Tagged: review

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

  • News
  • July 11, 2011

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

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

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

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

NEW PULP’S LATEST PULPED! IS LIVE!

  • News
  • June 27, 2011
Mon, 27 June 2011

newpulpseal_copy1-3089412 PULPED! The Official New Pulp Podcast-Episode 2-Chronologies get PULPED!

PULPED! is a Podcast dedicated to the creators and fans of New Pulp! New Pulp, heroic fiction by modern artists written with the sensibility and in the tradition of the Pulp genre! This week, Tommy and Ron take on the hosting duties and visit with Jeff Deischer, Pulp Writer and Chronologist about his latest book! THE WAY THEY WERE contains essays on various and sundry points about Doc Savage, The Avenger, Dracula, Captain Nemo, Gullivar of Mars, and other noted Pulp and literary characters! And if you don’t think this is New Pulp, then listen and learn, children!

Then, New Pulp’s own Diva of Justice, The Pulptress swings in with a review of CROSSOVERS by Win Scott Eckert, Noted Pulp Author and Chronologist! Tune in, listen, and be sure to get PULPED!

PULPED! will post each Monday!

Check out PULPED! and the New Pulp Movement at www.newpulpfiction.com and at the New Pulp forum hosted by Comic Related at http://www.comicrelated.com/forums/ under NEW PULP! Also, like New Pulp on Facebook!

Ron Fortier-www.airship27.com

Tommy Hancock-www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com

Barry Reese-www.barryreese.net

Derrick Ferguson-www.dillon-dlferguson.blogspot.com

Like Barry’s Writer Page, Tommy’s Writer Page, and Airship 27 on Facebook!

FAMOUS MONSTERS EDITOR INTERVIEWED BY ALL PULP!

  • News
  • June 27, 2011

Jessie Lilley has been publishing and editing small press magazines for 20+ years. She is the original publisher of the much acclaimed Scarlet Street: The Magazine of Mystery and Horror, Worldly Remains: A Pop Culture Review and is currently Editor-in-Chief of Mondo Cult Magazine and MondoCult.com as well as Editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland. Jessie is only the fourth editor of FM since it first published back in 1958. Her freelance work has appeared in the pages of Los Angeles’ Valley Scene Magazine and Perth, Australia’s Messenger along with a host of small press publications and websites related to horror films and music.

Jessie also edits biographies, including the memoir GLORIA by Bond-girl Gloria Hendry; an in-depth and candid look at the life of an African-American actress coming up in the extraordinary time known simply as ‘The 60s”. It is currently available at amazon.com. Another project which was completed in the fall of 2009 is the biography of character actor Paul Reed, Sr. by his son Paul, Jr. A delightful remembrance by a loving son and a retelling of the stories his father told him about making a mark in “the business” in early 20th century New York City. Entitled You Grew Up, the book is available from Bear Manor Media and amazon.com. Jessie is currently editing a series of children’s books called Rowdy and Me. The first in the series, Rowdy Comes Home, is due to hit bookstores later this year.

Jessie lives in Santa Cruz County, CA at the top of a hill at the end of the road with her husband, musician David Paul Campbell, four sleek, rescued cats and various, visiting doggies.

AP:  Jessie, first we’d like to welcome you to ALL PULP!  Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to visit.  Before we get into specifics, can you share a bit about yourself, your background and such?

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 JL:  it’s my pleasure to talk with you and thanks so much for including me in All Pulp with the likes of such luminaries as Martin Powell. I’m flattered. There really isn’t much to tell. I was brought into this business via the back door, kicking and screaming all the way. Richard Valley, who had dragged me down the rabbit hole with him several times in our 20 year friendship, did it to me again with Scarlet Street. From there, things seemed to just move along to the coveted chair that I hold today. Being Editor of Famous Monsters is truly an unbelievable opportunity for me. Philip Kim flatters me with the position which I’ve held for over a year now.



 AP: You’ve been involved in the Horror arena for some time, including working with such luminaries in the horror magazine field as Forrest J.  Ackerman.  Has the field of horror changed dramatically since you became a part of it, particularly in the magazine arena?  If so, how?


