"Man Books" from Esquire

[SeaKing]

Personally I would like to see them go all the way, pull out all the stops and establish a book section for "shameless bastards."

[J. Strnad]

I was born too late for the pulps in their heyday. I had to catch them in paperback reprints. If this book series presented us with good, pulp-like entertainment, I'm sure I'd buy a few in ebook format, at the right price (i.e. cheap).

[mr ploppy]

Never read Esquire, I always assumed it were just for toffs. But if they bring back big gun and beer stories I'll be having some of those. Pulp Press in Brighton left a big gap in the market when they switched to girl stuff.

[plib]

Originally Posted by taosaur

Non-contemporary setting = for nerds and weirdos. Real men want to imagine they themselves could walk out the front door one day, strap on guns in an array of sizes ranging from fist to Buick, and liberate a plane full of beer commercial models from terrorists. It's all about realism.

Yup, Ringo's done that one, almost to the letter.

[BeccaPrice]

This John Ringo?

[plib]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

This John Ringo?

That's the one, and that's the book. He has a definite talent for semi-documentary stuff!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

This John Ringo?

I've been keeping the GHOST books low in my TBR list after burning out on yellow blood in the ALDENATA series (though I'm stil still enjoying the VORPAL BLADE books that are more 50's type space adventures with a bit of humor thrown in. Two words: Anime Zone).

Based on that review, I'll have to give the GHOST books a look-see the next time I'm in the mood for some farce. Thanks for the link.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by taosaur

Non-contemporary setting = for nerds and weirdos. Real men want to imagine they themselves could walk out the front door one day, strap on guns in an array of sizes ranging from fist to Buick, and liberate a plane full of beer commercial models from terrorists. It's all about realism.

And women don't? After all most beer commercial models are men.

Helen

[GA Russell]

Funny, I saw an ad for Esquire on the internet just the other day; and I thought to myself, I've never met a man who reads Esquire or Gentleman's Quarterly.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by J. Strnad

I was born too late for the pulps in their heyday. I had to catch them in paperback reprints. If this book series presented us with good, pulp-like entertainment, I'm sure I'd buy a few in ebook format, at the right price (i.e. cheap).

You missed the window in the late nineties when a lot of the stories copied direct from the magazines were out of copyright. The rights have since been reasserted but a lot of cool stuff was free during the .com era.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

This John Ringo?

Holy Cr@p!! I picked that up as a part of one of Baen's monthly Webscriptions and haven't read it yet. Ringo is not one of my favorites and I think this explains why...

[wyndslash]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Holy Cr@p!! I picked that up as a part of one of Baen's monthly Webscriptions and haven't read it yet. Ringo is not one of my favorites and I think this explains why...

...i'm curious now

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

...i'm curious now

So was I.
It turns out I have the full five book set (Webscriptions!) so I read it last night. (It's even built like the old ACE Doubles! Two separate stories.)

It is *very* pulpish.
Tongue-in-cheek, mostly, and generally amusing.
A bit of a farce in parts, a bit serious in others. Much better written that even the "modern" pulps. (Mack Bolan, etc.)
Even if you have a sense of humor, it'll (intentionally) offend about 70% of the world population.
The darn thing holds together, though; fast-paced, breezy, amusing.
Not to be taken seriously but it would make a pretty fun action flick for Bruce Willis, except hardly anybody in hollywood would be amused by its "neanderthal conservative" narrative tone.

A bit of clarification: I doubt pulpish shoot'em ups is what these Esquire "men's fiction" ebooks are aiming for. The NYT report:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...-mens-fiction/
has this quote:

David Granger, the editor in chief of Esquire, said he has lamented the loss of space that magazines devoted to publishing fiction. The New Yorker is perhaps the most visible home for fiction in the magazine world, but many other magazines have cut back.

If their idea of a "visible" home for fiction is the NEW YORKER, I seriously doubt that pulpish fun is on their agenda. More likely what they mean is there is a shortage of fiction for well-bred, proper thinking, alfuent urban males (and those that would like to pass as such). And there is no question there is a shortage of such material in ebook form. Not sure there is much of a market for that kind of "men's fiction" but if there is one, it is very much underserved.

Whatever they think they're doing, I'm pretty sure they'll never be putting anything half as over-the-top as Ringo's GHOST. They'll never get past the first page...

[covfam]

Ok im confuse about the "manfiction" because the last time i checked ive been reading it for the last 40 years left and right.

Has esquire never heard of Tom clancy's Jack ryan series (or 3 movies made from it) or Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne Series (or its 3 movies) Or Clive Cusslers Dirk Pitt novels (or the movie) or Jack Du Brul's Philip Mercer series or Steve Berries Cotton Molone books. there is probably more than 200 "man books" from those 5 Authors alone and there are thousands of other "action adventure/thriller writers out there. im curious as to where the heck they have been all these years,

well i dont need any of Esquires help finding books, and i still have plenty of "manbooks" left to read from jeff shaara,stephan coonts,,Ken follet,patrick robinson and many more.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Holy Cr@p!! I picked that up as a part of one of Baen's monthly Webscriptions and haven't read it yet. Ringo is not one of my favorites and I think this explains why...