Pulp Thursday

Elak of Atlantis
I finished my first book from the "Planet Stories" series from Paizo publishing. Elak of Atlantis, is a collection of Sword & Sorcery tales by the late Henry Kuttner. There are several stories that feature Elak of Atlantis and several of another character, Prince Raynor of Gobi. both of the characters stories are set on earth millenia before recorded history. Elak's tales take place in ancient Atlantis and those of Raynor take place in the then fertile Gobi. I enjoyed the stories. Kuttners writing is vivid, there were times I laughed out loud and others where I shuddered. He is a proponent of what my gaming buddies and I used to call the "adventure pit"- that is to say that the story just starts with little background and gets right into the action (of course these are short stories, not novels, but still very little time is wasted.). The characters are interesting, the sidekicks provide a bit of comic relief and serve their purpose as catalysts. I liked the fact that the women portrayed in the stories are strong. rather than fainting or falling at the heroes feet when faced with adversity, they pick up a blade and lend a hand. Something that I always felt REH's stories should have had more of. Elak of Atlantis is an excellent deal. the entire series of stories in one brand new volume for about $12.00



Return of the Sword
I was on the fence about buying this one, for no other reason than keeping my monthly purchases down to a dull roar. But then I noticed a story from Nate Meyer. Nate is a stand up guy, a net friend, and a regular visitor here at the Lair. So I took the dive and sent for it. I'll let you know how it reads. But you don't have to wait for me, by all means pick it up and support both Small Press publishing, modern pulp, and the Sword & Sorcery genre.

Secret of the Incas
with the new Indiana Jones movie coming out. I started seeing blurbs on a 50's era movie by Charlton Heston called "Secret of the Incas" there is much talk about this being one of the main influences for Indy- looking at the photos it's hard to dismiss it. I have a feeling young Spielberg was watching TV (UHF) one Saturday afternoon and ran across The secret of the Incas, and it apparently stuck in his mind.
You cant find this movie through any of the conventional methods. I found a copy of it (dubbed in Spanish) online and there is this place that has bootlegged copies of it for sale. Paramount owns both Secret of the Incas and the Indiana Jones franchise. I think they should really think of releasing a "Cinema Classic" version of this and cash in on the Indiana Jones movie. Unless of course, Spielberg has asked them to keep it from being released...

Pulp Hulu
You guys know I've been singing the praises of Hulu lately. I just wanted to point out that they have a nice collection of shows that fit the Pulp genre nicely- both TV shows and full length movies. for instance:

And that is your Pulp Thursday report.