak Morn]]
*[[Buck Rogers]]
*[[Conan the Barbarian]]
*[[The Continental Op]]
*[[Domino Lady]]
*[[The Eel (fictional character)|The Eel]]
*[[Green Lama]]
*[[Jim Anthony]]
*[[John Carter of Mars]]
*[[Jules de Grandin]]
*[[Khlit the Cossack]]
*[[Kull of Atlantis|Kull]]
*[[Moon Man (literary character)|Moon Man]]
*[[Sexton Blake]]
*[[Solomon Kane]]
*[[Tarzan]]
*[[Zorro]]
}}

==Illustrators==
Pulp covers were printed in color on higher-quality (slick) paper. They were famous for their half-dressed [[damsel in distress|damsels in distress]], usually awaiting a rescuing [[hero]]. Cover art played a major part in the marketing of pulp magazines. The early pulp magazines could boast covers by some distinguished American artists; ''The Popular Magazine'' had covers by [[N. C. Wyeth]], and [[Edgar Franklin Wittmack]] contributed cover art to ''Argosy''<ref>{{cite book|last=Hulse|first =Ed|title =The Blood 'n' Thunder Guide to Collecting Pulps |pages =26, 163|isbn = 978-0979595509|publisher = Muriana Press |date = 2009}}</ref> and ''Short Stories''.<ref>Robinson, Frank M., and Davidson, Lawrence. ''Pulp Culture – The Art of Fiction Magazines''. Collectors Press, 2007. {{ISBN|1-933112-30-1}} (p.42).</ref> Later, many artists specialized in creating covers mainly for the pulps; a number of the most successful cover artists became as popular as the authors featured on the interior pages. Among the most famous pulp artists were [[Walter M. Baumhofer]], [[Earle K. Bergey]], [[Margaret Brundage]], [[Edd Cartier]], [[Virgil Finlay]], [[Frank R. Paul]], [[Norman Saunders]], [[Emmett Watson (illustrator)|Emmett Watson]], [[Nick Eggenhofer]], (who specialized in [[Western (genre)|Western]] illustrations), [[H. J. Ward|Hugh J. Ward]], [[George Rozen]], and [[Rudolph Belarski]].<ref>''The Adventure House Guide to the Pulps'', edited by Doug Ellis, John Locke, and John Gunnison. Silver Spring, MD, Adventure House, 2000. (p. xi–xii).</ref> Covers were important enough to sales that sometimes they would be designed first; authors would then be shown the cover art and asked to write a story to match.

Later pulps began to feature interior illustrations, depicting elements of the stories. The drawings were printed in black ink on the same cream-colored paper used for the text, and had to use specific techniques to avoid blotting on the coarse texture of the cheap pulp. Thus, fine lines and heavy detail were usually not an option. Shading was by [[crosshatch]]ing or [[pointillism]], and even that had to be limited and coarse. Usually the art was black lines on the paper's background, but Finlay and a few others did some work that was primarily white lines against large dark areas.

==Authors and editors==
Another way pulps kept costs down was by paying authors less than other markets; thus many eminent authors started out in the pulps before they were successful enough to sell to better-paying markets, and similarly, well-known authors whose careers were slumping or who wanted a few quick dollars could bolster their income with sales to pulps. Additionally, some of the earlier pulps solicited stories from amateurs who were quite happy to see their words in print and could thus be paid token amounts.<ref>John A. Dinan, ''Sports in the Pulp Magazines''. McFarland, 1998, ISB0786404817 (pp. 130–32).</ref>

There were also career pulp writers, capable of turning out huge amounts of prose on a steady basis, often with the aid of [[Dictation (exercise)|dictation]] to [[stenographer]]s, machines or [[Copy typist|typist]]s. Before he became a novelist, [[Upton Sinclair]] was turning out at least 8,000 words per day seven days a week for the pulps, keeping two stenographers fully employed. Pulps would often have their authors use multiple pen names so that they could use multiple stories by the same person in one issue, or use a given author's stories in three or more successive issues, while still appearing to have varied content. One advantage pulps provided to authors was that they paid ''upon acceptance'' for material instead of on publication. Since a story might be accepted months or even years before publication, to a working writer this was a crucial difference in [[cash flow]].

