On December 15th, 1997, I conducted an online interview with Ron Goulart of the Goulart Publishing Empire. Goulart is best known as one of America's foremost comic book experts. He has also written almost 200 novels and over 500 short stories. His latest book, Groucho Marx, Master Detective, is due out in April 1998.

His latest book balls up satire, detective and fantasy in standard Goulart style. Groucho Marx is the first of his new series with St. Martin's Press. The hardcover will retail for 22.95 in April 1998.

"It's me having a lot of fun pretending to be Groucho -- as well as the radio writer/narrator," said Goulart.

"The second one is already outlined, and we've been made an offer. I have notes on the third and fourth. If all goes well, I'll still be Grouching in the next century."

Goulart was born in 1933, and raised on radio and movie comedians. He cited Bob Hope and the Marx Brothers as heavy influences on his preteen development. Armed with a hefty sense of the absurd, he moved on to Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Fred Brown, SJ Perelman and Henry Kuttner. He commented that editor and author Anthony Boucher was "a sort of mentor" in his early years.

Goulart said "I took a writing class that he gave in his home in Berkeley Thursday evenings. By the time I started I was already developing a style. Part Bradbury, part Hemingway, part Thrilling Wonder. I was also fond of Stanley Weinbaum -- read A Martian Odyssey in Don Wollheim's Pocket Book of SF."

Goulart also enjoys the works of the late Ross Thomas, Kate Ross's historical mysteries, and "my friend William F. Nolan's Black Mask Boys series."

One of Goulart's long running series involved Odd Jobs, Inc., a high tech detective agency. Unfortunately, when asked about the likelihood of Odd Jobs reprints, Goulart replied "I fear the series is defunct. Especially since Wollheim was the only person at DAW who was at all fond of them. I was rereading them a few weeks ago -- they're still pretty good."

"A lot of my older short stories get reprinted a lot. Thanks to Marty Greenberg and others. My fantasy story Please Stand By has been reprinted all over the place... and a mystery yarn called How Come My Dog Don't Bark?"

As for Goulart's new work, he self-publishes two magazines and said "I have stories coming up in [The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction], Analog and New Mystery. Last year I had stuff in Hitchcock and Asimov." He is personally responsible for Ron Goulart's Weekly and Comics History Magazine -- both released quarterly from his headquarters in Conneticut.

"I don't imagine it's any easier for a starting writer [to get published] than it is for an old coot like me. Being a humor is often like having a loathsome social disease." Goulart paused. "That should be "humorist", unless you're a fan of [sixteenth century playwright Ben Jonson's] Every Man in his Humor."

This was Goulart's first online interview. Despite apparent initial discomfort with the medium, he was extremely gentlemanly. "What typos?" he said. "That's my mature style." He is the first author I've interviewed that was polite enough to ask if he should shave before we met.

Ron Goulart and his fine works are welcome in Pulp Culture any time.