From the late 1800s to the mid-1950s, inexpensive fiction magazines referred to as “pulp” magazines circulated in the United States. Made of low cost, untrimmed paper and printed on cheap printing presses, these magazines provided affordable entertainment to the masses in the form of (often) sensational fiction stories, featuring crime, action and adventure for a very low price. Many popular authors of the ‘30s through the ’60s began their careers writing short stories for the pulp magazines of the day - magazines such as “Argosy”, “Adventure”, “Blue Book”, and “Short Stories”. Below are some of the authors who moved beyond the pulps, their most famous genre(s), and at least one of their well- known titles or characters.
- Asimov, Isaac - science fiction. “I, Robot” (1950)
- Brackett, Leigh - science fiction, mystery and screenplays. “No Good from a Corpse” (1944)
- Bradbury, Ray - science fiction. “Dandelion Wine” (1957)
- Cain, James M. - detective fiction. “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1934)
- Chandler, Raymond - detective fiction with character Philip Marlowe. “The Big Sleep” (1939)
- Dick, Philip K. - science fiction. “The Man in the High Castle” (1962)
- Gardner, Erle Stanley - detective fiction with character Perry Mason. “The Case of the Careless Kitten” (1942)
- Hammett, Dashiell - detective fiction with characters Sam Spade and Nick & Nora Charles. “The Maltese Falcon” (1930)
- Heinlein, Robert - science fiction. “Stranger in a Strange Land” (1961)
- Leonard, Elmore - western and crime fiction. Many of Leonard’s stories became movies. “The Big Bounce” (1969)
- MacDonald, John D. - detective fiction. “Cape Fear” (1957)
- MacDonald, Ross - detective fiction with character Lew Archer. “The Moving Target” (1949)
- Queen, Ellery - detective fiction. Ellery Queen is a pseudonym, and was sometimes a character and sometimes the author in these stories and novels. “The Siamese Twin Mystery” (1934)
- Thompson, Jim - crime fiction. “The Killer Inside Me” (1952)
Many of the hard-boiled detective books also became movies:
- “Double Indemnity” (1944)
- “The Big Sleep” (1946)
- “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1946)
- “The Maltese Falcon” (1941)
- “The Thin Man” (1934)
In the 1940s, pulp magazines began to give way to today’s paperback books. There are still a few magazines that publish short stories, and the library subscribes to several:
- “Analog Science Fiction and Fact”
- “Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine”
- “Fantasy & Science Fiction”
You can always get your short story or mid-century fiction fix at the library!
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Beth Wood is a senior collection development librarian for Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries. Her weekly column "Check It Out" is published in The Columbian. Email her at readingforfun@fvrl.org.
From the late 1800s to the mid-1950s, cheap fiction magazines called "pulp" magazines circulated in the United States. The "pulps" contained sensational crime, action and adventure stories that were affordable entertainment for everyone. Many popular authors of the '30s through the '60s began their careers writing short stories for these magazines.
New at the Library
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org, or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
FICTION
“The Glowing Life of Leeann Wu” by Mindy Hung
“The Ferryman and His Wife” by Frode Grytten
“Secret Nights and Northern Lights” by Megan Oliver
NONFICTION
“Truly” by Lionel Richie
“Last Rites” by Ozzy Osbourne
“Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution” by Amanda Vaill
CHILDREN
“My Cat Is a Secret Agent” by Daniel J. Mahoney
“Little Woodchucks: Offerman Woodshop’s Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery” by Nick Offerman
“Secrets of the Snakestone” by Piu DasGupta
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