A Review of "The Bizarchives, Issue #1"

The Arbo Files

Pulp is back, and it is back in a big way. From writers like the Pulp Archivist to major content creators like RazorFist, many are loudly extolling the virtues of pulp fiction.

But why?

The answers are as easy as they are manifold. Pulp fiction, whose heyday ran from the end of World War I to the beginning of the Vietnam War, featured two-fisted tales across many different genres, including genres made up in the pulps themselves (weird menance, for example). The male characters tend to be red-blooded, full of muscle and sinew, and undeniably masculine. This factor alone marks the pulps as novel in our contemporary epoch. In a culture awash with moral relativism, gender obfuscation, and ever-shifting definitions of “heroism,” the aesthetics and ethics of the pulps provide a much-needed counterbalance. The black-and-white sentiments of the pulps seem like revelations to younger readers who know only the pained moral agonizing of comic books and their cinematic adaptations.

The pulps were also the pinnacle of working-class entertainment. Tough, blue-collar workers during the Great Depression did not have the leisure time available to read slow-boiling tomes written by eggheads. They needed action, mystery, feminine flesh (or at least hints of it), and danger, and they needed it all in compact form. Working-class readers are still out there, and they still need the same kind of entertainment as their forbearers. Pulp fills that void.

Finally, the pulps provided a unique venue for writers of all stripes who would have otherwise toiled forever just to be consistently turned down by the “slicks.” Literary oddballs like H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard flourished in the pulps because only the pulps would have them. Today, when writers are faced with either self-publishing (often not cost-effective and lathered in social distrust owing to poor quality assurance) or trying to break into the major publications (nearly impossible for average, non-Ivy League types), new pulp markets offer a chance to get their work out into the world.

Enter the Bizarchives. This publication, which is a labor of love by dedicated pulp fans, honors the pulp magazines of old like Weird Tales and Dime Mystery Magazine. The Bizarchives is also dedicated to providing new writers, veteran writers, and those in-between with a chance to publish their otherwise unwanted or un-hip work. After months of contemplation and unseen sweat, the Bizarchives debuted in August 2021. The entire package is wonderfully done, with exceptionally spooky artwork on the cover by accomplished artist Donald Kent. From the layout and cream color paging, one has to applaud Editor-in-Chief Dave Martel and layout editors Cyprus Walter, Michael Sagginario and Light of Decay.

And the stories…oh the stories!

Issue One includes fourteen stories, making for over one hundred and thirty pages of content. We tend to forget that the old monthly pulp magazines regularly ran over one hundred pages, which means that Jazz Age roughnecks used to read more than today’s graduate students. Bizarchives Issue One does not disappoint in terms of quality or content either. From top to bottom, every story in here is exceptional. Several of pulp genres are represented as well, with science fiction, weird horror, cyberpunk, and permutations therein sharing the same volume. “The Cyhyraeth of Drughbury Moor” by Robert C. Booth also introduces us to a serial character — the occult detective Reuben Bennet. Another serial character, Martel’s Lucious Lex, appears in a ripe-roaring and Howard-esque tale called “Lex and the Lost Girl.” This volume simply has it all.

Speaking of Mr. Booth, his story is a fun jaunt through what appears to be Victorian Britain, and it has all the old charm of the stories by Conan Doyle and Algernon Blackwood. Booth’s fellow Brit, A. Cuthbertson, provides more modern horrors in “Tanner’s Gold,” where a homeless punter drinks the wrong brew and winds up on a helltrain going somewhere rotten.

Other incredible stories include Jim Bonner’s metaphysical “The Contest Between Life and Death,” which reminds one of ancient mythology; Black Pope Vice’s dystopian and somewhat salacious “AFDM, Chapter 1,” which envisions a future of witches, easy sex, and occult mercenaries; Joanna Raphaella’s short but disturbing “The Strange Case of Mr. H,” which recounts a (possibly) true story a troublesome employee; and Martel’s “The Never Woke Up,” where two futuristic somnambulists wake up outside of Earth and rediscover the eternal reality of violence.

Not to be outdone, Liberty Magee’s “Red Ivy,” MS Jones’s “White Dragon,” and Greg Kay’s “Cat’s Cradle Rosary” all share a similar flavor. Namely, all could have easily appeared in the pages of Weird Tales during the magazine’s heyday. Ditto for the whimsical fantasy “Atli’s Folly” by Emre Bilgin Tan. Finally, finishing up the volume is the horrific and unforgettable “Baby Teeth” by Shane Hawks, which reimagines a more ghoulish Tooth Fairy; “A Shot at Redemption” by H.G. Byron, where surrealism and horror intermix in something vaguely cosmic; and “Grandma Moves In” by Will Martin, which the current anti-racist regime of the United States reaches its logical (and God-forsaken) conclusion.

It is hard to imagine a better first showing of neo-pulp than this, the first issue of the Bizarchives. This volume reaffirms the longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer’s assertion that the working class is “lumpy with talent.” Every writer in here has said talent, and the Bizarchives did the right thing in showcasing them. Pulp lovers and general lovers of fiction need to pick up this book pronto. There no longer is any excuse for not supporting independent art, especially when it is this fun.

Several hearty hails and cheers to more issues!