I miss the Pulps. Not for the garish covers featuring aliens molesting sweet-young space maidens. Not for the variety that gave us the brash adventure of Luke Short to the dirty streets of Dashiell Hammett to the terror tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Not even for the fact that stories had beginnings, middles, and ends. Not for any of these.
I miss the pace. Modern writers have nothing on the Pulps for opening a story in a hurry, a blinding punch or slap of color. Once delivered, they just kept on writing to the searing end. That’s what I miss. Reading by the seat of your pants.
And it all begins with that opening sentence. Whether it throws you into a story or merely teases you to the next sentence, it’s there to draw you in. Let’s take a look at some of the masters of the hook.
Read the rest: