ADAM GARCIA, Author of GREEN LAMA: Unbound, Airship 27 Productions
AP: Who is Adam Garcia?
AG: Trick question, there are several Adam Garcia’s. But, if you look on IMDB you’ll find at least four. One of them is me. We often battle every few years to determine who will reign supreme, ala Highlander.
I’m Adam Lance Garcia—sometimes Adam L. Garcia—and recently, “That Kid Who Writes the Green Lama.”
AP: Tell us a little about yourself. Family, job, background... you know the routine.
AG: I was born in late 20th Century, 1983 to be exact, and raised in the small town called Brooklyn, NY, just east of Manhattan. My father sold cold cuts. My mother was a homemaker before returning to teaching. Times were simpler back then. The Cold War was cooling. Eddie Murphy was two years away from telling us about how his girl liked to party all the time. The Internet had yet to be invented. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were about to take television by storm. Comic books were printed on substance called “paper.” Simpler times.
My father raised me on comics and movie serials, so I knew who the Green Lama was before I knew who the President was. You think I’m kidding. If you walk into my parents’ living room you’ll find on the wall, in place of family photo, original comic book artwork from artists such as Alex Ross and Shelly Moldoff; in place of fine china, there are maquettes of Captain Marvel, Mighty Mouse, Captain America, etc. Whenever my friends visit they look around and softly say: “Oh. It all makes sense now.” My mom is a saint for putting up with this. Though considering my parent’s first date was McDonald’s and a comic book convention I think she knew what she was getting into. My dad’s a charmer.
I attended Abraham Lincoln High School in south Brooklyn where my main focus was photography, thanks to an incredible teacher named Howard Wallach. My work has been on display at the Brooklyn Museum and across the country. After that I went to film school at New York University. I studied under some amazing professors such as James Gardner and Terence Winter—his show Boardwalk Empire will premiere on HBO very soon.
Currently, I work in television for a daytime show staring a famous female mogul. Not Oprah.
It’s a good thing.
AG: If we count when I was writing the “Adventures of Adam” in my Mead notebook in elementary school, at least twenty years. Two years, professionally.
AP: What got you started writing?
AG: I wanted to impress a girl, so I figured stories about superheroes wouldmake her like me.
Honestly, I really don’t know. That’s kind of like asking a fish why he swims or the bears in Jellystone National Park why they like to steal pic-a-nic baskets. I’ve found notebooks and folders filled with stories from when I was incredibly young. The earliest story I could find was “The Land of Nowhere” from when I was eight. My first attempt at a novel was when I was 16, called Justice’s Kingdom. I had ideas and it seemed natural to write them, there’s not much more to it. I liked telling stories.
It wasn’t until my senior year of college that a light bulb appeared over my head and I realized that I wanted to be a professional writer and, more importantly, that I was halfway decent. It wasn’t just my mom who liked my writing.
Though I will confess, I do try to impress girls with my writing.
AP: Would you say that you found Pulp or did it find you?
AG: I’ve always been aware of pulp. You simply couldn’t grow up in my house and not be, I knew of Doc Savage and the Shadow, the hero pulps, the westeRns, etc., but it wasn’t something I was very well versed in. It wasn’t untIl I met Ron Fortier of Airship 27 Productions at the 2009 New York Comic Con by puRe happenstance that I began really becoming entrenched in the world of pulp.
So I suppose you could say Pulp found me, but I knew it was looking.
AP: I suppose we ought to get down to what people really want to hear about Tell us who The Green Lama is.
AG: I think it’s partly due to his increased exposure thanks to Dynamite’s Project: Superpowers and Airship 27’s releases, but I honestly believe it has to do with the fact that Jethro is simply a fascinating character. Of all the pulp heroes out there, Jethro fights for justice solely because of what he believes. For him it’s an issue of faith. He doesn’t want to fight, he’s not looking for revenge—he’s fighting because he truly believes there is no other choice.
AP: Where do you plan to go with the character? Can we expect to find=you still writing Green Lama novels five or even ten years from now?
AG: Green Lama: Unbound is the first of trilogy of novels that takes place after the original pulps (treating them as canon) and will follow a tight continuity, building towards a very definitive ending. At the core of this series are Jethro Dumont and Jean Farrell. Each book will reflect where these two characters are in their relationship.
The next novel is Green Lama: Crimson Circle. In many ways it will be a direct sequel to the Green Lama’s very first pulp story “Case of the Crimson Hand” and will hopefully act as the de facto conclusion to Crossen’s original pulp stories. While Unbound was a major crossover with the Cthulhu Mythos, Crimson Circle is solely a Green Lama story and isn't so much about the Green Lama facing a new threat, rather his past victories will be coming back to haunt him. All of the Lama’s original associates will appear and not all will survive. I know that might upset some purists, but=as I’ve mentioned, these novels are set after the pulps and won’t go against established canon. I feel that if these stories are to really resonate with readers (both old and new) it is important that Jethro and his ilk to face the darker side of heroism, and paying the price for their actions. (I’ve included a teaser image for the book by artist Mike Fyles exclusively to ALL PULP).
The final novel in the trilogy will be Green Lama: Legacy. Since it's still two years away I don’t want to spoil too much of this novel, but the story is centered on Jethro coming to terms with his birthright set against the backdrop of the lead up to America’s entering World War II. My goal is to make this novel to both act as the epilogue to the pulp era and the dawn of a new era for the characters.
After that I might be taking a break from the character but I’m considering writing an anthology of Green Lama stories or a novel set during World War II. Let’s call it Green Lama: War Torn for now. It would probably feature stand-alone adventures of Lama working with other pulp and comic heroes at the time fighting on the frontlines. If there’s enough of a demand for it I might write it. With that in mind I do have a very specific direction for the characters. I can tell you where they going to be in 1942, in 1945, in 1950, in 1970, etc. (Be on the lookout for Andrew Salmon’s book for a clue as to what happens to the Lama after the War).
AG: I would like one day write Sherlock Holmes, and a few other name characters… I would kill to write the Phantom or Conan, but to be honest none hold my heart like the Green Lama. I do have ideas for a several original characters and stories that will take a more post-modern bent on the pulps.
AP: What's a typical Day In The Life of Adam Garcia like?
AG: I usually spend my days heavily inebriated beneath the Verrazano Bridge fighting the C.H.U.D.s.
AP: Here's your chance to give somebody a shoutout or pimp something. Go.
AG:In addition to Crimson Circle, I’m currently working on an original pulp hero called Dock Doyle for Airship 27. Dock Doyle is an examination of the hero pulp genre and works to play against the audience’s expectations. I’ll hopefully get the story to Ron sooner rather than later, before he comes after me.
AG: Trick question, there are several Adam Garcia’s. But, if you look on IMDB you’ll find at least four. One of them is me. We often battle every few years to determine who will reign supreme, ala Highlander.
I’m Adam Lance Garcia—sometimes Adam L. Garcia—and recently, “That Kid Who Writes the Green Lama.”
AP: Tell us a little about yourself. Family, job, background... you know the routine.
AG: I was born in late 20th Century, 1983 to be exact, and raised in the small town called Brooklyn, NY, just east of Manhattan. My father sold cold cuts. My mother was a homemaker before returning to teaching. Times were simpler back then. The Cold War was cooling. Eddie Murphy was two years away from telling us about how his girl liked to party all the time. The Internet had yet to be invented. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were about to take television by storm. Comic books were printed on substance called “paper.” Simpler times.
My father raised me on comics and movie serials, so I knew who the Green Lama was before I knew who the President was. You think I’m kidding. If you walk into my parents’ living room you’ll find on the wall, in place of family photo, original comic book artwork from artists such as Alex Ross and Shelly Moldoff; in place of fine china, there are maquettes of Captain Marvel, Mighty Mouse, Captain America, etc. Whenever my friends visit they look around and softly say: “Oh. It all makes sense now.” My mom is a saint for putting up with this. Though considering my parent’s first date was McDonald’s and a comic book convention I think she knew what she was getting into. My dad’s a charmer.
I attended Abraham Lincoln High School in south Brooklyn where my main focus was photography, thanks to an incredible teacher named Howard Wallach. My work has been on display at the Brooklyn Museum and across the country. After that I went to film school at New York University. I studied under some amazing professors such as James Gardner and Terence Winter—his show Boardwalk Empire will premiere on HBO very soon.
Currently, I work in television for a daytime show staring a famous female mogul. Not Oprah.
It’s a good thing.
AP: How long have you been writing?
AG: If we count when I was writing the “Adventures of Adam” in my Mead notebook in elementary school, at least twenty years. Two years, professionally.
AP: What got you started writing?
AG: I wanted to impress a girl, so I figured stories about superheroes wouldmake her like me.
Honestly, I really don’t know. That’s kind of like asking a fish why he swims or the bears in Jellystone National Park why they like to steal pic-a-nic baskets. I’ve found notebooks and folders filled with stories from when I was incredibly young. The earliest story I could find was “The Land of Nowhere” from when I was eight. My first attempt at a novel was when I was 16, called Justice’s Kingdom. I had ideas and it seemed natural to write them, there’s not much more to it. I liked telling stories.
It wasn’t until my senior year of college that a light bulb appeared over my head and I realized that I wanted to be a professional writer and, more importantly, that I was halfway decent. It wasn’t just my mom who liked my writing.
Though I will confess, I do try to impress girls with my writing.
AP: Would you say that you found Pulp or did it find you?
AG: I’ve always been aware of pulp. You simply couldn’t grow up in my house and not be, I knew of Doc Savage and the Shadow, the hero pulps, the westeRns, etc., but it wasn’t something I was very well versed in. It wasn’t untIl I met Ron Fortier of Airship 27 Productions at the 2009 New York Comic Con by puRe happenstance that I began really becoming entrenched in the world of pulp.
So I suppose you could say Pulp found me, but I knew it was looking.
AP: I suppose we ought to get down to what people really want to hear about Tell us who The Green Lama is.
AG:
Welcome to Green Lama 101.
Welcome to Green Lama 101.
The Green Lama was created by Kendell Foster Crossen in 1940 as potential competitor for the Shadow. While never explicitly stated in the original pulps it was always very heavily implied that Jethro Dumont, an American millionaire who had spent 10 years in Tibet studying Buddhism. Jethro had several secret identities and an impressive supporting cast. Around the same time, the Green Lama appeared in short comic stories in Prize Comics.
In 1945, the Lama had received his own title where he was more superhero than pulp hero. In 1949 he made it to radio as something of a Buddhist detective.
Most recently he’s appeared in Dynamite’s Project: Superpowers and his self-titled adventures from AC Comics.
AP: Why do you think there's such an interest in The Green Lama now?
AP: Where do you plan to go with the character? Can we expect to find=you still writing Green Lama novels five or even ten years from now?
AG: Green Lama: Unbound is the first of trilogy of novels that takes place after the original pulps (treating them as canon) and will follow a tight continuity, building towards a very definitive ending. At the core of this series are Jethro Dumont and Jean Farrell. Each book will reflect where these two characters are in their relationship.
The next novel is Green Lama: Crimson Circle. In many ways it will be a direct sequel to the Green Lama’s very first pulp story “Case of the Crimson Hand” and will hopefully act as the de facto conclusion to Crossen’s original pulp stories. While Unbound was a major crossover with the Cthulhu Mythos, Crimson Circle is solely a Green Lama story and isn't so much about the Green Lama facing a new threat, rather his past victories will be coming back to haunt him. All of the Lama’s original associates will appear and not all will survive. I know that might upset some purists, but=as I’ve mentioned, these novels are set after the pulps and won’t go against established canon. I feel that if these stories are to really resonate with readers (both old and new) it is important that Jethro and his ilk to face the darker side of heroism, and paying the price for their actions. (I’ve included a teaser image for the book by artist Mike Fyles exclusively to ALL PULP).
