Author: Tommy Hancock

ALL PULP ON VACATION! BUT NOT LONG!

  • News
  • March 20, 2011

ALL PULP just had a chance to take a few days with family and that doesn’t come very often, so ALL PULP WILL BE ON VACATION, but will return to exciting life on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23!!!

Take some time with your own while we’re gone!

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND BULLDOG EDITION 3/20/11

  • News
  • March 20, 2011
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
3/20/11

FLYING GLORY KICKS OFF NEW ISSUE WITH NEW COVER!

Beginning with a fully painted cover art, a special story begins as we take a new look at our heroine and her family. Enjoy and Share with your friends.

www.flying-glory.com

She wants to conquer the charts using the same superhero identity as her grandmother who dutifully served her country in WWII. Backed by her band, the Hounds of Glory, Flying Glory struggles with life’s battles while fighting supervillians.

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND 3/20/11

  • News
  • March 20, 2011
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
3/20/11
FLYING GLORY KICKS OFF NEW ISSUE!
From Kevin Paul Shaw Broden-
Beginning with a fully painted cover art, a special story begins as we take a new look at our heroine and her family. Enjoy and Share with your friends.

www.flying-glory.com

She wants to conquer the charts using the same superhero identity as her grandmother who dutifully served her country in WWII. Backed by her band, the Hounds of Glory, Flying Glory struggles with life’s battles while fighting supervillians.

A BOOK A DAY FROM ALL PULP GETS BLONDE!

  • News
  • March 19, 2011

As usual, except with one notable exception, ALL PULP’s Book a Day comes from http://www.bearmanormedia.com/, one of the best outlets for books on pulp and popular culture today!  If you have other books, though, that you feel should be featured here, drop ALL PULP  a line at allpulp@yahoo.com!

’50s Blondes

'50s Blondes
An illustrated look at the lives and careers of the sexiest women of the 1950s. From major star to starlet, author Richard Koper shows – with hundreds of rare photos from his personal collection – that gentlemen still prefer blondes!

Among the 100 actresses who are featured in the book are famous Hollywood names like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Kim Novak and Anita Ekberg, as well as starlets like Jeanne Carmen, Gloria Pall, Sandra Giles and Kathy Marlowe. Also featured within the pages of this book are England’s reigning blondes Diana Dors, Belinda Lee and Carole Lesley, and fifties cult fan’s favourites: Mamie Van Doren, Cleo Moore, Beverly Michaels, Barbara Nichols and Joi Lansing.

A BOOK A DAY AND PULP REVIEW ALL ROLLED INTO ONE!!