 JL: You know, Forry had names for everyone. Brad Linaweaver was always “pal” and I was Wonder Woman. I was very lucky to have known the man and will always be grateful for the time I was able to spend with him. God, how that man loved his music. A love of all kinds of music was something he and I shared. Between us, we knew more lyrics than my husband. (Laughs) And that’s saying something! But you asked if the horror field has changed since I got into it in 1990. It certainly has. For one thing, the state of the US and world economy has removed 99% of the disposable income folks use to enjoy. These days if you’re making $75K a year, you’re just scraping by so those of us who make a lot less than that are just barely off the streets. The internet seems to have come along at just the right time for the news hungry populace that doesn’t have the extra change for a daily paper, let alone a monthly magazine at anywhere from $6 to $12 a pop. And those lower prices are amazing. I know what it costs to get one of these things printed and as I refuse to print overseas, it costs even more. Advertising has become extremely important to print mags at this point, even more than in decades past. Without the advertising income, a magazine like FM would be in a whole lot of trouble. 

Jessie with Forrest Ackerman

 And of course, the second thing that’s changed regarding the magazine arena is the aforementioned internet. There are countless web-only zines out there spreading the word and most any print mag worth its salt has a website to go with it as well as a forum where, hopefully, the magazine’s readers come to chat about the articles they’ve read and what they’d like to read about in the future.



 That part hasn’t changed. We still want to know what the reader wants information on so we can continue to have those people as readers.


 AP:  Why is horror a popular genre?  More so than most of the others, Horror seems to have a very active, committed community following and supporting it.  Why is that?



 JL: Because it’s fun. Because it’s easier to take than the evening news. Because it brings back memories of our youth, when times were better (they tell me) and life was simpler (they continue to tell me – it wasn’t you know, it just seemed that way because we were kids) and the world was new and fun. Horror helps keep the world fun. In the world we know today, that counts for a whole lot.


AP: Has the fact you’re a woman working in the Horror field been a benefit or hindrance, or maybe even both, in any way?   Do you feel like women contribute something different within Horror that men do and if so, what?


 JL: I get that question a lot and I’ve answered it a lot, but am happy to reiterate my thoughts on the matter for your readership. It’s amazingly important that people get all sides of this story. I seem to be alone in my thoughts here. There are a lot of women who really don’t like what I have to say so brace yourselves. This question always seems to generate a lot of letters.


 I wish to start by saying that my being a woman – and at the time I started in this business a rather comely wench at that (I’m old and fat now) – was never a problem for me.  God knows women have been in publishing for decades and while some may say that what I did in 1990 with Scarlet Street was no big deal because of the likes of Helen Gurley Brown (can’t imagine why they’d lump me into that august company, but there it is), the fact is that at the time I was the only female publisher in the horror market. That didn’t last long but for a short while that’s the way it was. So from the git go, my being a woman was a benefit because it was new. I had a different outlook than the boys did and Richard Valley, as editor, had a far different outlook than the other boys did. By 1990 when we put out issue 1, we were all so tired of the same writers writing the same stuff and commenting about each others’ work that we thought it might be time to shake things up a bit with some different viewpoints. We succeeded in that and after I left SS, Richard continued to shake things up in his own inimitable style. He’s gone now, but the legacy he left changed horror publishing forever and I’m proud to have been associated with that project and with him.


As to the second part of your question – and this is where the letters come from – may I say the answer is an emphatic yes. It’s called the mother instinct. Whether a woman has given birth, adopted or never had children, there is something inherent in the female of the species that nurtures. Men are not natural caregivers. Women are. Also, when it comes to beating on male monsters, women are better at it because it’s part of their natural defense mechanism. It’s the lesson life has taught many of us. Very few people out there are really interested in anyone but themselves. There are both men and women in this world that are out for whatever they can get. Being the “weaker” of the species – in theory, if not in fact – women are aware that men (and women too, let’s be fair here) will take any advantage they can and as a result, while a man meeting a man will assume an attitude of bonhomme, a woman’s defenses will always be up. A man can be blindsided by another man’s evil intent but a woman has a better chance of being prepared out of hand.


AP:  Horror films can be divided into many categories, one of those being classic monster movies.  Do you feel like the old Universal monsters still have a strong appeal today and if so, what do you think contributes to that?


 JL: Yes, in fact I know those old films still appeal in the 21st century. I believe they will appeal for decades, if not centuries, to come. Many things contribute to this, I think, and while this is all speculation on my part, it comes from a fairly rich education on the subject. There’s the nostalgia factor of course. When I was a kid, the ‘new stuff’ included the goodies that Roger Corman was putting out, like the Vincent Price Poe films. I saw those at the drive-ins and movie houses. At home though, on TV, I saw the classic horror flicks; those that starred Lugosi, Karloff, Chaney and later, Rathbone and Zucco to name just a few. Wonderful films in black & white, with scripts that were well-written, actors that took the roles seriously and delivered wonderful performances and directors that knew how to scare the pants off an audience – not to mention some really cool make-up.


