Wikipedia describes “Pulp Fiction” as “Pulp magazines (often referred to as ‘the pulps’) which were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term ‘pulp’ derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed.”

While there were various types of “Pulp magazines”, we’re going to limit this article to specifically science fiction (sci-fi). Typically they cost about 10 cents to 25 cents, and contained multiple stories–-some short, some long with some being presented over multiple issues. Most were published in the United States by several publishers with varying magazine titles to help partially distinguish the type of stories they contained.

Some authors may not have been well known at the start of their career, but the better ones came to be well known. Some of the more popular ones in FadedPage.com are: Ray Cummings, John Russell Fearn, Henry Kuttner, Otis Adelbert Kline, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Clark Ashton Smith and Stanley G. Weinbaum. If any of these names don’t sound familiar a number of authors wrote under a pseudonym, or more than one.

As you may expect some of the stories tried to base them on known astronomy and physics facts, while others were wild fictional adventure tales. You may notice some of the covers were geared toward young adolescent males, as some featured skimpily dressed females in situations that may not have anything to do with the stories. They would certainly not be used today and be considered grossly sexist, but back then they helped to sell the magazines.

Feel free to check out some of these stories here.

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