Tagged: Hollywood

SEVENTH STAR PRESS ADDS TALENTED AUTHOR AND TEEN STEAM PUNK!

  • News
  • June 14, 2012

For Immediate Release

June 8, 2012

Seventh Star Press Announces New Young Adult Steampunk Series with the Addition of J.L. Mulvihill to its Author Family

Seventh Star Press proudly announces the addition of J.L. Mulvihill to its author family with Steel Roots, an exciting new young adult steampunk series set in an alternate history with a dash of folklore.  The first title, The Box Car Baby, is slated for release in the 2nd quarter of 2013, with new titles following at the beginning of 2014 and 2015. Readers can look forward to meeting a host of enthralling, distinctive characters within a richly-developed landscape woven by the imagination of J.L. Mulvihill.

(Steel Roots illustration by Rachael Ward)

The Box Car Baby introduces the character of AB’Gale Steel who was born in a boxcar on a train bound for Georgia, according to what her papa told her.  Bishop Steel, a mechanical engineer for the Southern Railroad, found his adopted daughter snuggled in a basket of cotton on an otherwise empty boxcar in the train yard.  When no one came around to claim the baby, Bishop Steel, rather than relinquish the child to the State only to end up at the Workhouse someday, smuggled her home to raise as his own. The name on the boxcar he found her in read, A B Gale Logs, and so he named the baby AB’Gale.

But if the mystery of who her real parents are isn’t enough for fifteen-year -old AB’Gale, Papa Bishop goes missing. Worried for her family and afraid of having to spend her life at the Workhouse, AB’Gale goes into town to see if anyone’s seen her papa, only to find a deeper mystery.  At the train station no one seems to know who her papa is even though he’s worked for the Southern Railroad for thirty years.

An encounter with a strange Hobo-man, who claims to know her father, results in the acquisition of a leather eye-glass tube that he says belongs to her papa. Before AB’Gale can question him further the man runs away.  When she gets home, she finds the Crushers taking her grandma off to the Oldies-home, so she hides until they are gone.

AB’Gale finds that the leather tube contains a map of the United States, with markers made by various towns across the country.  By each marker is a word or a name written in her papa’s handwriting.

Alone, and with only the clues of the map to go by, AB’Gale has no choice but to set out on her own to find her papa.  

“Seventh Star Press has a very vivacious group of people with an incredible amount of awesome novels and stories pouring out,” J.L. commented on her addition to Seventh Star Press.  “I just thought that SSP might need a little more Teen-Steam, so I am very pleased they have asked me to come on board with my young adult steampunk series, Steel Roots.”

Born in Hollywood and raised in San Diego, CA, J.L. Mulvihill has made Mississippi her home for the past fifteen years.  Her debut novel was the young adult title The Lost Daughter of Easa,  an engaing fantasy novel bordering on science-fiction with a dash of steampunk (Kerlak Publishing).  J.L. also has several short fiction pieces in publication, among them “Chilled Meat”, a steampunk thriller found in the Dreams of Steam II-Of Bolts and Brass, anthology (Kerlak Publishing) and “The Leprechaun’s Story“, a steampunk urban Fantasy found in the anthology, Clockwork, Spells, & Magical Bells  (Kerlak Publishing)

 
J.L. is very active with the writing community, and is the events coordinator for the Mississippi Chapter of Imagicopter known as the Magnolia-Tower.  She is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA), The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG), as well as the Arts Council of Clinton, and the Clinton Ink-Slingers Writing Group. 

“J.L. Mulvihill is a perfect fit for our family of authors, editors, and artists,” fellow Seventh Star Press author Stephen Zimmer commented. “She is already well-loved on the convention circuit, and in addition to her great talent as a writer, she has a fantastic work ethic and approach to the realities of the publishing world today.  We are all so excited to have her with us.”

The Steel Roots novels will be released in limited hardcover, softcover (trade paperback), and several eBook editions, including versions for Kindle, Nook, the iBookstore, and Sony-compatible devices.  The books will also include interior illustrations, in addition to cover art from Seventh Star Press’ award-winning artists.

For further information on J.L Mulvihill and the upcoming releases, please visit www.seventhstarpress.com or the author’s site at www.elsielind.com

Contact: C.C. James

Public Relations, Seventh Star Press

ccjames@seventhstarpress.com

Seventh Star Press is a small press publisher of speculative fiction located in Lexington Kentucky

REVIEW: Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture

[[[Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture]]]
By Rob Salkowitz
McGraw-Hill, 304 pages, $27.00

51f1xufe7ql-_sl500_aa300_-8370781Comic book fandom was a natural outgrowth of science fiction fandom, splintering off in 1961 as the revival of superhero comics was clearly here to stay. In that year, sci-fi fan and future author Richard Lupoff published Xero, the first comics-only fanzine. Just a few years later, in 1965, the first comic convention occurred in New York City, birthplace of the first science fiction con back in 1939. The success of the zine and the con inspired others to produce their own tributes to the comics of their youth and comics fandom spread rapidly, fueled by the nationwide furor ignited by ABC’s Batman in 1966.

Interestingly, the first to write about comic conventions and its attendees was Fredric Wertham, the very man pilloried for almost single-handedly destroying the field with his poorly researched Seduction of the Innocent. Since then, fans and the ways they display their affection have been usually relegated to footnotes in other histories about the field or pop culture. One of those fans, Rob Salkowitz, has changed that with his new book, Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture. Coming from McGraw-Hill and billed as a glimpse into this world for the business reader, it breezily takes us through the 2011 Comic-Con International experience. (more…)

The Hunger Games DVD gets a Midnight Release August 18

The Hunger Games stunned the Hollywood prognosticators when it opened with huge box office numbers back in March. Its stunning success has been easily eclipsed by The Avengers but the adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling YA novel remains a noteworthy success story. Now they are trying to seize the spotlight once more with a clever marketing scheme for the home video release late this summer. Here are the details:

SANTA MONICA, CA, May 23, 2012 –Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games juggernaut will arrive on home entertainment at 12:01 A.M. on Saturday, August 18, as the first film in Lionsgate’s (NYSE: LGF) The Hunger Games franchise, which has already grossed nearly $400 million at the North American box office and is approaching $650 million at the worldwide box office, debuts on 2-disc DVD (plus digital copy), 2-disc Blu-Ray (plus digital copy), VOD and digital download with three hours of previously unavailable bonus materials in the biggest home entertainment launch in Lionsgate’s history, the Company announced Wednesday. (more…)

Busting

busting_coverart-300x423-3096743Back in the early days of cable, movies were rerun endlessly so if you liked one, you could burn their frames onto your retinas and it became a part of yourself. As a result, I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for 1974’s Busting. You sit there, scratching your head, and can’t recall the film and there’s no shame in that.

