January 2012 – Page 7

KERLAK PUBLISHING PUTS OUT STORY CALL FOR THIRD VOLUME OF SUCCESSFUL STEAMPUNK ANTHOLOGY!

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January 18, 2012

Dreams of Steam III

Oil up the keys on that old typewriter and give us your best! Following the success of our Steampunk anthologies, “Dreams of Steam” and “Dreams of Steam II”, we are back for more!

If you are not familiar with the Steampunk genre, please take a look at the stories in either anthology to get an idea as to what we are looking for. Think of days past when steam powered machinery was the height of modern technology and when men and women dressed in their Victorian-esque finest. Give us your best and most unique stories within this genre. Please do not make references to or use copywritten characters from other known sources. We will only accept unpublished, original works, characters, and story lines.

Due to the massive number of submissions, please pay very close attention to all the submission guidelines. Any submission with excessive formatting, spelling, or editing issues will be immediately disqualified.

Good luck and may the Power of Steam be with you!

Please include on the front page of your manuscript:

• Name (and pen name, if you desire)

• Address

• Phone Number

• E-mail Address

• Number of words (limit 9,000)

• Short bio of 350 words or less.

Submissions should be made in standard double-spaced manuscript format using only one font (preferably Times New Roman 12pt). Stories can be e-mailed to request@kerlakpublishing.com as a MS Word .doc or .rtf (Rich Text Format) attachment.

Deadline for submissions is 5/31/2012. If your story is selected, you will be contacted by 7/30/2012. Paper submissions will not be returned.

If your story is selected for publication, payment will be $20.00 U.S. upon release of the book. This is a royalty release. Royalty rate to be set after the finalists have been selected.

Hard-copy manuscripts should be accompanied by a digital copy in .doc or .rtf format sent on a CD or other modern digital storage format. Stories should be sent to:

Steampunk Submissions

Kimberly Richardson, Editor

c/o Kerlak Publishing

1779 Kirby Parkway, #1-373

Memphis, TN 38138

For any additional questions, please contact Kimberly Richardson at request@kerlakpublishing.com

FORTIER TAKES ON TERROR IN ‘JUST BEFORE THE DAWN!’

News
January 18, 2012

ALL PULP REVIEWS- Reviews by Ron Fortier

JUST BEFORE THE DAWN

By Bonnie Kozek

A while back I read a book called THRESHOLD that impressed me greatly. It was modern day, grunge thriller written by a truly fearless writer. Kozek’s prose, like her protagonist, Honey McGuiness, is not for the faint of heart. Honey is a broken soul, abused constantly by her father as a child, tossed from one foster home to another; her life has been nothing but a constant swim through the sewers of society. In that first outing, Honey, with the help of a selfless, naïve police officer, helped topple a corrupt administration and almost got both of them killed in the process. By the book’s end, she was packing it up for parts unknown.

Which, as it turned out, became an out of the way burg called Pie Town. As this sequel opens, Honey is working in a restaurant/bar in the small hamlet and slowly getting accustomed to the eccentricities of the colorful locals. Still there is a recurring oddity about Pie Town, all its young people run off the second they finish high school, leaving the town to children and seniors. But Honey isn’t a private eye and solving mysteries really isn’t her thing. Getting by is and as a expert survivor who has taken the worst this world can dish out, she’s lulled herself into thinking Pie Town is a safe, boring corner into which she can crawl and disappear.

Sadly that assumption is the furthest from the truth. Pie Town harbors a dark and unholy secret and when Honey is kidnapped by a psycho killer operating a sex cult in the nearby woods, she begins a descent into a drug induced hell that is both horrifying and mind-numbing. Kozek doesn’t spare any of the details of Honey’s sexual degradation and continues to explore her twisted, wounded psyche every painful step of the way. This book is one woman’s personal journey to that hell and the writing is as sharp and brutal as a razor blade. It cuts…often. Still, it is never sensationalized and believe me, that is incredible. Oh, I am positive there will be readers and critics who will decry it as such, calling the shock-value a gimmick. They’re wrong. Like any exploration of the human condition, one has to peel away the layers to find then gristle and bone beneath. That process is never pretty. It is real.

And despite its in-your-face portrayal of abject cruelty, JUST BEFORE THE DAWN manages to find a glimmer of hope and salvation at its conclusion. It may be fragile at best, but then again, in the real world, there are no guarantees. Each of us gets by, if we’re lucky, with a little help from our friends. Honey McGuinness is one of the most memorable characters you will ever encounter, if you’ve got the fortitude to take the trip.

Good luck.

IN MEMORY OF HOWARD HOPKINS-HELP AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE!

Uncategorized
January 18, 2012

AN OFFER FROM METEOR HOUSE PRESS TO ASSIST IN FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR HOWARD HOPKINS

The tragic passing of pulp writer and editor Howard Hopkins at the age of 50:http://moonstonebooks.blogspot.com/2012/01/howard-hopkins-services-and.html, has been made even worse by the further misfortune of an insurance screw up.

Please forward the following as you see fit; it is copied from a post on the Yahoo “Flearun” and “Golden Perils” groups:

… Chuck Juzek contacted me and asked me to pass the following info along to the pulp fan community. Due to a mistake by their insurance agent 6 months ago that Dominique only became aware of after Howard’s death, Howard’s life insurance had lapsed at the time of his death. As a result, in addition to everything else that his passing means to her, she’s now scrambling in order to find the funds to pay for his funeral expenses. If you have the ability— to help pay for those expenses; …, I’m giving her address for anyone that wishes to contribute.

Dominique Hopkins
2 McKee Drive
Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064

So here’s the deal

Give to a good cause and get something for yourself. The first $100 worth of orders that come in between now and midnight January 20, 2012, you get the books, and Dominique Hopkins gets the money.

For those of you who have a copy of The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions, but have not yet ordered your matching numbered copy of The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 2: Of Dust and Soul, there’s no time like the present. And if you haven’t yet bought either book, make sure you take advantage of our Combo Deal that will save you at least $10 off your order.

Some of us at Meteor House have worked with Howard and learned a lot from him. He cared about the craft of writing and was generous with his time, he will be sorely missed. Therefore we’d like to do this little thing for Howard’s family. The rest is up to you. Of course you don’t have to buy our books, especially if you already have them. If you already have both, you can just drop a little check in the mail to the address above, or paypal a small amount to sales@meteorhousepress.com (by midnight January 20th) and we’ll add it to the total we’re sending.

Visit Meteor House at http://meteorhousepress.com/

REQUEST OF ASSISTANCE FROM PULP COMMUNITY!

Uncategorized
January 18, 2012

This is a message from noted New Pulp Author and historian Win Eckert and is posted here at his request and in hopes that You will reach out to assist the family of Howard Hopkins in this time of need.

Please forward the following as you see fit; it is copied from a post on the Yahoo “Flearun” and “Golden Perils” groups:

“… Chuck Juzek contacted me and asked me to pass the following info along to the pulp fan community. Due to a mistake by their insurance agent 6 months ago that Dominique only became aware of after Howard’s death, Howard’s life insurance had lapsed at the time of his death. As a result, in addition to everything else that his passing means to her, she’s now scrambling in order to find the funds to pay for his funeral expenses. If you have the ability to help pay for those expenses…, I’m giving her address for anyone that wishes to contribute.

Dominique Hopkins
2 McKee Drive
Old Orchard Beach, ME 04064″

Thanks,

Win

New Pulp’s Table Talk – Reader Questions 3.0

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January 18, 2012

Reader questions continue to enter arrive at the Table Talk offices. So, this week, Barry Reese, Bobby Nash and Mike Bullock take some time to respond to two readers and their great questions. This week’s questions come from Mark Holmes and C William Russette. Thanks for writing, guys.

New Pulp’s Table Talk – Reader Questions 3.0 is now available at http://www.newpulpfiction.com/ or at the direct link: http://www.newpulpfiction.com/2012/01/table-talk-reader-questions-30.html

Join the conversation. Leave us a comment on the blog and let us know your thoughts on this topic. We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions.

Have a question you want the Table Talk Trio to answer? Send it to newpulpfiction@gmail.com with “Table Talk Question” in the subject line. Also, let us know if you want attribution for the question, or you’d rather remain anonymous. Please, keep the questions pertinent to the creation of New Pulp and/or writing speculative fiction in general. We’ll get the questions worked into future columns ASAP.

Follow the Table Talk Trio on Twitter. @BarryReesePulp @BobbyNash @MikeABullock

Ailing Colorist Tom Ziuko Needs Some Help

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January 18, 2012

Long-time DC Comics and Marvel colorist Tom Ziuko (The History of the DC Universe, Superman, Batman, The Shadow, Hellblazer, Looney Tunes, Spider-Man, Captain America, Tomb of Dracula, etc.) has been facing some difficult medical issues over the last two years, including kidney failure, neuropathy, and, most recently, emergency surgery to repair a strangulated colon.

According to the Facebook page started by Gary Mann for Tom, “Tom is a freelance artist, unable to afford health insurance, and the last year has been brutal for him…. Tom is currently recuperating at home, although still unable to return to work full-time. Early last year, Tom’s friend and fellow freelance artist Alan Kupperberg mounted an effort to help raise some funds for him; and a great non-profit organization, The Hero Initiative, has played a major role in helping Tom to survive during this last year, keeping him afloat and literally saving him from becoming homeless. But Tom continues to face a mountain of medical bills, personal expenses and debt.

“And so I appeal to those of you who may have been touched by Tom’s work over the last three decades; in that you might be able to contribute to assisting him financially while he continues his recovery. I know that times are tight right now for everyone, but any contribution you might be able to make, no matter how small, would be both beneficial and greatly appreciated by Tom.

“If you want to contribute directly to Tom’s assistance fund, you can do so at Paypal — the account name is — chroma999@aol.com.

“And whether you’re able to contribute funds or not, you can write to Tom directly on Facebook, or at his email address (atomica999@aol.com) in order to send him get-well wishes, to say hello and wish him a speedy recovery, or just to let him know if you’ve enjoyed his work over the years.”

CBS PROJECT GREENLIGHTED TO MOVE HOLMES TO TODAY’S NEW YORK!

Uncategorized
January 18, 2012

Reposted from www.tainted-archive.blogspot.com

CBS has greenlighted a pilot, a revamp of Sherlock Holmes, that will place the legendary sleuth in modern-day New York.

The pilot, currently titled “Elementary,” comes via CBS Television Studios and Timberman-Beverly Productions, the company behind the network’s current series “A Gifted Man” and “Unforgettable.” Robert Doherty, whose credits include “Medium” and “Ringer” will write the pilot and executive-produce. Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly will also executive-produce.

EDITORIAL: Why ComicMix Is Against SOPA

News
January 18, 2012

In 2009, we ran an article about Astro Boy and the then-upcoming movie. We got some grief from the law firm representing the movie studio IMAGI, complete with cease and desist letters, over using earlier released concept art as an illustration for the article. We responded by posting the C&D letter, and telling Imagi that we would remove not only the image, but all articles about the Astro Boy movie, and would no longer provide coverage for any IMAGI properties, just to be safe. The President of IMAGI apologized for the “error” and backed off.

Luckily for us, SOPA was not a law.

If it was, the law firm could have simply decided to not even contact us at all, but instead simply shut us down. Completely. Without warning and without legal recourse.

This is a prime example of what SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (and the US Senate version of the same bill, PIPA) is intended to do by design: a law written by Hollywood interests that give them the right to shut down a website for “copyright infringement”. Ostensibly the law would protect against piracy, but as written, the law is overly broad and dangerous, putting the burden on website owners to police all material and allowing for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites without notification and without exemptions for fair use, and no safe harbor provisions. Small sites such as ComicMix won’t have sufficient resources to defend themselves, let alone survive a protracted shutdown.

We here at ComicMix believe that SOPA is designed to give corporations the ability to silence any web site they don’t like, with no oversight and no appeal. We are further disturbed that not only have DC and Marvel’s corporate parents, Time Warner and The Walt Disney Corporation, have come out strongly in favor of SOPA, but that Marvel has gone above and beyond in declaring their support for it.

One simply has to wonder how much Marvel would like SOPA if the heirs of Jack Kirby decided to shut down Marvel.com.

Numerous other sites such as Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, and WordPress have gone dark today to signal their opposition to SOPA and PIPA. We add our voices to the chorus, and ask that you contact your representatives and senators today to add yours.

For further information, read this brief from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

MIKE GOLD: Movie Theaters Suck

Uncategorized
January 18, 2012

I’ve said it before, and I can’t say it enough: John Ostrander is my oldest friend and a virtual brother. We grew up as Northsiders in Chicago, as Cubs fans and as comics fans, and we believe that politics is a more interesting version of cage wrestling. I’d take a bullet for the guy, I’d pull it out of my ample gut, put it on a chain and give it to him. I’d leave it to John to wash it off.

In this space last Sunday, John explained why he loves going to movie theaters. I agree with his points; I think I agree with each and every one of them. But we differ in the conclusion.

Movie theaters suck. They are stupidly expensive. They are a drive to a long parking lot. For the price of a mid-sized carton of popcorn at the multiplex, you can make enough of the stuff to feed most of East Asia. At least one asshole (someday me) is going to forget to turn his cell phone off. Other assholes are going to be texting like a crackhead chicken playing tic-tac-toe on a hotplate. Because they have to pay so much to get into the joint, half the audience thinks they can abandon the concepts of common decency and babble like a crackhead chicken playing tic-tac-toe on a hotplate.

By the way, that’s not necessarily the teenaged and young adult half of the audience. I’ve had to tell yentas old enough to be my grandmother to shut the hell up, even resorting to whispering to one “shut up and learn some fucking manners!”

Oh, yeah. Did I mention the commercials? Commercials?? Really? Commercials? That’s just an insult. I don’t care if it reduces the already outlandish ticket price. That’s like selling a bag of shit for only $12.00.

But it’s the other part of John’s argument that I wish to address.

Last year, our ancient 35” cathode ray tube died. Soul daughter Adriane and I immediately performed CPR, to no avail. After sitting in stunned silence for a while, I mentioned I had planned on this happening eventually. The very next morning – no time to sit shiva – we went out and bought a 55” LED HDTV, 240 mHz, with Wi-Fi. Later on we enhanced the sound system and still later found a Blu-Ray player in a box of Post Toasties. Combined, the whole operation cost less than the 35” CRT it replaced – and I’m not even talking constant dollars. For the price of two-dozen movie theater outings, we can conquer Hollywood.

Nonetheless, Adriane asked why I was insistent on getting a 55” screen. I said that when she’s 60, she’ll understand. I also warned her I’ll be moving the couch a couple inches closer to the screen each year.

It is not the same as seeing a movie in a real theater… but it’s damn close, particularly on Blu-Ray. If there’s somebody babbling at the screen, chances are it’s me and I am exceptionally entertaining. The popcorn is better and comparatively free of charge. If my cellphone rings, I turn it off. There’s no driving involved. I don’t even have to get dressed – sometimes.

And there are no commercials.

Different strokes for different folks, and I’m not knocking John’s choice. I’m sure the theaters in the Flint Michigan area are less expensive than they are in the New York metro area. Still, John and I grew up going to many (if not all) of the same, glorious movie palaces that were often better than the movies they showed. If I had a chance to do that again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. And I haven’t sworn off going to the movies, but these days it’s a rare event involving a large group of friends, an impulse choice, or a multiplex in the middle of nowhere but within a short drive of whatever motel I’m staying at off an Interstate.

But I’ll try to go to a matinee.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil