How Would You Define Pulp?

[Hammers]

Anything with a lurid and action filled guache painting on the cover.

[Kitsune]

50p in a second hand bookshop.

[Donpimpom]

The modern fashion for putting "punk" on the end of everything strikes me as imbecilic hipsterism.

And so, the Hipsterpunk was born 

[jet]

I certainly include many sub-genres in my definition of Pulp - Western, Horror, Science Fiction, Pirates, Jungle civilizations fighting "modern" men, and so on. Of course, many Pulp publications covered these and many more genres of action and adventure.

However, when I think of Pulp hero, I think in terms of the pre-super hero - when men (and women) who were heroic were still just normal homo sapiens. They might have been physically fit and well-trained, but it was there personality traits that set them apart from others (not super powers) - determination, bravery, resourcefulness, and grit.

[Argonor]

Ah, the ever-present propensity to put everything in labeled boxes. 

Of course 'pulp' refers to the inferior material all those 'dime-novels' and the likes were printed on over a looooong period of time (even today, I think), whereas war gamers widely use the term to describe all kinds of high/weird adventure set in the interwar period (probably under heavy influence from Indiana Jones).

So, 'Pulp' is, of course, not really a 'genre' or 'time-period' in itself, unless you choose to define it as such for yourself.

The whole '-punk' suffix thing seems to have started with cyberpunk - where the nihilistic style (and hairdos) of a not-so-far future resembled the punk-style of the 80's a lot. Using the suffix for other genres is perhaps a bit stupid, but, well, people do it out there.

I found this article on 'Cyberpunk Derivatives' which I find amusing, if not anything else:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_derivatives

[doowopapocalypse]

All of the above, plus giant squids.

[Hildred Castaigne]

All of the above, plus giant squids.

Are you trying to give us all nightmares?