Soft Blondes In The Claws Of Torture Hell (Pulp Mayhem)

The fourth installment of Pulp Mayhem is just like its forebears. Men's adventure magazines are all extinct today, they flourished from the 1940's to the 1960's before petering out with a whimper in the middle 70's. During their peak in the late 50's and early 60's they were the hottest thing on the newsstand. Working a rather narrow assortment of tropes, these magazines specialized in pushing the envelope. Women are the targets of craven Nazi's, serial killers, depraved Reds, general thugs, and even Chinese royalty. Definitely from a less "politically correct" era these stories have to be placed in their historical context to be properly appreciated. Like each previous installment the book is divided into three section, non-fiction, fiction, and vintage full color illustrations, The non-fiction is of questionable veracity but, at least, "Mr. Mugett's Corpse Factory" is a fairly straightforward recounting of the tail end of the career of serial killer H. H. Holmes. Most of the fiction follows the pattern of "Hitler's Inferno of Branded Women" about an American military operation to liberate a German female prison camp. These are tales for red blooded, he-man. American males; full of daring-do and macho heroics. Ironically, there was a sort of self-censorship code about these publications. Women were objectified, debased, and abused, and the general tone is fairly sleazy but the stories are actually not all that explicit. Editors of the day were content to have their writers set the stage and the readers fill in the details. If you read or own the previous installment s of this series, this is a welcome addition. If you are new to the genre this is a great place to start. Collections like this recall a different time, when EVERY father in your neighborhood was a World War II vet. These magazines catered to those men especially, allowing them to recall moments of wartime glory. This is the underside of Eisenhower's America. The tensions and passions and aggression that had no outlet in times of peace. More liberal and explicit publications and the rise of "respectable" skin magazines like "Playboy" stole the market from the men's magazine milieu. If you want to see what the greatest generation reveled in in the privacy of their own dens, this series is for you. I sincerely hopes that installment five appears in short order

PC be damned, this is the unvarnished truth of what it meant to be a pulp consumer back in the hey day of pulp consumerism. Buy this book for the incredible covers presented in eye popping splendor, but make sure that you actually read some of the stories that are reprinted here. See the original Weasels Ripped My Flesh cover and then peruse the article for added hilarity. Featuring some of the best a penny a word writing that you have ever been witness to. Set back with a stiff drink, light up a fresh cancer stick and put your feet up as you read about nympho brides on a desert island, grappling with all types of wild life, and facing the nazi threat eye to eye. This is the type of thing that may inspire you to rip your shirt off, howl at the moon, and embrace your decaying manhood!

Hearkening back to an age that mostly has been ignored, maligned, and derided, Mr. Pentangeli has gathered yet another treasure trove of Two-Fisted Manly Man Adventures - testosterone fueled blasts of corny and nostalgic short fiction about Strong Real-American He-Men fighting off Nazis, Headhunters, Commies, Tyrants, Black-Hatted Bad Guys from the Old West, and more Nazis - all in the name of saving the honor of some poor defenseless virginal beauty from the clutches of sadistic torture-mongers. Along with reprinted graphic illustrations of scantily-clad voluptuous feminine would-be victims, these stories are truly a taste of a lost era - when cruel blood-crazed psychopaths finally run into their more-often-than-not peace loving dudes pushed too far - and violence solves the trouble of violence. Great stuff! Thanks once again, Pep "Five-Angels" Pentangeli for bringing these cheesy, bare-knuckled adventure tales back from the brink of extinction!

I like the art from the pulp magazines. This is mostly stories taken from the magazines with some images to accompany them. It's not bad but I never thought the stories in the magazines were any were near as interesting as the art work that went with it. I gave my copy to the public library.

It's ok....Not the best of seen of this type of thing..

Perfect, thanks a bunch and much appreciated!