The Book Cave, one of the best known pulp focused podcasts (and ALL PULP’S official podcast) was the launch pad for a major announcement this week. Tommy Hancock (Editor in Chief at Pro Se Productions, Pulp Ark Organizer and Coordinator, Author, and one of ALL PULP’s Spectacled Seven) revealed during the ALL PULP news segment on this week’s Book Cave with host Ric Croxton, that he was part of a very special project.
When contacted by ALL PULP, Hancock said, “I’m really excited to finally be able to talk about what’s been in the works. Several weeks ago, pulp historian/author/legend Tom Johnson brought an idea he had to myself and Barry Reese (Writer, Editor, Columnist, and one of ALL PULP’s Spectacled Seven), something he would like to see done in and for the pulp community. Tom, having sort of retired last December, didn’t want to necessarily take on the project, but was eager for someone to, so he pitched it to me and Barry. And without hesitation, we jumped at the opportunity.”
This project will be a book entitled TURNING THE PAGE: TODAY’S PULP HEROES and will focus on pulp heroes created since 1955. According to Hancock, “the concept is basically to provide both an encyclopedic reference guide to all the wonderful heroes created after the end of the glory days of newsstand pulps as well as to have some brief analytical discussion about these characters as well.” Although comparable to past character encyclopedias, Hancock pointed out, “This book will not simply be a compilation of entries about these heroes. Our goal is to write brief, concise essays on each character, giving an overview of their creation, their fictional and publishing history, and then to wrap it up with some commentary on the characters. These characters aren’t simply the forgotten children of Doc Savage, The Shadow, and other iconic personas. They are a part of pulp history in their own right and have their own identity. They are the harbingers of Pulp’s Renaissance and deserve to be treated as such.”
As for what qualifies a character for inclusion in this book,, Hancock stated, “The character must have at least had one published appearance from 1955 to the present and must have been the lead character. There will be future volumes for supporting characters, villains, sidekicks, etc. This appearance can be in an eformat, but only in an organized e-mag or ebook format. The appearance, regardless of format, must be in prose. I know there are many characters out there who appeared only in comics that can qualify as modern pulp heroes, and again they will get their due in a coming volume of TURNING THE PAGE, but our focus currently are those heroes who have seen life in the written word.”
As far as how to submit a character for consideration, Hancock commented, “We have a list of creators we will be contacting. Tom has done a heckuva job already sending us profiles of not only his characters, but also of characters whose creators are difficult or impossible to contact. But, just because I say we have a list we will contact does not mean creators need to wait to contact us. If you have a character that you have created that has had a published appearance and you want to offer them for inclusion in this book, then send us information on them, or better yet, some of the material they have appeared in so we can do them justice in the book. You can write up a profile of the character like a fact sheet, a short synopsis of the character, or a combination of both along with stories the character has appeared in. There is no format for submission, just give us all the information you can so we can do the best work we can in presenting your character.”
In terms of art in the book, Hancock said, “If you want your character to have an image in the book, that’s great, but we are not hiring artists or negotiating with artists. If you send us images of your creation, you must have worked out any permissions or negotiations with the artist prior to us printing it. You will have to sign a written statement to that effect. We’d love to have art, but our focus is the profiles.”
The goal is to include at least 200 profiles in the initial volume of TURNING THE PAGE. As for how it will be determined which characters make it into the first volume, Hancock said, “That will be a decision made by myself and Barry. Some characters with multiple appearances will appear, some with single appearances will be included Some of both will have to wait until the next volume. And if we have more than 200 entries for this first volume, there WILL BE a #2. Guaranteed.”
Hancock and Reese will be publishing TURNING THE PAGE under the company name of THPulp. “This is my own personal stand alone imprint,” Hancock explained. “This is not associated with any of the companies or projects I have worked with or for. This is for projects, like TURNING THE PAGE, and others that are really personal to me and that I want full and total involvement in every step of the way.”
Hancock and Reese are the editors and authors of TURNING THE PAGE: TODAY’S PULP HEROES The book designer is Ali, the formatter and designer behind other projects Hancock is involved in. As for Tom Johnson’s role, Hancock said, “Tom is the reason this volume will exist. He has provided many, many profiles already for us to work from and he has even completed the introduction for the book. This book, though not authored by Tom Johnson, is most definitely because of and inspired by Tom Johnson.”
The targeted publishing date for TURNING THE PAGE is March, 2011. This means that submissions for inclusion of characters into the book can be sent immediately to thpulp@ymail.com. All questions can also be directed to that email. Hancock does point out, however, that “if you can’t remember that email and you know me and/or Barry by some other email or on face book, you can get us that way too.”
Two Fisted News from the World of Pulp!