The New Mammoth Book Of Pulp Fiction

Pulp fiction has been looked down on as a guilty pleasure, but it offers the perfect form of entertainment: the very best storytelling filled with action, surprises, sound and fury. In short, all the exhiliration of a roller-coaster ride. The 1920s in America saw the proliferation of hundreds of dubiously named but thrillingly entertaining pulp magazines in America ? Black Mask, Amazing, Astounding, Spicy Stories, Ace-High, Detective Magazine, Dare-Devil Aces. It was in these luridly-coloured publications, printed on the cheapest pulp paper, that the first gems began to appear. The one golden rule for writers of pulp fiction was to adhere to the art of storytelling. Each story had to have a beginning, an end, economically-etched characters, but plenty going on, both in terms of action and emotions. Pulp magazines were the TV of their day, plucking readers from drab lives and planting them firmly in thrilling make-believe, successors to the Victorian penny dreadfuls of writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens. These stories exemplify the best of crime and mystery pulp fiction ? its zest, speed, rhythm, verve and commitment to straightforward storytelling ? spanning seven decades of popular writing.

Packed solid with seven decades of pulp action and peopled by shady operators, voluptuous molls, ruthless big shots, crooked cops, and gruff private eyes, this new collection of hard-boiled tales includes classics by such masters of the craft as Dashiell Hammett, Robert Leslie Bellem, Cornell Woolrich, and Erle Stanley Gardner, as well as some of the best modern crime fiction to be published by postwar giants like John D. MacDonald, Ross McDonald, Ed McBain, Charles Willeford, David Goodis, and James Ellroy.

Mammoth Books: From history to manga, true crime to sci-fi, these anthologies feature top-name contributors and award-winning editors.

Here are 25 stories of science fiction that push the envelope, by the biggest names in an emerging new crop of high-tech futuristic SF - including Charles Stross, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Peter Hamilton and Neal Asher. High-tech SF has made a significant comeback in the last decade, as bestselling authors successfully blend the super-science of 'hard science fiction' with real characters in an understandable scenario. It is perhaps a reflection of how technologically controlled our world is that readers increasingly look for science fiction that considers the fates of mankind as a result of increasing scientific domination. This anthology brings together the most extreme examples of the new high-tech, far-future science fiction, pushing the limits way beyond normal boundaries. The stories include: "A Perpetual War Fought Within a Cosmic String", "A Weapon That Could Destroy the Universe", "A Machine That Detects Alternate Worlds and Creates a Choice of Christs", "An Immortal Dead Man Sent To The End of the Universe", "Murder in Virtual Reality", "A Spaceship So Large That There is An Entire Planetary System Within It", and "An Analytical Engine At The End of Time", and "Encountering the Untouchable."

Originally published in the UK as The mammoth book of Dracula: vampire tales for the new millennium by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 1997. With a new introduction.

Bringing together the finest names in comic book horror, this volume features nearly 50 comics that caused a furor in the US and sparked legislation to crack down on explicit horror—from the 1940s to the 21st century. Includes names like Steve Niles, Pete Von Sholly, Michael Kaluta, Mike Ploog, Rudy Palais, Rand Holmes, Vincent Locke, Frank Brunner, and many more. Reproduced in black and white for this brand-new collection.

It is now estimated that as much as 10% of the population in the UK and USA carries a tattoo. The huge recent growth in tattoo culture has in turn led to an influx of new talented artists, advancements in pigments and refinement of the equipment used. This giant volume includes the very best of the new work made possible by modern improvements in tattoo art. Here are 500 striking photographic images of tattoos, covering all styles from bold 'tribal' pieces, Chinese characters and hieroglyphs to delicate air-brushed designs, and from all-over 'body suits' to individual motifs - works as distinctive as the bodies they adorn. Featuring the work of the Discovery Channel's L.A. Ink stars Corey Miller, Kim Saigh and Hannah Aitchinson, and London Ink's Nicole Lowe, Louis Molloy and Phil Kyle amongst many others.

With its roots in the American private detective fiction of the 1920s but traceable back as far as Sherlock Holmes, the private eye story remains as popular as ever. Here are 26 of the finest short novels and stories from the hardboiled world of the private eye.