I’m not the only Monster Kid out here you know. We are legion and many have had kids of their own. The parents still love the old movies and their kids – through the wonder of videotape and now DVD and Blu-Ray – are being exposed to these old favorites along with the new. A large enough percentage of them have fallen in love with the Universal classics and some of those kids – older now and with their own progeny – are showing the films to their kids.


 These films were very well done for the most part and the love of them will never die as long as we have recordings of them to show our children.


AP:   A current project you have in the works is a new take on FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN.  What details can you share about this, including format, creative team, where it will appear, etc.


JL: You know, of all the things I’ve worked on with Phil Kim, this project has to be my favorite. For 20 years or more I’ve simply been gaga for the artwork of Joe Jusko. I’ve had a mad fan crush on the guy just because of the spectacular renditions of the male and female forms divine. And his use of color is so wonderfully vibrant. I’ll never stop being in awe of those who paint. Jusko, Stout, Wrightson…. Can’t name them all here. There’s not enough room! These creatures come off the page at you when they turn their talents to paint and canvas, and you know that one night something is going to lumber off the wall and get you while you’re in bed… when Martin Powell started to lobby for the FMTWM project in one of the Retro issues, I – being a Powell fan – immediately started to lobby for it with Phil for Retro 71. Then Martin says to me, he says, “So Jessie. What do you think about the cover artist? I mean, do you know about Joe Jusko?” I almost died right then and there. What a perfect idea. What a spectacular choice. Oh, man! And Joe said yes. And Phil said yes. And I am one very happy camper. It’s like a dream come true. So, the format will be close to the original filmbooks from Forry’s day and that’s all you’re going to get out of me. I know Phil is hoping to have it for Comic Con, but it’s actual scheduled release is September of 2011. If we can get it done in time for Comic Con, we would be bringing a limited number for sale there. That’s’ the last I heard anyway.


frankensteinmeetsthewolfman1-3209627
AP:  We’ve talked about the appeal of the classic monsters already.  Specifically, though, what about this particular film adaptation do you think speaks to a modern audience?


JL: The fact is, there was no deep meaning in this film; not that I could see at any rate. The film says the same thing today that it said to the audience back then. Here are a couple of our monsters that you liked before. We thought we’d get them together for you and see what happens. Perhaps that statement will be seen as disrespectful by some, but it is the way I see it. FMTWM was discussed in the pages of Famous Monsters back in the day, but it never got a filmbook treatment. It struck us that it oughta have one and so Retro 71 seemed to be the logical place for it.


AP: As an editor, how do you make sure the tension and drama and fear that builds up in a horror movie translates well enough to the page to have similar effects?


JL: As an editor, you get the best writer for the project. When the writer presents the project and himself as the best writer for the job, you really don’t have to do much. Pretty much be sure all the words are spelled properly and that said writer doesn’t ramble off into areas not necessary to the project. I’ll tell you that working with Martin is quite possibly the easiest job I’ve had in 20 years. The fella knows his stuff. I guess that hardest part of the whole thing is figuring out what else goes in this issue with the filmbook.


AP:  Specifically about the creative team behind this project, what do Martin Powell and Joe Jusko bring to the process that makes them the best for the job?


 JL: I think other than what I’ve already stated earlier, they bring the thing back to life through the eyes of the children that they once were. Both of these men were so completely overjoyed to be doing this for Famous Monsters that it was almost laughable. Almost, but not quite – because I knew exactly how they felt. I felt the same way when someone told me that, yeah, I was the editor of Famous Monsters now.

AP:  Are there any projects for the magazine or yourself personally that you can or want to let our readers know about coming up in the near future?



JL: Oh absolutely! My favorite personal project is issue 3 of Mondo Cult, the magazine I edit for Brad Linaweaver. It’s a completely different gig from FM. I’m looking forward to being able to write about music again, and in a publication that is written for adults. FM is written as a strictly family friendly magazine, which is only proper as that’s where it started out and the idea was to bring FM back in the same vein as it always was. Mondo, on the other hand, started out as a magazine of which I am Editor-In-Chief and I don’t censor my writers. I never pretended the thing was for kids so the language you will find in the pages of Mondo is usually a bit more ripe than that which you will find in FM.


