TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews by Tommy Hancock
MYSTERY MEN (& Women)
by Barry B. C Bell, Aaron Smith, David Boop, Barry Reese
Cover by Ingrid Hardy, Interior Art by Rob Davi
Published by Airship 27 Productions/Cornerstone Book Publishers

One thing that most fans, especially those of us who become writers, of Pulp fiction have in common is the deep desire to have created a character back in the hey day of pulps.  Masked figures haunting criminal ridden streets saving cringing citizens from thievery..or worse, we all have an idea for our own.   Although none of us will ever get the chance to go back in time and write in the era, the current resurgence in Pulp gives us the chance at the next best thing.  Fortunately Airship 27 and Cornerstone have snatched up the chance to bring in talented modern writers to create new heroes set in that Golden Age of fiction.

MYSTERY MEN (& WOMEN) is an anthology of original works by four different authors.  Each story highlights an original character created by each writer who fights crime and villainy in the 1930s.  The stories are as follows-

THE BADGE OF THE BUTCHER by B. C. Bell is a fantastic follow up to TALES OF THE BAGMAN, a collection published earlier this year by Airship/Cornerstone.  This adventure of ‘Mac’ McCullough, mobster turned masked hero, has all the pieces a pulp yarn needs, including a conflicted good guy, conflict with bad guys, interesting supporting characters, and a plot that grabs you from the first word and doesn’t let up on its choke hold until THE END.  The Bagman has done a lot to end the hold of the mob on his neighborhood, but new forces have moved in to fill the void and it turns out they may just be members of  Chicago’s finest.  Bell weaves a tale of a man
driven to desperate measures to insure justice in his corner of the world and he weaves it as tightly as any writer I’ve ever seen.
5 out of 5 tips of Hancock’s Hat for this one indeed.

HELL HATH NO FURY by Aaron Smith has police connections as well in this introduction of his heroine, The Red Veil.  A tough young policeman’s widow relies on her tough, self taught street skills and survival techniques to discover who killed her husband.  She fights her way to the truth in a costume of her own making and from behind a red veil.  The Red Veil is a character I definitely hope to
see again, a woman who balances emotion and violence well in her pursuit of justice.  Having said that, this debut story could use wit ha little mroe consistency.  The first half shows our heroine as having built herself a new image, then falling back on her upbringing in an almost transformative way.  This I thought was a good hook a different way of a character tapping who she needs to be.  The problem is Smith doesn’t use this wonderful metamorphosis technique again.  Regardless, the Red Veil is an avenger of the downtrodden that IO hope to see for several stories to come.
3 out of 5 tips of Hancock’s Hat, definite potential for this one.

FIRST DOWN by David Boop is almost as much horror story as it is pulp tale.  A football quarterback is propositioned by local mobsters to throw a game and, when he refuses, he is tortured and transformed into a hulking, seemiongly emotionless beast.  This take on the pulp hero archetype is weird and off kilter with definite gothic overtones.  Boop’s description of his protagonist is terrible and his internal struggle is agonizing.  Equally so, the bad guys are deserving of hte pounding that they get.  This story is full of unexpecteds, but still manages to be true to the pulp formula.
4 out of 5 Tips of Hancock’s Hat, reserved for a special few.

THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE by Barry Reese exposes readers to the myeterious, enigmatic Dusk.   This femme carries fatale to a whole new level due to the unexplained horrific effects of evil men looking upon her uncovered face.  Reese utilizes an old trope of cop tales, having a policeman and his secretary, both attractive and intelligent get involved in the hunt for a religious relic.  The back and forth of the relationship is a real thrill in this story and makes for a good balance to the pulsing action and final retribution when Dusk is on the scene.  The story builds and builds and ends exactly as it should, with an explosive twist that made me want more.
5 out of 5 Tips of Hancock’s Hat, awesome stuff.

Interior illustrations on this book are top notch.  Davis delivers in each and every story, some of the best work I’ve seen of his, both in art and how it adds to the impact of the tale.  Ingrid Hardy also delivers a cover that is well done technique wise.  A major issue I had with the cover, however, had nothing to do with Hardy’s work, but more with the subject.  Boop’s Gridiron is on the front, a damsel in distress behind him.  Instead of looking like the monstrous hero that I read within the story, this portrayal is almost comical and if not that, it is distracting in a ‘Just what is this’ way, not a ‘Oh, this is something i want to know more about’ way.  The cover would work for me if Gridiron had a little more of the Quasimodo feel portrayed in the story than the hooded Joker the cover hints at.
3 out of 5 Tips of Hancock’s Hat, it’s a good looking book overall.

Overall rating for MYSTERY MEN (& WOMEN)
4 out 5 Tips of Hancock’s Hat-Definitely a wonderful homage to the pulps of yesteryear by the writers and artists of today.

DERRICK FERGUSON-Writer/Creator/Editor/Reviewer

AP: Derrick, ALL PULP really appreciates you taking a break from THE LONG MATINEE and all other things Ferguson to visit with us. First, share with us a little bit about who Derrick Ferguson is personally, some background info, etc.

DF: The most interesting thing about me is the stuff I write. Seriously. But the bare facts about me are as follows: I’m a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY. I’ve been married for 27 years. I’ve been writing ever since I was 12 years old but it’s only been for the past 10 years or so that I’ve really tried to be professional about it. I love all things pulp, comic books, TV, movies, old radio shows, cartoons, cool trench coats and fedoras.
Most people always say they’d like to know more personal stuff about me. I have no idea why. I live a very quiet, even boring life. My years of wild adventuring have come and gone.

AP: You write Pulp. By your definition, just what is Pulp?

DF: Pulp is: Sinister plots to take over the world. Secret societies. Evil criminal geniuses. Even more sinister plots to destroy the world. Mere mortals tampering with the laws of nature. Ghastly creatures preying on the innocent. Heroes. Bizarre death traps. Ghoulish fiends from beyond. Slinky femme fatales more than willing to seduce good guy and bad guy alike. Futuristic gadgets. Art Deco. Villains. Sexy airplanes and even sexier cars. Loyal sidekicks. Mad scientists. Knowing what evil lurks in the hearts of men. Robots. Spaceships. Ancient gods seeking to consume our souls. Being superamalgamated. Faithful girlfriends who have no hope of ever getting married but don’t mind it a bit. Obeying Fu Manchu. Anything I left out?

AP: Pulp crosses multiple genres. What genres do you prefer to read? What genres do you prefer to write in? What genre have you not stepped off into yet that interests you?

DF: I guess action/adventure covers just about as broad a spectrum of those genres I like to read as anything else. But I like to read everything and I mean that literally. I truly believe that as a writer I can learn from everything I read and yes, that covers genres I don’t like or don’t normally read. You’d be surprised at how many bodice rippers I’ve read and gotten a solid good reading experience out of it. Science fiction and mysteries are always attention getters for me. I go out of my way for a good private eye yarn. I’ve been burning out my Mp3 player listening to as many “Pat Novak For Hire” episodes I can find and download the past month or so. How come nobody’s ever done a “Pat Novak For Hire” TV show or movie?

Pulp covers what I like to write as I take everything and anything from any genre I like and use it for the story I’m currently telling. I’ve taken elements of the spy genre, horror and spaghetti western and mixed them all up in one story with no problem.

The one genre I haven’t written in but I hope to correct that soon is The Western. Now, I’ve written weird westerns featuring my supernatural gunslinger Sebastian Red. But that’s a whole other creature. I’ve never written a ‘straight’ western. If my 2011 schedule permits, I’d like to knock out one. I’ve got the plot and character all mapped out. I just need the time, dammit.

AP: You’re associated with several pulp outfits, but probably most recognizably with Pulpwork Press. Can you tell us about Pulpwork and how you’re associated with them, just as a writer or is it more than that?

DF: Pulpwork Press devloped over a number of years due to the unique relationship I’ve developed with Joel Jenkins and Joshua Reynolds. I like to say that Joel is the best friend I’ve never met and Josh is simply an amazing talent who dazzles me with his profssionalism and his quality output. He’s also taught me a lot about promotion and the value of keeping one’s name out there.

Pulpwork Press was started by the three of us simply as a way to publish our work and get it out there to the people who wanted to read it. But it’s grown into far more than that. Joel had built up a sizeable auidence due to a pulp themed website called Electronic Tales he ran for years. That’s how I met him. And Josh as well as Joel contributed to Frontier Publishing, an online fiction site that remains one of the proudest things I’ve ever been associated with. We had ten tons of talent crackin’ on that site and when we cooked…mama, we cooked, you hearin’ me? Frontier Publishing got so well known and respected that we were contacted by the late Kevin McGowin, the author of the “Benny Poda” trilogy who wanted us to run one of his novels as a serial. Sadly it turned out to be his last one. But it brought us a considerable amount of credibility. Suddenly we weren’t just another fiction site.

I’ve written four books for Pulpwork Press so far and I guess that you could call me an editor there as well. Josh, Joel and I regularly meet and discuss Pulpwork Press beusiness and we all have equal say in what happens. One of the best things about working with these guys is that there’s no ego involved in anything we do. Sometimes we don’t agree on a course of action but that’s okay. We don’t take it personally. So far, there’s never been a dispute we haven’t been able to resolve like grown men are supposed to be able to do.

AP: One of your characters that has shown up from Pulpwork Press is Diamondback. He is the star of at least one novel already released with two follow ups announced. Who is Diamondback and what makes him unique in Pulpdom?

DF: Diamondback is unique for a number of reasons. One: he inhabits the city of Denbrook. Which is a city created by that insanely talented writer Mike McGee as a shared universe that Frontier Publishing writers could use as a setting. And a number of us did so. There were actually nine novels set in Denbrook written by various authors such as myself, Joel Jenkins, Michael Franzoni, Megan Curtis, Matt Pierce and Tom Lynch.

The first Diamondback novel “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time” was my experiment to write a story where just about everybody is a bad guy. Just bad guys of various levels of badness (insert laughter) The inspiration for Diamondback himself comes from a line in a Billy Preston song: “Gonna write a story ain’t got no moral…let the bad guy win every once in a while”

Diamondback was also a lot of fun to write because it’s basically a western disguised as an urban crime thriller. If you’ve seen “Yojimbo” or “A Fistful of Dollars” then you’ve got the template of what the first Diamondback novel is about.

AP: Another character you’re closely identified with is Dillon. Tell us about Dillon, including where he’s appeared and any future plans.

DF: Dillon is my favorite character and the one who gets to go on the globetrotting, world saving adventures. He’s the character most influenced by the pulps, mostly Doc Savage. All the information you could want to know about Dillon can be found here:
So far there’s been two Dillon novels published and in 2011 there’s three Dillon projects planned. The first is a collection of short stories/novellettes that previously have been spread out all over the Internet titled FIVE BULLETS FOR DILLON. Those stories will finally be collected in one book, along with an original story written especially for the book. The second is a novel that’s a semi-sequel to DILLON AND THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN BELL which is called DILLON AND THE PIRATES OF XONIRA.
And the project I’m really excited about is one I’m collaborating on with one of the most popular and talented writers working today. I can’t mention it yet as the publisher has requested we not say anything about it until the end of the year. The only thing I can tell you is that Dillon is involved.

AP: Now, you’ve also developed a character for Pro Se Productions. What is the Sovereign City Project and just who is Fortune McCall and what does he have to do with it?

DF: Tommy Hancock came to me and Barry Reese with an idea for a shared universe project. His intention was to create a city and populate it with all kinds of original pulp heroes. His only rule was that the stories had to take place in the 1930’s.

I felt very honored that Tommy thought enough of my talent to ask be to be one of the architects of Sovereign City and give it life and characters worthy to stand beside the classic pulp characters we all know and love.

For my part I saw this as an opportunity to create an authentic black pulp hero in the 1930’s. Back then we weren’t as enlightened a people as we are now so black heroes were in short supply. So I was delighted to have this chance to hopefully expand the genre and give it (pardon the pun) some much needed color.
Fortune McCall is an international man of mystery. All anybody seems to know about him is that he’s staggeringly rich, has a wide range of esoteric skills and travels with a team of six who are all pretty formidable in their own right. He operates out of a luxurious gambling ship called ‘The Heart of Fortune’. He gets involved in the affairs of Sovereign City when he takes an assignment to rescue a friend of his from some neafrious Nazi types and the mayor of Sovereign City asks Fortune and his friends to then stick around and help out when needed. Hilarious hijinks will ensue.

The background for Fortune McCall is one that I’m actually pretty proud of but I can’t reveal it here. You’ve got to read the stories to see how it unfolds.

AP: You write reviews as well, movie reviews. What interests you so much about films that you not only write movie reviews for various venues, but also have a pod cast devoted to them?

DF: I’ve been a movie fan all my life. Ever since my father took me to the movies to see “The Wild Bunch” He shoulda never did that because from then on I was hooked. If I’m not reading or writing I’m most likely watching movies. In my family and circle of friends I’m the guy everybody comes to when they want a recommendation on what movie to Netflix for the weekend.

It occurred to me that if I started writing movie reviews I could simply point to them when somebody asked me what I thought of this movie or that one. So I started posting reviews on my Live Journal. Eventually I had enough reviews for two books and I have even more for a third and forth one. And yes, you will be seeing them in 2012. Until then, keep watching my Live Journal http://dferguson.livejournal.com/

The BETTER IN THE DARK podcast is something that I had no intention of doing for as long as Tom Deja and I have been doing it, which is five years now. It initially was only supposed to be six episodes. But listeners loved the first six so we said we’d do another six and then another six and it just grew from there. I’m still flabbergasted that people actually think I know what I’m talking about.

AP: Every writer has a process, some more organized than others. What does the Derrick Ferguson process of story building consist of?

DF: I sit down, I open up a new Word document and I start writing. Really, that’s just about it. I’ve never really been a writer that opens up a vein agonizing over what I’ve written or take a week rewriting one line. I write every story I’ve done exactly three times: the first draft and then two rewrites. I really can’t see me taking five years to write one novel. I’m just not hardwired that way.

To the horror of many of my writer friends, I don’t use an outline. I begin with the characters, a number of major scenes and I just go. I usually know the beginning of a story and the end but the middle I feel my way through. When I write a story for the first time I’m telling it to myself so I enjoy discovering the twists and turns in the story as I’m writing it. It feels more alive to me.

I’m frequently asked how I come up with ideas for stories. I wish I could say I’m divinely inspired but most of my story ideas come when I’m doing mundane chores like washing the dishes or doing laundry. It gives me a chance to plan out scenes in my head so that when I sit down at the keyboard no time is lost. I’m baffled by those writers who tell me they spend hours just staring at the screen. Instead of wasting that time, get up and mop the floor or wash the car. I guarantee that within ten/fifteen minutes you’ll have three or four ideas for stories.

AP: OK, what about the future? What’s coming from the mind of Derrick Ferguson for pulp fans in the next few months?

DF: I’m really planning on stepping up my game in the coming year. It seems to me that a lot of people really aren’t aware of me or my work and a lot of that is my fault. I simply haven’t been as prolific as I should be, I think. But in 2011 with the work I’m planning not only for Pulpwork Press but for Airship 27 as well as Pro Se Productions I guarantee that people are going to hear a whole lot of me.
　AP: Derrick, thanks so much! We’ll let you back in the theater now…
　http://www.pulpworkpress.com/dillon.htm

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was one of those summer movies that didn’t generate the buzz Walt Disney had hoped for but it did have its fans and for those who may have missed it, the movie comes to DVD on Tuesday. Actor Jay Baruchel played the title role and in an interview supplied by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, he reviews his work on the film.Question: How does it feel to be involved with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice ?

Jay Baruchel: It’s a great honor to be part of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but it’s also very stressful because Fantasia is cherished and beloved by so many people around the world. The sorcerer’s apprentice sequence of Fantasia is one of the most iconic and important sequences in film history, so I didn’t want to screw this up. If you were going to create a retrospective of great film moments, I think the Fantasia sequence would be up there alongside Cary Grant being chased by the crop duster in North By Northwest. It has been exhilarating to get the chance to do something so important to so many people, but there’s a lot of weight on our shoulders and I didn’t want to get it wrong.

Question: How do you deal with the stress of working on such an iconic project?

Jay Baruchel: There are two possible outcomes. You can either let the stress get the best of you and wilt in the face of adversity, or you can let the stress push you to work harder than you’ve ever worked before. The only other time in my career where I felt a similar weight on my shoulders was when I got to work for Clint Eastwood. It was tough. There’s a great sports analogy that comes to mind when I think about this. If you get drafted into the NHL and you get to play on the same line with the guys that made you want to start playing hockey in the first place, are you going to mess up under the pressure? Or are you going to show everyone the reason why you are standing there next to these amazing athletes? I had to bring my A-game to this project. I wanted to prove to everyone that they made the right decision in hiring me.

Question: What was your highlight to the filming of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice?

Jay Baruchel: Shooting plasma bolts out of my hands has been a lifelong ambition of mine. Ever since I played Street Fighter II when I was a kid, I’ve been waiting to shoot energy out of my hands. For years, nothing happened. My hands finally get to work in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

(more…)

Contact information:

Charles R. Saunders, one of the most respected fantasy adventure writers in the field, has joined Airship 27 Productions to create a black pulp hero. Saunders is best known for his series of novels featuring Imaro, the black warrior of an ancient, mythological Africa. His work has been compared to being equal parts Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Saunders and Airship 27 Editor, Ron Fortier, have been friends for many years. Saunders had been working for the company which packages titles for Cornerstone Book Publishers as a proof-reader. It was the beginning of his first exposure to the world of pulps. One he enjoyed a great deal. Enough to offer Fortier an idea for a novel featuring a 1930s black avenger along the lines of the Shadow and the Spider.

“I was ecstatic when Charles brought up the idea,” says Fortier. “One of the less savory aspects of the pulps was their inherent racism. The pulps of the 1930s reflected a prejudicial ignorance that was representative of the country’s attitude during those times.” Today’s modern pulp writers and editors often grapple with this sensitive issue as whether or not to depict it accurately in their stories. Some opt to ignore it altogether.

“So that was the challenge,” Fortier continues. “Could Charles give us an African American hero and make it work in an authentic 1930’s New York setting?”

DAMBALLA, the name of the book, is Saunders’ response to that question. Cast in the mold of the classic pulp heroes, the noted author describes his new character as the 30s version of a well known cinema tough guy. “Damballa, like John Shaft, ‘will risk his neck for his fellow man,’” says Saunders. “The difference is, Damballa wears a cloak instead of a leather jacket, and uses both ancient African wisdom and modern science in his battle against injustice.”

Airship 27 Productions plans to release this ground breaking pulp thriller in the Spring of 2011.