See here, dear reader, a curated list of new and notable fiction that have caught my interest.

Happy Reading!

- Frank Theodat, Editor

Anthologies

Troy Lambert, Thriller author of over 30 books, is editing a new noir anthology and seeking crowd funding. I backed the project last week.

See below and follow the link for more info.

True Pulp: A Noir Anthology

Original stories of justice, grit, and revenge from over ten well-known noir authors. Editions you won't find anywhere else.

PULP, WITH LEGACY

An Introduction from the Editor, Troy Lambert

True Pulp is the first in a new anthology series celebrating the raw, relentless energy of noir fiction—tales of street justice, moral compromise, and the dark corners of human nature.

Inside this volume, you’ll find 13 original stories by a hand-picked crew of crime writers, indie authors, and pulp aficionados—each delivering their own spin on what it means to take the law into your own hands.

From brooding detectives and antiheroes on the brink, to supernatural noir and high-stakes urban vengeance, these stories are gritty, fast-paced, and unforgettable.

We want to bring you authentic, hard hitting fiction reminiscent of the old pulps - but with one key difference. The old pulps were cheaply made, temporary entertainment intended to be read and discarded. Today, with digital books and print on demand, pulp can live forever.

True Pulp brings together a powerhouse lineup of noir and crime fiction writers—each delivering their own brand of justice from the shadows.

• Harvey Stanbrough – Prolific indie author and publisher known for his sharp prose and dedication to the craft of writing.

• Vincent Zandri – New York Times and USA Today bestselling author blending classic noir with modern edge.

• Troy Lambert – Editor, author, and noir enthusiast with a passion for storytelling that delves into the darker sides of life.

• Paul D. Brazill – British crime writer whose gritty tales are infused with dark humor and a punk rock sensibility.

• Charles Salzberg– Acclaimed author of hard-hitting crime novels that explore the underbelly of organized crime.

• J.E. Fishman – Former literary agent turned thriller writer, delivering fast-paced narratives with complex characters.

• Dean Wesley Smith – Veteran author and editor with a vast bibliography spanning multiple genres, known for his work in pulp fiction.

• Kristine Kathryn Rusch – Award-winning writer and editor, renowned for her versatility across mystery, science fiction, and fantasy.

• Tom Schreck – Author of the Duffy Dombrowski mystery series, combining humor with hard-hitting crime storytelling.

• Lawrence Kelter – Bestselling author of suspense and thriller novels, known for his sharp dialogue and intricate plots.

• John Hemingway – Writer and grandson of Ernest Hemingway, bringing a unique perspective to modern noir narratives.

• Daniel Weizmann - Author of the Pacific Coast Highway Series, including the debut The Last Songbird, and the second in the series, Cinnamon Girl.

• Frank Saverio - Author of over 50 novels across multiple genres, including science fiction, humor (as Frank Scalise), and gritty crime fiction (as Frank Zafiro).

Support True Pulp on Kickstarter

The Boys Book of Adventure

P3 Media Group Proudly Presents The Boys Book of Adventure, a newly developed anthology of short stories written especially for boys.

We want to reinvigorate young male readership and pen stories of pulpy goodness; tales of high adventure in faraway places inspired by Haggard and Stevenson, lost worlds uncovered (and revisited) inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs, blood-pumping westerns stories like L’Amour and much more. We wish to tell stories that will excite, entertain, and set the male spirit ablaze.

Our plans include developing the next generation of readers as well by supplying young boys with fresh new sagas of heroic, aspirational figures that have long since appeared in old fables, myths, and legends.

Meet the writers!

- Vincent Zandri: the New York Times and the USA Today bestselling ITW Thriller and PWA Shamus Award winning author of hundreds of novels, novellas, and stories including the Dick Moonlight PI series.

- Blake Bobechko: the author of the classical-style animal fiction Frog of Arcadia, a fully-illustrated novel told in the tradition of The Wind in The Willows, Redwall, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

- James Carran: poet, author of hymns, children's stories and Founding Partner of Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry Magazine.

- L.S Goozdich: author several novels, including Fire in the Tall Grass and co-host of the Men's Adventure Fiction Podcast.

- Nathanael Hummel: filmmaker, writer, and co-host of the Men's Adventure Fiction Podcast.

- Joseph Knowles: Writer, Editor of Silence and Starsong Magazine.

- Andy Flattery: author of The Adventures of Leo & Henry children's series.

- Harvey Stanbrough: retired Marine and a prolific professional writer of over 95 novels, 9 novellas, and over 240 short stories.

- Gaius Warner: Writer of speculative fiction. Author of Crawlspace and If Morning Never Comes.

Coming Fall 2025

Notable Kickstarter

The Artisan Author: Escape the Self-Publishing Rat Race

’s Kickstarter campaign supports authors who want to move away from the quick-release model of book publishing and rediscover their passion for writing and publishing, free from the pressures of the All-Mighty Algorithm. This deserves attention. See below.

Less Stress. More Sales. A Way to Stop the Busywork and Love Writing Again.

Welcome Back To Self-Publishing As It Was Meant To Be.

Most writers start writing for the love of it.

Maybe you dreamt of creativity and self-expression. Maybe books were your safe place, and you want to create that space for others. Spending your days in stories you've made yourself is an amazing way to live. I know. I've been writing my entire life, and as a career since 2012.

When modern self-publishing began with the birth of the Kindle in 2008, it was all unicorns and rainbows for authors. Suddenly, we could write whatever we wanted without rules or gatekeepers to stop us. The first decade was our golden age.

But then something changed. "Speed" became the watchword ... and later, it became a requirement. These days, new writers are told they won't have a chance unless they commit to writing as fast as they can.

"You have to publish a new book every 3-4 weeks if you want a shot," say the advice-givers. "Just publish ebooks into Kindle Unlimited -- all very similar to one another and as 'to-market' as possible -- as fast as you can. Don't cross genres. Don't write anything too unique. Don't slow down or Amazon's algorithms and readers will forget you ... and unless you want to lose everything you've built, don't ever, EVER stop."

That's the party line, and the default advice given to writers ... but it's a lie.

You don't need to publish a new book every few weeks.

You don't need to remove everything unique and interesting from your books (everything that makes them YOUR books) to sell well.

You can take breaks instead of constantly feeding the machine. You can slow down, taking all the time you need to make your books as beautiful, special, and layered as you want them to be. You can put art, creativity, and joy first and marketing and metadata second without tanking your sales ... or, in many cases, while selling even better.

The Artisan Author is about a better way to succeed and make money as an author: a low-stress, fan-focused approach that lets you sell books without burnout ... and without selling your artist's soul.

Back The Artisan Author Here

New Fiction

Gunlaw: Bloodlands: Action Adventure Western

by L.S. Goozdich

Goozdich returns with a new novel that promises a fun read.

A Ruthless Land. An Unlikely Alliance. A Frontier Set to Explode.

When U.S. Marshal Cole Hartnett rides into the aftermath of a brutal massacre, he finds no ordinary crime—only whispers of something older, darker. The name on every trembling lip: Black Eagle—a ghost from the frontier’s edge, a Comanche warrior said to kill without mercy or trace.

But legends are never the whole story.

Tracking the truth through a landscape of broken treaties and buried secrets, Hartnett finds himself caught between the law he swore to uphold and a rising storm of greed, vengeance, and war. Powerful forces move in the shadows, and the trail leads somewhere no badge can protect him.

To survive, Hartnett must choose his allies carefully. Because in the wilds of Texas, justice rides a crooked road—and the only thing more dangerous than a gunfight is the truth.

Perfect for fans of C.J. Box, Taylor Sheridan, Louis L'amour, and pulpy western thrillers, Gunlaw: Bloodlands delivers non-stop action, old-school heroes, and a gripping tale of loyalty, corruption, and frontier justice.

Grab your copy today—justice rides at dawn.

Grab GUNLAW: Bloodlands

Vigilante Crime & Pulp: 5 Must Read Short Story Collections

The rogues over at Vigilante Crime & Pulp are doing exceptional work introducing readers to all the good and gritty crime fiction. Check below for their latest recommendations of essential short fiction anthologies.

Vigilante Crime & Pulp

5 Must Read Short Story Collections

As the gang here at Vigilante Crime are up to our eyeballs in submissions for our first Vigilante Crime Anthology (submission guidelines here—there’s still a handful of slots), I started thinking of crime and pulp short stories I love. As I wrote last week, shorter is better. But sometimes you need a quicker hit than the 180-page novel. Here are some gr…

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10 months ago · 11 likes · Philip “Big Philly” Smith

Also Worthy of Your Attention

Joe Rogan Experience #2310 - Robert Rodriguez

Every artist should definitely check out filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast. Rodriguez shares his reflections on the creative process, revealing many applicable gems for any creative medium for the scrappy artist.

Till next time.

Another piece of vintage excellence. Please allow these carefully curated selections to create the perfect ambiance for your Tuesday. Big announcements coming soon, but for now: enjoy.

Playlist (Brady)

Hello again, my music loving friends. Here is my curated playlist for your weekend enjoyment:

And here are my track-by-track notes so that you can share all of my correct opinions exactly get a feel for why I think each piece is worth your attention. Happy listening!

1. "Symphony No. 1 'Winter Daydream'" - Pyotr Tchaikovsky (LSO under Valery Gergiev): Tchaik’s early symphonies are overshadowed by the still excellent but overplayed Nos. 4-6. But this is a stellar example of Romantic orchestral composition and is more restrained (relatively) than the bombast he’d come to embrace. I personally enjoy his first three symphonies more than the later ones. Enjoy this perfect encapsulation of the winter mood to cool off a hot summer. 

2. “You’re Not You Anymore” - Counterparts: Post-Hardcore is a genre usually marred by the adolescent emotional content of emo tropes, but this song manages to evoke some real pathos leading way to a hopeful conclusion and has some excellent lyrical twists, including the title line. The vocals are raw and powerful and the riffing is byzantine yet melodic. A brilliant song. 

3. “Sleep” - Eric Whitacre (BYU Singers under Ronald Staheli): This achingly beautiful choral setting of a Robert Frost text is sometimes maligned by the snobbier set for its liberal use of planing techniques. For the layman, that just means he moves chord structures wholesale through a scale. The naysayers are dumb and the effect Whitacre achieves is stunning. The soprano movement against the underlying harmony at 4:06 is one of the most arresting moments in all recorded music for my money.

4. “In Remission” - The Menzingers: This is pop punk that’s grown up and gotten jaded and added a gruff edge and it’s fantastic. Lyrics are tremendous and include an all-timer line in the bridge: “If everyone needs a crutch, then I need a wheelchair.”

5. “This Will Be Our Year” - The Zombies: Hey, did you know music can be happy and upbeat without being corny? It’s true. This truly lovely little tune is a perfect optimistic pick-me-up that never drifts into sentimentality. A love song for the best of love.

6. “Didi (My Doe Part 2) - The Matches”: Progressive pop punk by way of Van Halen’s “Why Can’t This Be Love?”. The guitar and drum interplay at the end along with the intricate vocal descant is something to behold.

7. "I, Caligvla - Ex Deo": (screaming/growly vocals warning, but still intelligible) Historical death metal about the rise of Caligula. Was he a very bad man? Yes. Is this still impossibly badass music about him? Yes. What do we make of that cognitive dissonance? I don’t know, just relax and enjoy it.

8. “Motion Picture Soundtrack” - Radiohead: It would be nuts to call Radiohead’s magnum opus Kid A underrated but this particular closing song is, I think. The pump organ, the analogue synths, the dreamy harp, the 1930s Disney choir. This song is a masterclass in pop/rock aesthetics. It simply sounds f—ing incredible.

9. “Let Me In” - Make Them Suffer: (lotsa screaming warning) Look, most extreme music genres ending in -core get pretty whiny. This track though, from a concept record about the bands parents’ and grandparents’ relationships, tackles intense themes with aplomb. This is hard listening emotionally. But also a great example of harsh vocals giving access to a tonal palette missing from standard singing. This is a man begging forgiveness for his wrongs and the tone of it is appropriate to the subject matter and quite moving. 

10. “The Background” - Third Eye Blind: I’ve got a big soft spot for angsty 90s alternative rock and Third Eye Blind and Everclear lead that field by a mile. This deep cut from 3eb’s self titled classic is every bit as good as the front half tunes you’ve heard and will be eternally on the radio. Lyrics, vocals, and instrumental performances all on point. Buckle in for some nostalgic sadboi fun.

11. “Living Waves” - Persefone feat. Paul Masvidal: (blah blah there’s screaming in it) Progressive metal at its absolute finest. The Buddhist themed lyrics are kind of goofy for me, from my worldview, but the melodic content makes up for them. Masvidal’s computerized vocal contribution is perhaps an acquired taste, but ends up enhancing the atmosphere. The real reason in the end for including this song, though the head-jerking metric modulations are a blast, is the guitar solo. Utterly captivating legato and whammy bar wizardry, ending with some harmonized two-guitar work that’s like Boston on acid.

