Pro Se Productions, an up and coming Publisher in the New Pulp field and known for original characters, announces today an exciting addition to its first foray into classic Pulp characters, the PULP OBSCURA line.
As previously announced, Pro Se Productions in conjunction with Altus Press, the premier producer of Pulp Reprints as well as the Publisher of The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage written by Will Murray, will be producing collections of New Pulp tales based on characters that Altus is reprinting. These characters will not necessarily be the better-known Pulp characters, but rather largely unknown and forgotten heroes and villains from Pulp’s Golden Era. Although many of these characters, such as Richard Knight, the aviator hero featured in the first PULP OBSCURA volume from Pro Se, are currently in the Public Domain, Pro Se reveals today that not only will there be volumes of PULP OBSCURA involving characters requiring permission and licensing to use, but the two characters currently in question were created by possibly the best known and respected Classic Pulp Author ever.
“Pro Se is absolutely proud,” Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor-in-Chief of Pro Se Productions stated, “to be able to say that with the sanction of the representative of the heirs of Norma Dent, PULP OBSCURA will include collections featuring brand new tales written by modern writers of two heroes created and originally written by Lester Dent.”
Later in 2012, Altus Press has plans to reprint the original stories written by Lester Dent of two of his characters, both falling into the ‘gadget detective’ category, a particular niche that Dent often wrote in and one that definitely carried over into his Doc Savage stories. These two characters, Foster Fade, the Crime Spectacularist and Lynn Lash will appear in Altus reprint editions and will also appear in anthologies of New Pulp tales featuring the characters as companion volumes to the Altus reprints.
“I can’t really express,” Hancock said, “how absolutely cool it is to be able to be a part of bringing two classic Dent characters back to life in a sense. Although some Pulp Fans, particularly Dent devotees, are aware of Fade and Lash, they are largely unknown characters to many readers today. To be able to not only have their original adventures in print again with Altus Press, but to also be producing and creating brand new stories to continue where Mr. Dent left off and to bring awareness to not just these characters, but to the wonderful variety of characters that still live from the Pulp Age as well as the lesser known work of Dent himself, its simply astounding for me to even be associated with it.”
Although definite dates for publishing have not been established, Hancock stated that recruiting the writers for the first two anthologies, one featuring each character, would begin immediately and would follow the same standard applied to previous PULP OBSCURA titles. Anyone interested in having the opportunity to propose a tale for either THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FOSTER FADE, THE CRIME SPECTACULARIST VOLUME ONE or THE NEW ADVENTURES OF LYNN LASH VOLUME ONE simply needs to email Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net. Those interested will then, according to Hancock, be given an opportunity to make proposals in the coming days.
“Thanks,” Hancock stated, “to Matt Moring from Altus Press for coming to Pro Se and wanting to bring new life to all these classic characters that have sat dormant far too long. And much appreciation to Will Murray and the Dent heirs for allowing Pro Se and the writers we’ll gather to be a part of something the man many of us consider the best Pulp creator ever started.”