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 ![]() |
|
|
ALL PULP INTERVIEWS BEST SELLING AUTHOR AND DOC SCRIBE PAUL MALMONT!
ALL PULP’S A BOOK A DAY-Two books today!!!
![]() http://www.bearmanormedia.com/
Comic Strips and Comic Books of Radio’s Golden Age |
|
|
|
100 Years of Broadway
![]() |
|
|
ALL PULP NEWSSTAND NIGHTHAWK EDITION 2/2/11
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
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.
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 Place—built 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.




