The final novel in the trilogy will be Green Lama: Legacy. Since it's still two years away I don’t want to spoil too much of this novel, but the story is centered on Jethro coming to terms with his birthright set against the backdrop of the lead up to America’s entering World War II. My goal is to make this novel to both act as the epilogue to the pulp era and the dawn of a new era for the characters.
After that I might be taking a break from the character but I’m considering writing an anthology of Green Lama stories or a novel set during World War II. Let’s call it Green Lama: War Torn for now. It would probably feature stand-alone adventures of Lama working with other pulp and comic heroes at the time fighting on the frontlines. If there’s enough of a demand for it I might write it. With that in mind I do have a very specific direction for the characters. I can tell you where they going to be in 1942, in 1945, in 1950, in 1970, etc. (Be on the lookout for Andrew Salmon’s book for a clue as to what happens to the Lama after the War).
For what its worth, I have a story in mind of very old Jethro Dumont living alone in rural Tibet in modern day, deeply saddened by how divided the world has become.
So while I can’t say for certain I’ll be writing Green Lama five years from now, Jethro Dumont will be keeping me busy for at least the next two years or so.
AP: What other pulp characters do you like? And do you have plans to=write stories or novels about them?
So while I can’t say for certain I’ll be writing Green Lama five years from now, Jethro Dumont will be keeping me busy for at least the next two years or so.
AP: What other pulp characters do you like? And do you have plans to=write stories or novels about them?
AP: What's a typical Day In The Life of Adam Garcia like?
AG: I usually spend my days heavily inebriated beneath the Verrazano Bridge fighting the C.H.U.D.s.
AP: Here's your chance to give somebody a shoutout or pimp something. Go.
AG:In addition to Crimson Circle, I’m currently working on an original pulp hero called Dock Doyle for Airship 27. Dock Doyle is an examination of the hero pulp genre and works to play against the audience’s expectations. I’ll hopefully get the story to Ron sooner rather than later, before he comes after me.
I’ll also be at the New York Comic Con at the Javits Center Oct 8th-10th. Feel free to stop by for Comic Con Exclusive merchandise.
AP: And now, bless us with a final word of wisdom from you
AG: Someone once told me to add “um’s” and “ah’s” to my interview so as to sound more natural. Rather than place them in interview itself here they all are in order of appearance: “Uh, mm, uh, ahem, ah, uh, yub, nub, eee, chop, yub, nub.”
AG: Someone once told me to add “um’s” and “ah’s” to my interview so as to sound more natural. Rather than place them in interview itself here they all are in order of appearance: “Uh, mm, uh, ahem, ah, uh, yub, nub, eee, chop, yub, nub.”
Don Glut, Writer of "Who Really Was That Masked Man?" for Radio Western Adventures, Pulp 2.0 Press
AP: We’ll start with an easy one. Tell us a bit about Radio Western Adventures and what attracted you to this project.
DG: Yes, that is fairly easy. The recently late Jim Harmon had been editing a series of anthology books of radio “cross-over” stories – e.g., the Whistler meets the Mysterious Traveler, Johnny Dollar visits Duffy’s Tavern, Captain Midnight interacts with Sky King, and so forth. After getting several of these books under his belt, Jim – knowing I was a huge Frankenstein fan -- asked me if I’d like to write a story, indeed one possibly with the Frankenstein Monster (there’d been numerous radio adaptations of Frankenstein over the years) meeting some other horror or mystery character, maybe the Hermit or The Shadow. By that time, however, I’d written so many stories, novels, comic books, articles, etc. about the Monster, that I told Jim I was really kind of burnt out on writing about the Monster and would rather tackle some other characters. I’ve always loved Westerns and, as a kid, heard a lot of the classic old cowboy radio programs. So I started thinking about what radio Western characters could have met each other and what the results of such a hypothetical meeting would be.
AP: Radio Western Adventures features your story, “Who Really Was That Masked Man?” Please tell us a little about the story.
DG: Well, it started out kind of small – maybe Matt Dillon meeting Paladin or whatever. But then I started noticing certain similarities between certain Western characters. For example, both the Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy rode white horses, Straight Arrow and Hoppy had old geezer sidekicks, Tonto and Straight Arrow were both Indians, and so forth. I started to wonder what would happen if a character like the Lone Ranger got waylaid and had to be impersonated for a brief time by some other Western hero. From that point on the story just grew and took on its own life, with more and more characters from various Western radio shows participating. When the cast of characters grew sufficiently big I decided to pull out all the stops and bring in characters from virtually every Western radio show that ever existed, those set in the modern as well as Old West.
AP: Radio Western Adventures is dedicated to radio historian and author, Jim Harmon, who passed away earlier this year. How did Mr. Harmon’s legacy impact this book?
DG: Yes, that dedication was my idea and Bill Cunningham, the publisher and editor and now good friend, agreed that it was appropriate. Well, remember that “Masked Man” was originally intended for Jim’s series of “cross-over” books. But even though Jim found the story I’d written for him “very charming” (his exact words), it was way too long for inclusion within the format he’d established…and brought in too many characters (Jim wanted to stick pretty much to crossing-over just two programs). Also, even though my story was essentially a parody and protected as such by law, Jim was somewhat nervous about my using so many copyrighted and trademarked characters. (In the version I sent to Jim I’d used all of the characters real names.) Then, to put the final nail into the coffin, Jim’s book series did not continue. So that left me with a story but nowhere to place it – that is until Bill came along.
AP: I’ve noticed something of a resurgence of western prose beginning to happen, especially in the United States, where westerns have not been hot sellers as they are in other parts of the world. Do you think it’s time for the western novels to make a comeback?
DG: It’s time for Westerns in all media to make a comeback, as far as I’m concerned.
AP: Where can readers find information on your books?
DG: On my website, www.DonaldFGlut.com. Go to the page called “writing credits.”
AP: What upcoming projects do you have coming up that you can tell us about at this time?
DG: I have a number of new pulp-style novels coming out from Bill’s company, including reissues in various deluxe formats of my 11-book “NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN” series, and a pulp-style masked hero adventure titled JAWBREAKER VS. THE SCARLET SKULL. I’m also still writing my “DINOSAURS: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA” series of semi-technical non-fiction books, motion picture scripts and other things, always keeping busy.
AP: Thanks, Don. If there’s any other information you’d like, let me know and we can add more questions.
DG: Will do. And if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
DG: Yes, that is fairly easy. The recently late Jim Harmon had been editing a series of anthology books of radio “cross-over” stories – e.g., the Whistler meets the Mysterious Traveler, Johnny Dollar visits Duffy’s Tavern, Captain Midnight interacts with Sky King, and so forth. After getting several of these books under his belt, Jim – knowing I was a huge Frankenstein fan -- asked me if I’d like to write a story, indeed one possibly with the Frankenstein Monster (there’d been numerous radio adaptations of Frankenstein over the years) meeting some other horror or mystery character, maybe the Hermit or The Shadow. By that time, however, I’d written so many stories, novels, comic books, articles, etc. about the Monster, that I told Jim I was really kind of burnt out on writing about the Monster and would rather tackle some other characters. I’ve always loved Westerns and, as a kid, heard a lot of the classic old cowboy radio programs. So I started thinking about what radio Western characters could have met each other and what the results of such a hypothetical meeting would be.
AP: Radio Western Adventures features your story, “Who Really Was That Masked Man?” Please tell us a little about the story.
DG: Well, it started out kind of small – maybe Matt Dillon meeting Paladin or whatever. But then I started noticing certain similarities between certain Western characters. For example, both the Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy rode white horses, Straight Arrow and Hoppy had old geezer sidekicks, Tonto and Straight Arrow were both Indians, and so forth. I started to wonder what would happen if a character like the Lone Ranger got waylaid and had to be impersonated for a brief time by some other Western hero. From that point on the story just grew and took on its own life, with more and more characters from various Western radio shows participating. When the cast of characters grew sufficiently big I decided to pull out all the stops and bring in characters from virtually every Western radio show that ever existed, those set in the modern as well as Old West.
AP: Radio Western Adventures is dedicated to radio historian and author, Jim Harmon, who passed away earlier this year. How did Mr. Harmon’s legacy impact this book?
DG: Yes, that dedication was my idea and Bill Cunningham, the publisher and editor and now good friend, agreed that it was appropriate. Well, remember that “Masked Man” was originally intended for Jim’s series of “cross-over” books. But even though Jim found the story I’d written for him “very charming” (his exact words), it was way too long for inclusion within the format he’d established…and brought in too many characters (Jim wanted to stick pretty much to crossing-over just two programs). Also, even though my story was essentially a parody and protected as such by law, Jim was somewhat nervous about my using so many copyrighted and trademarked characters. (In the version I sent to Jim I’d used all of the characters real names.) Then, to put the final nail into the coffin, Jim’s book series did not continue. So that left me with a story but nowhere to place it – that is until Bill came along.
AP: I’ve noticed something of a resurgence of western prose beginning to happen, especially in the United States, where westerns have not been hot sellers as they are in other parts of the world. Do you think it’s time for the western novels to make a comeback?
DG: It’s time for Westerns in all media to make a comeback, as far as I’m concerned.
AP: Where can readers find information on your books?
DG: On my website, www.DonaldFGlut.com. Go to the page called “writing credits.”
AP: What upcoming projects do you have coming up that you can tell us about at this time?
DG: I have a number of new pulp-style novels coming out from Bill’s company, including reissues in various deluxe formats of my 11-book “NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN” series, and a pulp-style masked hero adventure titled JAWBREAKER VS. THE SCARLET SKULL. I’m also still writing my “DINOSAURS: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA” series of semi-technical non-fiction books, motion picture scripts and other things, always keeping busy.
AP: Thanks, Don. If there’s any other information you’d like, let me know and we can add more questions.
DG: Will do. And if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
 | |||
| COVER FOR THE FIRST FRANKENSTEIN NOVEL, ART BY MARK MADDOX (http://www.maddoxplanet.com/) Bill Cunningham, Publisher, Pulp 2.0 Press |
AP: We’ll start with an easy one. Tell us a bit about Radio Western Adventures and what attracted you to this project.
BC: RWA started out because I was licensing these other novels from Don Glut. Don said he had a short story that was a western featuring every radio, movie serial and TV cowboy he ever loved getting together for one last heroic adventure. It was a short story, and not a novel - but how could I pass that up?
At first it was sort of an orphan and I really thought the story would end up being a bonus feature for one of our other novels we’re publishing with Don, but after I read it I knew that it could stand on its own, and I needed to create a book package around it. Then it hit me that since there were all these tie-in comics for many of these radio heroes back in the day then there could have, should have been a tie-in pulp for some of these over-the-air cowboys. That’s when I came up with the idea of Radio Western Adventures - a pulp that was created as a promotional tool by the radio stations who broadcast these particular programs.
Once we came up with the premise as to how this particular pulp have existed, I went about creating the sort of magazine this could have been.
AP: Radio Western Adventures features a story by Donald F. Glut. Is this a new or previously unpublished story by Mr. Glut? Please, tell us a bit about “Who Really Was That Masked Man?”
BC: “Masked Man” is Don’s love letter to all those cowboy heroes he grew up with - on the radio, at the movies and on television. The story takes all of those western hero archetypes and brings them together for one last adventure. The names and costumes are somewhat different, but you’ll recognize all sorts of cowboys from the thrilling days of yesteryear.
AP: Radio Western Adventures also features a story by Doc Savage creator Lester Dent. Please, tell us a bit about “Snare Savvy” and how it came to be part of this project and what part Will Murray played in making it happen.
