Strictly Poison tenth anniversary

A long time has passed since Bold Venture Press returned with a vengeance. Or at least with an attitude. The imprint went into semi-hybernation back in 2006, then emerged from its deep sleep in 2014. So, Bold Venture can claim it's 20th anniversary was 2021, while the tenth anniversary of its return was most of 2024. Like a soap opera, these back stories get complicated after a while.

We're also coming up on the tenth anniversary of Strictly Poison and Other Stories by Charles Boeckman, a pulp author and jazz musician of some repute. 

Charles Boeckman reached out to me one day, in 2010, and we corresponded off and on again. He was a semi-retired musician and a former author of pulp fiction. His stories appeared in Dime Detective, Manhunt, and other legendary magazines of the pulp era.

One day I mentioned him to Audrey Parente, whose eyes lit up. "He's still alive?" she asked. Why, yes.

Minutes later, we were searching through my old correspondence, online sites, and telephone information. That same night, we introduced overselves over the phone to Boeckman and his wife Patty, an author and musician in her own right. Luckily I mentioned Charles Boeckman to Audrey, or we never would have connected with him. Why hadn't I pursued something with him sooner? Who knows?

Immediately we made plans to reprint his previously published western and mystery anthologies, retitling them and giving them facelifts to appeal to the pulp market. Once the books were available, we made plans to publish more of his works. A lasting friendship was formed, although we never met Charles in person. To this day, we still haven't met Patty in the flesh. Such are the friendships that arise through long-distance collaboration.

Bold Venture's edition of Strictly Poison and Other Stories debuted in March 2015 — nearly ten years ago. The stories reasonate with pulp mystery and suspense ... and the stories depict characters simmering in their own pathos — sad losers and schnooks attempting to rise above their lot in life, often making things worse as a result. Boeckman became very popular with the pulp editors, since his fiction leaned toward the hardboiled nature of 1950s crime digest magazines. Those magazines would eventually be Boeckman's most frequent market, and eventually replace the pulp magazines on newsstands.

Eventually Boeckman became a full-time musician, devoting less time to writing as the decades rolled past. He was a popular fixture in Corpus Christie, Texas and eventually was awarded a star on the South Texas Music Walk of Fame in Corpus Christi, Texas. I can't help wondering if Boeckman wouldn't have been more popular (or well-known) if he relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, which was and still is the country music capital of the world.

Then again, I can't help wondering if Boeckman might have become better-known for his writing had he remained a full-time fiction author. His work sometimes measures up to Cornell Woolrich and often matches his contemporaries. But Boeckman's musical pursuits took him away from writing, and now he's sorely overlooked by pulp fans who only peruse "the big names."

If you haven't sampled his work, do yourself a favor and check out Strictly Poison or Stagecoach to Hell. His work appears in several issues of Pulp Adventures. Charles Boeckman created several dozen hardboiled and rootin'-tootin' stories that pack a pulpy punch with every line.