Pulping The Portal

Looking forward is the way to go. Though a lot of people have nothing to look forward to and it’s okay because present, this very moment is everything. It’s this moment that you can take decision or choose the course of your life. Doing something novel is difficult, not because it actually is but because it is made to be difficult and so one can choose to do the mundane. Needs are needs and until they are met it’s hard to think of anything further so the focus should be on meeting the needs but work should never stop waiting for needs. I think about literature a lot and apart from my work a lot of my time goes into thinking about literature and books. I think about pulp magazines of the 20th century which contained fantasy and science fiction stories. It was a good time; in fact, it was a great time. I like pulp, and I’m not ashamed of it, because Booker winning works don’t entertain you, pulp actually does. Booker winning work might depress you in this already depressed and attention seeking world, but pulp would excite you and make you have fun. It’s a shame that pulp now is nowhere to be seen and if it is it is of very low quality which is shameful because snobs already think of pulp as low. I miss pulp writing, I miss pulp art. One of my favourite authors H. P. Lovecraft used to send his stories to a magazine for publication. His work was pulp until he got fame and unfortunately, he got fame posthumously. Most great people get fame posthumously, it’s sad but it is the way of this world and I don’t think it will ever change. Lovecraft’s stories really pull you in their world, it’s a sort of dark wonder. I don’t know if everyone feels Lovecraft as I feel him but his works give me a respite, not that I’m dependent on that respite, but still. It gives you a break from anthropocentrism and gives you the sweet and heavy vibe of Gothic literature. Ancient gods who are indifferent to humanity, well, at least they are not malevolent. Though he has also written about malevolent entities and gods. His works are entertaining nevertheless if you are into that type of writing. I like exploring the space, alternate dimensions and portals and especially after being aware of political truth of this country, portals remain the only thing that can help you suspend your belief if you are suffering from hyperreality of today’s era. Portals taking you in past, and in fantastical kingdoms, in alternate dimensions and anywhere you want and you can keep the reality of this world as it is. This approach would of course count as magical realism but you can, with the realism of this world turning magical can explore any genre that needs suspension of belief keeping the reality of the real-world newspaper and television world true. Mafia of hinterlands of Bihar and Lovecraftian gods and monsters can coexist with just a portal between them and corrupt bureaucracy of this country and fantastical realm of Middle Earth can coexist, again with just a portal in between and it is up to you to open or close that portal or decide when to open or close that portal. I like pulp and so I write pulp but then I can mix a bit of depressive literary writing in it to by opening a portal between Booker style depressive literary writing and pulp. It’s all the same in the end, but the snobs won’t get it. Sometimes the mundane opens the portal to the novel, and present opens the portal to future. Needs need not to fulfilled for you to continue working, wasted time is costly and so you must build that portal to the future even when you are deprived of your needs. Pulp is not considered literature, but for me it is every bit of literature that literary prize winning literature is. My goal is to write good pulp. Literary capability is just the bus I'm taking to reach there.