This issue of Mondo Cult is going to rock. I’m really excited about it because I’m finally putting my piece on Black Zoo together. I’ve wanted to write about that film for years and now I have my chance. I think I’ve got a little something to discuss about this film that hasn’t been touched on before. It has to do with women again. What a surprise. Ron Garmon is going after DeSade and Medved and Brad Linaweaver is going after the world in general. Paul Gaita is back as Music Editor and all is right with the world. The best thing though, is the cover. It’s by L.J. Dopp but that’s all I’m going to say about it. You’ll just have to be surprised along with everyone else. We’ll have it on the stands by the end of the year.


 AP:  Thank you so much for your time, Jessie!


 JL: As I said before, it’s my pleasure. Thanks again.

NEW PODCAST FOCUSED ON NEW PULP DEBUTS-Go Get PULPED!

  • News
  • June 21, 2011
Press Release-
Four New Pulp creators and proclaimed members of what some are calling The New Pulp Movement, announced today that they have united to present the world with the first official New Pulp Podcast!  PULPED!, a podcast focused on the works and trends that comprise and contribute to works created after the heyday of the Pulps that have the sensibilities of classic Pulp works and yet are new tales, debuted with its first episode on June 20th.
Tommy Hancock, Barry Reese, Derrick Ferguson, and Ron Fortier, all noted pulp authors and personalities within New Pulp, make up the core circle behind PULPED!  Functioning as a rotating circle of hosts, the PULPED! Four will spotlight different creators and New Pulp works each week as well as discussing trends in the sub genre.  There will be a News section of the podcast, but it will be slightly different than traditional newscasts.  Each co-host will bring a topic of New Pulp news to the table and then the assembled hosts will discuss and/or debate it.  Also, PULPED! will be the home of reviews done by THE PULPTRESS, the spokesperson for New Pulp!  Each week, she will deliver a review of current New Pulp books, audio, movies, tv, and other things that qualify as New Pulp.
“New Pulp,” said Tommy Hancock, “is a vibrant, relevant part of the fiction Pulp fans love and enjoy.  Edgy at times, traditional at others, New Pulp shows that the fantastic heroic adventure fiction enjoyed by so many in the early 20th Century is not only still alive and well, but is on the verge of being an important part of literature of the 21st Century.  PULPED!’s focus will not simply be on books, but on all aspects of how New Pulp permeates our society. It will also focus on everyone from major players in publishing and other fields right down to the small press publishers and independent creators that truly are the lifeblood of this movement.”
PULPED! will post a new episode every Monday at http://www.pulped.libsyn.com/ and will be available in the coming weeks via ITunes and other providers.
“Anyone who is a writer, artist, publisher,” Hancock stated, “that wants to be a guest on PULPED!, all they need to do is to send an email to braedenalex@centurytel.net or contact any of the four hosts.”
The first episode is now available at http://www.pulped.libsyn.com/ and its description is as follows-
PULPED! The Official New Pulp Podcast-Episode 1-PULPED! For The First Time!

PULPED! is a Podcast dedicated to the creators and fans of New Pulp!  New Pulp, heroic fiction by modern artists written with the sensibility and in the tradition of the Pulp genre!  Pulp creators Barry Reese, Derrick Ferguson, Ron Fortier, and Tommy Hancock kick off this podcast dedicated to the promotion of The New Pulp Movement by explaining what the podcast is about, defining and discussing New Pulp, and letting know listeners what they’re in store for. 

Then Tommy and Barry take off their hosts hats and climb in the guest spotlight to discuss Barry’s latest book, THE ROOK-VOLUME SIX, published by Hancock through the company he’s a partner in, Pro Se Productions.  The origins of the Rook, Reese’s inspirations, and the logic behind Pro Se acquiring the Rook as well as future plans for the well known character are discussed in length.  Following that, our intrepid co-hosts take on the PULPED! News.  Each week, the co-hosts will bring one topic of New Pulp news to the table and they will discuss, analyze, explore, and debate it!  If you like your fiction heroic, if you seek adventure and action in every word you read, then come on in, take a seat, and get PULPED!

PULPED! will post each Monday!

Check out PULPED! and the New Pulp Movement at www.newpulpfiction.com and at the New Pulp forum hosted by Comic Related at
http://www.comicrelated.com/forums/ under NEW PULP!  Also, like New Pulp on Facebook!

TUNE INTO PULP RETURNS ON A TRIP TO ‘PYTHON ISLE’!

  • News
  • June 21, 2011

First, some housekeeping.  Yes, it’s been a while since I debuted this column and due to a variety of reasons, this is the first one in awhile.  Do not worry, pulpsters, there will be one a week after this ad infinitum!  Audio Pulp is not only an important part of Pulp history that many are not aware of, but its a growing facet of the genre even today, as you will see in this column today and weeks to come.

You’ll notice an addition to our logo.  Yes, its true, Radio Archives has stepped forward, noticing the trend toward Audio Pulp and entered into an arrangement with All Pulp to sponsor this column.  RA produces top of the line audio material bringing old time classic radio of all varieties to a modern audience.  Fantastic sound quality, tremendous effort to not only preserve material, but also provide new and interesting information on material, and awesome packaging make RA’s offerings top notch.  RA as well is readying itself to be one of the leaders in New Audio Pulp with its foray into audiobooks based on Pulp characters starring in new stories, just like the one I’m about to leap into the middle of.  I will continue to cover all aspects of New Pulp Audio, not simply RA’s contributions, but I do want to thank Harlan Zinck and RA for the support and material and willingness to see the importance of this column enough to sponsor it.

PYTHON ISLE-A Doc Savage Audiobook
Written by Will Murray based on a concept By Lester Dent
Narrated by Michael McConnohie
Directed and Produced by Roger Rittner
Published by Radio Archives (www.radioarchives.com)

Not only has Radio Archives decided to move into New Pulp audio, They have done it by taking giant steps.  The first RA offering in their Pulp Audiobook lineup is not only no lightweight when it comes to Pulp, but instead it is probably the top of the heap, the primo of premium pulp.  And, not to telegraph this review or anything, Radio Archives meets that challenge just the way Doc Savage would have.

PYTHON ISLE is an audiobook version of the novel written in 1991 by Will Murray, based on a concept by Lester Dent.  Directed and produced by Roger Rittner for RA and narrated by Michael Mcconnohie.  The story opens with diamond smugglers catching sight of a plane they believe to be the authorities.  Once the plane is downed, the smugglers discover that not only are there two strangely garbed people aboard, but the plane, once damaged, had been patched and repaired with what appears to be soft, pure gold.  One of the plane passengers, a man who can speak English, is desperate to protect a bamboo tube he has and to make contact with only one man-Doc Savage!

Author Will Murray

What ensues from this tense, in your face opening is the stuff pulp dreams are made of.  From fist fights and gun battles to harrowing chases in various locales all the way to a ride and epic conflict aboard a Zeppelin, PYTHON ISLE delivers all the thrills and chills anyone could want.  Add into that that this is a Doc Savage tale complete with Doc’s stoic presence, supreme intelligence, and skills honed finer than any blade as well as three of the five aides in their finest form ever and what you have in PYTHON ISLE is more than a treat, better than a nice surprise.  It is simply New Pulp storytelling at its best. 

Narrator Michael McConnohie

With material like this, one would think that it would be difficult for an audiobook version to add anything at all to it.  Boy, one would be wrong.  PYTHON ISLE from Radio Archives takes this story from the pinnacle it already reaches in prose to an unbelievable high mark as an audiobook.  Michael McConnohie is more than the ‘reader’ or ‘narrator’ of this adventure.  He brings the exact intensity and passion to this story that any well crafted Doc tale would command.  His mastery of his own voice is phenomenal, switching back and forth from Monk’s high pitched affectation to Renny’s thunderous rumblings and then to Bull Pizano’s gravelly retort.  McConnohie makes this feel like a full cast audio drama and that brings the listener completely into the folds of the story.

Director/Producer Roger Rittner

One issue many audiobooks have, and this is in part due to the fact that they are based on written prose, not scripts, is pacing.  At times, audiobooks lag in the middle and whatever gait had been set previously is lost.  This is definitely an issue with Pulp stories due to the naturally frenetic pacing good Pulp should have.  PYTHON ISLE does not fall victim to this.  Due to McConnohie’s voicing as well as Roger Rittner’s directing, this tale moves along at a good clip from beginning to end.  There are points that I, being both an avid Pulp reader and an audio fan, predicted were going to be those spots where things started to plod and slow down, but every single time due to either a musical sting or a change in inflection or even the speed at which the words were delivered, that plodding never came, nothing slowed down.  Rittner produced a fine piece of roller coaster up and down drama, probably the finest I’ve ever listened to.

Could PYTHON ISLE be better?  Usually I would say that any audiobook could be improved by adding voices and sound effects and changing the leopard’s spots, so to speak, from audiobook to full cast drama.  And don’t get me wrong, I would love to hear this story given that treatment.  Having said that, though, I think that in this case, it would not improve what has been done to make it a full cast drama. I feel like that this audiobook would sit on a shelf right alongside the best possible version of this story as a full drama and still hold its own.   The feeling I got from listening to PYTHON ISLE was much akin to what it must have felt like sitting in a darkened theater in the 1940s waiting to see what Captain Marvel or Gene Autry would do in the next chapter of the latest serial.  It was nail biting, cliff hanging, and inspiring.