Some pulp editors became known for cultivating good fiction and interesting features in their magazines. Preeminent pulp magazine editors included [[Arthur Sullivant Hoffman]] (''[[Adventure (magazine)|Adventure]]''),<ref>[[Richard Bleiler|Bleiler, Richard]] "Forgotten Giant: Hoffman's Adventure". Purple Prose Magazine, November 1998, p. 3-12.</ref> [[Robert Hobart Davis|Robert H. Davis]] (''[[The All-Story Magazine|All-Story Weekly]]''), [[Harry E. Maule]] (''[[Short Stories (magazine)|Short Stories]]''),<ref>Sampson, Robert. (1991) ''Yesterday's Faces:Dangerous Horizons Popular Press'', 1991, (p.87).</ref> [[Donald Kennicott]] (''[[Blue Book (magazine)|Blue Book]]''), [[Joseph Shaw (editor)|Joseph Shaw]] (''[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]''), [[Farnsworth Wright]] (''[[Weird Tales]]'', ''[[Oriental Stories]]''), [[John W. Campbell]] (''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Astounding Science Fiction]]'', ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]]'') and [[Daisy Bacon]] (''Love Story Magazine'', ''Detective Story Magazine'').<ref>Locke, John ed. "Editors You Want to Know: Daisy Bacon" by Joa Humphrey in ''Pulpwood Days: Editors You Want to Know''. Off-Trail, 2007. {{ISBN|0-9786836-2-5}} (p. 77). Daisy Bacon (1899?–1986) was nicknamed "Queen of the Woodpulps".</ref>

==Authors featured==
Well-known authors who wrote for pulps include:

