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ALL PULP SEEKS NEWSHOUNDS, KEYBOARD JOCKEYS, AND VERBAL PAPARAZZI!

  • News
  • July 11, 2011

ALL PULP (www.allpulp.blogspot.com) , a leading site for news related to Pulp fiction in any medium, announces today a talent search for open staff reporter/reviewer positions.  Started in September, 2010, ALL PULP quickly became the go to site for news, reviews, interviews, and columns related to Pulp fiction, both classic and New Pulp.  Started by a group of New Pulp creators that became known as The Spectacled Seven, All Pulp has strived to provide interesting, current, and topical news and views on a daily basis.   In order to continue the tradition and standards that the site has set for itself, the Spectacled Seven, headed up by Editor in Chief Tommy Hancock, have determined that ALL PULP is in need of additional staff to work as reporters, reviewers, and columnists to provide content for the site.

“We are looking for,” Hancock states, “3-5 individuals who have either an interest in the Pulp genre/field of writing, a background or interest in journalism, or a combination of the two.   In order to stay on top of all the news that happens in Pulp every day, an amount that is increasing on a weekly basis, ALL PULP needs a dedicated staff of field reporters collecting news releases, conducting interviews, and writing columns and reviews of the latest Pulp available as well as all the classic Pulp available to the public today.  We have the Spectacled Seven and a handful of other contributors who provide content as they acquire it or as they can, but what is needed is a small select group of people providing 3-5 pieces of news a week.  Length is not an issue, it can be a 5,000 word column or a 300 word newsbyte.  ALL PULP is about making sure the news is delivered to its readers consistently, concisely, and regularly.”

Hancock notes that there is currently no monetary compensation for these open positions or any position currently filled at ALL PULP, including his own.  “This is all volunteer at this time, but other benefit do exist.  The opportunity to be a part of known pop culture news site, to interact with publishers, writers, artists, and personalities in the Pulp field, and to expand the coverage ALL PULP already has are all advantages one would gain by being a part of ALL PULP.”

Anyone interested in applying for the open positions can submit a mock interview, review, column or news story (or an actual story written for another publication) to Hancock at allpulp@yahoo.com.

FORTIER TACKLES MAC’S LATEST HELLER NOVEL!

  • News
  • July 10, 2011

ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier

BYE BYE, BABY

By Max Allan Collins

Forge Books

326 pages

Release Date 16 Aug. 2011

ISBN 10 – 0765321793

ISBN 13 – 978-0765321794

Sometimes it’s all too personal.  Or so Chicago based private eye, Nathan Heller discovers when he’s asked by his friend, Hollywood sex symbol and superstar Marilyn Monroe to help her in her battle with Twentieth Century Fox. The year is 1962 and the famous blond is in a contractual contest with the studio that is facing financial ruins. When the entire energies of the studio’s marketing staff begin attacking her reputation and credibility, Marilyn retaliates.  Fearing the contest will end in court, she asks Heller to tap her phones thus providing her with physical evidence to present a judge. Heller, now in his mid-50s and a highly successful entrepreneur with offices in New York, Chicago and Hollywood, gladly accepts the job unaware his client is deeply embroiled in a sex scandal that could rip the country apart.

Heller soon learns that Marilyn’s sexual escapades with Jack and Bobby Kennedy have attracted a hive of dangerous bees to include the C.I.A., FBI, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa and underworld figure Sam Giancana. All of them have a vested interest in keeping the blond bombshell quiet.  When she dies only a few months later of a drug overdose, the usually unflappable Heller is shocked by the inept police investigation that follows. It reeks of a cover up and Heller is convinced the depressed film actress was murdered.  Now comes the tough part, proving it.

“Bye Bye, Baby,” is the fifteenth Nate Heller mystery, Collins’ longest running series and his most acclaimed.  So meticulous is the research that goes into each book, one gets both a fast paced thriller and a history at the same time.  Talk about more bang for your bucks.  Throughout the series, Heller has crossed paths with such personalities as Orson Welles, Frank Nitti, Sally Rand and Charles Lindberg.  He’s very much the detective version of a Forrest Gump.  Yet in all these past cases, he has never been more human or vulnerable.  This is due in large part to the events taking place in a time writer Collins is personally familiar with and it is that intimate connection that infuses itself into the character’s perceptions.