Written and directed by Peter Hyams (The Star Chamber, Outland), it is a buddy cop film before that became in vogue and is very much from the era. It has a nice grainy film stock, makes the cops and the thugs slovenly and a visual shambles. While most of Hyams’ peers set their gritty tales of big city corruption and the only honest cops’ efforts to bring down the kingpin of crime in New York City, Hyams set his in Los Angeles, although you’d be hard-pressed to tell. This is a totally urban LA, one without starlets or the Hollywood sign glimpsed in the distance. It’s a grimy city of pimps, pushers, hookers, strippers, and a few good men.

The men happen to be Elliot Gould and Robert Blake, a year before he became a big star on Baretta. They are companionable detectives, taking no guff from anyone and with a casual attitude, begin working their way to Rizzo (Alan Garfield), the man effectively running the city. Their superior tries to protect them but has given up, throwing his hands into the air, and warning the guys to stay away from the criminal. This is clearly Gould’s film as more is revealed about him and his life than Blake, but they are watching one another’s backs from gay bars to strip clubs.

I’m not giving anything away by saying they get their man, but the lessons the detectives learn along the way, and the harsh reality Rizzo reveals in the final scene gives the film an edge and poignancy missing from many of its contemporaries. Hyams’ script is sharp in subtle ways. As a director, he has some impressive tracking shots notably during the set piece, set inside a sprawling farmer’s market as the detectives hunt down three gun-wielding thugs.

The film received good notices when it first came out, with The New York Times noting Hyams “brings off something of a feat by making a contemporary cop film that is tough without exploiting the sort of right-wing cynicism that tells us all to go out and buy our own guns.” It clearly made an impact on me but it also heavily influenced Aaron Spelling, who more or less ripped off entire sequences frame by frame for his television series Starsky & Hutch. If you want a stronger version with some fun performances and more than a few comics references, Busting is finally available from MGM’s direct-to-disc Limited Edition Collection.

Doc Savage and the 30% Off Peril!

  • Uncategorized
  • December 20, 2011

Over on Facebook, William Patrick Murray posted the following: “‎30% off the hardover DOC SAVAGE: THE DESERT DEMONS. Today (December 20) only. Just type 20DEC in the discount code box on checkout. This book will be so affordable….”

You can find Doc Savage: The Desert Demons novel at http://www.lulu.com/product/hardcover/doc-savage-the-desert-demons/16232886

About Doc Savage: The Desert Demons-

Doc Savage and his band of specialists confront a threat unlike any they ever before faced–weird rust-colored clouds that consume man and machine alike! Set in 1936 Hollywood, this is the first adventure to star the Man of Bronze in nearly 20 years, and the first of a new series, The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage.

Water for Elephants

Why are we reviewing this failed adaptation of Sara Gruen’s 2006 novel, Water for Elephants? Well, we like circuses and my wife enjoyed the novel. We think Christoph Waltz is one of the more interesting actors to watch these days and frankly, we just plain like Reese Witherspoon, who hasn’t made enough solid films the last few years. Then there’s director Francis Lawrence, whose Constantine I thought was underrated. With the box office disappointment out this week on disc from 20th Century Home Entertainment, it was time to give it a look.

This Depression-era story tells of Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson), a would-be veterinarian whose studies at Cornell were cut short given the economy. He hits the road, as did so many others, but only he stumbled across the Benzini Brothers Circus, run by August (Waltz) and featuring his wife Marlena (Witherspoon). They need a doctor on the cheap and he gains invaluable practical experience caring for the menagerie being carted from town to town.

Jacob also gets a hard lesson in life as he watches August abuse both wife and elephant and Jacob tenderly fills the void for both. Things go awry when August learns of Jacob’s interference with his life and profession, setting up an inevitable confrontation.

There’s plenty of drama here, plenty of atmosphere and themes to explore, but the power of the novel is sapped by a labored film adaptation in the hands of screenwriter Richard LaGravenese and director Francis Lawrence. While he struggled to successful bring Constantine’s snark to film, ruined by the Americanization to accommodate Keanu Reeves, he did Richard Matheson a disservice with I Am Legend so the jury was still out on his skills. This third flawed adaptation proves the man is tone deaf to the beauty inherent in the prose. All three films call for unique settings and moods but rather than feast on a bleak 1930s America, this feels like a typical Hollywood vision of that time.

In adapting the book’s rich characters and psychological interrelationships, Lawrence comes up short, robbing every character of their depth. The attractive cast is also the wrong cast and doesn’t give them enough actual direction leaving Waltz in need of restraint and Pattinson and Witherspoon mismatched, lacking any real spark between them. He does his best work with Rosie the Elephant which isn’t saying a lot. Had the circus performers and crew been allowed to do anything in the story, it could have been a rich ensemble piece and more satisfying look at this life on the rails.

The Blu-ray edition, not sent for review, contains plenty of featurettes while the DVD comes with just a Robert Pattinson Spotlight (yawn), a by-the-numbers piece on Reese Witherspoon, and the most interesting piece The Traveling Show: From Page to Screen. There’s also an audio commentary from Lawrence and LaGravenese but I just couldn’t care enough to finish it.

For those interested, the Blu-ray comes with the above plus Working Without A Net – The Visual Effects of Water for Elephants; The Star Attraction; Raising the Tent; and, Secrets of the Big Top.

‘The Walking Dead’ shambles to new TV ratings record

  • News
  • October 18, 2011

For those who think the comics/Hollywood connection is played out, it seems there’s still life in something that’s dead.

Season two of “[[[The Walking Dead]]]” opened to an eye-popping 7.3 million viewers on Sunday, and it broke cable ratings records in the key demographic categories of adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

The preem averaged 4.8 million adults 18-49 and 4.2 million in the 25-54 demo — a new record for a basic cable drama series. It also easily ranked as primetime’s No. 1 entertaiment series for the night, according to Nielsen, topping the 18-49 delivery of Fox’s special “The X Factor” (4.2 million adults 18-49), ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” (3.4 million) and CBS’ “CSI: Miami” (3 million). AMC

AMC prexy Charlie Collier called the numbers “staggering, just like our zombies.”

via ‘Walking’ sets cable ratings record – Entertainment News, TV News, Media – Variety.

SURF PULP-As Told to Chuck Miller!

  • News
  • September 30, 2011


AS TOLD TO CHUCK MILLER-Pulp Interviews

Chuck’s Guest today- Craig Lockwood 

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CHUCK MILLER:  Surf Pulp is something that not too many of my colleagues who have loosely banded together under the “New Pulp” umbrella have been exposed to. And it’s a wonderful thing, since we are looking to broaden the definition of “pulp fiction,” and expand its visibility and appeal. Could you just give us a brief synopsis of how you got the idea and what steps you took to see it through all the way to Hard-Boiled Surf Pulp Fiction #1?

CRAIG LOCKWOOD:  I’ve often wondered if the term “New Pulp” or “neo-Pulp” isn’t misleading. While the great pulp publishing and fiction industry died out forty years ago, Ellery Queen and Analog are still published. So at least a tenuous thread to the pulp-past was maintained. And the pulps have been an enduring and arguably profound influence on America and Europe’s popular literary culture.


What’s telling is that when I started this project with Rick we had no idea that there was anything like a pulp revival.


I’d had the idea of publishing an all-surfing-related fiction magazine for years. And I loved the old pulp form. I’d done a pulp paper book The Whole Ocean in 1986.


Twenty-three years later I’d just finished writing a big book for a publisher, and decided to see if I couldn’t put an inexpensive magazine—a real pulp—together.


Rick’s a talented illustrator who had been an aficionado of the American pulp illustrative style of the 1930s and ‘40s and ‘50s. I’d read the sci-fi pulps like Galaxy and Analog, and the mystery mags like Back Mask and Ellery Queen, as a kid and been entranced the storytelling and action. My first published fiction – and the piece was wholly an adventure pulp sory — was in SURFER Magazine—despite SURFER being a “slick.”


Both of our mutual interests and our livelihoods center around surfing and the surfing sub-culture.

 That term may seem like an anomaly, but today there is an entire sub-culture—which is something like car-culture—but based around surfing, that had been growing in California since the 1930s. And I’m not talking “Gidget.”


There’s a multi-million dollar sustaining “surfing industry” that includes surfing apparel, surfboard manufacture, surf-related destination travel, surfing fine art with prestigious museum exhibitions, surfing cinema, TV shows, surfing music, surfing literature—including surfing journalism, with books and magazines—and even occasional surfing theater, and believe it or not, a nascent surfing academia.

And of course, there’s surfing crime. Which some older readers may recall getting both national notoriety and tabloid ink during the 1960s with a Florida criminal character nicknamed “Murph the Surf.”

Rick is academically trained, and a graduate of Art Center, here in Pasadena, California, which is one of he nation’s finest art schools. I studied creative writing at the University of California, Los Angeles. Rick’s work hangs in both private collections and at McKibben Gallery in Laguna Beach as well as in Rémi Bertoche, in France.


I’ve been a journalist and editor since college, mainly surfing but in the beginning the pickings were slim so I also worked as a lifeguard and deputy sheriff. Later I served as a war correspondent in Southeast Asia, Balkans, the Middle East and Afghanistan, a crime reporter, and a surfing historian whose last book “Peanuts” An Oral Biography Exploring Legend, Myth and Archetype In California’s Surfing Subculture” was reviewed last year by surfing’s most prestigious magazine, The Surfer’s Journal, as “This year’s Best book on Surfing, 2010.” Currently I serve as co-chair of the Oral History Committee of the Surfing Heritage Foundation, which is an endowed institution and museum. But I also shape surfboards and racing paddleboards – it’s all handwork – as a hobby/business.


We were well into the project when we started discovering you guys.


We looked at each other and went “Wow! Here’s real talent, good writing, and great storytelling.”

And you—the pioneers—were all out there taking great waves and cranking these stylish pulpy bottom turns and looking good. 


It was like wandering through the desert thirsty and alone and discovering this well-supplied big wagon train with the Bonanza cast at the reins.

CHUCK:  What would you say to potential readers who might be leery of your work because of their unfamiliarity with surf culture and the perception that this is a very specialized area that they just wouldn’t “get?” I think this could be really significant in terms of opening up new connections and exposing people to familiar concepts in a new context. That can be a difficult barrier to break through, which is sad because I think there are far more things in common than not.


Chuck, you nailed it. There are definitely more things in common in pulp fiction than not. To paraphrase Marshall McLuhan: The medium is the milieu.


I suspect we both see pulp fiction as a wonderful dimensional door through which readers are transported by writers into other realities. The vehicle of transmission is the combination of the author’s words and the reader’s imagination.


Surfing, and surfing fiction does reflect aspects of surfing’s specialization, just as espionage fiction is specialized. But specialization need not be exclusionary, and it’s never a reason to neglect the opportunity of an exciting read.


The English mystery writer Dick Francis, himself a jockey, set all his stories against a background of horse racing—which is like surfing, a kind of sub-culture. I’ve only been to one horse track in my life, and know nothing about horse-racing, betting on horses, or horse-racing as an occupation. But I’ve read and enjoyed at least a dozen Dick Francis mysteries, full of racetrack jargon, and enjoyed them.  


Reading masters of a specific genera—such as spy fiction’s John Le Carre´, or Alan Furst—means being immersed in that specific fictional world. This is a world the author has created. And when the author is good, and when the narrative’s coherent and the drama compelling we’re exposed and become both intellectually and emotionally involved in a very specialized environment—say Carré’s Cold War London in 1965, or Furst’s Eleventh Arrondissement in 1940 Paris, during the Nazi Occupation.


And in that fictional environment the magic of a reader’s imagination, a skilled author’s description, narrative and dialog—all provide enough information for the reader to understand and personally assimilate the  political climate, the geography, the tradecraft and techniques, the idiom and argot of espionage.


Compared to this kind of complex arcana, surfing’s lexicon is relatively easy. Especially when the format’s a short-story or novella. Here the author is going to be focusing less on some incidental technical aspect—such as a specific surfboard’s design limitations in a given wave—than say, on the protagonist’s efforts to get to the exotic location where a previously un-ridden but fabled wave exists. And—as in all adventure fiction—that requires an author’s commitment to narrative and a reader’s exercise of imagination.

And, if the author is skillful, he or she provides the reader sufficient expository detail so their imagination takes over. This, after all, is how we are able to read and immerse ourselves in—and find credible and enjoyable enough, and thus continue reading—our pulp fiction superheros.

Surfing is an activity rooted in American culture. Surfing comes out of that culture, and so much of what surfing authors are writing about is at least familiar. Most of us have either been to a beach, or seen film or stills of the ocean, and waves, and surfers. We have a sense of the beauty, power and grandeur of the sea. 

I’m not a skier, have never skied, hate snow, don’t know the precise meaning of terms like “mogul” or “screamin’ starfish” or “slow-dog noodle turn” and have never experienced the thrill of flying down a mountainside in deep powder. Yet I’ve read and enjoyed skiing-related fiction. So it wasn’t what I knew that entertained me, it was the author’s skill in creating a literary door through which I could venture in imagination.


I didn’t have to be an anthropologist like Colin Trumbull, living with the m’Buti, in the Congo and having to learn an entire non-cognate language to figure out the sub-culture. If I didn’t know the terminology, the story carried me along.


In one of our Vol. 1 No. 1 issue’s stories, “Sorcerer of Siargao” by Susan Chaplin, her surfer-protagonist is described this way:


“Marla was tall, with big shoulders and clear blue eyes. At forty-seven and recently divorced she was living out some pre-divorce impulse to surf her way around the world.”


There is nothing very exclusionary here for a non-surfing reader. You get her logline. Restless middle aged woman seeks adventure. The rest is storytelling—through a surfer’s eyes.


In “The Big Deep” hard-luck hard-boiled surfing private eye Sam Sand tells  surf syndicate enforcer Gang Lopez who’s bringing him an impossible-to-solve case: “Gang, you been laminating without a mask?”


Now a non-surfer may not have a clue that this wisecrack refers to the manufacturing process of saturating the “laminate,” the two fiberglass layers of a hand-shaped surfboard blank’s skin with catalyzed polyurethane resin, but you know he’s skeptical—and is obviously saying it in a colorful way.


One thing those of us who are attracted to the pulp milieu share is that we love imaginative storytelling. So if Hard-boiled Surf Pulp which is aimed at a primarily surfing audience has any chance of attracting non-surfing readers we think it will be because our writers can tell stories well.


CHUCK:  Name two or three of the biggest influences on your writing. Not necessarily limited to authors, but including ANYTHING that you think has shaped your style and the worldview that your fiction is built on.


My biggest initial influences in desire to be a writer were genetic, i.e., my mother and father.


My dad was a hard-boiled, hard-core, hard-bitten, hard-case WW I combat veteran—a newspaperman/journalist, war correspondent, and occasional pulp writer during the 1920s and ‘30s. He became a wire-service bureau chief, in Lisbon. My parents had lived in the same Paris neighborhood as Ernest and Hadley Hemingway and were part of the same literary and artistic circles.


My mother was an artist, a sculptor of some renown, and the daughter of three generations of newspaper men. And she had the storyteller’s gift. She’d been a fashion illustrator for Vogue Magazine, so her artist’s eye missed nothing. Decades after an event she could recall the most precise details, inflect the tone of voice of someone who’d been speaking, mimic accents, and connect everything to the weather, the political climate, how the women and men were dressed, how the food was prepared, was served and tasted.


Just before World War Twice they returned to California and Hollywood where he became a screenwriter for Fox. I came along soon after. Then the war came along and my father was killed, soon after Pearl Harbor.


As a child without a father—growing up in Hollywood during the war—my mother would tell stories about her early life. I was fascinated with her accounts of her famous family’s history, of my father’s life, their travels—including some exciting adventures with narrow escapes—and the now all-but-forgotten literary figures they’d known such as John Dos Passos, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, Ford Maddox Ford, James Joyce, Raoul Whitfield, and Dashiell Hammett.


When I was very young my mother would tell me serial stories of characters she’d invent. Then, taking a big drawing pad and using charcoal pencils, she’d quickly illustrate them while she was telling the story, drawing the characters—horses, boats, cars, guns—and the most outrageous and weirdly costumed arch-villains. We had a house full of books, and a beach house in Laguna Beach and so I grew up reading and surfing.


Pulp magazines were still on the newsstands when I was a kid and I became interested in reading and collecting science fiction magazines. Without question, much of my interest in writing fiction came from that early pulp exposure.


Going to the local newsstand with my weekly allowance was a ritual. What a visual feast! There were dozens of lurid covers, adventures, detective mysteries, westerns, romances, creepy shudders, and the ones in the back at the top—beyond kid’s reach—the spicy pulps.


So I pictured myself being able to write for these kinds of exciting magazines. I was just learning to type and submitted a few science fiction shorts in my early teens—which were promptly rejected. 

Unfortunately, by the time I had begun to write well enough to perhaps be accepted, the pulps were approaching extinction, and everyone in my college writing classes was trying to write like Jack Kerouac, J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut or Joseph Heller.


Ray Bradbury’s fiction was a strong early influence, and he spoke frequently at Robert Kirsch’s Art of Fiction course and workshops at UCLA where I was a student. I’ve never forgotten his closing words at one of his lectures:

“Always quit while you’re hot. And don’t forget to put the cover on your typewriter.”

      

HOLLYWOOD, DOC, SPIDER, THE UNEXPECTED, AND MORE FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!

  • News
  • September 23, 2011
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September 23, 2011
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NEW RELEASE – The Lux Radio Theatre, Volume 3
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“Lux Presents Hollywood!”
Hollywood’s greatest actors and best directors. Star level writing and production values. A world renowned Hollywood legend as the host. And a full hour weekly to showcase it all to the listening public. Sound like the perfect formula for a drama program from the Golden Age of Radio? It was and Radio Archives has it here for you, The Lux Radio Theatre Volume 3!
The Lux Radio Theatre, based in New York, premiered on the Blue Network October 14, 1934. The name derived from the show’s sponsor, Lux Soap from Lever Brothers. Although Lux began primarily as an anthology based on Broadway shows of the period, it recognized the value of Hollywood star power from the start. Stories abound of the various imaginative and cunning ways that scouts for Lux snagged top talent.
Even with creative recruitment techniques, The Lux Radio Theatre teetered on cancellation within a year of its debut, due largely to lack of available talent in New York. Even a move to CBS on July 29, 1935 didn’t change the downward spiral. Danny Denker, an executive with the ad agency handling the Lever Brothers account, advised that production values of The Lux Radio Theatre had to be opulent and top notch and that films, not Broadway shows, should be the focus, and most of all, the program had to come out of Hollywood, not New York.
Denker’s suggestions became fact on June 1, 1936 with the first Lux Radio Theatre program from Hollywood. And from the first show, opulent and top notch was the new standard for the program: budgeted at $17,000.00, more than half of that going to pay Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable, the show’s leads, and acclaimed director Cecil B. Demille as host.
As the six programs in this third volume of Lux Radio Theatre clearly show, there were many reasons that this hour long program was a top-ten network show for much of its nearly twenty year run after moving to Hollywood and remains one of the most beloved shows by OTR collectors today. The programs spotlighted in this volume are from early 1939 and are headlined by the seminal Hollywood talent of the era, including James Cagney and Maureen O’Sullivan. That combined with the sparkling audio quality of this newly restored and remastered set makes Radio Archive’s third volume of The Lux Radio Theatre an absolute must-have for OTR fans. Priced at only $17.98 for the six hour Audio CD set or $11.98 for the Digital Download version, you’ll want to add this to your personal collection today.



Radio Reviews of “The Unexpected Volume 1”
By Tommy Hancock


ra198-200-7621354Even though it seems that all the audio gems that could be discovered from the Golden Age of Radio have been available for years, there are still several hidden treasures that haven’t been heard in many cases since the first time some radio station played them fifty or more years ago. Thanks to the work of Radio Archives, one such program, The Unexpected has risen from past obscurity and can be appreciated for all of its genre smashing greatness.
Produced by Hamilton-Whitney Productions for syndication in 1947, The Unexpected is a program consisting of fifteen minute long episodes, each one a self-contained tale involving some sort of situation that a protagonist found him or herself in, one usually of their own making, that led to adventure, action, or simply general chaos. Also, each show ended in exactly the same way. A resolution would be presented, seemingly the end of the episode, then the disturbingly deep voice of the announcer interrupted with “You think the story is over, don’t you? But wait! Fate takes a hand. Wait for the Unexpected!”
The Unexpected Volume 1 is just that, an unexpected treat for a variety of reasons. First, the cast pool that Hamilton-Whitney drew from consisted mostly of excellent character actors, like Barry Sullivan, Lyle Talbot, and Lurene Tuttle, many of which had experience behind the radio microphone as well. Even when there are flubs on the part of someone like Sullivan or Tuttle, it adds realism to the performance, accenting the anxiety already building for the character.
As mentioned, the scripts provided for The Unexpected are shining examples of just what a skillful writer can do with about twelve minutes of story. The pacing is frenetic, from the usually already in progress feel of the beginning all the way through the shock ending. Even though some of the outcomes may seem cliché to a modern audience, listeners will find they don’t care because they are caught up in the flow of the story. Add in the haunting melody of the theme music and the unassuming, yet unsettling tones of the announcer, and the production values of The Unexpected make this stand out well amongst other similar shows
The Unexpected is a stand out show that blends horror, mystery, adventure, and even a touch of comedy every once in a while. Stories in this volume range from adventure yarns like ‘Unknown Cargo’ to slice of life situations such as ‘Birthday Present’ and even into the realm of predestined justice with tales like ‘The Cripple.’ Each show is the audio equivalent of flipping through the yellowed pages of an old Pulp magazine, not knowing what thrills lay ahead. Excellent performances, dead on pacing, twist endings, and quality audio remastering insure that The Unexpected Volume One is one of the best series of its type! And it is available from Radio Archives for only $14.98 for the five hour CD collection or $9.98 for the Digital Download version.