BC: Will Murray saw our website and the book’s cover (by artist Nik Macaluso), and contacted me afterward about “Snare Savvy.” He offered the story to us to publish and after I read it I negotiated for the rights to this never-before-seen story by Dent. It happened very quickly as far as these things go which is the speed at which I like to operate.
AP: Radio Western Adventures is dedicated to radio historian and author, Jim Harmon, who passed away earlier this year. How did Mr. Harmon’s legacy impact this book?
BC: When the book was being assembled Jim passed away. I had briefly corresponded with him regarding licensing some of his stories for Pulp 2.0 Press. We never did a deal, and I always regretted that. Jim’s book THE GREAT RADIO HEROES was one of those books I nearly wore the cover off of at my local library when I was a teen. I knew he had been a longtime friend and collaborator of Don’s so it seemed natural for RWA to became a tribute book to Jim at some point. It just felt right - especially when Don told me that he originally wrote the story for one of Jim’s books.
AP: Your press release mentions that Radio Western Adventures will be available through Kindle first, then in print at a later date. Not to debate print vs. Digital, but how has digital publishing helped your company compete in a very competitive publishing landscape?
BC: There is no debate regarding digital v. print. Each has its place in our Pulp 2.0 business plan. Because we deal in pulp - we are essentially creating entertainment that is meant to be consumed quickly and easily. It’s fast food in that regard. Thanks to today’s technology we are able to digitally recreate the speed and spread by which the old pulps used to operate and distribute their stories. If someone out there is bored and wants a great read now - we have something for them to download and start reading right away. Trust me, they won’t be bored for long!
If we manage to create a fan out of them then they can collect our print editions. These books feature behind-the scenes bonus features just like your favorite special edition DVDs. Thanks to the technology we are able to cater to different market segments and satisfy their needs with what we feel is fun, unique entertainment.
We’re also using the internet to promote our books - through sites like yours, through our social networks and through videos we create and distribute through Youtube. We’re a small outfit and you won’t find us in bookstores - but thanks to technology we’re going to be everywhere else. If you see us at a convention or a signing, please come up and tell us where you found out about us, and what you want to see from Pulp 2.0 Press.
AP: I’ve noticed something of a resurgence of western prose beginning to happen, especially in the United States, where westerns have not been hot sellers as they are in other parts of the world. Do you think it’s time for the western novels to make a comeback?
BC: I sure hope so, but to be honest I think they never really left. My father is a huge western fan and he’ll devour paperback after paperback of all sorts of western series books. In that very large, very crowded market I hope we’ve created something unique with Radio Western Adventures.
AP: Where can readers find information on Pulp 2.0 Press?
BC: The number one spot of course is our website at www.pulp2ohpress.com where you can sign up for our newsletter or you can join our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/pulp2ohpress . We run special reader promotions through both sites so there’s a chance you could win a free book, or a signed limited edition cover proof, or a poster or t-shirt.
AP: What other books can readers find from Pulp 2.0 Press?
BC: Our first book BROTHER BLOOD is also by Don Glut and is available in print or digital through our website. It’s the perfect book for horror- blaxploitation fans. It’s another unique story in that it was originally written in 1969 pre-dating its famous cousin BLACULA by several years, and features actual 1960’s Sunset Strip locations as the swinging background for its sinister blood-sucking.
AP What upcoming Pulp 2.0 Press projects can you tell us about at this time?
We are the official publisher of Don’s NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN SERIES. That’s 11 novels of pure pulp horror-adventure. The cover is by fan favorite artist Mark Maddox, and again we are making each book a unique monster-lovers’ experience. Don has opened up his extensive archives of Frankenstein memorabilia and we’re including a lot of it in the bonus sections of the series.
We also have a book which is an action-packed tribute to Republic studios called JAWBREAKER... a series of classic Kindle-only pulp magazines that will be available at the low low price of only 99 cents each...
And two COMIC BOOK series which pack a pulp one-two punch. We’ll be announcing those later this year as soon as the contracts are signed. Again we’re going to be releasing those digitally first followed by the collectible print editions.
Then we’ll be moving into Phase II where you’ll see original book series written in the pulp aesthetic. These will be scifi, fantasy, horror and adventure books that you won’t be able to get anywhere else. We’ll also be continuing our mission to republish the best in yesteryear’s pulp entertainment for today’s audience.
BC: RWA started out because I was licensing these other novels from Don Glut. Don said he had a short story that was a western featuring every radio, movie serial and TV cowboy he ever loved getting together for one last heroic adventure. It was a short story, and not a novel - but how could I pass that up?
At first it was sort of an orphan and I really thought the story would end up being a bonus feature for one of our other novels we’re publishing with Don, but after I read it I knew that it could stand on its own, and I needed to create a book package around it. Then it hit me that since there were all these tie-in comics for many of these radio heroes back in the day then there could have, should have been a tie-in pulp for some of these over-the-air cowboys. That’s when I came up with the idea of Radio Western Adventures - a pulp that was created as a promotional tool by the radio stations who broadcast these particular programs.
Once we came up with the premise as to how this particular pulp have existed, I went about creating the sort of magazine this could have been.
AP: Radio Western Adventures features a story by Donald F. Glut. Is this a new or previously unpublished story by Mr. Glut? Please, tell us a bit about “Who Really Was That Masked Man?”
BC: “Masked Man” is Don’s love letter to all those cowboy heroes he grew up with - on the radio, at the movies and on television. The story takes all of those western hero archetypes and brings them together for one last adventure. The names and costumes are somewhat different, but you’ll recognize all sorts of cowboys from the thrilling days of yesteryear.
AP: Radio Western Adventures also features a story by Doc Savage creator Lester Dent. Please, tell us a bit about “Snare Savvy” and how it came to be part of this project and what part Will Murray played in making it happen.
BC: Will Murray saw our website and the book’s cover (by artist Nik Macaluso), and contacted me afterward about “Snare Savvy.” He offered the story to us to publish and after I read it I negotiated for the rights to this never-before-seen story by Dent. It happened very quickly as far as these things go which is the speed at which I like to operate.
AP: Radio Western Adventures is dedicated to radio historian and author, Jim Harmon, who passed away earlier this year. How did Mr. Harmon’s legacy impact this book?
BC: When the book was being assembled Jim passed away. I had briefly corresponded with him regarding licensing some of his stories for Pulp 2.0 Press. We never did a deal, and I always regretted that. Jim’s book THE GREAT RADIO HEROES was one of those books I nearly wore the cover off of at my local library when I was a teen. I knew he had been a longtime friend and collaborator of Don’s so it seemed natural for RWA to became a tribute book to Jim at some point. It just felt right - especially when Don told me that he originally wrote the story for one of Jim’s books.
AP: Your press release mentions that Radio Western Adventures will be available through Kindle first, then in print at a later date. Not to debate print vs. Digital, but how has digital publishing helped your company compete in a very competitive publishing landscape?
BC: There is no debate regarding digital v. print. Each has its place in our Pulp 2.0 business plan. Because we deal in pulp - we are essentially creating entertainment that is meant to be consumed quickly and easily. It’s fast food in that regard. Thanks to today’s technology we are able to digitally recreate the speed and spread by which the old pulps used to operate and distribute their stories. If someone out there is bored and wants a great read now - we have something for them to download and start reading right away. Trust me, they won’t be bored for long!
If we manage to create a fan out of them then they can collect our print editions. These books feature behind-the scenes bonus features just like your favorite special edition DVDs. Thanks to the technology we are able to cater to different market segments and satisfy their needs with what we feel is fun, unique entertainment.
We’re also using the internet to promote our books - through sites like yours, through our social networks and through videos we create and distribute through Youtube. We’re a small outfit and you won’t find us in bookstores - but thanks to technology we’re going to be everywhere else. If you see us at a convention or a signing, please come up and tell us where you found out about us, and what you want to see from Pulp 2.0 Press.
AP: I’ve noticed something of a resurgence of western prose beginning to happen, especially in the United States, where westerns have not been hot sellers as they are in other parts of the world. Do you think it’s time for the western novels to make a comeback?
BC: I sure hope so, but to be honest I think they never really left. My father is a huge western fan and he’ll devour paperback after paperback of all sorts of western series books. In that very large, very crowded market I hope we’ve created something unique with Radio Western Adventures.
AP: Where can readers find information on Pulp 2.0 Press?
BC: The number one spot of course is our website at www.pulp2ohpress.com where you can sign up for our newsletter or you can join our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/pulp2ohpress . We run special reader promotions through both sites so there’s a chance you could win a free book, or a signed limited edition cover proof, or a poster or t-shirt.
AP: What other books can readers find from Pulp 2.0 Press?
BC: Our first book BROTHER BLOOD is also by Don Glut and is available in print or digital through our website. It’s the perfect book for horror- blaxploitation fans. It’s another unique story in that it was originally written in 1969 pre-dating its famous cousin BLACULA by several years, and features actual 1960’s Sunset Strip locations as the swinging background for its sinister blood-sucking.
AP What upcoming Pulp 2.0 Press projects can you tell us about at this time?
We are the official publisher of Don’s NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN SERIES. That’s 11 novels of pure pulp horror-adventure. The cover is by fan favorite artist Mark Maddox, and again we are making each book a unique monster-lovers’ experience. Don has opened up his extensive archives of Frankenstein memorabilia and we’re including a lot of it in the bonus sections of the series.
We also have a book which is an action-packed tribute to Republic studios called JAWBREAKER... a series of classic Kindle-only pulp magazines that will be available at the low low price of only 99 cents each...
And two COMIC BOOK series which pack a pulp one-two punch. We’ll be announcing those later this year as soon as the contracts are signed. Again we’re going to be releasing those digitally first followed by the collectible print editions.
Then we’ll be moving into Phase II where you’ll see original book series written in the pulp aesthetic. These will be scifi, fantasy, horror and adventure books that you won’t be able to get anywhere else. We’ll also be continuing our mission to republish the best in yesteryear’s pulp entertainment for today’s audience.
STAY TUNED FOR THE INTERVIEW WITH VETERAN WRITER DON GLUT, A COMPANION TO THIS EXCELLENT CONVERSATION WITH BILL CUNNINGHAM!!
BILL CRAIG, Author of the Hardluck Hannigan series, the Jack Riley books and more!
AP: Thanks so much for taking the time to sit down with us! Before we get into a discussion about your writing, can you tell us a little bit about your background and how the writing bug ended up biting you?
Bill: The writing bug bit me before I even turned five. I taught myself to read on Dan Frontier when I was four years old and started writing my own stories at age 6.
AP: You have several series that are ongoing but let's start with Hardluck Hannigan. Tell us how you came up with the character and a little bit about his adventures?
AP: You have several series that are ongoing but let's start with Hardluck Hannigan. Tell us how you came up with the character and a little bit about his adventures?
Bill: Hardluck Hannigan came about through a group discussion with Sean Ellis and Wayne Skiver. We were talking about a shared universe of pulp era characters and I came up with Hardluck Hannigan. I ended up using a much older version of Hardluck Hannigan in the Jack Riley book the Mummy's Tomb, and I liked him enough to want to see how he had eveolved into that man so the fantastic adventures of Hardluck Hannigan were born.
AP: You've done other books besides the Riley and Hannigan ones -- can you let our readers know about the other genres you like to dabble in?
AP: You've done other books besides the Riley and Hannigan ones -- can you let our readers know about the other genres you like to dabble in?
Bill: I also write in the mystery and suspense fields. I write the Decker PI or Sam Decker books and have The Butterfly Tattoo a noir suspense thriller featuring Bayport Detective Joe Collins.
AP: When it comes to the pulp market right now, what are your favorite "new" authors and characters? Or do you usually stick to the classics?
