I have no idea how to title this post. Basically, I've got a WIP that is done in the style of and paying tribute to the classic pulp stories of the 1930s up through the 1960s. Magazines like Weird Tales, Saucy Adventures, creators like H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert E. Howard, and novels like Spring Fire. I love this stuff, a lot has aged like a dead skunk in desert, and it's trash, but I love it, and a lot a LOT has softcore sex. I want to pay a tribute to this, bring the soft-core stuff to the explicit. There's just one problem, and it's kind of a big one.
These books/stories can be really uncomfortable to read with modern sensibilities; and I don't mean the kind of perpetually offended college crazies we see pop up, I mean the kind that makes things Mark Twain and Joseph Conrad look like 12 Years a Slave or Birth of A Nation.
Additionally, a typical story might go like this: Introduce protagonist + love interest --> Love interest kidnapped, most likely partially or entirely disrobed for cartoonishly over-the-top villains --> love interest gets rescued --> softcore romance --> happy ending?
So my question is this: To any familiar with the work, how does one pay tribute to the fun adventures and romance (when it isn't horrifying) without falling into the pitfalls of, just read anything from Seabury Quinn and you'll get a sense of it. Or is this project completely stillborn?
Alternatively, look up the artwork of Margaret Brundage and you'll get a decent sense of what I mean.
"insensitive prick!" – Danielle Algo
Either A) the racism in the stories are not an integral part of the story and so you should be able to write a tribute without such racism in it or B) it is an integral part of the story and you might want to ask yourself why you're such a fan.
=== Not ALL LIVES MATTER until BLACK LIVES MATTER ===
Pay no attention to Noll. He is a militant ideolog and has a tendency to think his morals are better than anyone else.
As long as you don't include nonconsensual sex or death during the act of sex, most themes will pass.
As much as it galls me though, he is right about the racism, homophobia, etc. There is no place for it in today's world. It can be referenced, but I don't think anyone wants to see it portrayed as anything but the reprehensible hate it was at the time. You can point out there was racism, but my guess is any chance to pretend it is still acceptable will badly backfire. The mods can give you advice on specific details.
I'll post more in depth later - busy day! that said - talk to me and possibly Verbal and Ping on this subject. it's something that i kind of did with a series of mine, sort of an homage to ERBurroughs, and something i have a lot of thoughts on. also, i'm a senior writing mod here and can steer you away from anything that won't be allowed according to our guideline. looking forward to having a conversation with you and maybe even getting to know you.
best,
rachel
You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.
Pulp can be pulp without the racism and sexism. Plenty of modern homages to HP Lovecraft manage to get a pulp feel while ditching his less savoury elements. Much as I love HPL and REH, I am starting to prefer modern interpreters of their genres just for that reason.
As a worshipper of the ideal female form, I find a lot in the art of Margaret Brundage to admire (Frank Frazetta too!). Pulp stories of the period were intended to titillate both the libido and the imagination (and SELL to the incels of the day!), but they reflected the prejudices of the age in which they were written. My uncle is a professor emeritus of pop culture at a northern Ohio university, and he has a vast collection of pulps, comics, big-little-books, dime novels. The covers always fascinated me growing up. The stories were formulaic, but the genre IS worthy of tribute, so recreate the style, without the pitfalls, and you may really come up with something special.
