| Author: Anthology & Otto Penzler | |
| Rating: 10 (Brian's Scale) | Reviewer: Brian |
| Genre: Mystery | Publisher:Vintage |
| Pages: 1168 | Orig Pub Date: November 2007 |
| Binding: Paperback |
Bigger IS better
I hobbled over to the computer and realized that its hard to type with one hand. Before you ask why I'm typing with one hand, its because I picked up The Big Book of Pulps and dislocated my shoulder. Of course that simplistic answer does nothing to explain the hobble, well, when my shoulder gave out the book fell on my foot and broke my toe. I mean it has to be said, this is a big friggin book and, quite frankly, I see only one way to really start this review.
I can't help it so lets get this out of way up front.
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that people jog around it for exercise
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that I had to read it in the drive way
The Big Book of Pulps is so big NASA had to orbit a satellite around it!
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that when I dropped it into the ocean the tides changed!
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that I dropped it on 4 quarters and it made a dollar!
The Big Book of Pulps is so big it sat on another quarter and a booger shot out of George Washington's nose!
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that when it dances at a concert the whole band skips.
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that when its open it sits in two time zones.
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that Patrick and I read this book together...at the same time.
The Big Book of Pulps so big that it put on some BVD's and by the time they reached its waist they spelled out boulevard.
The Big Book of Pulps is so big it was baptized in the ocean.
The Big Book of Pulps is so big it makes sumo wrestlers look anorexic.
The Big Book of Pulps is so big it makes Big Bird look like a rubber duck.
The Big Book of Pulps is so big all the restaurants in Baltimore have signs that say: "Maximum Occupancy: 240 Patrons OR The Big Book of Pulps"
The Big Book of Pulps is so big that when it tried running away, they had to use all four sides of the milk carton.
Seriously though I did have to go to the other pulp collections on my shelf and console them, telling them that size doesn't really matter, that its what's on the inside that counts. Which then becomes the million dollar question 'what IS on the inside'? How about short stories, novelettes and two complete novels.
Here are some classic stories from some of the best writers the era produced, regardless of genre, like Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, Cornell Woolrich, Erle Stanley Gardner and James M. Cain. Then there is the joy of reading stories by authors that aren't as well know but should be like Roger Torrey, Stewart Sterling, and Leslie White.
The pulp era was one that comprised of writers banging out stories for 1/2¢ to 1¢ a word. These authors made their living as writers so, in many ways, quantity was the name of the game. The faster you wrote the more you produced. The more you produced the more times you got paid. So polishing a draft or re-writing were luxuries they couldn't afford. This atmosphere lent a certain manic energy to the pulp stories of the day, a fire was lit under their asses and it shows on every page. With things done on the fly there were good, great and so-so writers and The Big Book of Pulps uses an egalitarian approach in collecting these stories. There really aren't any bad stories in the collection but it does become apparent that some are better then others and why they rose to the top.
Otto Penzler has also included mini-bios and a selected bibliography for each author collected. Biographical information about some of these men is scarce and Penzler does a great job of compiling that information and they become equally as entertaining as the stories. The Big Book of Pulps stands as both a historical document and great entertainment all in one package.
Given its great price for all of the content (putting my hands over the ears of the other collections on my shelf) in this case, bigger IS better.
**An Amazon word of caution. The Big Book of Pulps collects three titles that have been and will be released separately. Amazon is offering one of the single titles as part of its "Better Together" program.
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