  • News
  • March 18, 2011
PULP REVIEWS BY RON FORTIER
AND ALL PULP’S BOOK A DAY!
THE BONUS
By Georgia Lowe
Lucky Dime Press
398 pages
Release Date – Oct.10, 2010
ISBN 10 – 0615371450
ISBN 13 – 978-0615371450
(historical fiction/drama)
bonus-9944103
The trouble with most history books is that they are generally impersonal.  They offer up the facts and then focus solely on the public figures who actually shaped events.  What is omitted, save for the grainy black and white photos of yesterday, are the tales of the average people who experienced those moments; days now slowly morphing into ghostly images of a past all too soon forgotten.  In choosing to read and review Georgia Lowe’s powerful retelling of the Bonus March, I purposely stepped away from this column’s focus on pulp fiction.  Why?  Because too many of us who love this unique brand of fiction some times need to be reminded of the times in which it was born.  To better appreciate those exciting and colorful tales of escapist fancy, we should be aware that they were created during a time of national pain and suffering; the Great Depression.
Sadly there have been too few novels set in this time of social upheaval, economic tragedy and hopelessness.  Not that there haven’t been many competent historical text, several of which the author mentions in her own lists of references, still it takes a fiction writer to make history personal.  John Steinbeck did it with his “Grapes of Wrath” and now, first time novelist, Georgia Lowe achieves the same emotional impact with “The Bonus.”  This is not an easy book to read for any American who loves his or her country.  Its honest depiction of the Hoover administration and the cavalier, egotistical attitude of its chief participants from the President on down to his Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur is deplorable, to say the least.
In 1924, several years after the end of the War to End All Wars, America’s veterans were promised a bonus payment for their service.  The country’s representatives spend the next five years debating on what form and amount this “bonus” will be in.  Then comes the Wall Street crash of 1929 sending the economy into an unparalleled nosedive.  Unemployment rises to 25%, banks collapse like dominoes, home foreclosures are rampant.  On top of all this, Mother Nature delivers the second knock out punch in the form of a far reaching drought that devastates America’s central farmlands, turning abundant fields of wheat and corn into arid wastelands soon to be known as the Dust Bowl.  The end result, Congress votes to defer the Bonus until 1945.
Three years later, in the Spring of 1932, thousands of veterans, feeling betrayed by their own government, began to organize throughout the country.  As the news of their discontent and public gatherings spread, the idea of a united march on the Capitol is born and eagerly approved.  Charismatic leaders among the various groups like the VFW arise and by the start of summer, they are leading thousands of desperate veterans to Washington in every mode of travel possible from automobile caravans to train boxcars filled with weary travelers.  Their one unifying goal, to force Congress into giving them their money now.
We experience this historical pilgrimage through the yes of several characters including Will Hardy, a reporter for a Los Angeles tabloid, himself a veteran still enduring the effects of “shellshock,” and his lovely girlfriend, Bonnie.  Bonnie, enjoying her life as a Hollywood extra is naively unaware of the country’s ailing condition until she embarks on this odyssey with her girlfriend Myrna to rendezvous with their men.  By the time she arrives in Washington, she and Will become eye-witnesses to the monumental injustice perpetrated by President Hoover and his cronies.  Not only does Hoover publicly ignore the peaceful petitions and demonstrations of the Bonus marchers, in the end, he has them attacked and driven out by Army troops under the command of General McArthur.   
“The Bonus” is one of the finest historical novels I’ve ever read and it left me emotional drained.  It is clearly a cautionary tale of what happens to a people when its elected officials allow themselves to become disassociated with their constituents.  It is a story of governmental betrayal at its worst and a timely warning considering our nation’s current situation.  It is also a fine work of fiction with moving, believable characters that any reader will quickly recognize as each is driven to find their own piece of the American promise.  We tip our pulp fedora to Georgia Lowe and we thank her deeply for reminding us all what happened that summer in 1932.  It is up to each and every one of us to make sure it never happens again.

GRANTON CITY PRESS PUBLISHER/CREATOR INTERVIEWED!

  • News
  • March 18, 2011

CALVIN DANIELS-Writer, Publisher, Creator-Granton City Press
Interview conducted by ALL PULP Staff writer CHUCK MILLER

AP: Welcome to ALL PULP! First, can you tell us about yourself, some personal background?

CD: Well let’s see, I was born in the suburbs of Granton City … Oh wait, that’s not right. Darned fantasy world encroaches on reality at times LOL. I was actually born in Saskatchewan (sounds more made up than Granton City doesn’t it), in Canada. I was a farm boy who sort of backed into journalism. I had no
formal training when started doing sports at hometown paper – the Tisdale Recorder.  A dear friend of mine, Brenda Campbell, actually awoke my fictional muse, and in time that led to a book of short
stories on hockey (How Canadian is that). It is called Skating the Edge, and actually had a small review in the Globe and Mail out of Toronto, one of the major dailies up here.  From there two non-fiction books followed and 25 Saskatchewan Weekly Newspaper Association awards happened before turning to pulp fiction stories.

AP: As a writer, what influences have affected your style and interests the most over the years? Do you have a particular genre/type of story you prefer to write?

CD: I suppose every book I ever read, and every person I have met is an influence even if we don’t always recognize it. In more specific terms fantasy is a favoured genre, and comics. I collected
for a while, with Batman at the top of my list.  The love of Bats is a definite reason for writing pulp-inspired tales now. I like the idea of period pieces in 20s/30s because it allows for the anonymity a hero requires.  In the current era of GPS, cellphones and Internet, Batman’s identity would be known in a week, and bad guys would have killed him 37 times by Tuesday.  By setting The Black Wolf and our other stories in the past we allow some reasonable belief they might keep a secret identity secret.

 AP: What about genres that make you uncomfortable? What areas within pulp are a little bit intimidating for you as an author?

CD: Not sure I’ve found one. I have a character Dark Heart. She operates in the ‘old’ part of Granton City. It’s sort of a bloodier Sin City, more ‘adult’. I have no problem with the concept, but I have co-authors run from it.

AP: Are you a pulp fan? If so, how has that affected you as a writer of pulps. If you aren’t a longtime fan, then why pulp?

CD: The Spider and the old purple clad Phantom are favs. I haven’t read a library of pulps though. In fact I find some of the hyperbole of the old pulps a bit too over-the-top. That said the idea of a lone hero, The Black Wolf, Ghost Wind, The Starling, with no real superpowers protecting a city intrigues me.

AP: What do you think you bring to pulp fiction as a writer?

CD: Hopefully the ‘feel’ of the old heroes with less of the hyperbole. Hopefully a bit more truthful too.

By that I mean characters will die and stay dead. Our heroes will kill rather than trust the courts to let a criminal off on a technicality. I mean really how many times can The Joker escape before Batman clues in and kills him? Of course truth is limited by the genre too. It comes to perspective. A recent reviewer noted as a war vet the fight scenes in Unit 13 didn’t ring true to him, which is a comment I respect.

However, by genre we don’t write for that sort of ‘real-life’ accuracy either. Did anyone buy the scenes in the recent Green Hornet movie? The stunts were almost all proven inaccurate on The Mythbusters. The Batman movies, comics and books are the same way. We write worlds were exaggeration is a must. From kung fu movies, to heroes and scifi/fantasy. As readers we ask you to suspend belief on page one, and just enjoy the ride.  But, we do take a somewhat more realistic vision of heroes in the sense they are not all shiny, goodie-goodie, two shoes *smile.

AP; Tell us about the Black Wolf and some of the other characters you work with. What is Granton City all about?

CD: Granton City started off merely as home to The Black Wolf, a pulpish hero facing everything from common thugs to the supernatural.  From there the city ‘grew’. Ghost Wind is sort of a Bruce Lee-ish hero in the city’s ‘Chinatown’. This title really brings Japanese Manga/Anime together with a touch of pulp.  Crake & Crane Casefiles is being written. It’s sort of the Johnny Depp character in From Hell meets
Mike Hammer, mixed with the Odd Couple. Crake is a veteran of the Great War, a hard-boiled detective, working with Crane, finely dressed, man of strange science. Together the PIs work cases in the city. Dark Heart is in ‘old town’. Blood, death, sex, only thing missing is rock ‘n roll.  Outside Granton City other titles exist in the same world, Unit 13, Drago Demon Slayer, Churchill Alien Bounty Hunter and The Starling among them.

AP: What is your creative process as far as developing a character?  What techniques or steps do you take?

CD: I get a flash of an idea. It rolls around in my head for a while until the voice gets so loud it has to get out.  Probably coming from my journalism background, I look at chapters as sort  of assignments and just sit down and write. Since I work with co-writers always inspired by what they do.  We use no pre-planned story outline. It’s very much follow-the-leader as we weave the stories.

AP: What’s coming from Calvin Daniels and Granton City? Any projects you want to discuss? Publications?

CD: To start a tip of my hat and heartfelt thanks to Kevin Lee, Mitchel Rose and Tyrell Tinnin for their support, effort and words as co-writers on The Black Wolf, Ghost Wind and Unit 13 respectively. Without them the already in-print titles from Granton City Press would not exist.

It’s been interesting how many people, connections you need in this sort of project, great cover artists like Daniel Bradford, Guillermo A. Angel, and Gil Murillo, the editing eyes of Dixie and Sandy, our fans and readers who encourage us, and sites like this which help us promote.

As stated earlier we have a number of new titles in development. That doesn’t mean we are forgetting those already out. The Ghost Wind #2  – The Runaway Princess is mere days from written, and Black Wolf #3 should be started by the time readers see this. With upcoming titles expect to see a major cameo by another current Pulp-hero, and we are hoping for a few bonus shorts from some established and new writers too.  We just hope readers come along for the ride.


ALL PULP NEWSSTAND BULLDOG EDITION 3/18/11

  • News
  • March 18, 2011
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
3/18/11
OFFICIAL PJF NEWSLETTER!!

The Official Philip José Farmer Email

It is now official, FarmerCon VI will be held July 29-31, 2011 in Columbus, OH at PulpFest!
PulpFest is held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center. Rooms are available at the “PulpFest Rate” of only $79 per night. However, to get this rate, you cannot book your room online, you must call their toll free number: 877-609-6086 and reserve your room over the phone. Remember to mention PulpFest to get the discounted rate.
To sign up for FarmerCon VI, first reply to this email to be added to the list.
While there is no charge for FarmerCon VI, you must Register with PulpFest to attend. Amazingly, you can attend all three days of PulpFest for only $30!
If you will be traveling to Columbus and staying overnight, I urge you to book a room at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center now. The $79 per night room rate is a great deal, and being in the same hotel gives FarmerCon attendees that much more time to hang out. We almost always go out together somewhere for a meal or two and we will be looking to do that again. So be sure to tell me you’re coming, don’t just decide to drop in at the last minute.
PulpFest and FarmerCon programming is still to be determined, but suggestions are welcome; both to me for FarmerCon and to PulpFest for their programming as well. Also, Meteor House will have a table in the Dealers Room where you will find back issues of Farmerphile, select items from Philip José Farmer’s estate sale, The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions, The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 2: Of Dust and Soul and perhaps more.
So, if you want to come to FarmerCon VI, here is a quick summary of the steps you need to take:

1. Reply to this email and tell me you are coming. 2. Register for PulpFest 3. Unless you live nearby, call 877-609-6086 and book your room.
I hope I will see you there!

Mike Croteau
The Official Philip José Farmer Home Page
http://www.pjfarmer.com/

PLANETARY BOOK AVAILABLE IN PREVIEWS!
From Sequart-

PRESS RELEASE:

keepingtheworldstrangecvr-7448226

Sequart Research & Literacy Organization’s Keeping the World Strange: A Planetary Guide is now available for order through comic shops (use Diamond order code MAR111401). The book is currently listed in the books section of March’s Previews catalog (page 347) and is set to hit stores in late May.
“Highly recommended.” – Ain’t It Cool News
Edited by Cody Walker, Keeping the World Strange offers essays that examine the highly-acclaimed WildStorm series from varied, thought-provoking viewpoints:
* We Contain Universes:  The Delicately Spinning Reality of the Snowflake, by Kevin Thurman
* Surfing through Planetary:  The Characters behind the Fiction, by Andy Richardson
* The Secret History of the WildStorm Universe, by Cody Walker
* When Third is Fourth:  The Mystery of the Fourth Man, by Chad Nevett
* Bleeding Between the Lines:  Planetary and Vertigo, by Timothy Callahan
* “The Hidden Wonders of the World”:  Planetary and Reconstructionism, by Julian Darius
* Archaeologists, Architects, and Acolytes:  Reading Futures Studies in Planetary, by Caleb Stokes
* The Monster Within:  Examining Monstrous Archetypes in Planetary, by Ross Payton
* Planetary and Decompression, by Patrick Meaney
* The Ideal and the Strange:  Order Vs. Freedom in Planetary, by Peter Sanderson
* The Man Who Knows the Game, by A. David Lewis (viewing Planetary as a game that begins with Elijah Snow’s white suit)
* Apocrypha or Canon?  Fitting the Three Crossover One-Shots into Planetary, by Chad Nevett
* Appendix:  Sequencing Planetary, by Julian Darius (a suggested reading order for Planetary’s 31 stories)
No Planetary fan or comics scholar should go without this critical analysis of one of the best series of the 21st century.  (Softcover, 6”x9”, 188 pgs, B&W, $19.95 cover price, ISBN 9780578077017.)
– – – – – – – – – –
THE YEAR OF WARREN ELLIS: Keeping the World Strange is the first offering from Sequart’s “2011: The Year of Ellis” campaign, which includes two other books (Shot in the Face:  A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan and Voyage in Noise:  Warren Ellis and the Demise of Western Civilization) and the documentary film Warren Ellis:  Captured Ghosts.
– – – – – – – – – –
NOTE: Don’t assume your comics store will order copies – some stores might not even notice it in the catalog. The best thing you can do is tell your local retailer ASAP (they have to place orders before the end of March) that you want them to order you a copy. And because we’re buried in the catalog, it might help to give them the book’s order code, which is MAR111401.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Planetary and related characters are trademarks of DC Comics. This book is not endorsed by DC Comics.

SPIDER Comic Writer Offers Body Count Contest!!!

  • News
  • March 17, 2011

Martin Powell, writer of THE SPIDER comic series from Moonstone, offered readers and chance at an unique prize this week. This contest was set up in celebration of Moonstone’s THE SPIDER #1 hitting the stands this week. 

From Powell-

SPIDER Contest! Win an official SPIDER insignia ring! Okay, for all of you following my new SPIDER comic book series (first issue on sale today!), here is the challenge: Guess the body count! That’s right. Whichever reader comes the closest to numbering the SPIDER’s fallen prey–after issue # 6, concluding the first year’s storyline–will win this cool SPIDER insignia ring, polished up and packaged by Nita Van Sloan herself! So buy THE SPIDER # 1 and start paying attention to those falling, bleeding bad guys!

At the conclusion of THE SPIDER # 6, the body count should be sent to me on Facebook. Whoever comes closest to my own calculations wins the ring!

PULP ARK BADGES AND BULLETS AVAILABLE TO WINNERS!

  • News
  • March 17, 2011

Tommy Hancock, PULP ARK Coordinator, announces today that Pro Se Productions, the host and primary sponsor of PULP ARK, the convention/creator’s conference being held May 13-15, 2011 in Batesville, Arkansas, has produced PULP ARK AWARD Badges and Bullets that can be put on covers, websites, etc. by the winners of this year’s awards.

The PULP ARK AWARDS covered ten categories and each winner in each category received via email today a Badge and Bullet to be used in future advertising, on covers, posters, and any other merchandise or manner the winners wish to use them.

“Our winners,” Hancock stated, “will receive award plaques at PULP ARK, but we wanted to do this as something a little extra, something special for them.  We’ll also have a PULP ARK Nominee bullet for all the nominees as well in a day or three.”

These fantastic badges and bullets were designed by Sean E. Ali, Pro Se’s Design Coordinator.

REVIEWS FROM THE 86TH FLOOR EXAMINES THE CRIME CABAL!

  • News
  • March 17, 2011


Tales of the Red Panda: The Crime Cabal
Written by Gregg Taylor
ISBN 978-1-4392-4133-2

Based on characters and situations from Decoder Ring Theatre, The Crime Cabal takes The Red Panda and his partner The Flying Squirrel into the prose realm. I’ve never listened to an episode of Decoder Ring Theatre so I came into this as a total newbie — but I didn’t feel lost at all.

The plot is nothing new — crime bosses assemble a variety of deadly villains with the intention of dealing with the pesky Panda once and for all — but what makes this book sing is the characterization. The interplay between the Panda and his partner is smart, engaging and surprisingly sweet. To be honest, I found myself rushing through all the scenes those two characters weren’t in because I was looking forward to their scenes together.

The prose is fast-moving and has just enough description to keep you engaged without being bogged down. The villains are interesting takes on classic figures and the supporting cast is amusing — I particularly enjoyed the butler’s feeling of exasperation where Kit Baxter is concerned.

If you’re looking for a fun, quick pulp read, this is the book for you — and I think it might be a good entry-level book for new readers, especially female ones. The Flying Squirrel is capable (she’s definitely no “sidekick”) and the romance factor is something that I think would really help humanize pulp for new fans.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks