Tagged: King Kong

THE BOOK CAVE HEADS BACK… TO 1933!

Book Cave hosts Art Sippo and Ric Croxton chat about 1933, Doc Savage, Phantom Detective, King Kong, The Reign of the Superman and Art’s favorite…chocolate chip cookies.

Listen to The Book Cave Episode 220 now at http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/the-book-cave-episode-220-1933

JIM BEARD TAKES A TRIP TO SKULL ISLAND

  • News
  • February 16, 2013
Art: Joe DeVito

New Pulp Author Jim Beard reviews Altus Press’ Doc Savage “Skull Island” novel by New Pulp Author Will Murray.

DOC SAVAGE: SKULL ISLAND
A review by Jim Beard

If you’re like me, you probably wondered what exactly we’d be getting in the new Doc Savage novel, SKULL ISLAND, it being both a Doc story featuring King Kong and a way to celebrate the 80th anniversaries of both legendary creations. Well, after reading the book, I’m happy to report that author Will Murray’s put some definite heart and soul into it and crafted what is now my most favorite of the recent “Wild Adventures of Doc Savage” series of novels.

But, that said, it’s different from just about any other Doc book you’ve ever read, something we’re clued in on by the “Will Murray” byline and the absence of the traditional “Kenneth Robeson” house name.

For me, the story was literally one that I didn’t want to put down; it’s that engaging. It begins at the end, right after Kong’s infamous nosedive off the Empire State Building, which leads directly to Doc’s involvement – or, rather, his telling of a tale to his aides of when he first met the giant simian. Yes, the great majority of the novel is a flashback to Doc Savage’s early days and therein is found its fascinating core. In essence, what we have here is the heretofore Secret Origin of Doc Savage.

Doc and his father – yes, you read that right; his father – head off on a quest for Doc’s grandfather, Stormalong Savage, which takes them into strange waters and exotic climes…and ultimately Skull Island. There they run afoul of enemies of many different stripes and discover wonders beyond their imagining. And a humongous ape-like “god-beast” called Kong.

Murray’s defining of the relationship here between Clark Senior and Clark Junior is practically worth the price of admission alone. This is a young Doc, fresh out of World War I and not exactly the bronze hero of the pulp adventures we know so well, and it’s with that admission that I can see some potential backlash with diehard Doc fans. This is a Doc who has not quite found his mission in life yet, nor honed all his skills and formed his famous tenets – most especially the rule against killing. This Doc kills and kills in often savage ways, which at points drenches the narrative in a bloodbath that may even disturb some readers. But, and it’s important to point this out, there’s a method behind Murray’s seeming madness – it all leads to something and something significant, namely the forging of the Doc Savage of the famous pulp adventures. And Murray does this all with style and careful thought and exciting imagery and action.

One of the things I loved about this novel is its use of language, precisely that which flies back and forth between elder and younger Savage in many bouts of witty verbal “fencing.” Will Murray has obviously crafted all his Doc books with care, but in SKULL ISLAND I believe I saw even more attention to detail, to dialogue, to atmosphere and to adventure. The story moves right along, only slightly bogging down a bit past its mid-section, and really defines the term “page turner.” Murray gives this one his best and finest and the book benefits from that in ways too numerous to list.

As I said before, this is a story of origins. Here we learn the origin of Doc’s trilling, of his disdain of guns and his inexhaustible search for knowledge, even the origin of the Hidalgo Trading Co. hanger. We also discover more information on the Savage family then we’ve ever had revealed to us before and hints of not only some of Doc’s other early adventures – did you know he was on the Titanic? – but also those of his father and grandfather, both famous explorers in their own right. Heck, we even hear about Doc’s uncle, another adventurer in the family. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the author is suggesting here that readers might care to hear more of these adventures, as separate works.

But, again, it’s the relationship between father and son that really stands out in the novel, one that careens between dysfunctional and loving, and it’s that which will stay with me for some time to come. In fact, knowing the fate of Clark Savage Senior in 1933’s MAN OF BRONZE will perhaps add another layer of pathos to your reading of SKULL ISLAND.

And, oh yes, King Kong is here, too. You will discover much more about his origins, also, as well as Skull Island’s original inhabitants. And that’s all fascinating as well. Dinosaur fans will especially have reason to love this book. Kong and his environs are not given short shrift in the slightest; the King looms over this book with all the weight and gravity he deserves.

In all, I’m a richer pulp fan for having read SKULL ISLAND. Will Murray takes our expectations and delivers upon them while still striking off on his own path, assembling a story that will please both Savage and Kong aficionados and remind us all just how cool pulp can be. There’s heart and soul here, like I said, and I for one can’t quite see how Murray will manage to top this one….but I know he will, somehow.

Get this book and settle in for a trip to the South Seas and beyond, Savage style.

DOC SAVAGE MEETS KING KONG IN NEXT WILD ADVENTURE FROM ALTUS PRESS!

  • News
  • January 29, 2013
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Eighty years ago in February, 1933 the Street & Smith company released the first issue of Doc Savage Magazine, introducing one of the most
kingkongstylea-8500100popular and influential pulp superheroes ever to hit the American scene.
Doc Savage was the greatest adventure and scientist of his era, and
while his magazine ended in 1949, he influenced the creators of
Superman, Batman, Star Trek, The Man from UNCLE and the Marvel
Universe—to name only a few.

While that first issue of Doc Savage was fresh on Depression newsstands,
RKO Pictures released one of the most important fantasy films of
all time. Everyone knows the story of how King Kong was discovered on
Skull Island and hauled back to New York in chains, only to perish
tragically atop the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Empire State
Building.

As it happened, that was where Doc Savage had his world headquarters.
For decades, fans have wondered: Where was Doc the day Kong fell?

On the eightieth anniversary of these fictional giants, Altus Press is
proud to release the first authorized clash between The Man of Bronze
and the Eighth Wonder of the World—Doc Savage: Skull Island.Written
by Will Murray in collaboration with Joe DeVito, creator of KONG: King
of Skull Island, Doc Savage: Skull Island is a new pulp epic.

The story opens when Doc returns from his Fortress of Solitude in the
North Pole to discover the cold corpse of Kong lying on his doorstep.

“I know this creature,” he tells his dumbfounded men.

Tasked to dispose of the remains, the Man of Bronze then tells the
untold story of his epic encounter with Kong back in 1920, after Doc
returns from service in World War I, long before Kong became King Kong.

Doc Savage: Skull Island is a multi-generational story in which Doc and
his father—the man who placed him in the hands of scientists who
made him into a superman—sail to the Indian Ocean in search of Doc’s
grandfather, the legendary Stormalong Savage, whose famous ship has been
discovered floating, deserted, her masts snapped by some incredible
force.

The quest for Stormalong Savage leads to the fog-shrouded Indian
Ocean—and Skull Island! There, Doc Savage faces his first great test
as he encounters its prehistoric dangers and tangles with the towering,
unstoppable Kong.

“When Joe DeVito brought this idea to me,” says Will Murray, “I knew it
had to be written with reverence for both of these immortal characters.
So I used the locale of Skull Island to tell a larger story, an untold
origin for Doc Savage. It all started back on Skull Island….”

Doc Savage: Skull Island has already been hailed as “The Doc Savage
novel that Doc fans have been waiting on for 80 years!”

Doc Savage: Skull Island is will be released in March, as the fifth
entry in Altus Press’ popular Wild Adventures of Doc Savage series.
Cover by Joe DeVito.
Source(s): Altus Press http://www.altuspress.com/> 

altus-2951758


  • News
  • January 29, 2013

Eighty years ago in February, 1933 the Street & Smith company released
the first issue of Doc Savage Magazine, introducing one of the most
popular and influential pulp superheroes ever to hit the American scene.
Doc Savage was the greatest adventure and scientist of his era, and
while his magazine ended in 1949, he influenced the creators of
Superman, Batman, Star Trek, The Man from UNCLE and the Marvel
Universe—to name only a few.

While that first issue of Doc Savage was fresh on Depression newsstands,
Universal Studios released one of the most important fantasy films of
all time. Everyone knows the story of how King Kong was discovered on
Skull Island and hauled back to New York in chains, only to perish
tragically atop the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Empire State
Building.

As it happened, that was where Doc Savage had his world headquarters.
For decades, fans have wondered: Where was Doc the day Kong fell?

On the eightieth anniversary of these fictional giants, Altus Press is
proud to release the first authorized clash between The Man of Bronze
and the Eighth Wonder of the World—Doc Savage: Skull Island.Written
by Will Murray in collaboration with Joe DeVito, creator of KONG: King
of Skull Island, Doc Savage: Skull Island is a new pulp epic.

The story opens when Doc returns from his Fortress of Solitude in the
North Pole to discover the cold corpse of Kong lying on his doorstep.

“I know this creature,” he tells his dumbfounded men.

Tasked to dispose of the remains, the Man of Bronze then tells the
untold story of his epic encounter with Kong back in 1920, after Doc
returns from service in World War I, long before Kong became King Kong.

Doc Savage: Skull Island is a multi-generational story in which Doc and
his father—the man who placed him in the hands of scientists who
made him into a superman—sail to the Indian Ocean in search of Doc’s
grandfather, the legendary Stormalong Savage, whose famous ship has been
discovered floating, deserted, her masts snapped by some incredible
force.

The quest for Stormalong Savage leads to the fog-shrouded Indian
Ocean—and Skull Island! There, Doc Savage faces his first great test
as he encounters its prehistoric dangers and tangles with the towering,
unstoppable Kong.

“When Joe DeVito brought this idea to me,” says Will Murray, “I knew it
had to be written with reverence for both of these immortal characters.
So I used the locale of Skull Island to tell a larger story, an untold
origin for Doc Savage. It all started back on Skull Island….”

Doc Savage: Skull Island has already been hailed as “The Doc Savage
novel that Doc fans have been waiting on for 80 years!”

Doc Savage: Skull Island is will be released in March, as the fifth
entry in Altus Press’ popular Wild Adventures of Doc Savage series.
Cover by Joe DeVito.
Source(s): Altus Press http://www.altuspress.com/> 

PULP ARK 2013 GUESTS OF HONOR ANNOUNCED!

  • News
  • October 15, 2012

PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTION

PULP ARK 2013 GUESTS OF HONOR REVEALED!
APRIL 26-28TH, 2013
10/15/12

Pulp Ark 2013, the Official New Pulp Creators’ Conference/Convention in its third year announced today its Three Guests of Honor for the Third year of the convention to be held in Springdale, AR.

