BOBBY NASH INTERVIEWED BY LISA COLLINS
Author Lisa M. Collins interviewed New Pulp’s Bobby Nash, the 2013 Pulp Ark Award Winning Best Author for her blog.
You can check it out here.
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
Get Ready to Blast Off With Carson of Venus!
CARSON OF VENUS is an all-new full color online weekly comic strip of interplanetary romantic adventure brought to you by writer Martin Powell and artists Thomas Floyd and Diana Leto. Carson of Venus is produced by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Incorporated. Look for Carson of Venus’ launch on June 1st!
Join the Excitement! For only $1.99 per month you can get Carson of Venus and the all-new TARZAN comic strip by Roy Thomas and Tom Grindberg– and there are more fantastic ERB comic strips on the way– at no additional cost!
Subscribe Today at http://www.edgarriceburroughs.com/comics/
Interview: The MC Bat Commander dishes on “The Aquabats Super Show”
Christian Jacobs started out as a child actor playing the slightly older Joey Stivic in the All in the Family spin-off Gloria. Since then, he’s not only triumphed as the creator of kid show juggernaut Yo Gabba Gabba, but as The MC Bat Commander, has been the charismatic leader of superhero ska band The Aquabats. After a long career in the clubs of the world (coming up on their twentieth anniversary) the band broke into television last year with The Aquabats Super Show on Hub Network. Lauded by critics and attracting kids in droves, the show’s second season premieres this Saturday on the network (check local listings).
Christian took the time to speak to ComicMix about the series and the long strange trip it took to the screen. He’s proud to get the show on the air, and even more happy for it to make a second season. “We’re blown away” he explained. “We would have been happy just to get ONE season. But having said that, we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that one season, and to be ‘one and done’ would have been a little disappointing. But if you take a step back and think about the miracle that The Aquabats even got to make a TV show…having a second season is just mind-blowing. A real-life band that got to make a fake, goofy show about themselves…I don’t think that’s ever happened before. You have shows like The Monkees, where the bands were put together by the studios; Big Time Rush, things like that. But a real band…being a part of that miracle, and getting to do it twice, is just unbelievable.”
The desire to get The Aquabats to the small screen has been part of the plan almost as far back as the band’s been in existence, Jacobs explains. “Right about the time we did The Fury of the Aquabats, Between that and Floating Eye of Death!, we did a pilot for Disney. And that was something we all thought was going to go somewhere. But looking back, looking at that pilot, I was all, ‘Oh, wow, THAT didn’t work out…’ “
He’s got a good idea as to why the show worked now, as opposed to years back – “It seems like the timing, although it’s been almost twenty years, the timing is almost perfect. I think the sensibilities in the show…kids are more sharpened to stuff that’s random and silly, and doesn’t make sense sometimes. I think maybe even more than kids, cause kids are always down with that. I think there’s enough shows that doing stuff like that, and being successful, that studios are letting things go. Like, there’s no chance there would have been an Adventure Time, fifteen, twenty years ago; it’s just too crazy and random. And that’s rad! And it’s the same with [us]; without a network like Hub Network, you don’t have a show like The Aquabats. Because people don’t wanna take risks.”
The show has been the hit with kids as it was intended, and that new audience has started to flow back to the band’s live performances. “We played a local show here, last summer, right after the show started airing. And the influx of young kids at the show definitely created the thought, “Wow, we definitely need to have a different show when we go tour; do a matinee and an evening show. It’s not that the crowd doesn’t mix, we have kids that want to slamdance and get rowdy, and that’s okay, it’s always been like that. But when you have SO many kids, nine and ten year olds, in the pit, it makes things a little bit different.”
Christian and the band are quite proud of the show. “What’s been great, and really gratifying, is that all of us in the band have been so close to the show, for so long…in the back of my brain…heck in the front of my brain, I’m thinking, ‘I hope kids like this, because I like it, I think it’s funny.’ I like all the references and everything in the show, but is it gonna resonate with kids? Cause it sure resonated with me, I like all that stuff, I think it’s stupid. But there’s a lot of inside jokes, a lot of references, that adults get, but kids maybe not so much. But the fact that kids do love it, and that’s the demographic we’re aiming at, that’s a big relief.”
Part of the show’s appeal is the constant barrage of references to pop culture, both old and new. Their mobile headquarters, the Battletram, is equal parts the eponymous vehicle from Ark II, the Doctor’s TARDIS, and the Big Baloney from The Kids From CAPER. “We want to wear our references on our sleeves. We don’t want to rip any of that stuff off, we want to glorify it; we want to say “How awesome was the stuff we grew up watching?” Now here it is again, in a big loaf. That’s what The Aquabats show is – it’s a loaf, it’s a big loaf of stuff. You can quote me on that. “
While trying to get The Aquabats on the air, Christian took a big of a turn and started looking at the state of entertainment for an even younger audiences. “We were really having trouble getting the Aquabats show sold, getting people to buy onto it. We had a couple of ten-cent pilots, and a couple of things we’d done, but we were having trouble getting people to say ‘OK, yeah, you can go and make your crazy show’. And a big part of it was the climate in TV at the time. Reality shows were just breaking, and they were just breaking HUGE. Survivor was getting really big ratings, so it was hard to get people behind our show. So my buddy Scott (Schultz, YGG co-creator) and I, around that time we were trying to develop the show, we started having families of our own. We were watching kids’ TV, and I noticed there was a big shift in younger kids’ programming. It seemed like everything was very compartmentalized, like “this show is for kids aged 1.5 to 3.2”. Very homogenized. Whereas we grew up watching The Electric Company, and Sesame Street and Zoom, all this variety. All this singing, and songs, and you never knew what was coming around the corner. And my parents would watch the shows with us, and chuckle, at like, Ethal Merman jokes. I didn’t know who Ethel Merman jokes, but my parents would laugh. You don’t get that from the majority of preschool shows today – they don’t have pop-culture references in them.
So we said, hey, let’s shift things up a bit; let’s keep The Aquabats in our pocket. What if we try and do a preschool show? Let’s try and do a classic magazine-format show that could include parents. That could have hip-hop and punk, and electronic and dance, and different things in the show. Not just musically, but visually; art, animation, and style. And almost immediately we thought, it has to be a show with walkaround characters, like The Banana Splits or H.R Pufnstuf. And we’ve got two walkaround characters we’ve already built (Cyclopsis and Weedy, who became Muno and Brobee respectively), and they got great responses live (at Aquabats shows). People would go nuts when they came out on stage, people loved the characters. So I knew right away, from the audience, that those characters would work.”
With next year being the twentieth anniversary of the band, Christian has more than a few events planned, including a new Cadet Summit (their recurring fan conventions) and most importantly to newer fans, new Cadet Kits. “Definitely next year! The cadet kits have always been such a rad thing, but we’ve always done it ourselves. It’s been very hard to find the right fulfillment partner, cause we need help. We can’t do it ourselves anymore; to put it in the envelopes, and lick the stamps, it’s crazy. “
Dennis O’Neil: Villains
Social commentary is pretty old news in science fiction, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that it figures prominently in what will probably turn out to be the summer’s sci-fi biggie, Star Trek Into Darkness.
Of course, if we wanted to be picky, or display our erudition, or be just a bit passive aggressive, we could point out that superheroes are science fiction, and there’s already one of those, a mighty successful one, on our local screens and another, cape furled, is waiting in the wings. But we’re not picky, show-offy or, heaven forfend, passive aggressive, so we’ll just elide past everything in the previous sentence and soldier on to the Trek flick.
I’m not a trekker, not by a stretch, but I have seen all the theatrical movies and a (pretty paltry) sampling of the video iterations. And one element has always bothered me – not a big bother, certainly not a pleasure slayer, just a nag somewhere in the far regions of whatever it is that passes for my social conscience.To wit: the implicit militarism in the Star Trek mythos.
I saw my first television Star Trek in the mid-sixties, when I was hanging with peaceniks and was recently freed from two absolutely humiliating years aboard a warship – pity me, but also pity the poor bastards whose hopeless task it was to cram me into regulations – and I was pretty sensitive to military stuff. And here came Star Trek, which, being science fiction, I was predisposed to like, but they were all wearing uniforms, the crew of the Enterprise, and they often carried sidearms and the ship itself was equipped with a futuristic version of heavy artillery and they had ranks and those ranks had a familiar sound to them: lieutenant, commander, captain, admiral…yeah, I’d met guys who carried those designations. They generally hadn’t been my pals.
Maybe back when Star Trek was but a blip on the zeitgeist, whoever was running the show did have the military in mind. But the current movie makes a point of letting us know that Star Fleet is not a military command. The ranks? Civilian vessels are run by captains and are manned by guys in uniforms.Rank does not necessarily equal warrior: duh.
(Squeaky little spoiler alert.)
What most pleases me is that the villains are not, in the final reckoning, demonized – that is they’re not portrayed as aliens.No, the chief evil-doer is your ol’ buddy the authority figure. And this is where the movie accepts the burden of social commentary: I am not the first to observe that the plot of the story is a reflection of the past decade of our history. And allow me the amusement of imagining that one character’s name on the first draft of the script might have been Cheney.
Because I’m writing these words on Memorial Day, and I have no wish to disrespect either the holiday or those it commemorates, let’s be clear: we should support our troops by giving them the equipment they need and by properly tending to their wounds and by granting them the benefits they’ve earned,and mostly by not sending them to be slaughtered in useless wars.
Now go see Star Trek Into Darkness.
FRIDAY: Martha Thomases
SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman
PRO SE EXPANDS AND WELCOMES GLOBAL RELATIONS AND ACCOUNTABILITY COORDINATOR!
Pro Se Productions, a continually expanding and growing company focusing on Genre Fiction, New Pulp, and cutting edge Action and Adventure Books and Anthologies, announced today the addition of a new position within Pro Se Administration- Global Relations and Accountability Coordinator.
“Pro Se,” Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor in Chief of Pro Se, states, “has grown tremendously since opening our doors so to speak in early 2010.  We have every single writer, artist, editor, and administrative person that’s done even one little thing to thank for that.  With the fact that we intend to produce the most books we have yet in our history this year and next year as well, it’s become necessary to bring in others to help handle the growth.  To that end, we created a position that actually has two duties- Marketing and Social Networking as well as managing day to day affairs from the Editor in Chief’s office.  Essentially, making sure I get my myriad projects and jobs done successfully.”
The Global Relations and Accountability Coordinator will act as executive assistant to the Editor in Chief and will handle daily operations outside of the Editorial/Writing/Creative Staff.  The GRAC will also assist the Editor in Chief in creation of and distribution of press releases, setting up blog and podcast appearances, and utilizing Social Media of all types to its fullest extent.
“Pro Se,” Hancock says, “has a great catalogue that will continue to grow and be even greater.  We’ve spent three years intentionally growing our personal library of books and now it’s time to promote them, old and new, from the first book published to the latest and greatest, with every technique and tool we can come up with.  And as our Global Relations and Accountability Coordinator, Beth Alvarez will help us do that and we are proud to welcome her to Pro Se Productions!”
Beth Alvarez is a previously self-published author residing in Memphis, Tennessee with her growing family. A voracious reader in her free time, Alvarez specialized in the study of fine arts with a focus on visual arts and teaching. An accomplished programmer, she has spent time working as a freelance web development specialist and graphics designer since 2005 and now adds Global Relations and Accountability Coordinator for Pro Se to her accomplishments.
Beth can be contacted at BethAlvarezProSe@gmail.com and will in the future be making contact with reviewers, bloggers, websites, other publishers, and other parties related to Pro Se business.
Pro Se Productions- www.prosepulp.com
Live From Alabama Phoenix Festival It’s The White Rocket Podcast!
Last weekend, New Pulp Author Van Allen Plexico was a guest at the 2013 Alabama Phoenix Festival. He spent some time with several other notables in attendance– Bobby Nash, Sarah White, Sean Taylor, Doc Osborn, Mike Gordon, and David Wright– discussing what they’re up to and what they think about the Festival. A good time was had by all! So load up on Zaxby’s and grab a seat in the Cahaba Center–good times await!
You can listen to White Rocket 025: Alabama Phoenix Festival now at http://whiterocket.podbean.com/2013/05/28/white-rocket-025-alabama-phoenix-festival/
The White Rocket episode is available via iTunes (subscribe and don’t miss an episode!) or you can visit the podcast site at http://whiterocket.podbean.com/
The White Rocket Books page at http://www.whiterocketbooks.com/
Part of The ESO Podcast Network.
Mike Gold: Oh, Time-Lord! Abuse Me! Abuse Me!
Yeah, I’m gonna get political on your ass. Pop culture and politics; gasoline and fire.
I do not know which is worse: the self-victimization that we call being “politically correct” or the rampant naval-snorting of the cloistered elite. I do know there’s a book coming out this August called Doctor Who And Race, and it couldn’t be more full of shit if it had been printed on toilet paper.
Here’s the bird’s-eye lowdown on the book: a bunch of narcissistic holy-holy academicians got together to prove they are smarter than you are by writing a whole bunch of essays that definitively declare the 50-year old television phenomenon Doctor Who to be racist and, oh yeah, sexist.
What evidence do they offer? Their central point is that the lead character, the Doctor, is a white male and has remained that way despite many “regenerations.” To tell the truth, each incarnation of the Doctor also was humanoid, so it follows that the hundreds of producers, script editors, directors, actors and writers, lo these many years, are also anti-space alien. After all, the Doctor clearly favors Earth humans over such space alien races as, oh, say, the Daleks. When’s he going to regenerate into a being made of anti-matter?
(By the way, I am compelled to point out that the phrase “space alien” is amazingly stupid, and if you don’t use it when referring to all those outworlders out there, you are not necessarily prejudiced against Mexicans or the Irish.)
Now I don’t know if Gallifreyans are capable of changing sex and/or race upon regeneration. I’d be perfectly fine if Doctor Twelve were a woman and/or of a different race. Way back in 1963, the original producer of Doctor Who was a woman named Verity Lambert. Can we stop for a minute and appreciate just how revolutionary that was back in the day? She produced the first 86 episodes, moving on to other projects in 1965. There weren’t a lot of women producing television series back then. Or today, for that matter.
Integral to the show are its co-stars, often referred to as companions. Since Elisabeth Sladen was cast as Sarah Jane Smith in the early 1970s, the women who have labored alongside the Doctor have been strong professionals who were much more than set decoration and “save me” victims. Indeed, that tradition actually got its start with the very first episode, with the highly intelligent and cosmically capable Susan Foreman, played by Carole Ann Ford. That, too, was a big deal in 1963.
Since its highly successful revival in 2005, the TARDIS has opened its blue doors to black co-stars and to women co-stars, and even to a black woman co-star. And to many actors of differing origins, reflecting contemporary sensibilities.
This book also cites the 36-year old episode “The Talons Of Weng-Chiang” as proof of the program’s racism because the villain was a Chinese man who was played by a white dude. Well, there’s no argument that Asians have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to casting decisions, but in 1977 casting white people was more than merely the norm. It’s like slamming Kabuki for not having employed enough women.
Yes, indeed, the lead actor has always been a white male. That doesn’t mean it always will be, unless there’s something about Gallifreyan physiognomy that I don’t understand (and, doubtless, there’s a lot about Gallifreyan physiognomy that I don’t understand). But, deal with this absolute fact, you simpering monkeys of myopia and self-hatred: there is nothing inherently wrong with being a white male. If you are looking to create a new apartheid for that species, you are as disgusting and as morally diseased as those you blanketly define as racist and sexist.
Hey, do you know which other white British male has been around for a half-century? James Bond, as in the James Bond movie franchise. And in all those movies, not once have they cast anybody except a white British male in the lead. Not a single actor from Togo has been above the title. What’s up with that? Clearly, producer Barbara Broccoli is a racist, sexist pig.
Here’s the rub. Around the year 2063, bunch of professors and self-endowed intellectuals are going to rip you a new asshole because you were astonishingly insensitive to groups of people and to ways of thinking that presently are beyond your ken. This will happen; our history makes this perfectly clear. So pull your head out of your own vomit and realize you are no better than anyone else.
Bottom line: if you’re looking to feel your exploitation, start by looking in the mirror.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Mindy Newell
THURSDAY MORNING: Dennis O’Neil
JIM BEARD’S LATEST PRO SE PROJECT OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS- TUNE IN AND DROP OUT INTO ADVENTURE WITH ‘THE LEMON HERBERTS’!
Pro Se, a leading independent Publisher specializing in cutting edge Genre Fiction announces the latest mindbending concept from the mind of âMonster Acesâ Creator Jim Beard! Get yourgroove on with âThe Lemon Herberts!â
Beat it, Beatles! Move over, Monkees! Here come the Lemon Herberts, the kookiest, kickiest quintet of fun-lovinâ musicians ever to hit the Summer of Love! This anthology of tales will cover the very first world tour of the Lemon Herberts, a late-1960s musical group with not only a flair for inventive pop songs, but a pulpy taste for adventure. Each story will be set in a different country along the groupâs tour, setting the stage for colorful, groovy plunges into peril for the Herberts. Think Help! plus Head and divided by Donovan and youâll be on your way to imagining all the peace, love and DANGER the Lemon Herberts could get themselves into in the incredible year of 1967!
This happening collection of Music Themed Adventure type Pulp has openings for five stories, each one 10,000 words.  If interested in going on tour with âThe Lemon Herbertsâ, request the concept bible by emailing Morgan Minor, Director of Corporate Operations at
Deadlines for proposals are June 15th.   Notification of acceptance will be sent following that date. This is scheduled for publication in early 2014 by Pro Se Productions.
Channel the Psychedelic Sixties and give âThe Lemon Herbertsâ a spin!
The Shadow Fan and the Wizard of Crime!
New Pulp Author Barry Reese returns for Episode 33 of The Shadow Fan’s Podcast! This time around, he reviews a 1942 novel that features the villainy of King Kauger and takes a hard look at Chris Roberson’s debut issue on the Dynamite Shadow comic (issue 13). There’s also a bit of Shadow news and some listener feedback!
If you love pulp’s greatest crimefighter, then this is the show for you!
Listen now at http://theshadowfan.libsyn.com/the-wizard-of-crime
Mindy Newell: Filling The Captain’s Chair
I loved Star Trek: Into Darkness.
I was riveted from the moment I planted my butt in the seat. All the major actors have made their iconic characters their own – Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin all turn in stand-out performances – and the script is full of the quips, banter, arguments, and heart-to-hearts that have made the interactions and relationships between the Enterprise crew a cultural treasure.
But Star Trek: Into Darkness also disappointed me.
Huh?
I suppose that from Paramount’s view – after all, Paramount had to green-light the storyline – it was smart to pick a villain out of the Star Trek archives who would be familiar to both the “Trekker” and a wider audience; but all in all, I think that this particular villain was just too easy to choose.
Yep, that’s right. The rumors were true. The villain of Star Trek: Into Darkness is…
RED ALERT!!!! SHIELDS UP!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Khan Noonian Singh.
*sigh* I so wanted it to be Gary Mitchell.
But it’s Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
Or… is it?
If you’ve already seen the movie and walked out thinking “we wuz robbed!” because there was no need to retell what was one of the most brilliant Trek stories ever, no need to reboot the movie that was really responsible for reenergizing Star Trek, you’ve missed the real villain of Into Darkness, for Abrams pulled a magnificent MacGuffin on all of us by twisting The Wrath Of Khan into something else, a trek into an “undiscovered country” – the ego of James Tiberius Kirk.
The opening scenario is not just a teaser; it’s the hinge on which the whole plot rests. You’ve seen it in ads and websites – Jim and Bones running for their lives through a red-leafed forest and jumping off a cliff into the ocean, and Spock somewhere where there’s lots of molten lava.
