Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street [Paperback]

Paul S. Powers (Author), Laurie Powers (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

He wrote under at least eight pseudonyms, published hundreds of short stories and novellas in pulp magazines, and lived a life at times as outrageous as his fiction. Pulp Writer tells of Paul S. Powers’s travels from serious literary ambitions to the pages of Wild West Weekly, of his seeking his fortune (or material, at any rate) in the ghost towns and mining camps of Colorado, and of his life in Arizona and California as he reaped the rewards of his wildly successful Wild West Weekly characters such as Sonny Tabor and Kid Wolf.

 

Extending from the Great Depression to the golden age of the pulps, Powers’s career, chronicled here in often laugh-out-loud style, is an American success story of true grit and commercial savvy and of a larger-than-life character with questionable but endlessly entertaining Western lore to spare. In the process, he provides a valuable and rarely-chronicled look at the business of writing and publishing pulp fiction during its golden years.

 

Powers’s granddaughter Laurie never knew her grandfather and lost touch with his side of the family. In her biographical essays, she finds her lost family and discovers the Pulp Writer manuscript. Her essays also provide a valuable historical context for pulp publications such as Wild West Weekly and their importance during the Great Depression.

(20070627)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Powers (1905-71) was the consummate pulp writer: from 1928 to '43, he wrote hundreds of stories under various pseudonyms for magazines like Wild West Weekly and Weird Tales. He also lived the life of an itinerant cowboy, making his home in towns throughout the West, squatting occasionally in ghost towns to soak up residual spirits of the cattle rustlers, vigilantes and dirty sheriffs he wrote about. Without the efforts of his daughter [should by granddaughter], editor Laurie Powers, all of this history would have been lost; she knew almost nothing about her father's [should be grandfather's] career when she decided to write about Doc Dillahay, his only published novel, for a college course in literature. The paper would grow into this book, which sent her across the country piecing together Powers' life from the remnants of long-defunct publishing houses and boxes of unpublished materials. In the process, she finds not only Powers's lost memoirs but a measure of security lacking in her much-diminished family circle. This work is a treasure for pulp fans, and a fine introduction for those looking to learn more about an underappreciated American art form.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* This is a real gem, but first a little background. An unpublished autobiographical manuscript by the late Paul Powers, a prolific writer of western pulp fiction during the genre's heyday, was discovered among his papers by his granddaughter, Laurie, and is published here for the first time. Written during World War II, this lively, outspoken, hugely entertaining chronicle tracks Powers' evolution as a professional writer: from newspaper and magazine joke writer, to rejection-slip collector, and--finally!--to published author. Although the memoir was written more than half a century ago, much of what Powers says about getting started in the publishing game still holds. (In addition, editor Laurie's introduction offers a concise and informative history of the pulp era.) But, make no mistake, this account is "not in any sense a textbook on the art of fiction writing," as Powers disclaims. It's simply the story of an eager young man who knew he wanted to write but didn't know how, a man who slowly learned his trade and was able to turn a dream into a livelihood. The book deserves a much wider readership than it may get as a university press publication; it should be recommend enthusiastically to writers of all stripes and to anyone interested in the history of pulp publishing. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books; annotated edition edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803259840
• ISBN-13: 978-0803259843
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul S. Powers (1905-1971) was a writer of Western pulp fiction during the 1920s through the 1940s. He also wrote stories of several other genres, including horror, detective, noir, and even romance. Several of his very first stories were published in WEIRD TALES in 1925-26. He was also the author of the novel DOC DILLAHAY, published by Macmillan Company in 1949. He was also a rare book collector and known expert on Western Americana.

Paul was born in 1905 in Little River, Kansas. His father, John Harold Powers, was the town physician. Dr. Powers hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps, but Paul had different aspirations and decided that he wanted to be a writer early in life. He eventually dropped out of high school and began a lifetime of restless wandering across the Southwest. In his late teens, as he struggled to get his early stories accepted for publication, Paul hopped between Kansas and Colorado. As he wandered in the ghost towns in Central City and Blackhawk, Colorado, he accumulated valuable material for later stories and met several unforgettable characters along the way.

