HERE’S A SNEAK PEEK AT THE FIRST FEW PAGES OF TOMMY HANCOCK’S UPCOMING SERIALIZED DOC DAY NOVEL TENTATIVELY TITLED “THE BODY IN THE MAILBOX!’ APPEARING NEXT WEEK IN PECULIAR ADVENTURES #3!
He ran. Mired down in the grime of crowded city streets, crowded with the grit of asphalt and the choking refuse left by the garbage known as citizens, still he ran. His heart, once thundering in his ears from the exertion as well as the dangerous cocktail of fear and risk that he had lived so much of his life imbibing of, now only groaned in his ears, like a great mountain moaning under the weight of all it carried, very nearly ready to simply collapse. Yet he kept running. He wanted to tell himself he wasn’t fleeing, and in all honesty he wasn’t. His rattled mind told him over and over that he was doing this, this running, in order to get help, to make things right. Yet, as he stumbled head over heel leaping from the corner of a sidewalk out into the tumultuous street it skirted, he admitted between curses the real reason for his actions. Why he really ran.
Death had him surrounded. Death came from all sides and the only chance he had was somewhere in front of him. Some now seemingly ridiculous distance away with a man that even those who had lived in this wondrous, horrible city their entire lives believed to be somewhat mythical. That was why he ran. For the slim hope of an almost impossible chance to ask a fanciful legend for help that likely no one could give.
But it was still a chance. And better than the nightmares he knew by the prickling of the hairs on his neck that were behind him.
He hit the next sidewalk corner in a roll, his left shoulder down, full body tumble, and up on his feet again, crouched ready to attack, leading with his right hand, his back against the brick and mortar of some building. No one noticed him for a variety of reasons, but he was singly aware of everyone around him. Not that the men, women, and children tangled up in their own despair, damages, and decisions each individually meant him harm, but just his presence amongst them meant he may never see another smile from his beloved or even have the chance to gamble his life in such a way again. Those thoughts might seem paranoid or even pretentious if spoken aloud, oddly enough he thought that as his eyes fervently searched for the next threat on his life, but not for him. They were the demons that haunted him every day of his life, but never more than today. Because he knew somehow that today no matter how hard he ran, Death would catch him. As he skirted the wall of the building, looking for a break in the crowd to fling himself back into a wild run, he simply prayed that if it were to come, it wouldn’t be because a maddening crowd ran him over, but something more exciting, more fitting the life he’d led.
After what had only been seconds, but swept over him as if interminable years had passed, he saw his chance. Not in an opening in the throng of people moving to and fro along the sidewalks, flowing like the blood of the city through concrete and steel veins, but in a dangling cord. His mind couldn’t process it any other way at the moment, simply as something that caught his eye, a rope or something suspended from some point above him, coming from where he’d been and now passing him going where he needed to go. He shook his head, wiped sweat from his eyes, lowered his head, crouched, his knees against his chest and leaped, one hand out grasping for this lifeline, the other clung tightly to his torso, almost as if to hold his groaning heart in. This was a fool’s errand, he knew that, one that would likely only give him more bruises and scrapes and the acrid taste of the city itself in his mouth. But, still, time had ran out hours ago. And they were still coming.
His fingers tangled in something silken, a fringe of something, ratty tendrils of cloth. Still, it was enough and he held on because his life depended on it. He gritted his teeth as his body was thrown all around, much like the tiny handmade rag doll his beloved carried everywhere she went, bumping against hard corners and then crashing into something softer, but almost smothering and just as unforgiving. As he swayed there above the street, nothing more than a passenger on an unknowing transport, he let his practiced concentration slip again, something else that he knew would likely get him killed, and wondered about this man, this ‘savior’ as someone had called him that he was going to see. The stories were magnificent, the descriptions staggering. But, he worried as he tried to get his bearings, if this paragon of justice and whatever rot made good men legendary even did exist fully formed as a god among men, what would make a man of such accomplishments and adventures even listen to his pleadings? Would what he carried beneath his coat be enough or was all this really in vain?
This doubt vanished from his mind as his eyes filled with the glorious vision of his destination. Even being flung about as he was, dizzy and nearly nauseous, he recognized the building, the silver monolith, the futuristic castle spire of this king of the world loomed now over him to his left. As he let go of the cord that he’d hitched his ride on and freefalled to the unforgiving street below, he felt something other than concern and survival creeping in around the edges of his heart and mind. He felt the slightest bit of hope.
The beast snatched him from the air, its great, wet maw wrapping around his body at his waist. He screamed as it landed on the sidewalk, almost gracefully, and darted ahead, carrying him in its mouth, coating him in its saliva. Fury raged within him, how could no one see this massive monster attacking him, hauling him around as if he were some snack, some treat thrown to it by its masters. Then reality set in and he remembered why. And that reality also reminded him that he was little more than a morsel for the pets of these masters as far as they were concerned.
The animal moved almost invisibly between the hustlers and bustlers and vanished into the alley between his intended destination and the next building. Shaking its head, it let him fall from its teeth and smash against the filthy alley floor. It wanted to play with its dinner, he’d seen enough of these things eat his people that he was sure of that. But he also knew as he climbed to his feet, broken bones ripping at his insides, that he didn’t have time for playing.
He dipped his head and flipped forward as the creature’s taloned paw swiped at him, just barely missing his head. Rising out of the roll, he returned to a dead run, the mingling odors of his own sweat, the decay of the alley, and the stench of the hunter behind him burning his nose. He thanked the gods of his youth that these horrific demons didn’t tend to hunt in packs as he rounded the corner back to the left, now back in front of his destination. He’d wanted to touch the building, to reach out and let his hand rest on this artifice that seemed to have its own aura, to give off its own light, but that was a dream lost in the past, a remnant of the nights spent with his beloved peeking out at the city from atop some other distant loft. Now all that mattered was getting inside before the beast caught him again.
Its cry roared in his ears suddenly, a deadly cacophony of anger at prey lost and intent to regain it. He glanced over his shoulder as it pounced at him. He dove wildly, his eyes now welded to the turning of the door in front of him, the revolving metallic bordered panes of glass constantly turning bringing people in on one side, turning them out on the other. He just had to get in between them all in the process. He let out his own yell, this one of determination and desperation as he lowered his head and again rolled forward.
It wasn’t enough.
He felt the claw of the beast dig deep into his back, tearing into his body as easily as it ripped through his coat. As he collapsed out of the whirling dervish of the door into the lobby, he also heard the monster bellow out in shrill pain as the door caught its leg. He fell against the cool tile of the lobby floor, his arms instinctively wrapped around his body. Feeling frantically, he made sure that his cargo was still there, pressed close against his chest, almost a second skin now. He tried to stand and run again, but too many bones were broken and too much blood was lost. His eyes, already foggy with the breath of Death looked back toward the street and saw the beast there, out in front of the building, its leg oddly bent. He nearly allowed himself a smile at this, until he watched two others walk up beside it, different colors, but of the same breed.
Turning away, he desperately searched for the next step. He was in the savior’s lair, but that meant nothing if he could not get to the man himself. He dragged his inevitable corpse across the lobby, navigating people as he had on the street, looking for another dangling cord from above, some miraculous way he was going to ascend to the upper floors where heroes such as he sought surely lived. Just some way to get there.
Then he saw it. Right in front of him, his way in. In tall, ebony letters. He wanted to shout out, to sing the songs his mother had taught of him, songs of praise and rejoicing. But time for such things had long passed. He watched his chance slipping away as the opening into the last step of this journey began to close. With what little strength remained in his body, he jumped, wrapping his fingers around the edge of his ticket up, and forced himself up and over. He pitched forward, trying to throw himself through, when he felt something heavy close on him, slamming into his back, crushing him against the metallic wall he was pressed against. He was dying, but he had to get in. He had to get to Doc Daye.
*******
“I have to get to Doc Daye!”
“Sir,” the uniformed security guard, by name Frank Yemen, held his right hand up, palm out, for the third time. Cautionary gesture, he thought, remembering his training. ‘Do what you can to dissuade and warn,’ Doc had told him and all the others he’d gone through new hire orientation with, ,because, remember, most people really do need help, even when they are aggressive and agitated.’ “Sir,” he said again, this time in a softer, less assertive voice, “I understand. Really I do. But-”
“How in the name of Hades Hildebrand can you understand?” the blow and bluster of the man’s cavernous voice, the stuff of stories throughout the city, was less than Yemen expected it to be, but the spittle the speaker spread all over his face and anyone within a foot of him more than made up for it. August Rothguard was most likely one of the three wealthiest men in Sovereign City, which would put him at least in the top ten of that list for the entire world. He was a large man and did everything in the same way. Large. But today, he seemed so much smaller, the guard noted that, even though he’d only seen Rothguard’s face in the newspaper or on the billboards touting his company, Rothguard Manufacturing, under the standard, “Trust in Rothguard’s.” As he watched this captain of industry fluster and bluster like an unhappy child, though, Frank Yemen felt anything but trust.
“Mr. Rothguard, if you’d-”
“To bollocks with this!” Rothguard threw his thick tree trunk like arms up in the air, his thick sausage fingers curling into fists. “You tell Tempus Daye that he will see me now or I will make sure everything with the name Daye on it in this city has my name on it by year’s end! I don’t come here because I want to, you young fool!” Rothguard surged forward suddenly, carried it appeared by the ferocious urgency of his own words. “I am about to die and Doc Daye has to stop it!”
“Mr Rothguard.” Frank Yemen held up his right hand, palm out for the fourth time, but this time he pressed it hard against the millionaire businessman’s chest. He recalled this part of his training, too, from Thomas Pariah. ‘Even if they need help, aggressive and agitated can quickly escalate into pushy and combative. So, yeah, handle with gloves of kid, but don’t be afraid to apply pressure of force when called for.’ Narrowing his eyes, Yemen said, “I assure you that word is already on its way to Doctor Daye’s office and his man for handling things, Mr. Pariah will be here as soon as-”
“Please,” the words that escaped from behind the ashen gray walrus mustache Rothguard was famous for no longer echoed and thundered. They came from trembling lips and his voice was that of a man interminably gripped by fear. “I…I have to see him. Please. You… You don’t understand. They’re…going to kill me…like the others…please.”
“No one is going to-” Yemen started this sentence to assure Rothguard that now that he had made it to Daye Tower, he was as safe as if in his own mother’s arms. Those words hung in his throat, though, as he felt something on his hand, the one pressed against Rothguard’s chest. At first, it was like a shudder, a slight tremor traveling through the big man’s body. Yemen ignored that, sure it was nothing but an instinctive reaction to being touched. But what stopped him in mid sentence was the sensation of something warm on his hand. Something spreading. Something wet.
August Rothguard opened his mouth to say something else, but nothing came out except blood, tumbling out of his mouth like a crimson waterfall. His body lurched and then his chest collapsed, Frank Yemen’s already bloody hand falling into the gaping cavity, his fingers now coated in the mangled mess that seconds before had been Rothguard’s heart.
Each of the Spectacled Seven wish you and yours the best of holidays, regardless of what and how you celebrate! As a gift from us (as well as all the pulp writers, artists, and otherwise involved), ALL PULP will be posting sneak peeks, excerpts, and all sorts of goodies throughout the day as presents to you, teasers and such for the pulp to come!
Chuck Miller, author and creator of THE BLACK CENTIPEDE, DOCTOR UNKNOWN, and other various characters, provides a Christmas tale at his website-http://theblackcentipede.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-encounters-of-merry-yuletide.html- that ALL PULP now offers you a glance at here-
“Christmas Encounters of a Merry Yuletide Holiday Kind”
NOTE FROM VIONNA VALIS:Season’s greetings to all our readers! It’s Christmas, and that is traditionally a time of year when people in the public eye, like me and Mary, try to come up with some way to profit from it. I cannot help but notice all the Christmas stories that pop up all over everywhere—movies, TV shows, comic books, novels, etc.Unfortunately, we don’t really have any Christmas cases for me to write about. It just hasn’t happened yet.But there’s a bright side. Since I write these things and you read them, And I’m here and you’re there, you really have no way of knowing whether or not any of it is true. Now, I’m not going to just sit down and totally make something up that never happened. I have standards. But I see nothing wrong with a little seasonal marketing, as long as I’m honest about what I’m doing.So, I have taken the story of my and Mary’s first case, which actually happened in the summer, and turned it into a Christmas story. No major overhaul, I just added a few things here and there to give it a bit of a holiday flavor. I knew you wouldn’t mind, and I’m sure you’re going to love it.You have my permission, if you want to, to make it a tradition in your family to sit around and read this story every year. I might talk to a TV producer and see if I can get it made into a claymation program to be shown on the network each year. For the purists out there, I have highlighted in red all the stuff I added in.Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and all of those other things!
Your Friend,
Vionna Valis Christmas, 2010
“CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A KIND WE’D RATHER NOT THINK ABOUT”or“Maybe We Should Just Let the Truth STAY Out There”
Merry Christmas! My name is probably Vionna Valis. I don’t know what nationality that is, so don’t ask. I don’t know, and I’ve never heard of anyone else that has it for a name. Either one of them– Vionna or Valis. They seem to have come from nowhere. Just like I myself sometimes seem.
I am, as my adopted brother Jack says, something of an enigma, even to myself. I believe I am approximately nineteen years old, but I can’t be sure of that, any more than I can be absolutely sure my name is really Vionna Valis. I have a birth certificate that proves both of those things, but that could have come from anywhere. I can’t vouch for anything because I have these huge holes in my memory. Also, I tend to get confused because I am not alone inside my head.
I don’t remember much of anything about my own life prior to a couple of years ago. Not even all the wonderful Christmases I’m sure I had. I don’t know why. That’s strange enough, but on top of that, I have some kind of something living inside my head that makes me know and remember things that never happened to me. I always find out later that the things I remember really did happen at some point in the past, but I was nowhere near them at the time. Often, I wasn’t even born yet. Whatever he or she or it is, this thing, I call it my “roommate.”
And that’s enough about all THAT for right now. I have a WHOLE lot of what they call “backstory,” and so does everybody else I hang out with. But most of it is not really necessary for you to know in order to read and follow this story.
Not too long ago, I and five of my friends opened up our own detective agency. My five friends have some fairly awesome psychic powers, which are very helpful, and I have whatever it is that I’ve got, which is sometimes helpful, so we figured we might as well do something with all that. Especially around Christmas time.
The name of our agency is the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. I better explain why that is. This is more backstory, but I’ll make it quick.
My five friends’ names are Mary Jane Kelly, Catherine Eddowes, Annie Chapman, Liz Stride and Polly Nichols. If those names sound familiar to you, it is because they were all murdered back in 1888 by Jack the Ripper. There have been tons of books about the Ripper, and their names have appeared in all of them.
To put it all in a nutshell, a while back me and some other friends of mine—My brother Jack, a man called the Black Centipede, and a young woman known as Doctor Unknown– were having trouble with something we thought was the ghost of the actual Jack the Ripper. We needed to find him and do something about him, and one of my friends got the idea that we ought to try to summon up the spirits of his victims in the hope that they might lend a hand. So we did this weird magic ritual, sort of like a séance, and it worked. And because of a strange set of circumstances, the girls returned, not as bodiless spirits, but as real flesh and blood human women. (Editor’s note: See The Optimist, Book One: You Don’t Know Jack, 2010 Black Centipede Press)
The girls don’t remember anything about being dead. They say they don’t think they blocked it out of their minds because it was unpleasant or scary or anything. They figure there are just some things that won’t fit inside a person’s head when they’re on this side of the line between life and death. The human brain is wired up for just so much and no more.
Anyhow, I was explaining the name of our agency. Whitechapel is an area in the city of London, England, in which the girls were all murdered by Jack the Ripper in 1888. All before Christmas. The Whitechapel Vigilance Committee was a committee that was formed at that time in order to be vigilant over Whitechapel. Obviously they didn’t do all that great a job. But the girls say the people who did it meant well, and one of them, George Lusk, had a pretty traumatic experience on account of it—the Ripper mailed him half of the kidney he cut out of Cathy Eddowes—so they thought the name should be given a second chance to redeem itself or something, which is fine with me, I didn’t have any better ideas.
Mary Kelly, the last victim that got killed, is the most outgoing of the girls and the smartest one, too. She is a natural leader, and that is the role she has in the agency. I am a natural person who does a lot more than she gets credit for but doesn’t complain about it because she doesn’t really care, just so she gets the job done, so I am like a combination of secretary and second-in-command, even though I do more actual work than Mary. But I don’t mean that in a bad way, because, like I said, I’m a natural.
Well, I guess that’s pretty much all you need. So let’s get going.
ONE
It was 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, very close to Christmas, when the peculiar Mister Keel left our office. Our brand new office, to which he had been the first genuine paying client visitor. I got up from my desk and went to the wall safe to put away the cash retainer he’d given us. Two thousand dollars in twenty-dollar bills! I would be able to buy a lot of wonderful Christmas presents with that!
Mary Kelly, sitting at her desk, messing with her computer, turned to me and said, “What a queer fellow.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, closing the safe and going back to my own desk. “He’s married. To a woman and everything.” I held up the eight by ten glossy portrait Mr. Keel had given me of his wife Janet.
“I don’t… Oh, I see. “ Mary sighed. “Vionna, I shall never get accustomed to the way certain innocuous words from my era have been hijacked into conveying more… controversial meanings. The other day when I told Jack he was looking exceptionally happy—using a word I had every reason to believe meant that and nothing more—he looked at me as though he might like to take my head off.”
“Oh, I knew what you meant, I was just joking.” (I don’t like to tell lies, but since I knew Mary didn’t believe me, it didn’t really count.)
And she was right about our visitor. Client, I should say. Mister Keel had been a real oddball. He’d shown up out of the blue at 3:45, knocking on our door and asking if this was the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee Detective Agency. I told him it was, because it is, though we have not yet put up our little sign on the door. I thought he might be someone collecting donations for poor people for Christmas.
“I have a rather embarrassing problem, and I hope you might be able to render some discreet assistance,” he said, after I had answered the door and he had introduced himself and wished me a Merry Christmas. I said I bet we could, that’s what we’re here for, and why don’t you come into the office?
I should mention that our headquarters is in an old brownstone house downtown on West 35th Street. It actually belongs to Dr. Dana Unknown, a great friend of ours, who rents it to us for practically nothing compared to what people charge for apartments and things these days. It’s a great house, and it is very close to an important place that is so secret, I can’t even tell you what it is, much less where it’s located.
Anyhow, Mr. Keel followed me a short way down the hall and into our business office. I’m not very tall, and Mister Keel was shorter than me. In fact, he seemed kind of delicate all over. Very skinny, not much color in his face. I was really surprised when I shook hands with him and found out that he had a good, solid grip, even though his hands were small and looked about as rugged as bone china. Not only did he have a grip, but I got the idea he wasn’t using much of it, and if he chose to apply the whole thing, I might end up being the one with a hand that looked like some fine china that had been dropped onto a hard floor. I handed him a nice candy cane and a cup of eggnog.
I introduced him to Mary Kelly, who was the only other member of the agency present at the time, other than myself. The rest of the girls were busy that day getting enrolled at a community college. Having assimilated the fact that they are now in the 21st century to stay, they decided they wanted to get the most out of it. One way in which we are better than 1888 is that women are allowed to do more things. Mary Kelly, who got more education than most girls did back when she was alive in the 19th century, decided to work with the detective agency full-time and further her education later on.
Mr. Keel’s eyes darted around the office in a strange way. He reminded me of a rabbit, or possibly a small dog. I had the idea that he’d like to go around sniffing everything if he could get away with it. In fact, he gave our Christmas tree such a look, I ran out and got an armful of newspapers, just in case.
I told him to sit down, and he sat. Sort of like a dog.
“I don’t really know how to say this, so I’ll just say it,” he said, making it sound like he was apologizing for something. “I’ve never had… Well, It’s my wife, you see. Here, I have a picture of her.”
He opened a large manila envelope he was carrying and handed me the photo I described earlier.
He cleared his throat and said, “To be quite blunt, miss, I suspect that she is being unfaithful.
“For almost a year now, there have been peculiar occurrences. Since last Christmas, in fact. They seem to happen about once a month. I will awaken in the morning feeling peculiarly groggy, as though I had a hangover. However, I do not drink and never have.
“On these same mornings, my wife will invariably be in a state of some disarray. More than once, her feet have been muddy, as though she were walking around barefoot out of doors. She denies any knowledge and does not even bother to offer a plausible explanation.”
“Have you any other grounds for suspicion?” Mary asked.
“My dear,” he said, “if what I have told you so far is insufficient, I don’t know what else I should be expected to produce.”
“But why do you suspect adultery, specifically? Surely these things could admit of other explanations.” Mary is really good at this stuff.
“Perhaps. But, whatever is at the root of it, I think one would be hard pressed to find a benign explanation for these events. Whatever is happening, I’d like to know about it.”
He had a point.
“You have a point,” I said. I turned to Mary, who was multi-tasking by putting tinsel on our tree while listening to our client. “He has a point, Mary. What you sound like you’re suggesting, Mr. Keel, is that your wife drugs you in your sleep and then sneaks out for whatever, knowing you won’t wake up and notice she’s gone.”
“That crossed my mind, yes.”
“Have you asked her?” Mary wanted to know.
“I have. She admits nothing and denies nothing. Nor, as I say, does she even bother to fabricate some innocent explanation. When I speak of it, she says nothing at all.”
“Hm,” I said. “Curiouser and curiouser. It sounds like the game’s afoot.” (I picked up those phrases from a couple of Jack’s books that I read. I like the way they sound, and I think it impresses people when you talk like that.)
“Well,” Mr. Keel said, “if things run true to form, we are due for another incident within the next week at most. Are you interested in taking the case?”
“Yes,” I said. “Even though it is so close to Christmas and all.”
“I don’t…” Mary said.
“YES,” I said louder, giving Mary a look. “We’d be glad to.”
“Splendid,” he said, rubbing his hands together. He reached into his pocket and produced the wad of bills I told you about earlier. Along with them, he gave me the photo of Janet Keel, which is what his wife’s name was, and a card with directions to his house.
After he left, wishing Mary and me a Merry Christmas before he stepped out into the snow, and also after the little scene that started this chapter, Mary presented me with her misgivings.
“I don’t know that I approve of this, Vionna,” she said. “A divorce action? Adultery? Isn’t that rather tawdry?”
“I can’t say, since I don’t know what that word means. But I do know the meaning of the word lucrative, and that is what we have in our safe right now. “
“You have a mercenary streak that surprises me.”
“Heck, Mary, we’re just starting out. We can’t afford to turn anybody away who comes to us suggesting anything that isn’t illegal. He isn’t asking us to kill her. Plus which, it’s almost Christmas!”
She said nothing to that. I could see she was working on swallowing the whole idea, like a hard, sticky chunk of Christmas candy. Once she got it down past her windpipe, she asked, “How do we go about this?”
“We put her under surveillance,” I said.
“How does that work?”
“Well, we go where they live and we just sit and watch.”
“That seems simple enough. Have you done this often?”
“Never. But how difficult can it be? We go and keep an eye on the house. If she sneaks out, we follow her. We have cameras, and if we catch her doing, you know, whatever, we take a picture of it.”
Mary shook her head. “That seems awfully sordid.”
I had to agree.
“I have to agree,” I said, “but sometimes you have to do stuff you’d rather not. Anyhow, if she really is deceiving her husband, he has a right to know, don’t you think? After all, ’tis the season.”
It is the time of year that thoughts most often turn to good will, generosity, sugar plums, what you’re gonna get from under the tree, and just how many sales you can hit. But for a pulp writer, especially one like me who sniffles and comes up with an idea, it’s a time ripe for thinkin’, creatin’, and reimaginin’. Christmas provides a lot of fodder for that.
And who am I to turn down free fodder??
Let me state that this is one of those ideas that I am only posting on here because I do not have time to do it right now. If someone comes along and wants to pitch a story within the universe I’m going to briefly touch on here or wants to write this story or this in this version (you’ll see why I specify in a minute), then I will want to at least plot and probably co write with them, simply cuz, this is one I want to give some attention to when time allows. So, having said that, this idea is copyright me today and thereforth and hencewhen. This is my intellectual property, but wouldn’t mind someone hollerin’ at me for permission to play with it.
THE ADVENTURES OF NICHOLAS SAINT
That’s right…I did it….I went and turned the fat guy in the red suit and rosy cheeks into a Doc Savage pastiche. Yup, you heard me…I mean, come one, he practically IS Doc if you look at him just right and besides, I’m not the first to go this particular direction…. Let’s review the key points.
First, in this version of the world, as in any other I’ve ever read, there is an eternal struggle going on between good and evil. As this struggle has been eternal, members of both sides of the fight have come into being that are representative of legends, myths, and stories passed from generation to generation, people to people. By the 1930s, these heroes and villains, though largely considered story and fable, are alive and well and still fighting. The most vigilant and diligent of the heroes in this massive war, the one who stands on guard 365 days a year even though he is associated most notably with one particular day, the one who, even though the world doesn’t know it, gives the gift of justice and security every minute of every day. That’s right…Nicholas Saint, The Man up North.
Nicholas Saint is the world’s foremost inventor, engineer, explorer, scientist, you name it, this guy standing just over six feet tall and weighing in at a muscular 300 pounds can do it. He also has so much mental and physical control of his body that he can actually shrink himself a few inches, reposition his muscles to give him the appearance of a bigger belly, and even will his cheeks to be rosy and his normally close trimmed white beard to grow a bit if given a few minutes. That’s right, kids, if he’s ever caught out in public, he just converts to look like jolly old St. Nick…or another disguise if that’s more appropriate.
Hailing from nowhere in particular, Saint makes his headquarters up near the North Pole. Using technology of his own design, he conceals a vast complex of workshops, research facilities, and other structures almost in plain sight on the snowy terrain. Lending him assistance are his ‘elves’, actually members of the Pantunuik tribe, a long lost Eskimo people believed to be legends themselves, largely because they are all diminuitive, no more than four feet tall.
Saint also has a bestiary up there at the Pole, one containing long thought extinct and even mythical creatures and then some of his own experiments into genetic engineering. Yes, this includes most notably a herd of reindeer with many abilities, including flying. He even has one reindeer that gives off a phosphorescent light, although all everyone seems to see is his muzzle.
He is married to Eva, a woman of human origins who found herself drawn to investigate cases of a strange hero coming and going and finally finding herself both in love with and taking on a part of his essence and mission, therefore being as long lived as he is.
As far as how long they live, they are not immortal. They can be harmed by extraordinary means, such as magic, massive explosions, lightning…or they can be harmed very easily at the hands of another like them, another legend taken life that represents good or evil.
The first story in my head is directly related to Christmas, although all of them will not be. Nick can be saving the world on a daily basis, even when it’s not Christmas. He often just hides in plain sight and people say, ‘Mom, look, he could be Santa if he were fatter.’
The first story in my head is entitled ‘The Adventure of the Children Christmas Forgot’ and would involve a small midwestern town, the one case Nick Saint considers his failure, and a clash with an evil seducer of children who calls himself Mr. Hamlin.
There ya have it, a brightly decorated red and green idea shot once again like a bullet from Yours Truly! Have a Pulpy Christmas!!
