Category: News

The Point Radio: ALCATRAZ = LOST 2?

The new Fox Series, ALCATRAZ, might seem a little familiar to LOSTies – there’s JJ Abrams, an island and even Hurley but there’s a lot more hidden in the mystery than you might think. Jorge Garcia and Sarah Jones join us to talk about what you can be sure will be different this time. Plus DC breaks the line and goes to $3.99 on Bat-Books.

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

GREEN LAMA LIVE ON STAGE!

On January 6th, 2012, for the first time EVER, the Green Lama came to life in an epic aerial performance at New York’s Rubin Museum of Art. Written by Adam Lance Garcia, author of the award-winning Green Lama Unbound novel, and based on his short story, “Case of the Final Column.” The stage play was performed by the amazing Cirquetacular.

The aerial artists of Cirquetacular have already interpreted tantric legends and C.G. Jung’s Mysterium from The Red Book in the 90-foot spiral of the Rubin Museum. Now they enact an episode from the Green Lama comics in midair during the museum’s popular Friday night K2 Lounge.

The Point Radio: How Far Will SHAMELESS Go?

There is no doubt that the Showtime series is outrageous, but how far is TOO far? We talk to the cast about where they draw the line – plus Kevin Smith is headed to AMC and DC Comics brings us back to Earth Two.

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

Tommorow only, Marvel gives $5 coupon for stores if you buy digital edition

Well, this is an interesting way to support comic shops in the face of a digital onslaught. If you purchase* a comic on the Marvel Comics app on January 7th, between 12:01am EST and 11:59pm EST, you will be e-mailed a coupon (on January 8th)** valued at five dollars to be used for any Marvel comics purchase at your local comic store. Please note that only one coupon is available per user during this limited-time offer and may only be redeemed at select comic shops.***

“We’re big believers that everything we do with the Marvel Comics app brings new fans to our great medium and we want to make sure those same fans discover the  great comic book stores out there,” said David Gabriel, Senior Vice-President of Sales, Marvel Entertainment. “For our fans, this is a great chance to digitally try out a new series you’ve heard about—and get a great coupon to use on the Marvel comics you buy at your local shop each Wednesday!”

“As we continue to grow the digital comics world, we want to make sure it’s always to the benefit of the medium and our comic shop retail partners,” said Peter Phillips, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Marvel Digital Media Group. “This coupon is a great way for us to let more of our fans know about their local comic store and incentivize them to make the trip there. At the end of the day, our goals in the print and digital mediums are the same—bring more fans to comics.”

Of course, Marvel will also get a LOT of demographic information out of this offer, which hopefully will get them a much better snapshot on the comics industry as a whole.

  • To receive this coupon you must be logged in with a Marvel account. If you don’t have an account, go register for free in the ‘My Comics’ section of the Marvel Comics app or at Marvel.com.
    ** This coupon expires on February 6th,  2012 at 11:59PM EST.
    *** Fans: The e-mail containing your coupon will also include a link to help you find the closest qualifying store(s).

MARTHA THOMASES Catches Cat Fever

The most important story of the new year is not being covered by the lame-stream media. You won’t find it on the more popular blogs. Neither Heidi MacDonald  nor Rich Johnston has the scoop.

We’re getting a new cat. You heard it here first.

In my life, I’ve only had three cats, unless you count the two on the commune where I spent 1974 and half of 1975. My first cat, Toots, came from a friend who found her on the streets of Yellow Springs, Ohio, and brought her to me in college. The second two, sisters Trixie and Midnight, were brought over from a rescue group. This time, I went to the Humane Society. They asked me what I wanted.

Using all available self-control, I did not specify a lightning-bolt marking on the right side. Neither did I specify super-strength, x-ray vision, nor the ability to fly.

Is there a more appealing concept in all of literature than the super-pet? Superman had Krypto, a super-dog, Supergirl had Streaky, a super-cat, and Comet, a super-horse. Batman had Ace, the Bat-hound. Chameleon Boy had Proty, a malleable blob.

I wanted all of them. I also wanted Beppo, the super-monkey, although I was never clear on whose pet he was.

At the time I had a dog, because at the time, I was ten years old and lived with my parents and had a yard. My dog was fairly awesome, but she couldn’t do anything Kryptonian. She couldn’t change her shape. She couldn’t even solve crimes. It seemed to me that having a pet who could take me on adventures, who could perform extraordinary feats for my amusement and, if necessary, for my protection, was the greatest thing that could happen in a person’s life.

As I said, my dog didn’t do any of those things. She did, however, love me more than anyone else. She even loved me more than my mother, who fed her.

A companion animal – a pet – is wonderful for a child. A pet won’t blab her secrets, no matter how juicy. A pet, unlike parents and teachers and even school friends, never judges her. A pet is always there, to play in the backyard or to sit in her lap watching television. A pet is always warm and soft and there when she needs a hug. For all these reasons, a pet is also wonderful for adults.

Those are pretty awesome super-powers.

Because the Humane Society has a fairly rigorous process to match animals to humans, I don’t yet have my new cat. I don’t think we’ll be naming her Streaky, because, really, I’ve never seen a cat with markings like that. I’m thinking of naming her Selina, after Selina Kyle. And also after a fairly brilliant <a href=”

.

And I reserve the right to make her a cape.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

Uneasy Lies The Crown on Anthony Head as Merlin Begins Fourth Season on Syfy Tomorrow

The poetic irony of Shakespeare’s phrasing is not lost on Anthony Head. When the Bard wrote that “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” even he could not have known what was in store for the actor Head’s royal character as the fourth season of MERLIN begins tomorrow at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Syfy.

As the new season opens, Head’s character – King Uther – is a mere shadow of himself, mired in bleak despair after realizing that his illegitimate daughter Morgana has arisen to become his greatest enemy, using dark magic to besiege Camelot and its leaders.

The first of a two-part episode, “The Darkest Hour, Part 1” finds Morgana’s blinkered determination threatening not only Arthur’s future, but the very balance of the world. With her magic stronger than ever, the sorceress summons the mighty Callieach (pronounced “kay-lix”) to tear open the veil between the worlds. Hellish creatures – the Derocha – pour forth, killing any who succumb to their touch. With King Uther in dire straights, it falls to Merlin, Arthur and his loyal Knights to protect the kingdom.

Head, the beloved Rupert Giles of Joss Whedon’s cult classic TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, enters his fourth season as Camelot’s monarch Uther Pendragon. The actor has been particularly busy for the past year working in television on both MERLIN and reprising his role
on NBC’s Free Agents, as well as appearing in feature films, including The Iron Lady alongside Meryl Streep and the upcoming sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

QUESTION: After all that happened in Season 3, how has Uther’s perspective changed entering Season 4 … and how does that change things in Camelot?

ANTHONY HEAD: Uther is broken man. Everything that he basically believed in and held
as reality has shifted. I’d say he’s not playing with a full set of marbles. And all of that means Arthur has more responsibility, and there is another – Nathaniel Parker has joined the cast as Agravaine – who has been drafted to act as the chancellor, to politically help
Arthur. It’s an interesting and kind of logical progression from where we were. (more…)

‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’ hits new earning record

More money in a week than Steve Ditko has seen from Spider-Man, ever.

Look who’s sporting a big smile behind his mask on Broadway — none other than the once-mocked Spider-Man. The Broadway League reported Tuesday that “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” took in a whopping $2,941,790 over nine performances last week, which is the highest single-week gross of any show in Broadway history.The musical shattered the old record held by “Wicked,” which last January recorded the then-highest one-week take on Broadway with a $2,228,235 haul, though over an eight-show week.

via Broadway’s ‘Spider-Man’ musical earns new record – Yahoo! News.

PRO SE ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER MAGAZINE LINEUP, INCLUDING COLLABORATION WITH WHITE ROCKET BOOKS!

Pro Se Productions, Publisher of the monthly New Pulp Magazine PRO SE PRESENTS, announced today its magazine lineup for the first quarter of 2012!  This lineup includes not only works from multiple writers, both new and familiar to New Pulp fans, but also features the first collaboration between Pro Se and noted New Pulp Publisher, White Rocket Books!

“Pro Se is ecstatic,” Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of and Partner in Pro Se Productions, stated today, “to be working with White Rocket Books and especially its owner and premier writer, Van Allen Plexico.   Known as one of the leading New Pulp writers today and able to bridge nearly any genre, Van brings a special touch to anything he writes and creates.   For Pro Se to be able to give Van a vehicle to showcase his latest upcoming work HAWK in a monthly magazine format is an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”

HAWK: HAND OF THE MACHINE is a stand-alone piece including an excerpt from Plexico’s HAWK novel, to be published by White Rocket Books in 2012, reworked to be a story all its own.  It spotlights the title character, a member of a force of protectors of space and its galaxies and planets.  HAND OF THE MACHINE will be featured in two parts beginning in PRO SE PRESENTS #7, February 2012, and ending in PRO SE PRESENTS # 8, March 2012.  HAWK will also be the cover feature for the March issue.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Van Allen Plexico, creator of HAWK and Publisher of White Rocket Books, “to see HAWK getting to make his mark for the first time in the pages of PRO SE PRESENTS, before he appears anywhere else.  I think HAWK will appeal to readers of all sorts–from military SF fans to space opera aficionados to pure pulp action/adventure fans–and Pro Se has positioned itself to reach that kind of broad audience and bring them the best that New Pulp has to offer.