“Pulp,” Tommy Hancock, Pulp Ark Organizer and Partner in Pro Se Productions, the company sponsoring Pulp Ark, “is a marvelous, massively diverse field…a style that has transcended its origins in the early 20th Century in cheaply printed magazines and found its way into every medium available to modern fans.  Classic characters and stories are finding new life with readers and enthusiasts today and new tales centered around original characters are exploding onto the scene as well.  This year, Pulp Ark 2013 will celebrate the variety that is Pulp in many ways.   Our Three Guests of Honor most definitely reflect both the differences and the common denominators in Pulp, both classic and new, both originals of today and inspirations of yesteryear.   I am extremely proud to announce that Joe Devito, Martin Powell, and Paul Bishop will be the Guests of Honor for Pulp Ark 2013 this year!”



Martin Powell has been a professional writer since 1986. He received early critical praise with the Eisner Award nominated Sherlock Holmes/Count Dracula graphic novel, Scarlet in Gaslight, which has remained in print for more than twenty-five years.


Powell has since written hundreds of stories in numerous genres, including mystery, science fiction, horror, and humor, and has been published by Disney, Marvel, DC, Moonstone, Wild Cat Books, and Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics, among others, working with such popular characters as Superman, Batman, Tarzan, Lee Falk’s The Phantom, Frankenstein, The Spider, Kolchak the Night Stalker, The Avenger, and more.

He also a prolific author of many acclaimed children’s books, and is the creator of The Halloween Legion. His The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan won the coveted Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Best Graphic Novel of 2010.


Martin lives in Saint Paul, MN.


Joe DeVito was born on March 16, 1957 in New York City. He graduated with honors from Parsons School of Design in 1981 and studied at the Art Students League in New York City.


Over the years DeVito has painted many of the most recognizable Pop Culture and Pulp icons, including King Kong, Tarzan, Doc Savage, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Newman and various characters in World of Warcraft, with a decided emphasis in his illustration on dinosaurs, Action Adventure, SF and Fantasy. He has illustrated hundreds of book and magazine covers, painted several notable posters and numerous trading cards for the major comic book and gaming houses, and created concept and character design for the film and television industries.

In 3D, DeVito sculpted the official 100th Anniversary statue of Tarzan of the Apes for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate, The Cooper Kong for the Merian C. Cooper Estate, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman for Chronicle Book’s Masterpiece Editions, several other notable Pop and Pulp characters. Additional sculpting work ranges from scientifically accurate dinosaurs, a multitude of collectibles for the Bradford Exchange in a variety of genres, to larger-than-life statues and the award trophy for the influential art annual SPECTRUM.

An avid writer, Joe is also the co-author (with Brad Strickland) of two novels, which he illustrated as well. The first, KONG: King of Skull Island (DH Press) was published in  2004. The second book, Merian C. Cooper’s KING KONG, was published by St. Martin’s Griffin, in 2005. He has also contributed many essays and articles to such collected works as Kong Unbound: The Cultural Impact, Pop Mythos, and Scientific Plausibility of a Cinematic Legend and Do Androids Artists Paint In Oils When They Dream?in Pixel or Paint: The Digital Divide In Illustration Art.


2012 saw the release of Kindle and iBook versions of KONG: King of Skull Island that were accompanied by Part 1 of a cutting edge app version of the book. With the property in full development as a motion picture, other plans include the release of Part 2 of the interactive Kong book app, the beginning of a KONG: King of Skull Island YA series and Kong collectibles for the Cooper Estate.


Presently DeVito is painting covers for The All NewWild Adventures of Doc Savage (written by Will Murray), while also finishing the screenplay and developing imagery for his newest creation, a faction world of truly epic proportions tentatively titled The Primordials.


FB: Joe DeVito-DeVito Artworks


Paul Bishop is a thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department whose career included a three year tour as an interrogator with his department’s Anti-Terrorist Division and over twenty-five years’ experience in the investigation of sex crimes. For the past eight years, his various Special Assaults Units have consistently produced the highest number of detective initiated arrests and highest crime clearance rate in the city. Twice honored as Detective of the Year, Paul also received the Quality and Productivity Commission Award from the City of Los Angeles.

As a nationally recognized interrogator, Paul co-starred with his professional partner, bestselling author and prosecutor, Mary Hanlon Stone, as the regular interrogators and driving force behind the ABC reality show Take The Money And Run from producer Jerry Bruckheimer.  Based on his expertise in the area of deception detection, Paul continues to work privately conducting interview and interrogation seminars for law enforcement agencies, military entities, and human resource organizations.

   
Paul has had twelve novels published, including Hot Pursuit, Deep Water, Penalty Shot, Suspicious Minds, the short story collection Running Wylde, and five novels in his L.A.P.D. Detective Fey Croaker series – Croaker: Kill Me Again, Croaker: Grave Sins, Croaker: Tequila Mockingbird, Croaker: Chalk Whispers, and Croaker: Pattern of Behavior.  All his novels have recently been released in e-book format. 

Paul has also written feature film scripts and numerous episodic scripts for television, including such shows as Diagnosis: Murder, LA Dragnet, The New Detectives, and Navy Seals: The Untold Stories. 

Paul is currently writing and editing the monthly Fight Card series, 25,000 word e-novels, designed to be read in one or two sittings, inspired by the fight pulps of the ’30s and ’40s – such as Fight Stories Magazine – and Robert E. Howard’s two-fisted boxing tales featuring Sailor Steve Costigan.  His latest entry, Fight Card: Swamp Walloper (written as Jack Tunney) will premiere at the 2013 Pulp Ark convention.   He can be found blogging at www.bishsbeat.blogspot.com  and followed via twitter@bishsbeat.  A full list of his novels  is available at http://tinyurl.com/7x8xo5k



“These three,” Hancock stated, “represent a huge variety within Pulp today, but they all also show the commonalities of what Pulp is.  And as far as mediums, everything from books to comics to television to sculpture to painting and more is represented by these fantastic Guests.   It’s a privilege for Pulp Ark to have them as its centerpiece in 2013.”

Pulp Ark is a Writer’s Conference/Convention focused on ‘Pulp’ fiction.  Although defined narrowly by many, Pulp Ark promotes Pulp Fiction as multi genre multi medium storytelling that typically involves action, adventure, larger than life heroes and villains, and a strong focus on both plot and characterization.  “Pulp,” Hancock said, “began as a medium in which many great writers told a lot of wonderful stories and readers could pick ’em up a 100 or more pages at a time for a dime.  Although it’s no longer that necessarily, the sensibilities of Pulp storytelling, the style, the methodology, all the stuff fans have remembered and enjoyed for over 80 years about those kinds of tales, all of that is still around and available from all sorts of authors, artists, performers and companies.  That is what Pulp Ark is all about.”

Pulp Ark 2013 will be held in Springdale, Arkansas April 26-28, 2013 at the Holiday Inn Springdale Hotel and Convention Center in Springdale, Arkansas, 1500 South 48th Street, phone number- 1-479-751-8300.  For a peek at the venue, click HERE!  

pupark20137-2566867


PULP ARK 2013-Springdale, Arkansas!  For further information, go to www.prosepulp.com or contact Hancock at 870-834-4022 and/or proseproductions@earthlink.net.  Expect more Pulp Ark Announcements VERY SOON!

ITS CHRISTMAS TIME AND DEALS APLENTY AT RADIO ARCHIVES!

  • News
  • December 2, 2011

RadioArchives.com Newsletter

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December 2, 2011
oldtimeradio-8418703   NEW Radio Set: Fibber McGee and Molly – The Lost Episodes, Volume 13

The success of “Fibber McGee and Molly” as a legendary radio program can be attributed to many factors. The best comedy writing perhaps for any radio program in history. Memorable, lovable characters. The jokes and banter that people all across the country tuned in for every week. The primary reason, though, that this fantastically funny program still endures today, endearing itself to new fans all the time rests solely with the actors behind the title characters. The Real ‘Fibber McGee and Molly’. Jim and Marian Jordan.
 
Married just five days before Jim was drafted into World War I, both Jim and Marian Jordan had sought to work as performers their entire lives. Upon Jim’s return home, the Jordans entered into show business with a formula that would work for them their entire career. They did it together.
 
Working from hand to mouth for years, the break came for the couple in 1924 when on a bet they went to a Chicago radio station to sing better than a singer they’d heard on the radio and left that station with their first radio job. That spark led eventually to the Jordans leaving their mark on history as the couple in Wistful Vista that everybody wanted to visit. “Fibber McGee and Molly’ kept audiences in stitches for 24 years. By 1943, the Jordans had a number one show and one that still today resonates with people of all ages even today.
 
‘Fibber McGee and Molly’ fans now have the chance to hear many classic episodes of their later fifteen-minute daily series for NBC as Radio Archives has been releasing them in a series of popular compact disc collections – hilarious adventures that literally haven’t been heard since they were first aired in the mid-1950s. Featuring the Jordans, along with a cast of great characters, the newly-discovered shows in these collections are just as warm and entertaining today as they were more than fifty years ago.
 
Guaranteed to cause giggles and guffaws, “Fibber McGee and Molly: The Lost Episodes, Volume 13” is now available from Radio Archives! In this five hour collection set, priced at just $14.98 on CD and $9.98 for Digital Download, you’ll enjoy twenty full-length broadcasts, transferred from the original NBC master recordings and fully restored for sparkling audio fidelity.

 
 

 
A high riding western hero! A Great Price! And It Can Be Yours for The Holidays From Radio Archives! Radio Archives has a special offer on the Cisco Kid, Volume 1 featuring the Robin Hood of the Old West as portrayed by Jack Mather! Thrill to the adventures of Cisco and Pancho in 10 hours of wonderfully restored audio for only 99 Cents with a $35.00 Order!

That’s right, classic family western audio entertainment, 10 CDs worth of Heroes, Villains, and wonderful tales to share and yours this Holiday Season for 99 cents with an order of $35.00 or more! Just add “The Cisco Kid, Volume 1” to your shopping cart, and then add $35.00 or more worth of additional merchandise to your cart as well. Before checking out, be sure to enter the coupon code BONUS to get the Cisco Kid set for just 99 Cents.

The Cisco Kid Volume 1 for .99 cents! Just one of many Gifts from Radio Archives to you this Christmas!

 
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And if that’s not enough to prove it’s Christmas, check out these even more fantastic deals inside the Treasure Chest.
 
King Kong – The Classic Film, Hollywood’s very own Beauty and the Beast tale on 1 DVD – Normally $12.98 now $5.19 – 60% off!
 
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Robots and Heroes all on 1 DVD. Normally $9.98 now $3.99 – unbelievably discounted 60%!
 

