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KAIJU SPAWN: CHAOS RUNS RAMPANT

David Robbins ©2015 In the mood for a fun read?Treat yourself to KAIJU SPAWN, a new book from the combined pens---or keyboards---of the hugely talented Eric S. Brown, and yours truly.If you’re unfamiliar with the term ‘Kaiju’, it’s all about monsters. Specifically, it refers to movies, books and comics that have to do with ‘strange beasts’. Or if you want to get technical, we can call it ‘daikaiju’, which is Japanese for really ‘big strange beasts’.Godzilla is undoubtedly the most famous example. Mothra and Rodan and a host of others are in the same genre. It might surprise you to learn that so is THE BEAST FROM 20,000 PHANTOMS, THE DEADLY MANTIS, THE GIANT BEHEMOTH and other monster flicks from the ‘50’s and beyond. Recent examples include PACIFIC RIM and CLOVERFIELD.And lest I forget to mention it, the monster need not be a giant reptile or a gargantuan bug. Yep, you guessed it: King Kong is included in the same category.

[I'm a Kaiju? How did that happen? I'm not even Japanese. Oh. Wait. That (expletive deleted) Godzilla. It must be from that time I stopped in Tokyo for some sushi and he got all fire-breath about it. No wonder nobody likes to hang out with that guy.]
In keeping with this fine tradition, Eric and I give you KAIJU SPAWN. Picture, if you will, a giant creature that has heaved up out of the sea and is leaving a swath of destruction and chaos in its wake. Then put yourself in the shoes of an terrified father who realizes his young daughter is directly in the monster’s path.That’s the kernel at the heart of our story. There’s a lot more, of course. Chills and thrills galore. Find out for yourself. Get your copy of KAIJU SPAWN today. P.S. And while I’m at it, I’d like to give Eric a plug. He’s the author of the Bigfoot Warseries, The Kaiju Apocalypse series (with Jason Cordova), and the Crypto-Squadseries with Jason Brannon. Some of his stand alone works include Megalodon, Night of the Kaiju, Dawn of the Kaiju, World War of the Dead, Sasquatch Lake, and War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies. His short fiction has been published hundreds of times, including the Onward Drake anthology from Baen Books, the Grantville Gazette, and Walmart World Magazine. Two of his books have been made into feature films- Bigfoot War (2014) from Origin Releasing and Werewolf Massacre at Hell’s Gate (2015) from Ingy Films. He loves to write tales of giant monsters, blazing guns, hungry corpses, and things that lurk in the woods.This is Eric:

And to be fair, this is the other author:

[Now if you'll excuse me, I need to duck and run for the hills.]

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Published on September 17, 2015 15:34

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E: FROM SMALL SCREEN TO LARGE

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ABktm_uyhJU..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ABktm_uyhJU..." width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">David Robbins</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">© 2015</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The trend of remaking TV hits of yesteryear continues apace. Not that anyone expected it to stop. Imitation, after all, is the lifeblood of Hollywood and other movie factories,</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> No wonder, then, that we’ve already seen remakes of I SPY, THE AVENGERS, and THE WILD, WILD WEST, to name just several of many. All three stemmed from the ‘spy craze’ of the mid-to-late 1960’s, spawned in large part by the spectacular success of the James Bond franchise.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> None other than famed director Guy Ritchie---a Brit---decided to helm the redo of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., an American show that ran from 1964 to 1968. You might be familiar with him from the two Sherlock Holmes movies he’s done with Robert Downing, Jr., or maybe SNATCH or LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. Again, to mention but a few.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> The new U.N.C.L.E. has been greeted by some critics with the same lack of enthusiasm they showed for the remakes mentioned above. One even called the original U.N.C.L.E. irrelevant, a harsh condemnation that entirely misses a salient aspect. Namely, that at the height of the Cold War, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. showed an American and a Russian, nominal adversaries from opposite political spectrums, working together to make the world a better place. You didn’t get more relevant than that. Many people, taking a look at the state of the world today, wish there was more of that ‘relevancy’.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wpWugndhYHc..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wpWugndhYHc..." width="400" /></a></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">[The complete TV series is available on DVD, along with some cool extras.]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> The TV show in its first season became a huge hit. Robert Vaughn and particularly David McCallum were touted as sex symbols, and mobbed at appearances. The show might have gone on for years if its makers hadn’t decided to do everything in their power to ruin the proverbial good thing by turning it into a farce. How so? you ask. Imagine if, at the height of James Bond’s early popularity, they made GOLDFINGER a comedy. That's pretty much what they did to THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. It lost viewers in droves and by the end of the third season had dropped to near the bottom of the ratings. They tried to salvage things by getting back to ‘serious’ in the fourth season but it was way too late.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s2Kipf6w6-U..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s2Kipf6w6-U..." width="349" /> </a> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">[Imagine if they had this guy dance the Watusi with a man in a gorilla suit. That's what they did to poor Napoleon Solo.]</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> So how does the new movie compare to the TV show? Ritchie displays considerable respect for the original but deviates widely in important details. For instance, in the TV show, U.N.C.L.E. stood for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. It was a worldwide organization made up of people of all nationalities. In the new movie, U.N.C.L.E. hasn’t been formed yet, and is only mentioned at the very end.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Another strange deviation is what they’ve done with Napoleon Solo, the American agent. In the original, he was their crack enforcement agent. In the remake, they’ve made him a thief forced to work for the government. But hold the phone right there. That’s not THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. That’s IT TAKES A THIEF, another TV show from the late ‘60’s in which cat burglar extraordinaire Alexander Mundy was yanked out of prison and made to steal for Uncle Sam or be sent back to the slammer.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> The Russian agent, Illya Kuryakin, also suffers in translation. In the TV show, Illya was much more intellectual than Napoleon. He was also more acrobatic, and in the fight scenes, his moves were nearly always more spectacular, things like springing into a handstand and catching an enemy in a leg lock, or spinning and flipping from a high bar.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> In the new movie, Illya is pretty much a one-trick pony, that trick being his temper. It’s resorted to again and again for chuckles and grins. Don’t get me wrong. Ritchie does it well. It’s just that they might have made Illya more three-dimensional, as it were.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6Awf5mhQkJ4..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6Awf5mhQkJ4..." width="400" /> </a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">[Napoleon and Illya and their famous U.N.C.L.E. guns. A variation has a cameo in the movie.]</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> To sum up, if you’re a fan of the TV series, don’t expect the new movie to replicate the elements you loved. It’s a fun flick, though, with more than a few laughs and some nice action.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> I should note that I was a huge fan of the TV show. And yes, I like the new movie. Unfortunately, Ritchie did something that diluted my enjoyment, something that has nothing to do with U.N.C.L.E., per se.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> I don’t know about you, but when I watch a movie, I like to be sucked into the story, to be so caught up that for a while I forget about the real world with its attendant inanities and just have fun. And nothing spoils that feeling worse than having a director resort to the artsy-fartsy technique of a split-screen. When you’re cruising along, totally involved in a movie, a split-screen is like a slap to the face. Suddenly you’re aware that you’re sitting in a seat in a theater. It’s a glaring reminder that it’s a movie, after all. And Ritchie does that twice.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> But don't let my quirk sway you. See it anyway. Henry Cavill is impeccably dashing as Solo, Armie Hammer makes up for his disastrous turn as THE LONE RANGER, and the exotic locales are to die for.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jJdwNxbP7-g..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jJdwNxbP7-g..." width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DavidR..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

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Published on August 21, 2015 13:26

THE MAN FROM UNCLE: FROM SMALL SCREEN TO LARGE

David Robbins © 2015
            The trend of remaking TV hits of yesteryear continues apace. Not that anyone expected it to stop. Imitation, after all, is the lifeblood of Hollywood and other movie factories,
            No wonder, then, that we’ve already seen remakes of I SPY, THE AVENGERS, and THE WILD, WILD WEST, to name just several of many. All three stemmed from the ‘spy craze’ of the mid-to-late 1960’s, spawned in large part by the spectacular success of the James Bond franchise.
            None other than famed director Guy Ritchie---a Brit---decided to helm the redo of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., an American show that ran from 1964 to 1968. You might be familiar with him from the two Sherlock Holmes movies he’s done with Robert Downing, Jr., or maybe SNATCH or LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. Again, to mention but a few.
            The new U.N.C.L.E. has been greeted by some critics with the same lack of enthusiasm they showed for the remakes mentioned above. One even called the original U.N.C.L.E. irrelevant, a harsh condemnation that entirely misses a salient aspect. Namely, that at the height of the Cold War, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. showed an American and a Russian, nominal adversaries from opposite political spectrums, working together to make the world a better place. You didn’t get more relevant than that. Many people, taking a look at the state of the world today, wish there was more of that ‘relevancy’.

[The complete TV series is available on DVD, along with some cool extras.] The TV show in its first season became a huge hit. Robert Vaughn and particularly David McCallum were touted as sex symbols, and mobbed at appearances. The show might have gone on for years if its makers hadn’t decided to do everything in their power to ruin the proverbial good thing by turning it into a farce. How so? you ask. Imagine if, at the height of James Bond’s early popularity, they made GOLDFINGER a comedy. That's pretty much what they did to THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. It lost viewers in droves and by the end of the third season had dropped to near the bottom of the ratings. They tried to salvage things by getting back to ‘serious’ in the fourth season but it was way too late.

  [Imagine if they had this guy dance the Watusi with a man in a gorilla suit. That's what they did to poor Napoleon Solo.]
            So how does the new movie compare to the TV show? Ritchie displays considerable respect for the original but deviates widely in important details. For instance, in the TV show, U.N.C.L.E. stood for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. It was a worldwide organization made up of people of all nationalities. In the new movie, U.N.C.L.E. hasn’t been formed yet, and is only mentioned at the very end.             Another strange deviation is what they’ve done with Napoleon Solo, the American agent. In the original, he was their crack enforcement agent. In the remake, they’ve made him a thief forced to work for the government. But hold the phone right there. That’s not THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. That’s IT TAKES A THIEF, another TV show from the late ‘60’s in which cat burglar extraordinaire Alexander Mundy was yanked out of prison and made to steal for Uncle Sam or be sent back to the slammer.
            The Russian agent, Illya Kuryakin, also suffers in translation. In the TV show, Illya was much more intellectual than Napoleon. He was also more acrobatic, and in the fight scenes, his moves were nearly always more spectacular, things like springing into a handstand and catching an enemy in a leg lock, or spinning and flipping from a high bar.
            In the new movie, Illya is pretty much a one-trick pony, that trick being his temper. It’s resorted to again and again for chuckles and grins. Don’t get me wrong. Ritchie does it well. It’s just that they might have made Illya more three-dimensional, as it were.

[Napoleon and Illya and their famous U.N.C.L.E. guns. A variation has a cameo in the movie.]
            To sum up, if you’re a fan of the TV series, don’t expect the new movie to replicate the elements you loved. It’s a fun flick, though, with more than a few laughs and some nice action.
            I should note that I was a huge fan of the TV show. And yes, I like the new movie. Unfortunately, Ritchie did something that diluted my enjoyment, something that has nothing to do with U.N.C.L.E., per se.
            I don’t know about you, but when I watch a movie, I like to be sucked into the story, to be so caught up that for a while I forget about the real world with its attendant inanities and just have fun. And nothing spoils that feeling worse than having a director resort to the artsy-fartsy technique of a split-screen. When you’re cruising along, totally involved in a movie, a split-screen is like a slap to the face. Suddenly you’re aware that you’re sitting in a seat in a theater. It’s a glaring reminder that it’s a movie, after all. And Ritchie does that twice.
            But don't let my quirk sway you. See it anyway. Henry Cavill is impeccably dashing as Solo, Armie Hammer makes up for his disastrous turn as THE LONE RANGER, and the exotic locales are to die for.

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Published on August 21, 2015 13:26

BILL O’REILLY’S LEGENDS & LIES: AND A WHOLE LOT OF MISTAKES

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hyP7M52pBjc..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hyP7M52pBjc..." width="328" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> David Robbins</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">©2015</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">First, a disclaimer. I don’t know Bill O’Reilly personally, and have no antipathy toward the man. He has written, or co-written, a number of best-sellers. Most have to do with the ‘killing’ of somebody or other. LEGENDS & LIES is different. It purports to tell the true and the real about a dozen or so frontiersmen, scouts and other Old West luminaries.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">The intent is commendable. The execution leaves a lot to be desired. For if you’re familiar with some of the personalities involved, you might be more than mildly surprised to find that far too many of the ‘facts’ presented just ain’t so.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9J9HYcJGbY..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9J9HYcJGbY..." width="260" /></a></div>[The real James Butler Hickok. Note the placement of his pistols.]<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the August 2015 issue of ROUNDUP, the magazine put out by Western Writers of America, Bob Boze Bell alludes to ‘plenty of errors’. Bell specifically mentions one in the Custer section and four more glaring mistakes in the chapter on Billy the Kid. As Bell quips, it’s a shame the publisher didn’t have a fact-checker.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IN4hcirnMgU..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IN4hcirnMgU..." width="340" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">[One of the earliest 'true-life' representations of Hickok. Again, note the pistol and his hand.]</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"> All of this is a prelude to my own peeve. If you scroll down the blog, you’ll eventually come to posts I’ve done on James Butler Hickok, better known as ‘Wild Bill’. For reasons I won’t go into, he has long been an historical favorite of mine. Anything and everything I've ever come across about him, I’d added to my library. Which explains why I was appalled when I discovered that the Hickok section suffers from the same authorial blunders.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m not going to cite each one. But I ‘am’ going to shed light on the ridiculous assertion that……but wait. How about if you hear it in the book’s own words:</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘<i>Gunslingers were particular about the way they drew their weapons; a split-second could mean the difference between life and death, and Hickok favored the lightning-quick cross draw in which he’d reach across his body with both hands and pull out his guns</i>.’</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">To quote Betty Boop, ‘No! No! A thousand times No!!’</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before I share the historical reasons this isn’t true, let’s take a look at the basic physics. It defies the mechanics of the human body to think that reaching all the way ‘across the body’ is faster than drawing a pistol from the hip. Even if you rig for a cross-draw with the revolver in front---see Lee Van Cleef in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY--- it’s still no more ‘lightning-quick’ than a conventional draw.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a_j0jTdIXkg..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a_j0jTdIXkg..." width="150" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> [A blowup of the rarely seen Fort Harker Quartermaster's photo, which includes Hickok. Yet again, note his revolvers, and his hand.]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">All of which is moot because the real Hickok didn’t draw either way. He preferred the flip draw. Or, as it is more formally known, the ‘Reverse’ or ‘Plains Draw’. </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">How do we know this? you ask. Through a number of accounts, perhaps the best being that of ‘White Eye’ Anderson. He was a contemporary of Hickok’s and Buffalo Bill Cody’s, and traveled with the Hickok-Utter wagon train to the Black Hills. The pertinent point is that Anderson lived to a proverbial ripe old age. Photography had been invented, and he demonstrated how Hickok drew in a series of photographs. </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_vjn1r8uQ_k..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_vjn1r8uQ_k..." width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">[White Eye Anderson demonstrating how Wild Bill Hickok drew. The photos run from right to left.]</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">I could list other references. If you’re interested, I highly recommend WILD BILL HICKOK GUNFIGHTER, An Account of Hickok’s Gunfights, by Joseph G. Rosa. It relates everything you would ever want to know about the Prince of Pistoleer’s proficiency with six-shooters.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UbCSUtBEtAk..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UbCSUtBEtAk..." width="222" /></a></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;">[Joseph G. Rosa is widely considered the preeminent Hickok historian.]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">By now you might be wondering, 'What difference does it make how Hickok drew?' For most people, it won’t make a whit. But for those who like their history ‘true’, it makes all the difference in reality.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">Which brings us to our last question, namely, how in the world did all these mistakes end up in LEGENDS & LIES?</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;">[If you’re interested in seeing how quick a flip-draw can be, check out Gary Cooper in THE PLAINSMAN, just about any of Wild Bill Elliot’s movies, Guy Madison in the TV series based on Hickok, or Keith Carradine in DEADWOOD, to mention a few.]</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3uddrp-8JhA..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3uddrp-8JhA..." width="267" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">[A goofus writer by the name of Robbins who is inordinately fond of all things Hickok and an ardent practitioner of the flip draw.] </span></span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DavidR..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

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Published on August 20, 2015 14:29

ANT-MAN: FROM STORY TO SCREEN

David Robbins© 2015
Stick around long enough in this world of ours, and some things you wish for actually happen.
When I was a boy, I did what a lot of kids did, and devoured comics. One of the comics I liked most was TALES TO ASTONISH. At first they did monster stories. But then Marvel added a new superhero to their burgeoning line, none other than the inimitable Ant-Man….and his other half, the winsome Wasp.
I had long wished to see them, and other Marvel heroes, on the big screen. There were a few efforts, but nothing as outstanding until the recent cinematic explosion of not just Marvel but superheroes in general. And now, at long last, lo and behold, an ANT-MAN movie. But where did he come from?
Hank Pym was a dedicated scientist whose ‘Pym particles’ would have long-reaching consequences in the Marvel universe. Janet Van Dyne was a ‘society playgirl’ who wanted nothing more than to get his nose out of his test-tubes and have some fun.
The murder of her father brought them together. And they made quite the pair. For years their devotion to one another was exemplary, until Marvel decided to inject more ‘realism’ into their titles. Tony Stark---Iron Man---became an alcoholic. They turned poor Hank Pym into an abuser. They also had him go slightly nuts. But I digress.
Ant-Man premiered in one of those monster stories, way back in TALES TO ASTONISH #27. He was just a scientist then, no costume, no ‘super-power’. Later, when Marvel adopted super-heroics in a huge way, they put a costume on Hank, and presto, Ant-Man was born.

[The first appearance of Ant-Man as a superhero. Never underestimate an army of ants.]

The early stories were by Larry Leiber, the great Stan Lee’s brother, with art by the equally great Jack Kirby. Leiber, by the way, also did the early stories for Iron-Man and Thor.

[The first appearance of the Wasp. Never underestimate a woman of any size, ever.] For about a year and a half, Ant-Man and the Wasp battled all sorts of far-out baddies, from a genius insect called the Scarlet Beetle to human villains like Egghead and the Porcupine. Then Marvel upped the ante, literally. It had occurred to someone that if the Pym Particles could make Hank shrink, they could also make him grow. Thus, Giant-Man appeared in issue #49. He and the Wasp would continue their adventures, including epic fights with Spider-Man and the Hulk, until issue #69, at which point they were replaced by the Sub-Mariner.

[The first appearance of Giant-Man. He went through a lot of costume changes over the years.]
In addition to TTA, Hank and Jan were mainstays for years in another title, none other than THE AVENGERS. In fact, it was Hank who proposed forming the team after they joined up with Thor and Iron Man to stop the Hulk. And it was Janet who came up with the team’s name. (She even became their leader for a while. There was always more to her than that ‘socialite’ label.)

[Giant-Man and the Wasp vs Spider-Man. A great issue.]
It wasn’t until a decade and a half later that Scott Lang entered the picture as the new Ant-Man. By then, Hank nearly always was portrayed in his Giant-Man persona. I say ‘nearly always’, because during that ‘slightly nuts’ phase, he reinvented himself as the super-hero Yellowjacket. There was also a period when Hank called himself Goliath, and was the muscle of the Avengers until Hercules came on board.
All of which brings us to the new movie. It’s hugely respectful of its antecedents. Marvel gives us not only Hank ‘and’ Scott, but ties it all together in a fun and exciting way. The humor quotient is off the scale. We also get to see Janet, however briefly.
So there you go. The bare bones, but it gives you some idea of their history. Now catch the movie. The laughs and grins will make you glad you did.

[One of my favorite Hank personas. As Goliath, he kicked serious butt.]

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Published on August 05, 2015 09:48

THE LAW AND THE LAWLESS: A BADGE, A BABE, AND BADMEN

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ai5YRME72zM..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ai5YRME72zM..." width="246" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">David Robbins </span></div><div class="MsoNormal">© 2015<br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Another book is out!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">If you like Westerns or like my stuff or like a good read, give THE LAW AND THE LAWLESS a try.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">What’s it about? From the back cover:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">‘When a bunch of ruffians robs a bank in the sleepy town of Alpine, it’s only natural for the locals to be alarmed. But this gang and its leader, Cestus Calloway, are not common criminals. In fact, Cestus, known as the Robin Hood of the Rockies, distributes his loot to those less fortunate and rains stolen money down on the townsfolk. As if that isn’t too good to be true, this gang holds to one important rule:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Steal but don’t kill….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">All Alpine’s marshal, Boyd Cooper, wants is peace and quiet, not to get a posse together to track outlaws. However, when an altercation leads to the exchange of gunfire and the spilling of outlaw blood, he doesn’t have much of a choice. The outlaws fear their reputation might be at stake, so they declare revenge on the tin stars of Alpine. They’re mad enough to break their own no-kill rule, and Boyd Cooper knows things could end as bloody as they started….’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">If you’ve read my stories, you know there has to be a lot more to it, and there is. Boyd’s passions in life are the law, a certain lady, and fishing, not necessarily in that order. In the battle of wits between him and Cestus Calloway, the outcome doesn’t depend on who is the sharpest tool in the shed. It’s more a matter of who is willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Throw in my trademark humor and romance and gobs of action, and you have a fun read well worth your while. THE LAW AND THE LAWLESS, where a good man learns that while we may think that we engrave our own destinies on the hard rock called life, sometimes life does some engraving of its own.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iPYgYhFhhHI..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iPYgYhFhhHI..." width="241" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">[Another recent book by yours truly. This one is about two sisters and the men they choose, and how they stand by those men, come what may.]</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DavidR..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

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Published on August 05, 2015 07:58

HIT RADIO: MUSIC AND MADE MEN

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-khMYNxDmTyA..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-khMYNxDmTyA..." height="640" width="401" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> David Robbins</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">©2015</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Could you use a few grins and chuckles or maybe even a belly laugh or two? Then I’ve got the perfect book for you: HIT RADIO.</span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> It’s finally out. I say ‘finally’ because I wrote it a few years ago, but what with WILDERNESS and ENDWORLD and the new supernatural thrillers---ANGEL U---I put it on the back burner for a while.</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">What’s it about? you ask. From the back cover: ‘Franco Scarvetti has a problem. His psycho son has whacked a made man. Now a rival Family is out to do the same to his son. So Big Frank comes up with a plan. He sends his lethal pride and joy to run a radio station in a small town while he tries to smooth things over. But Big Frank never read Shakespeare and he forgets that a psycho by any other name is still….a psycho.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">How psycho? Here’s a scene from the book. The son---whose nickname is Cry Baby---is supposed to lie low but he decides he’s going to run the radio station the same way he would, say, the Mob. Only he doesn’t know a thing about radio. Case in point. He calls the Program Director---a guy named Larry---into his office to explain how things are going to be:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Cry Baby was pleased at how brilliantly he’d worked the plan out and couldn’t wait to share it. “We’re in the music business, right? We play music for people to listen to. Follow me so far?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I think so,” Larry said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And the number one station is the one with the most listeners. Am I right?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes, sir, absolutely.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well, since no two jerks like the same songs, the key to being number one should be frigging obvious. We’ll go ice cream on their ass.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Larry wondered if his ears were working. “Ice cream, sir?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yeah. Like Baskin-Robbins, that ice cream place. Ever been to one?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yes, sir. I’d imagine everyone has.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And how many flavors to they have? Just chocolate and vanilla?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Larry was desperately trying to figure out what that had to do with their music. “No, sir. Last I heard, they have dozens of flavors.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They offer a gazillion of them,” Cry Baby said. “And why? Because no two people like the same frigging flavor. So Baskin and that other guy give the dopes what they want. Every frigging flavor under the frigging sun. It works, too, doesn’t it? They’re the place everybody thinks of when they think of ice cream. Am I right again?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Larry played it safe and said, “Baskin-Robbins knows ice cream, sir.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cry Baby beamed. “What works for those guys will work for us. We’re going to have a Baskin-Robbins, what do you call it? Format.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Sir?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Are you stupid or something?” Cry Baby thought he’d explained it perfectly. “Instead of a gazillion flavors we’ll play a gazillion songs. All different kinds for all different people.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0QOY3y7Ex4..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0QOY3y7Ex4..." /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">[You're wondering why I stuck this in? Raspberry sorbet is my favorite.] </span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">That’s just a taste. The official genre---a writer has to pick from a couple of dozen or so----is ‘Black Comedy’. I would have gone with ‘Humor’ except HIT RADIO is darker and edgier than most novels written for humor’s sake. ‘Satire’ was another possibility, but again, certain elements didn’t fit.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">So what’s the definition of a ‘Black Comedy’? I’ll quote Wikipedia: ‘A black comedy (or dark comedy) is a comic work that employs farce and morbid humor…’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">There’s plenty of that. It helps if your own sense of humor is slightly warped.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;">HIT RADIO is a rollercoaster ride that will have you turning the pages. It has great characters, an entertaining plot, romance and mayhem. Get your copy today, print or ebook or both.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9mf5hoEl4pQ..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9mf5hoEl4pQ..." height="400" width="267" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> [This isn't a Mafioso. It's some doofus writer who has downed a gallon of raspberry sorbet. :)]</span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DavidR..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

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Published on April 29, 2015 20:40

ANGEL U: DEMIGOD. THE EXCITEMENT CONTINUES

<div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lPXauKw9YHw..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lPXauKw9YHw..." height="335" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">David Robbins</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">© 2015</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If you’re into supernatural thrillers or like a good read of any kind, DEMIGOD has hit the shelves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The second book in the ANGEL U saga transports readers from the boundaries of reality was we know it into realms of fantastic imagination and nonstop suspense.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A being out of myth and legend seeks the answers to two simple questions. Who is he? More to the point, ‘what’ is he? In daring to discover the truth, he must venture where few have gone before….and returned to tell the tale.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Along the way he will encounter angels and archangels, demons and jinn, Harpies and three-headed hounds, and much more. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In a universe where multiple realities impinge on one another and sometimes merge to horrific effect, to seek order out of chaos is to invite despair.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But the Destroyer doesn’t know the meaning of defeat. And teamed with a beauteous creature who makes no secret of her thirst for his blood, he will shake the walls of Hell itself.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">ANGEL U: DEMIGOD.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Treat<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>yourself.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Available in print and ebook editions from Amazon and other outlets.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Cooper Std Black"; font-size: 14.0pt;">(And in case you missed ANGEL U: LET THERE BE LIGHT)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gr-uSzHcLQg..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gr-uSzHcLQg..." height="286" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DavidR..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

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Published on April 13, 2015 21:03

'WESTWARD HO!' WITH PICCADILLY PUBLISHING.

David Robbins
© 2015

Do you enjoy ebooks?
Then I have some greats news.
Piccadilly Publishing, a premier publisher of ebooks, will be releasing versions
of the early WILDERNESS books, as well as the complete DAVY CROCKETT
and WHITE APACHE series.

WILDERNESS will be published in double editions so you get twice the read
and twice the fun.

For regular updates, visit the David Robbins Author page at Facebook.
Scroll down the bar on the right and you'll find a link, as well as links
to the Asylum, Twitter, and others.

And to further whet your interest, here's the cover for the first
DAVY CROCKETT.

For more on the great books Piccadilly Publishing puts out, go to:
www.piccadillypublishing.org

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Published on March 17, 2015 19:04

THE EVIL MEN DO

David Robbins© 2015

“The evil that men do lives after them;The good is oft interred with their bones.” THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR Act III, Scene II. William Shakespeare

Any “Willy S’ fans here, as a gentleman by the name of McNair might say? JULIUS CAESAR ranks up there in my top three along with HAMLET and, ‘natch’, ROMEO AND JULIET.
In light of recent world events---some might say ‘perpetual world events’---the above quote hasn't lost any of its currency. I used part of it for the title of my newest Western.
The story revolves around an act of hideous villainy, and the repercussions of that vile deed a decade and a half later. Evil leaves scars, and none sear deeper than in the heart and soul of a child.

[My last Western, in case you missed it. A woman from back East takes over a ranch after her father dies, and is pitted against the last person she'd expect---her own sister.]
Tyree Johnson is only 15 but he’s going around the West after outlaws with the highest bounties on their heads. Some might regard him as an uppity kid too big for his britches. But there’s more to Tyree than anyone knows. He refuses to let evil scar him and get away with it. For Tyree, it's an eye for an eye, a life for a life.
Along the way he hooks up with a lawman whose idea of enforcing the law is to get along with everyone, good or bad. Throw in a gun hand trying to escape his past, and you have a trio of would-be avengers swept up in the maelstrom of the evil that men do.
If you’re looking for a tale chock full of drama, action and more than a little humor,THE EVIL MEN DO is for you. :)