Over the past two weeks, hundreds of pulps have gone up for sale from Detective, Adventure, Mystery, Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror genres. Check out a few of the highlights below. 

Just in is a large collection of over 1,600 Adventure pulps. The first part of the collection to go up is just over 200 issues of Adventure. This run dates as far back as 1914 and continues into the early 1950s. Their condition ranges for god awful poor to Near Mint and everywhere in between. Adventure debuted in 1910 and ran until 1971 with a total of 861 issues, 753 of which where of the pulp variety. In the 1950s it had changed into a "Man's Magazine". Adventure prided it's self on the quality of it's authors and fiction.

To see which issues are currently available, click here. Below are cover images of what will be / has been posted for sale.

A lovely batch of Amazing Stories recently went up for sale in our store. These are filled with the original science fiction by H.G. Well, Jules Vern, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edgar Allan Poe and more. There are a ton of amazing (pun intended) illustrations by Frank R. Paul. Included is a copy of the first issue, which is also the first science fiction pulp. There is also the Buck Rodgers first appearance issue. Click on an image to see which issues are still available.. 

A massive collection of pulps has just arrived. The first issues to have gone up are The Shadow with over 250 issues ranging from 1932-1949. These Shadow pulps are the tip of the iceberg. There are still hundreds of other hero pulps such as Doc Savage and The Phantom Detective (Yes, there are first issues of both). Plus there are several other detective pulps from titles such as Black Mask, Thrilling Detective, Super Detective, Private Detective, Dime Detective, Popular Detective, Detective Tales, Mystery Magazine and more. For those of you who prefer Sci-Fi, well that's coming too. So hang in there and stay excited because some great stuff is coming. 

Due to arrive in about a week is a substantial, high grade collection of Argosy and Detective Fiction Weekly. This collection was purchased 25 years ago from the original owner in TX. They where wrapped in newspaper and twine and had stayed that way for the last 25 years. Mast of these are consecutive issues which is important since so many issues have serials. These will be available in as soon as a week or two.

Over 2,100 of this original owner collection will be arrive shortly. To give you and idea of what this collection consists of, here are some of the titles and pictures. 

Air Wonder Stories, Amazing Stories, Amazing Stories Quarterly, Astonishing Stories, Astounding Science Fiction, Doc Savage (over 140 issues), Fantastic Adventures, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Future, Imaginative Tales, Wonder Stories, Wonder Stories Quarterly, Startling Stories, Unknown, Thrilling Wonder Stories and many more. Here are a few pics.

 I have a busy lifestyle and as a result, I rarely get to read. So, what does a lover of pulp magazines do if there is no time to read them? Listen to them! 

I have been an avid audio book listener for about six years now. There are pros and cons. 

Pros include: 
You can listen to pulps while stuck in traffic.
Readers are generally very good performers.
Time flies. 
You don't have to handle an original pulp to read.

etc.

Cons include:
Buying audiobooks can be expensive. 
Options are limited.

So, here is the best way to get the most out of the Pros for as cheep as possible.

1) The Public Library. In my opinion the library is the most overlooked resource for a pulp reader (and society in general). It is free unless you return it late. Here are the ways to get audiobooks from the library:

a)You can go into the library and check out anthologies to read or scan their audiobook options to see what they have by pulp authors. You may have luck this way but there is a better way. 

b) You can go to your County Library website and search for the audiobook that you want and request that it be brought to the library closest to you. Once that audiobook becomes available and it arrived at your local library, they send you an email informing you that it arrived. Simple. Plus this way you have the selection of the entire County Library and not just your local library. 

c) You can also download audiobooks from the website. This last method is, in my opinion, the best and most effective. If you have a smartphone or you listen to audiobooks on your computer then you can do this last method.

Do a web search for "(your county) library audiobook download." This way you can click on the page that will take you right where you need to go on the Library's website. Different counties use different companies for this method. The ones that I am aware of is, One Click Digital, Overdrive and Hoopla. These are third party companies that provide this service for several Libraries. I wish I could provide a link for you but there are too many counties for that. Just follow the directions on the page that your search brought you to. 

