PTFC Challenge #3 – Red Nails

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 30, 2018

For the final entry in the Continuing the Pre-Tolkien Fantasy Challenge, I wanted to finish with one of my favorite pre-Tolkien fantasy stories… one that I haven’t read in years. I re-read it for this challenge, and while my take on it was different from my teenaged memories, I found I was no less delighted […]

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PTFC Challenge #2: The Women of the Wood

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 21, 2018

Continuing the Pre-Tolkien Fantasy Challenge, I have a story by Abraham Merritt, an outstanding pulp-era fantasy writer whom I only discovered last year.  He was an inspiration to and contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft among others. He certainly gets pretty lush in his descriptions, much like Tolkien (and Lovecraft, and … quite a few pulp authors, […]

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PTFC Challenge #1: Black God’s Kiss

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 14, 2018

Fellow modern pulpy author Alexandru Constantin issued a challenge on Friday – the Pre-Tolkien Fantasy Challenge. It’s partly a reminder to people that Tolkien didn’t invent the fantasy genre, and to shed some light on the breadth of the genre long before Tolkien got published. That’s not a slight against Tolkien. I love the Lord […]

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Here comes another new pulp-style magazine!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 10, 2017

What? Another pulp-style magazine is starting up? I’m giddy! Tales from the Magician’s Skull (a magazine of all new swords & sorcery fiction in the classic pulp style) The first issue already has content. I have zero involvement–I learned about this the first day of its campaign. It’s being produced by Goodman Games, a role-playing […]

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Pulp is No Excuse

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 6, 2017

Critics tend to use “pulp” as a qualitative descriptor. I think I’ve made my case enough times in the past that this simply isn’t true, unless you are one of those people who insists that newer is better, or that certain modern popular affectations are objectively superior to those of the past. For many decades, […]

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Happily Super-Heroic. And… Pulpy.

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 21, 2017

For everyone complaining about how tired they are of the superhero movies… I’m happily part of the problem. I’m not tired of them, mainly because Hollywood has finally been hit enough times with the clue-bat over the decades that they are finally learning how to make them. We’re finally seeing good, interesting superhero movies that […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 8

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 29, 2017

This is the final part of my article series on writing pulp fiction. You know everything I do on the subject now. Seriously… I’m not that smart. I have co-taught this class with people who have a lot more experience and knowledge than I do. I’m more of the zealous newly-converted. As much as has […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 7

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 28, 2017

Now we’ve gone over how you write a pulp-style short story, but what do you do with it once you are done? And what if you want to write a novel or novella? Or what about a serial? Does any of this still apply? The short answers are: If it’s good enough, you sell it. […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 6

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 27, 2017

Now we are set to dive into outlining and writing at least a 6000 word story. If you have been following this article series from the beginning, then you’ve covered the foundations and may be ready to get cracking at drawing up an outline or just jumping into writing the thing. Today, we’re delving into the […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 5

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 26, 2017

Okay. To sum things up so far: We talked about what pulp fiction really was during its day, what people talk about when they are discussing contemporary pulp, a little bit about Lester Dent’s formula and brainstorming, and developing pulp-style plots and characters. That’s a lot of info. Now we’re going to drill down a […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 4

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 23, 2017

Hopefully you’ve brainstormed some cool ideas for your pulp adventure, and you are ready to commit it to paper! Now, whether you are a heavy plotter / planner, or write by the seat of your pants, you’ll need a good jumping-off point and you’ll probably want some kind of idea of where you are going. […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 3

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 22, 2017

We’ve now talked about the real history of the pulps, and what “contemporary pulp” means. I’ll assume here that this sounds awesome to you, and you want to write stories like this. At this point, if you are a veteran storyteller, you’ve got all you really need. But if you want some additional nuts-and-bolts tips from […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 2

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 21, 2017

Last time, we discussed what pulp fiction really was. It’s not what many people assume it is. The very breadth of what came out during the pulp era could make it easy at this point to simply throw one’s hands in the air and say, “So pulp fiction is just genre fiction!” and be done […]

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How to Write Pulp Fiction for Fun and Profit – Part 1

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 20, 2017

Some folks have asked that I post my notes from the presentations I’ve done on writing pulp fiction. Now, I don’t pretend to be the expert on the subject. That’s why I grab a veteran modern-pulpist partner on these things… I figure between the two of us we might be able answer most questions. My […]

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