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Book Reviews by Tommy Hancock
The Evil in Pemberley HouseBy Philip Jose Farmer and Win Scott Eckert Dust jacket by Glenn Orbik Published by Subterranean Press Length: 216 pages
If you’re a reader of All Pulp, especially recently, then you’re familiar with the concept of the Wold-Newton Family and Universe as well as knowing a bit about pulp and science fiction icon Philip Jose Farmer. Although Farmer left this world in the last few years, a vast body of notes, ideas, completed and unfinished works remain in his fantastic wake. THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE was, until recently, on the unfinished list. Fortunately, writer and PJF expert/researcher Win Scott Eckert picked up the gauntlet unintentionally left by Farmer’s passing and THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE is now complete.
And, oh boy, that is a good thing.
The basic plot is that young Patricia Wildman, daughter of famed crimefigher, scientist, and general all around genius Doctor James Clarke Wildman, finds out she has inherited an estate, the Pemberley House of the title, and all the wealth and possibly titles that go with it. Recently widowed and having lost her parents as well, Patricia welcomes the distraction of going abroad and sorting out this inheritance. Mayhem instantly ensues with attempts on her life, introductions to rather repulsive family members and Pemberley residents, kidnapping, and rape. Oh, wait, then there’s the curse that a ghost of long dead relative revisits for three nights on the anniversary of her death to a person in her direct lineage. And, yes, that would be our young heroine.
Farmer and Eckert weave a gothic tale that is punctuated throughout with pulpy goodness. Patricia Wildman is actually a thin, almost transparent mask worn by the main character who is actually the daughter of Doc Savage. Inherent in this character is all the strength, description, and vitality that comes through in tales of Doc, tempered by a rather human fallibility, one of which I’ll speak more of in a bit. The characters around Patricia, though most of them are repugnant and dare we say irredeemable, add gaudy, fascinating color to this tale of intrigue, family secrets, conspiracies, murder, and even on some level vengeance. Throw in the fact that this is Wold-Newtonry at its best and you get Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake, Jane Austen characters, and Tarzan, among many others salted and peppered from beginning to end. The phrasing and structure is definitely Farmer and there is mostly a seamless line between Farmer ends and Eckert begins.
The only drawback I encountered with THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE related to the focus on sex, especially early in the book. Now, I know that there has been and will likely always be much discussion of Farmer’s use of sexual activity and connotations in his books, starting with ‘The Lovers’ and filtering through various other works. Patricia’s human fallibility relates to sexual issues and this is made glaringly apparent through almost the first half of the story and although reinforcement is necessary in a novel, this felt heavy handed and forced on the reader at times. This definitely improved as the book went on and the resolution that the end brought to these issues was complete and satisfying, but there is some concern that readers who might be turned off by sexual descriptions and such would stop reading too soon. DON’T! There is tons of action, adventure, character interaction, and dramatic tension still to come!!
All in all, THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE stands out as a fantastic addition to the works of Farmer. Eckert deftly delivered a complete tale with enough dangles to have another tale or two yet to tell.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-Definitely one worth reading and rereading, even if the sexual references get a bit heavy early on.
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Book Reviews by Tommy Hancock
TALES OF THE RED PANDA-THE ANDROID ASSASSINS by Gregg Taylor Published by Autogyro 148 Pages
A series of novels in any field is only as good as its basic components-Its writer, its characters, and the fact that it’s not a retread of the books that have come before in plot. By those standards, the third novel in the TALES OF THE RED PANDA series, THE ANDROID ASSASSINS, is really good.
Let’s take the last point first, at least in part. Here’s the plot in short-Millionaires are being threatened and essentially blackmailed by an unseen villain. At the same time, Toronto is beset by robotic roustabouts credited to a mechanical, maniacal madman familiar to the city. And there to bridge the gap in both of his identities and with the Flying Squirrel at his side stands ready-THE RED PANDA!
Once more Gregg Taylor brings the stalwart pulp masked man and his spunky partner to the written page in grand style. There is more than enough fighting, arguing, and sparring within these pages to satisfy any Decoder Ring Theatre fan and that’s just between the Panda and the Squirrel! Taylor does a wonderful job of balancing these over the top characters with more realistic supporting cast, particularly when dealing with Red Panda’s many agents. There are plenty of heroics to go around in this tale of justice and robots and Taylor is excellent at making sure everyone gets a chance to be either as good or as bad as they choose to be.
Taylor almost paints pictures as he constructs characters in this book. The Panda and the Squirrel spring from the page fully realized, but this is no surprise if you’ve read the previous two books and/or listened to DRT’s shows. What is even more stunning is how the characters that we aren’t very familiar with take on a life of their own. There’s some ‘spoilers’ in this book on things that will take place in the Panda’s future that DRT listeners will pick up on and those hints don’t lie in the plot, but in the characters that Taylor applies liberally and lastingly to his own special canvas.
Speaking of art, although the covers on the last two TALES books were good and eye catching, the cover of ANDROID ASSASSINS by Thomas Perkins is simply…wow. It evokes a comic book like feel, yet has something about it that reminds me of classic pulp covers. The emotions apparent in the Panda’s face, the grace of the Squirrel’s combat, and even the raw electricity of the androids pop and live on this cover. Well done, Mr. Perkins.
THE ANDROID ASSASSINS fell slightly short, however, of its two predecessors. Without saying enough to spoil it, the introduction of and build up of the mystery at the center of the entire plot was a bit clunky. Taylor’s transitions and exposition, especially in the first half of the book, lacked a touch of the smoothness of execution so evident in the first two entries in the series. By the middle of the story, however, Taylor was in fine form once more, making the story flow like fine wine.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-Even if it doesn’t quite pass the bar set by Taylor already, this one definitely leans hard on said bar and is one heckuva fun read. The Panda and Squirrel are old friends to the reader that has followed them through all three books by this point. And it feels good to read an old friend.
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Book Reviews by Tommy Hancock
TALES OF THE RED PANDA-THE MIND MASTER By Gregg Taylor Published by Autogyro 162 pages
I think readers and reviewers alike have certain expectations about the second book in a novel series. We, because I am one of each, always hope that the book following the debut of a series will at least equal its predecessor in quality, if the debut book was indeed good, yet we are often disappointed, not always greatly so, but usually disappointed that the follow up book just doesn’t quite stand up to what came before it.
Not this time.
TALES OF THE RED PANDA-THE MIND MASTER is the second in the TALES series from Taylor starring his Decoder Ring Theatre character, The Red Panda, and his unflappable sidekick and chauffeur, the Flying Squirrel. This book not only adds on what has already been established both via the audio programs and the first novel in the series ,but it pulls back curtains and allows readers sneak peeks into the Panda’s past, letting us know a little bit of what made the man behind the mask the hero we know and cheer today.
Like the first novel, this plot is pretty simple. A new criminal force has moved into Toronto and has two goals-to charm and work his way into control of the city through the rich and mighty as well as the criminal element; and to find the one individual who may equal his very own mind centered abilities and could be the only person who might stop him. That person turns out to be The Red Panda!
THE MIND MASTER delivers action, adventure, revelations, and the great banter back and forth between the Panda and the Squirrel, the Panda and the bad guy, the Panda and…everyone else in it that has become a trademark of DRT’s work thus far. Something that stands out about this book, though, is the villain himself. Not only does this character stand as a near equal to our hero throughout the novel, but he’s also a good foil, a twisted mirror image of what the Panda might be should he ever make the wrong decisions. Seeing this sort of confrontation adds a depth to the Panda that makes the conclusion of the book that much more satisfying. Also, the glimpses into how Panda went from pampered playboy to pulp hero were great trimming around an all in all complete adventure.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF HANCOCK’S HAT-Pulpy goodness again. This stands up alongside its parent book and stands there very well.
TALES OF THE RED PANDA: THE CRIME CABAL by Gregg Taylor Published by Autogyro 167 pages
Pulp is such a wonderful field. It reaches into so many genres, mediums, and individual lives. And many times those things cross over, in this case mediums.
For those that don’t know, a group of stalwart, brave writers and actors have been hard at work the last few years producing top pulp audio for free out here on the wild, wooly internet. These Canada based combination of great voices, keen storytelling skills, and overall action and adventure tinged with a bit of hilarity, is known by the nomenclature DECODER RING THEATRE! The driving force creatively behind DRT is an actor/director/writer by the name of Gregg Taylor. Gregg has provided DRT with their flagship character, one who screams pulp first by his name and then with your first listen of any of his DRT episodes. That’s right, Gregg Taylor is the man behind Canada’s greatest mysteryman in the pulp tradition today- THE RED PANDA!
If you’ve ever heard the audio adventures of the Red Panda and his high kickin’, high glidin’ female sidekick, the Flying Squirrel, then you will know that translation from the art of the ear to the art of the eye was only a matter of time. That time came in 2009 with the release of the first TALES OF THE RED PANDA novel-THE CRIME CABAL!
Let me get the synopsis out of the way first-The Red Panda and The Flying Squirrel have very nearly eliminated the organized crime element in Toronto in the 1930s. With their last collective breath, the few remaining gangsters decide to cross villain lines of a sort and team up with two supervillains to form a crime cabal that even the Red Panda cannot stand against. Or so they think….
OK, that’s it, that’s the walnut version of what the book is about. And that is one of its greatest strengths as a pulp novel. Its storyline is simple, to the point, and easily explained and understood. Major points there. Of course, some would say it sounds like a dozen other pulp tales. Therein enters the proof that Taylor fills the pudding with. The unbelievable characterizations that abound in these pages boggle the mind. The Panda and the Squirrel come to life, both in and out of masks, and jump off the page. Not only that, but the supporting characters, good and evil, do just what they are meant to-flesh out the story, add color where it is needed, and make this rollicking adventure roll even harder and hit even faster. Plus, if you’re a fan of the DRT episodes before you read this, a great little ‘first meeting’ of the Panda and one of his best allies is at the center of this tale.
You want fisticuffs? Snappy repartee? Gangsters? Maniacal madpeople? And a hero who messes with minds, walks on walls, and generally can be where he isn’t when you look there? Then Gregg Taylor deftly delivers above and beyond with this first of his TALES OF THE RED PANDA books. Go today and find THE CRIME CABAL and get your pulp on!
FIVE OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-This book climbs to that rare pinnacle shared by a few other works as being one of the best executed examples of modern pulp produced today.
Although its an area of pulp not fully explored on ALL PULP…yet, old time radio, as well as modern radio drama has a strong place within the pulp field. ALL PULP’s Tommy Hancock is working on a series of columns, reviews, and interviews that will open up OTR to ALL PULP’s readers. The following reposting from the Associated Press via the New York Times website, is of import to OTR and Pulp fans alike…another great has gone.
Fred Foy, Famous for Lone Ranger Intro, Dies at 89
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 22, 2010
Filed at 2:53 p.m. EST
BOSTON (AP) — Fred Foy, the radio announcer best-known for calling out “Hi-Yo, Silver!” in his passionate lead-in to “The Lone Ranger,” has died at his Massachusetts home. His daughter, Nancy Foy, says her father died Wednesday of natural causes. He was 89. Nancy Foy says her father worked as an actor before landing the job as the announcer on “The Lone Ranger” in 1948. Radio historian Jim Harson said Foy’s dramatic introduction, performed over and over for the live program, was so good it “made many people forget there were others before him.” Nancy Foy says that to the end of his life, her father never tired of repeating the intro to anyone who would ask. Fred Foy is survived by his wife of 63 years, Frances Foy, and their three children.
A young flatfoot gets more than he bargained for when called to shake out a brawl. The fight was long gone, but the barmaid was there, cooling. She was coming on like the bedroom flu, he got her digits. She had his number.
Acclaimed author J. Walt Layne kicks off his Champion City series with A Week in Hell (113 pp., tpb, $6.99), an introductory thrill ride across the tracks into the seedy, hardboiled side of a dying blue collar city. Layne first charmed readers in 2006 with Frank Testimony, his deeply effective legal thriller. His small but loyal following tantalized with the promise of the forthcoming series, shall wait no longer.
J.T. O’Connor, author of The Coming of T’Loal, says, “J. Walt Layne is an apt student of the hardboiled style: a bit more literary than Chandler but every bit as hard hitting as Cain and Spillane. He has moved out of literary shadow land and onto the mean streets of Champion City. A Week in Hell will hit you right in the mouth!” A Week in Hell (Champion City Series #1) hits the ground running.. Beat cop Thurman Dicke makes rounds by day during the hottest July on record. A routine call to sort out a brawl will change his life and what he thinks he knows about the rackets forever.
Editor Shell Wilbye says of Layne’s hardboiled debut: “This is a cracking story. Congrats on writing your best so far. An EXCELLENT job…” J. Walt Layne works as a Substitute Teacher and Home Economist in Springfield, OH. He studied Business and Human Services at Urbana University. He is currently marketing several books and working on his current series. Layne maintains a presence on Facebook and is re-launching his blog at http://championcityontheweb.blogspot.com/.
And with this final FLASHBACK, ALL PULP’s archiving is complete!! Enjoy news from the earliest days of ALL PULP!!
Announcing the newest place for Pulp Writers, Artists and Fans to come together!
PULP ARK MAY 13-15, 2011 BATESVILLE, ARKANSAS!!!
Pro Se Productions, LLC. (www.proseproductions.com) in conjunction with Main Street Batesville of Batesville, AR announces PULP ARK 2011!! Pro Se Productions, a company specializing in pulp storytelling in various mediums, primarily magazines and comics, made its debut in March, 2010! Pro Se also seeks to bring all the over the top, grandiose, slam-bang impact of pulp to the South! PULP ARK, scheduled for May 13-15, 2011 will be a convention dedicated to the Pulp Genre as well as a conference made up of panels, workshops, and activities to appeal to the Pulp writer, the Pulp fan, and that most unique creature, The Pulp Writer/Fan! PULP ARK will be held in the historical town of Batesville, AR. Nestled in the scenic Ozark foothills, Batesville provides most definitely a small town charm, but has facilities of all sorts, including hotels, major and local restaurants, and several venues for hosting panels, conferences, and vendors. Batesville also affords a relaxed setting, different from most large cities where conventions are held, but also conducive to creativity, relaxation, and a furthering of Pulp fandom!
PUBLISHERS AND VENDORS WELCOME-REASONABLE TABLE RATES
LEADING NAMES IN PULP TODAY AS GUESTS (OFFICIAL LIST ANNOUNCED SOON!)
PANELS LED BY WRITERS, ARTISTS AND PUBLISHING COMPANIES
WRITERS AND ARTISTS WORKSHOPS BY LEADING NAMES IN PULP TODAY
A PULP STYLE INTERACTIVE ADVENTURE THROUGHOUT PULP ARK
EVENTS FOR SPOUSES AND FAMILY MEMBERS
DISCOUNTS AT LOCAL HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS!
MAY 13-15, 2011-Prepare for the Flood of All that is Pulp-Get your place on the PULP ARK today!
For more information, contact Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief and Audio Director for Pro Se Productions at proseproductions@earthlink.net or call or text at 870-834-4022
STAY TUNED TO ALL PULP FOR FIRST RUN PULP ARK NEWS!!!
CAPTAIN FUTURE FLIES AGAIN, THANKS TO MOONSTONE BOOKS!
Prior to the 1939 World Science Fiction convention, editor Mort Weisinger dreamed up a new character to present to the hordes of ravenous science fiction fans: Mr. Future. Weisinger handed the idea over to young and talented writer, Ed Hamilton, who retooled the initial concept into Captain Future: Wizard of Science. Wiesinger knew they were on to something, but had little idea his initial idea would lead to the birth of the space opera sub-genre that spawned such undying favorites as Flash Gordon, Star Trek and Star Wars.
Over 70 years later, Captain Future returns to serialized fiction in the pages of Moonstone Books with stories penned by Mike “Phantom” Bullock with spectacular art from Norm Lanting and Bullock’s fellow Phantom creator Silvestre Szilagyi. Look for the first Captain Future tale, Voices, in the upcoming Moonstone Pulp Magazine.
FIRST EVER PULP THEMED RESTAURANT OPENS DOORS FOR FIRST TIME TODAY!!
Pulp writer and Owner/Publisher of Age of Adventure Publishing, Wayne Skiver announces today that his dream project (He’s also a master chef as well!) will be opening its doors for a special preview party tonight! Skiver is owner and proprietor of RAYGUN CAFE (Rue St. Francois, in Historic, Old Town. Florissant, Mo. That’s St. Louis basically, folks!). This experience is described as “AMAZING Food served in an explosion of Retro Sci-Fi, Super Hero, and Pulp Art. You won’t believe your tastebuds or your eyes!”
The preview party being held this evening at 6 PM is the (invited) public’s first look at this exciting dining adventure! It is also a fundraiser for a very worthy cause. According to Skiver, “A $10 Donation (Not necessary for kids 12 and under) gets you any menu item, side and drink as well as mountains of appetizer sized versions of our other menu items! Part of the proceeds from this event will go towards St. Judes Childrens Hospital.” In a ‘sort of’ All Pulp exclusive, Skiver has provided the menu for tonight’s event as follows:
Chicago style Hot Dogs Loaded Chili Cheese dogs Italian roast beef with spicy Giardianera Italian Sausage with grilled onions Rosemary Chicken Breast and Bacon Panini Chipotle Turkey Panini on Herbed Focacia Signature Spicy Deviled Eggs Fresh Chili Summer Vegetable Soup Red Skinned Mustard Potato Salad Home made Chocolate chip pecan pie
Raygun Cafe will be open to the public in October and All Pulp will carry the news of the grand opening!! The intent as Skiver noted, is for Raygun to be more than eating, but to be education and truly an experience. “Where can you learn about the history of the Pulps? The forgotten heroes of the Golden Age? Where can you experience Science Fiction art from the 1930’s to the 1970’s? Online? Sure…But why not LIVE and IN PERSON? RAYGUN Cafe’ will feature a constantly rotating dreamscape of art and exhibits from Pulp, Comic, and… Pop culture! Its a place to meet, explore, and of course EAT! Feed your body and your imagination!”
EPISODES FROM THE ZERO HOUR! DELIVERS ADVENTURE WITH VOLUME 3
NEW JERSEY – Modern pulp publishers Episodes from the Zero Hour! are proud of their latest installment, Volume Three, featuring globe-trotting adventure with Rex Rockwell, Weird Game Hunter and Mac Samson: The Secrets of the Lost City.
Volume Three, on sale at the Zero Hour! electronic storefront, www.lulu.com/zerohour, also marks the publishers’ first book away from the hard-boiled, neo-noir world of Federal City and its resident Tough Guy for Hire, Tommy “Knuckles” McNichols.
“When Jason and I first imagined Episodes from the Zero Hour!, we never believed that it should be restricted to the hard-boiled stories we featured in Volumes 1 and 2,” said publisher and book designer Anthony Schiavino. “The original pulps ran the gamut from weird fantasy to far-flung science fiction, from tough guy detectives to war heroes and even prototype superheroes. From the beginning, we said we wanted to tell good stories, and didn’t want to be tied down to a specific genre.”
“Volume 3 has been a long time coming, but we think it’s worth the wait,” said author and editor Jason Butkowski. “Rex and Mac are completely different characters from Knuckles, but the stories live up to the standard of good story-telling we strove for with our first two volumes. If you’re looking for a good read that stays true to the sense of adventure from the original pulps, Episodes from the Zero Hour! is your destination for modern pulp.”
Episodes from the Zero Hour! Volume Three contains three tales of adventure featuring Rex Rockwell, Weird Game Hunter, written by Butkowski (author of Episodes from the Zero Hour! Volume One: Featuring Knuckles, Tough Guy for Hire) and illustrated by Rich Woodall (artist of creator-owned comic Johnny Raygun and art director for the ZombieBomb! comic anthology) and three stories featuring Mac Samson: The Secrets of the Lost City, written by newcomer S.E. Dogaru and illustrated by Duane Spurlock (proprietor of The Pulp Rack Web site, www.pulprack.com).
The volume also features the first part of a serialized story, C.T. and the Savage Chimps of Cannibal Mesas, written by Schiavino (creator/writer of the Sgt. Zero independent comic) and Butkowski and illustrated by Dave Flora (artist/writer/creator of independent comic Ghost Zero) and the usual back-ups and special features that Zero Hour! Productions have become known for.
The synopsis for Rex Rockwell, Weird Game Hunter, from the book jacket: Behind the walls of Blaylock Manor, hidden from prying eyes, lies the Evy Rockwell Nature Preserve for the Weird and Unusual, home to some of the strangest animals ever to roam the Earth. Rooted in the myths, folklore and fables of primitive people, these beasts – collected by Rex Rockwell and his band of adventurers – live out their lives, protected from a world that would fear and kill them. Rockwell and his team travel the world, employing the latest technological marvels and ancient mystical relics to discover the undiscovered and protect mankind from threats beyond human understanding.
“Jason’s created a universe where myths come to life, and a team of adventurers protect us for the things that go bump in the night,” said Schiavino. “He takes inspiration from steampunk and gothic fiction, as well as a litany of world folklore and legends, and weaves a cryptid Victorian fantasy that draws you in from page one.”
The synopsis for Mac Samson: The Secrets of the Lost City from the book jacket: Mac Samson’s been a lot of things in his years: hired muscle, treasure hunter, thief, rum runner… but it’s when an exotic women from his past shows up that he gets pulled into the greatest adventure of his life! What secrets does the mysterious journal of Professor Jennings hold?! Why is the Third Reich tirelessly pursuing his lovely companion?! And will Mac survive this pulse-pounding, globetrotting, gun-toting escapade wrought with intrigue, danger, explosion and fearsome air battles to discover the secrets of the Lost City?!
“Stefan has created a reluctant hero who can stand toe-to-toe with the best of the best in terms of pulp and pulp-inspired protagonists,” said Butkowski. “Mac Samson is a tough-talking, two-fisted throwback to an era when the world was in turmoil, and heroes stepped up to do the right thing, whether it was convenient or not.”
Episodes from the Zero Hour! Volume Three is now available at www.lulu.com/zerohour in hardcover for $21.60 and paperback for $14.00. In addition, all three volumes of the Zero Hour! publications will soon be available in eBook format, to bring the best of modern pulp to the latest platforms in book distribution.
###
A BLINDING FORCE PRODUCTIONS SERIALIZED FEATURE EPISODES FROM THE ZERO HOUR! VOLUME THREE
Written by Jason Butkowski and S.E. Dogaru Cover by Rich Woodall Illustration by Rich Woodall and Duane Spurlock Production and design by Anthony Schiavino
180 Pages PRICE: $14.00 for paperback / $21.60 for hardcover
Find them on Facebook and at their electronic storefront: LULU.COM/ZEROHOUR
FOLLOW UP TO GREEN HORNET ANTHOLOGY ANNOUNCED BY MOONSTONE!!
Cover by Ruben Procopio
Cover by Kaluta
Moonstone Books announces the title and cover art to its follow-up to The Green Hornet Chronicles. The Green Hornet Casefiles will feature more great stories featuring the fabulous ’60s version of The Green Hornet and Kato.
Rubén Procopio’s cover effectively teases the mysterious and thrilling tales to be found on the pages between the covers. And Moonstone doesn’t stop there! The alternate cover is by none other than Michael Wm. Kaluta!
Co-Editors Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert are currently hard at work editing the stories.The book is due out in April 2011.
In the meantime, be on the lookout for Volume One, The Green Hornet Chronicles, hitting shelves any day now!
NEED ACTION, MYSTERY, ADVENTURE?? THEN VISIT SOVEREIGN CITY FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS!
Pro Se Productions, LLC, the company putting monthly back into pulp with its PRO SE PRESENTS titles (Peculiar Adventures, Masked Gun Mystery, and Fantasy and Fear) announces the SOVEREIGN CITY PROJECT! Three writers join together to undertake the building of a Pulp Universe in a grand style!
Derrick Ferguson begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting, Barry Reese begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting, and Tommy Hancock, all published pulp authors and fans to boot, are the creators of THE SOVEREIGN CITY PROJECT. “The task,” Hancock stated, “was not only to come up with three ideas that shared the same space, but to figure out how to develop that space in a way that blends creativity and design was the trick. But then we came up with Sovereign City.”
The city, so named because of its prime location, having access to any and all a city needs to grow into a metropolis, is as much a character as the three action packed, two fisted concepts the three writers have placed in Sovereign-
FORTUNE McCALL by Derrick Ferguson-An enigmatic, charming man makes his mark on Sovereign City by fighting crime and injustice from the deck of his floating casino! With a cast of characters as exciting as the adventures he leads them into, Fortune McCall is a man of muscle, mind, and means to bring Sovereign City out of the darkness!
Barry Reese’s LAZARUS GRAY (Art by Tarik El)
LAZARUS GRAY by Barry Reese begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting-A man wakes up on a Sovereign City beach. No name, very few clues, but with a purpose. To seek out evil in every shadow and hole that Sovereign City has and to save the city some thought would save the world from its own version of Hell. Surrounded by skilled, colorful aides, Lazarus Gray delves into the mysteries of Sovereign as well as his own!
DOC DAYE, 24 HOUR HERO by Tommy Hancock-Born to heroism. Raised for perfection. The Savior of Sovereign City. Doctor Tempus Daye, scientist, scholar, adventurer, hero, and more, but also a man with a curse that could not only destroy his life, but could ultimately mean the fall of Sovereign itself. How does a man who was created to save the world protect it from himself??
THE SOVEREIGN CITY PROJECT debuts in September’s PRO SE PRESENTS PECULIAR ADVENTURES #2, with the first LAZARUS GRAY story. FORTUNE MCCALL debuts in October’s issue of PSP MASKED GUN MYSTERY #2, followed in November by DOC DAYE in PSP FANTASY AND FEAR #2. Each issue of PRO SE PRESENTS starting in September will have at least one SOVEREIGN story within its covers.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of this collaboration” reported Barry Reese begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting, “and think that my new character, Lazarus Gray, will have a lot of legs. The idea of a shared universe is something that I think a lot of pulp fans will really embrace and the nice thing about it is that all three of us have the freedom to maintain our own natural styles, while simultaneously sharing the load of building a whole new world!”
For release dates on all of Pro Se’s wonderful Pulpiness, check out www.proseproductions.com!
THE ROOK FLIES AGAIN IN HIS FIFTH VOLUME!
Wild Cat Books is proud to announce the fifth volume in The Rook Chronicles. Thrills and chills galore, featuring many characters, both old & new, and villains & enemies from The Great Old Ones to Count Dracula himself… Not to mention the death of a Pulp Hero!
The book will be 6″x9″, 316 pages, and priced at $14.95. Great artwork by Anthony Castrillo and a special bonus “Rook” story by Stacy Dooks… and there’s even have a Pin-Up by the legendary Fred Hembeck!
NOTED COMIC AND PULP VETERAN WINS AWARD!
Springfield, Ohio played host to the second annual Champion City Comic Con this past weekend. A show dedicated and focusing not only the collecting of comics, but the independent creators who make and self-publish their own books. Among the half-dozen guests invited to the show was comics veteran (and pulp writer and publisher), writer Ron Fortier. Later, during the awards ceremony, the Champion City Comic Con Award for Best Continuing Independent Series went to Mr.Jigsaw – Man of a Thousand Parts, by Ron and artist Gary Kato. Mr.Jigsaw, a comedy super hero has been around for over twenty years and has appeared in a half dozen comic publications in that now. This is the first on-going series of his adventures and is published by Rob Davis’ Redbud Studio through on-demand facilities of Ka-Blam.
The books are sold via the Indy Planet internet store and by Ron and Gary at their con appearances.
There have been seven issues released in the past year and a half with number eight currently in production.
PULP 2.0 PRESS UPDATE: 13 September, 2010 RADIO WESTERN ADVENTURES TO INCLUDE NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN LESTER DENT WESTERN TALE “SNARE SAVVY!”
Los Angeles, CA : Pulp 2.0 Press Mad Pulp Bastard Bill Cunningham announced today that the publisher is adding a never-before-seen Lester Dent tale to its upcoming wild west book release RADIO WESTERN ADVENTURES (RWA). Dent of course is the world-famous pulp writer of the 30’s and 40’s who created the legendary DOC SAVAGE and THE AVENGER pulp characters. This wild west tale, “Snare Savvy” written in 1932 will join Donald F. Glut’s cover tale, “Who Really Was That Masked Man?” to create a western “double feature” tribute to Jim Harmon, the Old Time Radio historian and author, to whom this special book is dedicated. The contract for “Snare Savvy” was negotiated by the author’s agent, noted pulp writer and historian Will Murray on behalf of the Dent estate. The story is a classic western featuring Dent’s smart alec cowboy character Haw Kain who rides into town and a whole mess of trouble when he goes up against greedy land grabbers looking to strike it rich. “We are pleased as punch to be able to add Dent’s ‘Snare Savvy’ to Radio Western Adventures,” said Cunningham. “ It makes an already unique book like RWA that much more special to western and pulp fans. As I read it I could easily see Roy Rogers and Dale Evans as the lead characters Haw Kain and Genie Quayle. Their banter matched perfectly, each giving as good as he or she got. I’m ecstatic over the prospect of publishing a pulp master like Dent’s work, and grateful that Will Murray thought Pulp 2.0 would be a good publisher for the tale.” Radio Western Adventures will be published on Amazon’s Kindle platform for digital reading and will later come out as a print release via Createspace. The Kindle edition will feature both stories as well as an essay tribute to Jim Harmon whose love for radio western heroes was well known amongst fans. This digital edition will also include several photos resurrected from Don Glut’s archives showing the profound influence these radio cowboys had on the author and his peers. Pulp 2.0 Press’s print edition will include all of the above plus even more bonus features exclusive to the print version. Both versions will feature a stunning cover by artist Nik Macaluso (www.scripttease.tv) who created the fantastic blaxploitation cover art for Pulp 2.0’s first release BROTHER BLOOD (also by Glut). For more information on this book please visit our website at: www.pulp2ohpress.com About Pulp 2.0 Press: Pulp 2.0 Press, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA was initially formed to republish classic pulp and paperback series which had fallen out of print. The company’s mandate is to place affordable pulp entertainment into eager fans’ hands using the latest internet technology. This includes print, ebooks, video, audio, merchandise and games. To us, ‘pulp’ is not a particular genre, format, medium nor literary time frame. Pulp is an attitude. In this way, Pulp 2.0 Press is positioned in a slightly different, more expansive manner than other publishers. The company is poised to create, develop and distribute ‘pulp entertainment’ across a variety of media through the portal of the internet and mobile devices.
BLACK COAT PRESS ANNOUNCES SEPTEMBER RELEASES!! Black Coat Press, a publisher known for its international pulp fiction, announces the following releases for September, 2010.
In Helgvor of the Blue River (1929), two desperate women flee their barbarous tribe, and cross paths with a prodigious warrior. The Giant Feline (1918) features two friends of different races who set off in search of greener pastures for their tribe, befriend a wild creature, and ally themselves with Wolf-Women… Rosny’s final, action-packed prehistoric adventure novels chart the domestication and integration of savage human instincts into sympathetic culture. Together with Vamireh and Quest for Fire, they combine the restless vigor of youth, the violence and wisdom of ages, the species-imperative of accepting difference and diversity, and the exhilarating joy of defying tyranny and death.
Daniel Diersant drives his Volkswagen up to the factory gates and presents his pass to the guard. Over and over and over, Daniel Diersant drives his Volkswagen up to the gates, in the course of this narrative, only sometimes they are not quite the same gates, nor is the guard the same, nor does the pass read precisely the same, and perhaps the picture on it is of another man’s face. But then, Daniel Diersant may be Dr. Robert Holzach from time to time, despite the fact that Dr. Holzach may not have been born yet…
Chronolysis is one of the most important French SF novels of the 1970s. It deals with time and its manipulation through the use of chronolytic drugs. Its protagonists are psychronauts, helpless explorers of a confusing, multidimensional universe, facing threats from alternate realities, such as Harry Krupp Hitler 1st, Emperor of the Undetermined, or the mysterious Phords from the future world of Garichankar. They search for secret paradises, hidden within the folds of space and time, away from their bleak realities, such as the tropical realm of Oblivion-by-Ruaba.
This volume also includes a foreword by Theodore Sturgeon, a biography and illustrated bibliography of Jeury and a never-before-published short story translated by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier.
A team of spelunkers is found dead in mysterious circumstances in the shadow of the once-proud Cathar redoubt of Montségur, in Southern France. What mysterious treasure were they seeking–and did they find it? A ruthless battle over long-buried secrets is going to pit the Roman Catholic Church against an ancient secret society and descendents of the Nazis who once looked for the Holy Grail in Montségur, with the very future of Humanity at stake…
Published in France two years before the world-famous Da Vinci Code, The Song of Montségur is an award-winning, fast-paced supernatural thriller which blends elements from French history with modern-day conspiracies.
Brian M. Stableford has been a professional writer since 1965. He has published more than 60 science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as several authoritative non-fiction books. He is also translating the works of Paul Féval and other French writers of the fantastique for Black Coat Press which also published his most two recent fantasy novels: The New Faust at the Tragicomique, The Wayward Muse and The Stones of Camelot.
VAMPIRES VS. WEREWOLVES!
Age of Adventure is currently in production on an anthology that will pit two sets of classic monsters against one another! Featuring a cover by the incredible Rob Moran, this anthology will feature tales that run the gamut from traditional horror to post-modern reinterpretations of the classic myths.Expect this one to arrive in time for Halloween!
THE SEA-WITCH AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
For a limited time, Joel Jenkins’ newest foray into the world of pulp fiction, The Sea-Witch, will be available for pre-order via the Pulpwork Press website! And if you order from the US, you’ll receive free shipping, with reduced shipping for everyone else!
To get a taste of what it’s all about, visit Pulpwork Press’ UPCOMING RELEASES page at http://www.pulpworkpress.com/upcomingreleases.htm. Then stop by our store and order your copy today!
And later on this month, ALL PULP will be interviewing Joel Jenkins about not only The Sea-Witch but his other Pulpwork Press projects, including the acclaimed Dire Planet series.
Coming in September! PRO SE PRESENTS PECULIAR ADVENTURES #2!!
Alternate histories!!! Unknown worlds!!! Heroes that save the world right after their morning coffee!!! What, you say you don’t know where to get all that, plus a weirder than weird tales comic adventure starring some guy named Gary Wooten?? Well, look no further! Coming in September from Pro Se Productions, PRO SE PRESENTS PECULIAR ADVENTURES #2 will meet all your strange tales and high adventure needs and then some! Read stories by newcomers Lee Houston, Jr. and Robert Butt! Marvel at the continuing adventures of Perry Lell, Girl of a Thousand Earths by Megan Smith begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting and the Cerberus Clan by Ken Janssens! Thrill to the wild, weird world of alternate realities by veteran Joshua Reynolds! DO NOT MISS THE DEBUT OF THE SOVEREIGN CITY PROJECT! The first story in this fantastic endeavor appears in this issue, introducing a mysterious character who walks the supernatural line in Sovereign City! Be sure to read Lazarus Gray’s debut adventure by veteran author Barry Reese! And discover a sneak peek at an upcoming anthology from John Morgan Neal and friends that defines adventure! And lastly, concerning the title character, hold on tight, Oddfellowians, for the debut of pages of the official Fan’s Guide to the Varied Adventures of Peculiar Oddfellow, recently rediscovered and written by his number one fan! There’s even more than that coming to you this month in PRO SE PRESENTS PECULIAR ADVENTURES #2 from Pro Se Productions!
PRO SE PRESENTS PECULIAR ADVENTURES #2
Edited by Nancy Hansen begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting, Editor in Chief, Tommy Hancock
Shipping this week! Doc Savage # 6 from DC’s First Wave line!
Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO & IVAN BRANDON · Co-feature written by JASON STARR · Art by NIC KLEIN · Co-feature art by SCOTT HAMPTON · Cover by J.G. JONES · Variant cover by JOHN CASSADAY The US government has offered Doc and his men a deal: run a secret mission in the war-ravaged, blockaded ruins of the Middle East, and they’ll wipe the slate clean of the frame-up job that the Secretary of State ran on them. Doc Savage is nobody’s errand boy – but if the mission involves saving the life of one of his former compatriots, he might just have to cut a deal with the men who set him up! Eisner Award-winner Brian Azzarello joins Ivan Brandon for a six-part epic that reveals the most dangerous corner of the FIRST WAVE world!
And in the JUSTICE, INC. co-feature, a new story sheds light on the criminal past of Smitty, one of Benson’s most trusted detectives… and sets both men on a bloody odyssey that will clearly draw the line between “Vengeance and Murder!”
NEVER BEFORE SEEN IMAGES FROM MOONSTONE’S FROM THE VAULT: THE PULP FILES!!
Before Batman, Superman, Daredevil, Punisher and Wonder Woman there was a group of heroes who influenced those who created today’s icons. From Gladiator, Spider, Black Bat and Golden Amazon to Captain Future, Phantom Detective, Rocketman and many more sprung all that comic readers know and love today. Now, Moonstone Books is bringing back those original characters, some for the first time in comics, so you can enjoy what laid the foundation for the entire comic book medium. As a primer to this new originals universe, Moonstone is releasing the Pulp Handbook, packed from cover to cover with everything you need to know in order to embrace the characters Stan Lee, Joel Simon, Jack Kirby and many other comic book pioneers loved. CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW FOR HANDBOOK PAGES ON THE BLACK BAT AND DEATH ANGEL!! (Written by Mike Bullock, Art by Mike Metcalf, Layout/Assembly by Josh Aitken)
On Sale Now!
THE PHANTOM UNMASKED #2, Written by Martin Powell, illustrated by Hannibal King, cover by Franchesco.
Investigator Laughton Brice, brilliant as she is icily beautiful, traces the true origins of The Phantom into the Deep Woods, ultimately meeting the Ghost Who Walks face to face. In a deadly cat-and-mouse game of deceitful double-crosses and unexpected alliance, the Man Who Cannot Die finally faces his most evil and ancient adversary. Conclusion of the Moonstone series.
Coming October 1, 2010 – the newest pulp thriller from author Bill Raetz: SIN CITY SPY!
“Las Vegas. It’s known as the city of sin. But beneath all the sleaze lies the underworld of shady deals, thugs, and double-crosses—the stomping ground of a spy!”
Dateline: Friday, September 3, 2010 BROTHER BLOOD is now on Kindle! The modern horror classic by Donald F. Glut is now electronic! Only $2.99 delivered direct to your devices. Yes, this book is DRM free. Its publisher, Pulp 2.0 Press wants you to read it how and where YOU want to read it.
Pulp 2.0 Press is also readying BROTHER BLOOD, as well as other books in its catalog, for other devices like the IPad.
Check out Pulp 2.0 Press’ website, http://pulp2ohpress.com/, for more information in coming days!!
Dateline: Friday, September 3, 2010
The Green Hornet Chronicles is at the printer and is shipping soon from Moonstone Books!
Edited by Joe Gentile and Win Scott Eckert Covers by Glen Orbik and Rubén Procopio/interior illustrations by Procopio
CONTENTS:
“Reflections on The Green Hornet”: Introduction by Van Williams
“The Night Car” by Will Murray
“I Had The Green Hornet’s Love Child!” by Greg Cox
“Weakness” by C.J. Henderson
“Topsy-Turvy” by James Chambers
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Richard Dean Starr
“Just a Man” by Thom Brannan
“The Cold Cash Kill” by James Reasoner
“Flight of the Yellow Jacket” by Howard Hopkins
“By Scarab and Scorpion” by Mark Ellis
“You Can’t Pick the Number” by Rich Harvey
“Eyes of the Madonna” by Ron Fortier
“Stormy Weather” by Patricia Weakley
“The Auction” by Terry Alexander
“Go Go Gone” by Robert Greenberger
“Mutual Assured Destruction” by Bill Spangler
“The Crimson Dragon” by Mark Justice
“Fang and Sting” by Win Scott Eckert
“The Inside Man” by Matthew Baugh
“The Soul of Solomon” by Harlan Ellison(R)
“Life at 90 MPH”: Afterword by Dean Jeffries
“The Green Hornet’s Hunch” by Dennis O’Neil (bonus story in Limited Editions only)
The Green Hornet Chronicles is at the printer and is shipping soon from Moonstone Books!
Shipping to comics shops 9/9/10!
Domino Lady Noir Apr101013 (W) Nancy Holder (A) Shawn Van Briesen (C) Michael J. Williams Great jumping on point! Bram Stoker Award-winner and New York Times best-selling author Nancy Holder tells of bad love gone bad in the comic novella “D.O.A.” Steamy white hot passion, the business of violent crime, and a girl who should know better! Gorgeous greyscaled art by Shawn Van Briesen!
Coming from Moonstone Books in September 2010! Part of Moonstone’s “Return of the Originals” line! By the team of Bullock and Metcalf!
DA Anthony Quinn is sick of watching criminals slip through his fingers due to legal technicalities. When a mobster’s attempt to destroy evidence goes horribly wrong, Quinn finds himself blinded by acid and hopelessly broken. Now sightless, Quinn sharpens his other four senses to near superhuman levels and develops a sixth ‘radar’ sense. He vows to work outside the law to do whatever it takes to bring criminals to justice.
Before the caped crusader patrolled the streets, before horn head prowled the back alleys, the original dark avenger hunted evil men. The Black Bat is back and hell’s coming with him!
The second feature stars Death Angel, the avenging hand of justice. The critically acclaimed new pulp character co-stars in this gritty, noir battle of good versus evil on the mean streets and in the darkest recesses of the human mind.
Dateline Friday, September 3, 2010
PRESS RELEASE – Lance Star: Sky Ranger comic book “One Shot!” now available!
November, 1941. Ace Air Adventurer Lance Star accepts a dangerous mission into an enemy stronghold to stop the Nazi’s from uncovering plans for a weapon long believed destroyed. Lance flies a solo mission to Kiev where he is to plant explosives and destroy a weapons facility when he runs into an old enemy. Now, Lance is faced with a choice. Complete the mission? Or take down the Sky Ranger’s greatest adversary? He’s only going to get one shot at this. Will he choose the mission or revenge?
Featuring high-flying adventure, aerial dog fights, explosive action, and stunning artwork, Lance Star: Sky Ranger “One Shot!” is pure pulp fun from start to finish.
“Lance Star: Sky Ranger “One Shot!” is exactly the sort of high-flying, action-packed air war yarn I really enjoy. It’s fine pulpish fun from start to finish. Bobby Nash and James Burns are aces!”
— James Reasoner
Lance Star: Sky Ranger “One Shot!” Written by Bobby Nash Art/Letters/Colors by James Burns 24 pages $3.00
Read Bobby Nash’s work. Your life will be better because of it. Trust me, I know! –Beau Smith
Based on the characters created for the Airship 27/Cornerstone Books Lance Star: Sky Ranger pulp anthologies that can be found at http://www.gopulp.info or wherever your favorite pulp fiction is sold. More high-flying action is on the way with the Lance Star: Sky Ranger novel, “Cold Snap” by Bobby Nash. Coming soon.
Since 2006, Lance Star and his air aces, the Sky Rangers have thrilled readers with their amazing adventures. The first Lance Star: Sky Ranger pulp anthology was published by Wild Cat Books in 2004. Vol. 1 was reissued in 2006 by Airship 27 Productions and Cornerstone Books where they remain available today. A second volume of anthology tales was released in 2009 and is also still available. You can find out information on the Lance Star: Sky Ranger Pulp Anthologies, volumes 1 and 2 on the site. Additionally, Bobby Nash is currently working on the first Lance Star: Sky Ranger novel, “Cold Snap.” Nash says that he hopes “Cold Snap” and “One Shot” will be the first of many Sky Ranger projects to come.
Keep watching www.lance-star.com and http://bobby-nash-news.blogspot.com for updates.
Dateline Friday, September 3, 2010 PRESS RELEASE – TALES OF THE BAGMAN (A New Hero in Old Chicago)
Airship 27 Productions & Cornerstone Book Publishers are happy to announce the release of their thirtieth title, TALES OF THE BAGMAN by B.C. Bell. This book features the debut of a brand new pulp hero, the Bagman, and he’s unlike any other crime buster you’ve ever seen before.
In the 1930s, Chicago was one of the fastest growing metropolises in the country. Situated on mighty Lake Michigan, it was the home to millions of hard working Americans looking to a better themselves. The Windy City was also shackled by its bootleg history, a time of violent gang wars that had permanently established a brutal underworld empire second to none. Corruption was the order of the day and both the police and government were in the pay of the mob bosses.
Frank “Mac” McCullough was a foot-soldier in one of the city’s toughest families until he was ordered to rough up his uncle; a decent man with a gambling problem. The innate decency in Mac rebelled and suddenly he found himself up against the very men he had once admired and followed. Determined to put an end to their lawlessness, he put a bag over his head as a crude disguise only to become labeled the Bagman by the press.
Now writer B.C. Bells tells the amazing stories of old Chicago’s most unique hero. Aided solely by a tough, black WW I veteran named Crankshaft, Mac wages war against the mobs in these fast pace, non-stop action tales pulp fans will cheer. “Bell’s writing is a terrific mix of pulp action and wry humor,” applauds Airship 27 Productions’ Ron Fortier. “It’s really a breath of fresh air in the pulp genre and we know our fans are going to love the Bagman.” Designed by Rob Davis, the book features nine illustrations by Kelly Everaert and a gorgeous cover by Laura Givens. Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to present pulpdom’s newest avenger, THE BAGMAN.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION! ISBN: 1-934935-76-X ISBN 13: 978-1-934935-76-7 Produced by Airship 27 Published by Cornerstone Book Publishers Release date: 09/03/2010 Retail Price: $21.95
Available now at on-line store (http://www.gopulp.info/)