{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* [[Poul Anderson]]
* [[Isaac Asimov]]
* [[Charles Beadle]]
* [[H. Bedford-Jones]]
* [[Robert Leslie Bellem]]
* [[E. F. Benson]]
* [[Alfred Bester]]
* [[Robert Bloch]]
* [[B. M. Bower]]
* [[Leigh Brackett]]
* [[Ray Bradbury]]
* [[Max Brand]]
* [[William Brandon (author)|William Brandon]]
* [[Fredric Brown]]
* [[John Buchan]]
* [[F. R. Buckley]]
* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]
* [[William S. Burroughs]]
* [[Ellis Parker Butler]]
* [[Paul Cain (pen name)|Paul Cain]]
* [[Hugh B. Cave]]
* [[Paul Chadwick (author)|Paul Chadwick]]
* [[Raymond Chandler]]
* [[Agatha Christie]]
* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]
* [[Joseph Conrad]]
* [[Stephen Crane]]
* [[Ray Cummings]]
* [[Tom Curry (writer)|Tom Curry]]
* [[Carroll John Daly]]
* [[Lester Dent]]
* [[August Derleth]]
* [[Philip K. Dick]]
* [[J. Allan Dunn]]
* [[Lord Dunsany]]
* [[C. M. Eddy Jr.]]
* [[Arthur Guy Empey]]
* [[George Allan England]]
* [[Philip José Farmer]]
*[[C. S. Forester]]
*[[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]
*[[Arthur O. Friel]]
*[[Erle Stanley Gardner]]
*[[Walter B. Gibson]]
*[[David Goodis]]
*[[Lewis Patrick Greene|L. Patrick Greene]]
*[[Zane Grey]]
*[[Frank Gruber (writer)|Frank Gruber]]
*[[H. Rider Haggard]]
*[[Edmond Hamilton]]
*[[Dashiell Hammett]]
*[[Margie Harris]]
*[[Victor Headley]]
*[[Robert A. Heinlein]]
*[[O. Henry]]
*[[Frank Herbert]]
*[[Robert E. Howard]]
*[[L. Ron Hubbard]]
*[[Carl Richard Jacobi|Carl Jacobi]]
*[[John Jakes]]
*[[Ardyth Kennelly]]
*[[Donald Keyhoe]]
*[[Rudyard Kipling]]
*[[Henry Kuttner]]
*[[Harold Lamb]]
*[[Louis L'Amour]]
*[[Margery Lawrence]]
*[[Fritz Leiber]]
*[[Murray Leinster]]
* [[Elmore Leonard|Elmore John Leonard]]
* [[Jack London]]
* [[H. P. Lovecraft]]
* [[Giles A. Lutz]]
* [[John D. MacDonald]]
* [[William Colt MacDonald]]
* [[Elmer Brown Mason]]
* [[F. Van Wyck Mason]]
* [[Horace McCoy]]
* [[Johnston McCulley]]
* [[Eldred Kurtz Means]]
* [[Merriam Modell]]
* [[C. L. Moore]]
* [[Frederick Ferdinand Moore]]
* [[Walt Morey]]
* [[Talbot Mundy]]
* [[Philip Francis Nowlan]]
* [[Fulton Oursler]]
* [[Hugh Pendexter]]
* [[Emil Petaja]]
* [[E. Hoffmann Price]]
* [[Ellery Queen]]
* [[Seabury Quinn]]
* [[John H. Reese]]
* [[Arthur B. Reeve]]
* [[Tod Robbins]]
* [[Sax Rohmer]]
* [[Theodore Roscoe]]
* [[Rafael Sabatini]]
* [[Charles Alden Seltzer]]
* [[Stephen Shadegg]]
* [[Richard S. Shaver]]
* [[Robert Silverberg]]
* [[Bertrand William Sinclair]]
* [[Upton Sinclair]]
* [[Arthur D. Howden Smith]]
* [[Clark Ashton Smith]]
* [[E. E. Smith]]
* [[Mickey Spillane]]
* [[Thomas Sigismund Stribling|T. S. Stribling]]
* [[Jim Thompson (writer)|Jim Thompson]]
* [[Thomas Thursday]]
* [[W. C. Tuttle]]
* [[Mark Twain]]
* [[Jack Vance]]
* [[E. C. Vivian]]
* [[Edgar Wallace]]
* [[H. G. Wells]]
* [[Henry S. Whitehead]]
* [[Raoul Whitfield]]
* [[Tennessee Williams]]
* [[P. G. Wodehouse]] 
* [[Cornell Woolrich]]
* [[Gordon Young (writer)|Gordon Young]]
}}

[[Sinclair Lewis]], first American winner of the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], worked as an editor for ''[[Adventure (magazine)|Adventure]]'', writing filler paragraphs (brief facts or amusing anecdotes designed to fill small gaps in page layout), advertising copy and a few stories.<ref>Schorer, M. ''Sinclair Lewis: An American Life'', pp. 3–22. McGraw-Hill, 1961.</ref>