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Find something for everyone on your Christmas List inside The Treasure Chest This Christmas! The Treasure Chest overflows at Christmastime!
 

 
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Wanting to share the joy of Old Time Radio with those on your Christmas List this year? Ready to give the best audio collections of Classic Drama, Mystery, Comedy and More to Those You Love? Then take a look at some of the wonderful gift ideas Radio Archives has to offer you!
 

A landmark show that left a mark on all of entertainment, Dragnet, Volume 1 features episodes from this classic police procedural’s first season! Radio and television pioneer Jack Webb is dead on as deadpan Joe Friday doing his job day in and day out for the Los Angeles Police Department. Backed up by his partner Ben Romero portrayed by radio great Barton Yarbrough, Friday carries listeners through every step of every case, making even the mundane parts of the job edge-of-your-seat exciting. Thrill to ten hours of Dragnet, Volume 1 available today on CD for $29.98 or digital download for $19.98!

 

The Biggest Stars of Radio and Hollywood’s Golden Age can be found today on The Big Show, Volume 1! “The Big Show” presented a weekly mixture of comedy, drama and music from such guest stars as Jimmy Durante, Danny Thomas, Groucho Marx, Bob Hope, Rudy Vallee, Judy Garland and Fred Allen! Hosted by celebrated actress Tallulah Bankhead, ‘The Big Show’ was one of the most expensive, extravagant and excellent radio productions of its day. And all the glamour, fun, and music can be yours in The Big Show, Volume 1, ten CDs for $29.98 or via Digital Download for $19.98!

 

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Very few shows had the impact on America in Radio’s Golden age that Amos ‘n’ Andy had. The brainchild of Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden, Amos ‘n’ Andy, Volume 1 features the iconic lead characters and the comedy stylings that stopped most activity in every home, business, and town across the United States when the show was on. Laugh out loud as Amos ‘n’ Andy geehaw and joke with The Kingfish himself, his witty wife Sapphire, and all the members of the Mystic Knights of the Sea! Amos ‘n’ Andy, Volume 1 is classic Radio at its best and an important part of America’s past! Available for $29.98 on CD or Digital Download for $19.98!
 
These and other fantastic and fascinating Audio Gift Ideas are waiting to be wrapped up for those special people on your list or for You yourself! All here for you this Holiday Season from Radio Archives!

 
Merry Christmas from Radio Archives!

 
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The first audiobook of Will Murray’s monumental Doc Savage adventure The Jade Ogre may be a little too big for all but the largest stocking. But this massive audiobook from RadioArchives.com is sure to delight fans of audio adventure this holiday season.
 
“In this tale of mistaken identity, Oriental mysticism, and high adventure, Doc faces one of his most formidable and mysterious foes,” says Producer/Director Roger Rittner. “More than 11 hours in length, this tale never flags in excitement, mystery, and thrills.”
 
Based on an outline by Lester Dent, The Jade Ogre tells the story of one of Doc Savage’s most exciting and exotic adventures. Accompanied by his aides Monk Mayfair and Ham Brooks, his cousin Pat Savage, and a cast of unique characters, Doc races to unlock the secret of the Jade Ogre, a fantastic Oriental villain who unleashes death in the form of disembodied flying arms, capable of disintegrating its victims in a flash of fire. But the lethal flying arms are merely the cover for a more deadly menace – the mysterious Jade Fever, which strikes down its victims with a deadly virus that turns its victims green as jade.
 
“The Jade Ogre is my greatest pulp epic,” author Will Murray says in his liner notes. “It’s a wild quest into the darkest heart of Asia to track a malevolent monster.”
 
Narrator Michael McConnohie essays every role in the story with unerring vocal impressions that give life to Murray’s distinctive characters.
 
In addition to the 36-chapter story, the 12-CD set includes two bonus audio features: a continuation of Will Murray’s discussion of the creation of Doc Savage, and his memory of creating The Jade Ogre from Lester Dent’s notes, plus how Pat Savage has contributed to the Doc Savage canon.
 

 
The Jade Ogre is available now from RadioArchives.com at $37.98 for the deluxe 12-CD set, or $25.98 for instant digital download.
 
 

For over-the-top thrills, you can’t beat Prince of the Red Looters, the first audiobook from RadioArchives.com featuring the pulp hero, The Spider.
 
Eric Troup tells of his experience listening to Prince of the Red Looters:
 
“I wasn’t sure what to expect. I love the Spider, and I loved what I’d heard from ‘Python Isle’, so I was optimistic. However, I was fully unprepared for the amazing, often visceral, experience I had before me.
 
“The narration sweeps you along in an adrenaline-filled, nonstop wave of action and suspense that simply does not let up until the end of the book. The sound effects made the production even more immersive, making me feel like I was watching a narrated movie. And the music! It put the final touch on my ‘movie-going’ experience.
 
“This story has it all – sword fights, escapes, insurmountable odds, nail-biting suspense, unexpected twists, a superb villain, and so much more.
 
“I offer up a hearty thank-you to everyone involved, and I look forward to enjoying more productions of this caliber in the future.”
 
Prince of the Red Looters is available in a 6-CD deluxe set at just $19.98, or as an instant digital download at just $14.98.
 
 

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In Booklist, the 100-year-old journal of the American Library Association, Kaite Mediatore Stover says that Python Isle, the first Doc Savage audiobook from Radio Archives.com,”takes listeners on a breathless, roller-coaster adventure ride.”
 
Stover says it “sounds like a throwback to spine-tingling radio serials in which families listened to stories while glued to the radio console.
 
“McConnohie’s deep, rich tones and changing vocal patterns may fool some listeners into thinking this is a multicast performance,” Stover goes on, “but the fantastic accents and voices come from McConnohie alone. His masterful pacing keeps the tension and suspense tighter than a python’s grip, and a superb blend of sound effects and music enhance the mood, lending the production a cinematic feel.”
 
 

The full-cast NPR series The Adventures of Doc Savage. With special adaptations of “Fear Cay” and “The Thousand-Headed Man” by Roger Rittner and Will Murray, a full cast of voice actors, extensive sound effects, and period music score, The Adventures of Doc Savage is non-stop action in 13 exciting installments.
 
A super-criminal emerges in White Eyes, the second Doc Savage audiobook from RadioArchives.com. From his skyscraper headquarters high above the streets of New York City to the sugarcane fields of Cuba, Doc Savage races to crush gangland’s latest uncrowned king! White Eyes features dramatic narration by Richard Epcar, cover art by Joe DeVito, plus fantastic extras!
 

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The first Black Bat audiobook, Brand of the Black Bat, is a stirring story of crime and corruption, and of a courageous avenger determined to track down the vicious gangster who robbed him of his brilliant career, all the while thwarting Captain MacGrath of the N.Y.P.D., who suspects Quinn and the Black Bat are one and the same. Michael McConnohie reads this fantastic tale.
 
RadioArchives.com resurrects the wild and wonderful Doctor Death, one of the rare unabashedly supernatural pulp series. Equal parts Doctor Frankenstein and Albert Einstein, with a dash of Fu Manchu, Doctor Death’s supreme goal in life was to crush civilization. His first fatal foray into reversing mankind’s fortunes, 12 Must Die, is now available in an audiobook read by the talented Joey D’Auria.
 

 
 
As you’re hustling to finish your Christmas shopping, don’t you want to get those on your list, something special? Like Larger than Life Heroes? Two-fisted tales of intrigue, mystery, and more action than you can shake a boxing glove at? Mad Villains bent on world domination or destruction with insane, almost mystical means? You can wrap all of that up in a box and put a pretty bow on top right here at The Pulp Book Store!

 
Not sure which fantastic hero to introduce yourself or those on your list to? Want to get a feel for the Characters that fight, tumble, run, and save the day in the Pulp Book Store? Then let’s take a look at three of the best known, true iconic Pulp Characters.
 
Clearly at the pinnacle of Pulp stands The Man of Bronze himself, Doc Savage. Largely the product of the immensely powerful imagination of author Lester Dent, Doc Savage has been the template for a multitude of heroes, homages, and pastiches since his debut in the Pulps in the 1930s. A genius and near the height of human physical perfection, Doc embodies the essence of justice and righting wrongs, a man of pure intellect as well as brawn working for a pure purpose from a pure heart. Facing some of the greatest evils ever conceived by any author, Doc thinks, works, invents, and often fights his way through to victory.
 
One of the best loved aspects of the Doc Savage stories, however, is not the man himself. Doc surrounds himself with a team of aides, confidantes known as ‘The Fabulous Five.’ Each of these men were experts in their own field and Dent used them in a variety of ways, including to add vibrant color to his tales and often as that undercurrent of comedy in the midst of blazing adventure. The tirades and sarcastic banter between Monk Mayfair and Ham Brooks add humor, but also humanity to characters who work with a man who seems almost more than human.
 
You can find Doc Savage tales, both Classic and New from Several of the Publishers in the Pulp Book Store, such as:
Nostalgia Ventures – Doc Savage, Volume 1 (Reprint) $12.95
Altus Press – The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage – The Desert Demons (New) $24.95
Radio Archives -The Adventures of Doc Savage (8 Hours on CD) $24.98
Moonstone Books – Doc Savage the Lost Radio Scripts of Lester Dent $22.95
 
Mentioned often in the same breath as Doc when discussing Pulp Icons is the legendary vigilante The Shadow. Originally a creepy voice host on an old time radio program, the two-gunned Hero of the Night that we all know as The Shadow was the brainchild of Walter Gibson. Although a Crusader for Justice, The Shadow’s approach was much more in the Shoot-First-Ask-Questions-Later realm. Using the cowardice and fear present in all criminals, The Shadow utilized great physical prowess as well as abilities he’d learned in the past, including his ability to ‘cloud men’s minds’ to insure Justice was done on the dark streets of the City, even the World.
 
The Shadow also made use of a team of operatives, this one a covert group of people who owed The Shadow for their lives in some way or another. Included amongst this clandestine crew of conspirators are such people as Burbank, the central communications link for The Shadow’s organization; Moe Shrevnitz, a Cab Driver and the Shadow’s wheelman; Joe Cardona, Policeman; Harry Vincent, one of the Shadow’s oldest allies; Cliff Marsland, the Shadow’s mole into the underworld; and many more!
 