Radio Archives has announced that this is only the first of their Pulp Audio books and that future volumes would not only include Doc, but cover other characters as well.  If that’s the case, then I’m one heckuva happy Pulpster.

Review: “The Warrior’s Way”

Mixing genres can be fun. Take a traditional western story and set it in outer space. Take a submarine thriller and set it during the Civil War. Transplant a samurai to the western frontier. Should work, right?

The Warrior’s Way, a modestly budgeted flop from last year, is such a collection of joyless clichés that a sure-fire gimmick fails to impress, let alone entertain. The film, coming out this week from 20th Century Home Entertainment, had the makings of something fun or compelling or something instead of arriving limp

Yang (Jang Dong Gun) is an assassin for a clan in blood feud with a rival group. Without expression, he slices and dices his way through the opponents, turning the Japanese roads red with spilled blood. All that now remains is an infant girl and rather than kill her, he takes the babe with him and heads east to America. Somehow, other members of his clan find out this innocent child remains breathing and fear a renewal of the rivalry if she’s allowed to live, so they sail in search of Yang.

The stoic Asian arrives in a late nineteenth century town to seek a friend, who has died. Encouraged by Lynne (Kate Bosworth) to reopen the laundry, she teaches him how to wash clothing and a bond slowly forms. The oddball town has the local drunk with a past, Ron (Geoffrey Rush), and a carnival in residence, its misfit performers led by Eight Ball (Tony Cox). Life settles down and Yang becomes part of the fabric, enjoying the simple things such as planting a garden and delighting in the baby’s development.

Lynne, though, is a tortured soul, having seen her family gunned down by the corrupt ex-Army colonel (Danny Huston) who tried to rape her a decade earlier. When the Colonel returns to town, Lynne tries to exact revenge but is endangered. Yang is then forced to unseal his katana and defend her. The act, though, lets the sword sing, a sound heard leagues away by his clan who come seeking the baby.

After that it gets messily predicable until the end credits. We’ve seen the archetype characters before, all better written and the American cast has certainly done better work in similar roles. Even the wire work felt familiar and uninspiring. There’s little wonder the $42 million film grossed barely over $11 million worldwide. Been there, done that and done far better. This is neither clever or original, funny or a touching homage to what’s come before. This is just a clear misfire from the first frame forward.

I will give the video transfer props for looking great and the score sounds lovely. There are scant extras: a two minute production montage and 12 minutes of mildly interesting deleted scenes.

Review: “Vamped” and “ReVamped”

  • News
  • June 20, 2011

Summer will be here before we know it. That means vacation and beach reading time! And what summer would be complete without a vampire to cozy up with? (We remind you that [[[True Blood]]] season 4 premieres on HBO June 26th.)

This summer, let me recommend that you bring along installments 1 & 2 of Lucienne Diver’s Vamped series (Vamped, [[[ReVamped]]]; installment #3, [[[Fangtastic]]], comes in January, but watch for her urban adult fantasy Bad Blood out June 28th). They’re upper-level Young Adult novels, but I say, why should the kids get all the goodies? And these vamps do not sparkle, as if, thank-you-very-much! These books are the paperback equivalent of umbrella drinks – sweet, tasty, gone before you know it, go to your head, and can’t drink just one!

So, y’see, there’s Gina Covello (Hey! Diver’s Italian from the ‘burbs—she writes what she knows and kicks it—y’got-a-problem-wit-dat?!), the snarky, high school fashionista and, well, she has a bad day and suddenly she is, indeed, a vamp. Now what?! No mirrors—how do you do hair and make-up?! OMG! ‘Cause it is All About Gina—only it’s not. After all, she’s got a posse—and an anti-posse of evil to defeat! She may be snarky, but she’s a righteous chick! And, of course, she’s got a heart-throb BF by the name of Bobby Delvecchio (“of the old ones”…nice pun, that!) and the road to romance and adventure is full of twists and turns and…stakes! ‘Cause who wants to spend eternity being bored?! A whole lotta vampy goodness goin’ on.

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GUEST REVIEW OF UNIT 13 BY ANDREW SALMON! CANADIANS UNITE!

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  • June 17, 2011

A Review Of Granton City Press’s UNIT 13 By Andrew Salmon

  
unit_13_cover-4554289
With the New Pulp movement in full swing these days it’s high time pulp fans took a look at what our fellow pulpsters north of the border are up to. Case in point: Unit 13 The Horrors of Altenschatten by Calvin Daniels and Tyrell Tinnin.
    
I really enjoyed this book and am anxious to see where further adventures will take this colorful cast of characters.
    
The novel gives us the inaugural adventure of Unit 13, a secret, elite military force fighting in France during World War One. Lead by Sergeant T.S. Crake, Unit 13 is not your average squad. In fact the war to end all wars depicted here is not your great, great grandfather’s fight. No, this conflict is more in keeping with Kurt Busiek’s Arrowsmith. Magic abounds and mythical creatures are fighting on both sides. Here’s where Unit 13 comes in.
    
Comprised of an enormously powerful Tollgre named Grymm, The Starling – a sultry female sniper/assassin, a wily First Nation Indian named Smoke, Solstice – an African-American with gloves which harness the power of the sun and Centurion a steampunk cyborg, Unit 13 takes on all comers and this is not a group you want to mess with.
    
Yeah, there’s something for everyone in this unit.
    
But the fun doesn’t stop there. Early in the tale they encounter Chimera who is the product of German medical experiments to create an army of super soldiers. Like his namesake, Chimera is half-lion, half-lizard and one dangerous customer. Once converted to the side of right, Chimera fills them in on the horrible experiments being conducted at Altenshchatten Castle to which the capture Grymm has been taken.
    
It’s Unit 13 to the rescue! And the bodies, body parts, blood and guts begin to fly!
    
The novel is a great action ride that should satisfy any fan of pulp or adventure fiction. The writing can be a little uneven at times and the narrative jumps around, sometimes jarringly, but there’s still more than enough thrills to keep you turning pages.
As this is the first adventure of the group, a goodly portion of the text is given to filling in character back stories while laying the groundwork for future tales. Here the jumping around nature of the novel is a benefit as we don’t linger too long with any one character, or group of characters, at one time.
All in all, the book is a great read which I recommend. At only $13.99 you get 218 pages of WWI excitement mixed with magic, mayhem, superheroic action, a little romance and some betrayal to sweeten the pot.
    
 Unit 13 The Horrors of Altenschatten is one of the best examples of what the New Pulp movement is all about. Check it out.

Review: ‘The Man from Atlantis’

man-from-atlantis-1269311In the 1970s, NBC was the network you could turn to when seeking high concepts series that never lived up to the expectations of its audience. A perfect example was Man from Atlantis, a short-lived concept about a man who could live under the sea.

One of the interesting conventions of the time was that concepts would be allowed to grow and develop through telefilms before a show went to series. In this case, there were four such films produced for the 1976-1977 season before the strong ratings convinced the Peacock Network to let this go to a weekly series. When it arrived in fall 1977, the demands of producing 22 episodes proved too much and the show was weakened, the ratings fell and the series became a footnote; another wreck during the network’s decline (Supertrain anyone?).

Warner Archive has recently released the pilot film on DVD and it’s interesting to see what could have been. Patrick Duffy, in his pre-Dallas days, played amnesiac Mark Harris who displayed the ability to breathe underwater and withstand the crushing deep sea water pressure. The producers extrapolated that he would need webbed hands and feet and the deep sea environment would mean he would have super-human strength out of the water. Found by the government, Harris is asked to work for the Foundation for Oceanic Research, a front for top secret activity. He is accompanied by a team of humans (co-stars Belinda J. Montgomery and Alan Fudge) aboard the high-tech sub called the Cetacean.

The real delight in the show is Victor Buono, the rotund character actor ComicMix fans recall as King Tut, but was a mainstay on prime time for years. His Mr. Schubert, the series’ antagonist, was a charismatic villain. (About the only episode I ever liked was the one that displayed Schubert flat broke after all his previous schemes failed; I had never seen a villain displayed in this way before.)

The pilot’s pacing is slow and everything has to be spelled out for the audience, a common downfall to debut episodes. The 96 minute running time should have allowed more interesting character development but such was not the expectation of science fiction shows of that decade. Duffy was fine as Harris, a bit dull for a hero, but he swam really well.

Marvel did far more interesting stories in their short-lived comic adaptation and the series remains popular with some fans so if you’re curious, this is a fine way to sample the show for yourself.

