Pulp Consumption: True Detective (Season 1)

Cameron talks TRUE DETECTIVE in this week’s edition of PULP CONSUMPTION.

Broadswords and Blasters

True Detective was^[1] a short-lived HBO anthology series, with each season covering a different plot, sort of like American Horror Story on FX. That’s where the comparisons with the longer-lived show end. True Detective combines multiple sub-genres within pulp, including noir, saucy sex, and supernatural horror, and uses a framing device of police interviews to weave together a complex non-linear narrative into a coherent whole, in much the same way that Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan have done with Pulp Fiction and Memento, respectively. This sort of device shows up frequently in literature and film, including pulp, though it becomes far more widespread after Citizen Kane and Rashomon.

The two main characters are Louisiana detectives investigating the possible resurgence of a dormant serial killer. The show is set against the backdrop of a dilapidated and decaying urban infrastructure filled with corruption, decadence, and possible devil worship, all…

View original post 379 more words

Pulp Appeal: Indiana Jones

In case you wondered what we meant by “two-fisted action.”

Broadswords and Blasters

The Indiana Jones series is what happens when twopowerhouses of the ‘70s and ‘80s decide to craft a love letter to the adventure serials of the 1930s and ‘40s. Indiana Jones is an adventurer first and an academic second, completing his archaeology in the field with little more than a whip, a revolver, and his hat.

What is striking for me, is the way that you can use the Indiana Jones movies as a template for developing your own stories. There is the MacGuffin (the Ark of the Covenant, the Sankara Stones, the Holy Grail, the Crystal Skull). There are the outright villains (Nazis in the first and third film, evil cultists in the second, and communists in the fourth). There is the requisite love interest. Each follows the same basic formula. Indiana is after the MacGuffin. The bad guys want it too. In some cases (TEMPLE OF DOOM)…

View original post 293 more words

Issue 2 Run Down!

A quick run down on what’s coming in Issue 2!

Broadswords and Blasters

Instead of your usual dose of PULP APPEAL, this week we’d thought we’d do something a little different and preview what you’ll find in Issue 2 of Broadswords and Blasters.

First up is KAUAHOA VS THE MU by Patrick Baker, an action packed Polynesian tale where the outcast warrior Kauahoa battles fiendish sea creatures. Will Kauahoa prevail over the sea devils, or will they prove too much for him and his magic club?

Calvin Demmer takes us to a different kind of tale in A WESTERN PROMISE where Charles “Quick Draw” Payne has made a name for himself as a reluctant sheriff in a frontier town. Not everything is as it seems and even Calvin’s skill with a gun might not be enough to prevail against his latest challenger.

Steve Cook’s FEATHERED DEATH provides the cover image for this issue, and it’s a story we were eager to grab and…

View original post 430 more words