Thomas Pluck's Blog, page 46
April 10, 2013
Thrills, Kills, ‘n Chaos
Sad news, “Thrillers, Killers & Chillers” has closed. Good news: ”Thrills, Kills, ‘n Chaos” is opening soon!
TK&C published my story “Bless Her Heart” a few years ago. They were always good for a quick dash of thrills and chills. Editor David Barber will be opening for submissions soon. David is a good friend and a fine crime writer in his own right, but made The Flash Fiction Offensive really sparkle, and I’m eager to see what he does with Thrills, Kills ‘n Chaos (cue up “these are a few of my favorite things…”)
Due diligence- TFFO published my stories “Van Candy” and “The Forest for the Trees“
So mark the website on your reading list, and writers, get your best flash fiction ready to go. They prefer thrillers, crime and horror but any genre that suits the theme in their name is up their alley!
Thrills, Kills ‘n Chaos Submissions Guidelines
Tagged: David Barber, Thrills Kills n Chaos
April 8, 2013
The Story of Luke
I went to see The Story of Luke at the Garden State Film Festival last weekend. My cousin Lou Taylor plays the lead role, a young man on the Asperger’s end of the autism spectrum who is forced to get a job when his grandparents pass away, and he moves in with his uncle’s not-so-happy familly.
This is a movie that could have tread familiar territory- Rain Man and Down & Out in Beverly Hills- but it goes its own way. Lou never breaks out of his shell, he remains true to his character, and navigates life with his own pair of glasses. We see him contrasted with his grandfather, who has dementia, and the pathology of everyday people blindered by their own choices.
Seth Green is hilarious as a demented I.T. supervisor who sees him as a kindred spirit, and Cary Elwes is perfectly subdued as the successful man whose family is falling apart. Luke does not bring everyone together and save the world. He is an agent of change, but merely because his obsession is cooking shows, and he makes a few good meals.
The movie stays a comedy, and Luke remains who he is. Families of autistic children are championing the film at festivals because it gives a much-needed realistic and lighthearted view of the spectrum, where it isn’t a tragedy or a burden, but also doesn’t dodge the difficulties that family members have when dealing with autistic relatives. I enjoyed it a lot, and forgot I was watching my cousin up there.
You can watch The Story of Luke on iTunes or On Demand PPV, and in various local theaters.
Tagged: Autism, Lou Taylor Pucci, Seth Green, The Story of Luke
April 5, 2013
Was (Not Was) – Papa was a Rollin’ Stone
“Papa was a rolling stone… wherever he laid his hat was his home, and when he died, all he left us was alone.”
The Temptations sang that first. Real poetry there. I first heard it from Was (Not Was) on their excellent Are You Okay? album.
The first song I’d heard by them was the hilarious “Hello Dad! I’m in Jail!” on MTV Liquid Television, back when they played music. They got big for “Walk the Dinosaur” in that Flintstones movie, which I am glad to say I have never seen.
They were an eclectic group and always rather interesting, but still could rock things out. Detroit soul in their blood.
I love their cover of “I Can’t Turn You Loose” as well:
And now… Dad! I’m in JAIL:
Tagged: Was (Not Was)
April 4, 2013
wackiness runs in the family…
My cousin Lou Taylor Pucci is in the new Evil Dead movie produced by Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi. He gets to read the Necronomicon and unleash the ageless evil that will SWALLOW YOUR SOUL.
As you can see, goofiness runs in the family. Lou Taylor’s Dad- my cousin Lou- has an insane sense of humor, and always makes me laugh. He’s a musician and a magician, and his jokes demented my young brain as a child. I did my best to assist in dementing his kids, too. In my family, you either laugh or go crazy. Some of us did both.
Lou being a li’l bitch in the face of the undead
EVIL DEAD opens tonight. I’m gonna go see it this weekend, probably the first matinee on Sunday. I’ll be seeing Lou Taylor & family Saturday for the premiere of The Story of Luke, where he plays a young man with Asperger’s syndrome, dealing with challenges we take for granted- a job and a relationship. Seth Green co-stars in that one, and parents of autistic children are championing his realistic portrayal.
Lou Taylor is a very funny, talented fellow with a big heart. I hope you’ll all go watch him be torn to pieces by demons this weekend! I sure will. And the lucky skunk got to hang out with Bruce Campbell!
About the same face I would make
Tagged: Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead, Lou Taylor Pucci, Sam Raimi, The Story of Luke
April 3, 2013
Interview with Susanna Calkins
Interview with Susanna Calkins
I interviewed Susanna Calkins for The Big Thrill this month about her debut novel, A MURDER AT ROSAMUND’S GATE. Set in 17th Century London amidst plague and fire, chambermaid Lucy Campion seeks to exonerate a loved one accused of murder. The best kind of historical mystery, Calkins chooses a genuinely interesting setting which challenges our presumptions about the past.
Tagged: Interviews, The Big Thrill
April 2, 2013
at last: Brown Sugar Brookdale!
I’ve been crowing about this one for a while, and I apologize, but… “Brown Sugar” Brookdale is finally here for your reading pleasure, in Blood & Tacos #4! Thank you for your patience.
A homage to Billy Jack, Black Samurai and Black Belt Jones, this wild pulp adventure follows Brown Sugar, a Vietnam Vet back on American soil, in his battle against a mad cult leader in a “sundown town” in the Midwest.
In issue #4 Sugar joins Father Dukes, Apache Blood, The Sanitizer, and L.A.N.D.B.O.A.T. (The Boat That Goes On Land), a title I can’t even say without laughing. These are loving, respectful homages mind you. You’ll get action aplenty, and lots of heart. You can read the stories for free at Blood & Tacos, and it will be available on Kindle for 99 cents shortly.
