Monthly Archive: October 2011

Setting Foot Into City Lights

  • Uncategorized
  • October 15, 2011

written by Joshua Pantalleresco

One of my all time favorite book signs.
I received my orders via email from the all powerful Hancock.  He commanded me to write about this wondrous place where I found classic pulp during my vacation.  A giant talking head that reminded me of a powerful wizard was just something you couldn’t ignore; besides, I love bookstores.
With this in mind, I head to City Lights, one of my all time favorite bookstores while on vacation in London Ontario.  Like all real gems the entrance to this cave of wonders is located in one of the emptier parts of downtown on Richmond Street and King.  Outside of LA Mood, an awesome comic shop where this writer did a book signing for his comic Veritas (which you can order at Indy Planet), all that surrounds this section of downtown are old and dusty buildings.  Old pawn shops and music places and abandoned apartments line up along the side of the street.  There is graffiti and a faint smell of sewage in the air.  I approach the bookstore with trepidation.  Would it be the same after being gone so long?
I see the familiar bars in the windows and the bargain books in the boxes decorating the entrance way.  The door is old and creeky and I fumble my way inside.
I open the door and gape.  Here there be books.  Seas of them stare up at me on the floor.  Most of them are divided by their sections and categories and are in large cardboard boxes, although a few seem to have escaped from their confines are just hanging around.
To my left is a bookshelf filled with the latest vampire and horror fiction craze.  I notice the books Marked and Twilight hang side by side as two guardians of the gate.  They greet you warmly with their black covers and insignias.  Both series are there in abundance and it serves as a gentle reminder to the reader not to be greedy.  There are wonders here yes, but at the end of the day you have to feel the wrath of Stephanie Meyer and PC Cast as you make your way to the exit.
After that cursory glance I notice some of the other books alongside the vampire army and to my amazement there are some nice books up there.  Brian Lumley is hanging around with his Necroscope series.  There is a touch of romance and violence with Ilona Andrews and then there are the many faces of horror behind Twilight.  Truly there are good books right from the start tempting you to take them home.  The wood creeks as I step inside.  The building talks to me as I try not to sneak past the cashier gazing right at me.  The wall of shame hangs behind him.  The wall contains pictures of silly mortals who thought they’d steal a book in this place and get away with it.  Each victim has their image ingrained in the background forever.  I pass them and wave high to the slightly overweight man behind the counter as I cross the threshold of being an accidental tourist.
I’ve been here before.  I think I know where I need to go.  I proceed to walk to the back of the store.  My quarry was located back there, as was the greatest temptations for a reader like myself.
City Lights has a marvelous science fiction section.  It is easily a quarter of the first floor.  You go past the part where the store sinks and dips and it’s on the other side.  It is not only in alphabetical order but the authors themselves are categorized.  You can see classic ABCs of science fiction like Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke with pulp favorites like Burroughs, Norton, Zelazny.  Series like Conan, Tarzan and Doc Savage…wait a minute, Doc Savage?!
I grab it and look and there can be no doubt:  The man of bronze sits there idly.  I glance inside the cover and find it’s the right price.  Sold.  You don’t find Doc Savage just anywhere.  Satisfied with the book I continue my exploration of the section.  I pass by Charles De Lint, saddened to see they don’t have any more books I don’t already have. At this point, this cave of wonders feels like a familiar haunt.  I love good science fiction and pulp and City Lights has tones of books for me to read and rediscover.
Looking back at the pulp series at the very top, I find a name I am unfamiliar with.  John Norman towers above the B section right beside Tarzan.  The first book is called Tarnsman of Gor.  I open it up and read the first page. I was sold.  This looks to be a fantastic book.  I can’t wait to review it.
I stop there.  My treasures have been found and I proceed to the checkout.  I pay for my books, say a quick goodbye to the Twilight/Necroscope Section and head out the door, saddened that the experience was over, but happy I did it in such a place.
I’ve been very fortunate to be in some very cool book places, but City Lights is one of a kind.  If you ever go to London Ontario it’s worth going in and taking a look, whether you are saying hello to a familiar book or like me are always seeking new works to try.

Eliza Dushku is a purr-fect fit for Catwoman in Batman: Year One and animated short

  • News
  • October 14, 2011

Eliza Dushku has taken command of Catwoman and she’s not about to give her back.

The star of Dollhouse and Tru Calling, and a vital part of the amazing Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast, provided the voice of Selina Kyle/Catwoman for Batman: Year One, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. A few short months later, Dushku was quick to accept a return to the role as the title character of the DC Showcase animated short Catwoman.

From the moment she accepted the role, Dushku was keen on making this character her own – and coming back to play the character as often as possible. Given her performance, it’s doubtful casting director Adnrea Romano and executive producer Bruce Timm would look elsewhere the next time the sometimes vigilante, sometimes villain appears in a script. (more…)

The Point Radio: SANCTUARY Secrets & DC’s Million Sellers


We’ve got more secrets to share from SyFy‘s SANCTUARY, as Amanda Tapping gives us hints on this season’s shocking finale (still a few weeks away). Plus DC sells five million comics in just a few weeks, and NY Comic Con is ON and we are on the floor.

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

MARTHA THOMASES: Comics and The Big Con

The Internet tells me that this weekend’s New York Comic-Con anticipates attendance of about 100,000. I’m not sure if that means 100,000 individuals over the three days (plus Thursday night) or 33,000 going each day, or something in-between.

In any case, it’s a lot of people.

San Diego Comic-Con gets around 125,000 people. That’s more. And it has more of an impact on the city, where 125,000 people dressed funny are noticeable. In New York, that’s pretty much one block of the Village Halloween parade, or Times Square on a Saturday.

NYCC is a relatively new show that grew very fast. I remember when we thought San Diego was a big show with 60,000 attendees. Of course, that was back in the 1990s, when San Diego was still mostly about comics.

The New York show is still mostly about comics. Yeah, there’s a bunch of TV and movie hype, but most of the programming and the celebrity guests are from comics. Since DC and Marvel are headquartered here (for the time being, at least), that’s easy and cost-efficient.

The San Diego convention center is much nicer than the Javits Center, and much closer to the amenities one expects of a major metropolitan area. It’s set up much better for mass transit, too, which is surprising, given the Big Apple’s reliance on MetroCards.  On the other hand, New York in general is set up better for tourists, with better restaurants and better hotels (with more rooms available). Be warned, though – you get what you pay for, and in New York, you really have to pay. And if you want to look like a New Yorker, you’ll walk.

When the show is in New York, I get to sleep in my own bed, with my own husband. And when the show is in New York, I have to clean up my own mess and deal with my own life.

The timing of the show is wonky. True, autumn in New York is beautiful and the Broadway season is in full swing. On the other hand, it’s the same weekend as the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, and I hate to have to choose which geeky aspect of my personality to indulge.

This year is going to be a little bit different for me. I actually have a project to hype. Mary Wilshire and I are working on a graphic novel. I’ve been in the business long enough to know that one doesn’t actually pitch something at a show, because the editors working the booths are too frazzled by fans to focus on freelancers. Nor should they. The show is for the customers. Still, I hope to at least chat up an invitation to send in our pitch. Which means I’ll have to be nice to everyone, just like I was working a booth again.

Martha Thomases doesn’t know what she wants to buy more – original art or hand-spun yarn.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

Lance Star: Sky Ranger Writers Visit The Book Cave

  • News
  • October 13, 2011
Lance Star: Sky Ranger Vol. 3 Cover Art: Shannon Hall

Bobby Nash, Van Allen Plexico, Bernadette Johnson, and Sean Taylor join Ric Croxton for episode 148 of the Book Cave to discuss the recent release of Lance Star: Sky Ranger Volume 3 from Airship 27 Productions and Cornerstone Books.

You can listen to episode 148 of the Book Cave at http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/.

To learn more about the Lance Star: Sky Ranger series, visit http://www.lance-star.com/.

DENNIS O’NEIL: TV Supers

Oh, alas. Rest your sorrowing gaze on the gap, the fracture, the breach, the crack, the cavity, hole, crevice – might it even be a lacuna? – and join my lament.

And what, exactly, is that lament? And the gap/fracture/breach and the rest…what are we referring to here?

Well, in case it’s not obvious by now…we’re complaining about the absence of superheroes in the television season that’s a’borning. Not that such an absence is exactly novel. Since Superman made his video debut in 1952 – the Man of Steel was TV’s first costumed superguy – there have been more years without broadcast superheroes than years with them. But they have been sprinkled throughout the schedules in an odd, here-and-there fashion.

Some of them may have been among your favorites. Remember Captain Nice and Mr. Terrific? The Hulk? Electra Woman and Dyna Girl? Shazam? Isis? The Flash? The Greatest American Hero? How about Sesame Street’s Super Grover? If you can tolerate your superheroes minus costumes, the list can be expanded: The Six Million Dollar Man and his female counterpart, The Bionic Woman; The Dark Angel, which introduced many of us dirty old men to Jessica Alba – and yes, we are grateful; Buffy the Vampire Slayer (more gratitude from the DOM squad); the SyFy channel’s Alphas…

I’m not going to insult you by mentioning Batman, but do you recall the show that was apparently meant to capitalize on Batman’s popularity, The Green Hornet?

This list is, I’m sure, incomplete, but you get the idea. Superheroics have been almost television staples for a long time – not as constant as cop action or goofy folks doing goofy things in the sitcom universe, but pretty familiar.

Not currently, though. We thought we’d have an adaptation of one of the classic comics characters to amuse us in prime time and I, for one, eagerly anticipated the new Wonder Woman, as presented by David E. Kelley. Mr. Kelley – he deserves the honorific – is, arguably television’s best scripter, especially now that Aaron Sorkin’s gone elsewhere. I’ve been aware of him ever since Picket Fences in the 90’s and I think Boston Legal was a small weekly miracle. (His current show, Harry’s Law, is pretty damn good, too.) One can’t help wondering: what would Kelley, whose previous work never got near fantasy-melodrama in any form, have done in such unfamiliar territory? I can’t say that we’ll never know because, these days…DVD? Limited cable exposure? YouTube? But we don’t know now. (Or do we? Do you have information that I lack?)

Life is tough.

Know what would be swell? To see Wonder Woman as I first saw Superman 1952. Not knowing that some of the scenes depicting the destruction of Krypton were borrowed from theatrical movies, or noticing that the special effects were less than awe-inspiring – did they even qualify as special effects? No, just looking and accepting whatever was there, without judgment, being amused or bored as the occasion demanded.

But I’ve seen and read and written so much much much…and hell. I’ve even been an editor. I don’t have the capacity to look with an innocent mind at superheroes, or anything else, and that’s the real fracture in my life.

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases

Shell Scott Takes On The Death Gods

  • News
  • October 12, 2011

Linda Pendleton has released the following information regarding Richard S. Prather’s “The Death Gods,” his final book of the Shell Scott Mystery Series.

The long-awaited The Death Gods, by Richard S. Prather—the final book in his long-running and best-selling Shell Scott Private Eye Series is now available on Kindle and will be in print at Amazon in two weeks or so, then at Smashwords very soon. Cover by Judy Bullard http://customebookcovers.com/

You can purchase The Death Gods on Kindle for $7.29 at http://www.amazon.com/Death-Shell-Scott-Mystery-ebook/dp/B005UNKR0A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318455390&sr=1-1

About The Death Gods:

In “The Death Gods,” happy-go-lucky, Los Angeles Private Eye, Shell Scott, bulldozes his way thru thugs, often with light-hearted humor, and with a beauty or two along the way, in this final novel of the long-running Shell Scott Series by Richard S. Prather, published for the first time.

Shell Scott is hired to locate a lost dog belonging to a local physician, Henry Hernandez, M.D. But Scott soon discovers the needs of Dr. Hernandez go far beyond his missing dog. There has been an attempt on the doctor’s life and Dr. Hernandez believes it is due to his knowing too much about a deadly virus that appears to be taking hold in the country. Dr. Hernandez sets out to not only prove to Shell Scott, but to the world, that the IFAI virus and the vaccine being developed by a well-known local medical researcher and his wealthy business partner, is a complete fraud. Shell Scott finds himself in deep and getting deeper by the hour in this battle of good against evil, life against death, and medical “quackery” against allopathic medicine. Can Scott convince a beautiful female medical author that the medical researcher she admires may not be all he claims to be? And what about Scott’s client, Dr. Henry Hernandez: is he a nut-case, a quack, as some claim? Shell Scott finds he is in the battle of his life and chances are he may not come out alive.

More than 40 million copies of Richard S. Prather’s hard-boiled Shell Scott mysteries have been sold in the U.S., with millions more world-wide since Shell Scott first appeared in 1950.

Richard S. Prather (1921-2007) received the Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986, and was twice on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America. He was Editor of “The Comfortable Coffin,” the 13th Mystery Writers of America Anthology. His stories have appeared in numerous magazines, “The Shell Scott Mystery Magazine,” and several anthologies.

You can purchase The Death Gods on Kindle for $7.29 at http://www.amazon.com/Death-Shell-Scott-Mystery-ebook/dp/B005UNKR0A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318455390&sr=1-1

Green Lantern

1000156673brdlefo-300x402-6397171The problem with Green Lantern is that for something that was epic in concept, the film felt ordinary. It appears the producers looked at Iron Man and decided that was their template, retaining the look and feel from the comics, trying to ground it in reality with a likeable hero and monumental threat requiring the good guy to overcome his personal demons to save the day. The film cratered as a result, putting Warner Bros on the spot and casting a shadow over the new DC Entertainment administration. The film returns this week on Blu-ray from Warner Home Video complete with digital copy and some neat new bells and whistles.

The transfer is glorious and the CGI stuff really looks swell here but little of this sheen can mask the misfires, including the horrible GL mask Ryan Reynolds is forced to have painted over his nose. His Hal Jordan was recruited to join an intergalactic law enforcement corps, acknowledging the existence of extra-terrestrial life for the first time and rather than explore what all that meant, they kept dragging the audience back to Earth.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/gUUH-BNnjMo[/youtube]

As a result, we got one scene of Hal being trained by Kilowog, but later hear the big poozer take credit for successfully preparing him for duty. We see Sinestro (Mark Strong) as the first among equals without being given any clue how the Corps worked as an operating unit or anyone really explaining things to Hal, like how often he needs to charge his ring (and recite the oath each time). We take no time to share with Hal the sense of wonder of meeting 3599 other lifeforms nor does anyone sit him down and say, “Hey, in your sector keep an eye out for the…”

That could have set this film apart from the Marvel Universe series and allowed Green Lantern to stand tall as a unique feature. Also missing was a memorable score (seemingly a dying artform), a theme for the GL Corps that could have stood alongside the theme to Superman or the Imperial March. James Newton Howard missed a terrific opportunity for immortality here. (more…)

PULP ARK NEW PULP TRAVELING CON A PART OF MEMPHIS COMIC CON THIS WEEKEND!

  • News
  • October 12, 2011

PULP ARK, the official New Pulp Convention, debuted in Batesville, Arkansas on May 13-15, 2011.  Due to the initial success of the format and comments made by both guests and attendees, PULP ARK decided to offer its programming, from panels to classrooms to rather unique programming aspects, such as a live action play in the midst of the show, to other Conventions and Shows.  PULP ARK announces that the first convention that will host New Pulp Traveling Con Programming is the Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention (www.memphiscfc.com) October 14-16, 2011 in Memphis, Tennessee!

This plan, according to Tommy Hancock, PULP ARK Founder and Coordinator was not restricted to Pulp themed shows. “As a matter of fact,” Hancock reports, “the original discussions that prompted this among Pulp Ark guests, many of them creators in both Pulps and Comics as well as other mediums, focused on offering this unique programming to Non Pulp Shows, like Comic and Fantasy conventions, old time radio conventions, genre specific shows, and so on.  So we’re extremely excited to be a part of the Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention and so far they’re as excited as we are to have us!”

The line up for NEW PULP Programming is a stellar one.  Hancock, listed as PULP GUEST OF HONOR on the con’s site states that the real talent are those who are coming with him.  “Super Hero Pulp author extraordinaire Van Plexico and Author of Pulp Epics Wayne Reinagel will be there to do panels and take part in the programming.  Also, Erwin K. Roberts of Planetary Stories and Pulp Spirit, among others, as well as Don Thomas, author, and Pete Cooper, artist of Pro Se Productions will be there to work their wondrous magic.  This will be a weekend of panels, classrooms, plays, theater, and most of all camaraderie.”

For the schedule of New Pulp Panels as well as all the other goodness that will be at the Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention, check out the website at www.memphiscfc.com!   Come out and see what NEW PULP has to do with Comics and Fantasy! You might be surprised and actually learn something!

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