Thomas Pluck's Blog, page 19
October 18, 2015
First Blood: the Gauntlet Press lettered traycased edition
His name was Rambo, and he was just some nothing kid for all anybody knew, standing by the pump of a gas station at the outskirts of Madison, Kentucky.
First Blood by David Morrell is one of my favorite books. I found it through the movie, which I saw in theaters with my father, because his friend, “uncle” Tony Maffatone, was Stallone’s bodyguard at the time and was on set for some of the filming. He was given one of the numbered editions of the RJ Loveless “First Blood” survival knife that became iconic through the film, which introduced me to the world of custom, handmade knives. The movie had quite an effect on me, and when I tracked the book down I read it in one sitting. It is lean and bloody and tells a brutal, heartfelt tale rich with allegory, about a Vietnam veteran who comes home to a country that sees him as a dangerous drifter instead of a soldier who has suffered greatly in its service.
The movie is a classic in its own right, but as expected, it lacks the depth of the novel, which makes Chief Teasle a sympathetic character instead of an angry Brian Dennehy; the book is also much darker. What may surprise you is that the novel is bloodier, by many magnitudes than the film adaptation. David Morrell brought the war home with his novel.
It has been printed in many editions, and in 26 languages, but this new special edition from Gauntlet Press pulls out all the stops. I opted for the most limited edition, which went on sale on January 1st. I set an alarm to order it early on New Year’s Day, as not to miss out on the lettered, traycased edition which includes original manuscript pages from early drafts of the novel and rare promotional material from the film, when Kirk Douglas was cast as Colonel Trautman. The material is interesting as both a reader and a writer, to see how much work went into a heartfelt novel that had such a cultural impact. “Rambo,” the novel’s main character, has literally entered the lexicon; he is referenced in the Oxford English Dictionary. Whether you visualize the original longhaired, bearded drifter from the opening pages or steroid enhanced action hero Stallone made of him, you’ve most likely heard of John Rambo. And if you have not read the novel in which he was born, I highly recommend it. The prose is gripping and the story prescient as ever, as wounded veterans come home from another war to a country that all too often leaves them alone walking the streets with nowhere to call home.
Inside the traycase. The book is leather bound with gold foil.
The signature page.
Kirk Douglas on a promotional poster.Tagged: Books
September 15, 2015
Protectors 2: Heroes release day!
Protectors 2: Heroes is now available! Most retailers still have it a the reduced pre-order price of $6.99, a dollar off retail. For e-books it’s on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iTunes, and you can order the e-book direct from the Protectors Books website, and we’re offering a special:
You can order Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT AND Protectors 2: Heroes for a discounted price of $12, which is $1 off retail.
The trade paperback is available through Amazon, and will be on Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, and Powell’s shortly. You can also order it from your local bookstore. It is a hefty 608 pages and contains illustrations by children’s book artist Linda Sarah, comic book artist Dennis Calero, illustrator Dyer Wilk, and artist Jyl Ion, plus 55 stories by an army of authors, from all genres.
Here’s the full table of contents, from legends to rising stars to emerging writers, all who support PROTECT’s cause: protecting children from all kinds of abuse and exploitation. 100% of the proceeds are donated to Protect’s lobby. If you’re unfamiliar with PROTECT, they are the political lobby of the National Association to Protect Children, whose victories include the Circle of Trust act and the HERO Corps, which hires wounded veterans to assist law enforcement in hunting online predators.
Table of Contents:
When!? by Linda Sarah
The Questions by Alison Arngrim
City Water by Allison Glasgow
Black and White and Red All Over by David Morrell
Silvia Reyes by P.J. Ward
Plan B by Andrew Vachss
Gatekeeper by Richard Prosch
The Night Watch by Susan Schorn
One Night in Brownsville by Gary Phillips
Silverfish by S.J. Rozan
Parental Guidance by Scott Adlerberg
Superhero, With Crooked Nails by Rachael Acks
Angel by Terrence McCauley
Mr. Nance by Linda Rodriguez
Something I Said by Bracken MacLeod
El Puente by Rios de la Luz
Mesquite by Graham Wynd
Level 5 by C.R. Jahn
On the Road to La Grange by Karina Cooper
Reprisals: Enmity by John A. Curley
The Whistler in the Graveyard by Chad Eagleton (illustration by Dyer Wilk)
Solar Highway by S.A. Solomon
Jibber Jabber by Reed Farrel Coleman
Doll: A Poem by Jyl Anais Ion (illustrations by Jyl Anais Ion)
Doggone Justice by Joe R. Lansdale
The Occurrence of the Black Mirror by Teel James Glenn
Sister Cecilia by Hilary Davidson
Croatoan by Harlan Ellison®
Little Howl on the Prairie by Thomas Pluck
Things Held Dear by Neliza Drew
49 Foot Woman Straps It On by Laird Barron
Moon Over the Midwest by Elizabeth Amber Love
Sixth Floor by Albert Tucher
Adamsville by Clare Toohey
Point of View by Will Graham
High Meadow Storm by Wayne Dundee
Out of Context by Joelle Charbonneau
Lone by Alex Segura (illustrations by Dennis Calero)
Love and Valour on ‘the Victorian Titanic’ by Gill Hoffs
Just Pretend by Martyn Waites
Freak by Charles de Lint
The New Heroes of the Old Fairgrounds by K.L. Pereira
When the Hammer Comes Down by Josh Stallings
Stretching Fifteen by Angel Luis Colón
Bounty by Jerry Bloomfield
Light-Bringer by Laura K. Curtis
Hercules and the Spawn of the Titans by Michael A. Black
How to Paint Your Dragon by Andrew D’Apice
Don’t Fear the Ripper by Holly West Two Views by Tim Daly
A Hundred Pearls by Errick Nunnally
Snapshots by Christopher Irvin
Deceit by Joyce Carol Oates
The Perfect Weapon by Zak Mucha
An Open Letter to the Children of the Secret by Dionysios Dionou
Behavior is Truth by Gwyndyn T. Alexander
Pigeons for Protect! by Linda Sarah
Tagged: PROTECT, Protectors Anthology
September 11, 2015
9/11/2015
I worked in Manhattan then. 14 years ago extremists tried to break us with terror and start a global war that would bankrupt and destroy us. Do not let them win. In your moments of silence today, remember, but do not fear.
September 9, 2015
Protectors 2: Heroes trade paperback now available for pre-order
Behold the deadly wordsmith Hilary Davidson holding the massive trade paperback of Protectors 2: Heroes like the fearsome weapon against child abuse that it is. 608 pages of beautiful and thrilling fiction, poetry, essays, art, and memoirs from an array of legends, rising stars, and emerging artists all joined for one cause: PROTECT. You can see the full table of contents on the Protectors Books website.
If you can’t judge the size of this tome, here is next to Louie, a baby beluga of a tomcat, dwarfed by its towering mass. He tried to eat it. He was defeated.
And for a little peek inside, at the illustration for Chad Eagleton’s story by Dyer Wilk, flip it open…
The e-book has been available for pre-order for a while, but now you can get the trade paperback on Amazon. I’ll post links when it is available from bookstores, which should be soon.
Tagged: PROTECT, Protectors Anthology
September 3, 2015
ThugLit says Pluck yourself…
You can get the newest issue of ThugLit here. Celebrate ten years of hardboiled crime fiction and noir with a copy! It’s their 10th anniversary.
Tagged: ThugLit
September 1, 2015
Jay Desmarteaux hits ThugLit
Jay Desmarteaux, the walking Cajun shitstorm who stars in “Gumbo Weather,” “Ramapough Ringer,” “Kamikaze Death Burgers at the Ghost Town Cafe,” and my novel BURY THE HATCHET (currently seeking representation) appears in a new misadventure, “The Last Detail,” in the newcissue of ThugLit (number 19) for September/October. Yes, it’s a play on the Hal Ashby flick starring Jack Nicholson, but Jay’s not a Navy cop escorting a prisoner… he’s handcuffed to a fiery-tempered woman in her Corvette with an unpinned grenade, and it’s up to you to tell which is more dangerous.
Tagged: Noir, ThugLit
August 30, 2015
Noir at the Bar NYC 9/6/15
August 28, 2015
Protectors 2: Heroes ebooks available for pre-order
Protectors 2: Heroes is now available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle at a reduced price of $6.99, a dollar off the retail price. It will be available shortly through Kobo as well. No Kindle? You can order the e-book direct from the Protectors Books website, and we’re offering a double special:
You can order Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT AND Protectors 2: Heroes for a discounted price of $11, which is $2 off retail. I can do this because buying direct saves the 30% cut the e-tailers take, so PROTECT gets a bigger donation even with the temporary discount. We take payment through Paypal, and send the e-books and Kindle and epub format.
If you pre-order now, you’ll get Protectors 1 emailed to you in a few hours (it’s a manual process) and you will get Protectors 2: Heroes on September 15th (or maybe a little earlier…) which is the official release date.
I can’t take pre-orders on the paperback at this time, it is just too much to take on logistically, but I will be offering a similar two-fer deal and reduced direct sale price once the print book is ready. I will have copies for sale at Bouchercon 2015, and at any Noir at the Bar events after the release.
If you’re on the fence, here’s the full table of contents, from legends to rising stars to emerging writers, all who support PROTECT’s cause, protecting children from all kinds of abuse and exploitation. 100% of the proceeds are donated to Protect’s lobby. If you’re unfamiliar with PROTECT, they are the political lobby of the National Association to Protect Children, whose victories include the Circle of Trust act and the HERO Corps, which hires wounded veterans to assist law enforcement in hunting online predators.
Table of Contents:
When!? by Linda Sarah
The Questions by Alison Arngrim
City Water by Allison Glasgow
Black and White and Red All Over by David Morrell
Silvia Reyes by P.J. Ward
Plan B by Andrew Vachss
Gatekeeper by Richard Prosch
The Night Watch by Susan Schorn
One Night in Brownsville by Gary Phillips
Silverfish by S.J. Rozan
Parental Guidance by Scott Adlerberg
Superhero, With Crooked Nails by Rachael Acks
Angel by Terrence McCauley
Mr. Nance by Linda Rodriguez
Something I Said by Bracken MacLeod
El Puente by Rios de la Luz
Mesquite by Graham Wynd
Level 5 by C.R. Jahn
On the Road to La Grange by Karina Cooper
Reprisals: Enmity by John A. Curley
The Whistler in the Graveyard by Chad Eagleton (illustration by Dyer Wilk)
Solar Highway by S.A. Solomon
Jibber Jabber by Reed Farrel Coleman
Doll: A Poem by Jyl Anais Ion (illustrations by Jyl Anais Ion)
Doggone Justice by Joe R. Lansdale
The Occurrence of the Black Mirror by Teel James Glenn
Sister Cecilia by Hilary Davidson
Croatoan by Harlan Ellison®
Little Howl on the Prairie by Thomas Pluck
Things Held Dear by Neliza Drew
49 Foot Woman Straps It On by Laird Barron
Moon Over the Midwest by Elizabeth Amber Love
Sixth Floor by Albert Tucher
Adamsville by Clare Toohey
Point of View by Will Graham
High Meadow Storm by Wayne Dundee
Out of Context by Joelle Charbonneau
Lone by Alex Segura (illustrations by Dennis Calero)
Love and Valour on ‘the Victorian Titanic’ by Gill Hoffs
Just Pretend by Martyn Waites
Freak by Charles de Lint
The New Heroes of the Old Fairgrounds by K.L. Pereira
When the Hammer Comes Down by Josh Stallings
Stretching Fifteen by Angel Luis Colón
Bounty by Jerry Bloomfield
Light-Bringer by Laura K. Curtis
Hercules and the Spawn of the Titans by Michael A. Black
How to Paint Your Dragon by Andrew D’Apice
Don’t Fear the Ripper by Holly West Two Views by Tim Daly
A Hundred Pearls by Errick Nunnally
Snapshots by Christopher Irvin
Deceit by Joyce Carol Oates
The Perfect Weapon by Zak Mucha
An Open Letter to the Children of the Secret by Dionysios Dionou
Behavior is Truth by Gwyndyn T. Alexander
Pigeons for Protect! by Linda Sarah
Tagged: PROTECT, Protectors Anthology
August 27, 2015
Protectors 2: Heroes cover reveal
Here she is…
release date: September 15th 2015
Available for pre-order SOON.
More info at the official Protectors Anthologies Website.
Tagged: PROTECT, Protectors Anthology
August 24, 2015
Protectors 2: Heroes sneak-peek, cover & Table of Contents
A few years ago, following on the “Lost Children” flash fiction campaign by my good friend Fiona “McDroll” Johnson, I put together a huge anthology to benefit PROTECT and the National Association to Protect Children, the political lobby behind the Circle of Trust laws that closed the infamous “incest loopholes” which allowed for light sentences for predators who assaulted their own children, and the charity that supports the HERO Corps, a joint effort between ICE and SOCOM to train wounded veterans to assist local and federal law enforcement in hunting online predators and identifying their victims.
That book has 41 authors, united for one cause, protecting children, and you can buy it here- Protectors: Stories to Benefit PROTECT.
I teamed up with Jaye Manus and Suzanne Dell’Orto, and a brigade we’re back… to let you know: we can really shake ’em down:
It took me awhile to get the next book together, but it reunites some writers from the first, along with many new names, totaling 55 stories, plus art, poems, and illustrations, for a giant 600 page beast of a book. I asked everyone I thought would support the cause, and the writing community responded in force. The cover is nearly finished, so here’s a tease of the cover, and a link to the new Protectors Books website (built by the unflappable Laura K. Curtis, who also contributed a story) which includes the final Table of Contents. You’ll recognize many of the names:
Andrew Vachss. Joyce Carol Oates. David Morrell. Hilary Davidson. Laird Barron. Joelle Charbonneau. Charles de Lint. SJ Rozan. Reed Farrel Coleman. Harlan Ellison®. Wayne Dundee. and… Alison Arngrim (you may know her as “Nellie Olsen” from Little House on the Prairie, and from her work for PROTECT!)
Most of the stories are originals, or have not appeared in print for a long time; the authors range from legends and gold standards to emerging and up and coming, including the first publications of P.J. Ward and Andrew D’Apice, and new fiction from well-known authors of all genres.
The book will be available for e-book pre-order very soon, and in print in September, via direct order, online retailers, and through independent bookstores (via Ingram). There will be a special 2-fer offer for the first and second collection, ebook and print, when purchasing direct through the website (or at Noir at the Bar, and Bouchercon 2015).
Here’s a peek at the cover, by Suzanne Dell’Orto. You can view the full Table of Contents here.
Tagged: PROTECT, Protectors Anthology
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