Tessera

This is so fucking good. (I had never even heard of this show, let alone its reputation.)

Brand new on Dirty Feed: Mary Tyler Moore's long-misunderstood 1978 variety series, Mary. Part One: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/05/some... Part Two: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/06/some... Part Three: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/06/some... Part Four: www.dirtyfeed.org/2026/08/some...

Newspaper advert for Mary, featuring a smiling Mary Tyler Moore.
MARY 7PM
A DELIGHTFULLY DIFFERENT MARY!
Mary Tyler Moore clowns, sings, dances and lets loose with an outrageous troupe of inspired comics. An irresistible hour of entertainment! Starring Mary Tyler Moore, Jim Hampton, Judy Kahan, Michael Keaton, Swoosie Kurtz, David Letterman, Dick Shawn.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 3d ago

FYI, the ebook for DEEP WATER, by Beulah Poynter & Edwina Levin (MacDonald) is on sale! (Regular $3.99, now $2.99.) ICYMI when it came out last year, it's a romantic mystery/crime novel, originally serialized in the #pulp magazine ARGOSY and never collected in book form! www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZQ8ZB22

An image advertising the featured tropes, but done a bit facetiously. The front cover is in the middle (featuring a mysterious white woman seemingly stealing some jewels), against a dark blue background, with a whimsical text around it. It reads:

INSIDE YOU'LL FIND:

Jewel theft!
WWI intrigue!
TWO romantic subplots! (both HEAs!)
Working class woman clearly wants to punch her Karen of an employer in the face
Dead girls and their living doppelgängers (is there a connection?)
Hot riding instructors
Is your dad's male secretary secretly in love with you?
Diverse cast! (relative to the era)

Originally published in 1918and never before collected in book form!

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 3d ago

FYI, the ebook for DEEP WATER, by Beulah Poynter & Edwina Levin (MacDonald) is on sale! (Regular $3.99, now $2.99.) ICYMI when it came out last year, it's a romantic mystery/crime novel, originally serialized in the #pulp magazine ARGOSY and never collected in book form! www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZQ8ZB22

thank u, hexed @lindsaykingmiller.bsky.social · 5d ago

Using lists of three is not an "AI tell." It's a common trait in human writing because our brains biologically want to make sure there's always one thing to marry, one thing to fuck, and one thing to murder.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 5d ago

Oh shit, I think I found her. Hope Campbell, from the 1930 University of Nebraska yearbook, member of Alpha Xi Delta. Born 1910, in Nebraska; moved to NYC in the early '40s to become a writer. Born "Edith Hope," but seemingly went by her middle name as her mom's name was also Edith. #pulp #romance

A low-res black-and-white portrait of Hope Campbell, from when she would have been about 20. She's a white woman with short, seemingly blonde hair (slightly wavy in texture), a long neck, and a lean face. She's giving a very slight smile directly to camera.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 5d ago

Just got my July newsletter (a round-up of blog posts and general activity) ready to go out tomorrow! Have you subscribed yet? 😉 #pulp #romance #romancelandia

Home | Lucynka's Bullshit Round-Up

A monthly round-up of my Wordpress posts and updates about my public domain imprint, En Prise Press. (Also get access to free, digital-only stories, and perhaps some photos of my cat???)

lucynka-staron.beehiiv.com

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 6d ago

With Maysie Greig's "Enemy Husband" out of the way, we are now onto Hope Campbell's "Marriage of Inconvenience"! (ALL STORY LOVE, January 1943.) #pulp #romance #romancelandia

The listing/description of the story from the table of contents. The blurb reads, "Mac thought breaking up a marriage was a legitimate way to keep a perfect secretary."

Rebecca Baumann @arkhamlibrarian.bsky.social · 5d ago

This just gets more batshit as the thread progresses! Fascinating pulp history!