12. “Shop Vac” - Jon Coulton: Is this song a joke? Explicitly. But many a truth is spoken in jest. When you look past the deliberate corniness of this tune and listen deeply to the lyrics you’ll find an utterly harrowing and tragic expression of a failing marriage killed by each spouses’ respective acquiescence to suburban ennui. Masterful writing.

13. “Been Here Before” - Jeremy Enigk: This is pretty run-of-the-mill navel gazing indie rock, until right after the first chorus. I am rarely shocked and blown away by things in music, but this floored me the first time I heard it. YMMV and I won’t spoil what happens, but it’s truly special. Big arranging props to Mr. Enigk.

14. “Virus” - Deltron 3030: A dystopian sci-fi concept album from an alt-rap supergroup with a biting sense of humor? A song written from the perspective of a mad villain who rhymes “virus” with “papyrus”? Where the f do I sign up? Right here at P,P,&P, of course. This whole album is very worth your time and this is a good starter cut.

15. “Blues Clair” - Biréli Lagrène: Continuing my trend of jazz heresy, I offer this great gypsy jazz tune on which I assert that Lagrène does Django better than Django. Of course I love the progenitor of this endlessly enjoyable subgenre, but the latter day Frenchman ax-wielder featured here is the GOAT.

16. “Sacred Worlds” - Blind Guardian: I don’t know what you even call this other than “EPIC”. It’s technically “power metal” I suppose, but that diminishes the impact to say so. It’s orchestral music (with a real orchestra) fused with traditional metal with lyrics derived from fantasy literature and it’s difficult to explain how huge it sounds. Mind blowing stuff. 

17. "Emperor Waltz, OP. 437" - Johann Strauss II: Cartoons and comedy probably killed the impact of the Blue Danube Waltz (though I still love it). So along the same lines, but not spoiled by familiarity, I suggest this rousing piece by the Waltz King of Vienna (idk if people call him that, but I’m starting it). If it’s on your to-do list to feel impossibly regal as you go about your day, this will do the trick.

18. “Ice To Never” - The Black Queen: The Purple One is the most obvious influence on this vocalist, but boy does he kill it on this track. What we’re left with is not a Prince pastiche but something wholly unique by incorporating the clear inspiration. The addition of lots of more modern electronic music tropes also helps differentiate it. And what lifts it out of the morass of electro-pop for me is the use of space. Lots of pop doesn’t breathe at all, but these guys know better. 

19. “Sacred Grounds” - Kruger Brothers and Kontras Quartet: This is bluegrass by way of classical string quartet. Banjo, guitar, and bass meet violin, viola, and cello to take you on a grand Applachian journey you won’t soon forget. This one grabs you wistfully by the heart and doesn’t let go.

Pipe Smoking (Frank)

Two weeks in and we haven’t published any content regarding pipe smoking. After all, it’s in the title of the magazine! Shame.

To rectify that, below is a trailer to a wonderful documentary I had the pleasure of viewing called Father the Flame (2019). The film follows four pipe makers and includes a cast of business owners, tobacco experts, and pipe aficionados discussing the history, legacy, business, and contemplative nature of pipe smoking. As the occasional pipe smoker myself, it was a treat to watch the love that goes into the profession, learn about the rich history, and the see the hard work that goes into making beautiful and quality pipes.

Currently, you can watch it for free on Tubi.

In the future, we’ll be publishing written tobacco reviews and recommendations (both pipes and cigars) for the aficionados in our readership.

Enjoy!

Duke Ellington famously said "There are two kinds of music: good music and the other kind." This weekly feature is a tribute to the first kind. As such, no thought is taken to genre in terms of song selections. This is the stuff I think is excellent and worth your time. If something is not to your taste, feel free to skip to the next one. But I encourage everyone to broaden their horizons, since that's what this feature is really all about. There are worlds of music out there waiting to be explored.

Here is the list:

And here’s this week’s track-by-track breakdown to go with your listening experience and help you form your Very Correct Opinions™️. Put on some good headphones, kick back, and enjoy to the fullest extent of the law:

1. “Symphony No. 8 “- Antonín Dvořák (Berliner Philharmoniker under Rafael Kubelík): Is it better than his famous No. 9? Maybe. Is it blasphemy for me to even suggest that? Probably. Am I right? You can decide. Settle in and enjoy some brilliant melodic themes that will stick with you forever. This is a somewhat underappreciated masterpiece of orchestral writing.

2. "Pain" - Cellar Darling: Do I understand what these lyrics are about even a little bit? Nope. Is the melodic writing utterly genius? I think so. Does it have a hurdy-gurdy? You betcha. This is like if Evanescence didn’t suck, with European folk music added in. 

3. "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" - Norman Blake: Blake was a master of bluegrass flatpicking and this deceptively simple song shows it off big time. This is the apotheosis of Americana music for me.

4. "Like Flies" - Humanity's Last Breath: Caveat emptor, lots of screaming vocals. Is this the most crushingly bleak and heavy song ever written? Could be. This is legitimately terrifying music and I love it. YMMV.

5. "Days of Wine and Roses" - Oscar Peterson Trio: Is this the record where jazz snobs say Peterson kind of sold out? Sure is. Is it a near perfect rendering of this classic tune? Damn straight. The scene generally emphasizes wacky technicality over just playing a darn good song really well. This is the latter.

6. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" - Fellowship: Yes, this is exactly the song you’re thinking it is, but a power metal version. Come for the undeniably magnificent lyrics (It’s enough for this restless warrior/just to be with you, I mean, come on), stay for the best falsetto vocals since Prince’s “Kiss”.

7. "Dream the Dead" - Caligula's Horse: Are these lyrics nonsense? Yeah, maybe. I don’t get them. But you’ll forgive it for the insanely good instrumental and vocal performances. This is a stunningly talented band, here at the height of their compositional and performance games. 

8. "Since U Been Gone" - Kelly Clarkson: The best radio pop song since the year of our Lord 2000, fight me. 

9. "A.H.B." - S U R V I V E: The missing track from the Blade Runner OST you didn't know you were missing. 

10. "Carolus Rex" - Sabaton: High concept historical heavy metal about the rise of Charles XII of Sweden. Is it cheesy? Yeah. But if it doesn't put you in a triumphant mood bordering on megalomaniacal, I don’t know what will.

11. "Maybe You'll Be There" - Diana Krall: Absolutely heartbreaking lyrics, in the best way. And Krall is a stellar performer. Enjoy muchly.

12. "il bianco e dolce cigno" - Jacques Arcadelt (Laudantes Consort under Guy Jansses): A quintessential 16th-century Italian madrigal. This was truly groundbreaking 450 years ago hahaha.

13. "Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565" - J.S. Bach (Stokowsky Orchestral Transcription): You know the piece. Maybe you haven’t heard a full orchestra play it. It’s sublime. No disrespect to Ol’ Johann (the greatest musician to ever live), but this might surpass the original organ version.

14. "Blood on the Milky Way" - Sear Bliss: Caveat emptor, lots of screaming vocals. What happens if you take nasty Scandinavian black metal and add a full horn section? This absolute freaking gem.

15. "Dedicated to You" - John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman: I am a joyous purveyor of jazz heresy, so I tell you that this is John Coltrane’s best album. Every cut is basically perfect. Hartman’s voice is untouchable. Enjoy and expect to see a lot more of this album from me.

16. "Worker Bee" - Motion City Soundtrack: Do you hate your job and modern wage slavery system? Of course you do. This is the ironic anthem. 

17. "You Don't Know Mind" - Pink Anderson: The idea of “soul” in music is hard to pin down. It’s kind of like the Supreme Court definition of pornography, you know it when you see it. In this case you know it when you hear it. Pink is the picture of Soul in the dictionary.

18. "Why Should the Fire Die?" - Nickel Creek: These guys are consummate musicians in every sense. Enjoy the wonderfully moving lyrics and then go appreciate your lovely spouse or SO.

19. "Lay Here" - Copeland: Copeland went from making decent emo to the best electronic indie rock money can buy. This record is flat genius and this is a good representative track. Analogue synths ftw.

20. "Holy, Holy, Holy" - Reginald Heber (London Philharmonic Choir): In my often-not-so-humble opinion the best arrangement and recording of the iconic hymn. This is near the best we can do to express God’s glory through music. Be amazed at His majesty.

The following is a curated list of new and notable fiction which has recently caught my interest. These lists highlight for our readership the remarkable new projects, books, and art emerging.

Happy Reading!

Fire in the Tall Grass: A Noah Redford Adventure

by L.S. Goozdich

Goozdich is a significant force in the Men’s Adventure genre, demonstrating his talents not only as a novelist but also as an independent artist through the Men’s Adventure Fiction Podcast, his discord community, and recently his film partnerships with Veritas Entertainment.

A High Adventure Thrill Ride into the Heart of Danger!

For fans of Indiana Jones, Uncharted, The Mummy, and 1923 Fire in the Tall Grass delivers pulse-pounding action, high-stakes adventure, and relentless danger!

Under the guise of helping a woman find her husband and a son reunite with his father, Redford plunges into the darkest part of the Congo... soon he realizes that there is more to the story. Guerrilla warfare and a deadly race to an ancient relic find the former ace in this thrilling Noah Redford Adventure!

With fists flying, bullets whizzing, and enemies lurking in every shadow, Redford must rely on his wits, grit, and two-fisted resolve to survive. But in the jungle, the greatest danger isn't always what's hunting you-it's what you're hunting.

A nonstop, edge-of-your-seat adventure packed with brutal fights, breathtaking chases, and a masculine hero cut from the cloth of legends. If you crave action, treasure hunts, and old-school adventure, this book is for you!

Grab your copy and join the expedition today!

Buy Here!

Medicine Woman

by

The Western genre has seen the emergence of Frank Kidd, whose debut novel, Medicine Woman, has earned him considerable recognition in the independent author space. Readers acquainted with Kidd’s body of work may remember his compelling short fiction, which appeared in Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry Magazine and can follow him on his Substack newsletter .

Levi Thurston: mountain man, wanderer, Indian fighter. He haunts the wide open places of a newly opened West. His only companions… a reluctant coydog and a Hawken rifle.

When he is ambushed by Ute warriors, Levi takes shelter in a sacred burial ground. Convinced he has caught a curse, he must seek out a Blackfoot Medicine Woman, the young and beautiful Apaniaki, daughter of Chief Black Crow to help lift it. But what starts out as a simple-enough quest devolves into a fight for his life and an unexpected love as Levi finds himself caught in the middle of warring tribes.

Buy Here

The Ghosts of Tieros Kol

by

Lisa Kuznak’s Substack essay, Just Write Cool Shit, created a considerable stir this past weekend, urging fiction writers to prioritize writing over seeking permission and approval.

In other words, quit bitching and Get On With It! A good reminder.

Her recent novel, The Ghosts of Tieros Kol, has found its way on my TBR list. Extra points for the incredible cover design!

An ancient landscape, dotted with standing stones that sing for those who listen, metallic shards on the wind that glitter while they cut, and under the surface threads a blue mineral, tierosite—radiant, strange, and haunting.

King Cedri has gone mad, the palace is in turmoil, and Princess Brena hasn’t heard from her older sisters in ages. She suspects a man named Dene Eame is at the center of all her troubles—an antiquarian with an unhealthy obsession with the standing stones—but she needs real proof of his involvement.

Nikolai Lev, thief-for-hire, had a simple job to do: fake some mining contracts, steal some data, wipe all traces . . . but when his client attempts to kill him after the job is done, it makes it harder to pay the bills. To top it all off, a princess finds Lev while he’s too injured to run. What luck—now he has to keep himself out of jail, too.

As Brena questions Lev while he recovers, she finds the evidence she needs—but why would Dene hire Lev, and what does he want with the royal family? Brena and Lev must work together to answer Dene's riddles—and what they uncover might risk the future, and the past, of Tieros Kol.

Buy Here

Calinitia Dreaming

by

My recent engagement with Smith’s collection of short fiction, Quarter Lives, revealed a superior work, skillfully combining elements of new wave speculative fiction to comment and question on our contemporary society. Smith kindly agreed to an author interview with Frank Kidd, Founding Partner of Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry Magazine, which took place last month.

His latest novel looks like a good time.

A noir plunge into a city of high-rises, beaches, and dark ritual.

A girl goes missing from a club uptown. The cops don’t care, and the cathedral won’t lift a finger—but it just might be the start of the end of the world. Tracing dark magic, military washout Adon Halicar follows his old friend’s trail through the mansions and alleys of gleaming mid-century Calinitia. The sun bakes the asphalt, the sea shines blue, and a conspiracy simmers in the city’s bloodstained shadows.

Calinitia Dreaming is a neo-noir fantasy adventure novel. From swimming to street racing, the temperate Calinitian Provision has something for everyone. You just need to look past the broken politics, ethnic strife, and increasingly overbearing mandates from the state church. Beneath the balmy exterior, something bad is ready to crack, and one guy with a beat-up muscle car might be all it takes to blow the whole thing open.

Content rating ‘R’ for violence, language, drugs, and some suggestive content.

