Category: News

HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO THE ROOK VOLUME FIVE!!

  • News
  • October 7, 2010
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews by Tommy Hancock
THE ROOK: VOLUME FIVE
Written and Created by Barry Reese, one tale written by Stacy Dooks
Wildcat Books
2010
There is always great comfort in reading the new adventures of a character you’ve read before.  Clichéd though it may be, it truly is like revisiting an old friend and coming away with new tales and stories and desperate for the next time you meet.  I am glad to say that reading THE ROOK: VOLUME 5 by Barry Reese from Wildcat Books gave me that exact feeling.   Once again, Max Davies and his crew of allies and enemies, some new additions, others old friends, are back to wow and amaze with tales of pulp heroics, action packed daring do, and good ol’ fashioned black magic.  This book has all the hallmarks of past Rook volumes and, although weaker in some areas than its predecessors, still delivers a decent flyin’ one-two punch for pulpdom.
THE DIABOLICAL MR. DEE is a tale that, in this reviewer’s opinion, could have been and probably still be expanded into its very own novel. It introduces a concept of a super team for the Rook, his ‘Claws’ and pits Max and crew against a host of awesome villains.  Reese plays with all sorts or archetypes within this one, including swamp monsters, flame heads, and dimension traveling sailors.  By far one of the best stories in the collection.
PLAGUE OF WICKED MEN is the reason that the previous tale was listed as ‘one of the best’ in this volume.  This story must be its own novel at some point.  So much is wrapped into this tale, the Rook’s Claws again, along with Captain Hazzard, Ki-Gor, Cthulu, and so many more hints and tips of the hat to the pulp genre that it very much carries a great weight, one a lot of tales would crumble under.   This one does not only stand the weight, it carries the load well.   Reese weaves in this multitude of characters, including a fantastic handling of Professor Stone, an original pulp creation of Wayne Skiver’s,  and still tells an engaging adventure, develops characters further right along with the fists and guns, and provides a very satisfactory ending in that loose ends are tied up and new ones dangle.
THE DEVIL’S SPEAR is yet another epic, sweeping adventure of the Rook and his Claws, but it’s more than that.  This story brings back major elements of the Rook mythos, including an old villain, Max’s father, and even deals with the end of one regular and a new chapter for another.  Add to that a certain mustached German leader and the Lord of the Vampires and you have one heckuva ride.  This one, however, does suffer under the weight of its contents more than the previous two.   Although it is a good read, it sometimes gets bogged down in who’s in the story more than the story itself.  So many characters are thrown into the mix and the balance, though maintained for the most part, between characters and story for the most part, gets unwieldy, especially toward the middle.
THE IVORY MACHINE is a good read overall, but to be honest, there was little in it to set it apart from the three previous stories.  It was the usual good mix of characters, history, and magical mayhem, but it did not have the spark that the three preceding stories and most of The Rook’s previous adventures contain.  Is it worth reading? Yes, because it has all the traits of a good Rook story, especially the care and attention that Reese gives the characters.  Is it a stand out?  Frankly, no.
THE DEVIL’S DUE is a Rook story written by Stacy Dooks.  It spotlights a different Rook and a different era.  Our hero is William Davies, although Max and Evelyn are still around and heavily involved, and our villain is…well there’s a few, one that has ties to William’s father time as The Rook.  This story was enjoyable and Dooks ably wrote a tale that is extremely reminiscent of comic book type tales of the 1960s.  It had a very cool, sleek Silver Age feel to it and the characters were easy to visualize…for the most part.  Dooks’ rendering of the new Rook, his sister, and the couple of new villains thrown into the mix were dead on for the period he seemed to be emulating.  I wasn’t as convinced of his characterizations of Max and Evelyn, though.  They seemed out of place in this story, like pieces that should fit, but didn’t.  But other than that, this was a cool addition to the volume and to the legacy of The Rook.
The art for this book hit about half and half with me.  Some of the images were evocative of old pulps and stood out as things I’d hang on my wall.  About half of them, though, looked like standard comic book profile images, characters we’ve all seen before in different poses just with different clothes and such.  The art wasn’t necessarily bad, it just didn’t contribute much to the package.
Overall, a good read.  Is it the best volume of The Rook…no.   Does it add dimensions, layers, and nuances to the Davies legacy that are awesome and make for great pulp.  No doubt.
Three out of Five Tips of Hancock’s Hat (Three tips are generally reserved for those tales that I enjoy and make for good pulp readin’.)

  • News
  • October 7, 2010

The Adventures of Doc Savage
Now available!
The Legendary Radio Series Restored and Remastered to Digital Stereo!

This eight-CD collection also includes a fascinating documentary “The Sound of Bronze: The Making of ‘The Adventures of Doc Savage'”, as well as original cover artwork by Doc Savage Bantam artist Bob Larkin.

RadioArchives.com is proud to present “The Adventures of Doc Savage”, the definitive version of the radio series that most Doc Savage and pulp fiction fans consider the finest audio version of the legendary Man of Bronze and his Fabulous Five!

First heard over National Public Radio and produced by Roger Rittner’s Variety Arts Radio Theatre, this brand new eight-CD collection presents two complete classic Doc Savage stories, fully dramatized and starring some of the best professional voice talents in the country. Based on the original novels by Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson, these timeless tales of adventure were adapted for audio by Rittner and well-known pulp historian and author Will Murray. Produced in full range stereo, each episode includes impressive sound effects and a full musical score.
This new compact disc collection – the first commercial release of this impressive thirteen-episode series – features two exciting multi-part adventures. First is the seven-part “Fear Cay”, an action-packed adventure in which Doc, Monk, Renny, Ham, Long Tom, Johnny, and cousin Pat Savage pursue the Fountain of Youth Gang to a remote Caribbean island full of booby traps and intrigue – including a mysterious force that can turn a man into a skeleton in a matter of seconds! Then, Doc and his team are enmeshed in the atmospheric six-part lost-city thriller, “The Thousand-Headed Man”, where they seek a lost expedition in the jungles of Indochina and an ancient treasure guarded by the fantastic Thousand Headed Man.

This collection has been completely remixed, remastered from the original recordings, and is presented in enhanced digital stereo. Also included is a brand new documentary, “The Sound of Bronze: Making ‘The Adventures of Doc Savage'”, featuring interviews, anecdotes from the cast and crew, and never before revealed details of how the series was conceived and created. The set, released in cooperation with Conde Nast, also features cover art by Doc Savage Bantam artist Bob Larkin and two bonus radio shows featuring two of the top detectives from 1940s, Philip Marlowe and Michael Shayne. And, at our website, you’ll find extensive liner notes written exclusively for RadioArchives.com by pulp historian and author Will Murray, writer of seven “Doc Savage” novels.

Priced at just $24.98, this exciting CD set, full of action, suspense, and mystery, is sure to occupy a special place in the personal library of any Doc Savage, pulp fiction, or old-time radio fan – and it’s now available from RadioArchives.com!

RadioArchives.com is one of the largest distributors of old time radio and pulp fiction entertainment in the United States. Specializing in fully restored radio programs, remastered from original recordings, we are known for our outstanding audio fidelity, impressive packaging, and commitment to top quality customer service. In addition to radio shows, RadioArchives.com also carries a full line of reprinted pulp fiction favorites, including all of the issues of Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Spider, The Avenger, and The Whisperer.

SAVAGE TALES BLOG HITS MILESTONE!!

  • News
  • October 6, 2010

News from Blog Creator/Writer Peter Miller-

10/4/10
Today my blog  has hit 100,000 page views!

I started this blog to get me writing on a regular basis and I’m pretty proud of how its gone. I’ve posted over 36 pulp of the week reviews including the first 18 Doc Savage novel. I have posted  numerous Comic-Con reports and board game articles and reviews. I have posted new material for the Weird War II game, Tannhauser.

All in all, I am happy that people are reading and keep coming back.

ALL PULP congratulates Peter on this milestone!  Fantastic!

Skultar Chooses His Next Victim…

  • News
  • October 6, 2010

So, at the beginning of last month, we told you all about the White Elephant Music Club’s first songwriting challenge. You remember that, right? Oh, we know you do, because we scared the fluids right out of your nether regions when we announced it. Since the prizes include a visceral death at the hands of Skultar in his upcoming graphic novel, it was no surprise that the White Elephants got some great submissions. Good on all of you, you weak and pathetic bards! Skultar told me personally he was so inspired by the contest, he’d considered picking up a Gibson Flying V and writing his own awesome theme song. Lucky for the contestants, though, Skultar opted not to do so, because he realized playing guitar and ripping metal riffs would only get in the way of all the murdering.

All that being said, we here at ComicMix would like to congratulate the winner, Chris Cogott, for his winning tune, the aptly named “Skultar.” The contest was judged by our friend Russ Rogers, Mark Wheatley (Skultar’s co-creator), and Julia Sherred.

Since the White Elephant Music Club is totally rad, you can visit their bandcamp page and download the entire album of finalists for free! In addition to Cogott’s winning tune, you’ll get an awesome metal romp from Kevin Savino-Riker (“Skultar’s Blade”), a hilarious spoken-word comedic piece by JoAnn Abbott (“The Ballad of Skultar“), a lounge-lizard schmoozefest from the well-named wait, WHAT? (“S-K-U-L-T-A-R“), and more! And for the price (ahem, FREE!), you can’t beat it. We suggest you hop over, download the tunes, pop ’em in your iPod, and go pillage a village. Hmm, that rhymes. Now, all I need is some murderous riffs, and I’ve got an instant classic.

Take it away, Skultar!

National Graphic Novel Writing Month, Day #6: Four-color, true grit, or somewhere in between?

  • News
  • October 6, 2010

By now, you should have an idea for a story, and you might even know who some of the characters are. Your next question: how are you going to present the story?

To quote the greatest criminal mastermind of our time: “Some people can read War And Peace and come away thinking it’s a simple adventure story.” How you present the story is very important.

Let’s say you were writing a Batman story… why not, everybody else has. What type of Batman story are you going to tell?

Remember, this is a character who’s a cheery Saturday morning cartoon on The Brave and the Bold but he’s also beating people to a pulp in The Dark Knight, a film that pushed the limits of PG-13. He’s a toy for toddlers, a sociopath in Frank Miller’s work, and sometimes just flipping weird in Grant Morrison books. And it all works.

But more on point, the tone of your story has to be considered. It’s easy to contemplate a noir Batman story, but you could just as easily write a science fiction Batman story. Or a comedy. Or a spy story. Or a fable. Or horror. Or musical comedy– okay, it’s tough to do musical comedy in comics, but it’s been done in other media.

And more importantly, you can tell the same sequence of events, but you can frame it in different ways. You can look at your buddy’s romantic troubles as tragic or hilarious– or both, if they’re like my friends.

This will also affect who your choice of artist will be. Granted, you may or may not have control of who will end up drawing your story, but you can write as if you are picking the artist. A Batman story drawn by Jack Kirby will feel much different than one drawn by Neal Adams, and that will feel different than a story drawn by Timothy Truman. But again, you can use that to your advantage. No one will expect a story drawn by, say, Gene Colan to be a laugh riot. And yet, there were a few funny Batman stories that he drew.

Tone is your secret weapon– people expect a comic book story to be told a certain way. Surprise them.

Remember: you can follow all the NaGraNoWriMo posts here!

INTERVIEW with KG McABEE, Pulp Author!!!

  • News
  • October 6, 2010

 

AP: Tell us a little about yourself and your pulp interests.

KGM: I can still remember my dad buying Batman comics and reading them to me, and my keen desire to learn to read them myself. One of my first loves was Jules Verne; I read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 4th grade and my teacher kept asking me if I understood it. Well, certainly, though I admit I had to skip over some of the technical terms. Then I started on Andre Norton and Heinlein’s juveniles in 5th grade, and on to Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Talbot Mundy, Sax Rohmer, C. L. Moore, ERB…so many, many fascinating writers!

AP: How did you get your start as a pulp writer?

KGM: My tendency, when anyone says, “Can you write—”, I say, “Sure!” And since I’ve read so much pulp, it seemed a natural step to try writing some. When I was first starting to write professionally, I did some REH pastiches for Tom Johnson’s pulp magazines: Conan-ish, Solomon Kane-ish and Breckinridge Elkins-ish shorts. Tom liked my work and introduced me to Ron Fortier of Airship 27, who recently published the GIDEON CAIN, DEMON HUNTER anthology edited by Van Plexico, and Ron Hanna of Wild Cat Books, who publishes the STARTLING STORIES magazine where I’ve been lucky enough to have several shorts and novellas. Ron Fortier also got me involved with a Domino Lady anthology which ended up being released by Moonstone Books.

AP: There seem to be many different opinions about what can be defined as pulp. What do you look for in a pulp story as a writer and a reader?

KGM: I think pulp is by definition adventure-and-atmosphere heavy and strongly plot-driven, with character a close—or sometimes not so close—third. That said, I do consider character to be of prime importance, especially as a reader. If I don’t care about the characters, why would I want to read about them? That, I think, is part of the appeal of long-running pulp characters: Doc Savage, The Shadow and the rest. The reader gets a feeling, almost, of family; I know I would love to have a meal or go on vacation with Doc and his Fabulous Five, listen to Monk and Ham argue, marvel at Johnnie’s vocabulary. The adventures of these characters are great, but really, what does the reader remember? An exciting trek in a submarine or why Monk named his pet pig Habeas Corpus?

AP: Where can readers find information on your books?

KGM: My website, which needs updating desperately:
And the one with my collaborator, Cynthia D. Witherspoon—we write urban fantasy and steampunk as Cynthia Gael—

AP: What upcoming projects do you have coming up that you can tell us about at this time?

KGM: I’m working with my collaborator, Cindy Witherspoon, on the aforementioned urban fantasy series called THE BALEFIRE CHRONICLES. Book one, BALEFIRE AND MOONSTONE, is available from Gypsy Shadow Publishing and at Amazon. Book two in the series, BALEFIRE AND LODESTONE, is done and we’ve started on book three. Under the Balefire umbrella, we’re also doing a series of steampunk novellas; the first one, BALEFIRE AND BRASS, is complete and under consideration. I’m also finishing up a fantasy and hope to do more pulp soon.

AP: Do you have any shows, signings, or conventions coming up where your fans can meet you?

KGM: I’ll be a guest author at Pagan Pride Day in Clemson, SC on October 9. On November 2, I’m doing a NaNoWriMo kickoff in Woodruff, SC. I’m teaching creative writing classes in Asheville and Charlotte, NC, for

AP: And finally, what does K. G. McAbee do when she’s not writing?

KGM: Not writing? If I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing. Seriously, though, I do try to spend as much time as I can writing, but I also read an enormous amount; I think it’s not only necessary for a writer but the most fun you can have. I also tutor English and algebra at two local community college branches, which is odd because I don’t have a degree in either; my degree, strangely enough, is in industrial electronics. But I’m with Heinlein; he said a human being should be able to do anything from diaper a baby to cook a meal to lead an army to colonize a planet; specialization is for insects. I’m definitely one of Heinlein’s Children. www.twwoa.org in November and December. And I’m giving a presentation called “Airships, Submersibles, Difference Engines and Steam Men: Reading, Researching and Writing Steampunk” at the Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza in Greenville, SC. www.cynthiagael.comhttp://kgmcabee.books.officelive.com

nagranowrimo-6393652

National Graphic Novel Writing Month, Day #5: Whose Story Is It, Anyway?

  • News
  • October 5, 2010

nagranowrimo-1182709Editor’s note: We were all ready to discuss who you should be focusing on in your graphic novel, and then we remembered that John Ostrander, writer of GrimJack, Munden’s Bar, Star Wars: Legacy and Suicide Squad, had already answered the question for us a while back. So we’re reprinting his piece from October 25, 2007.

In any given story, one of the primary questions that must be
answered by the writer is – whose story is it? For example – in any
Batman/Joker story, we assume that the story is going to be about
Batman. He is the title character, after all. However, the story can be
about the Joker – taken from his perspective, with the Joker as the
protagonist and the Batman as his antagonist. A protagonist, after all,
is not always a hero.

Sometimes, when I’m having problems with a story, I’ll go back to that
simple, basic question – whose story is it? The answer sometimes
surprises me. When I was writing my historical western for DC, The Kents,
I assumed for a long time that the story was about Nate Kent, who was
the direct ancestor of Pa Kent, Clark’s adoptive father. It was only
when I was deep into the story that it occurred to me that the story was
actually about Nate’s younger brother Jeb, who takes a wrong road,
shoots his brother in the back at one point, becomes an outlaw, and
eventually has to make things right.

The story may not always be about a person. When I wrote Gotham Nights,
the focus of the story was the city itself, and the city was comprised
not only of its buildings and roadways but, more importantly, the people
who lived there, of whom I tried to give a cross-sampling. Batman was a
part of all that because he is a part of Gotham City but the miniseries
didn’t focus on him. It was Gotham City’s story.
(more…)

Win a Digital Download for ‘King Kong’

  • News
  • October 5, 2010

King Kong remains one of the most imaginative, exciting and innovative movies of all time. The story alone is a pulse-pounding gem but then you add in Willis O’Brien’s groundbreaking special effects you have an instant classic. The 1933 film is being released today on Blu-ray and is now available as a digital download.

Warner Bros. Digital Distribution is releasing of
the classic film King Kong for Download at iTunes..  Take the beast on the run! 
Fans can now enjoy KING KONG on their iPhone, iPad and more…

Warner Digital has given us a digital download to give away to one lucky ComicMix reader. All you have to do is tell us what makes you go ape. The best answer provided in the comments section byt 11:59 p.m. Thursday evening will win this special treat.

 

 

 

INTERVIEW-Russ Anderson, Writer/Editor with Pulpwork Press!!!

  • News
  • October 5, 2010

RUSS ANDERSON, Editor of HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD, Pulpwork Press/Writer
AP: Who’s Russ Anderson?
russanderson-4371111
RA: A writer/editor/father/husband/bicyclist/amateur bear-fighter living in the Baltimore-DC area of these United States. In regards to what the readers of All Pulp might care about, he’s also one of the dudes behind the late Frontier Publishing and the editor of HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD from Pulpwork Press. Furthermore, he enjoys talking about himself in the third person.
AP: What have you written and where can we find it?
RA: (Russ is disappointed to be abandoning third person already.)
I wrote “Mythworld”, a novel about Greek gods pressing for a comeback in the modern age, and the hijinks that ensue because of it. Mythworld appeared on the late Frontier Publishing website, but isn’t currently available. Maybe I should do something about that. Also, I wrote a short story called “The Origin of Flight” that appeared in a print superhero anthology that is no longer available called “Truth, Justice, And…”
So basically, you have to just take my word for it that I write. Oh! Except for my flash non-fiction story, Little Beagle Puppy, which is still available on Flashquake at http://www.flashquake.org/archive/vol2iss3/.
AP: How did you get hooked up with Pulpwork Press?
RA: I’ve known everybody at Pulpwork for about ten years, so the real question is why it took me so long to get involved over there. Fortunately, when I had a project I wanted to put together for them, our prior friendship greased the wheels of progress a bit.
AP: What’s the story behind HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD?
RA: I wanted to be part of the club over at Pulpwork Press for a while, but hadn’t been successful in carving out the time to write a long-form project in a long time. So I pitched How the West Was Weird as an anthology mainly as a way (a) to get a project going with those guys without having to spend a year writing a book, and (b) to reconnect with some of the writing buddies that I’d started to fall out of touch with since Frontier went under. To that end, the story submissions were invitation-only, and I only invited writers I’d worked with whose stuff I enjoyed.
I sometimes feel like I didn’t edit HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD so much as hosted it, since it really was just an excuse to get a bunch of my pals together. Fortunately, the book has transcended my selfish reasons for creating it and become something I’m really proud of.
As for why I went with a weird western, there’s no story to that. I enjoy the mash-up of those two genres quite a bit, and it was different from anything Pulpwork was doing. So here we are.
AP: What’s your definition of a weird western?
RA: The western isn’t defined by its location so much as it is by its tropes. There are certain plot elements (life on a frontier, the cycle of revenge) and certain character archetypes (the mysterious drifter, the lawman) that make a story a western, regardless of where it’s located. I don’t think anybody would argue that “Seven Samurai” and “Outland” aren’t westerns, even though one’s set in feudal Japan and one’s set on a moon of Jupiter.
The weird western basically takes those tropes and either presents them in an unusual setting, or adds elements from other genres into the western framework. The most popular seems to be the horror-western – those two just seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly – but I’m a big fan of the steampunk-western and the space-western myself.
AP: There are other weird western anthologies out there.  What makes HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD special?
RA: Can I say “because it’s good”? Is that snarky?
Well, how about the fact that it’s wrapped in an extremely pretty cover by Jim Rugg, artist/creator of “Street Angel” and “Afrodisiac”?
Also, it’s awesome.
Next question.
AP: Do you think that the weird western is a legitimate genre that will be around for awhile or is it just a phase that’s going to fade out as soon as the next bright & shiny thing comes along?
RA: Genres don’t really go away, do they? They may get put back on the shelf as they fall out of favor, but they always come back. I don’t think the weird western is ever going to fully disappear now that it’s out of the box.
I think the question is misleading, since it’s not like the genre is setting the world on fire right now. There’s a biiiiiiigg gap between it and, say, the vampire teen drama, and I think that’s primarily based on Hollywood’s inability to get the weird western right. Whenever they try, we get stuff like the Will Smith “Wild, Wild West”, or “Jonah Hex” starring Brandon from The Goonies. And that’s fine, I think. In a few years, everybody’s going to be sick of vampires stalking high school girls and the weird western will still be chugging along just fine.
All that said… you have to remember that the weird western is really only about 20 years old, so eventually the unique aspects of it will start to seem less and less unique. I think as time passes, the “weird” elements will begin to define the genre that the story falls into, and you’ll start seeing weird westerns in sci-fi, horror, and fantasy anthologies. It will be treated as a subset of other larger genres rather than being its own thing.
AP: There have been rumors of a HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD 2.  Any truth to those rumors?
RA: Absolutely. A bunch of the guys who contributed to the first one have already promised me stories for volume two, along with some new faces. What’s more, I had a chance to talk to Jim Rugg at this year’s Baltimore Comic Con, and he’s on board for the cover too. I’m shooting for it to be twice as awesome as the first one, though I’m concerned about whether the binder can possibly contain all that.
I have no idea when it will hit the streets. I expect to be done with it by next spring, so we’ll have to wait and see when we can fit it in to Pulpwork’s publishing schedule at that point. Also, keep in mind that the last time we did this, my wife got pregnant halfway through, which added – no kidding – exactly nine months to the process. It should be out sometime during 2011, though.
AP: What other projects have you got in mind?
RA: I’ve got a 10 month old daughter, who’s enough of a project all by herself, thanks.
AP: Here’s your chance for a shoutout or to plug/pimp something.  Go.
RA: Buy HOW THE WEST WAS WEIRD. If you haven’t gathered as much from the rest of this article… it’s awesome.
AP: Any final words of wisdom?
RA: Like Linda Hunt said in Silverado: “The world is what you make of it, friend. If it doesn’t fit, you make alterations.”

A WHOLE WIDE WORLD-Now playing at Derrick Ferguson’s LONG MATINEE!!

  • News
  • October 5, 2010

 

THE LONG MATINEE-Movie Reviews by Derrick Ferguson

 

THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD

1996
Cineville, Inc./Sony Pictures
Directed by Dan Ireland
Screenplay by Michael Scott Myers
Based on “One Who Walked Alone” by Novalyne Price Ellis
Here’s a wonderful romance movie that I think is wonderful for a couple to watch but it’s not exactly the first movie that would come to mind when you and your sweetie hit the Netflix for something cuddle up with.  But you really should give THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD a try.  Let’s face it; aren’t you guys tired of seeing “Ghost” over and over and over?
            In 1933, Novalyne Price (Renee Zellweger) is an independently minded young woman living in rural West Texas who dreams of going off to college and maybe becoming a teacher.  She really aspires to be a writer.  She has these huge diaries she writes her daily activities in and has been sending off stories to the confession/romance pulp magazines with little success.  She desperately longs for someone to talk to about her ideas and stories and one day while sitting on her porch drinking lemonade, a friend of her drives up and asks her would she like to walk over to his car and meet the greatest pulp writer in the whole wide world: Robert E. Howard (Vincent D’Onofrio)
            Robert E. Howard grew up and lived most of his painfully short life in Cross Plains, Texas and created what is probably the most famous pulp adventure character of all: Conan The Barbarian, the hero of short stories, novels, comic books and movies.  But Robert E. Howard created many more characters than that and wrote so prolifically that whole issues of ‘Weird Tales’ magazines were filled with his stories, written under half a dozen pen names.  Even today nobody is sure exactly how many names Robert E. Howard used or how many stories he wrote.  For me, when it comes to writing, Robert E. Howard has few equals when it comes to sheer storytelling power.  He wrote stories about lusty adventurers who spent their days hunting for treasure, fighting demons and roaming uncharted lands and spent their nights wenching, drinking and gambling.  There’s nothing but total testosterone in a Robert E. Howard story and it’s easy for me to understand why they were so popular during The Depression Era when so many men felt impotent and powerless.  After a hard day of trying your best to feed your family and keep a roof over their heads, for a man in the 30’s, picking up a copy of ‘Weird Tales’ and reading a Conan story where he kills a mad god and makes off with his priceless giant diamond is the equivalent to a modern day Joe Punchclock coming home from work and watching ‘24’ to cheer Jack Bauer kick terrorist scum ass and save The President from being blown up by a neutron bomb in his shower.
            Novalyne is totally astonished at meeting someone who actually makes a living by writing and they begin a friendship that develops into a rocky romance.  Novalyne has a mind of her own and is ambitious with an independent spirit.  In that respect she’s somewhat more progressive than most of the other young ladies in the town but she’s never met anybody like Robert Howard who is socially inept and extremely close to his mother, who is in poor health.  When they go out on dates, Bob Howard prefers to take Novalyne on long drives where they can talk about the dreams and aspirations they have as writers.  As much as Novalyne grows to love Bob, she soon realizes that he’s not husband material.  Robert E. Howard is a wonderful man but he lives too much inside of his own head.  And while his incredible imaginative power and lust for life draws her to him, his emotional insensitivity and manic depressive moods drive her away.  They maintain their romantic relationship in a sort of on-and-off again basis but the real romance is between their imaginative minds and the love they both have of writing.
            I really love THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD for number of reasons: first of all, while it’s not a straightforward biography of Robert E. Howard, we do get to see some very important moments in his life filtered through the eyes of Novalyne.  And there are some moments between Howard and his mother (Ann Wedgeworth) that are really touching.  You may remember Ann Wedgeworth as the sexpot neighbor on ‘Three’s Company’.  She does a really good job of acting here as Howard’s possessive mother who obviously loves her son a little too much.
            The acting by Vincent D’Onofrio is first rate and convinced me that I was looking at Robert E. Howard in the scenes where he’s writing a Conan story and he’s speaking the dialog out loud.  There’s another scene where’s he’s walking down the main street of his home town, shadowboxing an imaginary enemy and mumbling descriptions of the fight that’s taking place as he works out a story in his head.  It’s made clear in the movie that Howard’s neighbors and friends think it’s pretty damn odd for a big grown strapping man such as himself to be making a living writing stories and talking to imaginary people in his head but D’Onofrio plays Howard with such an ‘I-Don’t-Give-A Damn-‘ charm he sells the performance.  Renee Zellweger is simply wonderful as Novalyne Price.  She understands Robert Howard.  She loves Robert Howard.  She thinks Robert Howard is the greatest writer in the whole wide world.  She just can’t allow herself to fall enough in love with him to marry him.  She’s smart enough to see that such a marriage would end in tragedy. 
  Novalyne Price went on to become a teacher and she wrote the book the movie THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD was based on after she grew angry at reading so many articles that she felt distorted the truth about what Robert E. Howard was like.
            The relationship between Robert E. Howard and Novalyne Price is handled with a great deal of romanticism and sensitivity.  Robert continually amazes Novalyne with the places he takes her to where they gaze upon beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  These scenes also give D’Onofrio a chance to show off the stare he learned from Stanley Kubrick when we worked on “Full Metal Jacket” as Howard tells Novalyne about his stories and in the background we can faintly hear swords crashing together, the curses and yells of men fighting and the sounds of war which get louder and louder until Novalyne says something to snap him out of it.  The thing that really comes across in the movie is that in a lot of ways, both Howard and Novalyne were born out of place and out of time and even though they were lucky enough to meet, they still could not connect on a lot of levels.  It’s a really classically bittersweet love story.
            It’s a great movie for lovers of the work of Robert E. Howard as I think it really gives fans of the man and his work a really good look at what his everyday life was like.  It also works as a movie about writers.  Movies about writers are really hard to do since most of the work takes place between their ears.  Fortunately, Robert E. Howard was as big as life as the heroes he wrote about and his life makes for an interesting movie.  I really enjoyed the movie just on that basis since I identify a lot with Robert E. Howard.  Like him, I have no illusions that my work is great art.  I just like telling a good story and Robert E. Howard was one of the best storytellers ever born.  Vincent D’Onofrio does an excellent job of showing Howard’s sheer exuberance and delight at just being able to tell a hell of a good story and I felt that deeply.
            So should you see THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD?  Absolutely.  It’s a movie that works as a biography of one of the most influential and popular writers of all time.  It also works as a movie about writers and their internal lives and how they connect, interact and deal with others who are not in tune with those wavelengths writers are in tune with.  And it most definitely works as a romantic film as the relationship between Robert E. Howard and Novalyne Price is touching, sad, funny, and poignant and I freely admit that the last scene of the movie is one that had my eyes watering.  This coming Valentine’s Day rent THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD and watch it with a writer you love.
111 minutes

Rated PG

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