Steven Sheil@scsheil.bsky.social · 6d ago

Currently reorganising my paperbacks and came across my TNT collection - aka the wildest, most ridiculous and over-the-top men’s adventure series ever published. Let the synopses give you a taste of what’s inside:

A series of seven paperback books, all with black covers, all with varying illustration of the same man’s face - holding a gun, a knife, a hook etc. He is extraordinarily chiselled and rugged.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 6d ago

Received one more ALL-STORY LOVE (TALES) today, this time from July 1, 1939. The main draw was the Beulah Poynter serial (don't know if this one was ever collected in book form—this will hopefully help me determine that), tho I'm also curious abt the Marcia Ray serial. #pulp #romance #romancelandia

The cover (artist unknown). It advertises Doris Knight's "Love On a Merry-Go-Round," and shows a white woman in a red skirt-suit riding a merry-go-round goat, while a white man in a black suit stands next to her, one hand affectionately over hers as it rests in her lap. The overall background is a sort of teal/aqua.

The table of contents, with (among other things), the fifth and last part of Poynter's "Dark Heart of Nerissa," and part one (of three) of Ray's "Trapdoor To Heaven."

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 6d ago

With Maysie Greig's "Enemy Husband" out of the way, we are now onto Hope Campbell's "Marriage of Inconvenience"! (ALL STORY LOVE, January 1943.) #pulp #romance #romancelandia

keri @keristars.bsky.social · 6d ago

hahaha omg about halfway into this story and there's this exchange. "this is 1942 and you're a great big girl. How about acting like one?" and a few paragraphs later "Take your mind out of those 1910 corsets it wears and come out—have some fun." it's perfect 🥹

"I wouldn't go out with you again," Ann said through thinned lips.

His eyes remembered and mocked her. "You sort of enjoyed it last time."

Ann's face flamed. "I tell you...."

"And I tell you this," Monty drawled, and suddenly he was close to her, towering over her. "You didn't come here to get Patty tonight. You came to see me. Didn't you?"

"Of course not," Ann gasped.

"Ann." His hands were on her shoulders in a hard compelling grip. "This is 1942 and you're a great big girl. How about acting like one?"

His mouth was warm against hers, warm and gentle and yet thrilling. It was, Ann thought, the shape of a smile even while he crushed her to him. That was Monty. A laughing playboy. A man who could not take even a kiss seriously.

With shaking hands Ann thrust him from her. It wasn't right. It wasn't sensible. But that teasing laughing kiss had left her weak and dizzy. Though she must not let him see it.

"Now how about dinner?" Monty grinned.

Ann shut her eyes for a moment, and bitterness flooded her heart. If only he were not that notorious Ingram man. If only.... But she didn't let herself finish the thought.

"Don't you know it would be as much as my job's worth to be seen with you? You know your reputation."

Monty groaned. "Jobs. Reputations. Patty. Woman, sometimes I don't think you're worth bothering with. Take your mind out of those 1910 corsets it wears and come out—have some fun."

"I don't care for your kind of fun," Ann said icily, though there was a warm hurting desolation somewhere deep inside her. "Good-bye, Mr. Ingram."

Her high heels clicked a lonely tattoo across the tile floor as she went along the hall and ran for the elevator. It was a long time coming, an awfully long time.

Then Monty thrust his dark rumpled head out the office door and called down the hall, laughingly, "Oh, Ann. You know where you'll end, don't you?"

"At home.

"No. In a museum. Stuffed. The last of the stuffed shirts. You're an absolute museum piece. But if you ever decide to come to life, let me know."

Lucynka@lucynka.bsky.social · 7d ago

PLEASE REPORT BACK. (⁠✿⁠☉‿☉⁠) It's such a fun "prim, spinster heroine tries to save her younger sister from a rake" story.

Olivia Waite @oliviawaite.com · last wk.

A thread on special editions, luxury books, and publishing history: In 1903, J. M. Dent created Everyman’s Library, intended as a cheap line of hardbacks to make a classical education accessible as mass literacy rates were on the rise.

Lupita Nihongo @otsumamiboy.blacksky.app · 11mo ago

The GenZ mind cannot comprehend the I Dream of Jeannie/Bewitched Power Hour. An entire ½hr of Veteran & Submissive Magic Wife Who Leaves When Your Friends Show Up followed by Salaryman & Mischievous Magic Wife Whose Mother Never Leaves These were The Two Lifestyles. And we used to masturbate to it

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 7d ago

Received the #romance #pulp I mentioned in my last blog post/review—the January 1943 issue of ALL-STORY LOVE, with the beginning of Maysie Greig's four-part serial, "Enemy Husband." (⁠✿⁠☉‿☉⁠) #romancelandia #wwii

The cover (artist unknown). It shows a white man with his arm around the shoulders of a white woman (both of them in uniform). His other hand holds one of hers, and they're looking at each other as if they're about to kiss. (It's actually a really great war-time clinch cover, and the issue itself is in surprisingly good shape.) "Enemy Husband" is advertised at the bottom.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 7d ago

Sometimes I wish I had gif-making capabilities, because stills do not even come close to capturing the sheer flamboyancy of this strut. So many hip wiggles! Buddy, you're walking in a marathon, not on a fashion runway. #GetSmart #AndWe'reBack

From s5ep9. Max is transporting baddie Big Eddie Little under the guise of a marathon—they're both acting as participants, but are linked together by a short chain between two handcuffs. Both are in sleeveless exercise shirts—Max's is yellow and of course this clown (affectionate) has "86" as his marathon number; Eddie's is red. For some bizarre reason, Max (and only Max) is really WORKING his walk. (Other CONTROL agents are in their midst, including the Chief, slightly behind them, who's in a red sleeveless shirt and white shorts.)

Part 2, attempting to demonstrate more of these hip movements.

Stephen @godofhammers.bsky.social · last wk.

Did Beverly Crusher fuck a ghost for NOTHING?!

A pull quote in SFX magazine from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds producer Henry Alonso Myers. It reads: "When we started talking about a ghost story, we felt we hadn't seen that in Star Trek"

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · last wk.

Holy shit, an actual review??? It's more likely than you think! I did a half-assed live-blog of this a few days ago, but now you can join me for the formal review: Maysie Greig's lackluster 1950 #Gothic #romance set on the French Riviera, DARK CARNIVAL. #romancelandia

Dark Carnival: We’ll always have the 1970 reprint cover.

“What are you, a woman detective?” he asked bluntly. She smiled again. “I don’t think it would need even a woman detective to see through you! Why are you here using another name?” He didn’t answ…

lucynka.wordpress.com

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · last wk.

Holy shit, an actual review??? It's more likely than you think! I did a half-assed live-blog of this a few days ago, but now you can join me for the formal review: Maysie Greig's lackluster 1950 #Gothic #romance set on the French Riviera, DARK CARNIVAL. #romancelandia

Dark Carnival: We’ll always have the 1970 reprint cover.

“What are you, a woman detective?” he asked bluntly. She smiled again. “I don’t think it would need even a woman detective to see through you! Why are you here using another name?” He didn’t answ…

lucynka.wordpress.com

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · last wk.

Always love a fictional man of the cloth, being tempted by sin. 🍪👀 From the back of EXCITING LOVE, Summer 1943. #pulp #romance

An advertisement for Baby Ruth candy bars, saying, "No one can resist Cookies made with BABY RUTH Candy." Above that, an illustration (artist unknown) shows a white male pastor—wearing glasses, carrying what I presume to be a bible—looking up at a plate of cookies cooling on a window sill. He's clearly thinking of snitching one.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · last wk.

Always love a fictional man of the cloth, being tempted by sin. 🍪👀 From the back of EXCITING LOVE, Summer 1943. #pulp #romance

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

In case you missed it, I ended up doing a little live-blog of Maysie Greig's 1950 #Gothic #romance, DARK CARNIVAL. (I hadn't intended on live-blogging it, but I got halfway through and the tedium/frustration was apparently too great to keep to myself. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯) #romancelandia

Lucynka@lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

This book (Maysie Greig's DARK CARNIVAL) is so fucking tedious—just abt everything is telegraphed in the 1st 40 pages. There are absolutely no surprises or suspense here. The Vintage Nurse Romance Novel blog surmised that Greig "exhausted her genius" early in her career, and I'm inclined to agree.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

