Paul Bishop's Blog, page 46
May 11, 2015
COMING SOON ~ FIGHT CARD: FIGHTING ALASKA
COMING SOON ~ FIGHT CARD: FIGHTING ALASKADUANE SPURLOCK WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY
COVER: CARL YONDER
FIGHT CARD: FIGHTING ALASKA
1900 Alaska…Gold, greed, and gamblers – a dangerous combination in a gold rush boomtown. Itinerant boxer Jean St. Vrain has a lifetime of rootless wandering behind him and ten years of knuckle-busting boxing, bar bouncing, and disillusionment. He wants to call quits to the fight game, but he needs a way out. Joining a mob of desperate men heading for the Alaskan gold fields, Jean is caught between crooked judges, crooked businessmen, a soiled dove, and infamous gunman Wyatt Earp and his cronies. With his future looking as harsh as the Alaskan landscape, Jean has one chance left – fight again.
April 28, 2015
BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION
BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION ~ NEW WORLDS FOR A NEW GENERATIONBlack speculative fiction is a literary movement with roots from the past currently branching into black-centric genres such as sword & soul, steamfunk, dieselfunk, and urban fantasy. For a wider look at these genres, I turned to Milton Davis, a writer and entrepreneur at the forefront of this contemporary movement, combining literature and community – stories, cosplay, and lifestyle.
Milton is a full-time chemist and the owner of MVmedia – a micro publishing company specializing in speculative fiction representing people of color in a positive manner. He is the author of eight novels, including the just released steamfunk tale, From Here to Timbuktu. He is co-editor of four anthologies, Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology, Griots: Sisters of the Spear, The Ki Khanga, and Steamfunk! WHAT ARE THE ROOTS OF BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION, AND WHAT DREW YOU TO THE GENRE?
The roots of black speculative fiction are found in the efforts of black independent speculative fiction writers. Black writers in speculative fiction have been around for a long time, but the recent increase in writers due to print on demand, e-books and social networking has increased the number of writers to a point where we can claim a legitimate subgenre.
I came to black speculative fiction like most writers. As a black reader of speculative fiction I wanted to read stories that not only contained main characters that looked like me, but I also wanted stories that included my culture and experiences as well. So I decided to write them.
TO HELP US HAVE A CLEARER UNDERSTANDING, WOULD YOU DEFINE STEAMFUNK, DIESELFUNK, SWORD & SOUL, AND URBAN FANTASY – THE DIFFERENCES AND WHAT TIES THEM TOGETHER?
The one thing that all these sub-genres have in common is that they all contain stories with black main characters, and all include the cultural, historical and contemporary perspective of people of African descent. As far as differences are concerned, Steamfunk takes traditional steampunk trappings (worlds with steam driven mechanics as opposed to electric) while also focusing on stories based on the 19th century Afrocentric cultural experience. Dieselfunk is similar in that takes that same focus to an early 20th century time frame (and uses mechanics based on diesel instead of steam). Sword & Soul is basically sword and sorcery and heroic fiction based on African culture, history, spirituality and traditions. Urban fantasy is a broader term that doesn’t apply directly to Black urban fantasy. It covers most genres that deal with magic in the modern day world.
IN 1974, CHARLES R. SAUNDERS BEGAN WRITING STORIES OF THE JUNGLE HERO IMARO SET IN THE FANTASY WORLD OF NYUMBANI. DID THESE STORIES HAVE AN INFLUENCE ON YOUR OWN WRITING OR ON BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION AS A WHOLE?
I’m sad to say they didn’t, initially. I didn’t discover Charles’s work until after I began writing. Since then we’ve met online and become great friends. My science fiction and fantasy upbringing was very traditional. I read Herbert, Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke and others. Although I always contemplated writing speculative fiction from a black perspective, it was a historical fiction novel, Segu by Maryse Conde, showed me that it could be done and done well.
WHY IS BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION AND ITS ASSOCIATE GENRES IMPORTANT IN TODAY’S LITERARY WORLD?
I think it is important for people to see themselves in anything they are interested in. It gives them a sense of being, belonging and engages them more completely. Today entertainment has become a huge part of our lives, influencing us consciously and subconsciously. And speculative fiction has been seriously lacking in black images, especially positive black images.
HOW DOES STEAMFUNK TRANSLATE INTO A LIFESTYLE?
To me, steamfunk is not a lifestyle. It is a literary genre.
HOW DO YOU FEEL THIS BECOMES A POSITIVE MOVEMENT WITHIN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY?
I don’t see it as a movement. I see it as another opportunity to express black creativity. It think it can and does have a positive effect on black speculative fiction readers, especially African American readers because the way it is currently presented incorporates a lot of our history and culture. I can see it evolving to include Afro-Caribbean, Afro-British, Afro-French and various continental African cultures as well. That in turn will enrich and expand the scope of steampunk.
DO YOU FEEL AN OBLIGATION TO WRITE ABOUT RACIAL THEMES AS PART OF THE BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION GENRES? IF SO, DOES THIS MAKE THE STORIES HARDER TO TELL?
I don’t feel obligated to write about racial themes in black speculative fiction, but at the same time I don’t shy away from them, either. I think this is one of the hallmarks of black speculative fiction. We can go there. Mainstream speculative fiction rarely deals with racial issues from a black point of view, which mean the story is incomplete. In black speculative fiction we can deal with an issue in a way that is true to us because our audience is mainly black and will relate to how we present it.
ARE THERE HISTORICALLY RACIAL STEREOTYPES YOU CHOSE TO PLAY AGAINST WHEN PLOTTING OR CREATING CHARACTERS?
The main thing I do in my stories is create strong black main characters, which I guess is playing against the mainstream fiction black stereotype of black characters being sidekicks, sacrificial Negroes or ‘Magic’ Negroes.
WHO ARE THE CURRENT WRITERS BRINGING THESE TALES TO LIFE?
There’s a long list of writers; Balogun Ojetade, Alicia McCalla, Ronald Jones, Alan Jones, K. Ceres Wright, Carolle McDonnell, Valjeanne Jeffers, Cerece Renee Murphy, William Hayashi, Davaun Sanders, Maurice Broaddus and many more. And, of course, you have the icons – Octavia Butler, Charles R. Saunders, Samuel Delany, Tananarive, Due, Steve Barnes, Nalo Hopkinson, Nisi Shawl, Nnedi Okorafor, N.K. Jemison and David Anthony Durham.
WHO IS YOUR CORE AUDIENCE AND WHAT DO THEY LOOK FOR IN YOUR WORK?
My core audience is black speculative fiction readers. I think they look for themselves and their culture in my work. Like most writers, I write for myself, but it’s very good to know my stories resonate with so many of my people.
HOW HAVE YOU SEEN BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION BECOMING A POSITIVE FORCE?
Yes, especially among young black readers. That’s been the highlight of this journey. To see the happy faces of black girls and boys when they see my book covers and to hear the excitement in their voices when they talk about the books makes it worth it. I’ve also see it change people’s historical perspective, especially with Sword & Soul. I often base my writing on historical subjects not often talked about, so when we discuss the books we end up sharing information of which most folks aren’t aware.
HOW DO YOU TAKE BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION TO A WIDER AUDIENCE?
Exposure. Doing cons and interviews like this one. It’s a slow process but it works. Since access to the big box bookstores is virtually impossible, we have to work outside the norm. Social networking has been a particularly strong force in spreading the word. My book sales increase in double digit percentages every year so I know the word is getting out.
A big thank you to Milton for taking the time to share the world of black speculative fiction. You can find Milton on the web here:
http://tinyurl.com/3lel6hw BLACK SPECULATIVE FICTION SAMPLER
FROM HERE TO TIMBUKTU ~ MILTON DAVIS The year is 1870. As the young country of Freedonia prepares to celebrate fifty years of existence, a young bounty hunter by the name of Zeke Culpepper is hired by a wealthy businessman to find a valuable book. In the kingdom of Mali on the continent of Africa, veteran warrior Famara Keita has been assigned to find that same book and bring it back to its rightful owner. And in the newly formed nation of Germany, an ambitious Prussian officer seeks the book as well for its secrets that could make Germany the most powerful nation in the world. The result is an action adventure like no other! 
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AFRIKA ~ BALOGUN OJETADE An exciting Sword and Soul tale by Balogun Ojetade, Once Upon a Time in Afrika Tells the story of a beautiful princess and her eager suitors. Desperate to marry off his beautiful but "tomboyish" duaghter, Esuseeke, the Emperor of Oyo, consults the Oracle. The Oracle tells the Emperor Esuseeke must marry the greatest warrior in all Onile (Afrika). To determine who is the greatest warrior, the Emperor hosts a grand martial arts tournament inviting warrior from all over the continent. Unknown to the warriors and spectators of the tournament a powerful evil is headed their way. Will the warriors band together against this evil? 
STEAMFUNK! ~ EDITED BY MILTON DAIS AND BALOGUN OJETADE A witch, more machine than human, judges the character of the wicked and hands out justice in a ravaged Chicago. John Henry wields his mighty hammers in a war against machines and the undead. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman rule a country of freed slaves that rivals – and often bests – England and France in power and technology. You will find all this – and much more – between the pages of Steamfunk, an anthology of incredible stories by some of today’s greatest authors of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Steamfunk – African and African American-inspired Steampunk. Editors Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade have put together a masterful work guaranteed to transport you to new worlds. Worlds of adventure; of terror; of war and wonder; of iron and steam. Open these pages and traverse the lumineferous aether to the world of Steamfunk! April 27, 2015
NOIR CENTRAL: NIGHT LIFE
NOIR CENTRAL: NIGHT LIFEDavid C. Taylor brings a wealth of screenwriting experience to bear in his debut novel, Night Life– a hardboiled tale with a noirish twist set in 1950s New York. David agreed to undergo the bright lights and rubber hose treatment to tell us a little more about the new book and his process…
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE NIGHT LIFE AND THE PROCESS OF HOW YOU CAME TO WRITE IT?
I wanted to get back to writing prose fiction after years of working in movies and TV. I wanted to write a story set in New York during the era in which I grew up. And I like propulsive stories that carry the reader along, and I wanted to write a story like the ones I enjoy and admire.
SCREENWRITING, PLAYWRITING, AND NOVELS ARE VERY DIFFERENT LITERARY MODES. WHAT DID YOU FIND DIFFICULT ABOUT THE PROCESS OF WRITING NIGHT LIFE, AND WHAT WAS MADE EASIER BY YOUR BACKGROUND IN OTHER FORMS OF WRITING?
The difficulty in all writing is getting what is in your head down the immense distance from your brain to your typing hand, making concrete all those flashes that are going on somewhere in the cerebral cortex. Screenwriting, and playwriting teach you structure and economy, because, unlike novels, they are limited in length. Novels are limited only by your imagination and your ability to continually engage your reader.
DID THE INSPIRATION FOR NIGHT LIFE FIRST STRIKE YOU AS A SCREENPLAY IDEA OR DID YOU SEE IT AS A NOVEL FROM THE BEGINNING?
I always saw it as a novel, because I was trying to escape not screenwriting itself, but all the other restrictions and pressures the movie business brings to the writer. Prose fiction allows you an autonomy that is not available in Hollywood, and eventually that autonomy became too attractive to ignore.
WHAT DREW YOU TO THE TIME PERIOD OF NIGHT LIFE?
I grew up in the New York of the Fifties and Sixties, and the city was little changed in those years, indeed until what we call “The Sixties” hit, and I had many indelible memories of that bygone era that I wanted to explore.
MICHAEL CASSIDY, THE DETECTIVE AT THE HEART OF NIGHT LIFE, IS A MAN PLAGUED BY DREAMS THAT SOMETIMES COME TRUE. HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO USE THIS TRAIT TO DRIVE THE SUSPENSE IN NIGHT LIFE?I experienced dreams like that as a child and up into my twenties. They were not as precise even as the chaotic ones Cassidy has, but they did sometimes come true in a way that déjà vu could not explain. We are told to write what we know, and I knew that, and when we write what we know, we almost always exaggerate or expand for dramatic effect.
ARE YOU A FAN OF HARDBOILED FICTION? IF SO, WHICH WRITERS WOULD YOU POINT TO AS INSPIRATION FOR NIGHT LIFE?
I am a fan. There are many writers of that kind of fiction I admired, including Hammett, Chandler, Ross MacDonald, John D. MacDonald, George V. Higgins (the master of dialogue), Alan Furst, George Pelecanos, John Sandford, the list goes on and on.
DID YOU HAVE TO START RESEARCH FOR THE BACKGROUND OF NIGHT LIFEFROM SCRATCH, OR WAS THIS A STORY YOU HAVE HAD IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND WAITING FOR THE RIGHT MOMENT?
Much of the background was in my head in a formless way, and I had to do some research to be sure of timelines and facts. What play was on in the Shubert Theatre when Cassidy walks through Shubert Alley the night he finds Ingram dead?
DID YOU CONCEIVE NIGHT LIFE AS A SERIES OR A STANDALONE? NOW NIGHT LIFE IS BEING PROCLAIMED BY YOUR PUBLISHER AS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF HISTORICAL CRIME FICTION TALES, HOW DAUNTING IS THE PROSPECT OF CAPPING THE ACCLAIM THIS FIRST NOVEL IS RECEIVING?
I knew before I finished Night Life that I was not finished with Michael Cassidy and some of the other characters and that I would bring them back. It is always somewhat daunting to consider continuing a successful story, and the only real reason to do it is if you have another story that fits the characters and the times equally well. Then the problem once again becomes bridging the distance between the head and the hand.
AS NIGHT LIFE ROLLS INTO BOOKSTORES, WHAT IS IT YOU WANT YOUR READERS TO TAKE AWAY FROM THE NOVEL?
I hope they enjoy the book for the characters, the atmosphere, and the story, and I wouldn’t mind if they came away from it thinking a bit about the tendency of power to corrupt, and about the responsibility of citizens to be watchful of those who want to lead them.
Thanks David for taking time to share your experience with Night Life.
NIGHT LIFE ~ DAVID C. TAYLOR
New York City in 1954. The Cold War is heating up. Senator Joe McCarthy is running a witch hunt for Communists in America. The newly formed CIA is fighting a turf battle with the FBI to see who will be the primary US intelligence agency. And the bodies of murdered young men are turning up in the city.
Michael Cassidy has an unusual background for a New York cop. His father, a refugee from Eastern Europe, is a successful Broadway producer. His godfather is Frank Costello, a Mafia boss. Cassidy also has an unusual way of going about the business of being a cop--maybe that's why he threw a fellow officer out a third story window of the Cortland Hotel.
Cassidy is assigned to the case of Alexander Ingram, a Broadway chorus dancer found tortured and dead in his apartment in Hell's Kitchen. Complications grow as other young men are murdered one after the other. And why are the FBI, the CIA, and the Mafia interested in the death of a Broadway gypsy?
Meanwhile, a mysterious, beautiful woman moves into Cassidy's building in Greenwich Village. Is Dylan McCue a lover or an enemy? Cassidy is plagued by nightmares – dreams that sometimes become reality. And he has been dreaming that someone is coming to kill him.
April 6, 2015
FISTS OF IRON: ROUND 4
FISTS OF IRON: ROUND 4The REH Foundation Press is proud to present Fists of Iron: Round 4, the final volume of a four-volume series presenting the Collected Boxing Fiction of Robert E. Howard.
This volume features the collected Kid Allison stories and measures in at 347 pages (plus introductory material). It is printed in hardback with dust jacket, with the first printing limited to 200 copies, each individually numbered. Cover art by Tom Gianni and introduction by Mark Finn.
FISTS OF IRON: ROUND 4
CONTENTS
Intro: “A Boy and His Dog” by Mark Finn
KID ALLISON
The Man with the Mystery Mitts
Kid Galahad
College Socks
The Wild Cat and the Star
Fighting Nerves (Kid Allison version)
MIKE DORGAN AND BILL MCGLORY The House of Peril One Shanghai Night
The Tomb of the Dragon
OTHER TALES
The Sign of the Snake
The Fighting Fury
Fighting Nerves (Jim O’Donnel version)
Fists of the Desert
Fists of the Revolution
MISCELLANEA
The Jinx
Fistic Psychology
The Drawing Card
Untitled fragment (“Huh,” I was so . . .)
A Tough Nut to Crack (Allison version)
A Tough Nut to Crack (Clarney version)
One Shanghai Night – synopsis
Untitled notes (Knute Hansen)
The Lord of the Ring, (part 4), by Patrice Louinet
I JUST RECEIVED MY COPY AND AM DELIGHTED TO HAVE THE COMPLETE SERIES OF THESE BEAUTIFUL TOMES …
April 4, 2015
COP WRITERS: NUDE IN RED
COP WRITERS: NUDE IN RED A new novel from my favorite cop turned writer, O'Neil De Noux, is always an event for me. This time out, it’s a new entry featuring his John Raven Beau character …
NUDE IN RED
Saturday – off-duty NOPD Homicide Detective John Raven Beau spots a long, tall brunette in a short black dress crossing a street just as a bank robber rushes out of a bank. Beau catches the robber and Miss Long-legs-in-a-black dress is there with a Glock in hand. She’s a private eye and cousin of an old friend who warns Beau – she’s a maneater. Beau can’t resist the temptation. Jessie Carini is irresistible and finds Beau hard to resist as well.
Monday – the new superintendent of police has a surprise for Beau, promoting him to Chief Inspector of the new Critical Investigations Unit (CIU) and assigns a murder case with a secret attached. Beau chooses his new partner, Juanita Cruz, and the two tackle a case involving high priced call girls, The Mafia, a Romanian organized crime syndicate and more victims.
April 3, 2015
PULP NOW: DAY OF THE DESTROYERS
PULP NOW: DAY OF THE DESTROYERSREALLY HAPPY TO HAVE MY STORY, SHARDS, INCLUDED IN THIS PULP INSPIRED COLLECTION ... AVAILABLE NOW DESPITE WHAT THE AMAZON LISTING CURRENTLY STATES ...
Secret Agent X-11 Jimmie Flint Battles to Save FDR and the Nation
From the epoch of the Great Depression when the pulps were in full bloom, among the millionaire playboys who donned masked avenger garb, there were the super spies from Secret Agent X to those in Thrilling Spy Stories.
It is with great pleasure then that Moonstone Books presents Day of the Destroyers, an all-original prose linked anthology. Each story is part of a larger arc wherein Jimmie Flint, Secret Agent X-11 of the Intelligence Service Command, battles to prevent the seditionist Medusa Council from engineering a bloody coup overthrowing our democracy.
Inspired by actual events from the 1930s, alluded to in the recent Roosevelts: An Intimate HistoryPBS documentary, a grouping of extremist politicians and moneyed interests sought to "take back" the country from President Roosevelt. Day of the Destroyers pits the ever-resourceful Jimmie Flint against these forces.
He fights across the country preventing an aerial assault on Chicago’s rail lines, destroying a secret factory of gas meant to enthrall millions in New Mexico, to racing to stop a machine of fantastic destruction in Manhattan. He’s aided by his girlfriend, intrepid newspaper reporter Kara Eastland, his teenaged protégé Tim Fallon, as well as pulp era masked vigilantes the Green Lama, the Phantom Detective, and the Black Bat. Joining the fight are real historical figures including General Smedley (the original Devil Dog) Butler and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn. Each exciting chapter-story in the anthology builds to a final showdown between the redoubtable X-11 and his arch-nemesis, Colonel Lucian Starliss, head of the Medusa Council.