If you like your Heroes dark, your action intense, and your villains mad, then The Shadow is just the Gift for you this holiday season! Check out these volumes of Shadow Adventures in The Pulp Book Store!
Nostalgic Ventures – The Shadow, Volume 5 (Reprint) $12.95
Sanctum Press – The Shadow, Volume 38 (Reprint) $14.95
Nostalgic Ventures – The Shadow, Volume 19 (Reprint) $12.95
Sanctum Press – The Shadow, Volume 55 (Reprint) $14.95
 
A Hero who walks the line between Paragon and Psychopath also shot his way through the Pulps with a Vengeance and is still alive and dealing death to wrongdoers today! Norvell W. Page’s The Spider is considered one of the most unique Heroes in Pulp Fiction, primarily because of his tactics and the question of his own sanity. Actually Richard Wentworth, millionaire, The Spider wrought violent justice on any evil that threatened his precious city! With blazing .45’s clenched in his hands and a horrifying fright mask over his face, The Spider made the city streets safe for its citizens by leaving corpses by the dozens littering the curbs!
 
Assisted by the lovely Nita van Sloan, who isn’t afraid to put on the outfit and play the Spider herself as well as loyal right hand man Ronald Jackson and Ram Singh, Wentworth’s Sikh bodyguard, The Spider does whatever is necessary to make sure New York City is safe! These stories reverberate with wonderfully wild characters, over the top plots, and more gunshots than one can count! Criminals beware! Evil take note! The Spider will make sure Good and Justice Prevail! At All Costs!
 
Find all the pulse pounding Spider Adventures your heart can handle for the Holidays from these Publishers in the Pulp Book Store. Stories like:
Girasol Collectables – The Spider, Volume 1 (Reprint) $14.95
Moonstone Books-The Spider Chronicles (New) $16.95
Radio Archives – The Spider: Prince of the Red Looters, Audio Book $19.98
Girasol Collectables – The Spider Issue 3 October 1933 (Pulp Replica) $35.00
 
The only Place to go to find Pulpy Presents this Christmas! Get all this and more at The Pulp Book Store!
 

 

The Man of Bronze battles the supernatural in classic pulp thrillers by Lester Dent writing as “Kenneth Robeson.” First, Doc Savage follows his stolen dirigible to a magic island and discovers the lost city of Ost, in an expanded novel with never-before-published text from Lester Dent’s original manuscript. Then, Renny Renwick awakens in the body of a fugitive gangster after encountering a strange impish man. What is the bizarre connection between the One-Eyed Mystic, a stolen military secret and a Nazi plot? This classic pulp reprint features the original color pulp covers by Robert G. Harris and Modest Stein, Paul Orban’s classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of eight Doc Savage novels.
 
The Shadow’s true identity takes center stage in two classic pulp novels that inspired the classic 1940 Shadow movie serial. First, explorer Kent Allard is invited to join The Green Hoods, a hooded secret society whose true purpose is an enigma. Then, airplanes carrying wealthy passengers disappear over the Rockies, setting The Shadow on the trail of the criminal mastermind called Silver Skull. PLUS “Prelude to Terror,” a 1939 radio classic. This instant collector’s item showcases both classic pulp covers by George Rozen, the original interior illustrations by Edd Cartier and commentary by popular-culture historians Ed Hulse and Will Murray.
 

 
 
Spicy Adventure Stories #6 June 1935
Spicy Detective Stories #22 February 1936
The Spider #74 November 1939
The Spider #75 December 1939
Weird Tales #96 December 1931
 

 
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Review of “Lingo” from The Shadow, Volume 9

By John Olsen

“Lingo” was published in the April 1, 1935 issue of The Shadow Magazine. Currently, the head of all gangdom is Rook Hollister. But the underworld is in turmoil. Lately, his every efforts have been thwarted by forces of the law. Planned crimes are being broken up in the act; henchmen are either captured or killed by the police. And this continual failure of leadership has Rook Hollister’s lieutenants preparing for a coup. Yes, Rook’s on the way out. He’s scheduled for “the bump.” (Meaning, they are going to bump him off.)
 
Rook Hollister, kingpin of the underworld, decides to escape the wrath of his underlings by faking his own death. Sliding into place as the new boss of the underworld is Lingo Queed. Lingo can speak Greek, Italian and Chinese. And probably others that aren’t mentioned. He claims credit for the killing of Rook Hollister, and takes over the reins of leadership. A new wave of crime is planned. It will take The Shadow to thwart those plans! It will take The Shadow to defeat Lingo Queed. And it will take The Shadow to reveal the hiding place of Rook Hollister and bring him to final justice.

 
The Shadow makes effective use of all of his aides in this story. Appearing are Clyde Burke, enterprising reporter on the staff of the Classic, Harry Vincent, the clean-cut chap who has long served The Shadow, Moe Shrevnitz, shrewd-faced cab driver whose taxi is actually owned by The Shadow, Cliff Marsland, alleged member of the underworld who is actually in The Shadow’s employ, Hawkeye, the hunchy little trailer, Jericho, one of The Shadow’s lesser agents who gets to play bodyguard for Lingo Queed, Burbank, vital communications man for The Shadow and Rutledge Mann, investment broker and contact man for The Shadow’s organization. Representing the forces of law and order are acting inspector Joe Cardona and Deputy Police Commissioner Wainwright Barth.
 
The Shadow’s famous girasol ring, the purplish, translucent gem that glows from The Shadow’s third finger, appears in this story. In this story, it is worn only by The Shadow and is used as a means of identification. In later years, the ring was worn openly when disguised as Lamont Cranston (who, by the way, makes no appearance, here).
 
