Monthly Archive: April 2011

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND NIGHTHAWK EDITION 4/7/11

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  • April 7, 2011
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
NIGHTHAWK EDITION
4/7/11
PULP VAULT IS BACK!!

From Doug Ellis-

After a hiatus of 15 years, PULP VAULT returns with its 14th issue, which is by far our largest yet. Clocking in at over 250 pages, it starts off with a full color cover, featuring a previously unpublished Virgil Finlay painting. Inside are a host of articles on, and fiction from, the pulps, including:

BLUE BOOK-THE SLICK IN PULP CLOTHING by Mike Ashley – This in-depth look at Blue Book is the most detailed article ever on one of the longest lived and important pulps. In this 20,000 word essay, Mike Ashley explores the history of Blue Book, from its first issue to its final one nearly 70 years later. Covering a span of 613 issues, this is the definitive study of Blue Book.

THE THRILL BOOK STORY by Will Murray – One of the scarcest of all pulp titles, few magazines have the aura that legendary The Thrill Book does. In a lengthy article, Will Murray sheds light on this unique experiment from Street & Smith. Illustrated with every cover from this rare pulp.

THE STRANGE STORIES THAT NEVER WAS by Robert Weinberg – When the fantasy pulp, Strange Stories, folded after its unlucky thirteenth issue, several manuscripts remained in the inventory. Most eventually saw print in other pulps of the Thrilling chain, such as Thrilling Mystery and Thrilling Adventure. Robert Weinberg dons his pulp detective hat to track down those stories which, had the magazine continued, would have made up the next few issues of Strange Stories.

PULP VAULT #14 includes articles by 3 pulp writers — ONE OLD-TIMER’S VIEW OF THE PULPS by Hugh B. Cave (written shortly before Hugh passed away), THE OUTSIDER—AND NO OTHERS by Robert Barbour Johnson (written by this Weird Tales author in the 1970s and appearing for the first time) and TWENTY-FIVE YEARS+ OF GLORY! by J. Edward Leithead (a little seen look back at the world of western pulps, from 1967).

Our fiction offerings are:

THE GIANT AND THE DINOSAUR by Donald Wandrei – a previously unpublished Cyrus North novelette!

THE FLAMING SKULL by Hugh B. Cave – one of Hugh’s favorite stories, a previously unreprinted novelette from Popular Fiction, November 1931.

THE SPLENDOR OF ASIA by L. Adams Beck – from the September 7, 1922 issue of The Popular Magazine, “The Splendor of Asia” is a complete adventure-packed novel set high in the snowy passes of the Himalayan mountains, featuring lost cities, fabled treasures and the hideous Things that Run.

Also included are:

THE SAGA OF SINGAPORE SAMMY by Rick Lai
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF NORMAN SAUNDERS by David Saunders
INTRODUCING CYRUS NORTH by D.H. Olson
FRANKLYN E. HAMILTON by Link Hullar – accompanied by several of Frank’s great illustrations
COVERING THE MAN OF BRONZE by Doug Klauba
PAINTING THE MAN OF BRONZE by Tom Roberts
An index to FIGHTING ROMANCES FROM THE WEST AND EAST
Never before published photos from the 1939 World Science Fiction Convention in New York

And more!

PULP VAULT #14 is $24.95 and is available from Black Dog Books (www.blackdogbooks.net) or from Amazon.

And for those attending next week’s Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, we’ll have copies there!

HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD-THE COVER!

 From Pulpwork Press-
 

Two things (and only two things) about How the West Was Weird, Vol. 2:

1) It’s scheduled to appear on July 1, 2011.
2) Jim Rugg has out-awesomed his cover for the first volume. Check it out!

…Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more news and pre-release promotions!

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND BULLDOG EDITION 4/7/11

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  • April 7, 2011
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
4/7/11
THE KITCHEN SINK ON THE BOOKCAVE!
The Book Cave Episode 121: Modern Marvels-Viktoriana! (Posting later today)
Wayne ‘the Kitchen Sink’ Reinagel joins the Book Cave crew to talk about his latest epic-to-beat-all-epics of heroic fiction!! Modern Marvesl Viktoriana!  And of course, ALL PULP NEWS!
 
 
 
 
 
 
THIS WEEK ON THE MASKED GHOST…
From Kevin Paul Shaw Broden-
REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST
Chapter 18 – “Preparing For A Ghost”
As Margaret has been comforting her mother, Donald has returned home with more questions than answers. The answers he does have all lead in one direction, and he can’t take them to the police. Will Donald Raymond be forced to do the one thing he’s sworn never to do again. Find out in the latest chapter of REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST.
 
ELLIS’ SECRET AGENT X GOES DIGITAL!

Need a shot of pulpy goodness? Noted Pulp Author Sean Ellis’ Secret Agent X novella, Masterpiece of Vengeance is now available for your Kindle. This story also introduces a group of villains that will be appearing in the forthcoming Adventures of Dodge Dalton at the Outpost of Fate. http://tinyurl.com/3pk6wln

And for the NOOK-www.tinyurl.com/3wnjvyl

Classic pulp crime fighter Secret Agent X, the man of a thousand faces, encounters a villain from his past and a deadly brotherhood of assassins who will stop at nothing to destroy him.

 

Biography

Sean Ellis enjoys a lifelong love affair with adventure. His early years were spent chasing the Tom Sawyer dream on the banks of the Siletz River in Oregon. As a teenager, he pursued an elusive pirate legend and combed the Pacific coast for buried treasure. He has searched for Mayan ruins in the jungles of Honduras and chased after the Golden City of Cibola in the American Southwest. Sean enjoys adventure racing, competitive mountain biking and has competed in several off-road triathlons. He is also a decorated combat veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan 2006-2007) where among other duties performed, he played chauffeur to filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) during the filming of the documentary Where in the World is Osama bin Laden. If you look real close, you may catch a glimpse. Sean has a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources policy, and currently resides in Arizona where he daily experiences his greatest adventure: fatherhood.

Unshaven Comics: Messing Up Super People Because We Love You

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  • April 7, 2011

unsahven-7840718Call it a bit of shameless cross promotion… but we beardly blokes of Unshaven Comics wanted to hip ya’ll to the craziness we’re spreading on our website this month. In case you missed it, last month we featured “Mixed Up March“, where we lads (well, Matt Wright mostly, but I jumped into the fracas at the end) decided to swap the genders of some of our favorite comic book heroes and villains. And this month? The craziness continues with our newly announced “April Addition Armageddon” where we smash together two characters from different universes.

Want to see some of the fun? Then hop on over to Unshaven Comics’ website and enjoy the laughter.

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, George Takei Should Be Spider-Man

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  • April 7, 2011

Finally, we have the solution to all the problems currently bedeviling Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark… we’ll get George Takei to play the lead part.

He certainly has a fan following from his time in Star Trek, Heroes, and the original cowboys and aliens film, Oblivion.

However, while I think Broadway is finally willing to accept a gay lead actor, should we really be adding to the stereotype that gay men are swingers?

Congratulations to Erfworld, Winner of Mix March Madness!

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  • April 7, 2011

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Big ups to our friends over at Erfworld for taking home the title last week in our first ever ComicMix Mix March Madness webcomic tournament. The wizards, witches, goblins, and noble knights slayed the adorable Gronk, in a bitter battle to the end.

We apologize for not raising Erfworld over our heads in championship glory sooner… but there was April’s Fool, so no one would believe it if we posted, and then we had to wash our hair, and we swear, our dogs ate the first draft of the story!

Anywho… Congratulations to Xin Ye and Rob Balder for besting all their competition. Good work Erf-lovers… you carry the crown– until the next bloody battles!

Twitter Updates for 2011-04-07

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  • April 7, 2011

Reviews from the 86th Floor: Barry Reese takes a look at YESTERYEAR

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  • April 6, 2011


YESTERYEAR
Written by Tommy Hancock
Review based on a preview copy

Tommy Hancock is well known in pulp circles, primarily through his work with Pro Se Productions but also because of his associations with Pulp Ark, All Pulp and just about everything else with “pulp” in the title.

Yesteryear is Tommy’s first foray into novels and it is a superhero piece that straddles the line between traditional pulp and a prose version of a comic book. In that way, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Van Plexico’s SENTINELS series, though th subject matter is quite different. Like Plexico, Hancock wears his inspirations proudly but at no point does this book fall into the realms of parody or pastiche. The characters here have obvious jumping-off points that are recognizable to everyone but from there, they become unique individuals.

The story itself focuses around a long-lost history of the Heroes & Villains movement that began in 1929. Secrets lay within this book and there are people willing to kill to keep them from coming to light. Hancock jumps around throughout the text, alternating between the modern day and pieces of the lost book. This is “world building” at its finest as there are numerous characters introduced, with just enough hint of history to set your mind to wondering… but few of them have their stories told in total. This may frustrate some readers but if you look at it as the first in a series, it’s more understandable. Don’t get me wrong — there is a complete story here, but there are questions left unanswered along the way.

The artwork is nice and adds to the story but the real star here is the prose, which is concise and readable. There are times that I was reminded of both MARVELS (because of the common man’s view of the Heroes) and also of WATCHMEN (because of the conspiracy elements and mystery) — both of those books are classics and Hancock could certainly have done worse than illicit comparisons to them.

I enjoyed it quite a lot and think that if you’re a fan of superheroes, you should really check this out. Both Marvel and DC have tried to move their heroes into the prose realm with limited success but both Plexico and Hancock have shown how it can be done — and done very well.

Yesteryear will be released very soon and in all honesty, I can say that you need to put it on your “must read” list… I have a feeling it will be showing up on many ballots in next year’s Pulp Ark Awards and deservedly so.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Review: ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’

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  • April 6, 2011

It’s fascinating to see the enduring appeal of C.S. Lewis’ [[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]] at a time when people poo-poo the heavy-handed religious imagery and pales in comparison to the far richer world of Middle Earth as envisioned by Lewis’ friend J.R.R. Tolkien. The films based on both series have their fans and detractors and the success of Tolkien’s trilogy paved the way for the long-overdue big budget adaptation of Narnia.

Unfortunately, Walden Media, which has been spearheading these films, has decided to aim squarely for the religious and family audiences, which has led to a look of cheapness and familiarity that has robbed the three films to date of their specialness.

Walt Disney bailed on the series after the so-so reception and box office to Prince Caspian, which many involved felt may have strayed from their targets. 20th Century Fox stepped up and is now the studio behind the franchise and last fall released [[[The Voyage of the Dawn Traeder]]]. That film is coming to DVD on Tuesday in a variety of formats including the Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy or component parts. The standard DVD was sent out for review and you will have to decide for yourself if you want the more involved versions.

Picking up three years after the last film, we find Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) packed off to stay with family, including their annoying younger cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter). They long to be in America with Susan and Peter and their parent and chafe at being the youngest, notably Lucy who is on the cusp of womanhood, yearning to be pretty and attractive to the older boys in town.

As has happened before, circumstances in the land of Narnia require their attention and they are summoned through a painting of a boat at sea hanging in their dingy quarters. Eustace, of course, comes along complaining all the way. It’s mildly amusing that he continues to journal about his adventure without acknowledging that any of this is real until he inevitably accepts the situation and embraces it. But first, he has to be turned into a fire-breathing dragon.

The story hews fairly close to the third book in the series but it has a look of cheapness about it, notably the CGI dragon and some of the visual effects. The acting is adequate but none of the leads are given much of anything to do. The thin script by an army of writers provides little substance to the characters so we just move from situation to situation in a quest story to assemble seven swords and lay them at Aslan’s table.

Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) remains the comforting deus ex machina Christ figure, a part that is emphasized in the final 15 minutes as we see the barrier between Narnia and Aslan’s lands where the dead reside. Lucy and Edmund, he says, have completed their role and yet what did they really do? It was Eustace who braved the fires of Mount Doom– I mean the less imaginatively named Dark Island.  Frankly, much of the Narnia material pales in comparison, from story to character to film adaptation.

This most decidedly family fare and keep that in mind when deciding to see the film or not. While the Blu-ray disc comes loaded with extras, all you will find on the standard DVD are a commentary and a handful of deleted scenes, none of which were missed.

PULP DEFINED Writer’s Group Formed and YOU could be a part of it!

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  • April 6, 2011

From Tommy Hancock, one of the founding members of PULP DEFINED-

We all know that Pulp is in the midst of what some call a resurgence, others a renaissance, still others a reawakening.  Whatever you term it, Pulp is probably more discussed, more involved, and more active now than it has been since its heyday.  Due to that, new publishers, new characters, and new concepts are popping up right and left.  One of those is the idea of the internet pulp groups, of which there are some sterling examples, that focus on the works of creators, allow for fan interaction, and simply further the cause of Pulp in exemplary fashion.  The one that comes to mind immediately is THE PULP FACTORY, headed by Ron Fortier and Rob Davis.

With the increase in the pace of the growth of Pulp being as fast as it seems within the last few years, many discussions and conversations have focused on how to legitimize Pulp more, how to appeal to a modern audience, how to stake our claim to being valid literature and to make an impact that everyone will notice.  One way to do that is to improve the craft, to focus on quality and other factors.  Another way is to provide a group that acts as support, advocacy, and encouragement for Pulp creators.   The latter is the dream that started what has now become PULP DEFINED.

PULP DEFINED began as an attempt to form a creator’s organization much like other fields have on a large scale.  Something that those involved in this idea learned very quickly was that was a monumental task and one that Pulp may not be as ready for as it needs to be.   So PULP DEFINED has stepped back and considered what is needed in Pulp right now to move that direction.  And that is a group, a body of writers initially, since the ideas do spring forth from the writer’s pen, to focus on the craft of creating Pulp, to address some key issues about Pulp as a genre and a group unto itself.

In the process, though, of working toward the original big picture plan, a few things had to be defined.  One that was successfully defined was a definition for what Pulp would be for this group.  We all know that if you ask ten pulp writers, artists, publishers, and fans to define Pulp, you’re liable to get answers that share characteristics, but tend to go off in different directions.   To form a cohesiveness for this planned group, we determined it was necessary to set a broad definition for Pulp so at least some differentiation could be made.
So, for that purpose, the definition of what is Pulp as seen by PULP DEFINED is as follows-

PULP IS -fast-paced, plot-orientated storytelling of a linear nature with clearly defined, larger than life protagonists and antagonists and creative descriptions and clever use of turns of phrase, words, and other aspects of writing that add to the intensity and pacing of the story.
Using this definition as our parameters, PULP DEFINED wants to establish itself as a Writer’s Group (Again, initially) focused seriously on writing in terms of three areas-
EDUCATION/IMPROVEMENT-We have all been in online writers’ groups that start out with good intentions, that really want to focus on reading each other’s work, offering helpful hints, even discussing key points that are universal to the field we’re writing in.  Then they fizzle out.  I won’t say that won’t happen here, but I will say we don’t want or need that to happen here.  PULP DEFINED will be focused on specifically working with every writer who is a member and wants to sort of put their stuff out there for the group as a whole to help with.   Whether that’s editing, idea generation, or marketing and such after the work is done, PULP DEFINED intends to be a place where a writer can bring their work and from start to finish learn from others in the field ways to improve and be sure the idea gets out there.
QUALITY-Although this ties in somewhat to the first one, PULP DEFINED intends to be a group where not only writers can improve, but hopefully we as a group can establish standards for quality amongst ourselves that raise the bar for us all and while still keeping true to the essence of Pulp, improve our work in ways that will make it appeal to mainstream readers and those markets.   No one is looking to set up rules for how ‘good’ a pulp story should be, but there is enough work out there passing itself off as Pulp that is not of the quality that some of things serious writers are producing.
COMMUNITY-This is as important as the other two.  This group, open to Pulp writers, is open to Pulp writers regardless of medium.   That’s novelists, short story writers, comic writers, audio show writers, film, tv, etc.  Even though the mediums we each use may be different, Pulp work done in any medium only furthers the cause of PULP DEFINED.  We hope this group will become a haven for the Pulp writer, regardless of how they transmit that to the general masses.
With these three things in mind, PULP DEFINED is going to be a group of writers focused on writing.  Other groups exist to handle discussions of Pulp history, fandom, and other aspects.  And those are as needed, if not more needed in some respects than a writer’s group.  But PULP DEFINED intends to be a writer’s group that elevates Pulp, both writer and product.  And this group intends to provide education, support, and whatever is needed as it grows.  Notice, I didn’t say if.  AS it grows.
So, interested in being a member?  First, make sure your work meets the definition above!  Secondly, be ready to work, to share, to help, to give yourself to the group to make it what it needs to be.   This group is not for the writer wanting to try a taste, we are the hoarders at the buffet and are very serious about what we plan to do.  Thirdly, email me at braedenalex@centurytel.net requesting membership.  If I don’t know you, then provide me something that let’s me know your work in Pulp.   Other founding members of this group can put you up for membership as well if you know them.  They are-RON FORTIER, DERRICK FERGUSON, BARRY REESE, PAUL MANNERING, ANDREW SALMON, and JOSHUA REYNOLDS.  Any of the founding members can ‘sponsor’ you so to speak,which simply means bringing you to that core group for approval.   Then you’re invited and PULP DEFINED takes off!
Some will have issues with this concept for a variety of reasons.  The intent of PULP DEFINED is to improve, elevate, publicize, and make Pulp into something that is even longer lasting, even more influential, and could be a career for some of us.   This is not intended to be a fly-by-night exercise.  We are very serious about what we plan to do.
Join us, won’t you?
TOMMY HANCOCK

Doctor Who Invades New York (Again)

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  • April 6, 2011

We understand there are Doctor Who fans reading this site, so we should give you a heads up: the Doctor and his companions are coming to America earlier than you thought.

Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will be making an in-store appearance this Friday at the Barnes & Noble store at 555 Fifth Avenue, New York, to sign copies of Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series boxed set. You will need a wristband to join the signing line for this event. Wristbands will be distributed starting at 9AM on Friday, April 8 with the purchase of the Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series boxed set. Call the store at 212-697-3048 for more details.

Then on Monday, BBC America will host a free premiere screening event of the first two episodes at the Village East Cinema, 189 2nd Ave at 7 PM. The event will be hosted by Chris Hardwick, with guests Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis. Following a screening of the two-part season premiere (The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon) Chris will lead a discussion and Q&A, which he’ll record for a special Nerdist Podcast.

Last year, Matt, Karen and Steven Moffat went to New York for a publicity tour to promote Series 5. They attended a ‘Meet the Cast’ event at the Apple store in SoHo and did an episode premiere event, and ComicMix contributor Alan Kistler shamelessly flirted with Ms. Gillan at both events.

And of course, if you can’t make it, BBC America will premiere the show on April 23.

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