The Mix : What are people talking about today?

GUEST REVIEW OF THE WEEK-CONSTANTINE ON FERGUSON

Diamondback: It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

2 02 2011

Ever since I read Derrick’s first book, Dillon and the Voice of Odin, I’ve been sold on his work. Derrick has a knack for intriguing characters, snappy dialogue, and some of the best action I’ve had the privilege of reading.

Whereas Derrick’s Dillon series (as of this writing composed of Dillon and the Voice of Odin and the follow-up Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell) is a love letter to Doc Savage and the classic adventure story, Diamondback is a true spaghetti western. But like with Dillon, Derrick mixes his love of the classics with a modern sensibility. Derrick has frequently referred to this story as an urban western and that’s the most apt description I can think of.

Although this story could have been set in the Old West out on the frontier, it fits perfectly in the fictional city of Denbrook, which could easily give Gotham a run for its money.

When one of Denbrook’s biggest crime lords is planning to bring in a shipment of hi-tech weapons, it just so happens to coincide with the arrival of gun-for-hire Diamondback Vogel. And this is one mercenary who is the best there is at what he does and what he does is fill his enemies with lead and leave a trail of destruction in his wake. Crime lords, crooked cops, and secret societies are all involved and all interested in Diamondback’s role in this tale. However, Diamondback supposedly died in a shootout in another town, so one of the ongoing questions is just who is this guy? It’s a question that plays no small role in this story and I’m not going to say anything more about that, because you’re better off reading it for yourself.

What I will tell you is this is a great read that won’t suck up a lot of your time. Not only because it’s a short book, but also because Derrick wastes no words. He knows you’re here for the action and he gives it to you in abundance. The action sequences are crafted with both bloody intensity and a flawless grace that would make even John Woo envious. And by the time you reach the last page, you’ll want to track this Ferguson guy down and find out when the sequel is coming, because he leaves you with a cliffhanger ending that will put you on the edge of your seat.

ALL PULP’S A BOOK A DAY GETS THIN!

http://www.bearmanormedia.com/ 

THE FILMS OF THE THIN MAN

thinmancover.jpg


spacer-3982074

The Thin Man films are one of the most highly regarded and successful series of films from Hollywood’s classic era.  This book looks at the people who populated the films, including full chapter profiles of its stars, William Powell and Myrna Loy, whose chemistry together was a huge reason for the success of the films. As Nick and Nora Charles they knocked the stereotypes of on-screen marriage out of the park and replaced the stiff and formal with fun and sexy. But not to be forgotten are the great character actors who added their own special magic to each and every film.  Each chapter includes profiles of these actors as well as the creative teams behind the films.  The book offers up detailed synopses of each of the films as well as behind-the-scenes anecdotes and trivia.  If you love The Thin Man then this is the book for you! 
 
 

ALL PULP INTERVIEWS BEST SELLING AUTHOR AND DOC SCRIBE PAUL MALMONT!

ALL PULP INTERVIEW-Paul Malmont-Writer
AP:  Paul, it’s indeed a great pleasure to have you sit across the ALL PULP table today for this interview.  Would you mind to share a little bit about yourself?
PM:  Thanks.  I’m a copy director at an advertising agency in New York.  I live in New Jersey with my wife and two little boys.  My new novel about the birth of the science fiction pulps, THE ASTOUNDING, THE AMAZING, AND THE UNKNOWN, comes out in July. 
AP:  You’ve definitely done a bit of work that falls within the realm of pulp and taking the concept of pulp a couple of different directions.   What about pulp appeals to you as a fan and as a writer?
PM: What I’ve tried to do is take some of the conventions of pulp (the freedom of heightened realistic fantasy, outrageous topics taken for granted, outlandish characters, crazy plot devices) and apply them to the sensibilities of literature.  I think literature is flagging because books aren’t fun to read anymore, I’m trying to borrow from the pulps, the things that might make a big book fun.
AP:  Let’s get to the meat.   Your name first became known to many readers with the release of your novel THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL.  First, can you sum up the book for our readers, including who your main protagonists are?
PM: DEATH CLOUD takes two real writers from the hero pulp era, Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and Lester (Doc Savage) Dent and casts them in an a story that hopefully captured some of the elements they used to write about.  It’s also a top-to-bottom overview of the pulp industry at that time, introducing the reader to everyone from H.P. Lovecraft to L. Ron Hubbard.
AP:  What inspired you to take the best writers of pulp fiction and turn them into pulp heroes in their own right?
PM: I always like that time period and the pulp atmosphere and it always influenced my work.  Then I read an Isaac Asimov biography and he mentioned hanging out with Hubbard.  I realized I knew so much about the era, but Hubbard would be that little something extra that really pushed the story over the top.  It all kind of fell into place after that. 
AP:  You’ve talked about a follow up, maybe not so much a sequel, to PERIL.  What can you share about that?
PM: My new novel THE ASTOUNDING, THE AMAZING, AND THE UNKNOWN takes places in 1943 and focused on a couple of DEATH CLOUD characters, Robert Heinlein, Hubbard, and adds Isaac Asimov and Sprague de Camp.  It really is about how the industry and world had changed so quickly from the events in 1937.  The hero pulps were doing a fast fade and sci fi was in ascendency.  It’s less atmospheric and more straight-forward, as suits that style of story-telling.  Gibson and Dent do appear again.  But it’s different.  Whereas DEATH CLOUD was about the redemptive powers of the imagination, and JACK LONDON was about the destructive powers, this one is about whether there are any limits to imagination. 
AP:  Your latest novel, JACK LONDON IN PARADISE, deals with an author that many would say wrote works that fall within the pulp genre and he definitely influenced many pulp writers and literature as a whole.  Can you tell us about this book and then discuss why you focused on the particular point in his life that you did?
PM: Jack London inspired most of the writers who were writing pulps by the ‘30s.  If not in style then they modeled their careers on him—he was the first writer to figure out how to make a living writing for magazines.  And his writing was so transformative that all the magazines wanted his type of stories, so they started giving opportunities to other writers, and before you know, you had an industry.  His life itself was so incredible, and he lived it so hard, that it just lent itself to a novel.  Add to that the fact that there was an incredibly romantic center and some mystery to his very young death, and it became a very satisfying challenge to take on.  In a lot of ways, it’s a spiritual prequel to DEATH CLOUD and ASTOUNDING. 
AP:  You also were the initial writer of the DOC SAVAGE comic in the FIRST WAVE line from DC.   First, what was it like going from writing novels to having your stories translated into images on the page?
PM:  Writing a DC comic was something I was able to cross off my bucket list. Who doesn’t want to see their name on a DC comics?  Having said that, writing for comics is a very different medium than for literature, or even film—it has rules I’d never even thought of.  So it was difficult, but rewarding. 
AP:  What sort of editorial restrictions or pressures were you under while writing DOC SAVAGE at DC?  Did Editorial have a specific direction in mind and if so, did that agree or conflict with where you felt the book should go?
PM:  There was a bible to follow, of course, but within that I was given a lot of freedom.  But they rejected my first draft outline and went for the second.  I wanted to get more into Doc’s head and background a little more than I was ultimately able to. 
AP:  There’s obviously been a lot of negative fan response to the FIRST WAVE line, particularly from fans of the characters in their original forms.   What are your thoughts on this reaction, primarily being that DC is not remaining true to the concepts as they were conceived and is even going beyond tweaking them, outright changing some of them?
PM:  I think one of the inalienable rights of a fan, be it sports, movies, comics or something else, is that of complaining about how things weren’t done right and should have been done better.  I do it myself all the time.  I would have liked the fans to get behind it more, but what can you do?  I don’t want to make it seem like it’s all on the fans, or on me—I think there is some design inconsistencies throughout the various First Wave books that are confusing.  I remember pointing out that I didn’t think the cars in my first issue looked like the cars in the FW debut issue, and was told not to worry about it.  There’s perhaps more editorial consistency in the writing than maybe there is in the visual direction.  I can tell you that, as a Doc fan, I’m pleased with what I wrote and that by issue 3 it was really clicking along and there were big things ahead. 
AP:  What other pulp characters would you like to get a shot at, if any, in comics?  What about prose, any interest in penning any particular classic pulp hero in a short story or novel?
PM:   I love magic so I’d love to get my hands on Captain Marvel or Doctor Strange. 
AP:  Anything in the near future you want to make sure our readers look out for?
PM:  THE ASTOUNDING, THE AMAZING, AND THE UNKNOWN is available in July.  My collected run of DOC will be out in trade paperback in April and hopefully fans will take a second look. I’ll be at Comic Con in San Diego.  I can be found on twitter- @pmalmont.  And my Facebook book page is http://on.fb.me/f8q7zw – please join.  We’ll be giving away advance copies and making other announcements soon. 
AP:  Paul, please come back anytime and visit with ALL PULP!
PM:  Thanks! 
comicbookcover-8514822

ALL PULP’S A BOOK A DAY-Two books today!!!

comicbookcover-3054599

http://www.bearmanormedia.com/

Comic Strips and Comic Books of Radio’s Golden Age
by Ron Lackmann

spacer-6786094

From Archie Andrews to Tom Mix, all radio characters and programs that ever stemmed from a comic book or comic strip in radio’s golden age are collected here, for the first time, in an easy-to-read, A through Z book!
 
From Ron’s introduction:
“The wonderful thing about Radio as it used to be in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, is that whoever or whatever you were hearing over the airwaves was your very own visual creation. It was your imagination that supplied the images of what the people, places and situations you heard looked like. The “pretty” girl was your version of what “pretty” was… and the “handsome” hero was your visualization of what constituted “handsome.” During the memorable years when Radio was America’s favorite home entertainment medium, the airwaves were permeated with all sorts of programming.

 There were the daytime dramas of domestic stress, or soap operas as they were called because they were usually sponsored by soap detergent companies, that at-home moms and night-working dads could tune in to hear and sometimes their sick-at-home–with-a-cold kids also listened to “the soaps.” There were the five-day-a-week children’s adventure serials that were heard in the late afternoon when youngsters came home from school. There were prime-time mystery programs, and comedy and variety shows, game and panel programs, and even adaptations of great works of the theater and literature, as well as radio versions of well known films, for the mind’s eye to envision.”

100 Years of Broadway
bad-3320416

spacer-6786094

“Broadway After Dark is a compilation of columns, stories and never-before-published profiles by my father, Ward Morehouse, and myself. The profiles were originally intended for a book called Stars I Have Known. The columns of his are representative of those he did for the New York Sun from 1926-1950 and after for other newspapers. I started writing sporadically about show business for The Christian Science Monitor in the 1970’s and continued as a reporter and theater columnist for the New York Post, Reuters, New York Sun, and The New York Times, and The Epoch Times. It’s my hope that these columns and stories, taken together, will be a portrait, however sketchy, of some of theater for the last and current century through some of their biggest stars, including Katharine Hepburn.”

– Ward Morehouse III, from his Preface

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND NIGHTHAWK EDITION 2/2/11

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
NIGHTHAWK EDITION
2/2/11
FIRST PULP ARK AWARD VOTING HAS BEGUN!
Pulp Ark Coordinator Tommy Hancock notified ALL PULP today that the nomination period for the first annual Pulp Ark Awards ended on January 31st, 2011, and the final ballot formed from 66 nominations was released today!  The awards for excellence in the Pulp field for 2010 cover nine categories and multiple authors, artists, publishers, and titles were represented in the nomination process.  Each person who made a nomination received a ballot for voting.  Hancock reported as of press time that more than half of the ballots had already been completed and returned.  Voting is open until all 66 ballots are completed or February 28, 2011 at 11:59 PM, whichever comes first.  Once the voting is complete, the winners will be announced and Hancock encourages all nominees and winners to attend PULP ARK May 13-15, 2011 in Batesville, AR.
For more information on Pulp Ark, contact Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net
The Nine Categories on the Ballot were Best Book, Best Short Story, Best Cover Art, Best Interior Art, Best Magazine, Best Pulp Revival, Best Comic, Best Author, Best New Writer. 


The Ballot can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pulp-Ark/102201746498123?v=app_2373072738#!/topic.php?uid=102201746498123&topic=93

Review: ‘[[[Doctor Who A Christmas Carol]]]’

If a television series lasts long enough, it will eventually get around to taking their turn at retelling Charles Dickens’ [[[A Christmas Carol]]] and after fifty years, it was finally the Doctor’s turn. For its annual Christmas special, Doctor Who offered up a strong hour’s entertainment despite the overly familiar premise. Unlike most other versions, this time the Doctor freely admits his inspiration and has great fun with it.

Scrooge in this case is Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon), an elderly man on a world where his family has controlled the electrically-charged clouds that perpetually envelope the world. Using machinery that only responds to his touch, Sardick follows in his father’s footsteps, controlling the clouds and inhibiting the lives of the people he considers beneath him. In a typically odd Doctor touch, the electricity coursing through the air also allows the planet’s fish to fly through the air.

All of this becomes apparent when the spaceliner carrying newlywed Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) gets caught up in an electric discharge and need to be rescued by the Doctor (Matthew Smith) before the vessel crashes into the planet killed all 4003 passengers and crew.

When Sardick refuses to help, the Doctor visits the man’s past to explore how he grew so sour and in the process alters reality. A giant Shark has become their nemesis and can only be calmed by the singing of Abigail, who resides in frozen storage because her family owes Sardick money. She is promised that for every Christmas Eve Sardick and the Doctor will visit, which happens every year, slowly turning the curmudgeon into a softie. Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins makes her acting debut as Abigail and while her singing is heavenly, the lyrics leave something to be desired.

Steven Moffat has written a touching story mixed with the usual glib commentary from the Doctor so you laugh and your feel the tears well up every now and then. Gambon treads a fine line as Sardick and does a nice job while Amy and Rory are sadly left with far too little to do.  Overall, though, the story is very entertaining and is a strong holiday entry. Fans seem to have been taken with Smith as the new Doctor as the 2010 special’s ratings rose over David Tennant’s final special.

The nice thing about the home video release, out this week, is that it is the complete and uncut BBC version as opposed to the BBC American retransmission. As has become custom, we also get the behind-the scenes [[[Doctor Who Confidential]]] and the annual concert,[[[ Doctor Who at the Proms]]]. I’ve come to greatly enjoy the Proms broadcasts because they are artfully presented and we get to focus on the strong music the series normally receives.

And we will have to make do with this before the first half of Smith’s second season arrives in the spring.

ALL PULP interviews Long Time Comic Fan Turns to Pulps BILL GLADMAN

BILL GLADMAN-Writer/Artist

Bill Gladman, a writer/artist has been involved with comics most of his life. He recently helped form a local comics studio, Twilight Star Productions and last year they released twelve titles in their first year. Bill also ventured into the world of pulps for the first time ever when he contributed a story to RAVENWOOD – Stepson of Mystery from Airship 27 Productions. We caught up with this fellow in his home town of Springfield, Ohio and sat down to talk about his new pulp writing career.

AP – Bill, thanks for joining us today. Give us a short bio of yourself, age, where you were born, schooling, family etc.

BG –Born in Marysville, Ohio. About a half hour drive north of Springfield. In true dynamic fashion. In a middle of a thunderstorm, two minutes before midnight July 25th 1967, making me 44 years old this summer.

As far as schooling goes it seems I’ve learned all the important stuff by accident. I did graduate from Springfield North High School in 1985. I also went to Springfield Joint Vocational School during my junior and senior years of high school where I studied commercial art and girls. Unfortunately I didn’t get a certificate in art because I missed way too many days my senior year. I was sure the garage band I was in at the time was going to be world famous in six months and rock stars were too cool to go to school, right?

Currently married to my second wife and love of my life 13 years this April….between us and our previous marriages we have four kids and five grand kids.

AP – How old were you when you first became a comic book fan. What was the attraction?

BG – I was seven years old. My grandmother bought me a copy of Avengers #145 at the gift shop at one of the local hospitals. We were visiting my grandfather who had suffered the first of many strokes that would eventually claim his life a few years later and she wanted to keep my mind off things at the time so she bought me that comic. It all started then and there, so my grandmother gets all the credit, or blame. Depends on how you look at it I guess.

AP – Marvel or DC? Who was your favorite comic book superhero and why?

BG –Captain America. He’s the guy for me…..guess he always has been. He played a large role in that first Avengers story and although over the years when asked this question I may have said something along the lines of Daredevil or Batman, maybe even Dr. Strange…truthfully I guess it would really have to be Cap. The amount of Captain America comics in my collection would seem to only cement that train of thought.

AP – How did you come to write a Ravenwood story? Had you ever heard of the character before?

BG – I never heard of the character at all. I ran across a post on the Comic Related website made by Ron Fortier in which he was attempting to recruit fresh blood to write pulp stories for Airship 27. I’d never wrote a pulp story before, and never really read any either but I thought it would be a nice creative challenge so I e-mailed Ron to let him know I was interested. He sent me a list of characters that was available and that Airship 27 was interested in publishing stories about. Ravenwood was one of about three characters that seemed to appeal to me and the ball got rolling from there.

AP – What’s the name of your story in the Ravenwood collection? What appealed to you about this particular pulp hero?

BG –“When Death Calls”. After I received more background information about Ravenwood I felt there were elements of Dr. Strange, Bruce Wayne (both personas of that character), and Tony Stark (Iron Man) in the Ravenwood character. That allowed me to have a safety net of sorts. Plus there was just enough background info to get me interested in the character but I wasn’t smothered with details. There was a lot of room for me to breath as writer with this character.

AP – Was writing pulp easier or harder than your comics work? Elaborate, please.

BG –It was actually easier for me. It was exciting, new, and fresh. It was a great experience for me. I’m a big history buff as well so I enjoyed the research aspects of the story as well….what was the most popular film of 1938…how much did a pack of cigarettes cost 73 years ago. That type of thing. And I’m a very wordy writer. This story allowed me to express myself in a way that writing comics do not. I get grief from the artists I work with all the time about the amount of dialog in my stories. And in the end I still went over the word count for the story requirement. Go figure. Needles to say a good portion of it ended up on the editing floor.

AP – There seems to be a real renaissance of pulps today in both prose, comics and movies. Why do you think that is?

BG –I think it’s a couple of things, and this is just the opinion of some hack in Ohio so bare with me.

I think that pulps in prose and comic formats and hopefully film caters to the mature reading audience that actually collect comics and go to the movies. They’re action packed, entertaining, suspenseful, and fun. Mature doesn’t have to mean sex and violence. Mature can mean, wow that story made me think and I liked that.

Also I think the escape level in the pulp stuff is higher than your super-hero comics or horror comics. The time period that these stories take part in for the most part was less complicated and negative. At the same time the fiction is a little more realistic. I mean nobody is finding a baby from another planet in a rocket ship in a Ravenwood story.

AP – Will you ever do another Ravenwood story?

BG –Oh yeah. I loved working with this character and the cast of characters involved with this story. I already have ideas for a second and a third story.

AP – Is there any other pulp character you’d like to write some day?

BG –Possibly. I’m quite content writing Ravenwood for now but one of the other choices that appealed to me at first was Moon Man. He sounded like a fun character to write.

AP – Finally, what’s on the horizon for Bill Gladman and Twilight Star Productions?

BG –At times there’s so much stuff going on at Twilight Star Studios I can’t see the horizon! Seriously this studio has been very productive and although I have been involved in several different studios in the past there has not been an experience like this. One a personal note I’ll be involved with several of our books including Tales From The ‘Field which is our flag ship title and an anthology comic. I usually write short stories and even sometimes ink other short stories for this title. I write short stories for our horror anthology series Pandemonium Spotlight, write and draw Prodigy an on-going cosmic super hero tale, write and draw Jack the Rabbit an action/adventure/fantasy limited series. I also write and ink the Un-Naturals and recently co-wrote Hero Of The Day featuring the character Hero Montgomery created by a good friend of mine (Chad Strohl) as well as act as Executive Editor on all of our books. I also plan to re-release my first novel The Book Of Noheim through the studio. More novels will follow.

I also write two weekly web comics for the Comic Related web site (New Comic Day and Price For The Asking-with Ron Fortier) there is a third web comic about to launch on that site as well (The Bumtastic Four) I can also be found every other Monday co-hosting the RaynMan Power Podcast on that same site with Frank Raynor.

I have comic projects in the work with Penny Dreadful Press and Studio Akumakaze and a few other bigger companies which I’m not “allowed” to talk about at the moment.

AP – This has been fun and informative, Bill. Thanks and good luck with all your many projects.

BG –Thank you! It was a blast!!! Hope I didn’t bore you to death!!! 
 

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND-BULLDOG EDITION 2/2/11

ALL PULP NEWSSTAND
BULLDOG EDITION
2/2/11
PULP FACTORY AWARDS BALLOT SET, VOTING BEGINS!
The Pulp Factory, an online mailing list founded and administered by Ron Fortier, noted comic and pulp author, announces its second year of voting for the PULP FACTORY AWARDS.  These awards cover four categories and nominations are made by members of the Pulp Factory and those receiving the most votes make up the ballot.  Factory members also vote on the ballot and voting will be open through March 31, 2011. 
According to Fortier-

This year’s nominees represented twenty-eight writers, twenty-eight artists and a fifteen publishers. Ladies and gentlemen, the Pulp Renaissance is here. Good luck to all our nominees.

OFFICIAL BALLOT FOR THE 2010 PULP FACTORY AWARDS
PULP FACTORY MEMBER NAME __________________________________
Please vote for only one in each category by placing an X in the front of your
Selection. Send as attachment to Ron Fortier (Airship27@comcast.net)

BEST PULP NOVEL
( ) Green Lama Unbound by Adam Lance Garcia
( ) Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann
( ) Pulp Heroes – Khan Dynasty by Wayne Reinagel
( ) Sun Koh – Heir of Atlantis by Art Sippo
( ) Robin Hood – King of Sherwood by Ian Watson

BEST PULP SHORT STORY
( ) The Red Flame of Death by Van Alan Plexico
From “Van Allen Plexico presents Gideon Cain”
( ) Death Rides the Valkerie by Andrew Salmon
From “Black Bat Mysery.”
( ) The Last Deposit by Ian Watson
From “Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vol. Two”
( ) The Girl in the Glass Coffin by Ian Watson
From “Van Allen Plexico presents Gideon Cain”

BEST PULP COVER
( ) Mike Fyles for “Green Lama Unbound”
( ) Ingrid Hardy for “Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vol. Two”
( ) Mark Maddox for “Black Bat Mystery”
( ) Mike Manley for “Robin Hood – King of Sherwood”

BEST PULP INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS
( ) Pedro Cruz for “Jim Anthony Super Detective – The Hunters”
( ) Rob Davis for “Van Alan Plexico presents Gideon Cain”
( ) Charles Fetherolf for “Ravenwood – Stepson of Mystery”
( ) Mike Fyles for “Green Lama Unbound”

Seven Realms Publishing is proud to announce the signing of NY Times Bestselling author David L. Golemon!

From Seven Realms Publishing-

It is with great pleasure that we introduce you to David L. Golemon, NY Times Bestselling author of EVENT, LEGEND, ANCIENTS, LEVIATHAN, and PRIMEVAL. David comes to us with a fantastic new tale of terror…The SUPERNATURALS…a classic ghost story that will chill you to the bone. I can honestly tell you…this is one book that will give you sleepless nights.

The SUPERNATURALS will be released in October 2011!

Here’s a quick synopsis of the book:

Summer Placebuilt at the turn of the twentieth century by one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. Tucked away in the pristine Pocono Mountains and used as a summer retreat for the rich and famous, Summer Place was the description of charm and beauty. Built to spec, the twenty-four bedrooms and manicured grounds sparkled. It was truly a home that was as warm and beautiful as any well-appointed resort.

For a retreat that boasted the most glamorous setting in all of America, the gable roofed mansion was the epitome of tranquility…until 1925 when something went horribly wrong. Once homey and inviting, Summer Place had now become a haven for evil incarnate. A dark presence came to the yellow and white trimmed mansion, and it was now collecting the souls it needed to survive and thrive amongst the mountains that surround it.

Closed down by the owners and not lived in since the start of World War II, Summer Place has been maintained in its pristine condition, waiting for the team of men and women to discover its dark secret. In a national television broadcast reminiscent of Orson Wells War of the Worlds broadcast of 1939, America will witness on live television the coming of true evil, and it will be up to Professor Gabriel Kennedy, a disgraced Psychologist who had once faced the evil inside of Summer Place and came away a true believer in its extraordinary power. Now, along with the paranormal ghost hunting team; The Supernaturals, Kennedy will draw out and try to end the haunting that has been going on at Summer Place for over a hundred years.

You are asked to bear witness to the battle of wills as the thing inside of Summer Place will not go down without a fight!

Here’s a brief BIO about David…

David L. Golemon was born and raised in Chino, California. He has raised three great children, Shaune, Brandon and Katie Anne, and has welcomed a new daughter-in-law to the family, Tram, and last year a brand new baby granddaughter named Kiera.

David spent many years in Loveland, Colorado. He now makes his home on Long Island, New York. He was taught at an early age to love books by his father who passed on his love of reading to his son after driving a tank across Europe in World War II. His influences include, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Larry Bond and the greatest character writer in history, Stephen King. He hopes you will find touches each of these authors in his work.

