The New Lesbian Pulp

Reinventing lesbian pulp fiction for a new generation, this collection of intense queer stories by Sarah Schulman, Shamim Sarif, Lorraine Hansberry, and more is so edgy it draws blood

Throughout its heyday in the McCarthy era, lesbian pulp fiction thrived as a subversive cultural art form that afforded countless women discreet pleasure during a suppressive time in American history. Pulp featured women—masculine and feminine alike, sapphic, libidinous, lonely, angry, and otherwise-inclined—in motion against the romanticized backdrop of the gritty, postwar metropolis. The result was a populist, titillating genre tradition that kept queer women alive. The New Lesbian Pulp, edited by Sarah Fonseca and Octavia Saenz, features original contemporary fiction by well-known and emerging writers, as well as stories plucked from the archives of pulp authors. 

Sparks fly at a funeral. A squad of vigilante lesbians finds a gross way to take revenge. A Brooklyn woman confronts her high school bully, who’s had a butch glow-up. A sexy tryst takes an ominous turn. These high-octane stories are rife with melodrama, romantic peril, and collateral damage.