From 1928 to 1943, Paul pounded out 12,000 word blood and thunder novelettes every week for WILD WEST WEEKLY, one of America's most popular pulp Western magazines. Many of the stories were published under his pseudonym Ward M. Stevens, but occasionally stories were published under his own name. Many of the stories featured his wildly popular characters Sonny Tabor, Kid Wolf, and Johnny Forty-five, Freckles Malone, and King Kolt. Paul wrote approximately 440 stories for WILD WEST WEEKLY.

In 1943, WILD WEST WEEKLY stopped circulation. Afterwards, Paul wrote short stories for other Western magazines, including WESTERN STORY MAGAZINE, THIRLLING WESTERN, EXCITING WESTERN, RIO KID WESTERN, TEXAS RANGERS and RANGE RIDERS MAGAZINE. In 1943, Paul wrote a memoir, PULP WRITER: TWENTY YEARS IN THE AMERICAN GRUB STREET, about his career as a pulp fiction writer. It appears that Paul sent it out to just one publisher for consideration, who rejected it due to the lack of interest in pulp fiction at that point in time. Paul put the manuscript away.

After the end of Wild West Weekly, Paul decided to take on his dream of a lifetime: a full-length novel. He proceeded to write DOC DILLAHAY, a Western based in Arizona in the 1880s with a protagonist, John Dillahay, that was fashioned after Paul's own father. In 1949, Doc Dillahay was published by the Macmillan Company.

Paul Powers died in 1971. His personal papers, which included the PULP WRITER manuscript, were packed away in two boxes and stored in his daughter Pat's attic. In 1999, 28 years after his death and 56 years after it was written, the manuscript was rediscovered by Pat and Paul's granddaughter Laurie. Also found were over 150 letters between Paul and his editors at WILD WEST WEEKLY, a few unpublished short stories, correspondence from other pulp writers, and over a dozen letters from his son Jack during the last years of his life.

PULP WRITER was published by The University of Nebraska Press in 2007. It includes a prologue and epilogue written by Laurie that detail her family history, finding the manuscript and a introduction to pulp fiction magazines, the phenomenon of publishing of the early 20th century.

In 2011, Laurie published 12 of Paul's western stories in a new collection, RIDING THE PULP TRAIL. These stories are a sampling of Paul's western style in the years after WILD WEST WEEKLY ended. It includes six stories that were published in magazines such as EXCITING WESTERN and THRILLING RANCH STORIES, and six brand new stories that have never been published before.

Another collection, DESERT JUSTICE, is a collection of Sonny Tabor stories and is available either by Amazon sellers or in large print.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hey Pards...Saddle Up For A Great Ride Through The World Of The Pulp Western, June 29, 2007

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street (Paperback)

Laurie Powers, editor of "Pulp Writer: Twenty Years In The American Grub Street", had for many years lost contact with the Powers side of her family. What she found upon reuniting with them while researching a thesis she was working on is a gold mine of Americana. A true treasure in the memoir of her grandfather Paul Powers, a writer of pulp westerns way back in the 1920's, 30's and 40's.

Bookended by two wonderful and interesting essays by Ms. Powers describing the family history she learned and her course of researching and a follow up on Paul Powers after the writing ceased to exist, you will find Paul Powers' memoir of his work and the times of the real pulp fiction writer. It is one of the most interesting and exciting memoirs I have ever read.

Although the son of a prominent Doctor, Paul Powers had writing in his blood. He could knock off an entertaining and adventurous 12,000 word read for fans of his popular characters like "Sonny Tabor" and "Kid Wolf" in a week.
He writes of trying to break into the business, writing 2 line jokes for various magazines, all the rejection slips on his stories and then finally breaking into the pulp business. He touches on his very nomadic personal life a bit- giving us the feel of the western towns of the early 20th century - but mostly, the reader will get a real feel for the life led by those of wrote for the pulp magazines, riding the highs and lows from pauper to king of the wild west stories, and back again. Power's tales are enthralling as they are funny, often told in a much self-deprecating manor.Also, between, Paul's memoirs and Laurie's research the business of pulp back in the days is a very detailed eye opener as well.

"Pulp Writer" will appeal to and entertain fans of the pulp western genre,is an educational read for history buffs, as well as writers researching their own family history and would certainly be an inspiration to anyone writing their own memoir. How fortunate we are that Mr. Powers wrote down for us this very important part of history that he was such a big part of, one that was so popular that even during the depression, fans still plunked down their precious pennies to read all the adventures. And we are fortunate as well, that Laurie Powers had it published for us to savor.

A highly recommended read. One that will not only keep your interest throughout, but may peak your curiosity so much that you may start looking up some of those old stories. So maybe we can hope for a companion piece to this book with some reprinted stories by Mr. Powers!

Happy Trails and Enjoy the Read....Laurie Shirley

1/18/12 update - hey pards - guess what I found free on kindle - Kid Wolf of Texas A Western Story - One of Powers' popular characters - a fun read!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pulpwriter, June 7, 2007

By 

Ted Binkley "tedbink" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street (Paperback)

An excellent book. The true background of a man who made big bucks writing for pulp magazines when they were a favorite form of reading for millions of people. This man had published over 450 stories in the 15 years from 1928 through 1943. His wanderings and commentary are exceptional reading for anyone who is interested in this time period.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of a pulp author in his own words, January 26, 2008

By 

Craig Clarke "Living After Midnight: Hard and... (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street (Paperback)

Among all the famous writers who started in the pulp era, the name Paul S. Powers is one that is not well known. This is likely because most of the stories he wrote for Wild West Weekly (and others) were published under pseudonyms and house names. Also because his one novel, Doc Dillahay (also known as Six-Gun Doctor), was not a big seller, and it is a rare author who achieves fame and fortune by writing only short works -- short stories are easily forgotten, whereas novels last much longer in the memory.

Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street is Paul Powers's memoir of his years in the pulp machine, producing thousands of words a week, primarily for publisher Street & Smith's cadre of genre magazines, and most recognizably under the name "Ward Stevens." His most popular characters were Sonny Tabor and Kid Wolf, and Tabor's adventures were even adapted for a short time on radio.

Equally as interesting is the history behind the publication of Pulp Writer. Written around 1943, Powers tried to get it published but was rejected. He then placed it in a trunk where it stayed until his granddaughter Laurie Powers, who had done her thesis on Doc Dillahay, began asking family members for information about her grandfather. Amazingly enough, one relative had boxes of Powers's old papers, including this manuscript.

She tells this story in the introduction of Pulp Writer, and she also uses the other papers to piece together some facts about the remainder of her grandfather's life after the writing of the memoir. Altogether, this gives a much fuller picture of the life of a very interesting (and productive -- it is estimated he wrote over ten million words in twenty years) writer whose name is little-known even among pulp-era aficianados.

And Powers is not shy about revealing how he succeeded during this era. Because of his persistence (he started out writing short, two-line jokes), and his ability to gear his stories to their markets, he states that the Depression hardly affected his income. Powers also goes into the process of getting published, working with editors, and how important it is to be flexible in a constantly changing marketplace. This is information straight from the man who used it, making Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street vital for anyone interested in being a published writer, or just interested in the process.

Powers writes his story just like you'd expect a pulp writer to: smoothly and with very little dressing. His plain, clear language makes it easy to go right along with him as he tells his tales of writing and publishing and struggling for the next paycheck while trying to make ends meet with a family depending on him. It's a really great read, and one of the best books I've read all year.

And after you read about Powers's life, make sure to pick up some of his fiction. A collection of four Sonny Tabor novellas called Desert Justice was reprinted in 2005 by Leisure Books as an affordable paperback. Others are available in hardcover and large-print formats, and they're a lot of fun: filled with action and engaging characters, especially Tabor himself. In addition, they allow the modern reader to essentially go back in time, if not to the real Wild West, at least to the period when they brought a lot of joy to readers looking for an escape during a rough period.