Returning to Earth, instead of being ballyhooed and decorated, we discover that Jim has botched a benign observation mission of an alien primitive society, totally disregarding Starfleet’s Prime Directive (“As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Star Fleet personnel may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Star Fleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation”) by (1) allowing Spock to stop a mega-volcano from erupting; and (2) revealing the Enterprise, in the course of saving Spock’s life, to the natives, who then start to worship Enterprise as some kind of “Chariot of the Gods.”
Admiral Christopher Pike tells Jim “You don’t respect the chair because you’re not ready for it, and that Starfleet had decided that Jim is to be removed from the captain’s seat and sent back to the academy.
Jim is drowning his sorrow and shame in a bar (where else?) when Pike shows up. Pike has been returned command of the Enterprise and talked Starfleet into allowing him to have Jim as his First Officer because Pike still believes in him. Jim accepts.
After a Section 31 installation is blown to bits in London (Section 31 is the Star Trek equivalent of the CIA – and it’s a cool callout to Deep Space Nine, in which Section 31 was established), Pike and Jim, along with other available starship captains and first officers, are called to a meeting at Starfleet Command, where it is revealed that the perpetrator is a former Starfleet operative named John Harrison. A gunship (which looks like a 23rd century version of a Black Hawk helicopter), strafes the meeting, killing most of the Starfleet officers, including Christopher Pike (I didn’t want him to die). Jim not only survives the attack, but also brings down the gunship – flown by Harrison, who escapes.
Jim wants to avenge Pike’s death, and challenges Admiral Alexander Marcus (yeah, he’s Carol’s father, no duh) to reinstate him as the captain of the Enterprise, with the rest of his senior officers joining him. Marcus agrees, and orders the Enterprise to hunt down and kill Harrison, who has fled to Kronos, home to the Klingon civilization. To do this Marcus supplies the Enterprise with 72 (pay attention to that number, boys and girls) prototype photon torpedoes, which can pinpoint Harrison’s exact location on the Klingon home world, though firing on Kronos could, and probably will, start a war between the Federation and Starfleet.
Jim, hungry for payback for the death of his quasi-father (Pike) could give a shit about starting a war. All he wants is Harrison’s proverbial head on the proverbial platter. His bridge officers object to the mission; in fact, Scotty is so strongly against it he resigns from Starfleet, saying, “This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? ‘Cause I thought we were explorers.” Jim promotes Chekhov to replace Scotty; though the young Ensign is not ready for the position, Jim in his bloodlust cannot see this.
And that’s the magnificent twist that Abrams pulls in rebooting TWOK. The journey Star Trek: Into Darkness isn’t really about Khan, or terrorism, or the militarization of Starfleet. It’s really the journey of James Tiberius Kirk into manhood and the right to sit in the captain’s chair.
Because, you see, Jim Kirk really is still the cocky young kid who stole and drove his uncle’s antique C2 Corvette over a cliff, even if he did defeat Nero and save Earth from that red stuff. Jim Kirk has gotten where he is, as Pike told him after he’s “crashed” the observation mission (just as he crashed his father’s car) by his “audacity, by his being in the right place at the right time, by just “plain old dumb luck and having me behind you.”
Jim’s mission, you see, is to see beyond himself, to grow up. We’ve all been on that particular mission, and let’s face it, there are times when it isn’t a very pleasant trip; it can be a journey Into Darkness, when you have to come to terms not being the king of your universe; that you are, in fact, quite expendable.
When Jim tells Spock “you are way, way better at commanding a starship,” you know he has made a giant leap forward into maturity. He has gone through the darkness, and he has accepted that, of all his command staff, he is the one who has gotten there because, well, he’s just been the guy who has been in the right place at the right time.
I won’t spoil the climax for you. Let me just say that when Jim sits in the captain’s chair in the final moments, and orders the ship to embark on Starfleet’s first five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before, Jim Kirk has become, truly, Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, NCC-1701.
THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil
FRIDAY: Martha Thomases