In case you missed it, I ended up doing a little live-blog of Maysie Greig's 1950 #Gothic #romance, DARK CARNIVAL. (I hadn't intended on live-blogging it, but I got halfway through and the tedium/frustration was apparently too great to keep to myself. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯) #romancelandia

Lucynka@lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

This book (Maysie Greig's DARK CARNIVAL) is so fucking tedious—just abt everything is telegraphed in the 1st 40 pages. There are absolutely no surprises or suspense here. The Vintage Nurse Romance Novel blog surmised that Greig "exhausted her genius" early in her career, and I'm inclined to agree.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

This book (Maysie Greig's DARK CARNIVAL) is so fucking tedious—just abt everything is telegraphed in the 1st 40 pages. There are absolutely no surprises or suspense here. The Vintage Nurse Romance Novel blog surmised that Greig "exhausted her genius" early in her career, and I'm inclined to agree.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

All I can think of is the King and Queen of All Cosmos, from KATAMARI DAMACY. (From Maysie Greig's 1950 Gothic romance, DARK CARNIVAL. #romancelandia)

The last two floats, bigger than the others, were those of the King and Queen Carnival. King Carnival, that year, was mounted on a bicycle with an immense front wheel of the 1900 period. He looked excessively jovial but not excessively regal. He raised his hat and nodded his huge head genially. His Queen, on another float, was an immense figure of a Niçoise girl. Their courtiers, tiny figures in comparison, danced and sang around them. Certainly the court of King Carnival was a gay one.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

99 getting a handful. #FEMINISM

From s5ep8 (the second part of this two-parter). Max and 99 have accidentally ended up at the new KAOS headquarters, and gotten themselves locked in a broom closet as she's starting to go into labor. The closet has a trapdoor in the ceiling, so Max is climbing a shelf to reach it. 99 is helping to support him and has her hand directly on his ass, bless.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

More praise for THE BEST OF ALL-STORY LOVE: 1929! It's never too late to check out this anthology of forgotten #pulp #romance stories! 🥰 #romancelandia www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXBH8LR1

The Best of All-Story Love: 1929

Amazon.com: The Best of All-Story Love: 1929: 9798269287560: Staron, Lucynka: Books

amazon.com

prof500.bsky.social@prof500.bsky.social · 3w ago

@lucynka.bsky.social Almost finished reading your All-Story Love: 1929 book. So many good stories! Such as The Tag-Along Girl by Helen Ahern. Theater is hard work but better than vapid love affairs! The illustrations are fun too, though I remember you commenting the layout was a bear. Thanks.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

The resumption of my GET SMART rewatch has been slow, and I can't tell if that's because I'm still getting back into the swing of things after the crazy-busy two weeks I had, or if I'm just trying to stretch it out because the end is (sadly) in sight. Maybe it's a bit of both?

Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 2w ago

*uncontrollable weeping*

Sascha Stronach🏳️‍⚧️, The Sunforge out now@understatesmen.bsky.social · 2w ago

hey guys I don't read this genre but I'm here to revolutionise it. I haven't read a single book that's done this.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

Someone save this man. 🙏 #GetSmart

From s5ep7. The Chief (looking a little rumpled—his tie is slightly loosened and his top shirt button is undone) stares incredulously. Sometimes it seems like 99 is the only competent employee he has, and she's busy on the verge of giving birth, so it's really no wonder he looks so harried here.

Lucynka @lucynka.bsky.social · 2w ago

More praise for THE BEST OF ALL-STORY LOVE: 1929! It's never too late to check out this anthology of forgotten #pulp #romance stories! 🥰 #romancelandia www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXBH8LR1

The Best of All-Story Love: 1929

Amazon.com: The Best of All-Story Love: 1929: 9798269287560: Staron, Lucynka: Books

amazon.com

prof500.bsky.social@prof500.bsky.social · 3w ago

@lucynka.bsky.social Almost finished reading your All-Story Love: 1929 book. So many good stories! Such as The Tag-Along Girl by Helen Ahern. Theater is hard work but better than vapid love affairs! The illustrations are fun too, though I remember you commenting the layout was a bear. Thanks.