Pulp Originals:
the e-Publishing of
Mid-Century American Crime Novels
Visit Pulp Originals to read more about or to purchase Adobe e-books of the novels of:
Harry Whittington James McKimmey Day Keene
"This e-publishing of pulp novels may in fact be the next step in the natural evolution of the pulp novel. The word 'pulp' refers to the cheap paper these novels were typically printed on in order to keep costs down and make them highly affordable for the mass market, so perhaps the next step is for them to be published on no paper at all." ~ Jason Starr, "Harry Whittington, The King of Pulp Originals"
Pulporiginals.com was launched by Allan Guthrie and Lee Horsley in the summer of 2003 with the intention of makingthe best of 'the pulps' available to contemporary readers. The site offers for sale in e-book form some of the most vivid and skilfully crafted of mid-twentieth-century American crime novels.
Post-World War II American publishing was hugely energised by the introduction of the paperback. Although the term "pulp" was used initially to refer to the magazines that flourished in the '30s and '40s, many regular pulp magazine authors went on to write for the new wave of publishers of paperback originals (Gold Medal, Dell, Lion, etc.) that sprang up at the start of the '50s. The reading public's response to these short, intensely-plotted novels was phenomenal. Print-runs were enormous (Gold Medal typically printed 400,000 copies of each book), as were the financial rewards for their authors. The pulps paid a penny per word. Based on print-run (not sales), Gold Medal paid a penny per copy. The progression from pulp magazine to pulp novel was irresistible. By 1946 there were over 350 softcover titles in print, and during the next two decades these novels, with their lurid covers and gripping stories, transformed crime writing.
Much that was written by the best-selling pulp crime novelists of this period has fallen out of print. The internet revolution, however, can now provide what the paperback revolution offered half a century ago: cheap editions of some of the most exciting novels to emerge from the great age of hard-boiled crime writing.
The titles currently available on the site are:
Harry Whittington, Sleep with the Devil (1960)
Jason Starr
Harry Whittington was one of the most prolific writers in the history of fiction. From 1946 to 1984 he produced over 150 novels. At his peak he was, for twenty years (in the 50s and 60s), writing on average about seven novels a year. In today's era, where novelists, aided by computers, struggle to compete one book a year, Whittington's achievement was truly superhuman, never to be surpassed, the literary equivalent of DiMaggio's 52-game hitting streak…. While some of his books were more successful than others and some of his titles began to sound alike--they often contained the words "sin," "murder," and "hell"--he maintained an astounding integrity to his work throughout his career, spinning imaginative plots with crisp dialogue and clearly drawn, unforgettable characters. Maybe his writing wasn't as stylized as Thompson's, Goodis's or Cain's, but his plotting and dialogue was as great, or better….
For their first offering, Pulp Originals has chosen Whittington's The Devil Wears Wings, a terrific heist novel, and a superb introduction to Whittington's ouvre. The novel chronicles the descent of former World War Two pilot, Buz Johnson. A classic noir prototype, Johnson is a washed-up alcoholic, a failure by his own doing, now working as a flight instructor at a Florida flight school for a boss he despises. When fellow drunkard Sid Coates comes along and presents one last chance to make it big via an airplane heist of a small town bank, Johnson seizes the chance to redeem his life and maybe give him a shadow of a chance to win the girl of his dreams. Aspects of the plot are ironically newsworthy--the concept of stolen airplanes and crime at a Florida flight school would certainly raise eyebrows from conventional publishers today--and the plot, in typical Whittington fashion, is wildly inventive, filled with surprising twists and great action sequences.
Extract from 'Harry Whittington: The King of Pulp Originals' by Jason Starr, Pulp Originals
Copyright © 2003 by Jason Starr
Buy Whittington's The Devil Wears Wings
Jason Starr's website
James McKimmey, Squeeze Play (1962)
Jason Starr
It seems like every few years a great noir novelist from the "Gold Medal era" of crime fiction is rediscovered for a new generation. During the eighties and nineties, James M. Cain, David Goodis, Jim Thompson, and Charles Willeford all had major revivals. The Black Lizard novels of the late eighties reminded us of the greatness of such writers as Paul Cain, Dan Marlowe, and Peter Rabe. Every few years, Harry Whittington's novels get renewed attention and, thanks to a few forthcoming film adaptations, Gil Brewer is set for a comeback. It's about time for the work of James McKimmey to get this same kind of treatment….
For those unfamiliar with McKimmey's oeuvre, Pulp Originals is publishing one of his greatest works, SQUEEZE PLAY, as an e-offering, available for download…Written in the style of a modern thriller, the book begins with working drone Jake Wade awaking in a drunken stupor in a strange hotel room. Later, in his car, he hears on the radio that his wife was murdered and that he is the prime suspect. Then the plot backtracks to the previous eight days, chronicling the events which led to his wife's killing and Wade's attempt to prove his innocence. The novel has many of the elements of the classic noir thriller--the femme fatale, the lush wife, the hapless protagonist--and is told in seamless, breathtaking prose. In particular, the depiction of the Tahoe casino is dead-on. But what sets SQUEEZE PLAY apart from many pulp novels of its era is its astounding depth. Behind the classic crime plot, we discover real characters with real emotions. With apparent ease, McKimmey accomplishes what few writers can--he thrills us and writes well. While keeping us at the edge of our seats, he tugs at our emotions, describing the tragedy of a couple losing a child, depicting a man's longing for love and true happiness, and giving us a Cheveresque vision of suburban America of the early sixties. SQUEEZE PLAY is not only a great crime novel, it's a great novel, period. And, yes, despite what the ivory tower literati seem to think, great fiction is allowed to have great plotting.
