(Season One)
Five Questions Archive (21-40)
Every week (ish) New Pulp Heroes sits down with an artist or author creating new heroic fiction works in order to pull back the curtain and give you, our faithful readers, a look into the mind of new pulp fiction’s best and brightest creators.
It’s hard to believe we’ve made it through 24 questionings of those accused of creating amazing New Pulp Fiction within these hallowed halls. But, we have!
To celebrate the 25th installment of this column, we’re lock and loading the big guns and joining a high speed pursuit with one of the founding fathers of the New Pulp movement: Tommy Hancock.
Tommy is the man behind Pro Se Press, an author with works published by Airship 27, Moonstone Books, Pro Se, Mechanoid Press, Pulpwork Press and more.
The man many describe as having “ideas like bullets” loaded in the Tommy Gun, the movement wouldn’t be what it is without Hancock’s involvement.
Read on Pulpsters!
Question One: Thinking of the first pulp story that grabbed you, what was it and what about it hooked you?
TH: It was a Doc Savage Omnibus that was on the spinner rack at Magic Mart…yup, that long ago. And, honestly, the hook was the fact that it was basically a super hero story in prose, something my little 9 year old brain hadn’t encountered until then. Of course, not exactly a super hero, but didn’t know that until I took it home and read it. Like three times.
Question Two: When did you first hear about the resurgence of pulp storytelling and why did you feel compelled to contribute to it?
TH: I was one of the fans responsible for the resurgence early on with following the stuff Moonstone was putting out. And I don’t know that compelled is the right word. Derrick Ferguson brought an anthology to my attention that he thought I should be a part of and connected Ron Fortier and myself. Turns out my style of writing fit into New Pulp, which is something I’d worked on myself as I developed my style on my own.
Question Three: Recommend three new pulp properties you really dig and why you think other people would enjoy them also.
TH: Derrick Ferguson’s Dillon and Barry Reese’s Peregrine for the same reason. Both of these guys created characters from their own imaginations and influences that not only felt like Pulp characters, but redefined what it meant to be a Pulp character without fundamentally changing the template. And they keep doing it over and over with great success.
One that hasn’t quite debuted yet that I think is one of the best properties in a long time is Gary Phillips’ Matthew Henson from Polis Press. Gary takes an already awesome historical character and adds a dose of pulp in his debut novel, which I had the pleasure to read in advance.
Question Four: Here’s the cheesy question: If you could spend 24 hours with any old or new pulp character, who would it be and what would you do?
TH: In all honesty, any character I write because I’m not one of those who typically believe your characters speak to you, so having that opportunity to do that would be interesting.
Question Five: Which of your upcoming projects excites you the most and why should people get excited about it with you?
TH: A project I’m working on long term is PULP DOMAIN, basically taking over three hundred public domain characters from the Golden Age of Comic Books, largely from defunct companies, throwing them into one universe, and moving them into the pulpiest prose possible. It’s a passion of mine, breathing life into characters that really should be better known and never got the chance they deserved to be read.
NewPulpHeroes.com wants to thank Tommy for the vast amount of effort he’s put into bolstering the new pulp movement over the years. By supporting Tommy’s efforts, in effect you’re supporting the New Pulp Movement as a whole. Go here to buy some of his work!
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New Pulp Heroes 