Publishers Weekly: This impressive anthology of pulp-era crime stories from veteran editor and publisher Penzler reveals not only tales with surprising staying power but also some of high literary quality. To be sure, there are some selections sure to offend modern sensibilities and others whose extravagant prose now comes across as laughable or ludicrous. But aside from questions of quality and taste, these tales laid the foundation for most branches of the crime fiction genre as we know it today. Raymond Chandler's Red Wind is as effective now as it was when published in 1938. An unexpected treat is Faith, a previously unpublished Dashiell Hammett story. Multiple offerings from Erle Stanley Gardner, Hammett, Chandler and Cornell Woolrich add luster. Divided into three sections—the Crimefighters, the Villains, the Dames—with cogent intros by Penzler to each entry, this comprehensive volume allows the reader to revisit that exciting time when the pulp magazines flourished and writers pounded out fiction for a penny a word or less.
Of course, those times have gone ... Journalism is edging out fiction at The Atlantic Monthly magazine, which during its nearly 150-year history has published short stories by Henry James, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. In a note to readers in the May issue, The Atlantic's editors said they will no longer run a short story in every issue but will produce an annual fiction issue in August that will be available in print form on newsstands and online to subscribers.
Back to the Pulp. Here's Booklist: Pulp fiction's comeback is so complete that it's hard to call it a guilty pleasure. Publishers are busily reprinting old favorites and issuing new stuff written in the manner of the old ones. And, as always, the covers are surely half of the appeal. Black Lizard has been in this business longer than most; this mammoth compilation of reprints is, paradoxically, a Vintage Books Original. And Penzler's credentials as both editor and fan can't be questioned—although genre loyalists will have fun debating his choices. Using a stringent definition of pulp, he selects mostly works that first appeared in the immortal Black Mask. Divided into three parts—Crimefighters, Villains, and Dames—the Big Book features names both beloved (Chandler, Hammett, Cain) and barely remembered (Booth, Reeves, White). There are firsts of one kind (a claimed first-ever publication of Dashiell Hammett's short story Faith) and another (a novel, The Third Murderer, by Carroll John Daly, the inventor of the hard-boiled private-eye story). It's a little less fun reading these slim things in a groaning compendium, but at least it's a paperback. And good luck finding them all on your own.
See also: Actress Jessica Biel options the film rights to Edgar-nominated writer Megan Abbott's "Die a Little," a Los Angeles noir novel set in the 1950s with an intriguing character twist.
The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps |
