News – Page 320

Cherie Priest’s ‘Boneshaker’ coming to the big screen

News
December 2, 2011

Hammer Films bought motion picture rights to Cherie Priest‘s zombie-steampunk novel Boneshaker (published by Tor in 2009) via agent Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Hammer has already teamed with Cross Creek Pictures and Exclusive Media Group to produce the film, for which John Hilary Shepherd (Nurse Jackie) is writing the screenplay.

The book is set in an alternate 1880s Seattle, in which the city is walled in and a toxic gas has turned many of its residents into Rotters (zombies). A young widow hunts for her teenaged son in the Seattle underworld while dealing with airship pirates, a criminal overlord and heavily armed refugees.

‘Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons Comes To Broadway in ‘Harvey’

News
December 2, 2011

<knockknockknock> Harvey…

The Roundabout Theatre in New York has set Emmy-winning The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons, Jessica Hecht and Charles Kimbrough for a Scott Ellis-directed revival of Mary Chase’s 1944 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Harvey. Preview performances begin May 18, 2012 at Studio 54, and the play opens June 14 for a limited run that ends August 5. Parsons is playing Elwood P. Dowd (the James Stewart role in the movie), a guy who befriends a six-and-a-half-foot-tall invisible rabbit.

Yes, that’s during this year’s San Diego Comic Con. So unless Dr. Sheldon Cooper has a working transporter, it’ll be tough for him to be there this year… or will it?

Incoming Books: December 1st

News
December 2, 2011

Before I get to the box that came today, I have to thank Glenn Hauman, who was responsible for several big boxes of stuff that showed up semi-mysteriously yesterday, while I was at work. He was trying to get me started on rebuilding the collection that the flood destroyed, and it was one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me. (I haven’t really had a chance to see what’s there yet — I’ll probably have to wait until I have shelves again, and unload directly onto them to go through it all.) I’m not sure where all of it came from, so thanks to Glenn, and thanks to anyone else who was responsible.

But today a box came in from Midtown Comics, which used to be my local when I worked in the city, and which has been e-mailing me about their deals incessantly in recent weeks. Just before Thanksgiving, they had a sale that finally got me:

40% off most graphic novels
free shipping
and no tax, since I’m in New Jersey, where they don’t have a physical presence.

How could I resist? And so here’s what I got: (more…)

Marvel updates iPhone reader app to 3.0

News
December 2, 2011

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Marvel has updated its iOS app with a bunch of new features — however, the App store tells me that you will have to restore all your purchases after the upgrade. The new features sound worth it, however. What could go wrong?

To entice you, Marvel is running a big sale on stuff like SCHISM, ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN, and other recent releases. That’s a nice way to get people up to speed with the current goings-on for future print or digital purchases.

Nicolas Cage’s ‘Action Comics’ #1 sells for $2.16 million

News
December 1, 2011

The $2 million barrier has been broken, with Nicolas Cage’s CGC 9.0 copy of Action Comics #1 now holding the all time auction record.

A rare and pristine copy of the first issue of Action Comics, famed for the first appearance of Superman, has set a record Wednesday for the most money paid for a single comic book: $2.16 million.

“When we broke the record in 2010 by selling the Action Comics No. 1, graded at 8.5, for $1.5 million, I truly believed that this was a record that would stand for many years to come,” said Stephen Fishler, CEO of ComicConnect.com and Metropolis Collectibles.

The previous record set in March 2010 was followed by the sale of another copy for $1 million. But neither of those issues was in as good a condition as the issue that sold Wednesday, though it’s pedigree of setting records was already documented. Twice before it set the record for the most expensive book ever, selling for $86,000 in 1992 and $150,000 in 1997.

But in 2000, it was stolen and thought lost until it was recovered in a storage shed in California in April this year.

via Action Comics 1 sells for $2.16 million in auction.

A two billion percent increase in cover price in 73 years. Not bad. No word on who the buyer was.

DISNEY RELEASES JOHN CARTER OF MARS TRAILER

News
December 1, 2011

Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom novels, the full-length trailer for Disney’s John Carter of Mars movie has been released.

PULP EMPIRE MAKES OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

News
November 30, 2011

Since 2010, Pulp Empire publishing has created quarterly anthologies featuring dozens of stories by new pulp authors. The success of the recent Pirates & Swashbucklers anthology leads in to Pulp Empire’s publishing initiative for 2012: new anthologies backed by a cohesive theme!

First, Pulp Empire introduces the world to Heroes of Mars. The new anthology offers writers a chance to tell tales in the world of Barsoom, the now public domain world originally created by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912. Stories will tell tales from all over Burroughs’ sword and science saga. Submissions are due on December 31, 2011.

Modern Pulp Heroes has a concept as straight forward as its title. The anthology will feature stories of true blue pulp heroes but placed in a modern 21st century setting. Characters don’t have to be masked, but Pulp Empire wants to see a real high adventure setting with heroes in a contemporary setting. Submissions are due on March 15, 2012.

Today we also announce our third anthology, Aliens Among Us. This anthology will feature tales of humans in any non-future setting as they learn that aliens exist and very well walk among us. This can take the form of alien invasion scenarios, abductions, friendships or whatever an author sees their human/alien relationship to be. Submissions are due on April 30, 2012.

For details on all these anthologies, please visit Pulp Empire’s submissions page. http://pulpempire.com/submissions/

Paul Mannering’s TANKBREAD Now Available

News
November 30, 2011

Paul Mannering’s new novel, TANKBREAD is now available now in Kindle format at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006F820M2
Paperback edition coming soon.

About Tankbread, a novel by Paul Mannering.

Ten years ago humanity lost the war for survival against a spreading plague that brought the dead back to life as flesh eating monsters.

Now intelligent zombies rule the world. Feeding the undead a steady diet of cloned people called Tankbread, the survivors live in a dangerous world on the brink of final extinction.

One outlaw courier must go on a journey through the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Australia. Fighting his way into the very heart of the apocalypse in the desperate search for a way to save the last humans and destroy the undead threat.

His only companion is a girl with an extraordinary secret. Her name is Else and she’s Tankbread.

Praise for Tankbread:
Paul Mannering’s TANKBREAD is a guts and glory joyride into very dark territory. Very nasty and lots of fun!”
~ Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of DEAD OF NIGHT and DUST & DECAY

Mannering’s take on the post-zombie apocalypse is scarifyingly real. Baked dog while you take orders from your zombie master anyone? Sink your teeth into an Australia where the zombies are in charge – you
won’t be disappointed.
~ Rocky Wood, author of STEPHEN KING: A LITERARY COMPANION and HORRORS! GREAT STORIES OF FEAR AND THEIR CREATORS

“Tankbread reads like a tick-list of genre staples: tens of thousands of zombies, a brave, wise-cracking warrior hero, a beautiful woman who might just hold the key to everything, mad scientists, and even a knight in shining armour and a helicopter-piloting mother superior thrown into the mix! And yet the whole is far greater than the sum of its disparate parts. Tankbread is a blast from start to finish. A breathless, country-crossing zombie epic – kind of like Mad Max colliding head on with Dawn of the Dead. Mixing great action scenes, laugh-out loud moments, copious amounts of horror and lead characters you really grow to give a damn about, Tankbread is a unique and very entertaining entry in the over-saturated zombie genre. Read it and enjoy it – I did.”
~ David Moody, author of the AUTUMN and HATER series.

For more on Paul Mannering’s Tankbread, visit http://tankbread.blogspot.com/
Paul Mannering’s Tankbread is now available for Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006F820M2

Coming Soon: ‘The Hidden Earth Chronicles 1: Darkness Of The Light’

News
November 29, 2011

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Dynamite Entertainment Releases an Extended Preview of FLASH GORDON: ZEITGEIST #1

News
November 29, 2011

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Wraparound Cover Art: Francesco Francavilla

Cover: Alex Ross

Dynamite Entertainment has released a preview of the upcoming FLASH GORDON: ZEITGEIST #1, which debuts November 30^th wherever you buy your favorite comic book entertainment.

Click on images for a larger view.

Cover: Francesco Francavilla

FLASH GORDON: ZEITGEIST #1
32 pages FC • Full issue introductory price $1.00 • Teen +
Written by ERIC TRAUTMANN
Plot and Art Direction by ALEX ROSS
Art by DANIEL INDRO
Covers by ALEX ROSS (75%), PAUL RENAUD (25%), FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA (1-in-10), WAGNER REIS (1-in-25)
“Negative Effect Art” Retailer Incentive cover by ALEX ROSS
“Retro Original Art” Retailer Incentive cover by FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA
“Black & White” Retailer Incentive cover by PAUL RENAUD

Cover: Wagner Reis

“Sketch Art” Retailer Incentive cover by ALEX ROSS
The year is 1934, a time of two-fisted swashbuckling, of fearsome threats and wild adventure—and of ever-growing threats on the horizon.

Three valiant humans — Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov — are plucked from the Earth, traveling to the distant planet Mongo. Their exploits are legendary, battling the machinations and terror schemes of the dreaded emperor Ming, the All-Seeing Ruler of Mongo. But they did not fight alone…

Written by Eric Trautmann (Vampirella, Red Sonja), from a story and designs by Alex Ross (Kingdom Come, Marvels, Project Superpowers), and illustrated by Daniel Lindro (Sherlock Holmes: Year One).

To learn more about Dynamite Entertainment, please visit http://www.dynamite.net/.