Today in pulp I make my predictions for 2022, based on what was happening in 1922!
What goes around comes around...
Streaming services will continue to dominate 2022, so to combat FOMO a new TV channel will launch that shows summaries of all the streaming shows you don't have time to watch any more.
Wearable Tech will finally go mainstream in 2022, and shop doorways will contain wireless charging stations to encourage more window shopping.
2022 will be a year of international political tension...
...but it will also be a year of great advances in technology.
In fact 2022 will be the year when everything goes wireless...
...leading to mass confusion and cognitive overload as every object starts clamouring for our attention.
Working from home will mean 2022 has a more relaxed dress code...
...and as a result personal grooming standards will rise!
The cost of living crisis will make more people rethink their transport options in 2022.
But there will be a boom in pet accessories as people decide to pamper their pets rather than themselves.
Social media will begin to eat itself in 2022, with rumour and gossip driving out all other topics...
...and in response we will see a rise in traditional news journalism as people tire of endless clickbait.
Overall 2022 will be a year in which people try to recover their confidence and agency in a world gone potty!
Will any of this come to pass? Who knows! I don't, and neither does anyone else who makes 2022 predictions. So let's take this year as we find it, one step at a time!
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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.
Today in pulp I look back at the publishing phenomenon of gamebooks: novels in which YOU are the hero!
A pencil and dice may be required for this thread...
Gamebooks are a simple but addictive concept: you control the narrative. At the end of each section of the story you are offered a choice of outcomes, and based on that you turn to the page indicated to see what happens next.
Gamebook plots are in fact complicated decision tree maps: one or more branches end in success, but many more end in failure! It's down to you to decide which path to tread.
He was the terror of London; a demonic figure with glowing eyes and fiery breath who could leap ten feet high. The penny dreadfuls of the time wrote up his exploits in lurid terms. But who was he really?
Today I look at one of the earliest pulp legends: Spring-Heeled Jack!
London has always attracted ghosts, and in the 19th Century they increasingly left their haunted houses and graveyards and began to wader the capital's streets.
But one apparition caught the Victorian public attention more than most...
In October 1837 a 'leaping character' with a look of the Devil began to prey on Londoners. Often he would leap high into the air and land in front of a carriage, causing it to crash. It would then flee with a high-pitched laugh.