Shudder Pulps! Weird Menace!

[Critteranne]

Has anyone read some of the old "shudder pulps" (also called weird menace)? These stories were influenced by Grand Guignol theater and feature lots of sadistic villains. RadioArchives is reprinting many titles from Dime Mystery and Terror Tales. You can buy their titles from their site (DRM-free), and from Amazon. They have audiobooks, too!

The stories were controversial in their day for sexing up the stories. Now they're controversial for violence (particularly against women) and non-PC language. And how about those covers?

They have single author collections for $2.99 a volume, including well-known pulp authors such as Hugh B. Cave and Wyatt Blassingame. They also have individual stories for 99 cents, with titles like Blind Date with the Devil. It's hard to resist. But for now, I'm resisting some of them because while some of the authors are still loved today, some of the short stories have gotten bad reviews. But there aren't many reviews of these titles, and I don't like trusting a bad review from someone who thought he was getting an entire issue instead of a short story.

Has anyone else read these? I've bought a couple of short stories and a Hugh B. Cave collection, but I don't want to wander through a minefield of mediocre stories. Especially as some of the 99 cent stories seem quite short. (Then again, sometimes shorter is better. Some of those pulp writers remembered they were getting paid by the wordy and ran off at the typewriter. )

(Here is an Amazon link to their Terror Tales titles. And here are the Dime Mystery titles.)

[Dr. Drib]

I enjoy many of these types of stories, but in small doses.

I have some of the reprinted Spider series from this publisher, and I enjoy those.

Thanks for the links, by the way. I'll probably end up buying a few of them.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I enjoy many of these types of stories, but in small doses.

I have some of the reprinted Spider series from this publisher, and I enjoy those.

Thanks for the links, by the way. I'll probably end up buying a few of them.

Those shorts pack a lot of plot in just a few pages. And on top of that, the trend was to explain everything with a rational twist. The first one I tried involved young couples being shot and killed on Lover's Lane, and some missing teens as well. The police decided there was a rash of suicide pacts and kids running off to the big city. Never mind that there was a doctor (and candidate) in town who had been experimenting on the aging process. Ah, but what you think is going on... isn't. Meanwhile, our hero is a news photographer in love with a girl reporter.

I'm going to try the Spider next. Those look cool. Even if the Spider had one of the strangest costumes I've ever heard of...