Norma Jean Baker, born June 1st, 1926, came to Hollywood as a model and became Marilyn Monroe.  She landed her first film contract in 1946 and went on to become the most popular screen sex goddess since Jean Harlow.  By 1953, she had progressed to leading roles and shaken off her “dumb blonde” image, winning the coveted Golden Globe Award in 1959 for her role in “Some Like It Hot.”  The true circumstances of her death sparked an avalanche of conspiracy theories still bandied about today.

 

Collins’ genius is taking the dozens of convoluted records and few remaining pieces of evidence to describe one possible scenario on how Marilyn was murdered.  In the end the story is a gut wrenching tragedy and perhaps Collin’s finest book ever.  It is one this reviewer was emotionally involved with from beginning to end.   I can remember all too easily being a fifteen year old fan when Marilyn Monroe died and the sadness I felt.  You see, Max, I loved her too.

MORE SKY RANGER! MORE AUTHORS! MORE IPULP!

  • News
  • July 10, 2011

The Lance Star: Sky Ranger interviews – Author Frank Dirscherl

Frank Dirscherl

With the announcement of Lance Star: Sky Ranger joining the iPulp Fiction Library, we wanted to introduce readers to some of the Honorary Sky Rangers involved with making these stories happen. Next up is Lance star: Sky Ranger Author Frank Dirscherl.

LSSR: Tell us a little about yourself and where readers can find out more about you and your work?

FD: I’m a 38 year old librarian, live in Australia and have been writing off and on my whole life, professionally for about 10 or so years now. I’ve mainly been writing the adventures of my modern day pulp paradin, The Wraith, in both comic book and prose form, but I’ve worked on some other projects as well. My two websites contain further information and links to buy my work – http://www.trinitycomics.com/ and http://www.frankdirscherl.com/.

Attack of the Bird Man Now Available.

LSSR: How did you become involved with the Lance Star: Sky Ranger series?

FD: I don’t quite recall how I was introduced to Mr Ron Fortier online, but ultimately, he invited me to contribute to this, and other works, from his publishing venture Airship 27, and I eagerly signed up. I only wish I’d have had the time to contribute more than I thus far have, but there will be more from me coming, rest assured. Pulp storytelling is my absolute favorite, and the more I can contribute to this genre, the better.

LSSR: Who is Lance Star? What makes pulp characters like Lance and the Sky Rangers appeal to you as a writer and a reader?

FD: Lance Star is an aviator adventurer who surrounds himself with a team of fellow enthusiasts and who end up fighting crime and seeking adventure the world over. I think characters such as Doc Savage and even Indiana Jones are probably of a similar ilk to Lance. What I love about all such pulp novel characters is that their stories are, for mine, true adventures. When coming to the end of such a story, one gets the feeling you’ve been on a real ride, unlike any other in fiction. The adventures are often fast-paced and even, at times, feverish and melodramatic—the characters go through so much in the course of their adventure, and I love that. Above all else, I’m a reader of the genre, so that makes it all the more special to also be a writer of such stories. I feel privileged to be able to contribute in some small way to the genre.

The Wraith: Valley of Evil

LSSR: Digital content has changed the publishing landscape. As a creator, what excites you about digital content? As a reader?

FD: What excites me is that all our work can now be accessed by as wide a range of readers as possible. Never before has the work of all authors been as easily accessible as they are now with the ‘digital revolution’. This can only be of benefit to all creators. For just a few dollars—often as low as two or three—a reader can download a book and have it instantly available to read on their e-reader. I myself own a Kindle, and it’s an amazing tool.

LSSR: Your Lance Star: Sky Ranger story, “Attack Of The Birdman” is currently available in print, as an eBook, and soon to be released individually at iPulp Fiction. What can you tell us about this story? (plug it, tease it)

FD: I was somewhat inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds, but also by an incident which happened while I was pondering my Lance Star story. On that day, I looked outside my (then) home and saw dozens of birds congregated on a power line that weren’t there moments earlier. That really gave me the spark of an idea as to where to take my story. But, what if a master criminal was behind the appearance of the birds. What if he was controlling them, using them to further his own nefarious plans? And, what if he was possibly not even human? Once I’d established that, a Birdman threatening the country, everything flowed easily from there. It turned into a rollicking adventure, one which links very well into the established Lance Star mythos, and I think is one of the best stories I’ve thus far written.

The Wraith: Cult of the Damned

LSSR: Any upcoming projects you would like to plug?