AP: When it comes to the pulp market right now, what are your favorite "new" authors and characters? Or do you usually stick to the classics?
Bill: I tend to stick to the classics like Doc Savage and the Shadow and the Avenger, but Mack Bolan is also a favorite as well as Remo Williams. I have read a Rook Novel and a Captain Hazzard and find them great fun as well.
AP: Can you tell us how your writing process works? Do you outline extensively or are you one of those who likes to wing it?
AP: Can you tell us how your writing process works? Do you outline extensively or are you one of those who likes to wing it?
Bill: I admit I wing it. I start out with a paragraph long proposal and then go where the characters take me...
AP: If our readers would like to find out more about you and your writings, where should they go?
AP: If our readers would like to find out more about you and your writings, where should they go?
Bill: The Bill Craig author's page on amazon.com is the best place but I also have an author's page on facebook and Hardluck Hannigan has his own page there as well.
WAYNE REINAGEL, Publisher and Writer of Pulp Heroes! Trilogy
AP: Wayne, I’m personally delighted to be interviewing you on behalf of ALL PULP! As you may know, if I include me darlin’ daughter, Alanna, our family has had a love affair of a storgian nature, of course, with bronze & silhouette pastiches! To me no pastiche is just a mere imitation of its source!! This is what I love most about pastiches & it’s that not only has their creator paid tribute to a character they admire but have gone the extra mile to make them their own!!! Each pastiche has had something extra added to them so none of them are just carbon copies of the original! This can definitely be said for your landmark making trilogy as soon as anyone opens the pages of PULP HEROES! This being said, let me offer you an overflowing helping of questions that you can pick & choose to answer. A goal of twenty-one questions being answered would be most fortuitous, all around! Please remember, that as a curriculum specialist; test development, scoring & analysis has been part & parcel of my 36 year career as a professional educator. Yeah, as weird as some of these questions may sound there’s a reason behind each one of them! Here goes: (Those who answered similar questions, before, salute you!)
WR: Well said, Sarge! The main goal of writing Pulp Heroes was to step outside the established box. This trilogy isn’t about exploring things that have already been written. After all, as you said, who needs an exact (or even pale) carbon copy of the original? These Pulp Heroes stories assume that every main hero has already battled their fair share of vampires, mummies, crooks, gangsters, Nazis, and the occasional madman. Pulp Heroes explores a world beyond, where heroes and villains die, deadly family secrets are discovered, and our heroes are truly fighting for their very lives. It’s an on-the-edge-of-your-seat action/adventure story of epic proportions, with the dial cranked up past 11. “Lightning in a bottle,” as one reader described it.
Being a true fan of the original pulp heroes of the 1930’s and 1940’s, I originally wanted to use the real characters. However, obtaining the necessary copyrights for a story of this scope would have been impossible. And, honestly, writing this as an ‘alternate earth’ works much better, since I can step outside the confines of the sandbox without offending long-time fans or battling corporation lawyers. The goal wasn’t to reinvent the wheel or rewrite history, although I might have bent the established boundaries slightly. This is a true period piece. You won’t find cell phones alongside zeppelins and I pray those “ten 70 year-old fans”, that other writers tend to disregard and disrespect, will love these novels just as much as new readers.
So, taking a page from Planetary and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the original names and characters have been altered where absolutely necessary, and kept whenever possible.
AP: It’s grand to have this golden opportunity to interview you! Did we catch you at a good time? Are you comfortable? Would you care for a cup of coffee, tea or an ice-cold glass of loganberry? I’d offer you an espresso but a diminutive extraterrestrial has taken up residence in our machine.
WR: As you can see above, I am already pumped to begin. I couldn’t even wait for the first question to start, before writing answers. I am happy to announce that this is my first interview regarding my Pulp Heroes novels. (By the way, I’ll contact a friend at NASA to help you with your E.T. problem after the interview. Are we talking Barsoomian or Venusian?)
AP: When & where were you born & raised? In PULP HEROES you gave us a rather colorful background to the mysterious man behind Knightraven Studios! Do you think you can level with us & give us the facts, mam ... er, sorry, I meant to say sir but slipped into my “Dragnet” persona!
WR: Obviously, you are referring to the ‘Have you seen this lunatic?’ poster which reads:
Wayne Reinagel is a short, hairy gnome-like creature who dwells in dimly illuminated Hobbit burrows and cackles madly to himself as he pecks away at his computer keyboard. Raised on a steady diet of paperback novels, Mountain Dew, comic books, Snickers, and adventure movies, he churns out a steady flow of poetry, paintings, novels and other silly stuff. Warning: If sighted, approach with extreme caution!
That’s actually a fairly accurate description. Born in Collinsville, Illinois nearly five decades ago, I’ve never moved more than ten miles away from home. My parents are good people and I enjoy being able to visit with them whenever time allows.
AP: Could you tell us a bit about your childhood? Were you an only child or the youngest, middle or oldest child in a larger crew of siblings? Where did you attend school? Were you bookish or enjoyed sports? Were you a loner or a teamplayer kinda scout?
WR: The third of four sons, attended Collinsville High School in small town Illinois, enjoyed sports but was never really a team player. Yep, always the last one picked for softball. But this made me an independent free-thinker, not relying on others to complete any task. Always suffered from a ‘can-do’ attitude. If I don’t know how to do something, I teach myself.
AP: What kind of books did you like to read as a child? Did your parents read to you, when you were young? What did they read to you? What was the first science fiction that you read?
WR: My parents never really read much. In the first week of second grade, I was nearly kicked off the school bus for bad behavior and was instructed to sit quietly in the front seat, directly behind the driver. I knew my folks would throw a fit if I got into trouble, so I dug into my backpack and fished out a brand new Dracula novel, which I had only bought because it featured a cool Bela Lugosi cover. This was the first novel I ever read and was immediately hooked. From there, I began reading all the Victorian classics, including Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Invisible Man, The Lost World, The Three Musketeers, and many more. Nearly every book the Scholastic program offered. Looking back, that was some pretty heavy reading for a seven year-old. I spent every penny of my allowance on books and within the next few years I had assembled quite a library. By reading about adventures in distant lands and faraway worlds, I was able to escape the confines of Smallville … I mean Collinsville.
AP: How were you introduced to Doc Savage & other pulp heroes? Did you read John Carter or Tarzan first?
WR: In 1969, my father bought Doc Savage Bantam novel #62 - The Pirate’s Ghost, for me and my older brother, Steve. (Dad’s never admitted to reading the original pulps, but I think he had exposure to them, being born in the late twenties.) I was immediately hooked. A local store was going out of business and was selling the entire run for a dime per book. I begged my folks for six dollars to buy them all, but times were hard and I had to settle for fifty cents. It took another thirty years to fill in all the missing gaps in my Doc Savage collection. Steve and I took turns reading each one as we discovered them at other stores. Doc Savage was such a timelessly classic series that it wasn’t until later that I discovered they were originally written in the 30’s and 40’s. Two years later, I began buying the Avenger reprints as they came out. The Shadow, John Carter, Tarzan, and many others soon followed, but I always gravitated back to the Doc Savage stories.
AP: What were your favorite movies, television shows & music as a youngster? What impact do you think they had on your writing?
WR: Naturally, as a child of the 60’s and 70’s I grew up watching Star Trek, Lost in Space, Twilight Zone, Battlestar Gallactica, Space 1999, etc. Anything that involved science fiction or action/adventure. I didn’t see many movies on the big screen until Star Wars and Indiana Jones. By the mid 70’s, bored by most TV programs, I began reading a lot of comics, including Avengers, Nick Fury, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Submariner, Xmen, Fantastic Four and Batman. I wasn’t a true Marvel zombie, but danged close. Reading Doc Savage novels and comic books, and listening to Rock music by ELO, Styx, Meatloaf and Aerosmith, carried me through the 70’s and early 80’s.
AP: What or who was your motivation behind Knightraven Studios?
WR: I established Knightraven Enterprises in the early 80’s, printing illustrations, portfolios and posters, hoping to catch the eye of the editors at Marvel or DC Comics. The name changed to Knightraven Books when I self-published two joke books in the mid 90’s. And changed again to Knightraven Studios LLC with the publication of the Pulp Heroes novels. Nowadays, I’m so busy writing and illustrating my own books that I no longer have any real desire to work for any of the major comic book companies.
AP: When did you begin writing? Was there a teacher, friend or relative that encouraged you to become a writer?
WR: I was about 12 years old when my older brother Steve noticed something that completely altered my life. Pointing at X-Men #50 and Nick Fury #2, he noted that a fella named Jim Steranko had illustrated both covers. Oddly enough, until that moment, it never occurred to me that someone could actually make a living drawing comic books. Then we noticed that this Steranko guy had also written the stories for both books. At that very moment, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a writer/illustrator. Although I’ve been sidetracked throughout my life, working as a draftsman, a lumber salesman, a homebuilder, this has always remained my one true goal. I’ve written hundreds of unpublished comic book scripts, many of which might be altered slightly and used in future novels. There’s even a 1200 page illustrated space odyssey adventure packed away in a box in my studio that I might return to someday.
AP: Is it true that the thought provoking illustrations in PULP HEROES were wrought by your own hands? If so, where were you taught to draw so well? If not, did you & your illustrator experience the Vulcan mind meld?
WR: I began drawing at age 12. Over the past thirty years I’ve used pencils, inks, paints – oils and acrylics, and finally moved into computer graphics. I currently use Adobe Photoshop with a digitizer pad or Adobe Illustrator and am 100% pleased with the results. These programs are incredible tools but just like any paintbrush or pen, they still require the user to possess artistic skills. The main difference is that I can complete an illustration in days that previously took weeks when done by hand. And the cleanup afterwards is much easier.
AP: If I were teaching a college level literature course I certainly would make PULP HEROES required reading but I’d still hafta ask you, “What did Robert Lewis Stevenson ever do to to you?”
WR: I write what I consider ‘historical fiction.’ Which means even though it didn’t happen exactly as I write, it very well might have. So, for instance, if Adolph Hitler, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Hugo Danner aka the Gladiator, were all at the front lines at the end of WWI, then there is a possibility that they might have crossed paths. If you read what I did to R.L.S. and read accounts about his last days in the Samoan Islands, then the events that I wrote in Khan Dynasty really could have happened. Marvel Comics calls it ‘What If?’ and DC Comics has ‘Elseworlds.’ My interlinked series of novels takes place in a universe called Infinite Horizons, where Doctor Henry Jekyll might meet Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, and Jules Verne. Roughly half of each novel takes place during the pulp era of the 1930’s and 1940’s, the other half occurs a generation earlier. The Pulp Heroes trilogy covers roughly 150 years, from 1800 to 1950, and travels around the globe.
AP: Are you aware that you gave all of us a glimpse into a very real parallel world when you began writing about pulp heroes & comicbook superheroes that, at first, seem quite familiar but distinctly diverge from the characters they mirror?
WR: Incorporating real world events and events from classic novels alongside the new fictional world helps anchor the entire story. Upon reading the novels, folks will occasionally wonder exactly where reality ends and fiction begins. The basic concept of Infinite Horizons is that there are no real limits. I outline all the known facts and borders, before stretching and manipulating them. I will read entire novels, just to find a few relevant facts. For example, in Khan Dynasty four men meet in Cairo, Egypt in early 1868. By quickly scanning my timeline poster, I discover that the Captain Nemo and the Nautilus passed through the southeastern portion of the Mediterranean on February 13, 1868. (Verne was very precise.) Thus, without altering a single word in Jules Verne’s original novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I can have these men cross paths with the infamous sea pirate. Nemo and the Nautilus appear several times in Pulp Heroes, as do Allan Quatermain, Doctor Henry Jekyll, Victor Frankenstein and his monster, Rasputin, Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger, Ned Land, Hugo Danner, Jack the Ripper, and a cast consisting of dozens of well-known characters. Infinite Horizons does not challenge any of the elements, events or timelines of the original works, but rather it adds richly detailed, chronologically accurate tales - occurring before, after and sometimes even during the events of many existing novels and short stories, such as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Gladiator, King Solomon’s Mines, Lost World, Thing from Another World, Tai-Pan, etc.
AP: PULP HEROES: MORE THAN MORTAL is populated with both major & minor characters from classic literature, comic books & the pulps. What made you open your trilogy with Captain Lucifer?
WR: I wanted to show a lead character and his supporting cast that closely mimicked Doc Titan and his five friends, to illustrate from the very beginning that really bad things could happen to any of these mystery men.
AP: With the appearance of a marvel-ous patriotic hero & the master of magic what’s your opinion of the other major comicbook? Is it that you didn’t care much for George Reeves or Adam West in your formative years?
WR: I’ve enjoyed most of the mainstream Marvel characters for the last 40 years. There have been good years and bad, good writers/illustrators and bad. I’ve also collected several of the DC mainstream, such as Batman, Warlord, or Green Arrow. Personally, I found it difficult to believe in Superman, when he moves planet earth in one issue and the very next issue a ten year-old boy beats the crud out of him. Kryptonite, yeah right. I prefer more grounded heroes, where it’s possible for a real person to attain superpowers or enhancements, or better yet, trained to acquire them. Much like Doc Savage, Shadow, Spider, Batman, Daredevil, Captain America or even Doctor Strange. And that’s why I have a dark knight, a sorcerer supreme, or a sentinel of justice, pop up as a supporting member of the cast. The heroes who existed in the last days before the appearance of the ‘superhero.’
AP: How soon before PULP HEROES: SANCTUARY FALLS will be available on the internet?
WR: I am currently writing both Sanctuary Falls and the first novel of the next trilogy, which takes place in the same Infinite Horizons universe, but involving a different cast of main characters. Hopefully they will both be done in the spring of 2011. But you don’t need Sanctuary Falls to enjoy the first two novels. Each novel is a standalone story.
AP: Do you know how many Language Arts teachers bought your immensely informative timeline poster? The educated consumer would like to know!
WR: I’m not really certain, but many of the local libraries now have a copy hanging on the wall. I’ve distributed several hundred and everyone seems to enjoy them. With over 800 events - both real and imaginary (clearly identified as to which), and a huge listing of births and deaths of the most famous people and characters of the last 150 years, it takes several hours to read the entire poster.
AP: Did you ever see “Twilight of the Gods?”
WR: If you’re referring to the 1995 movie, where after a pitched battle, a Maori warrior finds a wounded European soldier and helps him back to health - I haven’t had an opportunity to find and watch it. But it sounds interesting.
If you’re referring to the end of the world and the end of all the gods, including Thor, and the inevitable doom of Ragnarok - only what I’ve read in the Thor comics. Unfortunately, mythology is the stuff of legends that appeals to me the least. The various gods are too much like Superman, with vast extremes in their strengths and weaknesses. Even Thor would allow himself to get beaten silly in nearly every issue, before pulling out the big guns and frying his adversary with a bolt of lightning. The biggest attraction to mythology was when I decided to christen the main family of characters Titan, the title taken from the children of the original Greek Gods. I really couldn’t believe that nobody had used the name Doc Titan before.
AP: If you were to take a two dozen tweens (preteens) on a field trip where would you take them?
WR: To the public library computer department, where they can access and visit the ALLPULP website and also introduce them to LibroVox.org, where they can download and listen to thousands of public domain novels, including many of the first pulps.
One of my goals in writing Pulp Heroes and introducing so many characters in my novels is enticing younger readers to search out and read the original classics from the Victorian and pulp eras. In the back of my books, there are two entire pages listing novels, pulps and short stories that I highly recommend.
AP: What summer television shows have you been following?
WR: LOST, Survivor, and CSI were the only shows I’ve watched this year. I tend to read a lot, both for recreation and for research, and I have overflowing bookshelves of novels and comics that I still hope to read soon.
AP: Anyone reading your trilogy thus far would say you’re hinting at the existence of Agharta. What have you been reading?
WR: Actually, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne was the second book I read, right after Dracula. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed reading the Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar/Earth’s Core series and Mike Grell’s Warlord series. And so the answer is, yes, we will be seeing much more of the hollow earth (Agharta/Skartaris/Pellucidar) in Sanctuary Falls. Before I wrote Pulp Heroes, I plotted out two movie screenplays, one involving the aforementioned Warlord. The original intent was to submit it to DC Comics, but the story is a perfect fit for Sanctuary Falls.
AP: What was the last movie you’ve seen at the theatre?
WR: This year I’ve seen and enjoyed Iron Man 2, Clash of the Titans, Avatar (wow), and Sherlock Holmes. But one of my all-time favorite movies is The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Great soundtrack, believable and likable characters, incredible sets, and I thought it was an intriguing story. Dorian Gray and Tom Sawyer were great additions to the cast! Not everyone agrees with my opinion but I enjoyed it much more than the comic book series. Alan Moore wrote about drug addicts, sex offenders and pedophiles. I prefer my heroes to be, well, more heroic. The LXG movie and the Planetary comic book series were my two greatest inspirations when I began writing Pulp Heroes.
AP: What’s your favorite game show? Board game? Place to hang out on a typical Friday night?
WR: Honestly, I’ve never been into role-playing, game shows or board games. Guess it’s all part being an independent, self-achiever. But I currently have one of the best jobs ever, writing about characters like Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll & Hyde, and Frankenstein. For entertainment, I enjoy reading or watching movies about the same characters. Life doesn’t get much better than that.
AP: What conventions have you attended lately? I don’t want to put you on the spot but is there anyone you want to say “hello” to? What upcoming conventions will you be attending? Have you ever been to either Doc Savage convention? Will you be going to either of them this coming year?
WR: This year I attended the Windy City Pulp & Paper in Chicago and the Imagicon in Birmingham, Alabama. Living near St Louis, I hope to attend the Doc Con 2010 this month. I’ve been to the Arizona Con in 2007 and 2009 but, sadly, don’t think I can attend this year. And, yes, I would like to acknowledge my appreciation of my two greatest supporters, my wife and my mother. Pulp Heroes would never had been written without their help.
AP: Well, on behalf of the Spectacled 7 & the readers of ALL PULP I want to thank you again for graciously taking the time to answer some questions for us! Any parting remarks before we tie you up, er, ah, I mean tie this interview up?
WR: First, I want to thank all the folks that have bought the first two novels and the timeline posters. Next, I wish to thank all the people who have both inspired and supported my writing efforts. At the top of this list is Philip Jose Farmer, who wrote some of the greatest pastiche novels about Doc Savage and Tarzan, including the establishing of the original Wold-Newton World. (A huge tip of the hat to Win Scott Eckert and friends for vastly expanding the concept and creating the Wold-Newton Universe.)
Four years ago, I began rereading The Feast Unknown by Philip Jose Farmer, which starts with the line spoken by Tarzan (Lord Grandrith), “Jack the Ripper was my father.” This single line about the Victorian serial killer started my mental wheels turning and became one of the first subplots to Pulp Heroes – More Than Mortal. Although my Infinite Horizons Universe doesn’t match the Wold-Newton Universe mold in every regard, it has been an incredible inspiration. Thanks, PJF!
RON HANNA, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Wild Cat Books
AP: Thanks for joining us, Ron! Can you tell us about your history with the pulps -- how did you first discover them and what led to the founding of Wild Cat Books?
AP: In the early days of WCB, the Internet was quite different. What's the biggest change you've seen in pulp fandom over the years?
RON: I would have to say the social-networking sites such as Facebook, Yahoo and others. They opened up a much wider world and the vast advances in technology and software allowed much more discourse and interaction between fans all over the world. Although there have been many various conventions for over a generation, I believe it was some of these changes that really changed a lot of things. It used to be that only very wealthy people could afford a Web Site, but nowadays it seems the costs are much more reasonable, and it can really help a small-press publisher when they have their own page where they can showcase their work and attempt to attract new fans and readers. I say this with a caveat however: There is a big push toward everything becoming digital these days and the eBook format has become extremely popular. I have nothing against that, and we even have produced some digital books of our own, but to me there is nothing like holding a book or magazine in your hands. The tactile sensations, the smell of the paper or newsprint, the ability to have something really tangible to hold and treasure is something that is very important to me, and as a publisher I will never stop producing “hard copy” as my main source of publishing. Maybe it’s because of the generation I grew up in, but to me, an eBook could never replace an actual, real book… Besides, I also collect old pulps, comics and books and they are something I proudly display in my home. To me, those are repositories of adventure and imagination that I will never tire of, and I can re-read them even if the power goes out to the Internet or the batteries die on an eBook reader. Yes, everything does eventually decay or die, but the books on my shelf will always hold a special place in my heart.
RON: That’s a good question. I’d have to say it’s because of the passion we have for what we do, not to mention the ever-improving quality of our publications. A lot of other companies concentrate on reprints in various genres, which is great for the collector who can’t afford the original issues, and others publish new fiction and characters, but I believe that we are one of the few who are actively publishing both classic and new fiction, and more importantly, history and art reference books as well. We try to offer something for everyone.
AP: Ver Curtiss and Bill Carney are both key members of the WCB production family -- can you tell us how they became involved with the company and what their duties are?
Bill Carney joined WCB about 3-4 years ago when he and his brother Chris submitted their original creation “The Scarlet Shroud” to me for possible publication. Both of them are talented artists, and while Chris does most of the story writing, Bill is also a fine writer who has written some fine historical reference pieces, especially dealing with Science Fiction and Fantasy. He’s one of the most knowledgeable people in those areas that I’ve ever met. And like Ver, he’s also a great person to be around. He and I have gone to conventions together, I spend a few days each year visiting him in Upstate New York, as well as both of us going to visit his brother Chris in Pennsylvania. We all get along great, and I look forward to each of my trips to visit them. However, the best thing that Bill does is Graphic Design. I used to do all the book formatting for our titles myself, and while they were “acceptable” they were nowhere near as good as what Bill can do. He’s a professional designer by trade, and has even won some national awards for his Production Design work, and I finally approached him about becoming the head designer for WCB and he has really delivered the goods! I’ve had several people tell me that our titles are some of the most professional and beautifully designed books on the market today, and I owe all that to Bill… which is one of the reasons I recently promoted him to Managing Editor. He’s not only a voracious reader, but he knows how to best edit stories that are submitted to us. And, to tell the truth, what with all the “management” details I have to deal with as the publisher, it made perfect sense to have him edit our books as well. He’s much better at it than I ever was! He’s also in charge of our revival of the old pulp “Startling Stories”. He has full editorial control over that project, and I’m very thankful that he loves doing it. It really is one of our finest on-going projects.
AP: Looking back, what books has WCB published in the past that you think are ones you're particularly proud of?
RON: Well, I love all my children equally (joke!) but I would have to say I’m really proud of some of our Pulp History reference books by Award-winning historian Wooda “Nick” Carr. He grew up with the pulps (he’s in his mid-80’s now) and, like Ver, has been with me from the beginning. Each issue of my various fanzines always had a new article by him… but it’s the book collections I’m most proud of: “The Pulp Hero”, “Master of the Pulps”, and “The Pulp Magazine Scrapbook”… All of these belong on any pulp fan’s bookshelf… “Pulp Hero” is an encyclopedia of over 100 heroes and villains, plus a complete bibliography of all of Nick’s articles and books. “Master” contains a variety of some of his finest articles gathered over the years from various publications. But the “Pulp Magazine Scrapbook” is something totally different. This contains copies of the letters that Nick received over the years from many of the original pulp writers and artists: Walter Gibson, Robert G. Harris, Harry Steeger, Ryerson Johnson, and many more. It’s a historian’s dream to actually go back in time and read what the creators had to say about their work and what it was like back in the days of pulp fiction.
