Pulp fiction began with the dime novels of the post-Civil War period. The main subjects were cowboy stories, outlaws, the Indian wars, and crime and detective stories. In the post-First World War period, there was a magazine boom, and various pulp magazines appeared. Although some of them still treated Western subjects, the emphasis shifted to crime and detective stories, action-adventure stories, or thrillers, and the so-called “hero” stories that featured characters with unusual physical and mental abilities, who were the forerunners of the comic book superheroes. There was also an increasing interest in science fiction and the beginnings of a broader interest in the horror and espionage genres. Street and Smith and Popular Publications were two of the

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Citation: Kich, Martin. "Pulp Fiction: The 1960s and the Surrounding Decades". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 July 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19775, accessed 23 October 2024.]