==Publishers==
[[File:Dime Mystery Book Magazine January 1933.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Cover of the pulp magazine ''Dime Mystery Book Magazine'', January 1933]]
*[[A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers]] (Periodical House/Ace Magazines) published ''Secret Agent X'', ''Flying Aces'' and others
*[[Thrilling Publications|Better/Standard/Thrilling (The Thrilling Group)]] published ''Captain Future'', ''Startling Stories'', ''The Phantom Detective'', and ''The Black Bat''.
*[[William Clayton (publisher)|William Clayton]] published ''Ginger Stories'', ''Pep Stories'' and ''Snappy Stories''
* [[Columbia Publications]] published ''[[Future Science Fiction]]'', ''[[Science Fiction (American magazine)|Science Fiction]]'', and ''[[Science Fiction Quarterly]]''
*[[Dell Publishing]] published ''I Confess''
*[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday, Page and Company]] published ''[[Short Stories (magazine)|Short Stories]]'', ''West'' and ''The Frontier''
*[[Fiction House]] published ''[[Planet Stories]]''
*[[Frank Munsey|Frank A. Munsey Co.]] published ''[[Argosy (magazine)|Argosy]]''
*[[Harold Hersey]] published ''[[Gangster Stories]]''
*[[Harry Donenfeld]]'s Culture Publications published ''Spicy Detective'', ''Spicy Mystery'' and ''Spicy Adventure''
*[[Hugo Gernsback]] published ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' and ''[[Wonder Stories]]''
*J. C. Henneberger's Rural Publications published ''[[Weird Tales]]'' and ''Oriental Tales''
*[[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]] published ''Ka-Zar'', ''Marvel Tales'' and ''Marvel Science Stories''
*[[Hutchinson (publisher)|Hutchinson]], main publisher of UK pulps<ref name="age" />
*[[Popular Publications]] published ''The Spider'', ''G-8'', ''Horror Stories,'' ''Black Mask,'' ''True Love'' and later ''Argosy''
*[[Butterick Publishing Company|The Ridgway Company]] published ''Adventure'', ''[[Everybody's Magazine]]'' and ''[[Romance (magazine)|Romance]]''
*[[Street & Smith]] published ''Astounding'', ''Unknown'', ''Doc Savage'' and ''The Shadow''
*Courtland Young's C.H. Young Publishing published ''Breezy Stories''

==Legacy==
The term ''pulp fiction'' is often incorrectly used for massmarket paperbacks since the 1950s. The Browne Popular Culture Library News noted:

<blockquote>Many of the paperback houses that contributed to the decline of the genre–Ace, Dell, Avon, among others–were actually started by pulp magazine publishers. They had the presses, the expertise, and the newsstand distribution networks which made the success of the mass-market paperback possible. These pulp-oriented paperback houses mined the old magazines for reprints. This kept pulp literature, if not pulp magazines, alive. ''The Return of the Continental Op'' reprints material first published in ''Black Mask''; ''Five Sinister Characters'' contains stories first published in ''Dime Detective''; and ''The Pocket Book of Science Fiction'' collects material from ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', ''Astounding Science Fiction'' and ''Amazing Stories''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.bgsu.edu/pclnews/?p=9|website=Browne Popular Culture Library News|title=They Came from the Newsstand: Pulp Magazines from the Browne Library|publisher=Bowling Green State University|date=31 May 1994|access-date=October 22, 2009|archive-date=October 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006073905/http://blogs.bgsu.edu/pclnews/?p=9|url-status=dead}}</ref> But note that mass market paperbacks are not pulps.</blockquote>

In 1991, ''[[The Pulpster]]'' debuted at that year's [[Pulpcon]], the annual pulp magazine convention that had begun in 1972. The magazine, devoted to the history and legacy of the pulp magazines, has been published each year since. It now appears in connection with [[PulpFest]], the summer pulp convention that grew out of and replaced Pulpcon. ''The Pulpster'' was originally edited by Tony Davis and is currently edited by William Lampkin, who also runs the website ThePulp.Net. Contributors have included Don Hutchison, Robert Sampson, [[Will Murray]], Al Tonik, Nick Carr, [[Mike Resnick]], [[Hugh B. Cave]], Joseph Wrzos, [[Jessica Amanda Salmonson]], [[Chet Williamson]], and many others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thepulpster.com/about/|website=The Pulpster|title=About "The Pulpster"|date=5 March 2021|access-date=March 5, 2021|archive-date=March 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230304045941/https://thepulpster.com/about/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1992, Rich W. Harvey came out with a magazine called ''Pulp Adventures'' reprinting old classics. It came out regularly until 2001, and then started up again in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philsp.com/data/data392.html#PULPADVENTURES|website=Magazine Data File|title=Pulp Adventures|first=Phil|last=Stephensen-Payne|date=2018|access-date=July 10, 2018|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710195907/http://www.philsp.com/data/data392.html#PULPADVENTURES|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1994, [[Quentin Tarantino]] directed the film ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''. The [[working title]] of the film was ''Black Mask'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/releaseinfo|title=Pulp Fiction (1994) – Release Info|via=IMDb|access-date=January 21, 2020|archive-date=March 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190312001546/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/releaseinfo|url-status=live}}</ref> in homage to the [[Black Mask (magazine)|pulp magazine of that name]], and it embodied the seedy, violent, often crime-related spirit found in pulp magazines.

