Pulp 101: The Dime-Novel Roots

Dime Novels featuring Frank Reade Jr. and Jack Wright, boy inventors.

The very first episode of the Rocketeer’s Pulp 101 series digs into the cheap, ink-stained beginnings of it all. From highly acidic wood-pulp paper and the boy-inventor stories of Luis Senarens (“Noname”) to Frank Munsey’s creation of the first true pulp magazine and Street & Smith’s clever reprint empire. Plus a quick look at why those early covers mattered so much, then and now.

Sources / Further Reading:

• Robert Sampson’s pulp histories

• Mike Ashley on Luis Senarens

• J. Randolph Cox on Street & Smith and the New Magnet Library (dime novel reprint practices)

Next Pulp 101 nugget drops whenever the mood strikes. No schedule, just pure pulp history when it feels right.

Getting noticed at the newsstand was a primary reason why pulp magazines had such garish covers.