Number 34

The Pulpster #34 (2025)

Number 34 of The Pulpster was published for PulpFest 2025.

Masters of Villainy

1935: the year of the bad guys
Their evilest schemes couldn’t defeat the forces of the magazine business
by Don Hutchison

Make way, hero — it’s the bad guys
The hero pulps were the mainstays, but the villain pulps had their days, too
by Michael R. Brown

The resurrection of Doctor Death
It seems you can’t keep an over-the-top, mad scientist down
by Will Murray

The Shadow’s four-timers club
Shiwan Khan vs. Benedict Stark: A study in two villains
by Craig McDonald

Masters of Blood and Thunder

Red-blooded, heroic history
Rafael Sabatini was the prince of pirates during the first half of the 1900s
by John C. Bruening

The king of ‘thrillers’
Edgar Wallace wrote fast, sold millions, and helped unleash King Kong
by Ed Hulse

A legend without a landmark
How best to honor the creator of Tarzan and John Carter?
by Henry G. Franke III [ERBFest]

Articles

When ‘frail’ was not frail
While not common, strong, working girls of the pulps turned up occasionally
by Kurt Brokaw

The women of sf pulps
Beyond the stars, female authors struggled to get published in the key magazines
by Tony Davis

Before swords, there was stone
Robert E. Howard’s ‘Spear and Fang’ was a triumph for both writer and fantastic fiction
by Jeffrey Shanks

Pushing boundaries with Philip José Farmer
He talks about returning to Oz, insect lovers, other sf works, and pulp characters
by Darrell Schweitzer [FarmerCon]

The first ‘gathering of bronze’
Attendees recall meeting fellow Doc Savage fans at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1994
by Jen DiGiacomo [Doc Con]

Departments

From the Editor, by William Lampkin
From the Publisher, by Michael Chomko
Final Chapters, by Tony Davis

On the cover

Graves Gladney painted the cover of “The Golden Master” for The Shadow (Sept. 15, 1939). Courtesy of the Dwight Fuhro collection.