At #10: John Player Superkings! A night at the bingo wasn't complete without eight cards, a bottle of Double Maxim and a JPS Super on the go. Quiet now, they're doing the link-up...
At #9: House of Commons Straight Cut! These unfiltered beauties - now sadly discontinued - simply reek of Hansard, balance of payments deficits and the three day week. Surely the mother of all parliamentary smokes...
At #8: Lambert and Butler! These fancy fags in their brushed aluminium packet were always popular with teachers and people who drove Volvos. They probably watched BBC2 as well...
At #7: Capstan Full Strength! The fat cousin of the Wills Wild Woodbine, the Capstan stood for a time when cigarettes were meant to make you cough. My aunties loved 'em...
At #6: the John Player Special! The oily rag of Formula 1: yes it made your lungs bleed, but just look how pretty that car is! Broom vroom...
At #5: Consulate Menthol! Why goths loved this over-minty baccy is beyond me, but no night at the Batcave in Dean Street was complete without it...
At #4: John Player No.6! They were good enough for the Queen Mum, so they're good enough for me...
At #3: Sobraine Cocktail Cigarettes! The coolest smoke for the most sophisticated ladies...
At #2: Sullivan Powell No.1! Far superior to their Turkish Ovals this was a true taste of the Orient, made in the heart of Piccadilly...
And at #1: it's a tie! Embassy Filter is the true taste of snooker, but Regal King Size is basically the coat of arms of Northern England. Don't make me choose!!
More pulp countdowns another day. Let's leave the last word on the noble tab to Viz comic...
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Today in pulp: how do you write a novel in two weeks?
Pulp writing that has to work within specific constraints, which in turn shape the nature of the story. And speed is the biggest constraint of all: you have to write quickly!
But there are ways to make it work for you...
Today a prolific author may write a book every year, but in the 1950s and '60s pulp writer sometimes had as little as two weeks to complete a 50,000 word story and have it ready for print.
That’s 25 novels a year: but at least they got Christmas off!
Writing that quickly is hard, but surprisingly liberating. Pulp writers had to go with their first ideas and had to make them work. There wasn’t time to ‘kill your darlings’ - instead you had to toughen them up and send them into battle!
Today in pulp I'm taking a look back at the Regency Romance series from Signet Books!
Signet's Regency Romance series started in the late 1970s and ran until 2006. Like its rivals Harlequin and Mills & Boone, Signet Regency Romance published a number of titles each month, often to the same formula...
Most (but not all) Signet Regency Romance covers were by Allan Kass, and I can heartily recommend Rhonda Whiting's wonderful blog about this artist, featuring hundreds of scans of his work allankass.blogspot.co.uk
What are the pulp archetypes? Pulp novels are usually written quickly and rely on a formula, but do they use different archetypal characters to other fiction?
Let's take a look at a few...
The Outlaw is a classic pulp archetype: from Dick Turpin onwards lawbreakers have been a staple of the genre. Crime never pays, but it's exciting and trangressive!
Some pulp outlaws however are principled...
As Bob Dylan sang "to live outside the law you must be honest." Michel Gourdon's 1915 hero Dr Christopher Syn is a good example. A clergyman turned pirate and smuggler, he starts as a revenger but becomes the moral magistrate of the smuggling gangs of Romney Marsh.
Given the current heatwave, I feel obliged to ask my favourite question: is it time to bring back the leisure suit?
Let's find out...
Now we all know what a man's lounge suit is, but if we're honest it can be a bit... stuffy. Formal. Businesslike. Not what you'd wear 'in da club' as the young folks say.
So for many years tailors have been experimenting with less formal, but still upmarket gents attire. The sort of garb you could wear for both a high level business meeting AND for listening to the Moody Blues in an espresso bar. Something versatile.