31 New Digital Download sets now available
RA001 One Man’s Family, Vol 1                           RA002 Mr. President, Vol 1
RA005 Little Orphan Annie                                    RA008 The Shadow of Fu Manchu
RA009 The Kraft Music Hall starring Al Jolson   RA016 Frontier Town
RA017 The Milton Berle Show                              RA020 Dr. Christian

RA031 The Complete Cinnamon Bear                RA027 Birds Eye Open House, starring Dinah Shore

RA037 Mr. President, Vol 2                                    RA039 Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Vol 1
RA045 Matinee with Bob and Ray, Vol 1             RA064 One Man’s Family, Vol 2
RA068 Komedy Kingdom                                       RA079 The Big Bands on One Night Stand, Vol 1
RA080 The Mercury Theatre on the Air                RA082 The Big Bands on One Night Stand, Vol 2
RA083 MGM Theatre of the Air                              RA085 Mystery House
RA127 The Couple Next Door                               RA128 Screen Director’s Playhouse
RA131 Space Patrol, Vol 1                                     RA156 Imperial Leader
RA158 Date with the Duke                                     RA160 Curtain Time, Vol 1 
RA169 Luke Slaughter of Tombstone                  RA163 The Big Bands on One Night Stand, Vol 3
RA171 Command Performance, Vol 1                 RA174 All-Star Western Theatre
RA178 Radio Hall of Fame, Vol 1
RadioArchives.com continues to bring the best of the Past to You via the technology of Today! With Digital Downloads, the amazing quality audio content that Radio Archives is known for can be yours on your phone, computer, iPod or portable device! Set at a great price with immediate delivery once you click and purchase, the audio you love from Radio Archives is available now as Digital Downloads! Click here to see all the sets available for download.
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The Spider Arrives in First Audiobook

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RadioArchives.com takes pulp audiobooks to a new and exciting level, with the release of Prince of the Red Looters, the first Spider audiobook, coming October 7.
Producer Roger Rittner says, “Prince of the Red Looters will be a stunning addition to RadioArchives.com‘s audiobook line. This action-packed story will have two stars of stage and film narrating and voicing the character parts. Nick Santa Maria and Robin Riker have done outstanding work in this exciting novel-length adventure of the classic pulp hero, The Spider.
“Nick has the perfect voice to narrate the fantastic adventures of The Spider. And Robin, who played Pat Savage in The Adventures of Doc Savage, has turned in a stellar performance as his companion and confidant, Nita Van Sloane, as well as other female characters.
“This new and exciting audiobook enhanced with sound effects and full music score takes you on a roller-coaster ride of danger, action, thrills, and adventure.”
In Prince of the Red Looters, The Spider faces one of his most cunning criminal enemies The Fly! The Fly’s ruthlessly efficient crime organization commits a chain of bold and deadly atrocities on New York City, while The Fly taunts The Spider in a series of ever more dangerous duels.
“The result is a listening experience that will thrill every fan of audiobooks and pulp fiction,” Roger says.
Listeners who have previewed early chapters are enthused:
* “It’s excellent. Really held my attention. I think it works wonderfully.”
* “An exceptional job.”
* “The results are amazing.”
Prince of the Red Looters will be available in a six-CD set at $19.98, and an MP3 Digital Download at just $14.98.


Doc Savage Audiobooks Continue to Delight Fans
RadioArchives.com‘s first two Doc Savage audiobooks, Will Murray’s Python Isle and White Eyes, continue to attract and delight Doc fans as well as those just discovering the greatest adventure hero of the 1930s.
Narrator Michael McConnohie’s extended audio-visual sampler of Python Isle, the first Doc Savage audiobook, is available for viewing on the Python Isle Liner Notes in the Audiobook category. Python Isle will soon be available at selected comic book retailers.
White Eyes narrator Richard Epcar has been talking up the second Doc Savage audiobooks at recent comic and video game conventions, and says many of his fans are enthusiastic when they learn about the adventure hero.
Python Isle and White Eyes are available in impressive CD sets, as digital downloads, and also in special Signed Director’s Editions.
New Pulp Fiction Reprints
Need a dose of Action?  Want to infuse some Adventure into your every day life?  Do you need a Hero?  Then find all of that and more in the classic pulp novel reprints from RadioArchives.com featuring the greatest heroes, the highest adventure, and the most action from the best Pulp Fiction has to offer!
Doc Savage, Volume 51: Halloween Special
The Pulp Era’s legendary superhero follows terror trails in classic thrillers by Harold A. Davis and Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, the Man of Bronze journeys to “The Land of Fear” hidden deep within Africa to discover the deadly secret behind the “skeleton death” that dissolves human flesh to the bone. Then, a grisly vampire murder in the lobby of his own headquarters building leads Doc Savage and his beautiful cousin Patricia to the South Atlantic in pursuit of “The Fiery Menace.” This classic pulp reprint showcases the original color pulp covers by Robert G. Harris and Emery Clarke, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and a behind-the-scenes article by Will Murray, writer of eight Doc Savage novels. Only $14.95 at RadioArchives.com


The Shadow, Volume 53: Vampire Triple Feature!
The Knight of Darkness investigates deadly vampire attacks in two heart-stopping chillers by Walter Gibson writing as “Maxwell Grant” and a classic radio mystery! First, the Master of Darkness must battle a giant vampire bat and enter the dangerous “Garden of Death” to discover the secret behind a deadly drug monopoly. Then, The Shadow enters haunted Haldrew Hall to unearth the bloody secret behind “The Vampire Murders” in a sequel to the legendary Victorian thriller, “Varney the Vampire.” BONUS: “Vampires Prowl by Night,” a lost thriller from the Golden Age of Radio! This instant collector’s item showcases both classic pulp covers by George Rozen, the original interior illustrations by Paul Orban and commentary by popular-culture historians Anthony Tollin and Will Murray. Available now for $14.95.


The Spider, Volume 20
The Spider returns in two thrill-packed adventures!  First, in The Devil’s Candlesticks, Only the Spider can combat a mystic murder spell turning the rich into ruthless fiends has fallen over Manhattan! Then, in Revolt Of The Underworld, America’s most ruthless criminals, led by the Fox, have declared war on the Spider. Nita Van Sloan apparently murdered! Richard Wentworth framed! Can the Spider successfully clear his name and find his beloved fiancé?  All this and more for $14.95 from RadioArchives.com!