Another one of my favorites is “The Captain Future Handbook” by Chuck Juzek. It’s a hard-cover full-color book that contains everything you could possibly want in regards to this classic space hero. It has complete story summaries, the very rare first chapter written by Edmond Hamilton that was only published previously in a small-press fanzine, and it’s lavishly illustrated with every pulp and paperback cover, including all the German and Japanese editions, and is probably one of the most comprehensive and beautiful books we’ve ever published. It retails for $75.00 but in today’s marketplace, that’s a steal when you consider the high-quality product that you’ll receive. It’s a true masterpiece!
Another book I’m very proud of is K.G. McAbee’s “Bewitched by Darkness”, a collection of some of this Award-winning writer’s finest short stories with Cover and Interior Art by the fantastic British artist Nick Neocleous. Nick has illustrated a lot of our book covers, and every one of them has been a winner. He’s one of my favorite artists, and he’s always willing to pitch in and do wonderful work for us. He’s been involved with some high-profile characters such as “Doctor Who” and “Indiana Jones”, so he’s always in demand, but I’m very happy he is able to find the time to work with a small-press company such as WCB. We even published a full-color art book of his finest pieces called “Cosmic Eye”, which is another book I’m very proud of. It’s absolutely beautiful…
Another character I really enjoy is “The Rook” created and written by Barry Reese. I can’t name just one book as there are now five volumes in the series, each one better than the last. These books are pure pulp action and adventure, and some of the Cover Artists include Storn Cook, Frank Brunner, Norm Breyfogle and Anthony Castrillo. Not only are there some great original characters in these tales, but the author also brings in some classic pulp heroes that are in Public Domain, which makes this series so much fun for all of us fans… These are some really great tales!
I could go on and on, but I really do like all our books, and the weird thing is that some of our best, and my personal favorites, are not always our best-sellers… Go figure…
RON: “Startling Stories” is a mutant. We not only reprint classic Golden Age Science-Fiction in each issue, but we even include some of the advertisements that appeared back then. We also include new stories by some of the most talented new writers on the market today such as K.G. McAbee, S. Clayton Rhodes, and others. We also have a Retro-Review section, and in our first issues we were very pleased to offer a comic story written and illustrated by the very talented Ron Wilber. A lot of people really loved his “Saucy Blaine” strip, but that will be ending soon. Ron Wilber is one of the few people on the planet who does not have a computer and has never used the Internet, so he doesn’t get the feedback that all creators desire. Despite the fact that I call him and tell him how much everyone loves “Saucy”, he has apparently lost the desire to continue on with it past the sixth story, which really disappoints me. I hope he regains his enthusiasm again at some point, as I enjoy working with him very much.
As for submissions, yes, we are always accepting submissions for “Startling Stories” of any length. Although it’s only a quarterly magazine, we need to have a supply of tales on hand to give us ample time to plan and pace each issue. We try to maintain a certain page count, and sometimes it’s tough to find just the right story to balance both the texture and variety we try to offer. Not everything has to be Sci-Fi or Fantasy, as we also accept Horror and, well, pretty much anything that could be called “Startling”!
AP: What new titles are on the way and what you can tell us about each?
AP: If fans want to purchase WCB books or learn more about the company, where can they do so?
RON: We have a website that I try to keep updated at _www.wildcatbooks.net <http://www.wildcatbooks.net/>_ and it has various pages listing our books at Amazon, as well as our other store that we maintain at lulu.com. You’ll find most of our earlier works at Lulu, but when we had the chance to move to Amazon we discovered that the quality was just as good, if not better, but the production costs were a lot lower so we were able to start pricing our books at a more affordable price in today’s economy than if we had stayed at Lulu.
AP: What's your stance on public domain characters? WCB has used a few in the past but it's emphasis now seems to be on original heroes.
AP: At one point, Airship 27 was associated with WCB... there have been many rumors about why the schism occurred, including tales that you and Ron Fortier now hated one another. Can you tell us what happened and what the current state of relations between creators and companies are now?
RON: Well, it’s a long story, but I’ll try to condense it. A few years ago, Ron Fortier of Airship 27 discovered WCB and submitted some really great stuff, and of course I immediately accepted, and even asked for more. Although we were the publisher, RF was the producer and he insisted on total editorial control. For a while that division worked well but eventually I found myself not having a say in anything: writers, artists, even the logo being used were not anything I had a say in, and even some of my suggestions were shrugged off. When he kept rejecting my ideas and insulted one of my best artists, well, that’s when I decided we needed to part ways. I returned all control and rights to his books back to him to re-release under his own publishing company, although some changes were made when he couldn’t get everyone who had been involved before to go along with the changes. I freely admit that there were a lot of hard feelings for quite a while. Too many people in the pulp world know what happened for me to even try to deny it, so I won’t. Yes, I was angry and hurt and he and I didn’t speak for a couple of years. But as they say: “Time heals all wounds” and since the pulp community is so close knit, I realized that there was no way we could, or should, continue under that veil of anger… It was time to let bygones be bygones, water under the bridge and all that. So we finally buried the hatchet (and not in each other’s heads) and agreed that we both had made mistakes and to let it go. He’s doing very well now with his Airship 27 titles, and I wish him all the best. He even told me that if it wasn’t for WCB he probably wouldn’t even be in the pulp business in the first place, and he obviously loves what he’s doing, so in a way, I guess, everything happens for a reason. We’re friends again… and that’s where it stands today. Heck, we’re even friends on Facebook!
AP: Have you read any of DC's First Wave revivals? What do you think about the changes to the heroes that they've made? For that matter, where do you stand on making changes to classic heroes in general?
RON: I have read some of the First Wave revivals and, except for the cover art, I was really not impressed at all. In fact, as much as I love the characters (Doc Savage, The Avenger, The Spirit, etc.) I think DC has made a terrible blunder in how they are presenting these classics. Supposedly, everyone involved wanted to remain true to the “roots” of the pulp heroes, but it seems to me that they basically revamped them to the point that they are no longer recognizable to me. However, that being said, I really don’t have many problems with making some changes to the classics. But it has to be done with respect and love, and I didn’t get that feeling at all from DC’s revisionist take on them. They pretty much ruined the characters for all of us long-time fans, and by presenting them in the way they have, I doubt if new readers would be willing to read the original tales (which were so much fun), and that’s too bad, because the original tales make for very fine reading. In fact, I wish they would have adapted all those great stories to comics rather than see them turn out to be a miserable tragedy, and epic failure, for everyone involved with them.
AP: On a related note, how do you feel about Moonstone's Return of the Originals?
RON: Now those are something I’m looking forward to reading because I know that Moonstone has a very high regard for keeping the faith! I haven’t read any of them yet (I don’t get to the local comic store as much as I used to) but from all I know about the creators involved, I have much higher expectations for this project than any others I’ve seen recently. In fact, I’m pretty much disgusted with all comics today. There’s only a few out there that I would even consider buying on a regular basis. DC and Marvel have both become gross distortions of their former selves, bloated from their greed, and I’m at the point where most comics no longer have the attraction to me that they did before. I’d rather spend my money on old Silver Age comics that I grew up with as a child. Those were inspiring and bring back many wonderful memories. Today’s comics pretty much just suck…
RON: Well, thanks for the kind words, but I don’t consider myself as anything special. I’m just someone who really loves the pulps, the heroes, comics, and pretty much everything related to our Popular Culture. The only thing that I ever consider when making publishing decisions is: Do I like it?… I try to print the type of things that I would personally want to read. Not all of our books sell like gangbusters, but I’ve never been in this for the money… I do this because I really and truly love doing it… and I only hope our fans enjoy our books as much as I do!
DAVID BURTON, Pulp Artist
AP: First, thanks so much for sitting down with All Pulp for a few minutes, David. Why don't you share with our audience a little aboutDB: You're welcome, its my pleasure. As far as my personal life goes, I'm a pretty private person. I've been drawing and painting pretty much all of my life. I'm mostly self taught but have had some of the best people in the industry, who also happen to be friends of mine both
encourage me and give my pointers over the years. The nice thing is that I've been able to help them as well.
AP: Now, looking at your site (www.davidburtonart.net) you have a particular interest and affinity for pulp themed work. How did you
get into painting pulp? Have you always been a fan or did you come to it some other way?
DB: I've always been a fan and still am. That all started with THE SHADOW radio show, which my dad got me interested in when I was about 7. Than at about 12 I started reading DOC SAVAGE and was hooked. I started getting my work published in fanzines, most notably ECHOES and THE BRONZE GAZETTE. When I can I'll do a piece for the BG. From there the subject matter has pretty much been fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Lately though its been pin-up and female figure work. I'm dealing with a few galleries right now about carrying that line of work.
AP: What appeals to you about painting pulp themed figures and works? Is there something about the characters and setting themselves or is it more about the stories?
going.
AP: Can you share with us a little about the process you use when painting a pulp piece? Do you do research, any special preparation,
go in any particular order, like with pencils and such, or do you just go straight to paints?
DB: Each piece is different and I approach them accordingly. Regardless of the piece, unless the client wants something very specific, I'll do research. I'm a stickler for getting things right. I'm working on a piece right now for an upcoming DOC SAVAGE painting that will feature both Doc and Princess Monja. I went to great lengths contacting Dr. Richard D. Hansen, who is one of the leading authorities on Mayan culture and was the advisor on the film, "Apocalypto", who was a great help in getting me currect information on how a Mayan Princess would be dressed.
As far as my approach to how I work goes, I always start with pencils sketches and then work them out into a full drawing if needed,
then go to the paints.
AP: Is there a pulp character, series, etc. that appeals to you over the others as an artist? If so, why?
DB: Its a toss up between Doc Savage and The Shadow. They have a lot more of offer more in the way of potential than any of the others. Though I also like The Spider because he's so over the top.
AP: The classic pulp covers were, of course, all painted works. That's sort of a staple for classic pulp. Do you think that its
important to establish the same sort of link between painted work and modern pulp? If so or if not, why?
DB: I'd like to think that any media could make that connection. But I've seen hundreds of pulp related stuff done in electronic and it
just doesn't have the same impact, so for now anyway, painting in traditional media is the only way to go.
DB: Know your subject and know your history. Study the old overs and ask yourself, what colors did they use and why, look at how they lit scenes and how they managed their composition. And don';t copy or rip them off, if you can't come up with something on your own, then you need to practice more to see what you're doing wrong. Copying or ripping another cover off is a fool's journey. You think no one has
ever seen any of the covers you're taking stuff from, but they have and if they don't call you on it now, they will. That's inevitable. It will
only give you a poor rep and that's nearly impossible to overcome. Be known for YOU and let your work stand out that way. You'll shine and that alone is priceless.
AP: Do you have anything in the works that would be of interest to pulpsters everywhere?
DB: Other than the above mentioned Doc painting, I've got a few things that are in various stages. Something with The Shadow again, it's been a long time since I've done anything with him. I'll be working on a Doc drawing from my friend TOM JOHNSON that will feature Doc and Big Foot and there are some others, but I'd like to share those as they come along.
AP: Awesome! Thanks so much, David!
B. C. Bell: Creator/writer of THE BAGMAN, Airship 27 Productions
AP: Who is B.C. Bell?BCB: Byron Christopher Bell is a work in progress; a writer who hopes he never stops learning, or at least being curious; a bundle of contradictions. Mostly I’m a guy that likes a good yarn, something a little bit different that will still keep me on the edge of my seat. I love comics, heroes, hard boiled crime, horror, science fiction and pulp.
AP: What's your background?
BCB: I was born a seventh generation Texan, and moved out while everybody else was moving in. I’ve worked as a musician, ranch hand, retail manager, construction worker, print salesman, artist and writer. I’ve also worked as Senior Resident at a halfway house, and both sides of the mental health desk. I’m from one of those families where the kids raised themselves, and I made a lot of mistakes on the way, so I’m probably one of the few hard-boiled pulp guys writing that has actually lived on the street. Hell, there’s a part of me that’s still dreaming up crooked schemes in my head—I’ve mentally pulled off at least three armored car jobs in the last year. But hey, that’s all for art, right? Hmmmm, well, at least part of it. The biggest thing as far as pulp goes is that without the heroes of my youth I know I’d be in jail.
AP: Where do you live?
BCB: My adopted hometown of Chicago, North Side. I think I’m in my fifteenth year here. Don’t even ask me about Cubbies vs. White Sox.
AP: How long have you been writing?
BCB: Since I learned the alphabet, in one form or another. Before I wrote, I wanted to be a cartoonist, so I wrote what I drew. I majored in journalism at the University of North Texas, but when I saw what was happening to American media, I dropped out and started working as a musician (bass, vocals, and blues harp). All through my years as a musician, I was writing songs and lyrics. Then one day in my thirties I read a lousy book by a famous writer, and said, “I can do better.” Subconsciously, I’m pretty sure I was aiming at the fact that Raymond Chandler (of Philip Marlowe fame) had started really writing at about the same age. Not that I’m comparing myself to Chandler, even though I’d love to.
AP: Share with us your thoughts on the current boom in pulp action/adventure fiction.
BCB: I love it, other than the fact that I can’t keep up with all the characters. Seriously, this is one of those weird moments in history where we get to see things change. Adventure fiction kind of got forgotten by all the big publishers, and I love being one of the guys to pick up the slack. I also think with my particular background, I have the chance to inject a voice that others might not know about. I’d seriously love to see a homegrown pulp movement that while still holding the moral virtues of the past, can also grow into a whole different new animal. In a way that’s what I tried to do with TALES OF THE BAGMAN, create a character, who in a world gone corrupt, still has a moral compass—even it is a little bit wonky. In the book I refer a lot to his “moral flexibility,” a nice way of saying legal, illegal, and extralegal.
AP: You've written SECRET AGENT X, JIM ANTHONY & DAN FOWLER, G-MAN for Airship 27 Productions. Who's your favorite character of those three?
BCB: Tough question, I’ll try not to use the phrase “apples and oranges,” but it certainly applies. Secret Agent X is a man so dedicated to his mission he doesn’t even have his own identity. That takes a lot of commitment. On the other hand we have Fowler, who’s also a Federal Agent, yet is so recognizable that he really can’t go undercover—and his entire identity is wrapped up in being the stereotypical Hoover FBI man. Meanwhile, Jim Anthony, especially in his new Airship 27 tales, has vast potential. So part of me wants to say Dan Fowler, because I love the image of the thirties G-Man and want to write another one of those. But, since we’ve already been exposed to Elliot Ness, Dick Tracy and a host of others, Dan might not seem too original—there’s a lot of work left to be done by the author. So, OK, X is probably the best character, but I have to go with Dan Fowler because I still have my Melvin Purvis, Junior G-Man badge.
BCB: Definitely Maybe. Obviously, it’s my most ambitious to be published, and it’s definitely the most fun thing I’ve ever written—fun to write, fun to read. But my first novel, Bipolar Express, was pretty ambitious, too. Picture a Science Fiction/Noir story written like a 1950’s Gold Medal paperback, starring three dually-diagnosed, mentally ill, homeless men, trying to survive the worst winter in Chicago history—and all the while the magnetic poles are shifting.
Of course, what I’ve learned in the last few years is that I better think every project is my most ambitious; you stop aiming high, you’re going to start digging a rut. That’s my big lesson for 2010. And yes, I’d definitely love to write a few more Bagman books. I’m thinking Chicago World’s Fair and Dillinger, since The Bagman’s living in June of 1933.
AP: Who is The Bagman?
BCB: The Bagman is Frank “Mac” MacCullough, a criminal just on the edge of climbing organized crime’s corporate ladder. Then one day they send him to break his uncle’s legs, and he can’t do it. In the end he has to take on the mob, and deal with the cops at the same time. But in the beginning the only thing he has on hand to disguise himself is a paper bag that he wedges on under his fedora. Thus a man who was a bagman for the mob becomes, The Bagman. He uses a gun because so does everybody else, and he prefers a revolver to an automatic—that alone ought to tell you he’s a little bit different.
Working with him, and every bit his equal, is “Crankshaft” Jones, an ace mechanic and WWI vet who served with The Harlem Hellfighters, to win the French Medal of Honor. So here he we have a black man who’s a war hero in France, but comes back to the states and he’s just another face lost in the crowd. Crankshaft is practically Mac’s foster dad, but his best friend, too. Also a bit of a cynic.
And, I’d also like to point out that Mac is a character who I plan to evolve, so his future could get a whole lot weirder, and there are some definite signals toward that in the book.
AP: What works in progress can you tell us about?
BCB: Well, let’s see… I’ve got two novelettes for Airship 27 coming out sometime soon here. RAVENWOOD, STEPSON OF MYSTERY, the only occult character in the pulps to actually have supernatural powers. Another, newer BAGMAN story to appear in an anthology of all new pulp heroes. And a novel I’ve started, but have no idea where it’s going, that features Elizabethan playwright and spy Christopher Marlowe coming back to earth as a modern demon hunter.
But, I have to say now, as of this second, I just decided I’m going to do another Dan Fowler. How many opportunities am I going to get in this life to write G-Man stories? Which I think kind of brings us back again to this whole pulp revolution. I love this stuff!
AP: What do you think are your strengths as a writer and what are your weaknesses?
BCB:I think one of my best strengths is visualization—at least that’s what I’ve been told. Being a visual thinker, it seems, makes it easier for the writer to pass that picture along to the reader. I’m pretty good with dialogue, and I’m also pretty big on history. Put it this way, I actually enjoy doing research.
As far as what I’m not good at? I think plotting might be my weakest point. I like having a general idea of where the story’s going, but I hate writing outlines. Sometimes I finish an outline and there’s a part of my brain that says “Why write the story? You already know what’s going to happen?” Then again, Dashiell Hammet thought plotting was his big weakness, and it didn’t stop him from defining a whole new genre.
AP: Hobbies? Other Interests?
BCB: I like baseball, anybody that reads The Bagman book ought to figure that out. I have to admit I really do spend a lot of my spare time reading. Writing is such an imperfect art form, in that it’s never perfect, and I like to see how other people pull it off. I also ride a bike. I don’t drive. My wife and I buy and sell vintage goods so I always like looking at old stuff. Of course, there’s the whole musician thing, and music is like food: you got to try all kinds. Anybody that knows me also knows I’m a bit of a political activist; I really do hate injustice.
AP: Here's your chance to give somebody a shoutout or plug something. Go.
BCB: I’ve got a story you can read for free up at SFReader.com, on their annual short story contest page, “How Pappy Got Five Acres Back and Calvin Stayed on the Farm.” It’s got monsters. And you need to check out Andrew Salmon’s The Light of Men. Not your average pulp novel.
AP: What's a typical Day In The Life Of B.C. Bell like?
BCB: Oh, I wake up. Have a Pop-Tart. Go back to bed—wait, I think that was an episode of Lifestyles of the Poor and Decrepit…
AP: What else should we know about B.C. Bell?
BCB: I think we should just go right back to “he’s a bundle of contradictions.” Yeah, I may be conflicted, but I’m never boring.
JOHN MORGAN NEAL
Co creator/writer of AYM GERONIMO AND THE POST MODERN PIONEERS
All concepts and artwork is copyright John Morgan Neal and Todd Fox.
JMN: John Morgan Neal is a Texan Scot/Cherokee who grew up in the county seat of Grayson County on the edge of the Red River and who has always dreamed about being a storyteller such as the ones that entertained me in my youth in vibrant four colors and on yellowed paged paperbacks. I'm also a bit of a crusty ol' kook as the regulars over at the Dixonverse, the official message board of Chuck Dixon where I help moderate can attest.
AP: Now, describe Aym Geronimo as a character. Who is she? Where'd the idea come from? What influenced you?
JMN: Aym Geronimo is a quintessential adventurer. She doesn't do what she does as a job. She isn't a spy or Tomb Raider or any other occupation that itself brings her to adventure. She herself seeks it out in various ways. Her motivations are to help people and investigate strange things and to basically find things out. And this leads to all sorts of danger. Which she enjoys. It's why someone with Aym's abilities doesn't stay in a lab. She would wither and die there.
AP: Now, although there are a few, there are not a tremendous amount of female lead characters in the pulp genre, particularly in the hero-leader mold you've cast Aym in. Tell us how you came to create the character as female.
JMN: To be utterly honest. It came from the name. I wanted a name like Savage and Banzai and we knew we were going with the American Southwest. So I came up with Geronimo and thought about what would work with that and came up with the slightly altered and misspelled short name for Amethyst and came up with Aym. Which for the readers of this interview's sake is pronounced aim. So Aim Geronimo. Or Aym Geronimo. And it had to be a woman. Very quickly Aym herself started to take shape and form.
JMN: The PostModern Pioneers are Aym's fellow adventurers, compatriots, allies, and pals that operate with her out of the Wonder Wall, which is located in a wall of the Grand Canyon near the Havasupi reservation. They are all experts and specialists in their respective fields except for one. And he is just Odd. Otis Delacroix to be exact. He has been an adventurer for many years prior to Aym and is her mentor now. He is a mysterious figure of advanced age and copious skills and knowledge that even Aym doesn't know the full story about. We also have Bird the pilot, driver and mechanic. He had served in the military with Aym's father and sort of looks out for her as his proxy. His real name is Charlton Portamayne and he tends to try and serve as the voice for reason in Aym's ear. Which usually is deaf. Esmeralda Kausoulos is a former tomb raiding archeologist and geologist who Aym has given a new lease on life due to Aym's loyalty to her as her former instructor. Pebbles tends to be saucy and sassy and sexy despite her more mature years starting to show. Danielle Roh, or Granny tinkers in her 'Kitchen' in the Wonder Wall as the resident technical and computer genius. She is by far the youngest of the PMP as she is barely out of her teens. She tends to be sardonic sometimes and can be distracted by her many youthful interests but is supremely capable and loyal. Erica 'Flipper' Ra is Aym's best friend and a denizen of the Ocean since she was a little girl and first saw it. It has been a hopeless cause to get her out of it very long since then. Flipper is the provider of boats and diving equipment and information on the watery depths of the planet due to her talents as an Oceanographer. And finally last but not least is Aym's big brother Granite. Going by his spiritual name of Wind. Aym serves as the expert on Legend Lore and the more esoteric non scientific side of things, many times in opposition to Aym's point of view. Wind serves as Aym's conscious and connection to her people. Wind also is an expert tracker and hunter.
JMN: That would be Aym Geronimo and the PostModern Pioneers: Tall Tales. It is a collection of prose short stories from various writers who I invited and they knocked it out of the park. The book is currently in the last stages of editing and will then go to the design stage and hopefully will be ready to debut very soon. I am very excited about this book.
