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Richard Matheson: 1926-2013

Richard-MathesonRenowned science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer Richard Matheson died June 23, 2013 at his home at the age of 87. Matheson is the author of classic SF novels I Am Legend (1954) and The Shrinking Man (1956), among numerous other books. Many of his iconic works have become abiding parts of popular culture, and many of them have been adapted into comics by IDW Publishing. Adaptations of his works included I Am Legend, adapted by Steve Niles and Elman Brown, Blood Son, adapted by Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood, and Duel by Ryall and Rafa Garres.

Matheson’s writing has always been popular for film and TV adaptations, with several of Matheson’s works being adapted, notably film versions of I Am Legend including The Last Man On Earth, The Omega Man, and I Am Legend. The Shrinking Man was filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man (adapted by Matheson and winner of a Hugo Award for Outstanding Movie). Other novels that inspired films include A Stir of Echoes, Hell House, World Fantasy Award-winning romance Bid Time Return (filmed as Somewhere in Time), and What Dreams May Come.

His horror story “Duel” was the basis for one of the first films directed by Steven Spielberg, with a script by Matheson. He also wrote 14 episodes for The Twilight Zone, including classics “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and “Steel”; the latter was adapted again as film Real Steel. He adapted his story “The Box” (1970) for an episode of the revived Twilight Zone in the ’80s called “Button, Button”, and the story also inspired film The Box (2009). He also wrote episodes for Star Trek (“The Enemy Within”) and Night Gallery, plus TV and feature films, including horror movies with director Roger Corman.

Matheson was a prolific author of horror, SF, fantasy, Westerns, suspense, and mainstream novels. His most recent books are Other Kingdoms and autobiographical novel Generations.

Matheson’s first genre story was “Born of Man and Woman” in 1950, winner of a Retro Hugo in 2001. His short work and scripts have been collected in many volumes, notably Born of Man and Woman: Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy and World Fantasy Award winner Richard Matheson: Collected Stories.

Richard Burton Matheson was born February 20, 1926 in Allendale NJ. He grew up in Brooklyn and served in the infantry during WWII. He earned a journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 1949, and relocated to California in 1951. He married Ruth Ann Woodson in 1952, and they had four children, three of whom are writers — Chris Matheson, Richard Christian Matheson, and Ali Matheson.

Matheson won the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1984 and a Stoker Life Achievement award in 1991. He was named a World Horror Grandmaster in 1991, an International Horror Guild Living Legend in 2000, and in 2010 was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010.

Our condolences to his family, friends, and fans.

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BIG PULP RELEASES JUNE NEWSLETTER

  • Uncategorized
  • June 24, 2013
New Pulp publisher, Big Pulp has released their June newsletter.

Big Pulp Logo

Big Pulp Newsletter
June 24, 2013
LGBT Collection now in print and for the Kindle!
+ Big Pulp Summer 2013 and APESHIT!

Looking for great fiction? Visit the Big Pulp Store on Amazon!

Every issue of Big Pulp magazine is available for the Kindle for just $2.99!

But there’s more! You can also find links to short stories, novels, and story and poetry collections by our Big Pulp authors, in either print or ebook editions.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of books competing for your dollars on Amazon. Let us help you find the good stuff! Though these collections are not published by us, these authors have all received the Big Pulp thumbs up, appearing at least once in our pages. Why gamble when we’ve gone through the slush pile for you?

Like Big Pulp, our Amazon Store has a wide range of work – SF, adventure, horror, fantasy, mystery, and romance. Check it out! You’ll be glad you did!

NEW RELEASES!
Clones, Faires & Monsters in the Closet
Clones, Fairies 
& Monsters in the Closet
Gay warlocks, lesbian warriors, bi-curious neighbors, super-queeroes, prison bitches, freedom fighters, and drag queens occupy this collection of LGBT-themed SF, mystery, horror, fantasy, and romantic fiction! Available now in print and for theKindle on Amazon!



Support our IndieGoGo campaign! 
Big Pulp can’t survive on submissions alone! Check out our newest IndieGoGo campaign to get copies of our Summer 2013 issue, our LGBT book, our upcoming monkey-themed anthology, original art, Jankies, and other goodies! 

Catskin

Big Pulp Summer 2013: Catskin
The son of a smalltown sheriff takes crime prevention into his own hands, but curiosity may kill the cat, in Arley Sorg’s “Catskin”, the cover feature to the Summer 2013 issue of Big Pulp! This issue has a spooky cateye cover by Phil Good and more than 20 SF, Horror, Fantasy, and Mystery stories and poems! 
  
Apeshit
APESHIT
Who doesn’t love a monkey? This collection is chock-full of 200+ pages of giant apes, detective chimps, helper monkeys, gun-toting gorillas, occult orangutans, militant marmosets, time-traveling capuchins, zombie fighters, winged servants, astronauts, missing links, ice cream treats and infinite monkeys at infinite typewriters!  

Big Pulp is CLOSED for submissions

Big Pulp’s latest submissions period closed on May 31. We are reading and selecting work for publications scheduled for 2014. If you submitted during this period and haven’t heard from us, be patient! We’re reading and re-reading and making tough decisions from among the great work we received. 

We plan to announce our next themed collections soon! Join ourFacebook page or follow us on Twitter to be sure you get the news! 

Big Pulp Spring 2013 Big Pulp Winter 2012 Big Pulp Fall 2012 Big Pulp Summer 2012
Visit the Big Pulp online store for more! Big Pulp Spring 2012  Big Pulp Fall 2011Big Pulp Winter 2010

Big Pulp print and ebook editions

Big Pulp is available in print directly from the publisher. Click here for our online store, including links to each issue’s contents and samples stories published online. 

Big Pulp ebooks are just $2.99 – available for the  Kindle from Amazon and for all other ebook formats from Smashwords. 

Are You A Small Press Publisher?

Big Pulp is open to trading ads or web links with other small press publishers. If you publish a fiction or poetry magazine, 
either in print or on the web, and would like to trade ads or links, please contact us at editors@bigpulp.com.  
Big Pulp also is expanding its outreach through small press festivals and genre conventions. If you’d like to share space withBig Pulp at an event, please contact us for details. 

One of the Earliest Anime in America, Marine Boy, comes to Home Video

600full-marine-boy-artworkAlongside the heralded Speed Racer and Kimba: The White Lion, MARINE BOY was one of the original handful of imported television series that captured youngsters’ imaginations and put Japanese anime in the stateside consciousness.

Now fans of the 1960s series, and an entire new generation of anime appreciators, can experience the undersea hero’s aquatic adventures as Warner Archive Collection distributes MARINE BOY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.

Produced in Japan but intended for first-run syndication in the United States during 1966-67, Marine Boy was one of the first color cartoons to come from Japan. A teenager with some amazing inventions at his disposal, Marine Boy battles evil on and under the seas on behalf of the Ocean Patrol, aided by his father, Dr. Mariner, and the brilliant Professor Fumble. Joining Marine Boy in his missions are his white dolphin, Splasher, young mermaid friend Neptina, and fellow Ocean Patrol agents Bullton and Piper.

The series even shared some pedigree with Speed Racer, most notably featuring several members of the rival series’ voice cast – like Corinne Orr, the voice of Marine Boy, Neptina and Clicli (as well as Trixie on Speed Racer); Peter Fernandez as Piper and Dr. Mariner (and the original voice of Speed Racer) and Jack Grimes as Professor Fumble and Splasher (Chim-Chim). Jack Curtis provided the voice of the narrator for both series.

If sea-faring adventure is your brand of fun, then Warner Archive Collection has a vault filled with entertainment made for you. From live-action thrillers like Man From Atlantis, City Beyond the Sea and Captain Nemo and the Underwater City to the animated dramas SeaLab 2020 and The Pirates of Dark Water to the silliness of Jabberjaw and Snorks, there’s something for every aquatic fan … including special discounts during the current “Harpoon Sale.” Dive into http://shop.warnerarchive.com/home.do today.

Pulp Fiction Review and the Big Clear

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  • June 24, 2013

New Pulp Author Ron Fortier returns with another Pulp Fiction Review. This time out Ron takes a look at The Big Clear by Christopher Harris.

THE BIG CLEAR
By Christopher Harris
Short Cypher Press
275 pages

Mason “Dub” Storm was a Special Forces sniper in the first Gulf War and then worked in East African locales such a Somalia with an elite secret platoon.  In the end Storm began to question his own justifications for his assignments and just who his puppet masters really were.  Ultimately he left the service and returned to his home base of Austin, Texas to pick up the pieces of whatever remained of his soul.

As the book opens, Dub, is a two bit stoner working, whenever he can get a customer, as a private investigator.  Because of his drug connections, he comes in contact with Angela Easley, the strung out youngest daughter of one of the richest men in Texas.  Her three year old son, Hunter Parsons, has been kidnapped and she begs Dub to find him for her.  Well aware he is venturing into a world as alien to him as the foreign battlefields of his past, the weary private eye agrees to help out until the police take over.  It all seems easy enough.

Right. Until Dub recalls Angela’s older sister, and her Daddy’s chief business assistant, is none other than the high school sexpot from his youth, Heather Easley.  One look at her in her expensive mannish business suit over her hour glass, trim body and Dub finds himself floating in ancient dreams that were never ever going to come true.  Then, a friend named Kid, who had been helping him with surveillance, is brutally murdered and Dub’s hands are once again covered in other people’s blood.  Gunfights, steamy sex and a mystery with enough twists to give us a queasy stomach abound in these pages.

Harris’s style is a mix of traditional noir and punk giving the narrative a smooth jolt throughout and becomes quickly addictive.  He deftly mixes Dub’s confused present with his hellish past and when the two collide viciously towards the finale, it is a satisfying resolution though still an ambiguous one.  Dub Storm is one of the most complicated heroes I’ve encountered in a long, long time and one I’m hoping to see in action again soon.  This is a well-executed thriller by a writer worth keeping an eye out.  Go pick up “The Big Clear” and prove my point.

BOOM! Studios acquires Archaia

  • News
  • June 24, 2013

San Diego Comic-Con 2011 - Boom! Studios boothBOOM! Studios, the comics and graphic novel publisher, has acquired indie label Archaia Entertainment. BOOM! Studios will be the surviving company and the Archaia brand shall be maintained as a distinct imprint of BOOM!.

The addition of Archaia positions BOOM!’s catalog of intellectual property as the largest independent company-controlled comic book and graphic novel library, behind only industry titans DC Entertainment (Warner Bros.) and Marvel Entertainment (Disney).

BOOM! Studios was co-founded by Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby in 2005, and is known for Irredeemable, various licensed properties like Planet Of The Apes, The Muppet Show, Farscape, and the upcoming Sons Of Anarchy, their KaBOOM! all-ages imprint with Adventure Time, and their BOOM!Town imprint with various literary comics. Archaia, established in 2002, is known for graphic novels Mouse Guard, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, Rust, Spera, Cowboy, and Gunnerkrigg Court.

BOOM!’s foray into feature films launches this summer with Universal’s August 2 release 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, based on industry veteran Stephen Grant’s original comic. BOOM!’s also prepping to shop two more Grant properties in the works: Damned, Grant’s 1997 miniseries with Mike Zeck which BOOM! is re-releasing in July, and new comic The Deceivers which boasts a set-up akin to 2 Guns with spies. Meanwhile BOOM! is currently prepping its next feature Jeremiah Harm, based on the comic book by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, and John Mueller, which Timo Vuourensola (Iron Sky) will direct. Archaia also has a number of titles previously optioned or in development including Rust (Fox), Lucid (Warner Bros.), Bolivar (Warner Bros.), and Feeding Ground (Pressman Films).

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BOOM! Acquires Archaia

  • News
  • June 24, 2013

archaia__130624170337-200x107BOOM_footer_logoJune 24th, 2013 – Los Angeles, CA – BOOM! Studios, the Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comic book and graphic novel publisher and two-time winner of Diamond Comics Distributors’ prestigious “Best Publisher” Gem Award, has merged with Eisner and Harvey Award-winning Archaia Entertainment, the publisher of graphic novels including Mouse Guard, A Tale of Sand, Rust, Spera, Cowboy, and Gunnerkrigg Court. BOOM! Studios will be the surviving company and the Archaia brand shall be maintained as a distinct imprint of BOOM!.

