A ground-breaking anthology of genre short stories, “Asian Pulp,” will have its Los Angeles launch on Saturday, Aug. 1, at 2 p.m. at Giant Robot 2 (GR2), 2062 Sawtelle Blvd., in Sawtelle Japantown.
With an introduction by novelist and screenwriter Leonard Chang, the Pro Se Productions collection includes 16 stories, ranging from detective to science fiction to western, all featuring protagonists of Asian descent. The Southern California-based authors who will be participating in the GR2 event are Steph Cha, Naomi Hirahara and Gary Phillips.
In his introduction, Chang wrote: “The world of pulp fiction was a world that I understood — it was a reaction to trauma, both as art and as catharsis. Personal trauma. Emotional trauma. Physical trauma. National trauma. This is why I responded to it, why I immersed myself in it. And why, whenever I was in a personal and artistic crisis, it saved me. Fiction is a reflection of and commentary on life, and I needed to find a reflection of and commentary on my life.”
“Asian Pulp” is a follow-up to Pro Se Productions’ best-selling “Black Pulp,” a collection of stories written in classic pulp genres featuring black lead characters. Other “Asian Pulp” contributors are Henry Chang, Percival Constantine, Mark Finn, Dale Furutani, Louise Herring-Jones, Don Lee, Calvin McMillin, Gigi Pandian, Alan J. Porter, Kimberly Richardson, David C. Smith, Sean Taylor and William F. Wu.
The print version of the collection will be available at the GR2 event for $20.
For more information, visit www.giantrobot.com.