(JMN also had his editor on this project, Sarah Beach comment on this question as follows) John asked me (Sarah Beach) as editor of the prose project to comment about this. Since he and Todd had hit some delays in getting a new graphic novel version of Aym and her team into print, John wanted to keep Aym in front of the audience. So some time ago he approached me about writing a prose story using the characters. He said he'd asked a number of other friends to do one as well. He gave us free rein, to use whichever characters we wanted and any type of story. Sometime later, I got involved as editor, proofreading the stories as they came in and doing a little bit of editing. It's been a lot of fun, because there's quite a variety of stories in the collection: character pieces, action adventures, mysteries and even a dash of some comedy. And yet, they are all credibly stories of Aym and the PostModern Pioneers. It's a credit to John in the creation of the characters and the strength of Todd's artwork that has given them real shape, that so many different writers have caught the nature of them.
AP: Your characters in Aym run pretty much the ethnic gamut. Was that because the characters just developed that way or was there a greater purpose?
JMN: No grand design really. Only that I knew she would have a team and that I wanted to avoid them all being WASP males. Other than that they pretty much came organically without much prior thought. Some of it came from mental casting. Like Bird is a combo of Yaphet Kotto and Morgan Freeman. And I knew I wanted Danille to be a cute little Asian college age girl and I wanted the Archeologist to be from Greece. And Wind had to be Apache like his sister. So that leaves Odd. Who's just a typical old man. Or is he?
AP: What is in the future for Aym? More comics or other mediums? And as far as stories, anywhere you're going to take her that we'd like to know about, any interesting locales or situations awaiting Aym that you can share?
JMN: Todd Fox and I are working on 12 page comic story for a special project I can't mention yet and then we will get back to work on the epic Aym tale “The Devil's Cauldron” which will be a huge comic volume. Or graphic novel as they are called. We also have wanted to do something online with her and I imagine I will be revisiting the prose world with her. As for locales and situations. There could be a certain large footed mammal missing link in her life and a trip to the 'Ring of Fire' in the Pacific to stop a cataclysm. And a trip to Russia to track down what might be a Werewolf. I think that's good enough to whet the appetite for now.
AP: Do you have any other projects that would interest the pulp realm?
JMN: I have a western called Death and Texas that concerns a group of various folks who for one reason or another have “gone to Texas' either to run from something or run to something. Primary among them is the Chinese American gunslinger named Ran Wu, dubbed The Yellow Devil by the Dime Novels. I also soon will have with my English partner from across the Pond a little number called Them: Atomic Age Heroes. Which is set in the 50's and concerns the mutinous crew of various aliens on a flying saucer that attempts to save the Earth from their despotic masters.
AP: Thanks for your time and we can't wait for the further adventures of Aym Geronimo and her Post Modern Pioneers. Any final thoughts?
JMN: Long Live All Pulp. And Aym for Adventure!
To find Aym Geronimo on the web, check out www,aymgeronimo.com And on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aym-Geronimo-and-the-Post-Modern-Pioneers/105564933516
DANNY KELLY, Artist on HALLOWEEN LEGION
All artwork is copyright Danny Kelly. Halloween Legion is copyright Martin Powell and Danny Kelly.
AP: What's the secret origin of Danny Kelly?
DANNY KELLY: I've spent a lifetime in seclusion, with pencil in hand, creating imaginary worlds hoping that just once I'll create one that I can actually jump in and hide. I attended the Joe Kubert school where I was completely humbled and became rededicated, after school I toiled away in the ''real world'' until realizing that I had to escape this world at all costs, and the only way of doing that was to become a professional comics artist, over the last few years I've completely immersed myself in comic art and tutorials, eventually spreading my work far enough on the internet that I was ''discovered'' by some great folks like Martin Powell and Neil Vokes, who have been so gracious and helpful to me, and it now appears that my sacrifices have paid off. My REAL Secret Origin? I'm a canine-human hybrid from a galaxy nearby who was put on earth to save all of dog-kind. After realizing the impossibility of such a task I decided to draw for a living :)
AP: We've heard a little bit about Halloween Legion already but what can you add to it? How did you become involved in the project and how much of a free hand did you have in designing the characters?
DANNY KELLY: Martin has kept alot of the details to himself, I just know it's a great quirky twist on superheroes and the Horror genre with deceptively simple looking heroes who hide several secrets just below the surface, and the Skeleton, well, much as I'd love to tell you his secret, and it's a real good one, I just cannot at this time...Martin brought up the idea to me and I told him that of course I'd love to work with him and have something published by Ron Hanna, another one of my favorite people that I've been lucky enough to meet online, Martin gave me good thorough descriptions and I drew the crew several times to try to get a feel for them, Martin liked what he saw and I was on! I just had to follow Martin's descriptions for the characters and try to keep them iconic but unique at once. We'll see how well I pull that off,lol.
DANNY KELLY: Right now I'm involved in self publishing a book that I penciled called The Curse of the Vessel, written by Michael Leal, about a mob gangster who shakes down the wrong guy and gets branded with a sigil that allow the dead to occupy his body, we won the third round of the now-stalled Small Press Idol contest for this year, I also have several small projects and stories in the works with a few different writers, the next thing that I've worked on that should be done is M.O.N.S.T.E.R. Home by Dan Barnes, a tale of Van Helsing being admitted to an asylum full of classic Universal Horror monsters, good fun!
AP: For folks who might want to find out more about you or your works, where should they go?
AP: For folks who might want to find out more about you or your works, where should they go?
DANNY KELLY: Facebook.com/Dannydog is my profile, send me a friend request! I have no website up just yet, I'm thinking about it but for now Facebook is my best networking tool and where I've gotten the most useful feedback on my work, I can also be reached at DrFate420@aol.com
DANNY KELLY: So very many! I'd love to do several short stories featuring my favorite characters like The Shadow, The Green Hornet, Hourman and Dr. Midnight, Space Ghost, but as someone who was most motivated to pursue comics art by books like Year One, The Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns, and as someone with the black Golden Age Bat-symbol tattooed on my arm (my first one) I'd love to draw a Batman tale, if just once!
MARTIN POWELL AND 'THE HALLOWEEN LEGION'
Longtime author Martin Powell recently sat down with All Pulp contributor Barry Reese to talk about his upcoming book THE HALLOWEEN LEGION. THL will be released in October from Wild Cat Books. All images shown are rough preliminary sketches and are not finished artwork.
POWELL: Be glad to. THE HALLOWEEN LEGION is a concept and group of characters that I originally dreamed up many years ago, way back in the vacuous days of high school. One day, during a mind-numbing semantics class, I started sketching these figures in my notebook: a Skeleton, Witch, Devil, Ghost, and a Black Cat, the iconic archetypes of All Hallows Eve.
I remember getting a mild chill when I first drew them all together, a sort of jolt of anticipation. Suddenly I began imagining a whole series of adventures for the weird little group.
Of course, they’ve been simmering in my subconscious until recently, never quite forgotten, and patiently waiting for their chance to be born. I’m actually very glad that I waited this long. I needed the last couple decades of writing experience to prepare me for their debut. This is a very important, very personal project for me.
I’ve always loved the autumn and Halloween in particular. I wanted to somehow capture that feeling of magic and mystery, the sort of thrill you get as a kid when the falling orange and yellow leaves appear to follow you down the street. It’s too brief a season and I suppose in some crazy way I wanted to have that feeling with me always. THE HALLOWEEN LEGION is the result of that yearning.
BR: You're collaborating on this project with Danny Kelly -- what is he bringing to the table that you think will enhance the experience for readers?
POWELL: I hand-picked Danny from a number of artists that I had to choose from. There is something raw and elemental in his artwork that mixes perfectly with what I had in mind for these characters. I look at Danny’s drawings and I immediately smile. I wanted his sense of energetic, creepy fun.
Although I had lots of suggestions, and directed him a little, Danny essentially designed the visuals of THE HALLOWEEN LEGION himself. The fact that he gives the Ghost such amazing expressions, in spite of the fact that he’s a kid wearing a simple sheet with eye-holes cut out, is phenomenal.
I didn’t want this group to be photo-realistic, and the works of Edward Gorey and Charles Addams were closer to what I had in mind. Danny fits that sort of style perfectly, while also maintaining his own artistic identity.
BR: The promotional artwork by Danny Kelly suggests a somewhat fanciful tone to the book. Is this an all-ages story or something a bit darker?
POWELL: Hmm. It’s tough to describe. Sounds ambitious, I know, but I’ve always wanted THE HALLOWEEN LEGION to appeal to everyone, kid and grown-up alike. I suppose I can safely compare the book to John Bellairs’ eerie mysteries in its tone. I love his scary novellas.
There is a certainly a whimsical side to my story, but it’s pretty dark, too, even terrifying in some places, I hope. Fans of the pulps, Harry Potter, and Baum’s Oz books will probably feel quite at home here, but I like to think that THE HALLOWEEN LEGION is unique and original.
BR: Again, just by looking at the promotional images, it seems like this is perfectly suited to become a continuing series and even has possibilities for multimedia usage. Any plans for any of this?
POWELL: That’s exactly what I’ve always had in mind for them. Although Danny and I are starting THE HALLOWEEN LEGION off with an illustrated novella, we have lots of other plans, too. I’d love to do HL comic books, animation, action figures, lunch boxes, t-shirts, Halloween masks, radio shows, newspaper comic strips, feature films, and even a gentler picture book version for younger kids, too. I’m going to do my best to make all of that happen.
BR: This is your first foray into the Wild Cat Books publishing line. How long have you known publisher Ron Hanna and what led to WCB becoming the home for The Halloween Legion?
POWELL: Actually, I first worked for Wild Cat Books several years ago, co-writing the Captain Hazzard novel, “The Citadel of Fear”, with Ron Fortier. I’d wanted to do something more for quite a long while, but I could never manage to free up enough time in my schedule.
I’m a full-time freelance writer, and in order to make a living at this I need to write constantly. Luckily, my desk is usually happily swamped with contracted projects, but there just never seemed to be time for anything more.
Then, several months ago, Ron Hanna made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He offered to publish anything I wanted to write. Anything. Anything at all. In over two decades as a professional writer, no one has ever done that for me. I’ve always been lucky enough to get to write for many terrific characters, like Superman, Batman, The Spider, and Sherlock Holmes, but I’ve very rarely ever been given the opportunity to create, and to own, my own characters.
Well, I doubled up on my writing schedule, working twelve hour days and more, including weekends. Fortunately, I hardly ever sleep. After a few months, I’d finally cleared the space necessary to devote to Wild Cat Books. I thought about what I wanted to do for a few weeks. Ron had stressed “anything” I wanted, after all. That’s quite a situation to wrap your mind around.
Then, THE HALLOWEEN LEGION reacquainted themselves to me, from the back corners of my brain. Of course! I thought, with a distinct, rather giddy thrill. It had to be them. Just had to be. They had been waiting so long for me to get my act together. So, I dusted the cobwebs off my little group and contacted Danny Kelly almost immediately. And now here we are.
BR: You're also busy these days with Moonstone's Return of the Originals project. Any information you'd like to share on that front?
POWELL: Thanks for mentioning that. I’m the writer on the new comic book series for THE SPIDER, with artist Pablo Marcos, which is a dream come true for me. In addition to the regular comic book series, I’m also writing a semi-regular illustrated SPIDER prose pulp ‘zine, too. I’ve lots of plans for THE SPIDER.
Also, I’m writing KI-GOR THE JUNGLE LORD, in collaboration with artist, Tom Floyd. I should mention that Tom is the recent recipient of the Golden Lion Award from the Edgar Rice Burroughs Bibliophiles, in recognition of his Tarzan and other Burroughs work. Past recipients have been folks like: Hal Foster, Russ Manning, Harlan Ellison, Johnny Weissmuller, Joe Jusko, and Frank Frazetta, so I’m honored to be working with Tom. He’s also my best friend.
BR: For folks who might be interested in learning more about you and your work, where should they go?
