"This volume attempts to follow the threads of pulp fiction over more than a century through profiles of more than 200 writers—the good, the bad, and the sometimes worse, from some of the 19thcentury progenitors of pulp to men and women practicing the tradition to this day. A comprehensive listing of all pulp fiction writers, even under a stricter definition than my own, would run to dozens of volumes. For this book I have attempted to include a representative sampling, including both names of legend and those writers whose obscurity remains almost complete. A few significant pulp fiction contributors—and much-writtenabout names—have been left out altogether in favor of some little-known writers who might otherwise not ever be written about at all. I have tried to include both some description of a writer’s work and some salient facts regarding the writer’s personal history, particularly in regard to its influence on the written work. On the pages ahead you will read of many colorful and, I think, fascinating personalities, lives of adventure, romance, debauchery, fear, and murder. The storyteller’s trade is an ancient and noble occupation, though one that has sometimes put the teller behind bars or driven him mad. Read on!"