Video Game Review: “Alice: Madness Returns”

In the year 2000, American McGee’s Alice took the story of Alice in Wonderland and turned it on it’s already twisted head. As a sequel of sorts to the books, the game opens with an accidental fire destroying Alice’s home in Victorian London, in which her parents and sister die. Alice then attempts to commit suicide (due to survivor’s guilt) and is committed to Rutledge Asylum. While there, her shattered psyche has her (and players) revisiting the Wonderland of her childhood, now decayed under the rule of the Queen of Hearts. By the game’s end, she destroys the Queen (who some believe to be a manifestation of her own insanity) and restores Wonderland to its original charm and glory, and is declared stable (or stable enough) to leave the asylum.

Perhaps that wasn’t for the best, however. In [[[Alice: Madness Returns]]] (out now on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360), it’s eleven years since Alice left Rutledge (and, ironically, eleven years after the original game). Alice is living with and being cared for by a child psychiatrist in London (as his oldest patient), and the death of her family continues to stalk her. Her madness has manifested again, and now she finds herself returning to Wonderland – albeit the Wonderland that we now know to be imagined – in order to restore order to its now-recurring chaos. This time, though, there’s an bigger question fueling her madness: was the fire that caused it all accidental?

The game divides its time between two settings: Victorian London, with its bleak, muted color palette, and the visual mind-bender that is Wonderland. Take Tim Burton, throw him in a blender with Dali and Picasso, and add a dash of steroids and heroin, and you’ll have a rough approximation of the visuals here. The settings are stunning, from the steampunk-esque Hatter stage, to the underwater follies of the carpenter and the Walrus, to the card bridge and the Queensworld…it’s all, well, fairly crazy actually. The animation is also fluid, as Alice jumps, twirls and floats through demonic paranoias and her own destroyed psyche, made visual in Wonderland. She can even shrink in size to pass through keyholes, which also gives her a new perspective on the layout of a level, revealing hidden clues as to where to go next, or thing she just couldn’t see at normal size.

At it’s heart, Madness Returns is a platformer, but there’s a heavy bent on action. Alice has many weapons at her disposal to use against the negative densiens of her mind. At first, black slime with babydoll faces known as “ruins” populate the land, and Alice can dispatch them with her trusty Vorpal Blade (which goes Snicker-Snack!) or a Pepper Grinder (basically a hand-cranked machine gun). Later she gains a Hobby Horse, which she uses as a melee club to bash and smash. All of these weapons flow effectively into one another for combos, and when combined with the dodge move, become invaluable in escaping hasty death from an onslaught of enemies. After traversing some areas, the foes become more familiar, namely the Card Guards, only now more…demon-esque.

As a platformer, there’s also a good amount of gathering collectibles, and each one has it’s own use. Scattered throughout the land are memories, which piece together the story for Alice (and the player). There are also teeth, which Alice gathers from fallen foes or smashable objects, and are used as currency in the game to upgrade weapons. It all seems like typical fare for an action platformer, but teh setting and storyline are really what set this one apart. There’s some truly messed-up things here, and the game really pushes the M rating.

If there were one complaint to make towards the game, it’s more about the little hiccups you encounter during gameplay. Sometimes, Alice will get hung up on an invisible wall or something in the floor, usually after releasing the “shrink” button on the controller. It’s a minor setback, but when the animation is usualy so fluid, getting held up in a graphical glitch can take one out of the moment. Also, the level layout is preposterously long. One chapter can have several individual sections, feeling like their own levels, but are really part of the chapter istelf. Sometimes this works to move the story along, and sometimes it gives the player the feeling of the developers trying to drag out the length of the game. Alice herself even comments on this, in a manor, when asked repeatedly by various characters in the game to do tasks for her, acting as though the level would be much shorter had they simply done teh task themselves. But then, it wouldn’t be a game then, would it?

While it isn’t a perfect game, it is certainly a fun one, and visually, one that will take hold of you, with it’s abstract settings and newspaper cut-out style cut scenes. It’s all very stylized and slick. As an added bonus, the original American McGee’s Alice is included on the disc (unlockable by download on an online pass included with new copies of the game). Playing through it is definitely a treat to those not familiar with the original, though I will say, it hasn’t held up well over time.

If you’re looking for solid action, decent platforming and puzzles, and a intriguing storyline, you needn’t look much further than here. While it may seems a bit unfair at times with the number of enemies beset upon you, the story is one certainly worth going through, and the adventure is truly a fascinating one. Horiffic though it may be for our heroine.

Rating (based on a scale of BUY IT, RENT IT, SKIP IT):

BUY IT!

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