Plexico continued, “The readers of PRO SE PRESENTS will discover a new character and a new universe to get into and enjoy, and my own readers will check out the magazine and find in it a publication that they will truly get a kick out of every month.  My thanks go out to Tommy Hancock and his merry band of Pulpsters for giving HAWK this kind of spotlight to make his big debut!”
The tales that make up the rest of PRO SE PRESENTS for the January, February, and March issues only show how varied the New Pulp field and the content from Pro Se can be!   Featuring stories from various genres by Kevin Rodgers, Megan Smith, PJ Lozito, James Palmer, Frank Schildiner, Ken Janssens, and Ashley Strole Mangin, the first three months of PRO SE PRESENTS is full of intergalactic adventure, Private Eyes of a feminine persuasion, dimension hopping teenagers, monster hunting gangsters, masked heroes, eerie Villains cast in classic molds, and so much more!  Known for Puttin’ The Monthly Back into Pulp, PRO SE PRESENTS is headed up by Lee Houston, Jr., Magazine Editor in Chief and edited by Houston, Frank Schildiner, Nancy Hansen, and Don Thomas!

For more information on Pro Se and when PRO SE PRESENTS is available, like PRO SE PRODUCTIONS on Facebook and follow www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com and www.prosepulp.com for all the latest on Pro Se Productions!

PRO SE PLANS FOR PULP POETRY IN 2012!

Pro Se Productions, a Publisher known to be on the cutting edge of New Pulp, announces an ambitious new project today that, if successful in 2012, will lead to a new imprint from Pro Se in 2013.

According to Tommy Hancock, Editor-in Chief and Partner in Pro Se, “Being a Publisher of both books and magazines, Pro Se obviously gets quite a few queries.  One of the very first we got upon announcing we would be publishing Pulp magazines back in 2010 concerned whether or not we were interested in something described as ‘Pulp, but poetry instead of prose.’   At the time, we weren’t, but that hasn’t stopped the queries from coming in, at least one every week to two weeks about whether or not we’ll accept crime poetry, space poetry, fantasy poetry, and so on.   Well, after a year and a half of requests as well as research and study, Pro Se has decided to test the waters via our magazine, PRO SE PRESENTS, by having an all Pulp Poetry volume.”

When asked to define Pulp Poetry, Hancock stated, “Well, if there’s a definition out there that is clear cut as to what it is, I haven’t found it. Pulp writers, most notably Robert E. Howard, have been known for their poetry as well.  Defining Pulp is subjective often anyway and that is something it has in common with Poetry.  Basically what we’re looking for is poetry that deals with subjects and genres that are a part of Pulp.  So, action, adventure, heroes and villains, conflict, and genre.  Genre is important in determining Pulp Poetry.  Pulp is all about genre, be it western, crime, fantasy, and so on.   So, Pulp Poetry definitely has to be something that deals in a particular genre that is a part of Pulp.”

As far as other requirements for Pulp Poetry, there are no requirements that it rhyme or be a certain length. Hancock stated that submissions would be open from January 2nd to March 1st 2012 for poems to be included in this volume.

The May 2012 issue of PRO SE PRESENTS, the tenth issue of the magazine, will be an all Pulp Poetry issue, edited by newly appointed Pulp Poetry Editor for Pro Se, Megan Smith. 

“I have been writing Poetry,” Smith explained, “since I was little. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t enjoy writing it or reading it.  There has always been an interest in Poetry and with the increase in the interest in Pulp in the last several years, it seems the perfect time to show the world what Pulp Poetry can be.”

Currently the only Pulp Poetry title on the Pro Se Schedule is the special magazine issue scheduled for May 2012.  Smith will serve as editor of Pulp Poetry regardless of the form it continues in, either as a continual part of the magazine format on a monthly basis or as its own line with Pulp Poetry collections in 2013.

“This,” Hancock pointed out, “is an experiment, but it’s one we have full faith in.  Pulp is known for being speculative and a field of literature where anything can happen.  The concept of Pulp Poetry fits perfectly and just wait and see what Pro Se does with it.”

Submissions for the Pulp Poetry volume can be made to Smith at pulppoetryeditor@yahoo.com or to Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net.  Submissions must be made by March 1, 2011.

To follow what Pro Se has coming check out www.prosepulp.com and www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com.

PRO SE ANNOUNCES NEW STAFF ADDITIONS FOR 2012!

Pro Se Productions, known for its quality books and magazines since coming on the New Pulp scene in 2010, announced today that due to the company’s past success as well as ambitious plans for 2012 and beyond, new positions have been added to the Pro Se Productions staff roster.
“In order to,” Tommy Hancock, Partner and Editor in Chief of Pro Se stated, “not only continue to produce at the quality and level we have been, but to continually improve and exceed that, it has become necessary to spread the work around a bit.  Fortunately there are those who support and believe in Pro Se’s goal of providing the best possible New Pulp fiction it can that have agreed to fill these positions.   They are no strangers to the company and have proven themselves in various other capacities, mostly as writers.  In at least one instance, we are finally giving a title to someone who Pro Se would not be what it is today without.”
The new staffers and their positions are as follows, according to Hancock-
Director of Art and Design- Sean E. Ali.  Hancock said, “This is a position that Sean has had with me since long before Pro Se existed, along with several others like sounding board, critic, friend, and others.  Sean is one of the best designers in New Pulp today and proves that by upping his game with every single new work Pro Se puts out.”
EBook Format and Design Consultant-Russ Anderson.  According to Hancock, “Russ is a godsend in that this is a direction Pro Se has been aimed at for a while.  Now we’re able to pull the trigger and Russ is firing out our eBook versions at a good clip and great quality as well.”
Assistant Editor-Nancy Hansen.  Hancock stated, “I can’t put into words what sort of support Nancy has been as well as the fact that she is one of the most prolific and consistent writers I know.  And there comes a time when the right person presents himself or herself to any EIC that he has to say ‘It’s time to share.’  It’s way past time that I finally took Nancy up on all her offers to help and could think of no one better to assist me.”
Copy Editor-Don Thomas.  As Hancock put it, “Pro Se looks to continually improve and editing is one area where every single publishing company in the world can always do better.  As a part of that we’ve brought on editors to handle specific duties.  Don has been with Pro Se since before our first magazine hit the stands and has a commitment not only to Pro Se, but also to New Pulp.  Handling spelling, grammar, and other basic copyediting is something he has already tackled with dedication and persistence. “
Magazine Editor in Chief -Lee Houston, Jr.  Hancock reported, “Again one of those who has been with Pro Se since our first call for writers, Lee is an amazing individual.  He tackles every project with excitement and passion and wants only the best from himself and Pro Se.   He definitely displayed a great work ethic as a writer and as a genre magazine editor and has already brought that level of ability and dedication to this new position.”  Houston oversees Thomas’ work on the magazine as well as Frank Schildiner, magazine editor.  “Frank,” Hancock added, “is a top hand and continues to prove an asset to Pro Se’s magazine line, especially now that we have streamlined it to one title.”
Pulp Poetry Editor-Megan Smith.   “This,” Hancock explains, “is a position that we created for two reasons.  One is we get more requests than you would think for poetry, both in book and magazine form.  One of the first queries we got was whether or not we published crime poetry.  We didn’t then, but now we want to.  The other reason is we have the person perfect to head up this potential new line already working with Pro Se.  Megan is an up and coming writer, known primarily for Perry Lell from Pro Se as well as giving her face and skills to The Pulptress, a spokesmodel for Pro Se and New Pulp.  Megan is also a fantastic poet and her real passion lies in working with others interested in that.”  More details will follow, according to Hancock, but there will be at least one magazine issue devoted exclusively to Pulp Poetry from Pro Se this year with Smith at the helm.
Other staff members already working with Pro Se include Hancock (Partner and Editor in Chief), Fuller Bumpers (Partner and Chief Executive Officer), and Barry Reese (Submissions Editor).
“These additions,” Hancock noted, “are not simply to look like we’re bigger than we are.  Pro Se has literally grown tremendously in the last year and these positions have become necessary.   We are also considering other positions as well, related primarily to marketing and promotions, but that’s an ongoing process.”
To follow or get more information on Pro Se, check out www.prosepulp.com and www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com.