Pulp Modern: Issue #1

From the first issue of Pulp Modern, it's clear that this publication is doing something that no one else is -- providing high-quality, developed stories in multiple genres (crime, fantasy and Western) and in print. Add in slick art work and this is simply the complete package.

Things get off to a rip-roaring start in Issue 1 with Lawrence Block's "Murder is My Business." For me, this story goes in the all-time greats category. A stripped down, mean slab of hardboiled goodness about a hitman who does no fucking around. It doesn't get any better than this.

Thomas Pluck's "Legacy of Brutality" is as devastating as the title would make it out to be. Denny is a character you can't help but admire -- through experience he's learned that you have to defend those you love. Others may dismiss him as just a mound of muscle, but it doesn't long for the reader to figure out he's much more than that.

Chris LaTray has an Indiana Jones-style adventure with "Romo Samson and the Grandmother Spider" that I thoroughly enjoyed. When an ancient artifact with mystical properties is swiped from a cave, Romo Samson has no choice but to chase it down. A tale of old-school, heart-pounding suspense.

Plenty of other smashing tales in here too from Edward Grainger, Sandra Seamans, David James Keaton, CJ Edwards, Jimmy Callaway and many more. I'm already looking forward to Issue 2.