Pulp Fantasy

Not like Tolkien, at all!

Illustration by Edd Cartier for “The Exalted” (1940) by L. Sprague de Camp.

Today I’m going to talk about fantasy stories. But not contemporary fantasy, pulp fantasy which has a different flavor. For a while I struggled with how it was different, especially as some of the ideas are similar in the broad strokes. But it is different, the concerns of the writers have a different focus.

Let’s begin with a well-known contemporary fantasy series—“Harry Potter.” The stories are a coming of age story for a boy. They also fit the “Hero’s Journey” model. The magical adventure is important but really just icing on the cake.

A pulp-era fantasy might show a coming-of-age story, but it would be unusual. Additionally, they are not grand genealogies or sagas. Instead, a fantasy of that era (1920’s to early 1950’s) would likely be straight adventure, with moderate to little character development. They are sometimes funny. Sometimes, they border on horror. Likely, the story would ask moral questions. Certainly, the action would move fast and be a great deal of fun. I don’t recall ever noting a Hero’s Journey format in a pulp fantasy story. Often, these tales take elements from mythology. And you do see magic and fairy-folk, but they are not like the elves you see in Tolkien. And the devil (yes, Old Scratch, himself) shows up as a character quite often.

Here are some of the many pulp fantasy stories I have read and enjoyed.

Stories drawn from Norse mythology:

• “A Yank in Valhalla” (Edmond Hamilton, STARTLING STORIES, January 1941)

• “The Daughter of Thor” (Edmond Hamilton, FANTASTIC ADVENTURES, August 1942)

From Greek mythology:

• “Beyond the Sphinxes' Cave” (Murray Leinster, ASTOUNDING STORIES, November 1933)

• “Bit of Tapestry” (Cleve Cartmill, UNKNOWN WORLDS, December 1941)

• “Man of Two Worlds” (Bryce Walton, SPACE STORIES, October 1952)

• “On the Knees of the Gods” (J. Allan Dunn, UNKNOWN, January-March 1940)

• “Priestess of the Labyrinth,” (Edmond Hamilton, WEIRD TALES, January 1945)

• “The Mask of Circe” (Henry Kuttner, STARTLING STORIES, May 1948)

• “Under Your Spell” (Henry Kuttner, WEIRD TALES, March 1943)

Stories featuring mythological creatures:

• “Pegasus” (Henry Kuttner, FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES, May-June 1940)

• “The Golden Bridle” (Jane Rice, UNKNOWN WORLDS, April 1943)

• “The Hardwood Pile” (L. Sprague de Camp,UNKNOWN FANTASY FICTION, Septmeber 1940)

• “The Piebald Hippogriff” (Karen Anderson, FANTASTIC STORIES OF IMAGINATION, May 1962. This is not pulp era story but it is a similar type of fantasy.)

Stories with characters based on mythological characters:

• “He That Hath Wings” (Edmond Hamilton, WEIRD TALES, July 1938) is about an Icarus, but not the Icarus.

Stories with gnomes:

• “A Gnome There Was” (Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore, UNKNOWN WORLDS, October 1941)

• “The Odyssey of Yiggar Throlg” (as by C. H. Liddell, actually Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore, STARTLING STORIES January 1951)

Stories with leprechauns:

• “Wheesht!” (Cleve Cartmill, UNKNOWN WORLDS, June 1943)

Changelings:

• “Brat” (Theodore Sturgeon, UNKNOWN WORLDS, December 1941)

A variety of mythological and/or fairy folk all at once:

• “Design for Dreaming” (Henry Kuttner, UNKNOWN WORLDS, February 1942)

• “The Mislaid Charm” (A. M. Phillips, UNKNOWN FANTASY FICTION, February 1941)

Stories featuring the Devil as an actual character:

• “Hell Hath Fury” (Cleve Cartmill, UNKNOWN WORLDS, August 1943)

• “Satan Sends Flowers” (Henry Kuttner, FANTASTIC, January-February 1953)

• “The New One” (Fredric Brown, UNKNOWN WORLDS, October 1942).

• “Threshold” (Henry Kuttner, UNKNOWN, December 1940)

Sometimes we see angels, as well:

• “The Misguided Halo” (Kuttner). 

Traditional witchcraft and/or magic is seen in many stories, here are a few:

• “The Frog” (Henry Kuttner, STRANGE STORIES, February 1939)

• “The Magician’s Dinner” (Jane Rice, UNKNOWN WORLDS, October 1942)

• “The Elixir” (Jane Rice, UNKNOWN WORLDS, December 1942)

• Darker Than You Think (Jack Williamson, Gnome Press, 1948)

• And the entire Jirel of Joiry series (Catherine Lucille Moore, WEIRD TALES, 1934-1939).

Arthurian legends form the basis of “Wet Magic” by Henry Kuttner (UNKNOWN, February 1943).

L. Sprague de Camp (with or without Fletcher Pratt) wrote so many pulp fantasy stories that he can almost get his own category listing. Here are a few:

• “The Roaring Trumpet” and “The Mathematics of Magic” (L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt, UNKNOWN 1940.) These two stories form part of the Incomplete Enchanter series and feature a great many figures from classical literature and various mythologies.

• “The Land of Unreason” (L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt, UNKNOWN WORLDS, October 1941)

Multi-dimensional and planes travel does occur, but it’s usually considered science fiction and not fantasy.  Sometimes it does impinge on fantasy however, as in “Horror Out of Carthage” (Edmond Hamilton, FANTASTIC ADVENTURES, September 1939) and “Journey to Barkut” (Murray Leinster, STARTLING STORIES, January 1952.)

Many, if not all, of these stories can be found online. A great many of them have been republished.

This is the Rocketeer signing off for today.