Phil Giunta's Blog, page 101
September 11, 2012
September 8, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
Angela Ackerman calls out lying characters while Donald Maass encourages us to get on with our stories without delay. Should you have multiple blogs? Kristen Lamb answers, and Jael McHenry writes of endings. Enjoy!
How to Write and Plan a Book Series by Frances Brody via Chuck Sambuchino
How to Edit Your Book in 4 Easy Steps by Mike Nappa via Zachary Petit
5 Ways Writers Can Get the Most out of Goodreads by Patrick Brown via Brian Klems
Is This Title OK? by Andy Martin
What Should Indie Publishers Be Called? and Pen Names by Dean Wesley Smith
Get Over Yourselves and Ethical Roulette by Joe Konrath
When Characters are Liars by Angela Ackerman via Jami Gold
Without Delay by Donald Maass
Flip the Script: End Anywhere by Jael McHenry
When Do Writers Need Multiple Blogs ? by Kristen Lamb
September 6, 2012
Author Interview: Dayton Ward
The fourth installment in my ReDeus: Divine Tales interview series is a discussion with former US Marine now software developer, Dayton Ward. In addition to his impressive volume of original and media tie-in works, Dayton has contributed articles to Star Trek Magazine and as well as Tor's website and StarTrek.com. As a media tie-in writer, Dayton has penned stories in such universes as Star Trek and The 4400. He writes both solo and in collaboration with longtime friend Kevin Dilmore. Does Dayton's military experience influence his fiction? Let's find out!
First, tell us where we can find you online.
That’s easy enough: DaytonWard.com . It’s basically a splash page, with links to my blog (“ The Fog of Ward ”), my Facebook page, and my Twitter account. It’s your one-stop shop for all of my internet banality!
What inspired you to write fiction and what was the first story you ever completed (published or not)?
As trite as I know this sounds, I started writing fiction because I thought it would be a fun thing to try, and I realized this was the creative outlet I’d been missing. As a kid, I drew a lot, thinking I might one day want to be comics or cartoon artist. Even though I enjoyed drawing and still do some on occasion, I lack the real talent (or speed, frankly) to hope for any sort of success in that world.
Writing, on the other hand? I came to it much later, but realized that I just simply enjoyed doing it. The first story I ever completed was likely something for a school assignment, but I don’t remember much about it, and I can almost guarantee you that it was horrible.
You’ve written an impressive body of media tie-in work in the Star Trek universe. Prior to becoming published with Simon & Schuster, did you write Star Trek or other fan fiction?
I did write Star Trek stories, just for the fun of it or for enjoyment by friends. It was my interest in writing Star Trek fiction that led me to enter Pocket Books’ first-ever Star Trek: Strange New Worlds writing contest. Pocket bought one of the stories I submitted to that contest, and after doing that again for the second and third contests, the editor overseeing the contest, John Ordover, asked me to write a Star Trek novel for him, and we were off and running after that.
You’ve also co-written a number of Star Trek stories with Kevin Dilmore. How did you two meet and decide to collaborate?
Kevin and I became friends as a consequence of his writing for the Star Trek: Communicator magazine. Back in 1998, he’d been given the job of writing about that first Strange New Worlds contest, interviewing the winners, and so on. He found out that we lived 45 minutes or so apart from each other, so I agreed to meet him and he’d conduct my interview over a beer. We figured out that we shared a lot of the same interests and started hanging out, and I even collaborated with him on an article for the Communicator back in 2000. Later that year, we started collaborating on the fiction side of things after Kevin asked John if he could pitch a story to the then very brand-new Star Trek: Corps of Engineers series of e-Books. When John agreed, Kevin realized he didn’t know how to proceed, so he called me and we hatched a story. That ended up being a two-part story for the e-Book series, and the beginning of our full-on writing partnership.
I recently interviewed Scott Pearson who has a story in Full-Throttle Space Tales #3: Space Grunts (Flying Pen Press, 2009). In addition to contributing to this anthology, how did you come to be the editor?
I was approached by Flying Pen Press to assemble the anthology, because it was thought that my military background might make for a good fit with this book’s theme, which was to be “space soldiers.” You know, Grunts. I’d never done anything like this before, and so I thought it would be a great learning experience and another skill I might one day be able to offer to other publishers. I invited a whole boatload of writers to submit stories for consideration, from established pros to “up-and-comers.” I’m still very proud of the anthology we put together, and I think we came away with a nice balance of stories in terms of subject matter as well as the diversity of the contributing writers. I was even able to give one writer, Nayad Monroe, her first publication credit, which was a true highlight of the entire experience for me.
Of course, you also have a healthy volume of short stories under your belt across a diverse selection of publications. One of which includes ReDeus: Divine Tales (Crazy 8 Press, August 2012) in which you and I are both contributors. I would imagine that your time in the Marines was an inspiration for your story, “Conscript”. In what ways has your experience in the military manifested in your writing?
Well, how’s that saying go? “Write what you know?” Yeah, I milk that for all it’s worth. My military service—personal experiences, the people I served with, the culture, all of it—definitely informs my writing. I just like writing about those types of characters. The trappings, language and mindset are all second nature to me. I tend to prefer writing for lower-ranking enlisted types rather than generals or other higher-ups, and showing how such characters are affected by the larger stories of alien invasion, genetic engineering gone wrong, war on another planet, or whatever. A general talking about attacking aliens in a situation room can be engaging, but to me the real fun is with the bullets and death rays whizzing past the head of some trooper in a hole somewhere.
That was the case with my main character in “Conscript.” He was a Marine in a war zone who ends up becoming paralyzed and losing an arm in a fire fight, but later has his body restored by the goddess Athena. There’s a cost for this act of “kindness,” of course, and my character isn’t so sure he likes the price tag. It’s essentially an “origin story” for this guy, and whether I get to revisit him in a future story remains to be seen, but I certainly hope to do so, one day.
What can readers expect next from you?
In October, I have a Star Trek novella being published in the various e-Book formats, titled In
Tempest’s Wake. It’s something of a coda to the Star Trek: Vanguard series of novels Pocket
published starting in 2005, and which ended with something of a monstrous bang earlier this
year. It was a “spin-off” of sorts, with a cast of largely new characters involved in a storyline that
unfolds in parallel to the events of the original Star Trek television series. I was one of four authors
who wrote stories for that series, along with its creators, David Mack and Marco Palmier, as well as
my writing partner, Kevin. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had writing Star Trek, and I’m
definitely going to miss it now that we’ve put it to bed in proper, explosive fashion.
What does Dayton Ward do when he isn’t writing or editing?
Sleep?
When I’m not doing that, I like spending time with my wife and daughters. I also like to
read, watch old movies and TV shows along with football. I still like going to the movies, but lately I
seem to be going just so I can watch films that are 30 or more years old.
And yeah, that sleep thing. Sleep is good.
September 5, 2012
ReDeus: Divine Tales get Praise from SFRevu!!
The premise: What if all of the ancient gods from every Earth culture returned in 2012?
SFRevu just gave us some love, click here to read. "ReDeus delivers on its far-reaching premise..."
Although my story is not mentioned by name as others are, there is a line at the end the of the review that references my tale: "a broken harp may finally end an ancient battle". I'll take it!
August 31, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
Bob Greenberger talks about revising a manuscript on the screen vs. on paper. Veronica Sicoe wants more out of science fiction while Dean Wesley Smith would like writers to stop signing over control of their work. Joe Konrath takes a step to promote eBooks for libraries. Kristine Kathryn Rusch warns indie writers away from scam publishing services.
And more...enjoy!
To Print or Not To Print by Bob Greenberger
The Myth of Giving Away 15% of Ownership in Your Work by Dean Wesley Smith
Top 5 Things I Want to See Done in Science Fiction by Veronica Sicoe
How I Did It by Barbara Freethy
Ebooks for Libraries by Joe Konrath
How to Prepare for a Book Launch by Jody Hedlund
A Warning to All Indie Writers Who Need Help Indie Publishing by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Indie Authors: You CAN Do It! by Crystal Patriarche
The Antihero - Writing a Dark Hero that Readers Will Love by Dr. Antonio del Drago
The Ongoing Saga of the Dodgy Review by Rachel Abbott
From The Red Pen of Doom
Thanks to NYT bestselling author, Howard Weinstein, for introducing me to the Red Pen of Doom blog. Howie pointed out the following four engaging and cogent articles about writing, social media and book promotion.
Forget the Twitter. Free Ink and Airtime are Your Most Dangerous Weapons
The Secret Truth About Writing
The Twitter is Not for Selling Books
Social Media is a Tool, Not a Magic Bullet
August 30, 2012
Author Interview: Scott Pearson
The third victim--uh, writer--on my interview list from the ReDeus: Divine Tales anthology is a man of many hats. Scott Pearson is a fiction and media tie-in writer, self publisher, editor for two other publishers, and a dad. I don't know if or when he sleeps, but let's find out how Scott manages it all!
First, tell us where we can find you online.
www.yeahsure.net & www.generationsgeek.com
www.facebook.com/yeahsure & www.facebook.com/GenerationsGeek
@smichaelpearson & @generationsgeek
My infrequent blog, Enemy Lines: Dispatches from a Cranky Writer, is on Live Journal, Tumblr, Word Press, and Blog Spot.
At what point in your life did you realize your passion for fiction writing and storytelling? What was the first story you completed (published or not)?
I loved writing in grade school and knew I wanted to be a writer by the seventh grade. I have no specific memory of my first completed story because it was over thirty-five years ago. And it was bad, no doubt about that, you have to write a lot of bad stories when you start. My first published story was “The Mailbox” in 1987. I’ve put a slightly revised version of that on sale electronically. You could call it the twenty-fifth anniversary edition.
How did your story “Finders Keepers” come to be included in the anthology, Full-Throttle Space Tales #3: Space Grunts (Flying Pen Press, 2009) edited by Dayton Ward?
I got to know Dayton because we were both writing Star Trek for Simon & Schuster. At the Shore Leave convention in 2008, he invited several of us Trek writers to submit for Space Grunts, and I jumped at the chance to do something different. I’d never tried military science fiction before. Trek obviously has military elements, but Space Grunts had a straightforward military theme. Obviously I was pleased that my story made the cut.
In addition to SF, you also contributed mystery stories to such anthologies as Resort to Murder (Nodin Press, 2007) and Writes of Spring (Nodin Press, 2012). Do you find yourself writing with a different voice and style depending on which genre you’re writing? If so, how do they differ?
Each piece has its own needs, and various genres have motifs you need to honor to make them work. “Out of the Jacuzzi, Into the Sauna,” in Resort to Murder, belongs to the subgenre of amateur sleuths, a civilian who gets mixed up in a crime and thinks, “Gee whiz, let’s solve it ourselves!” It’s also a comedy featuring a wise-cracking female lead with a big tip of the hat to the great screwball comedies of Katharine Hepburn, so it needed a lot of fast-paced and irreverent dialogue.
That contrasts with “Finders Keepers,” from Space Grunts, which also had a female lead, but she was a marine. She had to be very focused, hard-core, ready to kick some ass. So the character and the genre dictate much of the voice and style you need to have an authentic story and believable characters within that genre. With some luck and some craft, you hope to develop a personal style that also informs the way you treat each story.
You’ve also had three Star Trek short stories and a novella published by Simon & Schuster. Did you write any Star Trek or other fan fiction prior to your media tie-in work?
I’ve never written any fan fiction, in the sense of something I circulated for free, which I find strange. I really don’t understand why. I guess part of it is simply because I decided I wanted to be a professional writer so early. It just never occurred to me to write simply for the fun of writing without an eye toward professional publication. But I want to make it very clear that I love the idea of fan fiction, and I think it’s great that people explore their favorite shows and movies in this way. I never wrote a word of Trek fiction that I wasn’t trying to sell to Simon & Schuster, but, really, it’s all fan fiction, written from a deep love of the show. Mine just got published.
What was the impetus for launching your own publishing imprint, Stuck in the Middle Press ?
I’ve got a number of short stories, some previously published, some not, that I think are worthy efforts on my part but that don’t have a lot of markets available to them for one reason or another. Instead of letting them gather dust, I decided to get with the twenty-first century and put them out there for ninety-nine cents a pop. It’s a very small-scale experiment that I’m doing at a glacial pace. We’ve all heard the lightning-strike stories of people getting rich self-publishing, but most people making some money this way are writers who have already developed a fan base through traditional publishing. So I’m still putting most of my efforts toward that.
You and I both have stories in the new anthology, ReDeus: Divine Tales (Crazy 8 Press, August 2012). What inspired, “The Tale of the Nouveau Templar”?
Several months ago I was putting together notes on some original novel ideas. I wanted a handful of ideas to bounce off friends before deciding what to pursue. I came up with four and a half ideas. Four were fairly full ideas with at least beginnings and middles and some even had endings. But that half idea was just a disembodied scene involving a Knight Templar who wakes up in the modern world after being burned at the stake in 1307. He’d lost his faith while fighting in the Crusades and didn’t know what to do next, but was burned before really dealing with his thoughts. That scene had popped into my head out of nowhere, but I didn’t know anything more about it and couldn’t figure out what to do with it. When I heard about the ReDeus concept, suddenly I had a context for that scene. Because he was a cynical loner because of his past, I couldn’t help thinking of the classic hard-boiled detectives portrayed by Humphrey Bogart. So the story became a mash-up of the noir detective story and the urban fantasy concept of the return of the gods to the modern world. Which ties back into your question about style and voice, because I had to make it fit into the ReDeus world while still evoking elements of old detective movies. It was a lot of fun to write.
As an editor for two publishers (with nearly identical names), do you find it challenging to make time for writing? What time management advice might you have for new writers?
I’d be very happy if I could give time management advice, because it would mean I knew how to do it myself. Unfortunately, juggling a day job with family and friends , occasional freelance editing and writing jobs, and my own original writing remains a huge challenge. I grab time whenever I can, often staying up too late at night or neglecting a yard desperately in need of weeding, watering, or mowing. Weekends aren’t really time off, because I spend so much time writing. It is getting a little bit easier now that my daughter is a teenager and happy to be off on her own or with her friends. So what did I do? I came up with a podcast called Generations Geek that she and I are doing together. But you could hear similar stories from most writers. Most don’t make a living from it, so you pursue it as best you can in the time you make available for it.
What can readers expect next from you?
I have a story, “On My Side,” in an upcoming anthology from Hadley Rille Books, A Quiet Shelter There. The
theme of this speculative anthology is companion and service animals, and 70 percent of profits will be
donated to Friends of Homeless Animals (www.foha.org). It was a great mash up, service animals and
speculative fiction. The release date is to be determined.
Beyond that, everything gets even more vague, but I do have other irons in the fire over the next year or so.
When I know more I’ll post about them.
What does Scott Pearson do when he isn’t writing or editing?
I do a lot of reading. (Related to that, I write a couple of book reviews a month, one for the print publication Suspense Magazine, one for the online Author Magazine. Sorry for mentioning more writing!) I’m trying to make more time for movies and I love computer games far more than I ever have time for. I want to start digitizing old LPs, but instead spend more time listening to CDs. I like keeping up with friends around the country via social media, as well as spending time with local friends over a good glass of wine. Bill Leisner and I get together now and then and try to figure out how to take over the writing world. You know, the usual stuff.
August 27, 2012
99 cent Sale on ALL Firebringer Press Titles!!
NOTE: This sale expires on September 18!
Heroic Park by Lance Woods - CU27W
Peace Lord of the Red Planet by Steven H. Wilson - TC75G
Taken Liberty by Steven H. Wilson - HD68N
Testing the Prisoner by Phil Giunta - GW84J
Unfriendly Persuasion by Steven H. Wilson - RV26T
Remember, Smashwords offers eBooks you can read on just about any device imaginable, including Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser), Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps), Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others), PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing) RTF (readable on most word processors) LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub), Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices) and Plain Text!
August 26, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
Jody Hedlund wants us to make mountains out of hills (for our characters, not us writers!). Jami Gold questions whether having our books in brick and mortar stores truly helps sales anymore. We get excellent advice from contributors to Writer Unboxed, everything from living the writing life, to knowing our audience, to social media and platform.
Enjoy!
The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy by David Streitfeld via Howard Weinstein (thanks, Howie!!)
The Indian Kindle Store Isn't the Real Deal...Yet by David Gaughran
How I Did It by Dean Wesley Smith via Kirkus Reviews
Independence by Joe Konrath
Bookstores vs. Backlist: A New Decision by Jami Gold
Obstacles: 3 Ways to Turn Hills into Mountains by Jody Hedlund
The End of the Unprofessional Writer by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Practice of Writing by John Vorhaus
Do You Know Who Your Audience Is? No, Really. Do You? by Dan Blank
'Social' Media: Author Ignorance by Porter Anderson
Wherein I Use Ugly Words Like Platform and Audience by David Olimpio
Against Acknowledgments by Sam Sacks
Author Interview: Paul Kupperberg - Part Two
We continue our interview with veteran writer, editor, and creator of the ReDeus universe, Paul Kupperberg. You can view Part One here.
In 2010, you began writing the best selling and Eisner award nominated magazine series Life with
Archie: The Married Life for Archie Comics. How did this series come about?
I’ve known Archie editor Victor Gorelick for a long time, ever since I wrote some advertising custom comics for him back around 1980, but for various reasons, I never wrote any Archie stories for them until 2009. I’d done maybe half a dozen regular teen Archie tales--you know, pretty standard stuff, like Archie has to get Mrs. Lodge’s prize pooch from the groomer to the dog show without getting the dog dirty, Jughead pranking his friends, the students trading places with the teachers at Riverdale High for the day. Then I got a call from Victor inviting me to a meeting with him and Michael Uslan on a new project.
Michael, who I’ve known since the early-70s when he was an assistant editor at DC Comics and who’s now the producer of the Batman films among other things, had just done the six-part Archie marriage story line in Archie #600 - 605 that showed two possible futures in which Archie imagined what it would be like to marry first Veronica, than Betty. Well, that story was such a howling success for them, they decided to continue it as an ongoing series.
Michael was too busy to take on writing two ongoing monthlies, so they went looking elsewhere. I think the reason they went with me instead of one of their regular, long-standing writers was because I was new to the characters and didn’t come to them with a lot of baggage and preconceived notions. I mean, I think I had a good feel for the characters to begin with; I’ve been reading Archie since I was a kid in the ‘60s and continued to dip into the titles every once in a while over the years, just to see what was going on with them. From the very first time I sat down to write Archie, I think I had a good grasp on what made these characters tick, and I tried to do stories that played off their traits rather than just funny teenage humor. I guess since I was tapped for Life With Archie, I was successful at that. It probably didn’t hurt that I also had 35 years experience writing serialized story lines, which wasn’t a necessary skill for the typical Archie writer.
I’ve been on LWA for more than two years now (I’m currently wrapping up the script for #28) and the response to the book has been incredible since the beginning. We’ve gotten great reviews and a lot of media attention for some of our story lines, including killing off Miss Grundy, the marriage of Kevin Keller, and the current tale of Cheryl Blossom’s battle with breast cancer--and, of course, the 2012 Eisner Award nomination for Best Publication for Young Adult Readers--and it’s been one of the best and most exciting experiences I’ve had in comics. I really love writing this book.
Recently, you co-wrote Bootleg War with Kris Katzen as the fourth installment in the YA series, Latchkeys , from Crazy 8 Press. " Bootleg War" debuted in June 2012. How did you become involved in the series?
Latchkeys, which was the brainchild of Steven Savile, was a project that grew out of a very ambitious gathering of more than half a dozen writers that called itself the Hivemind that formed about three years ago out of a writers email list we were all part of. The idea was that we would throw a batch of book ideas into a hat and pick the three or four we wanted to develop as young adult novel series. We did a lot of work developing these ideas, creating the characters, plotting out story arcs, etc., but the changing face of publishing and shrinking windows of opportunity, plus the paying work many of the members had committed to, finally made continuing our ambitious plans an exercise in futility, so we all sort of agreed to drop them and move on to other things.
A year ago, fellow Hiveminders Bob Greenberger and Aaron Rosenberg and some others started Crazy 8 Press as a venue to publish their own work and the work of their friends. Once they had that up and going, they offered to revitalize the Hivemind, beginning with Latchkeys, which was the concept that was furthest along in development.