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Review of “Crime, Insured” from The Shadow, Volume 1
By John Olsen

“Crime, Insured” was originally published in the July 1, 1937 issue of The Shadow Magazine. A new racket has sprung up in Manhattan: crime insurance. Crime has gone ultra-modern. Bigshots have discarded old-fashioned methods and are now insuring their crimes against failure. But can they insure against intervention by that master of the night, The Shadow?
Nearly all of The Shadow’s agents appear in this story. Not only the main agents who are captured, but some of the secondary or “reserve” agents appear as well. Criminologist Slade Farrow shows up along with his assistant Tapper, whose expertise at picking a lock is second only to The Shadow. Giant African Jericho Druke is another reserve agent who appears. Doctor Rupert Sayre joins in to assist with some radio direction finding tasks.The New York Police is represented by Commissioner Ralph Weston and ace inspector Joe Cardona. Both get small parts, and don’t get to do much. Still, it’s nice to see them included here.
It’s mentioned that The Shadow is an expert at jujutsu. This isn’t the only time his martial arts abilities have been mentioned, but it’s nice to see them specifically identified.
In 1933s story “The Black Hush,” an amazing invention was detailed. A black-ray machine that could suppress all electrical activity. That machine reappears in this story, four years later. The black ray machine plays an important part in the rescue of the agents. Also, that strange code that The Shadow uses, the one that’s comprised of a silent eye-code shows up again. This time it’s Burbank who uses it to communicate with the other agents during their confinement. “Glances, with simple shifts of gaze, enabled them to spell out secret messages.”
This story is one of the pivotal ones in the saga of The Shadow. Read as The Shadow battles the boldest and most amazing racket in the history of modern crime, and nearly loses his entire organization in the bargain. Yup, this is the one. And it is available from Radio Archives in The Shadow Volume 1 for $12.95.

Will Murray’s New Doc Savage Book: The Desert Demons
by Lester Dent and Will Murray, writing as Kenneth Robeson

The Ultimate Pulp Hero is back after 20 years! Doc Savage and his mighty crew return in a brand-new series of nightmare exploits that can only be called The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage!
Ferocious blood-red Things drop down from the sky! The state of California is besieged by the Desert Demons, a phenomenon so fierce that it triggers a modern exodus! Only Doc Savage, the scientist-superman forged in the fires of scientific knowledge to battle the unknown, is equal to the challenge. From the Hollywood hills to the alligator-infested interior of Florida, the Man of Bronze wages war with cyclonic monsters that seem to possess an intelligence of their own and a murderous malevolence that smacks of the unearthly!
From ideas crafted by Pulp Legend Lester Dent, noted Pulp Author and Historian Will Murray uses his incredible storytelling skills to bring life once more to the penultimate fiction Hero of the 20th Century! Before Comic books there were pulps and before four color heroes, there was Doc Savage! And, thanks to Will Murray, Doc is most definitely Back in this first of The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage series.
The Desert Demons – Written by Will Murray! Based on concepts by Lester Dent! Cover Illustration by Joe DeVito! Get your copy today from RadioArchives.com for only $24.95!


Praise for The Desert Demons
My cover arrived today; it is fabulous! Without a doubt or hesitation it is worth every single penny! I hope fans recognize what a super bargain this volume is and support this release. From cover to cover this book remind me of times when publishers really took pride in their books; you folks obviously do and it shows! As always, I hope y’all know just how much Doc fans appreciate these new adventures! Will, you have really outdone yourself with this one; great fun! Wishing you all the very best!
Link Hullar
The Desert Demons resurrects Doc Savage and his friends in a way Lester Dent would be proud of. Will Murray, who fleshes out this novel from some previously unpublished notes and material written by Dent in the mid-thirties, seems at times to be channeling Dent in an almost supernatural way. Certainly The Desert Demons is a novel every fan of Doc Savage will not just enjoy, but thrill to. This one, certainly did.
Gerald W. Page, editor The Years’ Best Horror Stories
This took me back to my youth, when I spent summer afternoons avidly reading musty back issues of Doc Savage Magazine. It’s all here – the fantastic other-worldly menace, Doc’s crew of five, his cousin Pat, and the pre-World War 2 world of the ’30s. What more could I ask?
Ted White, author of The Great Gold Steal
A “lost” novel of the Man of Bronze, conceived in the 1930s by the great Kenneth Robeson and written by his brilliant successor, famed adventure novelist Will Murray the real Doc Savage lives again!
Richard Kyle, editor, Argosy

Deal of the Day
Deal of the Day

Looking for the best in quality Audio, Pulps, and classic DVDs at a price you just can’t beat? Then you’re in the right place for Radio Archive’s Deal Of The Day!
Not only is one item available daily at a discount, but there are Three Deals at All Times with the Deal of the Day! No limits! No minimum amount! Simply Great Products at Unbelievable Prices!
Every Day a Different Item is available at 10% Off. If you’re into Pulp, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days to pick up a great Pulp deal at a 10% discount!
For The Next Two Weeks Only – 4 Hours of Western Audio Adventure for 25% off!
OTR and Pulp fans alike will thrill to the six gun two fisted action of yesteryear with this fantastic 4 hour set of classic Radio Westerns. Stars such as Jeff Chandler, Guy Madison, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry as well as classic Western characters like Wild Bill Hickok and The Cisco Kid make this Western set a must have for fans of Cowboys and Frontier Justice! And until October 6th, it’s available for $14.98, 25% percent off regular price!
September Deal Of The Month – Zorro: The Masked Avenger
Out of the old Spanish West comes Zorro! Relive the classic tales of Zorro, the defender of the common people, the masked hero of the oppressed riding right out of the old Spanish West! This 3-DVD set features three classic movie serials from Hollywood’s Golden Age plus the 1936 feature length film “The Bold Caballero”. Swashbuckling sword slinging at its best for only $14.98, 50% off regular price! for the entire month of September!
Look for the yellow ‘Deal Of The Day’ price tag in the upper right hand corner of the home page and click it for a great deal Every Single Day from RadioArchives.com!