In 1997 C. Cazadessus Jr. launched ''Pulpdom'', a continuation of his Hugo Award-winning ''ERB-dom'' which began in 1960. It ran for 75 issues and featured articles about the content and selected fiction from the pulps. It became ''Pulpdom Online'' in 2013 and continues quarterly publication.

After 2000, several small independent publishers released magazines which published short fiction, either short stories or novel-length presentations, in the tradition of the pulp magazines of the early 20th century. These included ''Blood 'N Thunder'', ''High Adventure'' and a short-lived magazine which revived the title ''Argosy''. These specialist publications, printed in limited press runs, were pointedly not printed on the brittle, high-acid wood pulp paper of the old publications and were not mass market publications targeted at a wide audience. In 2004, Lost Continent Library published ''Secret of the Amazon Queen'' by E.A. Guest, their first contribution to a "New Pulp Era", featuring the hallmarks of pulp fiction for contemporary mature readers: violence, horror and sex. E.A. Guest was likened to a blend of pulp era icon Talbot Mundy and Stephen King by real-life explorer David Hatcher Childress.

In 2002, the tenth issue of ''[[Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern|McSweeney's Quarterly]]'' was guest edited by [[Michael Chabon]]. Published as ''McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales'', it is a collection of "pulp fiction" stories written by such current well-known authors as [[Stephen King]], [[Nick Hornby]], [[Aimee Bender]], and [[Dave Eggers]]. Explaining his vision for the project, Chabon wrote in the introduction, "I think that we have forgotten how much fun reading a short story can be, and I hope that if nothing else, this treasury goes some small distance toward reminding us of that lost but fundamental truth."

The [[Scotland|Scottish]] publisher [[DC Thomson]] publishes "My Weekly Compact Novel" every week.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dcthomson.co.uk/subscriptions/default.asp?pageName=productDetails&productID=15 |title=DC Thomson Shop – Home Page |publisher=Dcthomson.co.uk |access-date=2010-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818010637/http://www.dcthomson.co.uk/subscriptions/default.asp?pageName=productDetails&productID=15 |archive-date=August 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> It is literally a pulp novel, though it does not fall into the hard-edged genre most associated with pulp fiction.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