Lingo’s a real classic and a thrilling Shadow mystery novel. It can be found in The Shadow, Volume 9 available from Radio Archives for $12.95!

 

Comments From Our Customers!
 
Gene Schneider:

Recently I found an offering of The Shadow that I’ve had for some time. Their re-mastering, etc. was quite bad. It can be a real shocker to play your work and compare it to other works. You have No peer in this business. Absolutely none! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 
Dominick Cancilla:
I’ve listened to your first two Doc Savage audiobooks and just finished your first Spider tale. I want to complement you on the quality of these productions. They are entertaining and engaging without being overproduced, and the voice talent, sound effects, and music are all top notch. As soon as I finish this e-mail, I will be ordering Black Bat, Doctor Death, and the new Doc Savage. Keep ’em coming!

 

Larry Black:

Thanks a million for the super deals and the excellent quality of your product! I look forward to hours of listening pleasure and to many more years of a continuing GREAT relationship.

 
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!
 
The products you’ve read about in this newsletter are just a small fraction of what you’ll find waiting for you at RadioArchives.com. Whether it’s the sparkling audio fidelity of our classic radio collections, the excitement of our new line of audiobooks, or the timeless novels of the pulp heroes, you’ll find hundreds of intriguing items at RadioArchives.com.
 
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, or if this newsletter has been sent to you in error, please reply to this e-mail with the subject line UNSUBSCRIBE and your name will immediately be removed from our mailing list.
 

The Posthumous Persistence of George E. Turner, by Michael H. Price

  • News
  • December 16, 2007

George E. Turner is a familiar name among serious movie buffs – a pivotal figure in the realm of film scholarship, as influential these many years after his death as he was during a lengthy prime of productivity. George’s authorship alone of a book called The Making of King Kong (and known in its newer editions as Spawn of Skull Island) would be sufficient to cinch that credential.

But add to that George’s hitch during the 1980s and ’90s as editor of The American Cinematographer magazine and resident historian of the American Society of Cinematographers, and you come up with a pop-cultural impact of formidable staying power, beyond the reach of trendy distractions.

Where George preferred to limit his interests to the prehistory of filmmaking and the first couple of generations of Old Hollywood, he nonetheless kept a hand in current developments: His last job in a seven-year span of purported retirement was that of storyboard artist and second-unit director on the hit network teleseries Friends. And as a fan, he was as fluent in the continuing story-lines of The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer as he was in the history of RKO-Radio Pictures or the careers of Boris Karloff, Claude Rains, Tod Browning and Val Lewton.

The Friends storyboarder hitch is significant: Even those who are most familiar with George Turner’s film scholarship – for example, a chronic-to-acute genre-history series that he and I launched in 1979 with a book called Forgotten Horrors – scarcely know of his parallel career as a commercial artist and gallery painter, a comics artist and newspaper illustrator, and overall an accomplished talent in practically any medium one might care to mention. His higher degrees, after all, were in commercial illustration (from the American Academy of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago), and before he re-invented his career in Hollywood during 1978-80 he had spent some 27 years as the editorial art director of a daily newspaper in Northwest Texas. (more…)

MICHAEL H. PRICE: Amazing Colossal Sculptures

price-brown-100-3053862Last week’s dispatch from this quarter drew some parallels between cartooning and Fine Artsy facial studies, as provoked by an exhibition called The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso, at the Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. A companion opener at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth has less of an academic mouthful of a title – Ron Mueck, plain and simple – but digs comparably deep into the function of portraiture during Times of Anxiety (which is to say, all times) by concentrating upon the assembled work of one present-day artist. Namely, Ron Mueck, Muppeteer-turned-monumental sculptor.

So I’ll be expecting my Hearty Handshake any day now from the Greater (than what?) Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, on account of doing my bit for provincial tourism and the hometown’s arts-and-farces scene. These exhibitions, of course, are anything but provinciable.

Mueck will require little introduction, although some of his now-cryptic, now-blatant clay-into-silicone signature-pieces are more widely recognized than his name. The Untitled (Seated Woman), a smaller-than-real piece of unnervingly lifelike resonance, has been an object of worldwide fascination since its début in 2002 as a fixture of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Send this one out on institutional loan or place it in temporary storage, and the North Texas enthusiasts will mount a massed protest. Mueck’s namesake exhibit has previously graced the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Canada, in Ottawa. It will remain on view at Fort Worth’s Modern through Oct. 21.

I find that Mueck’s works, though engaging if approached cold and without preamble, make a great deal more sense when regarded in a pop-literary context – all due respect to the stodgier curatorial realm. The tinier human figures might leave the absorbed viewer feeling a great deal like Mr. Swift’s Lem Gulliver, awakening to find himself confronted with motionless Lilliputians. Mueck’s larger-than-life figures reduce the observer, conversely, to the state of the awestruck expeditioners of 1933’s King Kong, edging warily past a fallen Stegosaurus. Mueck sums up his approach with a simple manifesto: “Life-size is ordinary.” Which recalls this echo from Old Hollywood:

“It’s not big enough!” raged the filmmaking artist Merian C. Cooper (1893-1973), on so many occasions that his Hollywood crews learned to anticipate his demands – by thinking in unreal proportions and translating such impressions to the movie screen.

How big? Well, that 1933 accept-no-substitutes original Kong is Cooper’s chief surviving brainchild. (more…)

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