BEYOND THE SHELF on THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF offers commentary on a variety of subjects that doesn’t fit within the standard SHANNON MUIR’S THURSDAY THOUGHTS format. All commentary content brought to you by Shannon Muir, site administrator.

Greetings and welcome to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF in 2018!

I’ve decided to revisit my goals from last year, and see how well they are being kept.

Here’s the list as stated in January 2017, with my responses to how well I met those goals in bold italic:

1. In the last six months, the “pulp” part of the site name has largely gone ignored. It was always meant to be primarily mystery (as signified by the URL mysteryshelf.com), but as someone who reads and writes other types of genre fiction that also spin out of the pulp magazine origins, I as the administrator also wanted to showcase some of this as well. To allow me to better fit my original vision for the site, I am going to try this publication schedule for the time being:
   1. MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS –  The focus will remain on mystery titles on the site’s already established publication days. Many titles will still be cozy in nature, as that is what my primary provider carries, but the site will certainly be open to other forms of mystery. I believe I came to exceed this goal by regularly featuring mystery/crime/thriller on Monday through Wednesdays, and then in December opening up most Thursdays to similar material. At this time, I plan to continue this format through 2018, with the exception of special events.
   2. FRIDAYS – Fridays began last month to showcase more titles for the holiday season. Going into 2017, Fridays will remain on the schedule but dedicated to more of the “fantastic” types of genre fiction that owe their origins to the pulp era – largely SF and fantasy. After getting to meet amazing people at LosCon this past November, it made me as an administrator realize that I wanted to give these areas a little more exposure. After a couple of months, this will be revisited and tweaked as necessary. This has remained successful, and I am pleased to be able to bring at least one title weekly. In addition, I am now able to secure more interviews and guest posts with these authors and hope to continue to do so.
2. There is also a special event planned for the month of February. In February, THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF will show a little extra love to the mystery genre with “Showing Love to Genres,” meaning there will be extra book related content on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays that month. Genres may vary. Events will continue in 2018. Right now, the one definitely in the works is a February Loves Mysteries event (final title TBD), where the site will be all mystery books Monday through Friday through all of February 2018. Watch for more events!
3. THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF will turn one year old at the end of March 2017. Additional changes to the blog may take place at that time, depending on what is learned analyzing the last year’s worth of data. The addition of THURSDAY THOUGHTS came out of this examination, figuring you needed a more regular interaction with the site administrator to hear updates at expected intervals. After a few months of trying it weekly, I decided once a month to be best, with the occasional special commentary such as this piece of content.

Looking back at last year’s goals, I strongly feel that the site is on track and growing for an even better 2018. Remember to watch the first Thursday of every month for SHANNON MUIR’S THURSDAY THOUGHTS, which will give you regular insight as to my thoughts about the evolution of the blog and upcoming events.

Thanks for helping to make THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF the best it can be.

– Shannon Muir, Administrator, THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF