MOONSTONE MONDAY-LOOK OUT FEBRUARY!!! HERE COMES SAVAGE BEAUTY!!!
Category: News
MOONSTONE MONDAY-HOPKINS DISCUSSES UPCOMING VOLUMES
From Howard Hopkins, Editor/Writer, Moonstone Books-
I am editing “The Avenger Chronicles” with Moonstone’s EIC Joe Gentile. Joe and I are both huge Avenger fans and I have written a history of The Avenger called The Gray Nemesis. The first volume is out and number 2 is nearly finished. All stories are in and edited and it will be called: The Justice, Inc. Files. Along with the story I’ve written for the voume., called Vengeance, Inc., I have done a series of six vignettes, each centering on one of The Avenger’s aides, for the special hardcover editions. Number 3 is half edited and will be ready soon, as well. We have some great stories by Joe, myself, Barry Reese, Ron Fortier, Will Murray and numerous others. And a couple of special surprises.
With Sherlock Holmes, the volume will focus on “crossovers”, teaming the Great Detective with some of fiction and history’s greatest characters. My own tale features Sherlock solving a case with Calamity Jane, allowing me to draw on my Western writing background and present two very different characters interacting with one another. It was one of the most difficult stories I have ever written, and I wanted to stay true to Doyle’s character and style, plus have a decent mystery for them to solve. My good friend, writer Martin Powell, got me involved in the project in a story writing capacity originally (and Martin is THE Holmes authority with some truly wonderful tales and comics written about Sherlock). I will be editing the anthology with Moonstone’s EIC Joe Gentile.
Introducing Double Feature Press – a new small press with an interesting concept.
Introducing Double Feature Press – a new small press with an interesting concept.
Charlotte, NC – October 24, 2010 – For immediate release:
Sarah L. Covert has been working in the Horror/Strange Tales/SciFi industry for some time. She started off creating several stories for a children’s Science Fiction board game. She spent several years with Lurker Films and the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon. Sarah is also the creator and editor of She Never Slept – a science fiction, strange tales, and horror news and reviews website.
The idea for Double Feature Press has been brewing for over a year now. After reviewing a lot of books from indie/small press, Sarah came to a realization. There are a lot of good publishers out there and some really great publishers, but for every one of those there are three or four really bad ones. She heard the same stories from many authors – – the publisher didn’t edit their copy, they didn’t promote them, they didn’t give them copies of their work, and worse than all that – sometimes the publishers wouldn’t even pay them. Eventually she grew weary of hearing this kind of thing and decided to become part of part of the solution… she threw her hat in the ring and added one more small press to the ranks of the good guys!
About Double Feature Press:
We are a small press formed by Sarah L. Covert in October of 2010. Sarah grew up on drive-in movies. That is where her love for Science Fiction, Strange Tales, and Horror was born. Double Feature Press has an interesting concept, based around the old double feature drive-in flicks. Each book has two authors. Each author contributes either short stories, poems, or novellas to make up their half of the book. The books will all be in the genres Sarah loved as a child and loves even more now. They will be limited edition runs. Our first book is due out in 2011.
About the Authors [for our first book]:
Photo Copyright 2010 Josh Lamkin
Robin Spriggs is the author of Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist, Wondrous Strange: Tales of the Uncanny, Capes & Cowls: Adventures in Wyrd City, The Dracula Poems: A Poetic Encounter with the Lord of Vampires, and nearly 200 short stories and poems that have appeared in a wide variety of publications. In addition to writing, he performs on both stage and screen and serves as a mentor and life coach to a diverse circle of poets, artists, madmen, etc. He is currently at work on no fewer than nine projects, his next book among them.
“…an author who is serious about stretching the creative boundries of fantastic literature.” –Cemetery Dance
“Spriggs’s style is filled with elegance, literary wit, and uncanny dread. His work builds to an inescapable climax that eschews the happy endings in the work of lesser fantasists. I enjoy the frisson of his endings immensely.” –Michael A. Arnzen
“…a master of the short form… a linguistic acrobat who works without a net.” –Harry Shannon
Photo Copyright 2010 Daniela Picht
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., a life-long fan of pulp horror, fantasy, and science fiction, found himself exiled from a happy anonymity as of 1999 when Chaosium, Inc. published his highly acclaimed Cthulhu Mythos novel Nightmare’s Disciple. His effectively chilling fiction and verse has appeared in collections including The Book of Eibon, Black Wings, Nameless Cults, The Tindalos Cycle, Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak Supernatural Sleuth, Rehearsals for Oblivion – Act 1, and many others. He has had nearly one hundred stories and poems appear in venues like “Strange Aeons Magazine” and “Crypt of Cthulhu”. He has received many “Honorable Mentions” in Ellen Datlow’s Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror and Best Horror of the Year. Joe also edited Ann K. Schwader’s verse collection The Worms Remember (2001).
Hippocampus Press released Blood Will Have Its Season, Joe’s first collection of short work, to much acclaim in 2009. It was edited by S.T. Joshi. Joe has new tales upcoming in S.T. Joshi’s Spawn of the Green Abyss (Mythos Books), and several other anthologies. His second collection of short work, SIN & ashes, will be published by Hippocampus Press [Winter 2010].
He is currently working on several new tales and his next novel, and has many new tales coming in anthologies, journals, and magazines in 2011.
“Some writers one admirers and others make one want to do as they do, or try. For me, Joe Pulver is of the latter type. His imagination is so vile so much of the time that it makes me giggle with amazement. And the prose so deadly visionary. I’m grateful that the pieces in this collection are those of a fellow horror writer who has raised the ante on what it means to be such a creature.” – Thomas Ligotti
“. . . I’m gawping in amazement, shaken by Pulver’s eviscerating vision. He wields language as a scalpel, a Thompson submachine gun, an axe . . . Joe Pulver calls down the fire. Joe Pulver’s the Man. He’s got the Power.” –Laird Barron
“The prose of Joe Pulver can take its place with that of the masters of our genre-Poe, Lovecraft, Campbell, Ligotti-while his imaginative reach is something uniquely his own.” –S.T. Joshi
Now Playing [About our first book]:
Robin Spriggs – The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom
The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom, according to arcane legend, is a collection of stories and poems about a collection of stories and poems by (if titles can be trusted) a certain Ozman Droom. But who is Ozman Droom? Or what is Ozman Droom? And when, where, why, and how is Ozman Droom? The answers to these and countless other questions of equally perilous rank await the curious seeker within the collection itself . . . provided such a book does indeed exist. And perhaps even if not. Caveat lector.
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. – Night Begets
Night burns and burrows, vast as any idea it declares its bottomless truth — Terminus. The players and observers come, absorb and discard atoms, fill moments with ripples they call magic, or love, or chance, heartache, and fate. For knowledge and pleasure they steal editions, wait for, or take, more. Night loves nothing . . . and, finally, it takes all.
Joe Pulver’s, Night Begets, is a collection of tales and poetic texts about lovelorn ghouls and other night-bound creatures as they discover sin and ashes bloom and echo in the noir labyrinths and pitch black, dungeon skirts of Night. It is a work that provokes and will leave an indelible mark on anyone who picks it up and comes through on the other side, painting a world that is as much brutal as it is beautiful and imploring readers to reconcile these seemingly antagonistic aspects of existence.
NEW COLUMN FEATURING ORIGINAL LA NOIR!!
NoHo Noir is fiction that’s not for the faint-hearted. Written by Katherine Tomlinson and illustrated by Mark Satchwill, these tales are weekly walks on the wild side, narratives torn from the bleeding heart of North Hollywood and Toluca Lake; stories of love and death and everything that lies between…
Check out this most original regional fiction at
MAJOR PRESS RELEASE FROM MONSTERVERSE!!
MONSTERVERSE, BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE HORROR COMIC and FILMS EVENING at the AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE in Hollywood, CA.
AN EVENING WITH BELA LUGOSI at the AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE.
Celebrating the career of horror icon Bela Lugosi and the launch of MONSTERVERSE’s new horror anthology comic book, BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE.
Thursday, 7:30 PM
October 28th, 2010
The Egyptian Theaterhttp://www.americancinematheque.com/egyptian/egypt.htm
Two Feature Films starring Bela Lugosi in THE BLACK CAT and THE RAVEN. With Boris Karloff.
Mainstream news coverage will be in effect for the Halloween weekend in Los Angeles, the media capital of the world. This is a major launch for the first issue of BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE horror anthology comic book.
Special Guests from Hollywood and the Comic Book Industry will be announced. Other featured guests are Bela Lugosi, Jr., and Kerry Gammill including contributors to BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE horror anthology comic book series.
There will be a Special Panel on Lugosi examing his career and the new comic book between films and a MONSTERVERSE Comic Book Display with contributors featured in the lobby.
An Exclusive Preview Trailer will be screened with art of the upcoming MONSTERVERSE graphic novel, FLESH AND BLOOD, written by Robert Tinnell and illustrated by Neil Vokes. To be unleashed Halloween 2011.
TRAILERS FROM HELL. Commentaries from directors Mick Garris and Joe Dante on Bela Lugosi and his films.
Poster design by artist Charlie Largent.
This exclusive event image may be Tweeted with:http://twitpic.com/2mxwhx
MONSTERVERSE is a new independent comic book company with a horror anthology book coming out in October 2010 and entitled, BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE.
Here is a direct link preview of the book and its pages posted on YouTube.
<a href=”
rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” title=”This external link will open in a new window”>LUGOSI HORROR COMIC YOUTUBE PREVIEW
The comic will be available at comic shops everywhere and online and is distributed by Diamond. For a new independent transmedia company MONSTERVERSE enjoys having the top talents in the world such as John Cassaday, Bruce Timm and the legendary Basil Gogos creating covers for its books. Writer/director (of the upcoming THE WALKING DEAD), Frank Darabont, gave this quote about cover artist Basil Gogos.
“Basil Gogo doesn’t paint pictures of monsters, and never has. What he does is conjure their essences on canvas like a magician. More than that, he conjures our love of these subjects in a manner that defies description or analysis. How does an artist infuse an entire fan community’s love of a whole genre into his brushstrokes? I’ll never be able to explain it, but I know I’ll always be grateful for it. Seeing Gogos’ portraits is revisiting the best friends of my childhood.” – Frank Darabont
Monsterverse was chosen the FEATURED COVER STORY on COMIC SHOP NEWS 1207 a few weeks back (distributed to over 500 of the top comic book shops nationwide and given out to customers with purchases). This article beat out the top comic companies in America, an impressive feat for a new independent publisher.
Take a look at our official website. We are quite proud of the amazing talents involved.
http://monsterverse.com/
MONSTERVERSE and BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE will receive special coverage in the upcoming double-sized Halloween issue of RUE MORGUE.There is a feature story on MONSTERVERSE and BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE also being prepped for their special Halloween issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS MAGAZINE.
MONSTERVERSE publisher Kerry Gammill is creating a terrific new feature cover for the January FAMOUS MONSTERS.
BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE is published by Kerry Gammill who is internationally known for his artist work at Marvel and DC Comics on titles like MARVEL TEAM-UP, INDIANA JONES, POWERMAN/IRON FIST and SUPERMAN. Kerry has also worked as a make-up effects designer on studio genre films such as VIRUS and TV programs such as STARGATE and THE OUTER LIMITS. Here is a link to Kerry’s professional art website:http://gammillustrations.bizland.com/monsterart/
This FANBOY PLANET article can give you a quick update on what is going on with the history of the company and its future plans:http://www.fanboyplanet.com/interviews/mc-monsterverse.php
This link takes you to our first issue cover by the legendary FAMOUS MONSTERS cover artist, Basil Gogos.http://twitpic.com/1doadj
Our variant cover is by one of the hottest artists working in American comic books today, John Cassaday, and who recently directed an episode of Joss Whedon’s DOLLHOUSE television series. Whedon has been tapped to direct Marvel Studios’ epic feature film, THE AVENGERS.http://twitpic.com/25v1o3
The back cover is by Warner Brothers animation executive producer and Emmy-winning designer/artist Bruce Timm.
To reserve a copy of the Lugosi comic book at a comic shop you need to supply them with the Diamond Item # Code, AUG101080, with the title, BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE. The first issues of the Lugosi comic book will be shipped in October to celebrate both Halloween and Lugosi’s 128th birthday. A special celebration of Lugosi films, the new comic book and its contributors is set for the American Cinematheque in Hollywood at its Egyptian Theater on Thursday, October 28th.
BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE will be a double-sized 48-page color quarterly and retailing for $4.99 and with no ads (except for a house ad announcing a serial adaptation of the novel DRACULA and starring BELA LUGOSI by Kerry Gammill and beginning in issue two). It is pure comic book fun and frights from front to back with a brief article on Lugosi.
BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE will feature some of the most talented storytellers working today in comic books and horror films. No other comic book series has this kind of industry talent nor do other comic book companies have these kinds of horror film heavyweights working on any comic book. This is a first in comic book publishing and dedicated to the fun and classic horror of Bela Lugosi but made for today’s audiences.
Movie directors like John Landis (An American Werewolf In London, Burke And Hare) and Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) along with make-up genius Rick Baker (American Werewolf In London, Michael Jackson’s THRILLER, Men In Black), will be providing stories and art for future issues. More Hollywood horror film creators are also working up stories.
The most acclaimed creators in comics will be writing and drawing stories such as Steve Niles (30 Days Of Night), artist John Cassaday (Planetary, Astonishing X-Men) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy).
The first issue contains stories and art by such notables as Kerry Gammill (SUPERMAN and SPIDER-MAN ), James Farr (whose XOMBIE online animated and comic book series is being brought to theater screens by Dreamworks in a live-action production by top writer/producers Orchi and Kurtzman), Chris Moreno (WORLD WAR HULK), John Cassaday, Rob Brown (voted online as horror artist of the year for BANE OF THE WEREWOLF), Derek McCaw, Rafael Navarro (creator of the Xeric Award winning series SONAMBULO), Martin Powell and Eisner Award- winning artist Terry Beatty (THE BATMAN STRIKES), Brian Denham (IRON MAN, ANGEL), Bruce Timm and more. The book also features an article by leading Lugosi researcher and author Gary D. Rhodes.
MONSTERVERSE ENTERTAINMENT is a transmedia company headed by its publisher and editor, the comic book and film design artist, Kerry Gammill.
Keith Wilson, formerly of DC Comics, is an editor and writer/artist.
Producer/screenwriter Sam F. Park is the west coast editor and a writer/artist.
We’re very proud of BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE and what has been accomplished within our growing independent publishing venture, MONSTERVERSE. This is our first comic book project with several more in development. We plan to make MONSTERVERSE the go-to company for horror projects in all media.
I’ve included links below to help with graphics, photos or information. Please contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,
Sam F. Park
West Coast Editor
MONSTERVERSE ENTERTAINMENT
“Bela Lugosi’s Tales From The Grave”http://monsterverse.com/
park@monsterverse.com
818-605-2181
Links:
Basil Gogos cover for Monsterverse’s “Bela Lugosi’s Tales From The Grave” http://twitpic.com/1doadj
John Cassaday variant cover for Monsterverse’s “Bela Lugosi’s Tales From The Grave” http://twitpic.com/25v1o3
Pre-order FORM to order BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE horror comic! Print/Send to your fav comic shop NOW! http://twitpic.com/2bxj2u
MONSTERVERSE ENTERTAINMENT’S “BELA LUGOSI’S TALES FROM THE GRAVE” is both a FEATURED ITEM and rated CERTIFIED COOL by Diamond Distribution’s PREVIEWS August magazine!http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Comics-from-the-MONSTERVERSE/118838267124?ref=mf
MONSTERVERSE Official Sitehttp://www.monsterverse.com/
MONSTERVERSE on TWITTERhttp://www.twitter.com/monsterverse
MONSTERVERSE PROJECTS BLOGhttp://monsterverseblog.blogspot.com/
MONSTER KID ONLINE HORROR MAGAZINE:http://gammillustrations.bizland.com/
REMO WILLIAMS playing at THE LONG MATINEE!!!
THE LONG MATINEE-Movie Reviews by Derrick Ferguson
REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
1985
Orion Pictures
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Produced by Larry Spiegel and Dick Clark
Screenplay by Christopher Wood
Based on “The Destroyer” created by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir
In the 1970’s there was a tremendous revival of pulp adventure heroes of the 1930’s and 1940’s. And as a result the paperback racks in bookstores were stuffed with novels reprinting the adventures of such classic characters like Doc Savage, The Shadow, Conan The Barbarian, G-8 And His Battle Aces and The Spider. They were helped along by breathtakingly beautiful covers done by legends of the art world such as James Bama, Jim Steranko and Frank Frazetta. And they sold like crack. And it was like crack to the imagination of a high school student named Derrick Ferguson who spent his entire allowance on buying them and who spent his weekends devouring them voraciously and it was these pulps that shaped my writing ambitions and my style.
Publishers who saw this trend for pulp adventure jumped on the bandwagon and soon there was a whole army of modern day characters inspired by the pulps with their own series fighting for space on the racks with their forefathers. Some of them were pretty poor, to be honest. Some like Mack Bolan, The Executioner still survive to this day. One of my favorites was The Inquisitor, a hitman that worked for The Vatican. He had to fast for three days for every man he killed while on assignment and his confession was only heard by The Pope himself. But the guy who really stood out and gained a rabid fan following that exists to this day is Remo Williams, The Master Of Sinanju who is the hero of “The Destroyer” series of novels which still enjoys life in paperbacks and was featured in the movie REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS which in the opinion of your humble reviewer is along with “The Phantom” one of the unsung classics of pulp adventure movies.
A New York East River and he’s presumed killed. He wakes up in a hospital where he’s told by the sharply dressed Conn MacCleary (J.A. Preston) that he’s been handpicked to be the enforcement arm of a secret organization called CURE. “Why CURE?” The cop asks. Cleary answers; “because this country has a disease and we’re the cure. You’re going to be the Thirteenth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Get Away With It.” Which I think should be the motto of just about every pulp hero. Especially guys like The Spider and Secret Agent X.
MacCleary gives him his new name: Remo Williams and takes him to meet the head of the organization, one Harold Smith, who works in a dark sub-basement of The World Bank. Smith tells him that CURE has only four members: MacCleary, Smith, Remo and the man who will train Remo: Chiun (Joel Grey) The current Master Of Sinanju, an ancient Korean who will teach Remo the art of Sinanju, which is the martial art from which all other martial arts such as karate, kung fu and ninjitsu was derived. CURE is an organization that is only known to The President of the United States
Chiun is takes Remo under his wing as his student and informs him that The House of Sinanju has a long history of ‘perfect assassinations’. As Chiun tells Remo in a scene that is hysterical to watch and listen to courtesy of Joel Grey’s utter seriousness and Fred Ward’s increasing disbelief, assassination is the highest form of public service. The House of Sinanju is responsible for the deaths of such notable historical figures as Alexander The Great, Napoleon and Robin Hood. All perfect assassinations carried out with such skill and grace that they appeared to be accidents or natural deaths. Chiun begins training Remo for his job while Smith lines up his first job: an industrialist named George Grove (Charles Cioffi) who has been bilking the United States Army out of billions with a weapons systems called The Harp that doesn’t work. Grove’s theft has come to attention of Major Rayner Fleming (Kate Mulgrew) who is making trouble for Grove and she’s targeted to be killed. Smith assigns Remo Williams to protect Major Fleming and expose Grove’s evildoing.
REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES isn’t a movie that comes up very often when people discuss superhero or pulp inspired movies but it’s a movie that I highly recommend you seek out and watch. Mainly for the performances of the always likeable and watchable Fred Ward (who would have been the perfect Rocky Davis if a ‘Challengers Of The Unknown’ movie had ever been made) and Joel Grey as Chiun. Their relationship in the movie is what really sells this movie as it progresses from one of active hatred to respect and love to the point where Chiun calls Remo his son and Remo calls Chiun ‘Little Father” The training scenes are a lot of fun, especially the one where Chiun seeks to conquer Remo’s fear of heights by having him stand on the top of a moving car of Coney Island’s world famous Wonder Wheel while dodging the other moving cars. The scene is helped tremendously by the fact that it’s obviously Fred Ward doing his stunts and its nail-bitingly suspenseful as well as hilarious, once again courtesy of Joel Grey’s comments.
In fact, Joel Grey effortlessly steals the movie as Chiun. He creates a wonderfully eccentric character that is as wise and as badass as Master Yoda. But a whole lot funnier. Chiun is capable of taking out an army of fully armed men barehanded but he’s also addicted to soap operas which he considers to be the highest artistic achievement of American culture. One of the best scenes in the movie is when he is forced to tell Remo that if Remo fails in his assignment to take out Grove that Chiun will have to kill Remo. The scene is done with a degree of feeling and sheer acting power that lifts it out of what could have been a run of the mill action movie and approaches real heart. It’s a terrific scene. It’s also helped by the music which is done by Craig Safan and it is absolutely one the best music soundtracks ever done for a movie. The theme music is guaranteed to get your heart pumping.
The only let down of the movie is the badguy. Charles Cioffi’s George Grove really isn’t much of a villain and it’s he’s not much of a threat. The fact that he’s stealing billions of money from the US Government reduces Remo to not much more than a high level collection agent and Grove’s crew of henchmen aren’t on the level of James Bond style enforcers such as Oddjob or Jaws which is what the movie really needs to give Remo a real threat. But the performances are what really sell this movie, especially those of a pre ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Kate Mulgrew and Fred Ward and Joel Grey. Joel Grey won two awards for his role in this movie: One from The Golden Globes and one from The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films and he deserved them both.
So should you see REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS? You get an enthusiastic Hell Yes from me. It’s a lost classic that needs to be seen by fans of superhero movies and lovers of the pulps. It’s modern day pulp all the way and it’s done with style, class and a love of the genre. It should be seen just for the terrific performances of Fred Ward and Joel Grey is nothing else. It’s a really good movie and a perfect Saturday night rental. Enjoy with my blessings.
121 minutes
Rated PG-13
ANOTHER OUTLET PICKS UP ALL PULP!!!
From Bobby Nash, one of ALL PULP’s Spectacled Seven-
The N. GA Community Daily is out and they picked up my retweet of an All Pulp story.
http://bit.ly/91nGPw
Bobby
The word on ALL PULP is getting out! People are picking up our work! This particular piece is the recent ‘TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT’ to EPISODES FROM THE ZERO HOUR: VOL 3
LAURA GIVENS FEATURED ARTIST IN ALL PULP GALLERY!!!
Welcome to ALL PULP’S PULP ARTIST’S WEEKEND GALLERY!!! This is where artists delving into that wonderful, wild world of Pulp Art can display their work! Each weekend more art will be added, both the art of interviewed artists as well as art of those who simply want their work shown! Please enjoy your time amongst the awesome artwork you are about to view and remember, pencil and paint mean as much to pulp as pen and typewriter….
FEATURED ARTIST-LAURA GIVENS
PULP ARTISTS’ WEEKEND-INTERVIEW WITH LAURA GIVENS
LAURA GIVENS – ARTIST – WRITER – EDITOR
AP – First of all, thanks for joining us here at All Pulp, Laura and being so gracious as to answer these questions. You have made quite a name for yourself as a talented cover artist working in all kinds of genres. Before we dig into that career and your new endeavors, why not tells us a little bit about yourself, your education and background etc. When did you first start drawing professionally?
LG – I got my degree in commercial art at a school called Ferris State College in Michigan
My first paid art gig was doing a large canvas poster of a mermaid for a carnival, while still a student. I wanted to be a comics artist so bad I could taste it, but wound up doing ads, silk-screening and a little cartooning on the side. The closest I came to my dream was doing a gay porno comic for a San Francisco
AP – As you’ve drawn everything from fantasy, horror and science fiction, is there a particular genre you like more than others? Why is that?
LG – Easy one, science fiction, or more properly, space opera! Give me a good space battle and people in impossibly ornate space suits populating weird planets with strange aliens and terrifying critters, and I’m in hog heaven. Heroes, villains, fate of the universe in the balance—everything else seems pale by comparison! Things like that grabbed my imagination as a kid and have never let go. I love it all but SF assignments always make me smile a little wider.
AP – Which would you say is your least favorite and why?
LG – Another easy one, Erotic romance! There’s basically only one cover that works, the “clench”. Usually when I get roped into doing one, I try to break the mold, something that the art directors love, but the buyers hate. Were I able to turn off my artistic sensibilities, I could make some money, because it’s a market that pays well and publishes a lot of titles. It is also a market that bores me silly.
AP – Who would you say have been your biggest influences in your development as a cover artist?
LG – First and foremost would have to be Frank Frazetta, his covers would smack you up side the head and demand to know why you hadn’t already bought the book! Norman Rockwell covers always spoke to the commonality of humankind. You instantly know the whole story, on a Rockwell cover because, in some way, it’s your story. James Bama did all those 60’s Doc Savage covers and they all basically had to be the same cover, but they always seemed like he had managed to re-invent the wheel, every time, and left the viewer stunned, every time.
I see bits of a hundred comic book artists, illustrators of all persuasions and fine artists, working in a zillion styles, in my work and I love the view that I get from standing on the shoulders of these giants.
AP – Many of your works have a photo realism about them. Is there a particular way you achieve this effect and what medium to you like to work in? Are you a traditional artist using canvas or do you do all your work digitally?
LG – I am a traditional artist who works digitally. I use a lot of photos that I shoot myself in my work–as does every “traditional illustrator” who is working in a vaguely realistic style. I don’t just slap photos together and make a computer collage. The pictures are simply a starting point for where my imagination wants to go. I work in Adobe Photoshop and it’s like having a studio with every artistic tool I could ever imagine; every type of paint, and in infinite color combinations that would take hours to mix, working on any size and shape of canvas I desire, every brush and palette knife I’ve ever wished for, and all at my fingertips. Not only that, but it bestows god-like vision, allowing you to see the tiniest detail or manipulate the colors to try nearly infinite permutations and combinations.
A computer is just a tool box.
AP – The one writer whose books you’ve become affiliated with is Billy Craig and his hard edged private eye thriller. How did your association come about and what is about Billy’s work that lends itself so easily to your dynamic covers?
LG – I met Billy through Pulp Factory. He’d gone on-line and checked out my portfolio and contacted me to see if I would charge him an arm and a leg to do book covers for him. I have fees for bigger publishers and then I always am willing to adjust them to accommodate the guys with more heart than money. Billy has a ton of heart and he kept giving me goofy challenges that I just loved. I mean, how many times in one’s career is one asked to do a fight between a guy with a knife and a velociraptor? Give me a fun challenge and you won’t see me the rest of the day.
AP – You recently did several pulp covers for Airship 27 Productions. Was this your first introduction to the world of pulps and did you enjoy the experience?
LG – I’ve loved pulp art and pulp heroes for most of my life. I am just young enough to have missed the age of pulps but I was introduced to them in the pages of Jim Steranko’s magnificent “History of Comics”. So, I grabbed up whatever I stumbled across and eventually fell in love with the whole genre. I did a couple of covers that had a very pulp like feel, and they got noticed in the right circles. I had a blast doing the Airship 27 covers though my Captain Hazzard cover looks a bit rough to me. It was a rush job and I tried some (for me) new and ambitious things. The bagman, I think I nailed though. Both were fun and I hope I get to do many more.
AP – SIX GUNS STRAIGHT FROM HELL is your first published fiction and editorial credit. How did this come about in the first place?
LG – I had done many covers for “Science Fiction Trails” but when I had an idea for a story, David B Riley decided to humor me and gave it a look. He loved it. Later, when he decided to put out a weird western collection he asked if I might consider co-editing the thing. I said no, then, I said I’d think it over, then somehow I was doing it. I can be such a sucker. Anyway, once I started seeing some of the things coming in, I decided I could probably do as well. To my utter surprise, the two I submitted were both accepted and that’s how I became alias: Renee James as it seemed a bit tacky that I have two stories.
AP – Were you apprehensive of writing at all?
LG – No, writing is just like illustrating but with more words. Actually, I have very little confidence in my abilities generally. What I do have absolute confidence in is the story or the illustration, if it’s there in my head and I like it, all I have to do is get out of the way and let it happen!
AP – Now that the book is out, what did you learn from the experience and do you plan on doing more writing along with your art?
LG – I want to do more short stories and maybe find a novel that needs me to get out of its way. The art has gotten me a number of connections and I will exploit as many as I find necessary to conquer the world… um, I mean to get my foot in the door. I love doing art and intend to keep at it full steam (reasonable rates, satisfaction guaranteed – end of commercial). I learned that an editor isn’t a proofreader—at that I’d be hopeless—and that the true role of an editor is to nurture talent and find the gem beneath all that dirt.
AP – Where can fans go to see your work and perspective clients commission you and what do you have in the works both in writing and art coming in the near future?
LG – My on-line portfolio may be found at http://www.lauragivens-artist.com/ Poke around on all the various pages and you’ll see lots of covers as well as black and white and color illustrations. You’ll also find the stuff I do just because I have an idea that I need to scratch. I can be contacted at lauragive@comcast.net As for the future, I have a couple of stories in the hopper and some covers still out awaiting final approval and I’m always looking for the next bright shiny challenge that totally distracts my attention.
AP – Laura, thanks so very much for taking the time to chat with and continued success in all your ventures.
DARK VALENTINE HOSTS FALL FICTION FRENZY!!!
FALL FICTION FRENZY is underway at Dark Valentine (http://darkvalentine.net/)
“We’re currently in the middle of a Fall Fiction Frenzy,” stated Katherine Tomlinson, Publisher of DARK VALENTINE, “31 stories in 31 days, with original artwork commissioned for each story. We are delighted by the variety and quality of the stories, which range from sci fi to urban dire. We’ll have a story for All Soul’s Day and also a four-day Thanksgiving Weekend Feast of Fiction. (I already have two stories for that. )”
According to the magazine’s site-
“Dark Valentine is a quarterly journal devoted entirely to dark fiction, which we define as any story in any genre that is disturbing, provocative, haunting, scary, dangerous, or any combination of those things. Think of classic stories like “The Mummy’s Paw,” “The Open Window,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Lady or the Tiger?” Think of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Harlan Ellison’ “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” J.D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” and Tanith Lee’s “Because Our Skins are Finer.”
The world is a dangerous place, as full of shadows and moonlight as it is sun and blue sky. We want the stories that come from the dark places—words that sear and scar and bewitch and bedazzle. Words that are as dangerous to hear as they are to tell.”
Interested in submitting to Dark Valentine? Guidelines are posted on the site along with an informative FAQ!