It's truly a crime that all of McKimmey's novels aren't in print. It's almost as if the crime fiction community suffers from a collective amnesia, snapping out of it from time to time to remember a great novelist, only to forget the writer again while thousands of newer, lesser novels get into print each year. Now, thanks to the folks at Pulp Originals, McKimmey's work will get some long overdue attention, and many readers will finally get their first taste of this remarkable American writer.
Extract from 'James McKimmey's Squeeze Play: An American Classic' by Jason Starr, Pulp Originals
Copyright © 2004 by Jason Starr
Buy James McKimmey's Squeeze Play
James McKimmey issue of Noir Originals
Jason Starr's website
Day Keene, Sleep with the Devil (1954) and Who Has Wilma Lathrop? (1955)
Bill Crider
Let us now praise Gunnar Hjerstedt, or Day Keene as he’s known to those of us who like nothing better than to settle down with a paperback original from the great days of the 1950s. Keene, who also wrote for the pulps and for radio, as well as publishing a hardcover novel now and then, was one of the solid professionals of that era….
One of the offerings here is Who Has Wilma Lathrop?, originally published by Gold Medal Books in 1955. In this one, Jim Lathrop, a teacher who knows very little about the woman he’s recently married, is confronted by two men who give him $5000, tell him the money’s for his wife, Wilma, and then proceed to beat him up. When Lathrop gets home, his wife, who happens to be cooking their dinner in filmy negligee, pretends ignorance and distracts Jim in the bedroom. Then she disappears. Lathrop, of course, tries to find her, and in the course of his search he discovers not only that his wife is not who he thought she was but that hardly anything he encounters is what it appears to be. (I’ll leave it to some future doctoral candidate to discuss the fact that Lathrop loses his glasses in the fight with the two men, just before he starts to see everything differently.) Before the end, Lathrop has absorbed (and administered) more beatings, been accused of murder, and found out a number of surprising things about his wife, her family, and her past. Neither Jim nor Wilma will ever be the same.
Sleep with the Devil (originally published by Lion Books in 1954) is a very different sort of story from Who Has Wilma Lathrop? The main character, Les Ferron, is a self-admitted heel, and as he defines it, "The heel [is] the lowest thing in the human nervous system and, consequently, ha[s] no conscience." There is nothing at all to admire about Ferron. We learn in the first sentence that he’s planning to commit murder, and we learn a little later that "the so-called false appetites of life [are] as much a part of his life as breathing." He works as an enforcer for a loan shark, and if he kills someone in the course of his job, it bothers him not at all. He’s also a model for sleazy photographs in true detective magazines and a bit player on radio. (As Keene worked in radio, and it’s too bad he did nothing in the novel about this part of Ferron’s life.) We watch Ferron as he goes about setting up the murder, using (and lying to) everyone he meets. We’re sure he’s not going to get away with it, but everything’s planned perfectly. What could go wrong? The answer, as anyone who’s read this kind of book before knows, is "plenty." But telling any more would spoil a dandy crime novel in which irony piles on irony until the devastating conclusion.
If you’ve never read Day Keene before, either of these books would be a good place to begin. And if you’re already familiar with Keene’s work but haven’t read either or both of these, well, you’ve probably already begun the download. It’s about time.
Extract from 'Day Keene' by Bill Crider, Pulp Originals
Copyright © 2004 by Bill Crider
Buy the Day Keene double
Bill Crider's website
Notes on contributors:
JASON STARR is the author of Cold Caller, Nothing Personal, Fake I.D., Hard Feelings, Tough Luck and Twisted City. He lives with his wife and daughter in New York City. His most recent novel, Twisted City, was published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard in May 2004 and will be published in the UK by No Exit Press in March 2005.
BILL CRIDER lives in Alvin, Texas. He won the Anthony award for his first mystery novel, Too Late To Die, featuring Sheriff Dan Rhodes. The most recent book in that series is A Romantic Way to Die. Crider and his wife, Judy, won the Anthony for "best short story" in 2002 for Chocolate Moose, a Dan Rhodes story. Crider also writes several other series, one about Truman Smith, a private eye who lives in Galveston, another about a university English teacher named Carl Burns, and one about Sally Good, a community college teacher. The first Truman Smith book, Dead on the Island, was nominated for a Shamus award. Stand-alone novels include The Texas Capitol Murders, and Blood Marks. Crider has also written four children's books, the most recent of which are Mike Gonzo and the Sewer Monster, Mike Gonzo and the Almost Invisible Man, and Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror, the last of which won the Golden Duck Award for best juvenile science fiction novel of 1998.
