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Pulphouse Publishing

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Pulphouse Publishing was an American small press publisher based in Eugene, Oregon and specializing in science fiction and fantasy. It was founded by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch in 1988. The press was active until 1996. Over that period, Pulphouse published 244 different titles.[1]

Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine

From 1988 through 1993, Pulphouse published a quarterly magazine in hardback form edited by Rusch. In addition to twelve issues, each of them themed, they published an "issue 0" which was a hardcover filled with blank pages to use as a sample to show prospective buyers. Pulphouse included stories by notable science fiction and fantasy authors including Charles de Lint, Michael Bishop, Michael Swanwick, and Harlan Ellison. In addition, each issue included essays on a variety of subjects. In 1989, Smith and Rusch won the World Fantasy Award in the Special Award: Non Professional category for their work on Pulphouse. From 1992 through 1994, Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.

The Best of Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine was by published by Tor Books in 1991 and collected stories which had already appeared in the magazine as well as stories which were slated for later publication.

Pulphouse Weekly

In 1991, Pulphouse announced plans to publish a weekly fiction magazine, also called Pulphouse. Although they published 19 issues between 1991 and 1995, the magazine never achieved weekly status and after the fifth issue the subtitle was changed from A Weekly Magazine to A Fiction Magazine. Pulphouse Weekly was initially edited by Smith and later by Jonathan Bond. Over the course of its run, the magazine published stories by George Alec Effinger, Mike Resnick, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Andre Norton, O'Neil De Noux and Jeff VanderMeer. In addition to short stories, Pulphouse included serials by Spider & Jeanne Robinson and Robert Sheckley.

Starting with issue zero March 1, 1991 and running through issue 19. Issue 9 started giving a month, instead of a date, and Issues 15 through 19 were undated.

Author's Choice Monthly

Main article: List of Author's Choice Monthly

Smith edited a series of twenty-nine monthly chapbooks for Pulphouse under the collective title "Author's Choice Monthly" from 1989 through 1992. Each of these books were published in a limited edition and included stories by a single author. Authors in the series included Karl Edward Wagner (#2 Unthreatened by the Morning Light), Damon Knight (#21: God's Nose), and Esther Friesner (#23: It's Been Fun).

Short Story Paperback/Hardback

Short Story Paperback ($1.95)

  1. Loser’s Night by Poul Anderson
  2. A Case of Painter’s Ear by John Brunner
  3. Xolotl by Robert Sheckley
  4. All the Clocks Are Melting by Bruce Boston
  5. Blossoms by Kim Antieau
  6. Ecce Hominid by Esther M. Friesner
  7. A Case of Mistaken Identity by L. Timmel Duchamp
  8. The Cutter' by Edward Bryant
  9. The Girl Who Fell into the Sky by Kate Wilhelm
  10. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper by Robert Bloch
  11. The Steel Valentine by Joe R. Lansdale
  12. The Quickening by Bishop, Michael
  13. The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth by Roger Zelazny
  14. More Than the Sum of His Parts by Joe W. Haldeman
  15. No Way Street by Bruce Clemence
  16. The Spider Glass by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
  17. Uncle Dobbin’s Parrot Fair by Charles de Lint
  18. Dinosaurs by Walter Jon Williams
  19. Listening to Brahms by Suzy McKee Charnas
  20. Black Air by Kim Stanley Robinson
  21. The Dark Country by Dennis Etchison
  22. Journey to the Goat Star by Brian W. Aldiss
  23. Piecework by David Brin
  24. I Remember, I Remember... by Mary Caraker
  25. Sedalia by David J. Schow
  26. Slumming in Voodooland by Brian M. Stableford
  27. The Sword & the Stone by Jane Yolen
  28. The War of the Roses by Karen Joy Fowler
  29. The Cat With the Tulip Face by A. R. Morlan
  30. Twilight Time by Lewis Shiner
  31. Where the Summer Ends by Karl Edward Wagner
  32. Into Gold by Tanith Lee
  33. Daisy, in the Sun by Connie Willis
  34. Inuit by M. Shayne Bell
  35. The Shade of Lo Man Gong by William F. Wu
  36. Buckets by F. Paul Wilson
  37. The Pear-Shaped Man by George R. R. Martin
  38. The Evening & the Morning & the Night by Octavia E. Butler
  39. The Peacemaker by Gardner R. Dozois
  40. The Hero as Werewolf by Gene Wolfe
  41. The Bingo Man by Joyce Carol Oates
  42. Schrödinger’s Kitten by George Alec Effinger
  43. Sisters by Greg Bear
  44. The Ghosts of Tivoli by Nancy Holder
  45. Dr. Pak’s Preschool by David Brin
  46. Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back by Joe R. Lansdale
  47. Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes by S. P. Somtow
  48. Rachel in Love by Pat Murphy
  49. Unaccompanied Sonata by Orson Scott Card
  50. Nine Lives by Ursula K. LeGuin
  51. The Skull of the Marquis de Sade by Robert Bloch
  52. Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood by Charles de Lint
  53. The Price of Oranges by Nancy Kress
  54. If This Is Winnetka, You Must Be Judy by F. M. Busby
  55. My Brother’s Keeper by Pat Cadigan
  56. The Thermals of August by Edward Bryant
  57. Paper Dragons by James P. Blaylock
  58. Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick
  59. Candles on the Pond by Sue Ellen Sloca
  60. Shaunessy Fong by William F. Wu

