Pulp Fantasy recommendations

[Erin Painter Baker]

I love that place where fantasy and pulp meet. Some of my favorite books/series are pulp fantasy, and I would love to read more in that style.

Examples of what I consider pulp fantasy (that I've read):
Jim Butcher's Dresden Files
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels
Lillith Saintcrow (pretty much everything I've ever seen by her)
Glen Cook's Garrett PI series

Any recommendations?

[Nisha Ward]

Uh, quick question. How would you define pulp fantasy?

[Erin Painter Baker]

Uh, quick question. How would you define pulp fantasy?

Generally, I would say they are books that meet all the tropes of pulp novels, but have a fantasy setting. In that sense, the Butcher, Saintcrow, and Cook books I mentioned all generally focus on someone who is a Private Investigator type. And the truth is, so do the Brust books, though the character calls himself an Assassin.
But they aren't generally murder mystery type books. There is suspense, there is action, there is danger, but there also tends to be a lot of humor. They aren't the most original of books- they follow pretty strict formulas, making them quick and easy to read. And there is almost always some small element of romance in them.
So, it would appear most of the series I have read have been Detective Pulp in a fantasy setting. I would totally be interested in Western Pulp. The original Star Trek series was definitely Science Fiction pulp.
And I guess I should add to my list of pulp that I've read and loved, Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Martian Chronicles

[Nisha Ward]

Uh, quick question. How would you define pulp fantasy?

Generally, I would say they are books that meet all the tropes of pulp novels, but have a fantasy setting. In that sense, the Butcher, Saintcrow, and Cook books I mentioned all generally focus on someone who is a Private Investigator type. And the truth is, so do the Brust books, though the character calls himself an Assassin.
But they aren't generally murder mystery type books. There is suspense, there is action, there is danger, but there also tends to be a lot of humor. They aren't the most original of books- they follow pretty strict formulas, making them quick and easy to read. And there is almost always some small element of romance in them.
So, it would appear most of the series I have read have been Detective Pulp in a fantasy setting. I would totally be interested in Western Pulp. The original Star Trek series was definitely Science Fiction pulp.
And I guess I should add to my list of pulp that I've read and loved, Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Martian Chronicles

Did not know that. Unfortunately I've got nothing for you but I might check out what you've mentioned.

[SunVixen]

Uh, quick question. How would you define pulp fantasy?

I can ask the same question.
And one more question. Andre Norton's books can be defined as a pulp fantasy? For example, the Witch World series?

[Erin Painter Baker]

Uh, quick question. How would you define pulp fantasy?

I can ask the same question.
And one more question. Andre Norton's books can be defined as a pulp fantasy? For example, the Witch World series?

I don't know that I would consider Andre Norton to be pulp. But honestly, it's been a really long time since I've read any Norton. She was a staple of my high school reading days, but that was 25+ years ago now.

Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour were western pulp. Heinlein was science fiction pulp (but I don't really like Heinlein).
I could see calling Robert Asprin fantasy pulp (especially the earliest books in the Myth series).

I think one of the other things about pulp novels are that they are generally pretty straight forward. Even in a series, you can pick up any book in the series and enjoy it, because the most important parts of the book are all in that book. Each is it's only discreet story. There might be elements brought in from previous books, continuing characters/relationships, but each book is stand alone.

[SunVixen]

It seems that I am beginning to understand what "pulp" is. Perhaps the books about Conan the Barbarian can be defined as "pulp fantasy"?

One more question. You mentioned Burroughs. He wrote about Mars, and his books should be defined as science fiction. However, his Mars is not real Mars. I think this is more fantasy than science fiction.

[Nisha Ward]

It seems that I am beginning to understand what "pulp" is. Perhaps the books about Conan the Barbarian can be defined as "pulp fantasy"?

One more question. You mentioned Burroughs. He wrote about Mars, and his books should be defined as science fiction. However, his Mars is not real Mars. I think this is more fantasy than science fiction.

I think it might still fall into the category of science fiction, but in the way concepts like Flash Gordon and Riddick might? I could be wrong, though.

[Erin Painter Baker]

It seems that I am beginning to understand what "pulp" is. Perhaps the books about Conan the Barbarian can be defined as "pulp fantasy"?

One more question. You mentioned Burroughs. He wrote about Mars, and his books should be defined as science fiction. However, his Mars is not real Mars. I think this is more fantasy than science fiction.

Yes, the Conan books by Robert Howard, definitely fall into the pulp category. As do the Cthulu books by HP Lovecraft. I've read as many of the Conan books as I am going to read. And I don't read horror. But that era (the two authors were friends, and there is actually a little tribute to that in the most recent Conan movie) is kind of the height of the sci fi/fantasy/horror pulp era.

And yes, now a days we might consider Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars series more fantasy, but at the time, it was definitely considered science fiction. People at the time really thought there were canals on Mars. Plus there were air ships and advanced technology. So I still classify it that way.
I have not read Burrough's Tarzan series. And perhaps I should.

[Erin Painter Baker]

I think it might still fall into the category of science fiction, but in the way concepts like Flash Gordon and Riddick might? I could be wrong, though.

I consider it science fiction because it was considered science fiction at the time it was written, not fantasy. But yes, I think it is safe to say it falls into that category in the same way Flash Gordon and Riddick do.

And now I'm wondering if there are Riddick novels. I bet those would meet my desire for pulp....

[Erin Painter Baker]

And I guess another viewpoint, is I would consider just about all the Harlequin Romance/Harlequin Presents books to be pulp romance. They are all very formulaic, about the same number of pages, etc.

[Nisha Ward]

I think it might still fall into the category of science fiction, but in the way concepts like Flash Gordon and Riddick might? I could be wrong, though.

I consider it science fiction because it was considered science fiction at the time it was written, not fantasy. But yes, I think it is safe to say it falls into that category in the same way Flash Gordon and Riddick do.

And now I'm wondering if there are Riddick novels. I bet those would meet my desire for pulp....

A quick search shows that the only official novels are the novelisations

[Nisha Ward]

And I guess another viewpoint, is I would consider just about all the Harlequin Romance/Harlequin Presents books to be pulp romance. They are all very formulaic, about the same number of pages, etc.

Most likely, though Harlequin has a ton of imprints now, iirc.

I think there are a number of pulp sci-fi comics out there if you can track it down too.

[Jezebelle84]

I'm not entirely certain I understand what "pulp" is but based on your liking the Dresden Series I would suggest the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson. The main character is a private detective who dies for about 2 minutes and when she comes back she's a Greywalker. Explaining exactly what that is, is rather difficult. You'd have to read the books to understand. Anyway, as she learns about her new power she starts to attract more supernatural clientele. There some romance, some mystery and some vampires. Each book is around 300 pages so they're fairly quick reads.

[SunVixen]

It seems that I am beginning to understand what "pulp" is. Perhaps the books about Conan the Barbarian can be defined as "pulp fantasy"?

One more question. You mentioned Burroughs. He wrote about Mars, and his books should be defined as science fiction. However, his Mars is not real Mars. I think this is more fantasy than science fiction.

And yes, now a days we might consider Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars series more fantasy, but at the time, it was definitely considered science fiction. People at the time really thought there were canals on Mars. Plus there were air ships and advanced technology. So I still classify it that way.

Perhaps we can define these books as vintage science fiction?