Buy Here

The Known World of Aterra

by

Enthusiasts of Sword and Sorcery will find ’s latest novella a welcome addition to the genre. Beyond his fictional works, Sullivan also provides essays on the history of S&S, aimed at both established enthusiasts and those newly acquainted with the subject.

I was fortunate enough to support the Kickstarter campaign to get this book.

Buy Here

Vigilante Crime - The New Cutting Edge of Fiction

Men’s genre fiction is undergoing a renaissance it seems. What a time to be alive!

and the team are launching Vigilante Crime, an annual anthology for those gritty, hard-hitting, fast-paced stories fans of the crime genre love so much.

As was the original plan, we want to bring golden-age pulp-fiction craftsmanship and dynamism to modern short fiction. That means Twilight Zone twists, Jack London grit, Jim Thompson anarchism—wild rides for readers, not therapy sessions or ego trips for writers.

The Gallows Humor crew is at the helm, with yours truly as editor-in-chief and everyone’s favorite raconteur, Philip M. “Big Philly” Smith, taking up the slack, so expect the unexpected.

And hey, don’t just expect the unexpected—contribute it.

Support the Project

In conversation with P3 contributor and novelist , author and filmmaker reflects on his career, his superb short story collection Quarter Lives, and the influences that have informed his art. Smith is the Editor of , a Substack publication showcasing some of the most riveting and genre-bending short stories available.

Enjoy!

- Frank Theodat

Frank: Hi Cairo, thanks for agreeing to do this interview. For those reading, this interview originally started off with an advanced copy of your new short story collection Quarter Lives and a request to review it. However, I was about halfway through reading it, when I realized that I would really just prefer to pick your brain. All that to say, I was fairly impressed by most of the stories, and quite enjoyed them, with Hunters, Network States, and Locked In being my favorites.

But before we dive into some of the stories, I'd like to ask you a few icebreakers. The first being, what are your three favorite movies and what one movie do you think is criminally under-appreciated or misunderstood?

Cairo: Hey Frank. I'm honored. Glad that we could do this. I'm not surprised by the ones you called out. They are the punchiest, I would say, which is one reason they're near the top. There's kind of a harder side and a softer side to the collection, as people will discover.

I would be completely unable to answer this question if I didn't keep tabs on my movie watching, but thankfully I do. I've got a small pantheon of favorites. If I have to whittle it to three, I would start with The Apartment, which is just a perfect comedy romance. I would also add There Will Be Blood, which is the best character study I've ever seen, and In the Mood for Love, which is absolutely, undeniably sexy and profound.

For criminally underappreciated and misunderstood, I would have to say Showgirls. We actually ran an essay on this a while ago in Futurist Letters, although the essay was so tongue-in-cheek that I think it might risk leaving people more confused than before they started it. Without any irony, though, I will say Paul Verhoeven is my favorite director of all time, and Showgirls is a genius piece.

Frank: I did notice that there were two sides to the collection, a harder and softer side. At first I thought it was a bit counterintuitive to build a collection like that, but after reading it, I thought it helped pace the whole thing and give a nice emotional variety. Non-stop weirdness or thrills can get a bit tiresome. More wholesome breaks like Spirit of ‘87 were appreciated.

Was that done on purpose or was it a happy byproduct of what was available to be published?

Regrettably, I've not seen any of the movies mentioned, save for There Will Be Blood. Which I do agree, fantastic movie, and a fantastic character study. I like asking that question because I think it's a good way to get a sense of who someone is and what influences them. Especially, when getting into guilty pleasures movies or misunderstood masterpieces (Ad Astra for me).

It's also funny that you call out Verhoeven as your favorite director. I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't draw a connection between his sensibilities and the story Hunters. Can I ask what kind of inspired Hunters? It is undoubtedly a weird and off putting story, but one that I thought about off and on for a few days after. I also thought it was a bold choice to open the collection with it, and even more bold to write in the first person.

Cairo: There was definitely an attempt to create a bit of a balance with the collection. I did the same thing with my previous collection. I would say about half of the available stories I had made it into this one. The other half either didn’t fit or were outside the range of tones that I wanted.

I kind of approached the order like you would an album, where you can adjust someone’s mood and expectations going into one story based on the story that came before.

I can’t say that Verhoeven was a conscious point of reference for Hunters, although he definitely deals with sex, violence, and the American identity, which are all themes in that story. I guess if I had to draw a connection, it would probably be to Hollow Man, although, again, if there was any comparison, it wasn’t intentional.

I agree with what you say about it being a bit of a risky choice as the first story in the collection. When the book debuted, some AI at Amazon actually flagged it as erotica, probably just because of keywords in the text, and I had to appeal to customer service to get them to classify the collection correctly. That was a little harrowing.

I was also a little unsure about writing it in the first person, again because my natural inclination is to keep some distance between somebody as unpleasant as that protagonist and myself. But I thought the story was better served in the first-person voice, and ultimately, I serve the interests of the story.

Frank: I appreciated the first person approach to Hunters. As a writer, it's always interesting to see how others solve technical problems or what decisions they make. I think I might've chickened out on writing that first person. I did want to comment on the metaphysics of the story, as in, the portrayal of Glycon, the Roman Snake God. I appreciated how you made his presence felt via the actions of the characters, without ever really going any further than that.

Moving on, Locked In is probably the pulpiest story in this collection and feels like something Phillip K. Dick or Robert Heinlein would write if they were alive and watching Ukrain drone videos on X. It was also the first story of yours I'd ever read, and made me an immediate fan. But where in the world did the idea for "suicide by flashing light pattern" come from? And do you have any plans to expand the setting into a novel?

Cairo: I respect both PKD and Heinlein a lot, so that is very high praise. I remember you reaching out to me after you first read it, and that really stuck with me. Kind words like that, especially from other writers, are one of the biggest things that keep me going. I’m sure you understand.

The idea of the light pattern that kills you was one of those things that came out of being online and watching the way the Internet has been changing over the past few years. Specifically, there was some sort of political fight going on on Twitter around the time it was becoming X. There was a guy, some sort of liberal commentator, who was battling anonymous accounts, and it became known somehow that he was epileptic. Someone sent him a GIF that was supposed to be seizure-inducing, and his account responded with something like: “This is his wife. He had a seizure. I hope you’re happy. I’m telling the police.”

Now, whether or not that was true, I don’t know, but it got me thinking about the idea of cognitive vulnerabilities—ways that someone could be physically attacked through the Internet—and what that could mean. This was also a time when people were wondering if LLMs were going to become so smart so fast that they could essentially persuade a human being into doing anything, just by virtue of their super intelligence. It’s this idea of what human vulnerability will look like in the face of unfathomable technology.

Obviously, there’s the matter of human vulnerability to the drone, and so vulnerability to a killer light pattern was just another extension of this. The idea was that some sort of advanced intelligence could be good enough at mapping the brain and understanding human cognition that it could create a pattern that has the same effect as a strobe light on an epileptic person—but for everyone.

It’s perhaps also an extreme metaphor for the kind of content, like gore and torture videos, that can travel around online and cognitively harm the people who see it—although not to the point of literal death.

That’s a long answer, sorry, but I guess there was a lot that went into it. Also, just from a story mechanics perspective, you need to get pretty creative. If you have a duel between a guy on the battlefield and a drone operator sitting dozens of miles away at a computer screen, how do you give the guy on the battlefield a chance to reach the person behind the screen? This was one way to approach that.

I think the setting definitely has enough meat for a novel, and considering the interest that the short story got, I may well get around to expanding it one of these days. We’ll just have to see. I have a lot of different things I want to write.

Frank: That's awesome, and I definitely do understand how far a kind word can go. Plenty of folks on here, yourself included, have been similar motivation. It's possibly the most valuable thing Substack facilitates, but it's such a second order effect that no one seems to really hone in on it.

But dang, I can't believe I missed the lore with regards to the epileptic on X. It's a bit harder to come up with speculative technology now than it was back in Dick or Heinlein's day, but that might be a skill issue. Regardless, I thought you hit a home run. Especially, because this isn't really a sci-fi story, so the technology itself had to feel contemporary and plausibly coexist with killer drones and current technology.

I'm also glad you mentioned the story-mechanics, because that is something I really appreciated. A lot of fiction is a magic trick, in that it only works if the "trick" or the "mechanics" are sufficiently obfuscated.

Taking a wider view of the collection, there is an obvious theme of the contemporary quarter-life crisis, but I think all the stories actually hone in on the root cause of this ennui. Hunters, Network States, Spirit of 87, and even From the Branch all deal with characters trying to regain something from prior generations that they've never had, whether that be a god, larping WW2, a ghost boy, or childhood's that are free of psychiatric intervention. The stories all speak to living in a world that has progressed faster than we've learned not to be human. As far as zoos go, modernity seems pretty poorly designed to maximize human fulfillment. Do you agree with this take? Or do you think it's something else that plagues us?

Cairo: I agree with everything you just said, even though I wouldn't have said it that way myself. I think that's pretty astute. I think we're all suffering a sort of future shock that is so universal, we almost don't notice it. My friend ARX-Han writes about why it's so hard to write good science fiction now, and it's essentially because the world is already science fiction. So where do you even go from here as a speculative author? I do think a lot of these characters are trying to turn the clock back, which obviously you can't. A friend of mine referred to my work once as neo-modernist, as in trying to reclaim the sense of modernity of the early 20th century. I don't disagree with him either.

Frank: That's an interesting take. Neo-modernist. I think that sums up what I was getting at nicely.

You and ARX-Han have both written some about the term "New Wave," as applied to writers that fall outside of what is considered mainstream. For those reading that aren't familiar with the term, would you mind expanding on what you see as the "New Wave" and how you see it evolving?

Cairo: Sure, I guess New Wave at its most basic is just a group of 10-30 novelists who are relatively friendly to each other and bounce ideas and inspiration off each other as they write. There was recently a piece by Sam Kriss about Alt Lit, which I really don't think is a good name for what he's talking about. I would say what he wrote about would more accurately be described as Dimes Square fiction, but he didn't seem to want to say the words Dimes Square. Whatever you call it, the New York scene is a lot more about cocaine and polyamory and trust funds or whatever. New Wave by comparison is a little more rooted in genre fiction and being a bright, industrious guy outside the traditional heart of publishing. Halo and Monster. Esoteric texts and greentexts. It sort of spans generations, and it's mostly just about a vibe. I think what it means will continue to evolve as the movement, or social group, or whatever you want to call it, progresses.

The one thing all of these movements have in common is that they recognize publishing is held in a dying cold by people who are out of touch with and resistant to the younger and more dynamic art scenes coming up out of the woodwork. The future currently does not seem to be major publishing houses.

Frank: I think there's power in how politically impure it's remained, as in it's not just dissident lit, which it seems the New Wave has sort of avoided being pigeonholed as. I think all art comes from a place of disagreeability, at least on some level, which means nothing can kill a movement faster than a purity spiral. Trad publishing is just not what it used to be. I am Jack's corporate KPI's and all that. So it's good to see people creating, and writing, and experimenting, mostly in the hopes of doing something fresh.

You mention greentexts, and esoteric texts—your story Network States tries (and succeeds) in capturing the extremely, and terminally online era we live in. It might be my favorite story in the collection, and is obviously very experimental. What did you find most challenging about writing it? And did it take as much WW2 research as it felt like it did?

The other thing I have noticed, is there seems to be a blending of forms among a lot of New Wave writers, as in the line between literature and genre fiction and even pulp has gotten murkier. Do you think there's a future in that sort of blending?

Cairo: Yeah, I’m certainly not interested in being part of an artistic movement built around a narrow political mission. Inevitably, there will be aspects that don’t represent everyone involved, and that just sounds like a recipe for drama. Even if there were a movement that somehow perfectly aligned with every single one of my beliefs, I would find that a little creepy. I also don’t think I’m infallible, so I wouldn’t want to pursue those aims with too much didactic confidence. There’s value in exploring the nature of problems within a work and letting the answers emerge organically. Sometimes, answers arise in your work that you didn’t even know were there, and if you had gone in trying to be prescriptive, they never would have had the chance to surface.

I didn’t find writing Network States to be challenging at all, actually. It came together very quickly, and it came from a place of joy—mostly because I was writing about my actual hobbies, a video game I really play, and communities similar to ones I’ve actually encountered. It definitely required a lot of research, but most of that was just synthesized through years of reading books, Wikipedia pages, and playing games out of sheer enjoyment. So I guess it’s kind of a “write what you know” situation.

I definitely don’t think there’s a hard line between literary fiction and genre fiction in the New Wave. I think we’re all trying to fully embody both at once. Part of the beauty of that is the fact that there’s no mass market dictating what we write, so we’re not beholden to market concerns. If you’re a Marvel movie writer, you have a very narrow set of constraints because you need to avoid alienating China, India, the Midwest—you have to provide a kind of comfort food that checks specific boxes.

But now imagine someone living hundreds of years in the future, in a world where nobody has ever heard of or cares about Marvel movies. They decide to do their own spin on the superhero genre purely out of a niche historical interest. In that world, they can do whatever they want, and if it’s good, it will still find an audience. The people interested in these older forms tend to have a historical and intellectual curiosity that makes them open to more avant-garde choices. I think it’s similar to how a lot of us are playing with mid-century genre fiction thematically—no one minds if we mix it with new and reinvented elements, so we get to experiment and play. After all, “literary” just means high-quality prose that is intellectually interesting.

Frank: Genre fiction getting something of literary style facelift and getting opened up to experimentation is something I am excited for. In my opinion, it's the next obvious frontier in fiction.

I have a couple more questions, and then I think we can close this out. Of the collection, which story is nearest to your heart or a personal favorite? And then lastly, what are you working on currently, and what do your plans for the future look like?

Cairo: It's hard for me to pick a favorite. The one closest to my heart is probably "Spirit of '87," just because I relate to both characters so much. It's funny, you can't help be a little extra proud of them when you hear them getting praise from people. It's not just a question of how much you like them personally, it's also a question of how much joy they bring into the world.

I have a new novel, Calinitia Dreaming, coming out on March 15th. It's a pulp noir adventure with some fantasy elements. It's been very much inspired by the talent of some of the people I've met in this scene, including yourself.

I'm always working on more manuscripts and trying to get films off the ground. I have a short film that's a bit of a stylish, low-budget thriller that we shot last year that should be coming around to festivals pretty soon. Hopefully that'll be a good chance to meet some of these internet people in person if we come to a city near you.

Frank: I very much enjoyed the Spirit of '87. It was nostalgic and somehow very relatable. I think it tapped into several unique anxieties that most people have felt in some form or another, even if subconscious. Dying and being trapped as a ghost is an existential fear of mine and I have no idea where it came from. I'm sure a shrink or a priest would love to get a hold of that tidbit. Regardless, the resolution to that story was very sweet, and it warmed my stony heart.

I just looked up Calanitia Dreaming, and that looks like an insta buy. Also, if any of these film festivals happen to be in the middle of the country, I may very well be inclined to pop in.

Again Cairo, thank you for agreeing to do this. It has been a pleasure and I can't wait to see what comes next.

Cairo: That's my dad's favorite of the collection, and maybe my mom's as well.

Thanks for doing this, and looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Calinitia Dreaming. It was a fun one to write.

Buy Now

Buy Now

It's not every day that we can introduce readers to a true unsung gem that checks all of the boxes we look for on the Based Boys shelf. But William Taylor Adams, or Oliver Optic as he was better known to legions of boys in the 19th century, was not an everyday sort of author. We've got a true rarity to uncover here. Tales of adventure and pluck? Check. Aspirational young heroes who are competent and decisive, while still human and believable? Got it. Moral lessons? You bet. Moral lessons without a smarmy tone or old-aunt-finger-wagging? Hey, we got you. Ready for the best bit?

Do you like trains?

Yeah, that's right. It's not subtitled “The Young Engineers” for nothing. Wolf Penniman (yeah, that's his name) sails boats, drives trains, and fights bullies like Waddie Wimpleton (yeah, that's HIS name). And by this we mean he fights bullies with his fists, the old-fashioned way. Then he learns Christian virtues like forgiveness and honor, while still opposing what's wrong and without letting himself become, to use a word we really ought to revive, "a milksop."

This right here is The Good Stuff.

Adams blasted over a hundred books into print during the mid-to-late 1800s, and his primary focus was "juveniles," including multiple novel series and a popular magazine all his own. Oliver Optic's works later influenced such well-known heroes of boy's fiction as Horatio Alger. In fact, Louisa May Alcott disparaged Adams publicly, saying she disliked his books for their “use of slang...cast of bootblacks and newsboys, and stories of police courts and saloons.” With respect to Miss Alcott, whose own work is renowned with good reason, this reads like a glowing recommendation to the editors of P3 Press.

The heros of the six-novel Lake Shore series get into and out of scrapes, save lives and reputations, and along with a large group of local teenagers operate their own joint-stock incorporated railroad. You read that right. These are stories by and for independent and trustworthy lads who want to be pushed. The characters are realistic, within the narrative confines of the era. Wolf's father struggles with alcoholism and his mother is a worrier, but they both support and guide him well. He respects them, heeds their instructions and still maintains a clear-headed agency that allows him to chart his own course through life. Imagine reading this in a modern novel:

“You must try to have a Christian spirit, Wolfert,” said the mother, mildly.

“I do try to have a Christian spirit, mother. I haven’t anything against Waddie or his father. If I could do a kindness to either one of them this minute, I would do it. But I don’t think a fellow must be a milksop in order to be a Christian. I don’t think the Gospel requires me to be a toady, or even to submit to injustice when I can help myself. I don’t ask to be revenged, or anything of that sort; I only desire to keep my head out of the dirt. I am going to try to be a man, whatever happens to me.”

“If you will only be a Christian, Wolfert, I can ask no more.”

“I will try to be; but do you think yourself, mother, that I ought to stand still and allow myself to be kicked?”

“You must not provoke your enemies.”

“I will not, if I can help it; but I think it is pretty hard to keep still when you are called a rascal and a villain.”

Oh yeah, and then in the next scene Wolf is trapped by Waddie and a small gang, and fends them off in a running battle in which they are all armed with clubs. This after apologizing for calling the bully names previously, and then stanchly refusing to kiss Waddie’s boots in apology. Built, as they say, different. For the reviewer's money, this is why the series is the most criminally unknown of the genre. Adams balances different Christian virtues with impressive wisdom and his characters never get to take the easy way out. He forces you to learn alongside the characters how to navigate the real world with self-sacrificial humility as well as stubborn bravery. Wolf learns to fight his own battles, but also keep his word at personal expense and make peace with his enemies even when he would rather seek revenge. All while demonstrating how to conduct a meeting according to Robert's Parliamentary Rules and prevent a runaway engine from jumping the tracks.

It's rare to find an author who so perfectly embodies the Based Boys ethos. Here's fiction that fires the imagination of a young man desiring to test himself, prove his mettle, and fight his own battles against his own enemies. Many bemoan a culture of safetyism and the results for young men. The key missing element needed to find our way out is imagination. Men need models and patterns to embrace, believable paths to walk where measured risk is rewarded and tangible dangers are overcome. It's not enough to tell boys to get off the couch, if you don't give them a fight to get into.

If the past few months of inspiring hard-tech achievements and cultural turmoil have taught us anything, it's that the young men still yearn for speed, strength and the open skies. Adams knew this in his day and made a world for boys inside his works, liberally salted with realistic details from his own life and travels. This world was the opposite of escapist, although daydreams also have a vital role to play in forming the young mind. This was a preparatory world, one to give young men an introduction to the mature milieu they were expected to step into from a relatively early age. By identifying with plucky young heroes, they were able to recognize themselves as they might become and orient themselves to their future.

Instead of telling rising generations that the world we gave them is too broken for hope, it’s time to fill them with the imagination to remake it. Young men in every generation have faced their own set of impossible odds, and triumphed when told by their elders that they could. We are in desperate need, yes, of young men with the imagination to see that a good life and a good world is possible, if they will trust God and get to work.

Keep a sharp eye on your throttle, son. We’re behind time. But we’ll put ‘er through.

Welcome to Mind Tuner Theater, where strange and unusual things occur in an all new audio program of surreal fantasy and speculative horror.

Written and Produced by

Narrated by John Lyons for the book Grind: And Other Strange Stories

Mind Tuner Theater Theme by

A Halloween Classic?

Seasonal movies are as much a part of modern holidays as any ancient tradition now. For the spookiest day of the year, there are a few obvious classics: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, maybe a slasher flick or two. Good choices all. But in my house there’s an annual favorite that most folks seem to have forgotten.

It’s 2004’s Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Stephen Sommers. I watch it every year, and every year I reaffirm my appreciation for this schlocky gem. In an age of tired, worn-out franchises with predictable politics and plot points, Van Helsing is a breath of fresh air. Or perhaps a welcome beam of moonlight through the darkness.

Plot Summary

Van Helsing is a crossover super-film, a mashup of the classic movie monsters. In it, Dracula seeks to use Dr. Frankenstein’s machine to bring life to his monstrous children. With werewolves as his bloodhounds, he ravages the Transylvanian countryside, looking for the only suitable key to unlock the machine – the Frankenstein monster himself.

Meanwhile, the swashbuckling Van Helsing serves the Church in Rome as a monster hunter, as he has done for centuries. Without any memories to explain why he does what he does, the man struggles with his own conscience. He is sent to Transylvania with his bumbling monk sidekick to hunt down the vampire. He comes to the aid a beautiful woman named Anna, who has sworn to slay Dracula to free her family from an eternal curse.

But when Van Helsing arrives at Dracula’s castle, the monster recognizes him, and effortlessly resists all attempts to destroy him. This assignment may be the one that unveils both past and future for the unstoppable hunter.

Obligatory Nitpicks

No doubt this all sounds rather silly. And let’s not beat around the bush: it is. The movie is riddled with contrivances, convenient discoveries and unrealistic stunts that would make a Marvel movie blush. Imagine the Frankenstein monster swinging from a rope atop a tower to stop Igor from killing a man with a cattle prod. Now you’ve got the idea.

The dialogue has its flaws, too. In particular, Dracula’s three wicked wives have some doozies. Subtlety was apparently not much of a priority in this script. In addition, this was right at the beginning of the “ironic era” of film dialogue, so there are more than a few anachronistic quips.

I give the CGI a pass in this one. Of course, sometimes it looks more like a screensaver than a multi-million-dollar Hollywood production. But it was 2004, and for its time the movie holds up.

Pulpy Goodness

In the original Dracula book, Dr. Van Helsing was a kindly old man, a physician and philosopher. This time he’s a fatalistic warrior, storming the castle gates, crossbow in hand. Van Helsing isn’t here to broaden your mind, it’s here to show you a good time. It’s pulpy, it’s adventurous, it chooses fun over finesse every single time.

2004 was an age of dark reboots and mashup properties. Remember Kingdom Hearts? Or the Once Upon a Time TV show? Such projects are passé now, but Van Helsing is a reminder of why we all liked them so much. The opening scene is a black-and-white depiction of an angry mob storming Frankenstein’s castle. The unexpected appearance of Dracula in such a classic image immediately elevates the story, and grabs the viewer’s attention.

And if you’re a fan of FromSoftware, watch Van Helsing fight Mr. Hyde atop Notre Dame in Paris and tell me that Bloodborne didn’t take a least a little inspiration from this movie. The mask, the trick weapons, the hulking monster – it’s all here first.

Speaking of trick weapons, did I mention that this is a steampunk movie? Van Helsing’s sidekick, Carl, is not just there for comic relief. He’s an inventor and a scholar, creating all manner of retrofuturist gadgets.

The story is quite episodic, each scene hurrying its way to the next awesome set piece. In that regard it feels like a comic book, or maybe a serialized novel. Lots of side quests, spectacles for their own sake, and satisfying climaxes along the way. It’s pulp fiction for the silver screen.

Flashes of Brilliance

But if I may take my tongue out of my cheek for a moment, I would like to stress that this is not some ironic, so-bad-it’s-good, hate watch. Van Helsing is fun and a little cheeky, but overall it takes itself very seriously, and that opens it up to flashes of actual cinematic brilliance.

My favorite scene has to be when Anna is captured and held for ransom at a masquerade, dancing with Dracula in a crowded hall. The dashing vampire dips her down before a wall-sized mirror and comments that they make a beautiful couple. Anna gasps because, of course, Dracula has no reflection. But you probably failed to realize that no one else was in the mirror either, except Anna. When Van Helsing storms the ball only to be faced with an army of angry vampires, you realize that the film tipped you off minutes before – you just weren’t paying attention! It’s a perfect twist, because the reversal comes as a result of the camera guiding the viewer’s focus, not the script inventing a surprise.

The revelation of Van Helsing’s identity is handled with equal skill. Rather than beating you over the head to make sure you don’t miss it, the movie allows you to slowly realize what it just told you, even to question whether you heard it right. When Dracula first encounters Van Helsing, he smiles and whispers, “Hello, Gabriel.” No one else in the movie calls him that, it’s not his first name. Why then? Dracula later identifies him as the Left Hand of God, the one who first killed him, 400 years earlier.

SPOILER ALERT: Van Helsing is the Archangel Gabriel.

Is it Shakespeare? No. But it’s a cool idea. And the movie carries it off on the strength of its lead performances and impressive visuals

Happy Halloween. Let’s Have Some Fun

I intend to continue to watch this movie every Halloween, to laugh at the silly bits, and thrill at the spooky parts. And I’ll comment to my wife that, yes, after another year Van Helsing is still pretty great. I wholeheartedly recommend that you do the same.

In a way, it’s a time capsule, a fine representation of a certain kind of art that was being made at one time. There are certainly no “modern” sensibilities in it, if you know what I mean. The men are dashing, the women are beautiful, and no one is trying to teach anyone anything. That makes it rather timeless, and quite refreshing in the current climate.