Axolotl Press

In 1989, Pulphouse Publishing acquired Axolotl Press (founded by John Pelan in 1986) and began using it as an imprint. From 1989 through 1994, 26 titles were published using some form of the Axolotl name.

Other imprints

In addition to Axolotl, Pulphouse introduced Mystery Scene Press, which published a handful of mysteries in 1993, including the first two volumes in an Author's Choice series focused on mysteries. Pulphouse also used Writer's Notebook Press from 1990 through 1994 for four titles which focused on non-fictional aspects of the science fiction writing business.

Mystery Scene Press Author's Choice Monthly

(Single Author Collections) (Trade Paperback $5.95 Limited Cloth $25.00)

  1. Deceptions by Marcia Muller
  2. Stacked Deck by Bill Prozini
  3. Opening Shots by Stuart M. Kaminsky
  4. Mostly Murder by Joe Gores
  5. Dark Whispers and Other Stories by Ed Gorman
  6. Suspended Sentences by Brian Garfield

Mystery Scene Press Short Story Paperback

($1.95)

  1. The People of the Peacock by Edward D. Hoch
  2. Eight Mile and Dequindre by Loren D. Estleman
  3. Lieutenant Harald and the Treasure Island Treasure & My Mother, My Daughter, Me by Margaret Maron
  4. Cat's-Paw plus Incident in a Neighborhood Tavern by Bill Pronzini
  5. Ride the Lightning by John Lutz
  6. Afraid all the Time by Nancy Pickard
  7. The Perfect Crime by Max Allen Collins
  8. The Reason Why by Ed Gorman
  9. Outlaw Blues by Teri White
  10. My Heart Cries for You! by Bill Crider

[2]

Legacy

Pulphouse collapsed after wildly over-expanding the number of titles published every year, including several commercially unviable lines (such as the Short Story Paperback/Hardback line), leaving at least one title (Harlan Ellison's Ellison Under Glass) paid for but undelivered.[3]

In the Fall of 1996, Jerry Oltion published an anthology entitled Buried Treasure, subtitled "An Anthology of Unpublished Pulphouse Stories," which, with the approval of Rusch and Smith, was designed to look like an issue of Pulphouse Hardback.

Many of the authors who got their start publishing in Pulphouse publications or working for Rusch and Smith have gone on to have successful careers as science fiction and fantasy authors. Some authors who debuted in Pulphouse magazines include Adam-Troy Castro and Marina Fitch. Oltion and Nina Kiriki Hoffman were also closely connected to Pulphouse

References

  1. ^ Smith, Dean Wesley, "Introduction," Buried Treasures, edited by Jerry Oltion, Wordshop, p.1
  2. ^ Richard Gombert Collection
  3. ^ Jack Chalker and Mark Owings, The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, CD-ROM version, 2000
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