The Unvarnished Gary Phillips: A Mondo Pulp Collection

Phillips (One-Shot Harry) carves out a niche for himself in this eccentric collection in which, per the author’s own introduction, “grindhouse meets blaxploitation with strong doses of hardcore B movie drive-in fare.” The 17 entries explore some fascinating conceits. “Matthew Henson and the Treasure of the Queen of Sheba,” for example, imagines African American Arctic explorer Matthew Henson as an Indiana Jones-esque adventurer. “Thus Strikes the Black Pimpernel” updates the classic French Revolution adventure story, sending the disguised “peoples’ outlaw” to fight cruelty during the Trump administration. Perhaps the best is “I, Truck,” narrated by an AI inhabiting an 18-wheeler freight hauler who proves to be an insurgent waging a campaign against autonomous vehicles, sabotaging them by overriding their safety protocols to cause costly crashes. In true pulp tradition, plot trumps prose, leading to some clunky exposition throughout: “Instantly everyone understood this substance was the most potent distillation of the ancient Aztec deity,” Phillips writes in “Demon of the Track.” Phillips also has no fear of cliché—including attractive captive women intended for sacrifice to an evil deity in “Decimator Smith and the Fangs of the Fire Serpent”—and leans into sometimes tired genre tropes. This won’t be for everyone, but readers looking for action-heavy popcorn entertainment will certainly find it here. (Oct.)