I'm of two minds about this collection, as I am many of Penzler's collections. There is almost a knee-jerk reaction to give this five stars just because it exists. There is no doubt that there is some great stuff here. Names like Hammett, Cain (Paul and James M.), Chandler, Gardner, Nebel, Charters, and Cornell Woolrich fill these pages. If you're a fan of pulp, and/or these writers, however, you might already have read Chandler's Killer in the Rain (the short story he later expanded into The Big Sleep) and the rather famous Red Wind. The same goes for some of these other names and stories here which are well known to those who enjoy the hardboiled pulp genre of another era (or eras, as the case may be).

Though it’s nice that these familiar names and stories are included in this massive book, if you're fairly well read on ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s pulp, the real reason to pick this one up would be the lesser known authors and stories from the higher-end detective pulps. And therein exists my caveat to this collection. Penzler appears to have a bias against what is considered the B level of pulp magazines, and some of the authors who wrote in them. To my point, one of Fred MacIsaac's great Rambler stories could very easily have replaced one of Penzler's picks. I might understand the omission of Robert Leslie Bellem's Dan Turner: Hollywood Detective stories due to the slightly salacious (for the time period) situations and dialog, had Penzler not thrown in Sally the Sleuth comics! I actually like Sally the Sleuth, they are great fun. But ignoring Bellem’s Dan Turner stories, with their racy situations and over-the-top dialog, while including Sally the Sleuth is rather eye-rolling. It makes one speculate that inclusions and exclusions had more to do with what could be obtained, rather than what should be here.

So a few lackluster choices, coupled with the glaring omission of Robert Bellem, Norvell Page, and Fred MacIsaac make this one hit and miss for me. I am glad I have it, because in one book I have some of the great stories from those pulp giants I cited at the beginning of the review, all of whom are revered today. Many of those stories are four and five star gems, and Penzler is to be commended for gathering these into one book. However, I was ho-hum about some of the other stories chosen, and even more so because of some glaring (at least to me) omissions. I realize that this was meant to be the high-end of the pulp magazine stories, but still…

Story choices are a matter of personal taste, of course. But seriously, no Fred MacIsaac and no Robert Bellem, not to mention a conspicuously absent Norvell Page, in "The Big Book of Pulps" gives this one a downgrade, because those writers' best pulp stories are miles better than some of the picks here, in my opinion. Pulps weren't literature, they were supposed to be entertaining, and having those three guys absent here, in my opinion, is eyebrow raising. ( )

What a great collection of pulp stories from the first half of the 1900s. Very long but well worth the time spent. There were many authors represented who were new to me, and whose stories I really enjoyed, and I plan on getting more of their books. Highly recommended for fans of the crime genre. ( )

In terms of sheer quantity, it would be hard to top The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps. With regard to quality, however, I've read shorter collections that I found vastly more entertaining. The objective here may have been to provide a comprehensive overview of the crime fiction phenomenon in pulp magazines of the 1920s, '30s and '40s...but if that's the case, why does the reader encounter no stories by W.T. Ballard or John K. Butler in this sprawling 1168-page collection? Each was a master of the hardboiled form and each--inexplicably--is overlooked, yet we're subjected to an entire novel by Z-grader Carroll John Daly. There is some great stuff here, of course: Dashiell Hammett's early Continental Op caper "The Creeping Siamese," Raymond Chandler's bleak, atmospheric "Killer in the Rain" (which later served as the basis for his first novel The Big Sleep), and George Harmon Coxe's "Murder Picture" (a two-fisted action piece featuring Coxe's newspaper photographer hero Flash Casey; this story, the best in the book, manages to be both exciting and intelligent). Unfortunately there's also a lot of junk, and the good stories are hopelessly outnumbered by the mediocre and occasionally just plain lousy ones.

Two and a half stars. ( )

I love pulp fiction. Yeah, that’s right, I said pulp fiction: square-jawed tough guys, devilish dames and trouble with a capital “T”. The only thing I love more than pulp fiction is the lurid art that went along with it. When I saw The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps in the Vintage catalog my eyes lit up like the rep had just shown me the Maltese Falcon.

What we have here is no less than a history of the mystery pulps in the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s, the time of the ascendance of Black Mask and the birth of hard-boiled crime fiction. You’ve got your Hammett and Chandler, but you’ve also got Cornell Woolrich, Leslie Charteris, and a whole heap of writers you and I might never have heard of who made their living at a penny a word. As if this piece of literary history isn’t enough, you’ll also get the lovely lurid artwork that originally accompanied these stories, truly a confection not to be missed.

If you are a lover of the pulp mysteries from the 20s, 30s and 40s, then this book is an absolute must. It's just fantastics. Some great known authors and many unknowns who have shaped the mystery genre.

It can't be beat. ( )