Van Helsing may be lowbrow, but it’s got ambition, and it’s got style. That’s what makes pulp so much fun.

Remember when movies were fun?

Editor’s Note:

My goal for The Editor’s Picks is to highlight and share all the cool projects that are being developed by great independent writers and artists. Below you will find my personal picks for the month of October that I believe deserve great attention of our readers.

Enjoy,

- Frank Theodat

Men’s Adventure Fiction Podcast

L.S. Goozdich and Nathanael Hummel are on a mission to help resurrect Men’s Adventure Fiction and have started a podcast to discuss the genre at length covering history, movies, guns, tobacco, novels, and short stories.

Goozdich is a novelist with three books under his belt and dozens of short stories on his blog Narrative Compass.

Hummel is a filmmaker, writer, and creator of The Adventure of Wanderers series on YouTube.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know these guys over the last 5 months. Their passion, energy, and commitment to brining back adventure fiction for men is truly inspiring to watch in real time.

Kickstarter Spotlights

If You Enjoy Reading Sword and Sorcery

Be sure to check out and his new kickstarter The Known World of Aterra: The Prisoner of Ruhak Tower

Trellen of Ulliea is a cursed man... and cursed men are dangerous. He has traveled the known world, seeking a way to lift his curse. So far, he has not found what he is looking for.

When Trellen arrives in the city of Anchi, in the nation of Par-Abah, he meets a cold reception. The desert nation is unforgiving, its people have proven untrustworthy, and the locals have no love for foreigners.

Now a wealthy stranger offers to lift Trellen’s curse for a price, and he must make a choice: seek a solution elsewhere, or risk imprisonment in the Tower of Ruhak... a place from whence no man has ever escaped.

The Prisoner of Ruhak Tower is the first in a planned series set in the Known world of Aterra. Aterra is a vast and dangerous place, filled with wonder, magic, monsters and myth! Ancient treasures lost to time, warring nations, sinister sorcerers, and the call of high adventure! The inhabitants of Aterra have yet to reach the edge of the world, so they are not exactly sure if they are alone. 

You can support Grayson’s Kickstarter here

For Fans of G.A. Henty

Three Fold Word publishing is reprinting The Dragon and the Raven - A Historical Adventure Novel, A Deluxe Hardcover of G.A. Henty's classic tale of courage and battle during the time of King Alfred. Original art work done by Pedro De Elizalde.

In the late 9th century AD, Danish Vikings raid and pillage the British Isle at will. One by one, the Saxon kingdoms fall. Everyone, from the highest to the lowest, suffers the loss of life and property to these savage invaders.

After the death of his father at Viking hands, young Edmund enters the service of King Alfred as he battles on land and sea to secure freedom for his people. Along the way, he'll test out new military tactics, build a ship capable of chasing down Danish longboats, get captured, help lift the siege of Paris, and finally, rescue the woman he loves from a fearsome left-handed villain.

As Edmund grows from a naive young man to a seasoned warrior, readers will be immersed in the history of Medieval England and explore themes of courage, freedom, and the cost of war.

If you loved the the setting of Netflix's series The Last Kingdom, you and your family will love this book, suitable for all ages.

You can back the kickstarter here

Mind Tuner Theater - P3’s Audio Anthology

Two weeks ago we launched Mind Tuner Theater as our premier audio anthology of speculative horror and dark fantasy. Tune into the first episode below. Our second installment will drop this Halloween.

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry

Mind Tuner Theater Presents: Electric Love

He woke up to the sensation of fingers running through his curly hair and the smell of fresh Cuban coffee. The sun already crept in through the window with its warm rays hitting his back. He looked up at her face. She was naked, wearing nothing but his sweatshirt. She whispered something in his ear, her long messy hair draped over his head as she kissed…

Listen now

2 years ago · 11 likes · Frank Theodat

Be on the lookout for next month’s Editor’s Picks to see what incredible independent works are being produced.

Joe sat up, looked at her, and reached for her face. His hand met a teardrop. She sat there smiling, trying her best to keep the sadness at bay. She failed.

She curled into Joe as he held her. “It’s okay,” he said feeling her sadness drip on his bare chest.

“We’ve got the whole morning left.”

“I don’t want to stop this,” Andrea wiped her eyes and brushed her hair back. “I know it needs to end, but I don’t want it to.”

Joe lifted her head up. “We can’t keep doing this. You know the law.”

Andrea pushed him away. She sighed. Joe wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. “Like I said, we still have the whole morning. Let’s not waste it.”

They looked at each other and embraced. Joe felt a rush again, a hot shot through his body. Her lips were sweet and set his mouth ablaze. Her scent pushed him over the edge again.

It would be the last time he’d see her. The affair would end and Joe would go back to his old life.

Joe sat there in the little seat of the commuter rail that stunk of sweat, piss, and paranoia. His tie felt like a noose wrapped tightly. Faces were entranced by the light of their smartphones and no one made eye contact on the train or anywhere else. Not a word was said. Each man occupied his own seat. The sound of the train humming along on schedule was cold and mechanical. Joe looked at his watch a second time. Another never ending day.

In the office, no one said anything. Joe sat at his desk alone, staring at the monstrous desktop screen, punching keys in a robotic fashion. His lunch tray arrived at noon sharp - tomato soup and a little pack of crackers. When he finished, he was allowed his fifteen-minute stretch in his cubicle. After his stretch, he sat back down for his five-minute meditation at his screen. The sound of waves crashing on a rocky beach came from the speakers. The computer instructed him to close his eyes and breathe slowly, but Joe didn't bother. All he could think about was Andrea. The thought of her soft brown eyes sent a shockwave through his heart. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes.

He thought of the secret trips to the beach just outside the city limits. Their bare feet in the water, the cool air hitting their faces, and the sunshine kissing their bodies. The sound of waves crashing from the speakers synced with his memories. He remembered how warm he felt around her, how his heart would drum in his chest every time he was close to her. The feeling of being alive, happy, and carefree. She was a flame burning inside of him.

The alarm on his desktop went off, the screen returned to a spreadsheet, and the warm memory faded. Joe resumed his work in his lonely, gray cube.

Five o’clock came and Joe was back on the train in his isolated compartment away from everyone. He looked out the window. His mind returned to Andrea again. He couldn’t shake his thoughts of her. Why would he? She was his only connection. The last person that made him feel something, anything. The cold voice on the train spoke: Smithfield. Last call for Smithfield. Joe sighed and got up from his seat making his way off the train.

Joe shuffled his way up the metal staircase. Two flights and he was on his floor. Not a soul was seen. Down the gray corridor, he stopped at number 11. Scanning his hand, the metal door slid open, and he entered the apartment.

“Hello. Darling,” a toneless voice registered. Joe dropped his bag and hung up his coat.

He plopped on the stiff couch and took off his shoes. He stared blankly at the white wall.

“How. Was. Your. Day?” the voice chilled Joe's ear. The sound of a small, motorized engine whined from the kitchen.

“Fine, honey,” he replied. “Just fine.”

Out from the kitchen came cold steel shaped in a slender, feminine form. Faceless and blue. Mechanical arms carried in a plate with a lifeless tuna sandwich. Joe took the plate from the tall bot, his wife by law. He couldn't look at her. He couldn’t look at it.

The robotic voice spoke again reciting canned and prerecorded phrases. Joe paid no attention to his “spouse.” He retreated to his thoughts of his love, his joy, his last connection to humanity. His Andrea.

Humans could not be seen together anymore. The powers that be made every effort to keep ordinary people isolated.

Friendships died. Romance was snuffed out. Human touch was illegal and Joe was an outlaw, a criminal of the worst kind. He loved in secret and hid away in the only place the law had no jurisdiction. Not yet anyway.

“Alexa,” Joe muttered. “Play Ocean Waves for deep sleep.”

The bot obliged and the sounds of waves crashing against the beach echoed through his tiny apartment.

Joe laid on the couch, his head resting against the cushion, and he was away. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Thoughts came racing, of a soft hand holding his, of long brunette hair brushing against the wind, and a set of perfect lips against his.

Soon, he was asleep.

Produced and Narrated by

Mind Tuner Theater Theme Music by

Very few things in life fulfill the full extent of our imaginations. As children daydreaming about adult life or maybe adults dreaming about another life, we weave elaborate stories of “what it would be like," idealized and usually unrealistic. But sometimes, every once in a while, reality is the stuff of our most hazy imagination. Sometimes, you stumble upon a pure distillated essence, an overproofed example of Reality.

Mac Baren’s Old Dark Fired is the pipe tobacco you think about when you imagine pipe smoking. That is, if you are imagining the smoker to be a plains cowboy or the captain of an African packet steamer. The blend is rough and ready, in everything from appearance to smoking experience. Dark brownish-black shredded flakes that look for all the world like bits of beef jerky. And wouldn't you know it, they smell and taste like bits of beef jerky. This puts Old Dark Fired in a very exclusive tobacco club to be sure, as most blends are notorious for promising with aroma what they cannot fulfill in taste. But this stuff is, as the kids say, build different.

Light up a bowl for a punch of salty, tangy, barbequed meaty goodness. A blend that gives a squint to your eyes and pushes your hat back on your head. It's not trying to challenge you or show off, but it's not going to change for you either. Does what it says on the tin, old, dark and fiery. Because Super Meat Blend probably wouldn't have sold so well. This is the only blend of tobacco I have ever, even briefly, considered chewing.

The only choice for pairing this unapologetically manful smoke is the book at the top of my original Based Boys planning list. Death in the Long Grass by Peter Hathaway Chapstick is a reading experience that grabs you by the khaki shirt collar and will not let you go. One of the final generation of Great White Hunters to stalk trophy game in the Dark Continent, Chapstick collects his wildest stories into a hard-hitting volume subdivided by species. Yeah, PETA card carriers need not apply.

The florid purple prose carries its own beauty (nobody can describe the outdoors like Chapstick for my money) and the accounts themselves are compulsively memorable. But it is Chapstick's vividly inventive black humor that sets this volume apart. The first time you read about an elephant seizing a hapless man by one leg and "beating him to the consistency of furry guava jelly," you laugh out loud, because how could you not. Then you wince as the mental picture takes shape. Then you keep chuckling and read more.

Page after page of Rip-Roaring High-T Adventure, narrated with sharp wit and a storyteller's flair. Violence, danger, and savage beauty. Page turner is an overused compliment but it ought to be saved for books like this. You can instantly tell that each anecdote has been related over and over by Chapstick or someone close to him, around campfires and over bar tops. Heightened reality? Perhaps, in the way tales have grown through telling since Methuselah first took up angling. But I have a hard time caring about the specific provenance of each particular story as I'm busy experiencing them, right next to the author as we stalk a wounded leopard into thorny scrub.

Some of our other Based Boys selections are made with an eye to provide moral instruction or demonstrate manly virtues. But sometimes a book just needs to fire the imagination and get the adrenaline flowing. Chapstick was actually passed matrilineally through my family, recommended by both my mother's mother and father's mother before it became family read-aloud material in our household. What can I say, I've always had based grandmothers. There's a pretty universal appeal in an exciting yarn, and this is one of the best. Every young man should know the feeling of tramping through the outdoors in search of his quarry with a few rounds of latent death held metal-cased in his sweating hands. This is a book to introduce young men to the world of the outdoorsman in fine style.

The sun is lighting the horizon aflame as the day's trek loops back to the kraal and your clients fall out into their tents. Time enough to get the fire going before everyone settles in for an evening's relaxation. You're sore from head to foot but that's nothing a roll of biltong, a belt of the good stuff and a pipe full of Mac Baren's best won't fix. The savannah's night songs start in as soon as you can see the stars. Better load the 470 Nitro Express in case those hyenas get any nocturnal ideas. Looks like a nice, long evening.

Today we welcome as a guest contributor. Early readers of P3 may remember Blake from my interview with him back in July 2023. Now, the author has returned with a tobacco review of Brigham’s Ripley Avenue, just in time for Father’s Day this sunday.

Enjoy,

- Frank Theodat

A very merry Fathers Day.

As I write this, I’m mere days away from welcoming my third child into the world. I am grateful to the good Lord for the family He has blessed me with, and have found a pipe amongst brothers an entirely appropriate means of celebration. Good for the soul, as they say. 

Perhaps it is doubly appropriate that I am finally cracking into C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet for the first time, because a newborn will almost surely compromise our quiet evenings. Permit me this cheap pun on a merely surface level, as I plead ignorance and am fully ready to have my mind blown once again by Lewis’ keen intellect. In that regard, I suspect that this comparison almost certainly won’t hold up once I’ve come to learn just what “the silent planet” actually means. But I digress. It is in the vein of fatherhood that I present to you my musings on yet another blessing from God’s green earth.