The addition of Archaia positions BOOM!’s catalog of intellectual property as the largest independent company-controlled comic book and graphic novel library, behind only industry titans DC Entertainment (Warner Bros.) and Marvel Entertainment (Disney). BOOM!’s comic books and graphic novels pioneer a new business model, sharing intellectual property ownership between the company and the creators who generate the content. BOOM!’s Chief Executive Officer and founder, Ross Richie, noted, “Our creator-friendly model ensures that creatives are rewarded financially as they generate the franchises of tomorrow. Archaia operates with the same philosophy and objectives, which is one of the many reasons this combination is such a great fit.”

“We are thrilled and excited to join with BOOM!,” Archaia President and Chief Operating Officer Jack Cummins, who will continue in the same role, said. “BOOM! is very committed to maintaining the brand we’ve worked so hard to build and preserving our relationship with our creators, fans, and retailers. They’re fans of Archaia first and foremost, and are avidly working behind the scenes to expand our market penetration and carry our catalog deeper into retail channels. Archaia readers can expect the same editorial approach that has garnered industry-wide awards but we will have a much stronger platform to deliver our content in all forms and channels. I am personally looking forward to bringing our team together with the fantastic team Ross has built.”

Richie added, “Archaia has a terrific track record for creating award-winning, beautiful books with high production values. Jack Cummins, Stephen Christy, Mark Smylie, and the entire Archaia team have built an amazing publisher. With BOOM!’s resources, Archaia fans will see more of the books they love, while retailers will enjoy better business through stronger trade terms.” The companies also plan to put key items from the Archaia catalog back into print.

BOOM! Executive Chairman Scott Lenet of the venture capital firm DFJ Frontier noted, “We are excited to be investors in a profitable, growing company with a fantastic early track record of creating, curating, and marketing properties that audiences genuinely love. We have ambitious plans to continue to fund the company’s expansion in comics, graphic novels, and other media.”

August 2nd sees the release of the first BOOM! Studios feature film, the Universal Pictures-distributed 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, based on the Steven Grant comic book published by BOOM!. The company is currently preparing its second feature film for production: Jeremiah Harm, based on the comic book by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, and John Mueller, will be directed by Timo Vuourensola of Iron Sky (jeremiahharm.com).

Archaia has optioned Royden Lepp’s graphic novel Rust to Twentieth Century Fox. Among Archaia’s other announced deals are the development of Lucid (Warner Bros.), Bolivar (Warner Bros.), and Feeding Ground (Pressman Films).

Recently, legendary creators including writer Paul Jenkins (Wolverine: Origin, Inhumans) and artist Brian Stelfreeze (Batman: Shadow of the Bat, Wednesday Comics) have announced to the industry that BOOM! is their new publishing home. This summer BOOM! also launched the first original comic book Clive Barker has ever created and written, Clive Barker’s Next Testament.

July sees the blockbuster release of Archaia’s Mouse Guard: The Black Axe, created by Eisner Award winner David Petersen, Cyborg 009 in partnership with acclaimed Japanese publisher Ishimori, and The Thrilling Adventure Hour based on the long-running stage play of the same name.

It’s a Brave New iPulp World

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  • June 24, 2013

New Pulp Publisher, iPulpFiction.com shared their latest press release with All Pulp. iPulpFiction.com proudly presents Neworld Papers.

PRESS RELEASE:

HELP US CELEBRATE the launch of our new YA science fiction series, Neworld Papers, by downloading the Kindle Book for FREE on June 28th and 29th.

You don’t need a Kindle device to read the book. You can read Kindle eBooks on most computers, tablets, and smart phones using the Kindle App.

About Neworld Papers:
“The treason of these papers is not just in the actions they document, but in their very existence.”

The people of Neworld have no concept of war, or murder, or even love. Theirs is a world without hunger or strife. Yet the world is a fiction — based on lies and omissions. Fallon is a young man with secret talents and the willingness to explore and learn. Pulled from a sheltered life, he becomes a chronicler of discoveries that challenge the very fabric of Neworld’s society.

Is revealing the truth worth the disruption of a society?

Neworld Papers has action, adventure, and romance grounded solidly in thought-provoking science fiction.

Neworld Links:
Available on Amazon with preview here.
Facebook
GoodReads
Twitter: @iPulpFiction

Thanks,

Keith Shaw
Publisher, iPulpFiction.com

REVIEW: Movie 43

REVIEW: Movie 43

M43_BD_SpineGrowing up in the 1970s, there were plenty of movie parodies that broke down into two camps: the really smart ones that required a familiarity with film and culture (Blazing Saddles, et. al.) and those that were outrageous fun (Kentucky Fried Movie, The Groove Tube). The latter also showcased up and coming talent before and behind the camera, shooting on a shoestring so the studio had a low-risk offering. The other thing the latter films offered were the vignette approach, letting different creative types strut their stuff, making for an uneven but generally entertaining experience.

That same approach was recently used (and Kentucky Fried Movie cited as an inspiration) to mount the not very good Movie 43, out now on disc from 20th Century Home Entertainment. The difference is that it was made by a ton of talented, pedigreed cast and crew yet still managed to be offensive, unfunny, and amusing. The overall production lacked wit and the directors didn’t get much out of their cast.

The film is framed with a demented man (Dennis Quaid) threatening a studio exec (Greg Kinnear) with death unless he heard his pitches for the ultimate feel good movie. Each pitch led to a vignette and then back to the frame where things were escalated. In some ways, the frame is the most interesting aspect of the film as we got to see the Stockholm syndrome play itself out.

As it turns out, the most polished of the short pieces was the first and was shot to secure everyone else’s participation. A woman (Kate Winslet) goes out on a blind date with the city’s most eligible bachelor (Hugh Jackman) and as they sit to dinner, she realizes he has testicles attached to this neck. Everyone is oblivious to this physical manifestation but she cannot take her eyes off them and supposed hilarity ensues.

There are 12 directors and 43 actors (get it?) so the shorts are wildly inconsistent but often tread just over the line of good taste with crude language, playing with social mores and taboos, and never quite knowing when to end it. The cast is game although none are given a chance to play with their screen types, instead, are asked to inhabit genuinely clueless or unlikeable characters. A recurring theme in the sketches is how clueless (and tasteless) some people are so rather than guffaw you tend to go “ewwww”. The worst may be the faux-Batman (Jason Sudekis)’s description of faux-Supergirl (Kristen Bell)’s nether region to an embarrassed Robin (Justin Long). The set-up is amusing but played all wrong so is annoying rather than funny (and totally wastes John Hodgeman as the Penguin). Runner up is Chloë Grace Moretz in the uncomfortable situation where she has her first period in a household of male clichés who freak out or don’t know how to handle the delicate situation (although it ends with them watching a commercial that is actually funny).

The package comes with a Blu-ray, a DVD, and a digital copy. Perhaps most interesting is the Blu-ray which comes with an alternate version, one shown overseas, that uses a different framing sequence running several minutes longer, and is less funny. The sole other extra is a cut sketch with Julianne Moore and Tony Shalhoub as parents asking an off-screen investigator to help find their missing daughter, who was glimpsed on a  Girls Gone Wild-style video Mr. Shalhoub just happened to order and repeatedly watch. The gimmick is that girl has a tendency to flash the camera in Christmas cards, high school yearbooks, etc. A short with Anton Yelchin as a necrophiliac was shot and promised for the disc but is missing.

A great premise, gathering some of today’s funniest people (headed by Peter Farrelly) and top stars to have some fun, goes nowhere and is not as clever as the crew think it is. A serious misfire of a film which sank without a trace at the box office.

Mindy Newell: Man Of $teel

In 1978, we were enticed to go see Superman this way:

  • You will believe a man could fly.