David is the New York Times bestselling author of Event, Legend, Ancients, Leviathan, and Primeval, and in 2011, Legacy, all available through Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press, whom David has been a part of since 2006 and where he will continue his tales of the Event Group. David is now thrilled to be a contributor to Seven Realms Publishing where he has another outlet for his wild imagination!

Please join me in welcoming David to our ranks! We couldn’t be more pleased and know that his woeful tale of horror will have you clambering for more. We’ll keep you posted!

 

Reviews from the 86th Floor: Book Reviews by Barry Reese

INDIANA JONES AND THE DINOSAUR EGGS
Written by Max McCoy
Bantam Books (1996, reissued 2008)
ISBN 978-0-553-56193-7

As a huge Indy fan, I’ve collected all the novels over the years and will periodically take them out for a spin. My favorites are the ones written by Rob MacGregor but this is the best of the Max McCoy ones. It does continue threads from previous McCoy books and some elements are obviously to be continued from here but for the most part, it’s a nice done-in-one and you won’t suffer too much from jumping into this one if you’re unfamiliar with the literary Indy.

In this story, Indy is contacted by a beautiful nun who tells him that her father has gone missing in Outer Mongolia. In her possession is a horn that appears to have come from a recently deceased triceratops. Indy, our lovely missionary and a rugged explorer named Granger set off in search of both the missing professor and the possibly living dinosaurs. Along the way, there’s a breathtaking action sequence in the American Museum of Natural History, a visit to a valley lost to time, Indy’s first meeting with Rene Belloq and the possibility that Indy is the reincarnation of Marco Polo.

My only real complaint is that the novel sometimes skips weeks in between chapters — as a result, the first half of the book chugs along at a steady pace and the second half feels like it’s jumping around through what should have been an even bigger adventure. It makes me wonder if there was an editorial decision to trim the novel to fit into a specific page count.

McCoy has been very vocal that a number of his attempts to write the books for adults were shot down by the editors but I still feel this one captures the feel of the Raiders of the Lost Ark Indy very well and it was a blast to revisit it. The MacGregor novels are set earlier in Indy’s timeline so this one is probably a nice one to pick up if you’re new to the literary trail since the presentation of Indy is very consistent with what we see in the first film. If you enjoy it, go back to the beginning of the novels and see what you’ve been missing — both the MacGregor and the McCoy runs are worthwhile and even the Martin Caidin books have their moments.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

20th Century Fox Celebrates 75th Anniversary with a Million Moments

fox-logo-9691177Los Angeles, CA February 1, 2011 – Today, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE) kicked off a 12-month marketing, promotions, publicity and media campaign, “A Year Of A Million Moments,” to celebrate its robust catalog of movies made memorable, quotable, and unforgettable by the people who watch and embrace them.

A YEAR OF A MILLION MOMENTS CAMPAIGN AND PRODUCT
Fox’s yearlong celebration will include the release of seasonally timed Blu-ray Disc and DVD singles grouped thematically by month and distinguished by the “GREAT MOVIES. GREAT MOMENTS.” moniker. Each month Fox will spotlight films that reflect a specific theme with moments… to shine (January), you love (February), to laugh about (March), kids love (April), for mom (May), for heroes (June), to sing about (July), to remember (August), that are unforgettable (September), that terrify (October), that are classic (November) and holiday moments (December).

Product releases will be supported by publicity events, national advertising and retail specific promotions. Exact title configurations, packaging and release dates for “A Year Of A Million Moments” Blu-ray and DVD releases will be confirmed separately.

TCFHE has launched a dedicated Web site that will feature information about upcoming Blu-ray and DVD products and promotions tied to the million moments campaign.

Each month 16 films will face off for the title of “Best Movie Moment.” Consumers can vote each month for their favorite moment and enter for a chance to win a package of some of the most iconic and memorable movies from Fox.

What’s Your Movie Moment?
Find out which movie moment you’re most like and become a part of it. Upload your photo and share with others in the gallery of movie moments.

Win $1 Million
Fox is giving away $1 million in celebration of “A Year Of A Million Moments.” Codes found on specially marked Blu-ray and DVD product can be entered for a chance for one lucky consumer to become an instant millionaire.