FD: My latest novel in The Wraith Adventures series, Cry of the Werewolf, will be out either later this year or early next year, and I’m very excited about that. The Wraith is truly out of his comfort zone in this one as he vacations with his girlfriend in the countryside and battles with werewolves, a Satanic cult and much more. I’ve also just completed my Wraith short story, titled Sundown, for the upcoming Airship 27 Wraith anthology and another Wraith short story, Zombies Attack!, for an anthology titled Superheroes vs. Zombies (from Coscom Entertainment). More short stories to come, and readers can always access the various comic books I’ve also written and published from my aforementioned websites.

LSSR: Thanks, Frank.

You can find Lance Star: Sky Ranger “Attack Of The Bird Man”
at http://www.ipulpfiction.com/bookstore.php?sort=Title

LANCE STAR’S ORIGINAL PUBLISHER TALKS ABOUT IPULP VERSIONS!

  • News
  • July 10, 2011

The Lance Star: Sky Ranger interviews – Author/Publisher Ron Fortier

Ron Fortier

With the announcement of Lance Star: Sky Ranger joining the iPulp Fiction Library, we wanted to introduce readers to some of the Honorary Sky Rangers involved with making these stories happen. Next up is Lance star: Sky Ranger Publisher Ron Fortier.

LSSR: Tell us a little about yourself and where readers can find out more about you, your work, and Airship 27 Productions?

RF: Okay, Reader’s Digest version here. Been writing professionally for past thirty-five years, mostly comics and now pulps. Folks can visit my website (www.airship27.com) to see what I’m up to on a weekly basis and learn more about Airship 27 Productions etc.

Airship 27 Productions

LSSR: How did you become involved with the Lance Star: Sky Ranger series?

RF: Having been a fan of the old pulp aviation heroes, we wanted to do our own series and Lance Star was the answer. He and his Star Rangers are classic aviation heroes with tons of adventures to tell.

LSSR: Who is Lance Star? What makes pulp characters like Lance and the Sky Rangers appeal to you as a writer, a reader, and a publisher?

Lance Star: Sky Ranger Vol. 1

RF: Lance Star is an flying adventurer and veteran of World War One. He and his crew travel the globe of the 1930s and setting them against this ear as historical background is always fun.

LSSR: Digital content has changed the publishing landscape. As a creator and publisher, what excites you about digital content? As a reader?

RF: Obviously the ability to get our books out to a much larger audience, folks who own Kindles and Nooks, is the biggest attractions. We want lots of people to have the fun of reading our books and the digital market has opened that possibility far beyond our wildest dreams.

Lance Star: Sky Ranger Vol. 2

LSSR: Airship 27 currently has two Lance Star: Sky Ranger anthologies in print and available as eBooks with several of those stories soon to be released individually at iPulp Fiction. What’s next for these pulp heroes?

RF: Simply more of the same. We have a third Lance Star anthology in production and hope to follow it up with his first ever full blown novel.

And I’m told there are more shot comics in the works. We plan on keeping Lance and the Sky Rangers flying high for a long time to come.

Damballa

LSSR: Any upcoming projects you would like to plug?

RF: Airship 27 Production just released its third SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE anthology and will soon be releasing the first ever African American 1930s avenger, DAMBALLA by novelist, Charles Saunders. It’s a book we’re damn proud of.

LSSR: Thanks, Ron.

Sherlock Holmes Vol. 3

For more information on Airship 27 Productions, please visit http://www.gopulp.info/
For more information on iPulp Fiction, please visit http://www.ipulpfiction.com/

AUTHOR SPANGLER, LANCE STAR, AND IPULP!!

  • News
  • July 10, 2011

The Lance Star: Sky Ranger interviews – Author Bill Spangler

Bill Spangler

With the announcement of Lance Star: Sky Ranger joining the iPulp Fiction Library, we wanted to introduce readers to some of the Honorary Sky Rangers involved with making these stories happen. Next up is Lance star: Sky Ranger Author Bill Spangler.

LSSR: Tell us a little about yourself and where readers can find out more about you and your work?

BS: I’ve been selling fiction for a number of years now. Primarily my work has appeared in comic books, but I’ve been selling prose short stories—such as “Talons Of the Red Condors”—too. My most recent credits are a graphic novel based on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, the classic sf TV series from the 1950s, and “Mutual Assured Destruction,” a prose story featuring the Green Hornet. The latter is in the first volume of The Green Hornet Chronicles, published by Moonstone Books.

The Green Hornet Chronicles

You can order either of those through your local comics shop, or through Amazon.

My comic book work also includes The Argonauts, a pulp-adventure series in the tradition of Doc Savage and Buckaroo Banzai, and several series based on the animated TV show Robotech. Frankly, the best place to find them is probably in the three-for-a-dollar box at your local comics shop.

LSSR: How did you become involved with the Lance Star: Sky Ranger series?

BS: I wish I had an interesting story to tell you here, but the truth is I just don’t. Ron Fortier graciously asked me to participate, and I said, “Sure!” Ron and I have been corresponding since the late 1980s or the early ‘90s—you know, back when you actually sent paper letters to people—but, now that I think about it, I don’t think we’ve actually been in the same room together more than two or three times.

Talons Of The Red Condors

LSSR: Who is Lance Star? What makes pulp characters like Lance and the Sky Rangers appeal to you as a writer and a reader?

BS: Lance is an inventor, a pilot and an adventurer. From time to time, he and his team help out the government. You could say he’s part Doc Savage, part Indiana Jones and part Blackhawk. When I wrote “Talons,” I started to visualize Lance as a young Jimmy Stewart…or, his modern analog, Tom Hanks. He’s smart and competent, but a bit of a dreamer.

Personally, I’ve always found that to be an appealing mix. Some of my favorite characters fall into that tradition, like Tom Swift Jr., for instance, and the Tracy family from the Thunderbirds TV show. And I think some of the exotic airplanes in these stories are the ancestors of the gadgetry and vehicles in anime.

LSSR: Digital content has changed the publishing landscape. As a creator, what excites you about digital content? As a reader?

BS: I’m hoping that the minimal overhead of doing digital books will encourage publishers to take chances on stories and authors that you don’t see often in the big book store chains. With a little luck, publishers will be more willing to give authors the time to develop an audience or not demand that every title make Steven-King level profits. I guess that applies to me both as a creator and a reader because, in general, the stuff I want to write is the stuff I want to read.

Lance Star: Sky Ranger

LSSR: Your Lance Star: Sky Ranger story, “Talons Of The Red Condors” is currently available in print, as an eBook, and soon to be released individually at iPulp Fiction. What can you tell us about this story?

BS: Basically, I started out with the idea of wanting to do a big springboard, a big McGuffin, and I wanted to set it in a foreign country. So, “Talons” is set in Panama, and the bad guys perform an audacious…well, let’s call it a hijacking. There’s a lost city and a woman who changes sides during the course of the story, along with some other pulp riffs. I had a lot of fun researching it, and a lot of fun writing it.

LSSR: Thanks, Bill.

http://www.ipulpfiction.com/

Release schedule for Lance Star: Sky Ranger tales on iPulp:
06/17: Lance Star: Sky Ranger – Vol.1 #1: Attack of the Bird Man by Frank Dirsherl (now available)
07/07: Lance Star: Sky Ranger – Vol.1 #2: Where the Sea Meets the Sky by Bobby Nash
07/27: Lance Star: Sky Ranger – Vol.1 #3: Talons of the Red Condors by Bill Spangler

For more information on iPulp Fiction’s offerings, please visit http://www.ipulpfiction.com/
For more information on Airship 27 Productions’ offerings, please visit http://www.gopulp.info/

Getting Back To EUREKA

 pt0708111-9311597On Monday, Syfy kicks off their “Powerful Mondays” with Season 4.5 of EUREKA. Colin Ferguson and Salli Richardson-Whitfield catch us up on one of the network’s hottest shows,
plus news on the TV Barrage coming to ComicCon and it’s a classic Marvel Comics brawl coming to FEAR ITSELF.

Check out The Point Radio for constant pop culture updates – and please check us out on Facebookright here & toss us a “like”.

Reviews from the 86th Floor: Barry Reese looks at Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead

Indiana Jones and the Army of the Dead
Steve Perry
ISBN 978-0345506986

I was thrilled to see a new Indy novel after many years and even more excited that it was being handled by a fairly “big-name” author.

Set during a period where we really haven’t seen much with Indy (the World War II period where Indy worked as a spy), this novel sends our hero after the Heart of Darkness, which is also being pursued by Germans, the Japanese and a Voodoo priest. The search leads them all into Haiti and the Island of the Dead. Along the way we learn about the Voodoo religion and get to see Indy taking on zombies, both of the living and undead varieties.

Unfortunately, while the story wasn’t bad per se, it didn’t really succeed as an Indiana Jones adventure. There were times when the book’s pacing was too slow and things seemed almost pedestrian (even with Zombies and Nazis running around!). There was no real sense of danger or excitement — it was like we were being told about things that were exciting, but without the excitement being displayed in the prose itself.

It was fun seeing Indy during WW II and there were one or two moments where I could see where the author was trying to go… but overall it fell flat. Go and read the Indy books by Rob McGregor. You won’t be disappointed there.

I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Peter David’s New Novel Launches Crazy 8 Press

c8-final-logo1-300x247-3643009Crazy 8 Press exists because the founders — Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Aaron Rosenberg, and Howard Weinstein — have found selling their original works to mainstream publishers increasingly difficult. Illogical barriers have been erected and the website was conceived to directly connect the authors with the readers.

The concept was conceived by Friedman at last summer’s Shore Leave convention and now, a year later, the site is officially open for business this afternoon. Its initial offering is an original novel, The Camelot Papers, which is unrelated to David’s previous Camelot trilogy. The novel is available in all eBook formats in addition to Print on Demand.

At a launch panel Saturday at noon, the founders will outline their plans for the future, addressing issues such as frequency, backlist, and if non-member authors will be published through the site.  “It’s not a business,” Greenberger said. “It’s a consortium with a handshake binding friends together. Our goal is to have all our audiences come to one source to find our older and newer original works.”

To bring attention to the new operation and to raise much-needed funds for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the six authors will collaborate on a short story, written in shifts during the convention, based on an opening line supplied by a fan during Friday night’s Meet the Authors event.

Since most of the authors write for ComicMix, we’re particularly proud of their accomplishment.

BOOM! Studios Makes Their Elric Available Digitally Day & Date

  • Uncategorized
  • July 6, 2011

elric_the_balance_lost_01_cvr_a-292x450-7765194Increasingly, publishers are making their titles available in digital form the day the print version hits shops. Today’s release from BOOM! is just the latest in this trend. Some retailers accept it as an inevitable realty, others cry about it. What do you, the readers, think?

PHILADELPHIA — Taking another step toward offering comics in stores and digitally on the same day, publisher BOOM! Studios says its new series, Elric: The Balance Lost will do just that.

The series, written by Chris Roberson and drawn by Francesco Biagini, is based on author Michael Moorcock’s fan-favorite fantasy hero Elric of Melnibone.

The book will be on sale in comic book shops Wednesday, but will also be available for download through BOOM! Studios own comics app and comiXology’s app, too. Unlike other publishers, however, the issue’s 10-page prelude will also be accessible on its own website at no cost.

“With Elric we’re not only focusing on print and mobile devices exclusively but getting out onto Internet browsers that billions of people use every day,” BOOM!’s marketing and sales director Chip Mosher said of the comic, which will retail for $3.99 in print and digital form.

“While there are only 25 million iPads out in the marketplace, there are billions of potential readers that have the ability to find comic books through the Internet,” he said.

Offering comics digitally and in stores on the same day is growing among publishers, with more and more of them embracing it as readers opt to read issues on tablets, smart phones and personal computers.

BOOM! first did so in January 2008 with the debut of its “North Wind” title and again a year later with “Hexed.”

At the end of May, DC Comics said it would start selling digital copies of its printed ongoing superhero titles through apps and a website the same day they’re released in comic shops, a move dubbed by the industry as day-and-date sales. That will affect the company’s superhero titles.

Similarly, Archie Comics began same-day digital and print sales in April, along with other smaller publishers.

 

Sucker Punch Adds Feature

  • Uncategorized
  • July 6, 2011

suckerpunch-300x168-2849647With the video of release of Sucker Punch last week, the debate over director Zack Snyder’s vision and treatment of women has been renewed across the boards. Frankly, we were disappointed by the empty characterizations mixed with pretty visuals. Still, it has its fans so let us cluye you in to a new feature on the movie’s website.

Close your eyes. Open your mind. Engage in a spectacular fantasy adventure. Create your own Sucker Punch custom videos by combining clips, audio, effects and transitions. Then save your creations to the Gallery and share with friends!

 

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