In 2013, we have been enticed to go see Man Of Steel like this:

  • He can walk through fire.
  • He can melt glaciers with his eyes.
  • He can rip through metal with his bare hands.
  • So, how does the Man of Steel shave?
  • Apparently with a Gillette razor.

Or…

  • Fly in for Sears Memorial Day Mattress Spectacular and get up to 60% off plus an extra 10% off mattresses over $999.
  • Plus special financing.
  • Plus free delivery and haul-away.
  • This is something super.
  • This is Sears.

Newell Art 130624Does Superman prefer Sealy, Simmons, Serta, Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic, or Sears’s own Sears-O-Pedic? And what size mattress – twin, full, queen, king, or California king?

According to a June 3rd article in Advertising Age by Maureen Morrison, Man Of Steel had already made $160 million even before it even opened in cinemas around the world. The British newspaper The Independent upped that ante, reporting on June 10th that Man Of Steel had snared $170 million in product placement and advertising before it opened on June 14th.

Product placement isn’t new. In the “director’s cut” of Superman, there is a scene just before Martha Kent sees Clark out in the wheat field of the farm that didn’t make it into the theatrical version – and by the way, any theories on just how long it was between Jonathan’s death and Clark getting the call from the green crystal? At the funeral Martha’s hair is grey, but on the day Clark leaves for the “North,” her hair, as Clark later describes it to Lois, is “silver-white.” Anyway, in the aforementioned scene we watch as Martha does her morning routing, yelling at Clark to “get up, breakfast!” and placing a box of Cheerios on the kitchen table. And later in the film, Superman hurdles Zod into the Coca-Cola sign in Times Square – well, Metropolis’s version of Times Square – and while attempting to save the passengers on a bus thrown by the super-villains, Superman crushes a Marlboro delivery truck (Cigarette advertising? How retro!)

But these placements were subtle, and actually added to the reality – the first voice we hear in the 1978 Superman is Marlon Brando’s “This is no fantasy.” – of the film, aiding our suspension of disbelief.

But the amount of “product” associated with the newest film is really stunning. According to Morrison’s article, “there are more than 100 global promotional partners” attached to Man Of Steel. Some of them, in addition to the Sears Roebuck Company and Gillette, are:

  • Warby-Parker Shades, where you can buy a pair of Clark Kent eyeglasses
  • Hershey’s
  • Chrysler, which is offering two different “Superman” S-class cars
  • Kellogg’s
  • Walmart
  • Nokia
  • Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr, where you can eat a “Super Bacon Cheeseburger”
  • United States Army National Guard, which is using Man Of Steel as an enlistment tool
  • Under Armor
  • Mattel
  • Budweiser
  • Toshiba

To borrow from another DC iconic hero:

Holy marketing, Batman!!!!!

•     •     •     •     •

A confession. I did go to Gillette’s YouTube site to watch four videos entitled “How Does the Man of Steel Shave?” Bill Nye the Science Guy, Kevin Smith, Mayim Bialik – a PhD. in neuroscience? Really? – and Mythbusters’ Andy and Jamie offer their theories on how Kal-el goes from heavily bearded in the beginning of the film to smooth-shaven by the time he’s fighting Zod. And I must also confess that the vids are fun and entertaining. The four hypotheses are: (1) LHC Worm Hole Theory; (2) Materials Science Theory; (3) Follicle Denaturation Theory; and (4) Baby Rocket Theory.

I leave it to you to match up the theories with their progenitors.

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis

 

Royer Goldhawk to the Rescue

  • Uncategorized
  • June 24, 2013

Matter Deep Publishing has released Rescue, or Royer Goldhawk’s Remarkable Journal by Amy Leigh Strickland with illustrations by Carly Strickland.

About Rescue, or Royer Goldhawk’s Remarkable Journal:
When Royer Goldhawk witnesses a fly-by kidnapping, he becomes inextricable entangled in a madman’s plot to break the barrier to another world and harness an unimaginable power. With the help of his friends, Royer embarks on a mission of rescue and revenge that will lead him across the country and plunge him into a world of magic, machines, and danger.

This novel is Part One of the Royer Goldhawk series.

Learn more here.

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