5 Questions With Bill Cunningham (Mad Pulp Bastard)

I first came across Bill Cunningham at his website, Pulp 2.0, a few years ago and was an instant fan. Our paths crossed several times over social networks and we finally spoke when he announced the formation of Pulp 2.0 Press several months ago. The company released their first book, BROTHER BLOOD by Donald F. Glut, last Friday and Bill was kind enough to to take some time out of his busy weekend to talk about this new business venture and the future of the pulp genre.


FOG!: Tell me about your latest project BROTHER BLOOD.

Bill Cunningham: Brother Blood is a vampire novel by Donald F. Glut, who if you are a geek, you know from his numerous books (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK), movies (DINOSAUR VALLEY GIRLS), Television (SHAZAM, LAND OF THE LOST) and comics (OCCULT FILES OF DR. SPEKTOR, DAGAR) and even as a lecturer on dinosaurs (DINOSAUR: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA). It was written 3 years before BLACULA - and features all the things you expect from a classic bloodsucking creature story...

But it's set in 1969 on the Sunset Strip.

It's groovy and ghoulish and reminds me of a Hammer Horror movie mashed up with a Blaxploitation Horror movie. What's really cool about the book though - and one of the reasons I chose it as our premiere book is that it's written in a style that mimics the original DRACULA. It's a book that embodies a lot of what I like about pulp storytelling - the complete blender of different styles, motifs and genres - and somehow coming up with something that's both classic and original.

Besides, who doesn't love a good vampire story? An old dark house? Three intrepid adventurers who each have a reason to destroy the unholy creature who's ruined their lives? Vampire brides?

Add go-go boots and black light posters and you're there.

If you're going to kick off a company and do it a little different, a little better (I hope) than the other guy then I couldn't think of a better book to do it.

What is it about Pulp 2.0 Press and your approach to pulp that's different than other companies?

P2P was started when I was looking around on the web to see if I could find several paperback series to read. I had heard about them and their creators and thought they were cool enough to take a chance on. What I found was that most of those books were out of print and only available in high-priced rare bookshops. I would have had to pay around $50 each for the books I wanted to read.

So out of that experience I came up with the idea of re-publishing these books for new audiences and for those of us long enough in the tooth to remember them when they were first published. With Createspace all we had to do was set up the books with new covers and interior designs and they would handle the rest.

So we now had the means to do what I wanted - put affordable pulp entertainment into eager fans' hands. After that problem was solved I began thinking of ways to expand beyond that - digitally with ebook editions, and creatively with a wider variety of what I consider to be the pulp experience.

In today's pulp publishing market some publishers are focusing on reprinting classic pulp magazines in exact reproductions. Others are creating new pulp stories featuring public domain characters. The public at large has a perception of a 'pulp' framed in discussion series characters like THE SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE or in hardboiled crime tales made famous by Tarantino's movie PULP FICTION.

We're positioning ourself in the market in a slightly different, more expansive way than others are doing. We think that 'pulp' is an attitude, not a particular genre, medium or literary timeframe. That's why we are republishing classic pulp magazines, paperbacks and exploitation as well as developing new pulp series characters.

For us, pulp is everywhere and if it has the right 'pulp attitude' then we want to put it in the hands of our audience.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with dead or alive, who would you pick?

I have a lot of influences across a variety of media - films, comics, books, toys, design, television - you name it. I've really been privileged to work and know some really talented people. That said, I'd really love to have the opportunity to work with Edgar Rice Burroughs who really had his finger in a lot of different pies. He was one of those men who took his creation and moved him around a bunch of media - pulps, books, newspaper comic strips and serials, radio, movies, television and toys. I think I could learn a lot from the guy who created TARZAN, JOHN CARTER OF MARS, CARSON OF VENUS and (a personal favorite) THE MUCKER.

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

I am a big fan of the old Hanna Barbera cartoons - SPACE GHOST, THE ARABIAN KNIGHTS, SHAZZAN, FRANKENSTEIN JR. and THE HERCULOIDS. I'm also a big fan of CAPTAIN POWER AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE. I guess they are all marked by the fact they were made inexpensively but still have some sort of hold over my psyche. The storytelling is that good.

If you were to have dinner with 5 fictional characters, who are they and what would you serve?

I would love to set up a meat-laden uber-expansive buffet and be able to sit down with WILMA DEERING, JANE PORTER, DEJAH THORIS, BATGIRL and of course, DALE ARDEN.

if I'm going to have a sit-down dinner of my dreams then I'm going to make damn sure I'm the only guy there. It's my dream, right?

Finish this sentence, "Geek is the new..."

... badge of honor for a person who is really "into" something. I am a pulp media geek. It means I've devoted an extensive amount of time following my passion for pulp magazines, serials, movies and comics. I wear my geek badge proudly - hell, I've earned it.

You are a proponent of pulp media. What is it and why do you think it is important?

Stefan I think you hit on a crucial point there with the term "pulp media." We're living in an age when all of our media is converging - books, music, movies, games, toys and even fashion are becoming dependent on one another. It's not just pulp magazines or paperbacks anymore but all those other things I just mentioned. Within all those media 'pulp' isn't a literary or genre device, but an attitude and working methodology.

Decoder Ring Theatre is a great example of a company creating 'pulp radio' via the web. The Mercury Men web serial is another great example of the 'pulp aesthetic ' fused with the web.

Pulp as a movement or an idea is important because it embraces the concept of getting something accomplished. It's important in that we are living in a time when all of the tools necessary to create and distribute our own entertainment are available through the internet...for free. You just need to create something and see it through.

If you could make the ultimate pulp movie, what would it be and who would be in your dream cast?

The ultimate pulp movie for me would be to actually create a theatrical movie serial based on my character THE KNIGHTMARE. I wrote a screenplay a long time ago and it's a movie that I would really love to tackle again. The look of the film would be a modified version of what you saw in SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW and it would be set in the present - although a very stylized vision of the present.


It was my frustration at not being able to get interest in the movie - it needed work as I needed to grow as a writer - that prompted me to create the two-part radio adventure for Decoder Ring "The Murder Legion Strikes at Midnight" {Part One, Part Two) so I could get back in that groove of discovering these characters again.

So yes, THE KNIGHTMARE is one of my dream projects.

Where do we go with pulp from here?

Well part of the plan of Pulp 2.0 Press has always been "Make your own media." By that I mean we are going to actively work with our audience to turn those who are interested into creators. It means rethinking what audience means. It means rethinking how we best put pulp in people's hands. I'm excited by the IPad, not just the device itself but the fact that it lights the fuse for more creativity to explode across the web.

In the immediate future we at P2P are setting up the website, selling BROTHER BLOOD, pursuing authors to license their pulp novels that are out of print and priming the pump for new writers to work with us in developing the next phase of the company - original pulp creations.

It's all exciting as no matter which way we go it's a journey into adventure.

Brother Blood is available HERE!
UPDATE!: Here are the links to the Decoder Ring Episodes! Part One/Part Two