Brigham’s Ripley Avenue, or The Talented Mr. Ripley as I now affectionately call it, was named for the old Brigham Factory which was once located in Toronto, Canada. This tobacco was released as an anniversary blend for a reason – it was a worthy retrospective on Brigham’s centennial year. Remember, “Toronto the good?” You know, The Queen City nicknamed for how conservative it once was. That feels like many lifetimes ago, but it seems worth remembering as me and the boys smoke on the porch and consider the blueprints for the future Christendom. And while I’m no urbanite, the throwback name reminds me of my own dad who grew up playing in the streets of that old Queen City. It’s a contemplative sort of blend.

Mr. Ripley’s ribbon cut features a wise balance of black and brown cavendish and is a sleeper amongst the Virginias you might be accustomed to. It burns evenly and holds well, even for the uninitiated. As for its aforementioned talents, Mr. Ripley has an agreeably mild aroma, while still offering a bold rum and vanilla flavour that will carry in your beard indefinitely.

I enjoyed a bowl, pressed down and heaping over, from a new Father’s Day gift; a choice Scandinavian-inspired pipe that Herb Brigham himself preferred. This one pictured is called The Helm, and features a rock maple distillator, which can really reduce the “bite” of some sharper blends. That said, even from an unfiltered pipe, Mr. Ripley doesn't have that kind of edge to it. It’s really quite amicable. 

Mr. Ripley comes in a 50 gram tin (unfortunately unbranded where I live) and is perfect for dadding from the porch on a hot summer day, or for celebrating new life. 

Pulp, you see, never really died. It simply evaporated to condense in entirely new climates and biomes. We are experiencing a roaring revival of the gutsy, masculine genre, but it's always been lurking in the disused and disreputable alleys of modern media. Do you want see the future of pulp entertainment? It looks a lot like the past. Where the first generations of pulp teemed behind the splashy painted covers of cheap paperbacks, this generation riots across the small screens. Time to learn some lessons from the glorious revival of the Pulp spirit.

The pitch for Helldivers, a PS5 and PC gaming phenomenon currently militarizing the evenings of suburban dads across cyberspace, is as simple as it is compelling.

Do you want to be this guy?

How about him?

Or them?

Well, the good news is, you can feel like them for only forty sharply inflated United States dollars, the experience pitch perfectly captured in a co-op shooter. Helldivers 2 is as close to a perfect marriage of game and narrative as this suburban dad has experienced. From the pre-mission loading screen onward, this is an expertly tailored cocktail of pure Pulp.

You load into your Hellpod (yeah that's right), cracking jokes and crosstalking with the rest of your fireteam. Pretty soon, the player with the most veterancy usually assumes unofficial command. "Ok guys, we're about to drop on a Bot (or Bug) stronghold. (Yep, the two currently available enemy factions are loving renditions of humanity's twin age-old science fiction opponents). We'll need heavy support weapons and orbital strikes for this one. And whoever’s on the grenade launcher, watch yourself this time." (That’s right, this is a co-op shooter where friendly fire is always on. Brilliant). The briefing screen glitters as you quickly sandtable a route through the combat zone. Weapons selected, the last trooper readies and then all four fire through the belly of your starcruiser in roaring reentry fireballs, a perfectly-timed clarion of martial adrenaline soundtrack blaring through your TV speakers.

The second you touch down, you're firing your primary weapon. 10-40 minutes of nonstop violent adventure later, you fight your way to an arial extraction zone, complete a desperate last stand, and return to the cruiser, another tiny patch of freedom secured for Super-Earth. Rinse and repeat until well past midnight.

We're almost done with the pure video game review segment, I promise. But before we identify some of the ways that Helldivers is great Pulp, it must be said that this is an incredible game. The scene I just narrated perfectly blends the game's narrative framing (you are a soldier in endless war) with emergent play (you and your buddies fighting and dying, often hilariously), making every action feel immersive. Tiny details shine: when you team up with random players in Helldivers, you often join them mid-mission, slamming onto their planet and joining the firefight in progress like an avenging metal angel. The game narrative and real life collide as you're plunged into another faceless hero's final stand, ready to fight and fly off into the sunset after victory. They've made even queuing into quickplay feel iconic.

Ok enough with the gaming commercial. Why is it Pulp, though? I'll tell you, in a few simple bullet points. Imagine me here setting down my helmet and cherished Recoilless Rifle and walking over to a blackboard, this-guy style:

1. First off, Pulp as a genre is all about fantasy. No, not like that. Well, not exactly like that, anyways. We're talking about wish-fulfillment, about making daydreams feel real, about vicariously living through your heroes. Just like the dimestore paperbacks of our past, Helldivers uses genre tropes to tap directly into the hard-wired needs of the audience. Combat against unyielding merciless foes? Check. Veterancy developed through experience, the thrill of competency? Check. Comradeship against impossible odds? Check. Righteous causes and evil enemies? Check. Rather than subverting or ignoring these intrinsic desires, Pulp respects and even exaggerates them, all in a spirit of fun.

(Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to give me a Media Literacy crash course in the comments. I understand and even enjoy the role of satire in Helldivers and the media it draws on. That in itself does nothing to change the aspirational pulpy nature of all these artistic pieces. Take it from me, Suburban dads aren't watching Starship Troopers, etc. to archly snicker at how foolish male responsibility and military heroism are. Don't @ me).

2. If all of this is sounding a bit exclusively masculine, well, that's Pulp for you! Like it's feminine counterpart Romance, Pulp by and large existed and exists as a space for storytelling through a male lens. (Whoo boy, REALLY don't @ me). Notice that I said through a masculine lens, not "only by and for men." Pulp provides a space for muscular and aggressive entertainment that can be enjoyed by all but appeals uniquely to men. And that's a necessary component of the literary or media landscape. Just as we would be poorer without the relatable human drama of When Harry Met Sally, we are left with an incomplete media diet sans Indiana Jones. But I don't have to convince you, you're a reader of the premiere genre magazine at the vanguard of the Pulp Revival. Helldivers keeps the hard edge honed on military scifi, with all its guts and glory. The first time you kinetically dismember a monstrous insect or machine with controlled bursts of heavy MG fire, while coordinating artillery strikes with your fireteam and defending the all important Geological Survey objective, you'll have an unsuppressed grin plastered across your face. And the five hundredth time, too.

3. Speaking of Indiana Jones, Helldivers masters a final piece of the Pulp arsenal: adventure. The genre is designed to lean towards romance over realism, tailormade for stiff tastes of foreign lands salted liberally with action-packed deeds. There’s always space for sedate experiences in fiction, film and gaming. But Pulp isn’t one of them. Helldivers feels like a game that read Lester Dent’s short story rules and applied them studiously. It’s difficult to spend 15 seconds in-game without Something Happening. Dashing for defilade behind a rock outcrop so that the oncoming Annihilator Tank can’t spill your patriotic innards across the landscape. Catching a glimpse of beautiful vistas teeming with deadly foes. Picking up scientific samples. Ok, maybe forget that last bit.

I don’t have to spell out the takeaways here but this is my classroom and I’ll surrender the bully pulpit to nobody. The Age of Pulp is returning and that means using the “limitations” of today’s forms to create artistic leverage, just like your creator forbears did. You know who else used to complain about shortened attention spans, economic woes, and pedestrian tastes Destroying Art? The publishers and editors who wouldn’t stoop to legitimizing the likes of Heinlein, Asimov, Howard, Leiber and more. Time to buck up and type. Strip the fat away from your work, hone your edge, and make something Happen in that story. Grab ‘em by the collar and don’t let go. Entertain your reader, and they’ll forgive much. Overlook the new forms and fashions at your peril, cause that’s where the next innovators will be found.

Lock and load.

These monthly editorials will have a different focus. While I’ll continue to keep our readers updated on P3 business, I want to take the opportunity to use this platform we’ve built to highlight all the wonderful work that I’ve stumbled upon from other artists, writers, and creatives I respect.

Expect each monthly entry to include special shoutouts and highlights with a section titled, The Editor’s Recommendations.

P3 Plans This Year

Last year, I announced the magazine’s plans to dive into new ventures including physical media, audio, and other exciting projects on my list.

We’ve been hard at work developing one of those projects, specifically around audio, soon to be released this Fall 2024. Be on the lookout this summer for a formal announcement. Until then, it’s business as usual as the partners and I do our best to bring readers great fiction, poetry, essays, and more.

Fiction:

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry

In Those Days

The rain drummed the plastic awning and sluiced through the kudzu-encrusted drainage ditch behind the discount grocery. Gideon logged on from his phone and opened up the turking job forum, double checking to be sure his jailbroken vpn package was running. Everything loaded up slowly behind layers of defensive packet routing, giving him time to get annoy…

Read more

2 years ago · 18 likes · 3 comments · Zack Grafman

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry

The Remnant

Editor’s Note: Excited to share a dark story that not only is quite entertaining, but also an excellent testament to Brady Putzke’s growing skill as a storyteller. Originally published behind a paywall, I’ve decided to give all P3 readers the opportunity to enjoy this story…

Read more

2 years ago · 16 likes · 2 comments · Brady Putzke

Poetry

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry

Light of the World

This hymn was born out of reflecting on the theme of light in the gospels, and that Christ, the true light of the world, willingly entered darkness again and again in order to bring healing and life. So I decided at Easter to dwell on that theme and develop it through Christ’s birth, death, burial, and resurrection…

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2 years ago · 15 likes · 4 comments · James W. Shrimpton

Film

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry

Finestkind

Finestkind was recently released on Paramount+ after languishing in production hell for years. Brian Helgeland apparently wrote the script back in 1995, and at one point even had Heath Ledger attached. I bring this up because it truly does feel like a 90s crime movie at its core…

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2 years ago · 13 likes · 9 comments · Frank Kidd

Essays

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry

Treasure Island: Stevenson's Immersive Adventure

When searching out works best fit for a canon of Boy's Own Stories, the name Robert Louis Stevenson certainly deserves a special place. Well-loved by generations, endlessly adapted and riffed upon, Stevenson's works are among those few groundbreaking pieces that invent the conventions and tropes of an entire genre. The sea-story is a young man's staple…

Read more

2 years ago · 22 likes · 13 comments · Zack Grafman

The Editor’s Recommendations

Jacob Calta is a rare breed. I’ve witnessed his killer work ethic and commitment to pulp speed excellence during our collaboration on an upcoming P3 project. It seems he is always working, writing, and composing something new to his body of work daily. His catalog is familiar, but fresh, building on his core influences of music, art, film, and fiction into something with heart and passion. Find his work below at 365 Infantry.

365 Infantry

Sharp-Clawed Sci-Fi, Running on the Redline

By Jacob Calta

Adam Kozak is quickly becoming one of my favorite short story writers. He’s been at work publishing a story a week on his substack Adam Writes. His style is fun, heartwarming, and carries a humorous style similar to P.J. Woodhouse. His story, “Love Imitates Art”, is a personal favorite. You can read below then go on and read his backlist of other great fiction.

Soaring Twenties

Love Imitates Art

This, my friends, is what the STSC is all about. Beautiful, exquisitely crafted, masterfully executed, proper short fiction. The fact that the likes of Adam Kozak aren’t much more widely known and lauded is an injustice but we are doing what we can to right that wrong…

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2 years ago · 16 likes · 6 comments · Adam Kozak

Cirsova Publishing launched a new Kickstarter: “Star Wanderers Epic Sword & Raygun Mystery Thrillers by J.D. Cowan”.

This collection features eight thrilling tales of raygun adventure, swashbuckling sword fights, and cyberpunk mystery, including four never-before published adventures!

Dead Planet Drifter - Ronan Renfield lands on a swampy world that has been overtaken by death and decay-worshiping cultists! [First Published in Cirsova Magazine of Thrilling Adventure and Daring Suspense, Vol. 2 Issue 11, 2022]

Cold Heart of Ouranos - The Agent travels to the ice planet Ouranos in pursuit of a genocidal mad scientist who has holed up in a lost city! [First Published in Planetary Anthology Uranus, 2020]

Golden Echoes - Ronan faces down a diabolical terrorist leader who uses illegal technology to carve a mystical paradise out of reality itself! [First Published in Storyhack Action and Adventure, issue 7, 2021]

Armageddon Spring - A cursed sorceress queen is doomed to conquer and seek revenge her wrongs, driven by a mysterious entity known as the Artisan! [All New Story!]

Cold Finger Girl - A young woman barely escapes the twisted human experimentation of the supposedly peaceful Plateau and it is up to Ronan to keep her alive! [All New Story!]

Judgement Sun - The Agent fights to protect a wayward prince from the undead cyborg minions of a necromancer intent on breaking the royal line and dooming a world by fulfilling an ancient prophecy! [First Published in Planetary Anthology Sol, 2020]

Midnight Machineguns - Ronan investigates a series of terrorist attacks carried out by exploding cyborgs, and the trail leads him to an apocalyptic transhumanist cult! [All New Story!]

Slow Death on San Sebastian - Detective Ronan Renfield and the Agent team up in an epic clash against a rogue elemental Knight who desires to warp the soul of an entire planet! [All New Novella!]

If you enjoy pulpy stories of action and adventure, support the Kickstarter while you still can.

Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry is approaching its first birthday this summer and we’ve only just begun. As always, I’m grateful for our loyal and growing readership for investing time and support in our work. We will continue to write, publish, and experiment with new, inventive ways to keep readers entertained.

We’ve learned a lot so far, stumbled over some obstacles, and had setbacks, but I’m bullish on the future of P3 and artistic cooperatives.

I hope you’ll continue to join us.

One of the great beauties of the pipe smoking experience comes through the varieties of enjoyment on offer. Not only are every pipe and every blend subtly or even wildly different, but the smoke itself can serve many different purposes. Do you need a meditative moment away from the insanity of life? A deep bowl filled with unsubtle leaf will bring you into cadence like a rolling bass note. Are you chewing over a knotty mental problem and in the mood for a wrestling match? Load up something spicy or bitter and stoke your inner argumentation. And then sometimes, you're looking for a sprightly middle, a bantering back and forth smoke. Something that will talk back to you. And for this purpose, you might do much worse than Peterson's Hyde Park.

Is it an aromatic? Well yes, but not exactly. Will it bite back with some zest? Sometimes, but not always. Do you want a blustery spring day walk through the open air rustled into your bowl? Look no further. Sometimes a waft of caramel sweetness, sometimes a sneezy pinch of rose-and-soap floral perfume, combinations that really should not work together this well. It's a blend that will engage your attention without tiring it or requiring too much thought, a pass-time amusement with some intelligence and wit.

The reviewer is something of a devotee of Peterson blends, especially given their long history stretching back to the now-extinct Dunhill line of tobaccos. With this selection, we find something really special. It is, if the word choice can be excused, simply a “fun” blend to smoke. Amusing. Delightful. An enjoyment, nothing more. But quite enough at that!

So what better book to pair Hyde Park with than a selection from P.G. Wodehouse' sprawling and sprightly library? If you've never experienced the sparkling dry sharpness of his perfectly tuned wit, you're in for a unique treat. I've read two or three Wodehouse novels in the last few months, and cannot as I sit here recall for you the precise details of a single one of the stories. However, this is missing the important nature of Wodehouse, his goal being entertainment more so than edification. The specific scrapes that Bertie Wooster or the redoubtable Psmith weave themselves into and out of are hardly The Point. The journey, the patter, is the purpose.

Wodehouse brings you into a world of slightly heightened reality, introduces you to characters who resemble real people you probably know, peppers the whole with some of the best humor writing in the English language, then winds up some comedy of errors plot device and lets it go. Because I do not have his facility with the English language, I cannot come up with a better adjective for Wodehouse' prose than sparkling. This is writing that dances along the page, doing backflips for the sheer fun of it, showing off and laughing uproariously and bringing you into every joke conspiratorially. It is compulsively readable, always a little snatch of something new to entice you.

If you'll indulge me in a moment of poetic fancy, it is the very existence of literature and pipe smoke that reminds us that the past is a country we can still visit. It's becoming increasingly fashionable to view the past as a tragedy, an unreachable golden age filled with heroes and heroines, never to be seen again. But literature from another era reminds us that human flaws, foibles, and loveable quirks are all but unchanging. We recognize our brothers and sisters from the past when we encounter them in a garden of gorgeous prose or while enjoying one of their pastimes. They weren't so different from us, after all. We can go back, for a few moments. Enough to draw strength for the journey onward.

First the smash-up with Aunt Cecelia's ruddy back-garden, then the bizarre interlude with cousin Basil's two potential fiancés, and to crown it the ruddy rain simply won't stop at all. Nothing for it but to sit in the conservatory consuming these rather topping breakfast quaffs Jeeves kindly brought round while thoughtfully abolishing the final tin of Dunhill we packed. Dash this rain, and the Hon. Guy of North Chippings, and double dash the day we ever heard of the Chesley Youth Home Guards. It’s not fair, being made to suffer this way. You wonder where Jeeves has taken himself off to.

When searching out works best fit for a canon of Boy's Own Stories, the name Robert Louis Stevenson certainly deserves a special place. Well-loved by generations, endlessly adapted and riffed upon, Stevenson's works are among those few groundbreaking pieces that invent the conventions and tropes of an entire genre. The sea-story is a young man's staple, deservedly so, and Stevenson brought together personal influences and artistic desires to crystallize the subgenre of Pirate Yarn. Treasure Island is not only a deserved classic, it earns its space on the modern boy's shelf and stands up to repeated reading by those adults seeking the keys to the craft of boyish adventure writing. Or just seeking a good time.

The great writers of young people's literature in the heyday of the genre all kept their readers enthralled by insistently taking their audience seriously. Debates on style and substance aside, Treasure Island sets a high bar from the first few paragraphs. The young reader who first encounters Stevenson at age 10 or so will not be discouraged by needless complexity, and will probably be surprised at how easily the sentences flow despite their being littered with words they have to look up or guess at from context clues. But they will certainly notice the archaic language, and the absence of even the sort of humorous meta-text asides found in Barrie’s Peter Pan for instance. The book takes itself and its audience seriously, expecting that they are ready for tales brimful of all the world’s surprise and darkness.

While the depictions of skullduggery are relatively tame when revisited, they loom large in memory because of the fact that the novel centers on an adolescent hero who, in the course of the story, survives multiple betrayals, takes personal risks to save the lives of others, suffers wounds, and kills a man with a pistol in self-defense. The classic scene is etched tersely in our collective memory:

“One more step, Mr. Hands,” said I, “and I’ll blow your brains out! Dead men don’t bite, you know,” I added with a chuckle.

He stopped instantly. I could see by the working of his face that he was trying to think, and the process was so slow and laborious that, in my new-found security, I laughed aloud. At last, with a swallow or two, he spoke, his face still wearing the same expression of extreme perplexity. In order to speak he had to take the dagger from his mouth, but in all else he remained unmoved.

“Jim,” says he, “I reckon we’re fouled, you and me, and we’ll have to sign articles. I’d have had you but for that there lurch, but I don’t have no luck, not I; and I reckon I’ll have to strike, which comes hard, you see, for a master mariner to a ship’s younker like you, Jim.”

I was drinking in his words and smiling away, as conceited as a cock upon a wall, when, all in a breath, back went his right hand over his shoulder. Something sang like an arrow through the air; I felt a blow and then a sharp pang, and there I was pinned by the shoulder to the mast. In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment—I scarce can say it was by my own volition, and I am sure it was without a conscious aim—both my pistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands. They did not fall alone; with a choked cry, the coxswain loosed his grasp upon the shrouds and plunged head first into the water.

This is, first and foremost, a story tailor-made to teach young men the vital qualities of self-reliance, calculated risk, diligence and dutiful loyalty. Jim Hawkins threads the difficult needle of a boy's hero who is aspirational without seeming too perfect. He makes mistakes and errors of judgement, but also steps up to big moments and carries himself with pluck and courage. He has a few standout moments of quick thinking or bold speech that we wish we could emulate in times of stress. Perfect fodder for the young man in your life ready to graduate to the first years of adolescence and in need of a relatable star to chart his course. Jim protects his mother, goes on adventures, gets into and out of scrapes, and returns home wiser and wealthier, all while Stevenson luxuriates in the everyday quotidian this-ness of it all. A master of description without ever descending into needless detail or flowery language, he peppers his prose with vivid pictures that roll off the tongue and heighten the immersion of the reader.

An important component of our burgeoning Based Boys library is that these books are intended to teach and foster good reading habits and taste. Stevenson teaches young readers to appreciate rhythm and sound, the feel of good English writing. Encountering his world trains readers to enjoy, not just reading, but reading high-quality fiction. Watch how he uses hyphenated phrases to heighten the specificity of his descriptions delightfully: “sea-chest,” “hand-barrow,” “nut-brown” and “grog-shop” come from scanning the first few paragraphs alone. His famous “pirate dialect” is lilting and strange but never baffling; like a few paragraphs of dense Shakespearian dialog, by the end of the passage we’ve worked out for ourselves the intent, from context and feel if nothing else. This is fiction that pulls the reader gently up to a new height and places us beside the hero, smelling the salt air and piecing out the intimidating jargon of his new comrades right alongside him. Whether in tone, content, or style, Stevenson is unafraid to expect something of his youthful audience, first and foremost that they aren't so different from himself and probably enjoy stories liberally salted with violence, emotional conflict, stark realism, musical language, and a sense of manful seriousness.

As silly as it cynically seems today in the dismal fluorescent light of modern adulthood, I'm sure you can remember the first time you read about Jim Hawkins' daring adventures and, planted firmly in the swaying crow's nest of your bunk bed, measured yourself silently against his fictional achievements. Could you have kept your head while Israel Hands crawled hand over hand up the rigging towards you with death glinting in his rum-soaked eyes? That small thrill of importance is a vital component to add to our shelf. Young men crave measurement. They desperately need gates to pass through and fences to leap, even imaginary ones. The wise guide litters their young life with these moments to call them up a little higher.

You're smart as paint, y'are lad. I seen that since the moment I clapped eyes on you.

We have much to be grateful for here in the P3 offices. These past eight months have been extremely rewarding as we watch our publication grow past 600 readers.

We’ve published 31 short stories, 10 music playlists, 7 articles, 4 tobacco reviews, 4 film reviews, and several interviews, book reviews, and essays so far in our growing catalog. We are also expanding and developing exciting new projects that I will announce this summer. It’s amazing to see new readers trickle in and join us for the ride as we continue to build.

We appreciate your support, both the casual reader and those generous “patrons of P3” who have offered up their disposable coin to help us grow and expand.

Thank you!

From the Editor’s Desk

Three months into 2024 the world seems chaotic, more so than ever. Rarely do I spend precious energy on negative noise, but it seems to be inescapable these days. The temptation to check in, to be “in the know”, to be in the loop of events, to be “informed” is alluring and powerful. I’ve found myself slipping into the seductive trap of discussing topical events.

If you’re not too careful, it will eat away at your soul and you will lose yourself.

Morale seems to be slipping around us. Holding on requires more energy, it seems. Technology is advancing faster each day, people are losing their jobs, and God help my fellow Americans as we’ve stumbled into another election year.

It is crazy to think that the events of 2020, were only four years ago. It feels like a decade has gone by in that time with so much change.

As Randy Newman once sang, “It’s a jungle out there.”

I’ve spoken about my stubborn optimism in the past and how that has been the guiding force for me. Make no mistake though, I am not one for toxic positivity, which helps just about no one. I recognize things seem dismal and depressing out there in the big scary world with dark clouds looming over us.

But heed my word, dear reader. It makes little sense to be plugged into that feed, day after day, as your last remaining bits of sanity slowly dry up.

I see you there, nodding your head along with that statement. “Yes, yes, I know! Doom scrolling bad.” Yet I still hear people in my circles, my jobs, old acquaintances, and even my own family be seduced by the fear that seeps into their daily lives.

Yes, the world is a mess. It has been for a while, we know this. Evil exists, dreams die, employers let you go, “leaders” don’t lead, people disappoint you, and it seems that things are worse than ever.

Let us not despair! There are songs to be sung, music to compose, paintings to paint, statues to build, stories to write, battles to fight, and so on.

In the classic films of King Kong or the underappreciated adventure gems such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire, there is some sort of lost book, a journal, or an ancient map that reveals the secrets and treasures in a lost forgotten world.

I cannot offer you a map. We must chart our course, but we don’t have to do it alone. There are others lost in the jungle who are seeking other, like-minded men and women who wish to make it out on the other side. Find them, connect with them, and build a team. We can do great things together.

A Call to Adventure

The Cossack stories of Harold Lamb, the pirate adventures of Robert E. Howard, the frontier stories of Louis L’Amour, the desert tales of H. Bedford-Jones, and the hunting characters of H. Rider Haggard have all played a part in my growing thirst for new adventures this year.

Stories such as these hold the power to awaken the heroic characteristics that are deeply rooted in our souls. We can no longer afford to be apathetic these days.

You are called to act, not play a passive role in any of this. You were built to bring order to chaos, to create beautiful, wonderful works of art to inspire your children and the generations to come. We’ve been given a unique opportunity to tame the jungle, to shape it into something new and exciting. Don’t waste this opportunity.

The choice is ours to trek through the wilderness we’ve found ourselves in. It won’t be easy. We will stumble. We will make mistakes. We may even come across dangerous predators and venomous wildlife. But we will continue to march on.

Despair is not our calling.

I often remind myself that the future is bright because we choose to build it. The journey will be messy, but as we carve out a path through the wild forest and thick heat, we will learn that it was all worth it.

Grab your machete and your pistol, you’ll need them.

Welcome to the Jungle.

Well, it finally arrived. After spending a frankly irresponsible amount of money on what amounts to a mechanical keyboard taped to an LCD display, and waiting for more than a Terran Year for the thing to finally ship to my door, I am typing out these very words on a brand new Freewrite Alpha. I'm almost embarrassed to actually admit this in fact. This is a writing tool designed by and for a very unique set of people, of whom I unfortunately count myself a member, who exist at the forlorn intersection of streets labeled Poor Focus and Antiquarian Tendencies. That's us, there, complaining that the advent of the internet made writing impossible and composing odes to the death of the typewriter with fountain pens on foolscap. We are a rather silly lot, don't pity us.

What's a Freewrite, some of you happier souls might be asking? Designed as a response to the omnicapable distraction machines present in every modern home and disguised as Work Tools, Astrohaus produces the Freewrite line of products to do one thing, and one thing only: draft words into digital files. Now, you're thinking "Oh well it does that and also has a small suite of other features!" Well, no. Not really. At least, no features that are not absolutely molecularly necessary for the task of drafting words. And many features that might have been, you know, expected or helpful are conspicuously absent. Astrohaus seemed to have specced out these bad boys like arctic explorers preparing a hot air balloon for a desperate voyage: mainly by throwing almost everything out to make weight. Robust two-way syncing filesystem? Too heavy, it's gone. A screen larger than four lines of text? Are you insane? Four is plenty, why read what you've already written when the goal is writing new stuff? Can we at least have editing functionality that would surpass, say, the average electric typewriter? What for, you fool, we don't need it where we’re going!

Stripped to the bare essentials, this is a silky smooth mechanical keyboard with insane battery life, a tiny glare-proof screen, enough onboard memory to thwart even the most baroque of tome stylists, and a really bad attitude.1 Freewrite Alpha came to put drafts onto silicon and chew bubblegum, and it threw the bubblegum out because it was unnecessary. If you're hoping for a hyper-detailed technical connoisseur's review of the mechanical key switches or something of that nature, you'll have to look elsewhere. That's not my line of expertise, and in any case I'm sure many will find any number of quibbles with the device, especially given the steep price tag. After all, the Alpha is the new low end of the Freewrite product line, and I was able to snag one for $270 after shipping by pledging early to the product's oft-delayed crowdfunding campaign. They are currently a wild $350 on the website. (Ok see right here, I instinctively wanted to go back to the previous paragraph and edit in some specific numbers on battery life and storage. At least, I think it was the last paragraph, but I can't see it anymore. I could navigate back up the document line by line or word by word with a couple hotkey combos, but that's clearly not what Alpha wants me to do. Onward! Compose!)

Anyway sorry, where were we? Oh yes. These things are pricey, ruthlessly focused little machines. We could stand around and pick holes in the design decisions all day.

But I'm too busy composing text in a nonstop flood. Not a single distraction, because now they're all literally impossible. My shameful muscle memory trying to command-tab into a browser window is clamoring like a phantom limb, but Alpha is an implacable master. Compose! And compose I do. There are myriad varieties of writers, and many of them should not purchase this device. If you love tinkering with your draft in progress, jumping from paragraph to paragraph as you tweak and polish...well, that is frankly impossible with the current file versioning system this baby sports. You can sync your draft files to Dropbox for safety, sure, but edit one of those suckers on your laptop and then expect the results to show up on your Freewrite and you're in for disappointment, and a forked new version of the file whenever the device syncs next. I've got hives just thinking about it. You can pull the files up in Postbox, Astrohaus's web-based client, and edit there. But if you do, they'll be removed from your Freewrite's memory (you heard me) to become cloud files only, needing to be manually sent back again. This is an opinionated little devil, and it wants you to use a single, demanding workflow. But some of you, like me, are already thrilling in anticipation at the possibilities. Because, yes dear reader, this machine is a Pulp Speed Accelerator. The Freewrite wants to be used to slam piles of sentences onto the page, over and over again, until a single draft is completed. No edits, no second guessing, no spellchecking, and certainly no sleep till Brooklyn. You want to edit? Do it when you're through drafting. You want to switch to another project? Sure, you can store tons of 'em on here, and it'll save your place on each one tirelessly. But the only way out is through, bucko. Only you, dear reader, can tell if this is 1. a potential salve to every creative problem you've ever had or 2. a ridiculous technological luxury for Millennials who've never heard of an IBM Selectric or impulse control. I'm not totally sure which camp I'm in just yet.

But I'll tell you one thing for sure. I just crushed this entire review in two short sessions, without barely stopping to breathe hard. It's been a while since I've been able to say that. I'm not proud of the dopamine-addled state my brain is in, and that's why we're having this conversation in the first place. But it genuinely seems like this admittedly extreme solution works for me. The sheer enjoyment of chunking along with a tactile keyboard, nothing else to do but just put words down, is genuinely freeing. Do you need this? I hope not. If you're more disciplined then me, you could replace the Freewrite with a free minimalist text editor on fullscreen, maybe a distraction lockdown app in the mix too if needed. But if you're self-indulgent enough to want something unique, a dedicated tool for writing and only writing...this might be exactly what you're looking for.

I always try to avoid the sillier spats in the writing community, and I think arguments over tools are one of the worst offenders. For heaven's sake, just put words down somehow. That's going to look different for everyone, of course. It's needless gatekeeping to insist on analog tools or expensive solutions just as it's fake humility to shun people who love that stuff. Enjoy yourself. But never forget that even when you've gone out of your way to get an intentionally feature-poor quasi-analog word processor...

Tomorrow morning, it will still be up to you to pick it up and type.

Godspeed.

As enjoyers of what we must in many ways term an age of wonders, it is all too easy to forget the fantastic abundance all around us. Connoisseurs can struggle to correctly value dependable delights in favor of increasingly outré experiences. But of course as patrons of a pair of exceptionally sedate and thoughtful arts, literary and tobacciana specifically, we ought to know better. The complex and subtle, while they have their rightful place, mustn’t crowd out our love for the everyday and obvious delights. So in this edition we will examine two such carefully crafted masterpieces. The book: a sedate and sparkling 1919 mystery by Christopher Morley. The tobacco: a well-loved (if divisive) blend that took on the novel’s name and atmosphere. Let’s start at the place where we get our pipe going.

Haunted Bookshop the blend is a Cornell and Diehl offering that may be the most complete combination of tin art, tin aromas, flavor, and general “ethos” that this reviewer has smoked in some time. Everything about the experience immerses you in Old Bookstore. The tobacco is a stiff and feisty combination of Burley and Perique varieties, and takes no time displaying subtleties. Here is a mature man’s smoking blend, formulated to keep you upright on late evenings paging away through a stack of volumes while you keep an eye on the shop. Burnt nutty mustiness from the Burley, spicy peppery zip from the Perique, and a healthy nicotine kick from both. It tastes like you crumbled a mildewed page from a rare volume into your pipe, in the best way imaginable. Added notes of “kicking away scratchy autumn leaves as you approach the shop window of a pleasantly shabby New York bookseller,” if we must elaborate. From the first light you should expect to enjoy a self-assured and unbothered smoke, overflowing with careless enjoyment.

Now you may recall I said that Haunted Bookshop was a bit of a controversial blend, and that’s true. Many characterize it as “boring” or “one-dimensional” or even slap it with the dreaded slur “cigarette-like.” But recall our beginning thesis: blends like this exist as a training aid to recondition our spirit towards simpler times. Do more complicated and demanding experiences exist? Of course. But as with all arts, it is helpful to judge this blend on the merits of what it attempts to achieve. Haunted Bookshop captures the feeling of its namesake novel and presents a dependable, reliable way to experience that comfort and satisfaction. Rather than attempting many things, this tobacco masters a single one. Unapologetic, attention grabbing, unconcerned with pleasing finicky palates. Tasty.

In many ways, Christopher Morley’s novel could be described in the exact same way. This slim and atmospheric volume is less a plot or character story and more of a Vibes Novel, where the vibe in question is Interwar Americana. The plot lazily drifts through a cozy mystery of sorts, combined with an unhurried romance subplot and hefty helpings of philosophical digression on literature and life in general. Pipe smoking is less an atmospheric touch and more of a minor plot point. High art? Hardly. Perfect for happily smoldering through an afternoon as you recall that there are indeed Other Ways of Living beyond the hurry and vanity of your world? Without doubt.

It’s the atmospheric qualities of Morley’s writing, like the blend he inspired, that carry his work. Since very little Happens in the book, it is fortunate indeed for us readers that Morley excels in setting scenes and relishes in the joy of average physical surroundings and occurrences. It’s a wonderfully grounded book, an excellent example of the kind of Analog Literature that we both aspire to and enjoy around here. A book-lovers book extraordinaire, no apology offered for delighting in a very specific set of experiences and enjoyments. Feast on page-long descriptions of bookstore inventory, rhapsodies on the joys of midnight snacking, shiny kitchens with polished hobs and dingy basements with crates of empty bottles. Enjoy monologues on reading in bed and pacificism. Ease into the rhythm of the book and remember that there was a time when novels could have strong opinions, right down to the nuts and bolts of literary styling. A time we could bring back, if we tried.

Just before you step inside the shop door you shelter your pipe against the warm gray September wind and flick your lighter a few times. Nurturing the tiny coal in the bowl of crisped leaves, you can still smell the incense of mildewed pages reaching out through the sense-dulling smoke. A few shallow puffs fill the air around you with a drifting halo of vapor. An afternoon to yourself, nothing to do but smoke and loiter. You scan the shelves eagerly, looking for old friends and new. What discoveries await?

Zack is back! This week he continues his “Based Boys Books” essay series highlighting the timeless tales of young men's adventure fiction and offers his recommendations. This series is quickly becoming a personal favorite of mine in the P3 catalog.

Enjoy!

- Frank Theodat

As we continue to build the ideal library for the self-reliant and self-taught young man, we need to add some nonfiction to his collection. For a number of reasons, there might be no better place to start than the vintage treasures contained in the Landmark series. This monumental achievement in historiography expressly designed for adolescents is also an excellent example of the sort of market research we aspire to at this magazine. Supposedly, the head of Random House could not acquire a suitable book on the Pilgrims for his young son, and his frustration turned into a product line which ended up containing over two hundred titles running from 1950 to 1970. A case study in What to Do Right when publishing this sort of material, it’s time we revisit these classics for our own enjoyment and the instruction of our posterity.

First off, when creating material for boys you must to live and die by the exact inverse of the tired “Don’t Judge a Book by It’s Cover” saw. Being eminently reasonable creatures, boys know that a failure to appeal visually probably indicates other failures internally, and judge accordingly. So Random House designed a complimentary livery of single-colored cloth bindings that, to this day, feel important and inviting in the hand. This design also has the added benefit of immediately colonizing one of your bookshelves, each new Landmark that slides into place cumulatively contributing to a moreish collecting habit. I mean, just look at these:

Next they were clad in brightly illustrated jackets, depicting an exciting scene within enticingly. No coy disguised motives here or mind-numbing scholastic stuffiness; a Landmark on the bookstore shelf screamed “Hey, history rocks, dudes rock, and you’re cool just for considering this book. Want to read about the Exceptional Chadness of Geronimo? Yeah you do, king!” This is the exact opposite of the Eat Your Vegetables insistence of imaginatively impoverished so-called educators. A Landmark promised adventure, entertainment, and knowledge of the wider world. They appealed to boys’ desires to gather facts, their collector’s habit, and their fledgling need to grapple with serious Real Life events and characters, turning all these things into leverage to mold the scholars and statesmen of tomorrow.

And then, crucially, the books delivered. Random House wisely reached out to established authors who could write excellent prose instead of relying on academic historians, and so each of the books reads like a David McCullough epic shrunk to a manageable 250-ish pages. They snagged well-known names for a number of the works: WWII Pacific veteran and superb pensman Robert Leckie for several war stories, Horatio Hornblower creator C.S. Forester for a Barbary Pirates volume, William Shirer for an adaptation of his Rise and Fall of the Third Reich tome, fictioneer Shirley Jackson for a Salem Village Witch Hunt book, and more. Instead of bone-dry texts listing the facts of a period, each is a tightly focused narrative retelling, putting the reader directly in the action. They published a ton of them, and put them in boys’ hands for around thirteen bucks inflation adjusted. So basically, Pulp Speed applied to youth nonfiction.

And the added bonus is that by introducing your young man to Landmarks in 2023, you are simultaneously instilling a vintage book habit, as most haven’t been reprinted (and certainly not to the gorgeous standards of the originals). Now you’re also sharing a delightful hobby, delving through the collections of used bookstores to locate prizes neglected by modernity. They fulfill every criterion for the Based Boys Bookshelf: inspiring, enjoyable by actual human boys, old-fashioned bordering on reactionary by today’s standards (just take a look at this list of titles for yourself). Like many boys before me, the author himself was propelled towards a lifelong love and study of history beginning from my days combing the Albuquerque area for these forgotten gems.

If you want a starting point, you could do much worse than Ted Lawson’s autobiographical account of his experiences as a pilot on the Doolittle Raid. A genuinely gripping account which later inspired the movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Lawson’s book of the same name for Landmark is a trim bantamweight contender boasting high adventure and unforgettable scenes. I can still remember two decades later the scene where Lawson narrates in first person the experience of listening to his own leg being amputated. This is history for the keen boy with daring taste, and a fitting introduction to a venerable series.

Honor your heritage, young man.