Stories are by TV writer Oren Brimer (Mr. Landboat), Bart Lessard, Brad Mengel, and Nick Slosser. The cover art is yet another stunning oil painting by Roxanne Patruznick. If I ever commission a book cover I’ll be giving her a call. Check out the other covers she did. #1 is a real work of art. The back issues are available on Kindle and online, and are worth going through. Chingon: The World’s Deadliest Mexican by Johnny Shaw (editor in chief) is one of the funniest stories I’ve ever read, and when Danny Trejo is done with MACHETE perhaps he’ll give Chingon a whirl.
Tagged: Bart Lessard, Blood and Tacos, Brad Mengel, Brown Sugar Brookdale, I'm Black and I'm Proud, Johnny Shaw, Nick Slosser, Oren Brimer
April 1, 2013
Look out the window, the world ended or something.
I hate April Fool’s Day.
Why’s that, Tommy? Can’t we lie and laugh about it for one day?
No. You want to know why?
Because we lie every day and laugh about it. We tell ourselves that we can’t change the world. It is what it is. That’s just the way it is. What ya gonna do?
And that my friend, is a steaming spoonful of grass-fed organic bullshit.
The truth is we don’t want to change things. We’re lazy and comfortable and if some poor people over there have to live in indentured servitude so I can buy cheap, pretty, disgustingly mealy tomatoes, well, I’m okay with that. If some Russian girl gets tricked into thinking she’s gonna wait tables in New York City and instead she’s choking on dirty drunk men’s cocks in the back of a strip club paying off a debt to mobsters she can never clear, because they’ll press a hot iron to her mother’s face back home if she tries to run, well that’s okay. I like seeing girls swing on poles and pretend they like me. Here, have a dollar. Ha ha, you should have gone to college. It’s great to be male!
We don’t even believe what we believe because we know it is true, because we researched it, read it, saw it, experienced it. We believe it because it’s what we are told to believe if we want to be who we are, the guy who drives a sweet car that doesn’t destroy the planet too badly, who drinks brand X because some dead celebrity did once, who believes in FREEDOM because he’s gullible enough to think if our freedom meant two squirts of donkey piss the powers would actually let us have it, that the government is scared of an armed citizenry when they have nukes, chemical weapons and will rain white phosphorus on your city and call you terrorists if your piddly-ass militia was frightening in any way shape or form. That you wouldn’t shit or go blind after they cut the power, the water, blockaded the roads and defoliated the forest, and let their drone pilots play Galaga with your children as targets. Really. Grow up.
But you need the lie, that illusion of freedom, the delusion of control, if you’re going to be productive. You need just enough fear to obey and just enough slack on the leash to think you’re free. You need to think you came up with your ideas and they aren’t based on twenty years of marketing and television and headlines that shape the images you come up with when they say “combatant” or “thug” or “beautiful” or “innocent” or “taxpayer” or “happiness.”
So yeah, your joke about who died, who’s pregnant, your photoshopped picture of North Korean tanks breaking down before they could reach the DMZ, your Rick Astley video (which I’m kinda nostalgic for already) or whatever hoax you’re gonna think is so clever today is just there to make you feel smarter than the people who have owned you since birth and are waiting to squeeze every dollar out of you before they allow the feeding tube to be removed.
Have a nice day.
Mr. Happy
Tagged: april fool's day
March 31, 2013
Happy birthday Angus!
March 28, 2013
Freedom Bird
OFF THE RECORD is a charity anthology that benefits children’s literacy. Luca Veste asked 38 writers to pen 1500 words inspired by a classic rock song. I drew “Free Bird.” The book is only 99 cents for Kindle, for the next few days.
Eva Dolan, reviewer at Loitering with Intent and Crime Fiction Lover, said Freedom Bird “is a beautifully constructed story about the strength it takes not to act; may bring a tear to your eye.”
A buddy of mine in high school drove one of these babies. The Firebird on the hood is truly iconic, and I kept thinking how the soldiers in Vietnam called the plane home the “freedom bird,” and thought of a teenager trapped in a house with his vet father, neither understanding each other, fighting over what it means to “be a man,” and how sometimes it means to act and other times it means not to.
This is a story I could write a book from. The characters are strong in my mind, and I’ve wanted to write about being a kid during the end of the Vietnam war. I was 4 years old when Saigon “fell.” I remember the footage on television. (I woke up early at a young age, would walk down and turn the TV on. I saw Sadat’s assassination this way, and also watched PATTON when I was way too young). So you’ll be seeing more of Harve Chundak, someday.
Tagged: Cars, Off the Record, Vietnam
March 26, 2013
Blitzkrieg Burger Bop
The Blitzkrieg Burger at the Cloverleaf Tavern. a 5oz patty grilled medium rare, topped with a split, grilled Guiness-boiled bratwurst and Guiness steamed sauerkraut, slathered with spicy brown mustard on a delectable, chewy pretzel bun.
I told them to call it the BierGarten Belly Bomb, but they opted for Blitzkrieg. For that name, it should be currywurst with curry mayo, if ya ask me.
Anyway, this was a great burger. The steamed kraut soaked the chewy bun and the flavors worked together. They make one of the best burgers around, so the meat wasn’t overpowered by a slab of seared sausage.
The real Blitzkrieg was how our trivia time plowed through the Maginot line to get 1st place. Once again my nerd powers of random knowledge assisted us. We have a solid team, though we almost lost due to lack of Passover knowledge and a weakness in geography…
Tagged: Burgers, Cloverleaf Tavern, Ramones, Zee Germans
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