Science  People  Locations  Timeline
Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home > Pulp magazine


Pulp magazines, often called simply "pulps", were inexpensive text fiction magazines widely published in the 1930s - 1950s. The first "pulp" is considered to be Frank Munsey's revamped Argosy of 1894. Most of the few pulps still thriving today are science fiction or mystery magazines.

The name comes from the cheap woodpulp paper on which they were printed. Magazines printed on better paper and usually offering content more oriented towards family reading were often called "slicks." Pulps were the successor to the " penny dreadfuls" and " dime novels" of the nineteenth century.

Though many respected writers wrote for pulps, the magazines are perhaps best remembered for the fast-paced, lurid, sensationalistic and exploitive stories often featured in their pages. Pulp covers were famous for their half-dressed damsels in distress, usually awaiting a rescuing hero.

1 Genres

Pulp magazines can be categorized into the following genres:

2 Characters

Popular regular pulp fiction characters included:



Read more »

Non User