From 2006 through 2019, Anthony Tollin's imprint Sanctum Books has reprinted all 182 ''Doc Savage'' pulp novels, all 24 of Paul Ernst's ''Avenger'' novels, the 14 ''Whisperer'' novels from the original pulp series and all but three novels of the entire run of ''The Shadow'' (most of his publications featuring two novels in one book).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pulpfest.com/2016/06/ten-years-shadows-sanctum-anthony-tollins-sanctum-books/|title=Ten Years in the Shadow's Sanctum — Anthony Tollin's Sanctum Books – PulpFest|access-date=February 11, 2020|archive-date=September 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923191858/https://www.pulpfest.com/2016/06/ten-years-shadows-sanctum-anthony-tollins-sanctum-books/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
*[[B movie]]
*''[[Crimefighters]]''
*[[Dime novel]]
*[[George Kelley Paperback and Pulp Fiction Collection]]
*[[Hard Case Crime]]
*''[[Il Giallo Mondadori]]''
*[[Science fiction magazine]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin}}
* Chambliss, Julian and William Svitavsky, "[http://scholarship.rollins.edu/as_facpub/2/ From Pulp Hero to Superhero: Culture, Race, and Identity in AmericanPopular Culture, 1900–1940]," ''Studies in American Culture'' 30 (1) (October 2008). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330220838/http://scholarship.rollins.edu/as_facpub/2/ |date=March 30, 2012 }}
* Ellis, Doug. ''Uncovered: The Hidden Art of the Girlie Pulps – Gold Medal Winner for Best Popular Culture Book BEA 2004'' (Adventure House, −2003) {{ISBN|1-886937-74-5}}
* Gunnison, Locke and Ellis. ''Adventure House Guide to the Pulps'' (Adventure House, 2000) {{ISBN|1-886937-45-1}}
* Hersey, Harold. ''The New Pulpwood Editor'' (Adventure House, 2003) {{ISBN|1-886937-68-0}}
* Lesser, Robert. ''Pulp Art: Original Cover Paintings for the Great American Pulp Magazines'' (Book Sales, 2003) {{ISBN|0-7858-1707-7}}
* Locke, John-editor. ''Pulp Fictioneers – Adventures in the Storytelling Business'' (Adventure House, 2004) {{ISBN|1-886937-83-4}}
* Locke, John-editor. ''Pulpwood Days – Vol. 1 Editors You Want To Know'' (Off-Trail Publications, 2007) {{ISBN|0-9786836-2-5}}
* Parfrey, Adam, et al. ''It's a Man's World: Men's Adventure Magazines, the Postwar Pulps'' (Feral House, 2003) {{ISBN|0-922915-81-4}}
* Robinson, Frank and Davidson, Lawrence. ''Pulp Culture'' (Collector's Press, 2007) {{ISBN|978-1-933112-30-5}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Dinan, John A. (1983). ''The Pulp Western: A Popular History of the Western Fiction Magazine in America''. Borgo Press. {{ISBN|0-89370-161-0}}.
* Goodstone, Tony (1970). ''The Pulps: 50 Years of American Pop Culture''. Bonanza Books (Crown Publishers, Inc.). {{ISBN|978-0-394-44186-3}}.
* Goulart, Ron (1972). ''Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazine''. Arlington House. {{ISBN|978-0-87000-172-7}}.
* Goulart, Ron (1988). ''The Dime Detectives''. Mysterious Press. {{ISBN|0-89296-191-0}}.
* Hamilton, Frank and Hullar, Link (1988). ''Amazing Pulp Heroes''. Gryphon Books. {{ISBN|0-936071-09-5}}.
* Robbins, Leonard A. (1988). ''The Pulp Magazine Index'' (six volumes). Starmont House. {{ISBN|1-55742-111-0}}.
* Sampson, Robert (1983). ''Yesterday's Faces: A Study of Series Characters in the Early Pulp Magazines''. Volume 1 ''Glory Figures''. Vol. 2 ''Strange Days''. Vol. 3 ''From the Dark Side''. Vol. 4 ''The Solvers''. Vol 5. ''Dangerous Horizons''. Vol. 6. ''Violent Lives''. Bowling Green University Popular Press. {{ISBN|0-87972-217-7}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Pulp magazines}}
*[http://www.pulpmags.org/default.htm The Pulp Magazines Project]
*[https://thepulp.net/ ThePulp.Net]
*[https://peaps.net/ PEAPS – Pulp Era Amateur Press Society]
*[http://www.pulpillustrationart.com Pulp Illustration Art]
*[http://www.pulpinternational.com/ Pulp International]
*[http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/11/01/hard.case.books/index.html CNN: "Girls, Guns and Money," November 2005]
*[http://www.msvu.ca/en/home/library/aboutthelibrary/policiesprocedures/collectionpolicy/lesbianpulpfictioncollection.aspx Mt. St. Vincent University Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170630093807/http://www.gravedistractions.com/pulp-winds.php "Pulp Winds", December 2009]
*[https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/pulp.html Pulp Fiction Collection] at the Library of Congress
*[http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCl0090.xml;chunk.id=headerlink;brand=default Clark Pulp Fiction Collection] at [[Cleveland Public Library]]

{{Horror fiction}}
{{ScienceFictionFantasyWeirdPulpMagazines}}

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[[Category:Magazine publishing]]
[[Category:Pulp fiction| ]]
[[Category:Pulp magazines| ]]
[[Category:Magazine genres]]