Prior to reading this novel, my experience with pulp fiction was limited to a Tarantino movie and a few stories I read as part of a Master's course in crime and detective stories. I came to the book with no knowledge about Walter Gibson or Lester Dent and no real interest in pulps. How much of the novel is true? I'd say about 1/4 truth, 3/4 pulp. But truth is not the point--the story is everything in this novel and, as the narrator says, "never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

Set during the height of the pulp fiction era, the novel follows Walter Gibson (author of The Shadow) and Lester Dent (author of Doc Savage), two titans of the time period. In addition, authors L. Ron Hubbard (pre-Scientology freakishness), H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert Heinlein all make appearances as characters (even Orson Welles shows up). The book is unique in that it doesn't try to serve as a biography of these characters. Instead, it pays homage to these authors by setting them in a sensationalistic pulp in which they are the protagonists--a fitting tribute to authors who thrilled so many with tales of courage and adventure, unspeakable horror, and plot twists and turns that would give the reader whiplash. The story is full of pulp hallmarks--dashing cowboys, Chinese assassins, beautiful women just bad enough to be good, a maniacal villain willing to stop at nothing to seek revenge (and maybe just rule the world while he's at it), a military secret that threatens society as we know it, zombies, and even a psychic with a chicken. There are train rides, boat rides, and plane rides. There's treasure, treachery, and romance. The book is fun, which was what the pulps were meant to be and, in some ways, isn't that more important than all the highbrow literary snobbery that purports to reflect on the human experience?

The last chapter was pitch perfect and there's a nice twist concerning the narrator of the story. The narrator laments the fact that "The pulps, the pages where American myths had been born, were gone" as "decency and morality oozed across the nation like black tar and old blood" (leave it to decency and morality to ruin a good thing). By the novel's end, I, too, mourned the heyday of the pulps and was glad I got to spend some time in one. ( )

While the plot sometimes got confusing, I enjoyed this thriller featuring the creators of The Shadow and Doc Savage. I especially liked the interactions between Gibson, Dent and Hubbard. ( )

Oh so close to being utterly brilliant. Malmont's romp is sort of post modern tribute to the great writers of the American Pulps without being - well - post modern. And as such it's a brilliant, brilliant thing. Lester Dent and Walter B Gibson - not much known over here in the UK - and supporting acts including a surprisingly vivid L Ron Hubbard (nicely treading the line between git and sympathetic figure), E E "Doc" Smith, Chester Himes, Robert A Heinlein, H P Lovecraft, Louis L'Amour and a host of others battle a nicely judged bit of skullduggery with some really pacey and enjoyable sequences of action. Plus it's a really helpful guide to neophytes of the pulps like myself.

The only problem is... dear god, has any author been less willing to cut any of his research and just identify the salient and useful bits to put into the narrative? Huge chunks of dialogue seem to be rehashed bits of research Malmont has done - well rehashed, I admit, but still... the beauty of these things is that when done brilliantly (off the top of my head Charles Palliser's "The Quincunx"), the research should show but more importantly should show later when you go to the source material and try and track it down for yourself. Also, sometimes it's better as a book in retrospect than it is when you're reading it. By this I mean that I remember chunks of it really fondly now that I know that at the time were probably messily written.

But it's all quibbling in the end. It's bloody entertaining and really a great way into a genre that's pretty new for me. It kind of plays like a more realistic (well, ish!) version of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" but with the authors rather than their heroes clubbing together. Great fun. ( )

Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a wild ride! This is an impressive book set in 1937. It is an adventure about adventure writers. The two main characters are Walter Gibson and Lester Dent, writers of the amazingly successful pulp series The Shadow and Doc Savage, respectively. Others along for the ride are L. Ron Hubbard, Orson Welles, H. P. Lovecraft, Doc Smith, a Chinese warlord, and more.

The adventure keeps popping, each more thrilling than the last. Malmont keeps an impressive control over the events for a first novel, though at times one suffers sheer adrenaline fatigue.

Well done, I'll keep this writer on my list of ones to follow. ( )

Pulp writers save the world.