I use this service on my iPhone. I live in Portland Oregon so my county library is Multnomah County, which uses Overdrive and Hoopla. I just downloaded the apps for these two services, loved in and I could then search, download and listen to a ton of audiobooks. 

The great thing about this service is that you will never get a late fee. When your download has expired it automatically gets returned. 

So, the next problem is selection. Getting audiobooks from the library does not have the best selection but it is much better then you might think. I did a survey to see how many audiobooks are available from a few pulp authors. Here are the results:

Robert E. Howard: 11
Robert Heinlein: 35
H.P. Lovecraft: 11
Cornell Woolrich: 2
Philip K. Dick: 11
Isaac Asimov: 14
Dashiell Hammett: 8
Raymond Chandler: 4
Philip Jose Farmer: 2
L. Ron Hubbard: 65 (Only stories from the pulps).
Max Brand: 9
Louis L'Amour: 29
Ray Bradbury: 35
E.E. Doc Smith: 10

Plus anthology audiobooks such as:

Black Mask Stories: 4 volumes

Several of the above audiobooks are of stories written after the pulps died out but as you can see, there are many that you can borrow from your library.

2) Audible. Audible is very similar to the above method where you download the audiobook onto your phone or computer. But with audible it will not expire and the selection is massive but you have to pay a monthly fee. I consider it second best to the library method but it is worth the money if you want more then what the library can provide. 

3) Buy the audiobooks. There are a few ways of doing this. I think the best quality of the pulp audiobooks is from Radio Archives and Galaxy Press. Radio Archives has a great variety of audiobooks of The Spider, Doc Savage, The Green Lama and collections such as select stories from Terror Tales or Argosy etc. These audiobooks are well worth the money. Galaxy Press makes high quality, multi cast dramas of pulp stories by L. Ron Hubbard. The production quality of these are fantastic. You can get the above on audible as well. 

4) Librovox. This is a non-profit group that has volunteers upload recordings that are done of public domain books. There is a phone app for this or you can just go to their website. Their selection is good. You can find audiobooks that have never been professionally done. But, they are amateur recordings. Every once in a while you will get a good reader with good sound quality but most of the time it is not so great. 

I hope the above helps. If you have any questions or suggestions on the above please comment. Also comment if you have a recommendation of an audiobook of a pulp story(s) that you enjoyed. 

I am continuously surprised and amazed by how the stories, ideas and art that comes from the pulps influences our culture. When I think of the Pulp Magazines I regard them as the Unsung Hero of 20th Century Pop Culture. I would like to touch on a single instance of this. Although the influence of this story is less influential in the realm of pop culture it is growingly influential in the field of Science. 

There is an interesting subject called Terraforming. In fact the term Terraforming literally means "Earth-forming. Terraforming would be the man-made alteration of the terrane or atmosphere of a heavenly body to make it more like earth. Essentially, you would be making an uninhabitable planet, habitable or a habitable planet more habitable. 

I have been interested in this subject recently and had a thought, which lead to some research. My thought was, "If our planet's environment becomes uninhabitable, why don't we just use terraform technology on earth? Why find a new planet to inhabit?''. I was wondering if it would be easier to terraform another planet, such as Mars, so we could populate that planet or would it be easier to just use that technology right here on earth. Essentially, let's just use "Earth-forming" technology on earth. 

So, I googled "Terraforming". Sure enough I read that the term "Terraforming" was coined in a science fiction story called "Collision Orbit" by Jack Williamson under the pen name Will Stewart in the July 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. My mind was blown. I had once again underestimated the influence of the pulps on our current culture. 

I am not going to pretend to know what I'm talking about when it comes to terraform technology or the social, political or economic influences of this subject. Thats not what I'm try to point out. I just want to point out that the writers in the pulps where no slouches. They where in some cases, brilliant men. Jack Williamson is only one of the many who fall in that category.

As of the time of this writing, you can purchase a copy of the July, 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction containing "Collision Orbit" by Will Stewart AKA Jack Williamson.