DANNY BOWMAN

interviewed by Allan Guthrie

Danny Bowman’s (pictured) publishing venture, Pulp Press, launches in late February. He talks to Noir Originals about himself and the new range of books that’ll be coming our way soon.

Allan Guthrie: Tell us a little bit about your background, if you would.

Danny Bowman: I grew up in London, but now live in Brighton. I have been working in publishing and creative writing for six years. Before that I used to run English pubs in Paris and all I get to show for it are some fancy scars. I also spent my youth playing bass for punk/Oi! band Gundog and ran a stall on Camden Market, selling vintage clothes.

AG: And what’s the low-down on Pulp Press?

DB: Pulp Press is committed to bring out exciting, escapist pulp fiction novels for the working person, or people who are trying hard to look for work, as alternative to shithouse TV, or something to keep them warm on their travels. These are designed to be disposable tales chock-full of daring-do, violent comeuppance and good old-fashioned sleaze.

AG: How did you come up with the idea?

DB: When I got a price list sent to me for placements on a major bookseller’s best sellers lists and the celebrity biogs that fill bookshelves like so many dog shit smeared doorsteps, I recognised that the publishing industry was going the wrong way down the wrong road. There was a lot of feeling in the industry too, that anything literary was somehow the reserve of the middle classes. I wanted to provide an alternative in the form of literary entertainment for those who were not being catered for. When you’re struggling you need escapism, plain and simple. There was also a big 50s revival at the time I came up with the idea with a lot of rockabilly, swing and burlesque nights going on. It seemed logical, therefore, to indulge in my passion for 50s style pulp fiction. I intend these to have a modern flavour, though, in terms of the fact that we live in the age of internet and mobile phones, etc.

AG: Once you had the concept, how did you come up with the financing?

DB: I approached Lynn Ashman, the MD of Indepenpress, the publishing house I work for as a marketing manager, and pitched the idea. I was blown over when she went for it straight away and agreed to finance it. I was also given free-reign over the in-house facilities.

AG: And the authors, where did you find them?

DB: My first port of call was Brian Bell, who is fairly well known in the local independent creative writing scene here in Brighton, and Rachel Littlejohn a 50s retro nut and damned fine journalist, as I believe they have the skills which I am looking for which I will talk about later. I also got permission to put out Charles Jackson’s back catalogue just before he unfortunately passed away. TV producer Warren Roberts will be bringing out his hard boiled efforts with us as well. In terms of other writers I intend to cherry-pick and commission authors who possess the skills I am looking for.

AG: What about the artwork?

DB: “Boxcar” Alex Young, the cover artist is a long time friend of mine. He will be doing most, if not all, of the covers for Pulp Press. He studied a lot of the old pulp books to get an idea of the style and does them in watercolours to get the same kind of effect. I am also playing with the idea of getting another friend, Kevin Mason of Dark Daze Photography, to do some photo covers, similar to the Richard Allen pulps of the late 60s and 70s on later editions. Jen Harrison, the younger sister of one of my colleagues does all the art and designing on the website. It’s a family business we got going here.

AG: How many books do you have lined up? And what’s the publication schedule?

DB: We’ll start in force in April, if not before. After we have gauged the sales of our debut product Killer Tease, that is. The next books scheduled to hit the stands are Kill City USA by Warren Roberts (check out www.killcityusa.com for more info), Die Hard Mod by Charlie McQuaker (AKA Brian Bell), Death of a Dude by Charles Jackson and The Windowlicker Maker by Danny Hogan.

AG: What’s the response been like from bookstores?

DB: The aesthetic quality of the books, (pocket format with traditional pulp style artwork) has really helped appeal to booksellers. Murder One in London took one glimpse of them and took them on, on sight alone. It’s a bloody shame they’ve gone out of business. I have approached Waterstones, Borders et al, and have had no problem in getting them to take it on in selected stores. But I suggest anyone who deals with these people to remove and secure all their valuables before they do so.

AG: Have you developed any unusual strategies to help you compete in the current marketplace?

DB: Having become fatigued with dealing with mainstream booksellers I had the notion of approaching alternative vendors to start off with. Tattoo parlours, piercing studios, record shops, alternative clothes shops and such, and headed north from Brighton with a load of Killer Teases to do just that. With alternative in mind, I also thought that the northerners would appreciate someone from the south getting off of their arse and heading up to them. A complete list of where the book is currently available can be found on our website, www.pulppress.co.uk. The record shops seem to be doing particularly well as , Punker Bunker, here in Brighton has sold out a few times. We also would like to work predominately with independent booksellers such as Word Power Books in Edinburgh, as these people still love books. I think with a lot of mainstream booksellers, the fact that they sell books is almost immaterial. If they were selling drugs or guns they would do it with exactly the same fervour. A lot of them are just bloody sweetshops anyway.

AG: Killer Tease is quite a ride. Who’s this Danny Hogan bloke who wrote it?

DB: Yeah, that’ll be me. Originally Indepenpress Publishing offered to publish my books as they liked the cut of my jib. On recognising a gap in the market and observing the way that publishing was changing I pitched the idea to let me run an imprint for them instead. In the fear that they night change their mind, and needing something fast, I wrote Killer Tease in two weeks to get the ball rolling. I called in a favour and got Alex to do the cover quickly in order to give it some visual quality that would be harder to turn down. They were all over it and had it down the litho printers before you could blink. Job’s a good’un.

AG: What are your ambitions as a writer?

DB: To bring back the entertainment aspect of literature. I believe that a lot of authors these days try to get too clever at the expense of their stories, and can, in some cases, make the reader battle through a book rather than getting lost in a read on their way home on the bus. Also, TV is getting worse by the day (especially since the Wire has gone off the air) and I think that a good book is far more beneficial to your mind and imagination than looking at a load of so-called celebrities proudly displaying their ignorance and getting paid for it.

AG: And what are your ambitions for Pulp Press?

DB: To bring back pulp fiction. To provide an alternative to the dross that has paid £50,000-a-head to be on the best sellers list. To provide entertainment in literary form. To stick it to the man.

AG: Who are your favourite pulpsters?

DB: Definitely Hal Ellson, Richard Allen and Wenzell Brown. I also like a lot of the pulp that was written by Beat writers, like William Burroughs’s Junky and Hubert Selby Jr’s Last Exit to Brooklyn. L. Ron Hubbard’s stuff is always good for a laugh, but probably not in the way he meant it to be.

AG: Are you looking for submissions at the moment?

DB: If you can write exciting 23,000 word beginning, middle, confrontation and conclusion chestnuts with a 50s pulp flavour and plenty of sleaziness and comeuppance to order in a very short space of time (around about a month), come and try your luck.

I’d just like to add that I am organising the Pulp Press Launch for Friday the 27th of February, upstairs at the Hobgoblin, 31 York Place, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 4GU, with burlesque and bands, starting at around 8pm. If you’re in the area, come along. All are welcome.

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© Noir Originals, 2009