Writers who contributed to this one-of-a-kind collection are Pulp Factory award winner Adam Lance Garcia, Macavity and Shamus nominated Jeri Westerson, pulpmeisters Tommy Hancock and Ron Fortier, former Marvel Comics editor Eric Fein, Zeroids writer Aaron Shaps, former LAPD lead detective Paul Bishop, Moonstone EiC Joe Gentile, and Chester Himes award winner Gary Phillips. Introduction by Pulp Ark award winner Bobby Nash.
DAY OF THE DESTROYERS
276 PAGES, 6 x 9TPB $13.95 HARCOVER $23.99
THRILLER CORNER: BLACK SCORPION ~ THE TYRANT REBORN
THRILLER CORNER: BLACK SCORPION ~ THE TYRANT REBORNJon Land is the bestselling author over 25 novels including the Caitlin Strong novels (about a fifth-generation Texas ranger), the Ben Kamal and Danielle Barnea books (featuring a Palestinian detective and chief inspector of the Israeli police), and eleven thrillers starring Blaine McCracken, an exiled agent who knows 14 ways to kill a man in under two seconds – all high octane stuff.
In his latest novel, Land brings back Michael The Tyrant Tiranno, hero of Land’s bestselling novel, The Seven Sins. His new Tyrant novel, Black Scorpion, Tiranno takes on a worldwide human trafficking cabal.
In advance of the novel’s anticipated release on April 7th, Land stopped by Bish’s Beat for the bright lights and rubber hoses treatment …
CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT BLACK SCORPION: THE TYRANT REBORN?
I think it’s the most ambitious book I’ve ever done in terms of character, emotion and story. I say that not only because of its epic-like structure, but mostly because I’ve never written a book before that challenges its characters in so many ways. It challenges them with truth and the reality of their own natures contrasted against their fates, testing especially Michael Tiranno’s capacity to exceed his own limitations. He has become a classical, almost mythic hero in terms of the losses he suffers and stunning revelations about his own fate he must accept. All the while confronting a villain just as powerful as he is with whom he unknowingly shares an indelible bond. Great villains, they say, make great heroes and that’s truly the case here as Michael confronts an all-powerful criminal organization with a plot to do incredible harm to the country and world in the offing. To stop them, Michael must become a different man than he is when the book starts out, he must evolve, literally, into something more and accepting that fate comes to define both him as a hero and the story as a whole.
WHAT DREW YOU TO WRITE THRILLER AND MYSTERY NOVELS?
Well, as the great Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “You can only write what you would read if someone else had written it.” So, when I chose to be a writer, or should I say when writing chose me, I gravitated to what came most naturally to me. I’d grown up reading all of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels while away at camp for the summer, this after falling in love with the early films starring Sean Connery as Bond. The structure of those films has been more influential in my writing than any other individual factor. As I got older while in college, I began devouring the books of Stephen King, Robert Ludum, Clive Cussler and David Morrell – all great storytellers above everything else, and I realized that’s what I wanted to be too.
MICHAEL TIRANNO, IS BASED ON A CHARACTER ORIGINALLY CREATED BY FABRIZIO BOCCARDI. HOW DO YOU WORK WITH HIM TO DEVELOP EACH STORY?
It’s an extremely close relationship since we basically sweat every single plot development, every single scene – hell, every single line. It can be extremely frustrating at times because I’m used to working alone in a box without interference or micromanaging. Quite frankly, I don’t enjoy the process at all, but have to admit twice now it’s resulted in far better books than I could have written on my own. Fabrizio isn’t a writer or a storyteller and he doesn’t grasp all the intricacies of structure. But he has wonderful instincts that are right more often than not and form the perfect complement to my experience and talents. Look, Michael Tiranno is his baby. He turned him over to me to build, but he could never be expected to let him go altogether. Ultimately, I think we work so well together because our passion is balanced by our willingness to compromise toward telling the best story we possibly can. It may drive me crazy at times, but the ends justify the means
HOW DO YOU APPROACH WRITING A BOOK LIKE BLACK SCORPION?It all starts with the hero, Michael Tiranno. I started Black Scorpion with the premise that in the five years since the events depicted in The Seven Sins, Michael hasn’t changed very much. He’s still pretty much the same man we left at the end of the first book, a tyrant consumed by his desire to expand his empire and holdings. The whole essence of Black Scorpion is watching him evolve into something entirely different – Still a tyrant, yes, but a tyrant for good. A superhero without a mask or cape. We watch his view of his entire place in the world change, forced upon him by the shattering truths and tragedy he encounters along the way. And in that respect his quest changes from the pursuit of riches and power to self-fulfillment and self-actualization. So now, above everything else, Michael Tiranno’s character is defined by his obsession for standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. Bullies aren’t confined to the schoolyard and he won’t tolerate them under any circumstances. He’s spent his life trying to find the security he lost that day his parents were murdered and once there he uses the power that comes with it to defend those who need him the most. My point is your hero defines the very nature of a book with the sprawl and ambition of Black Scorpion. The book will rise or fall based on how the audience responds to him and you have to approach a book like this with that in mind.
YOU’VE WRITTEN A NUMBER OF SERIES, IS THIS ONE YOUR FAVORITE TO WRITE?
Frankly, no, that would be my Caitlin Strong Texas Ranger series. I’m not saying the books in that series are better than Black Scorpion because I think in many ways Black Scorpion is the most ambitious and best realized book in terms of vision I’ve ever written. I’m talking about the process. Black Scorpion is work for hire and I have an obligation to serve the needs of the Tyrant character’s creator, Fabrizio Boccardi That robs this series, and me, of the spontaneity that defines me as a writer, since I don’t outline. Writing with someone looking over your shoulder isn’t nearly as fun or gratifying. But, that said, the end result of both this book and its prequel, The Seven Sins, proves I’m capable of adapting.
DID YOU HAVE TO DO ANY SPECIAL RESEARCH TO WRITE THIS BOOK?
It’s always that way with thrillers that involve as much cutting edge technology as this one does. But so much of it is speculative, based not on what exists now but will eventually, that I’m essentially forced to go back to school on subjects I had very little knowledge of to start out. And not just pertaining to the villain’s world-threatening plot either. I had to figure out how to construct Black Scorpion’s lair inside a mountain, and needed to concoct a way for a commando team to access it from beneath a manmade lake in the climax. It’s all very James Bond-like and, as with Bond, with every challenge comes up a wonderful opportunity to do something no one’s ever done before
WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS TAKE AWAY FROM OR FEEL WHEN READING THIS BOOK?
First and foremost I want them to come away feeling they weren’t just entertained, but spirited away into the fabric of the story. But I want them to take away from that what makes a man a hero. That a man’s fate isn’t always his to define, as personified in Michael’s case by the mystical relic medallion that’s the one possession he has left from his family. It’s both his talisman and curse, as it has been for other men of great power who’ve possessed it through history. And while that medallion might fuel Michael’s quest, ultimately that quest is about saving a woman he loves and preserving the world he has built he now wants to share with her. So as broad and ambitious as this book is, like all great stories, it’s ultimately very simple.
IS A THIRD ADVENTURE OF THE TYRANT IN THE WORKS?
No, not yet. But there’s a whole bunch of happening in film and comic books, so stay tuned.
ON THE WEB:
www.jonlandbooks.com
Twitter @jondland
THE BLACK SCORPION: THE TYRANT REBORN
The next adventure of The Seven Sins' Michael "The Tyrant" Tiranno, Jon Land's Black Scorpion is a pulse pounding action-thriller as he takes on a worldwide human trafficking cabal.
Five years have passed since Michael Tiranno saved the city of Las Vegas from a terrorist attack. And now a new enemy has surfaced in Eastern Europe in the form of an all-powerful organization called Black Scorpion. Once a victim of human trafficking himself, the shadowy group's crazed leader, Vladimir Dracu, has become the mastermind behind the scourge's infestation on a global scale. And now he's set his sights on Michael Tiranno for reasons birthed in a painful secret past that have scarred both men.
Already facing a myriad of problems, Michael once more must rise to the challenge of confronting an all-powerful enemy who is exploiting and ravaging innocents all across the globe and has set nothing less than all of America as its new victim. Black Scorpion has also taken the woman Michael loves hostage:?Scarlett Swan, a beautiful archaeologist who was following the dangerous trail of the origins of the ancient relic that both defines and empowers Michael, a discovery that could change history and the perception of mankind's very origins.
With the deck and the odds stacked against him, Michael must come to learn and embrace his true destiny in becoming the Tyrant reborn as a dark knight to triumph over ultimate evil and stop the sting of Black Scorpion from undermining all of the United States and plunging Las Vegas into chaos and anarchy.
A major production for a feature film is in active development in Hollywood based on the franchised character of Michael Tiranno, the Tyrant. The film will be based on the blended adaptation of Black Scorpion and its predecessor, The Seven Sins, which both have also been licensed to DC Comics for comic books and graphic novels publications worldwide.
March 31, 2015
MYOPIC NOSTALGIA – OR ARE THEY TRYING TO RUIN MY CHILDHOOD?
MYOPIC NOSTALGIA – OR ARE THEY TRYING TO RUIN MY CHILDHOOD?Every time the rebooting of an iconic entertainment franchise is announced, rabid fans of the original series turn their heads away from repeatedly viewing authorized release or bootleg DVDs of the original series to scream knee-jerk bloody murder.
“It can’t possibly as good as the original. Look what they did to I Spy, The Wild Wild West, and The Avengers – the real Avengers, Steed and Emma, not those costumed jerks. These people are destroying my childhood.”
How dare any actor step into the roles of their coveted heroes as portrayed by the original actors? How dare any studio who owns the rights mess up their childhood memories by remaking their favorite shows for a new generation?
For my money, these curmudgeons are indulging in what I call myopic nostalgia – an inability to see the flaws in the original shows and an unwillingness to change anything at all in a reboot of the idea.
Unfortunately, these curmudgeons are also mostly right. I Spy, The Avengers (British spy version) and The Wild Wild West reboots were truly awful, and so were Starsky & Hutch, Mod Squad, 21 Jump Street, The Honeymooners, Dark Shadows, and Bewitched. Even the goofy original Dukes of Hazzard television series looks like classic literature when compared to the offensive, boneheaded, remake, which had no understanding of the sweet, light, comedic touch that endeared the original to so many. And the less said the better about that offense against humanity referred to as The Green Hornet, for which I will never forgive Seth Rogan…never. Talk about your myopic nostalgia…
While some of these examples, like the 21 Jump Street remakes, sold enough tickets at the box office to bring about further films in the franchise, most lost millions and millions of dollars while committing the double whammy of angering their built in fan base while boring any potential new fans in the audience. Despite this, remakes and reboots remain big business as Hollywood searches for the new golden franchise…
Favorite television series are not the only fodder Hollywood victimizes for the ham-fisted remake/reboot treatment. They also cannibalize their own revered and not so revered movie franchises:
“Let’s remake Ghostbusters, but with an all-female cast.”
“We just can’t get Spider-manquite right, so let’s make him Hispanic.”
“People will be lining up around the block for Police Academy: Next Generation.”
Yikes…
However, for every baker’s dozen of failed reboots, something decent sneaks through. If we ignore the first misfire in the series of remakes [SPOILER ALERT: Making Jim Phelps a traitor was going way too far], Mission Impossible 2, 3, and 4 were pretty good romps, and I have high hopes for Mission Impossible 5later this year.
Though it had little in common with the original series, and certainly has its share of haters, I still enjoyed the recent remake of The Equalizer (with Denzel Washington taking over the iconic role from the very English Edward Woodward). I found it relatively entertaining – completely different, with little in common with the original series, but relatively entertaining.
The various Star Trekreboots have their share of fans and critics. I enjoyed the first of director J. J. Abram’s outings and was disappointed by the second, but they both made huge money despite what I think.
And money is apparently the point.
Recently, the first trailer was released for the latest reboot to tread on hallowed ground. After many failed attempts, the venerable ‘60s spy show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is finally getting the big screen treatment. Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are taking over the roles of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin from Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, with Guy Ritchie scripting and directing.The U.N.C.L.E. fan base is still surprisingly vibrant as the original show struck a chord with many impressionable youth. I’ve written in this column before about how U.N.C.L.E. shaped my own choice of career, and how much of my youth was spent chasing THRUSH agents around the neighborhood while brandishing the TV tie-in toy guns produced for the series.
As can be imagined, the doomsayers in the fan base had already predicted the awfulness of the U.N.C.L.E. movie before the first scene had ever been shot. Complaints about the casting, ranging from Armie Hammer being so much taller than David McCallum, to Henry Cavill’s wooden performance in the ghastly Man of Steel reboot of the Superman franchise, were rife. Before a note was put down on the score, complaints about the soundtrack and speculation about the use of the original theme were heard from far and wide.
The fact the reboot will be an origin story of how Solo and Kuryakin first met and how U.N.C.L.E. was formed – making the reboot a period piece set in the ‘60s – has met with a certain amount of derision by some fans who want a movie that picks up in full swing where the series left off. And there is consternation neither Robert Vaughn nor David McCallum were offered cameo appearances. And where, oh, where is that familiar U.N.C.L.E. logo.
Sigh…I own the full series of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on DVD in the cool briefcase carrier, the LP and CD releases of the original soundtrack, know exactly where my U.N.C.L.E. ID card and yellow triangular badge are safely kept, and I recently spent three days at the Golden Anniversary Affair, a convention celebrating 50 years of U.N.C.L.E.
I’m a fan. A big fan. A huge fan. And I for one am excited for the new film.
Will it be everything I want it to be?
If it is a good solid spy film that is better than any of the episodes from season three of the original U.N.C.L.E. show (when the series lost its way in goofiness, before trying to patch things up in the 4thand final season); if it’s better than any episode of your choice from The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (not hard); and if it makes U.N.C.L.E. accessible to new fans, then it will hit the standard to which I am measuring the success of the film.
The recently released trailer looks good – not perfect, but certainly encouraging. Both actors appear to be enjoying themselves in their respective roles and there is a certain cadence and light touch of class, which was a big part of the original series’ success. I have enjoyed most of Guy Ritchie’s movies, especially his Sherlock Holmes outings. I’m hoping he can again capture lightening in a bottle with The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Another excellent sign is Warner Bros. moving the movie release date from February – the traditional wasteland where many bad movies have been sent to die – to August, a prime release month between wrapping up the big summer blockbusters and the release of the Oscar bait films at the end of the year.
I don’t think The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie is necessarily going to win the reboot lottery, but I’m betting it will get most of the numbers right. However, it better include the original Jerry Goldsmith theme! You hear me, Guy Ritchie? You better use the original theme! Don’t change one single note! The theme is sacrosanct! You hear me? You hear me? Don’t ruin my childhood!
March 26, 2015
FANTASY CORNER: RANGER'S APPRENTICE: THE EARLY YEARS
FANTASY CORNER: RANGER'S APPRENTICE: THE EARLY YEARSBestselling fantasy-adventure writer John Flanagan‘s latest series, set for publication October 6th, sports a most cool action-filled cover. Flanagan’s new book is titled The Tournament At Gorlan, and it’s the first in his new series, Ranger’s Apprentice: The Early Years — a prequel to his excellent Ranger's Apprentice series,
While the original series features an orphan named Will and his apprenticeship as a Ranger (a protector in Flanagan's wonderfully evoked fantasy world), the prequels deal with an early iteration of the Ranger group and a threat to its integrity.
I've got the new book on pre-order and have just picked up the fifth book in his companion series, The Brotherband Chronicles...
PULP NOW: THE ARGOSY LIBRARY
PULP NOW: THE ARGOSY LIBRARY
Altus Press has announced the premiere of its new line of books: The Argosy Library series, featuring popular authors such as Lester Dent, Otis Adelbert Kline, W.C. Tuttle, and George F. Worts.
Founded at the end of the Nineteenth Century by publishing tycoon Frank A. Munsey, Argosy Magazine quickly became one of the most popular – and prestigious – fiction magazines of its day and spawned a publishing revolution. Known as one of the most literate pulp magazines, Argosy published thousands of short stories and novels, many of which features some of the most influential series characters in popular fiction. With the inauguration of The Argosy Library, Altus Press plans to bring back into print the best of the Frank A. Munsey Company, sourced from its suite of sibling titles such as Argosy, All-Story, and Flynn’s Detective Fiction Weekly, among others.
The Argosy Library expects to showcase the varied mix of genres that made Argosy one of the most popular pulps of all time. Series 1 does just that by showcasing adventure, mystery, western, science fiction, fantasy, and crime stories by some of Munsey’s most popular authors such as Lester Dent, W. Wirt, Otis Adelbert Kline, W.C. Tuttle, George F. Worts, and Theodore Roscoe, among others.
The Argosy Librarywill be released in series of ten books at a time – in matching trade dress – and will be available in softcover, hardcover, and ebook editions. In addition to being available separately, each series of releases can be purchased as a single, heavily-discounted set. Series 1 of The Argosy Library is expected to be released in May.
GENIUS JONES LESTER DENT
INTRODUCTION BY WILL MURRAY
The gold-dusted saga of a red-bearded young giant, raised in the Arctic on seal-meat and encyclopedias, who descends on civilization with a loud and solid crash. In his search for wisdom and adventure, the man Jones doesn’t have Aladdin’s lamp – but he doesn’t really need it…Never before reprinted, it’s the longest novel Lester Dent ever published, and one of the most famous. This edition restores text cut from its original publication.
WHEN TIGERS ARE HUNTING: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF CORDIE, SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, VOLUME 1W. WIRT
The sagas of Jimmie Cordie and his crew were among Argosy’s most popular series when it was brought to that magazine during its early ’30s renaissance. Quite clearly an inspiration for the creation of Doc Savage, this edition collects his first nine adventures.
THE SWORDSMAN OF MARSOTIS ADELBERT KLINE
Harry Thorne, explorer and swordsman, had scarcely more than heard of the Red Planet, Mars – when an amazing thing happened…. Author Otis Adelbert Kline is well-known as one of the best fantasy/adventure contemporaries of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This edition is sourced from the original magazine text and includes all of the original illustrations.
THE SHERLOCK OF SAGELAND: THE COMPLETE TALES OF SHERIFF HENRY, VOLUME 1W.C. TUTTLE
INTRODUCTION BY SAI SHANKAR
Once voted Adventure Magazine’s most popular author, W.C. Tuttle introduced the world to one of his longest-running, and most popular series characters, Henry Harrison Conroy, in the pages of Argosy. Collected here are the first four stories.
GONE NORTH CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER
When Jim Fallon started for the Hudson Bay country, he wasn’t sure whether he was on a man-hunt or a wild goose chase – but he found his quest was fraught with real enough peril. Among the best novels ever written by one of Argosy’s most popular authors.
THE MASKED MASTER MIND GEORGE F. WORTS
One of Argosy’s most popular authors pens this never-before reprinted novel of a trail of crime that ran from sleepy Maple Hollow to Steel City.
BALATA FRED MACISAAC
Trees of living gold in the Amazon jungles, guarded by alligators, poisoned darts and rival hunters – such was the lodestone that drew an American expedition, and the unwilling Pete Holcomb…
BRETWALDA PHILIP KETCHUM
‘Twas the mightiest weapon the eyes of man had ever beheld – its mystic name meant Ruler of Briton. And from over the Northern Sea came a Viking’s thrall – the only man in the world who could wield that fearsome steel – to save good King Alfred and the homeland he scarce remembered. Collecting – for the first time – all 12 stories of the Bretwalda saga.
DRAFT OF ETERNITY VICTOR ROUSSEAU
A groundbreaking science fiction, post-apocalyptic & time travel classic from the early days of The All-Story by an underrated writer.
FOUR CORNERS, VOLUME 1THEODORE ROSCOE
Mystery runs rampant in the quiet, upstate New York town of Four Corners… Easily one of Roscoe’s best-written series, Volume 1 collects the first half of this lost masterpiece of the pulps.
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