The Joys of Pure Pulp

[Wifetheif]

I read almost no contemporary fiction. Give me classic pulp any day of the week! Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Spider! The authors of those books really knew how to write Walter B. Gibson, the main Shadow author churned out a million words plus a year for twenty years while still finding time for other writing projects and working as a professional magician! He was also Houdini's ghostwriter.
One pulp hero I am also drawn to is Ki-Gor, A blonde Tarzan clone who appeared in Jungle Adventures magazine, one of the last pulps to go out of business. What I love about Ki-Gor especially is his mate, Helene, a red-haired babe running around in a leopard-skin bikini who got naked or was rendered naked in a fair number of the adventures. Here is one example, “Cobra Queen of the Congo Legions,” like most Ki-Gor tales, the title has very little to do with the story. In this case, the main antagonists are a slimy Arab who believes he was wronged by Ki-Gor, bent on revenge, and the last queen of the Egyptians!
What I might love best about these tales is Helene, Ki-Gor’s mate. Though Ki-Gor is a Tarzan rip-off, Helene is no Jane. She is an equal partner in the adventures, Helene is menaced as much or more than Ki-Gor himself, and the various writers who worked under the house name of John Peter Drummond, were not shy about extolling Helen’s charms.

“The leopard-skin halter was bright yellow and black against her body, and she shrugged it free of her rounded supple breasts, hung it on the stub of a broken twig. Then she loosed the thongs that held the spotted breech-clout to her slender waist, slid it down he slender legs, stepped free. She hung the clout atop the halter, then stood nude in the sunshine. She was slender and smooth and supple as she stood there in the bright sunlight; she was a titian-haired goddess standing there in the radiance of her sun-God.”

Now THAT is entertainment! originally published in Spring 1944 I’m sure the G.I.’s stranded European foxholes or Pacific beaches appreciated this bit of fan service. Not that I’m counting or anything, but Helene ends up nude three times in this story, including an off-stage stripping by the villainous bad guy. What I’m trying to say is that the guys behind the John Peter Drummond pseudonym knew EXACTLY what they were doing. Which brings me to my main point. Are any of you fans of classic pulp literature? Whaich of the classic pantheons gets your mind firing on all cylinders?

 

[susurrus]

While I'm not above reading modern stuff, I, too have an affinity for pulp. Burroughs, Lovecraft (yeah yeah, love the work, not the politics) and especially Howard. I believe I developed my writing style trying to emulate REH. Gotta love the description from guys being paid by the word.

 

[bumpercars]

I appreciate a fair bit of pulp, although as @susurrus noted there are often bits that make you wince today, particularly around sexism and racism. If you know that's there going in, though, you can step around it and get some lurid and gritty storytelling.

 

[susurrus]

The main thing you need to keep in mind when going into any kind of vintage literature: it's a product of its time. Things that nobody even thought twice about then is the hugest of taboos these days. It doesn't de-legitimize it, you just have approach it with the knowledge that it was written during a more "unenlightened" time, so to speak.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Howard, Burroughs, John Norman's Gor novels, Ian Fleming, the Destroyer series.