I had already written the thirteenth, penultimate episode of Latchkeys, “Emmett,” and, since I had a hole in my schedule, volunteered to step in and do a rewrite on “Bootleg War” to get it ready for publication.
And speaking of Crazy 8 Press, you and I both have stories in their latest anthology, ReDeus: Divine Tales (August 2012), a universe that you helped create. What inspired your story, “No Other Gods Before Me”?
I was one of the architects of the ReDeus world, again with Bob Greenberger and Aaron Rosenberg, so I had a lot of time to think about my story. The premise of the ReDeus universe is that all the worlds’ pantheons return in one fell swoop one day in 2012 and proclaim that they’re back in charge and henceforth, humanity will worship them once again. That’s all well and good, but what about people who still believe in Jehovah, the god of the Bible and the Koran? Worshippers of the Roman, Greek, Native American, what have you gods can actually see and touch their deities, so what does worshipping a god who hasn’t made himself visible do to their faith? I wanted to look at that idea from three big, different perspectives: a casual, non-observant believer, a deeply religious person, and an over-the-top fanatic whose response to the return of what he sees as the “false gods” is to set out on a mission to destroy them.
What can readers expect next from you?
Lots of new and different stuff, I hope! I’ll be continuing on Life With Archie, and I’m currently writing a middle grade novel starring Kevin Keller for Penguin/Grossett & Dunlap that’s scheduled for release next summer. I’ve also got a story in R. Allen Leider’s Hellfire Lounge 3: Jinn Rummy (www.mariettapublishing.com) and I’m working on one for Hellfire Lounge 4: Reflections of Evil (out in May 2012). We’re also hoping to publish more Redeus anthologies, and, of course, my mystery novel, The Same Old Story (set in the world of comic book and pulp publishing in the early 1950s) is available as an ebook on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com, as are two short story collections, In My Shorts: Hitler’s Bellhop and Other Stories and Two Tales of Atlantis. I’m also working on several creator owned comic book properties with some very talented artists that I hope to be able to bring out one of these days.
What does Paul Kupperberg do when he isn’t writing?
Usually think about what I need to be writing next.
August 25, 2012
Author Interview: Paul Kupperberg - Part One
What Paul may be most known for, however, is his extensive work in the comic book industry. He has written for such titles as Superman, Supergirl, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Doom Patrol, Captain America, Conan, Scooby Doo and more. In addition, he is the creator of three DC Comics titles including Checkmate, Arion: Lord of Atlantis, and Takion.
I appreciate Paul taking the time to be with us!
First, tell us where we can find you online.
I’m all around in the dark, wherever you can look--wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’m there. I’m in the way guys yell when they’re mad, in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready...but mostly, I’m at Paulkupperberg.com, also known as “And Then I Wrote...”.
What inspired you to write comics and what was your first professional job in the comics industry?
I almost feel like a career in comics was inevitable for me. Comic books have been a part of my life for as long as I can recall. I guess having a brother a couple years older and an uncle ten years older living nearby helped expose me to them at an early age, and I was collecting them by the time I was at least seven or eight years old. In middle school, I met Paul Levitz and we started producing fanzines together and were deeply involved in the whole fan scene throughout high school.
Writing was another lifelong interest. I’ve got stories and comic books I was writing when I was eight or nine years old, so by the time I was in college, majoring in English literature, the writing bug and the professional connections kind of converged and I started submitting stories to some of the smaller comic book companies, like Gold Key and Charlton. My first sales were to editor Nick Cuti at Charlton Comics, short stories for their horror anthology titles, in 1975. The first story I sold was a five-pager called “Distress” which appeared in Scary Tales #3. A few months later, I started selling to DC Comics.
In addition to your extensive work at DC Comics, you also wrote two Spider Man novels in 1979,
Crime Campaign and Murdermoon. Did you pitch these ideas to Marvel/Pocket or vice versa?
Marvel writers Marv Wolfman and Len Wein, who were friends, were packaging the series of twelve Marvel novels for Pocket Books--although only eleven were published; a Silver Surfer novel was shelved because of the possibly of a film, if I remember correctly. Anyway, I was invited to write one of the books...I probably lobbied them for the job, since I didn’t have any experience writing prose at that point in my career and all they had to go on was my word that I could handle a novel, but after I turned in Crime Campaign, I guess they either figured I had the chops or were just really desperate to find someone to write the last one in the series, because they offered me the Spider-Man/Hulk team-up that became Murdermoon. Looking at them now, I’m assuming it was the desperation, but it was great experience and I’m glad I got the chance to do them.
I’ve known Michael Jan Friedman for nearly 20 years through fan-run conventions like Farpoint and Shore Leave. What brought you two together to co-write the middle grade novel The Sirian Conspiracy for the Wishbone Mystery series (Big Red Chair Books, June 1999)?
I got to know Friedman in the early ‘90s when I took over editing Darkstars, a title he had created with Travis Charest a little more than a year before I came on board. Mike had been writing Wishbone novels and he put me on to the editor to pitch for writing work for them. I forget who the original editor was I was dealing with, but I pitched a Wishbone version of Frankenstein, with Wishbone in the role of Victor Frankenstein.
For those who don’t remember the series, Wishbone was a PBS program “starring” a little terrier named Wishbone who retold classic stories and novels in the context of a “real life” story he and/or his human friends were involved in, with Wishbone in the key role of the retellings. It was a really cute and charming show, designed to excite kids about the great books and promote literacy. Big Red Chair Books had several different book series based on the show, including the retelling of the classics, a younger readers program, and a series of original Wishbone Mysteries.
So, I pitched the Frankenstein story, wrote several sample chapters, but got a lot of editorial runaround, so Mike suggested we co-write his next Wishbone Mystery that he was doing with a different editor, Kevin Ryan. I believe it was Mike’s plot, but I wrote the front half of the book and Mike the back end.
Your career has covered a diverse range of topics and genres including non-fiction and humor. What inspired Jew-Jitsu, The Hebrew Hands of Fury (Citadel, October 2008)?
Yeah, I’ve made it a point to work on as many different genres as possible; I’ve written comic books, newspaper comic strips, online animation, story books, chapter books, YA novels, color and activity books, non-fiction, reviews, essays, advertising and promotional writing...just yesterday, I wrote packaging copy for the box of a new tablet computer that’s coming to market.
For the first twenty years of my career probably 90% of my writing was for comics, but as I got more comfortable writing prose and was able to sell a few stories here and there, I started branching out into that. In 2001, I started writing young adult non-fiction books for Rosen Publishing on topics including history, science, and biography. In 2005, I wrote a novel starring the Justice Society of America for DC Comics that was to be published by iBooks, a publisher that went under after the death of its owner, Byron Preiss; the company closed its doors quite literally the week JSA: Ragnarok was scheduled to go to press. I started writing humor in the late-70s, doing movie parodies and other pieces for Crazy Magazine, Marvel’s MAD Magazine rip-off, and later on for DC’s Cartoon Network titles with characters like Johnny Bravo, I.M. Weasel, Scooby Doo, and others.
Jew-Jitsu was an outgrowth of my tenure as executive editor of Weekly World News, the black and white tabloid of fake news from the publishers of the National Enquirer and other tabloids. I left my editorial staff position at DC in 2006 for WWN, where I was working on a number of fronts, including editorial, licensing, and writing. A typical WWN article was a strange blend of fact and fiction served up with heaping helpings of absurdity and social satire.
We published an article about Jew-Jitsu, a martial art developed by a Hassidic Jew, which caught the eye of an editor at Kensington Books. The editor wanted to expand this two page article into an entire how-to manual, but the writer of the article didn’t feel he had an entire book on the subject in him. I did, though, so WWN editor-in-chief Jeff Rovin gave me the gig. I’m a big fan of absurd humor, plus I’m a big old Jew from Brooklyn who knows a smattering of Yiddish and a bit about Jewish religious traditions and customs.
Weekly World News folded in mid-2007, but Kensington had enough confidence in Jew-Jitsu to go through with the project even without WWN branding...unlike another book we were working on for Random House, Mutant Pets, Alien School Boards, and Yard Sales: the Weekly World News Book of Suburban Legends.
Part Two of Paul's interview continues here!
Paul Kupperberg on Amazon
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