Ibiza publisher seeks geeks who want to write novels

PalmaIt doesn't come from pop, nor from polp. ‘Pulp’ comes from pulp, from the wood pulp that was used in the first half of the 20th century in the United States to print absolutely over-the-top horror or science fiction stories that are typical of the genre. The paper was coarse, brownish, very ugly, very cheap. The content, too: Martians abducting a family on a lonely rural property, a city sunk into the sea and ruled by robots, a comet carrying spectral warriors from another dimension...

Or the appearance of pieces of corpses abandoned every All Saints' Day. This is the plot premise of Los crímenes del Día de Todos los Santos, by Hèctor Escandell and Vicent Torres, the first issue of the 'Meteoro' collection from the Ibizan publishing house Balàfia Postals. Basically, the book is the literary version of the film with the same name, released in 2016. “When adapting it to a novel, we expanded the story a bit,” explains Escandell. “These are crimes that have occurred since the 50s; the action begins in 1970, when the Civil Guard investigates the new remains found on All Saints' Day. The victims are the hippies who came to Ibiza at that time.” An unashamed mix of gore and Ibizan customs, with hippies, Civil Guards, and peasants involved; as for the functioning of the narrative, the classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hopper, 1974) is the clearest reference, according to the author.

The idea of creating a pulp collection in Ibiza was born in a conversation between the journalist and novelist Cristina Amanda Tur (known as CAT, recognized as a crime novelist) and Escandell; now they are also the directors of the Meteoro collection. “CAT and I worked together on a book about the Arropiero, the greatest serial killer in the history of Spain, who had committed one of the crimes in Ibiza,” explains Escandell. “And we found it striking that, in the Anglo-Saxon world, novelized versions of films are often made, while here it is infrequent. In the United States, there are even novels of Chuck Norris films!”

This is how Balàfia Postals –a publishing house from Ibiza with over three decades of history, dedicated to photography books, essays, or illustrated children's books– has launched one of the geekiest literary collections currently in Spain. Los crímenes... is the first book, but the publishing house is calling on everyone who wants to publish in the collection, as long as it fits what we understand by pulp literature: “Not very long, direct, fun, surprising stories, horror, science fiction, or anything weird”, clarifies Escandell.

What is dead, cannot die

Until its bankruptcy in the 1980s, the mythical Bruguera publishing house had supplied Spanish newsstands with pulp novellas: collections like La Conquista del Espacio (science fiction) and Héroes del Oeste (western) and authors like Curtis Garland –pseudonym of the writer Juan Gallardo Muñoz– were very popular. Low-cost books that you could buy at any newsstand or gas station, far from libraries and serious bookstores; cheap and sometimes good popular culture, presumably dead from the 90s onwards under the dust and new Spanish modernity.

But for some time now, pulp

has been experiencing an unusual revival; especially since the Twin Towers attack, the genre has been revitalizing on this side of the world, partly as a form of resistance against 'official' culture, partly as a channel for experimentation. As George R.R. Martin once said – not him, but one of his characters in Game of Thrones–: What is dead can never die, but rises again, harder and stronger. The emergence of specialized publishing houses demonstrates this, also in Catalan, as is the case of Males Herbes. Males Herbes has just released the Catalan translation of Stephen King's Carrie (the first one made was from the 80s and is unobtainable): a whole declaration of principles.

Beyond the vintage

trend, pulp can be a more fun and immediate way to read. "A pulp novel must be very digestible," remarks Hèctor Escandell. "Good to read, with a direct style, with sensationalist elements; in our case, in Los crímenes... there are high doses of violence; the characters don't need to have great psychological depth, but there is a lot of black humor; you see what the hippies must have thought of the farmers in the 70s and vice versa".

The cover of this first volume of Meteoro, created by Pedro Ortega, faithfully reflects the original spirit of pulp

: striking images, bold typography, and the color red of blood everywhere. Popular prices, 9.99 euros, and on the back cover, the equivalent in pesetas, 1,662. Lest anyone overlook the historical references. "I wish we could distribute it in gas stations...", fantasizes Hèctor Escandell. "It would be a dream!".