Comments From Our Customers!
Steven Goodrich writes:
Thanks for the response. You have a great company there. Keep up the good work.
Andy Howells reviews The New Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes Volume 1 and writes:
“a new collection of rare radio plays from the 1940s recently released by Radio Archives retells some of Holmes greatest escapades from the armchair of his closest ally, Dr Watson and despite the age of the recordings have excellent sound quality. The presentation and pace of the stories is very good and in all examples have a beginning, middle and end making them very listenable and enjoyable.
Steve Sher writes:
Listened to “Suspense” on the way home tonight–lots of traffic–and was held spellbound by “Donovan’s Brain.” Just had to tell you!
Gil Wilson says of The Unexpected Volume 1:
“This collection is perfect for any fan of mystery, thrillers, suspense and old time radio. If you are just plain curious, check them out they are a lot of fun, especially because the end of each story is Unexpected.”
If you’d like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Guest Reviewer Doc Hermes on DESERT DEMONS!

  • News
  • August 24, 2011
 
In November 1993, the last of Will Murray’s new Doc Savage novels, THE FORGOTTEN REALM, was published. I wrote in a review a dozen years later, “It has been twelve years since THE FORGOTTEN REALM was published. Right now, it looks like we will not see a new Doc Savage novel on the stands ever again. But…. that’s what we thought in 1949, too.”

And against the odds (as we might expect from him) the Man of Bronze has returned yet again. Will Murray has begun a new “new” series of Doc adventures and I’m signing up for the ride. I had to order a copy from Altus Press: Barnes & Noble were no help and I’m not much for using Amazon or eBay. (And frankly, $24 is a bit of a gouge for a trade paperback this size but of course I’ve paid more than that for an old pulp or out-of-print books, it’s my choice).

THE DESERT DEMONS is just fine. It’s not as good as the very best of the original pulp stories like METEOR MENACE or THE SARGASSO OGRE, but then neither were most the pulps. There were many original Docs that ranged from passable down to atrocious, and DEMONS is a lot more fun than most of the wartime issues. The book is based on an unused outline Lester Dent left behind. I appreciate the respect Will Murray shows for Dent and understand why he incorporates as much Dent material as he can. But I would be perfectly willing to read a new book that is all Murray, I have trust in his integrity and his own storytelling.

Okay, it’s 1936 again and yet another mysterious menace has surfaced for our hero to investigate. Out in Hollywood, a phenomenon called the Copper Clouds has been killing people. They’re a sort of red cyclonic masses that swoop down from the sky as if targetting individuals, then turn black and evaporate, leaving only white ash, bleached brittle houses or cars and an occasional piece of glass. This is exactly the sort of threat Clark Savage Sr raised his little boy to handle. All five of the aides are on hand, plus Patricia and even Chemistry and Habeas Corpus, and there are enough “hair-raising thrills, breath-taking escapes and blood-curdling excitement” (as the old Bantam paperbacks promised) to more than satisfy. The gadgets are fired off with abandon, science detection is used and there’s even a dirigible. It’s Thirties to the core. References to the then-new phenomenon “smog” and the then-recent Florida land-bust add to the atmosphere.

Of COURSE I have a few complaints. It’s inevitable, there are always a few flaws in any piece of work. Coming in at 239 pages, this is more accessible than the unweildy 300-pagers like THE FORGOTTEN REALM or THE WHISTLING WRAITH. I like my pulp novels around 120 to 150 pages, enough to finish off on a snowy Sunday afternoon without real breaks. They seem to work best when you plow through them at a good clip like riding a roller coaster. Even so, while THE DESERT DEMONS is well paced and doesn’t drag, it can’t be as crisp and headlong as the original pulps. With the extra space available, I hoped to see Renny or Long Tom get a few chapters to themselves with room for them to shine but instead we got more incidents and incidental characters. The other place where I think THE DESERT DEMONS misstepped is that nearly all the story takes place in Hollywood and at the very end we go to Florida for the wrap-up. My preference is for the classic two-part structure with mystery and intrigue in New York, then a trip to Tibet or Brazil or Samoa for a blast of all-out action. So I’d like to see that structure return, but it’s not mandatory for every adventure.

And the menace turns out to be more outright science fictional than usual. I’m good with this. The original series, after all, featured everything from genuine invisibility to fifteen-foot tall Monster Men to the Blue Meteor and earthquake-making machines. The wilder more implausible stuff was usually explained away as hoaxes and misinterpretations (“so the giant spider was a marionette?” “Fraid so,”) but Doc Savage was always borderline science fiction. I think I would draw the line at time travel as going too far, but I’d be fine with seeing Doc tackle things like someone rediscovering Dr Jekyll’s serum. Nothing of the outright supernatural, though… I think Doc Savage’s world just wouldn’t have real werewolves or vampires.

I have come to count on Will Murray to throw in many delightful bits almost as asides. Ham Brooks shows some actual legal knowledge for once. (He says,”In the absence of a corpse, California law allows a grace period of a year before someone may be declared dead.”)Doc can look at a revolver held on him and see that it’s loaded with blanks. Long Tom finally gets useful application for his electronic bug-repelling machine he always seemed to be getting nowhere with. When Doc grapples with someone, the person’s actions seem to be in slow-motion because the bronze man is moving so quickly. (This has the ring of classic Lester Dent to it!)

That’s it, I’m convinced. It would take an awful lot to keep me from getting the next book in the series. I’m so glad how things have turned out for Doc Savage fans. The pulp ended in 1949, which was then thought to be the last the characters would ever be seen. Then in 1964, Bantam started a few reprint paperbacks and the usual event would be to see a handful appear but no… eventually all 181 of the original novels were available, as well as a previously unpublished story. Ah well, that was good but it had to be the end. No. Then Philip Jose Farmer wrote ESCAPE FROM LOKI and starting in 1991, Will Murray turned out seven new books. In 1993, putting down THE FORBIDDEN REALM, I hoped that I would live long enough to see a few more authorized Doc Savage adventures come to be, and here we are.

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