When I was very young, our local bank held an annual book fair every summer. Every book was donated by the bank's staff and sold for a single dollar. Every year my father allowed me to choose any book I wanted, it was at that bank that I was first introduced to Pulp Sci-fi. My first selection was Armageddon 2419 AD and I was instantly propelled into the 25th Century. It wouldn't be long before I had collected more Ace paperbacks, all with exciting, colorful cover illustrations that highlighted aspirational heroes engaged in daring rescues and thrilling confrontations.
Unfortunately, the more I explored science fiction, the less of these aspirational heroes there were to find. Characters like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and John Carter had all but disappeared by the 1950s and made way for the speculative fiction of the 60s and 70s. While Sci-fi had matured to explore deeper themes, we lost much of the excitement that had made the genre so compelling to begin with. Even at a very young age, I knew I would someday write my own series of men's Pulp adventures.
Cliches and Tropes
The Pulp heroes of the 30s were largely without faults or character flaws. While conventional wisdom tells us that a protagonist must have some personality defects in order to generate conflict or serve an arc, these are notions that I wholeheartedly reject. Science fiction can be unique in offering us strange and unique scenarios to test our characters. I often wondered what it would be like to drag the aspirational heroes of the past into modern science fiction. Blast Johnson was created with this goal in mind, and I chose to frame my protagonist as a relic of a bygone era. Being middle-aged, Blast needs to deal with the fact that his best years are behind him. His heroics are no longer effortless, creating another obstacle for him to overcome in addition to his bizarre new surroundings.
The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing
After creating my character, the first thing I thought of was the title (Arkolny Armageddon). This served to inform the ending of the story first. From there, writing a basic three act outline was practically effortless. Actually writing the story turned out to be far more difficult. I wrote and deleted two nearly complete manuscripts and left the project for a time. After posting some of my creative writing on a message board, I was encouraged by the feedback I received to try again. This time, I used a sketchbook to help me storyboard the action sequences and the story beats fell into place far more easily. After five years of writing and rewriting, I had managed to complete my first novella (and soon after, its sequel: Arkolny Abyss).
An Excerpt from Arkolny Armageddon: A Blast Johnson Adventure
A creature of nightmare emerged from the darkness below. It was a massive, octopus-like beast, but instead of the familiar tentacles, it had eight feathered limbs tipped with razor-sharp claws. Its body was a pulsating, fleshy sac, and from the center of its head, a sharp, black beak jutted out, lined with fangs dripping with a viscous, green venom. It climbed the chasm wall with surprising speed, its glowing, unblinking eyes locked on Blast.
The creature lunged onto the tree trunk, its body a grotesque, writhing mass. Blast fired his laser sidearm, but the beam only singed the monster’s feathers, doing little to slow it down. He dodged a snapping beak, his tired limbs barely responding. He was a veteran of countless battles, but his old body was failing him now. The creature’s tentacles lashed out, wrapping around his leg and yanking him off the trunk. He was suspended over the abyss, his sidearm falling into the darkness with a distant splash.
About the Author
Brendan Onfrichuk is a pulp sci-fi author and restaurant manager. He fell in love with the genre watching the premiere of Star Trek: Voyager with his father at age five. He lives in Ontario, Canada with his wife.
You can find Arkolny Armageddon on Amazon and Books2read.
And follow Brendan on X/Twitter: @SegaStardust
