Paul Bishop's Blog, page 60

COMING SOON ~ FIGHT CARD NOW: PUNCHING PARADISE!

COMING SOON ~ FIGHT CARD NOW: PUNCHING PARADISE!

COMING NEXT WEEKEND ... THE DEBUT OF A BRAND NEW FIGHT CARD IMPRINT ... FIGHT CARD NOW: PUNCHING PARADISE (NIK KORPON WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY) ... TWO-FISTED CONTEMPORARY BOXING TALES ...

FIGHT CARD NOW: PUNCHING PARADISE

Baltimore, 2103 ... Neckbone is nothing if not a proud fighter. He’ll take a fix if it gives him some extra scratch to help fund the thespian ambitions of his much younger girlfriend, Allison, or buy a six-pack for his ex-con best friend, Rollo. But there isn’t a man or a reason that’ll knock him down if he doesn’t want to go down – and he makes sure everyone knows it.

When Neckbone loses his temper and knocks another fighter down early, he inadvertently throws a young boy into the crosshairs of Bill Stokes, a scheming promoter and aspiring gangster.

Now, with everything on the line, Neckbone is in the fight of his life against mobsters, killers, bruisers, and the toughest opponent of all – himself. Punching Paradise is the first novel in the Fight Card spin-off brand Fight Card Now, featuring contemporary, two-fisted, fight tales with a punch.

FIGHT CARD UPDATE!

FIGHT CARD UPDATE! This month's Fight Card release is my own Swamp Walloper (the sequel to one of the original Fight Card books, Felony Fist)  featuring the return of LAPD cop/boxer, Patrick Felony Flynn ...

FIGHT CARD: SWAMP WALLOPER
Paul Bishop (writing as Jack Tunney) ... The long anticipated sequel to the original Fight Card novel, Felony Fists ... Patrick 'Felony' Flynn is back!  And this time he's in way over his head ...

New Orleans, 1956 ... When the battered body of boxer Marcus de Trod turns up on the edge of the Bayou Sauvage outside New Orleans with the words ‘Get Felony Flynn LAPD’ tattooed in his armpits, Hat Squad detective, Patrick Felony Flynn, knows he is in for the fight of his life. 

Far from the hardboiled streets of Los Angeles, Flynn and his partner, Tombstone Jones, are on a two-fisted rampage to find a killer.  But hiding in the swamp, deep inside the walls of the Bayou Sauvage Federal Penitentiary, the killer patiently waits to crush his prey with razor sharp teeth and deadly jaws. 

After taking down gangster Mickey Cohen’s championship prospect Solomon Kane in Felony Fists, Patrick Flynn triumphantly returns in Swamp Walloper, facing an even more dangerous foe – a killer fueled by voodoo and revenge ...


Any blog posts or social media mentions would be appreciated.  

Later this month, we will be releasing the first title in our new Fight Card Now imprint, featuring contemporary boxing tales.  Nik Korpon gets the imprint's debut spot with Punching Paradise. 

Hot on its heels will be our highly anticipated December release, Fight Card Sherlock Holmes: Work Capitol, in which Andrew Salmon magically transports us back to Victorian England and illegal bare-knuckle boxing bouts as the world's most famous detective gets ready to rumble.  If you haven't yet seen the beautiful cover painting by Carl Yonder (lettering by David Foster), you can check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/mmfys2

December will also bring publication of our first anthology of Fight Card short stories, the proceeds of which will go to authors in need or literacy charities.  The Fight Card team members have all been so generous with their talents by lending stories to these causes, and we anticipate at least three further Fight Card charity anthologies in 2014. 

2014 is shaping up as another banner year for Fight Card ... Along with our monthly traditional Fight Card titles (from both new and returning authors), we have several more Fight Card MMA titles lined up, a new Fight Card Romance in the works, a second title for Fight Card Now, and (if that isn't enough) we are anticipating the launch of Fight Card Luchadores - our new imprint featuring masked Mexican lucha libre wrestlers.

It's an interesting process as Fight Card continues to face the changing challenges of modern publishing, but I'm personally grateful for the ongoing interactions I have with all of our Fight Card team and continue to believe in the brilliant and fun stories being produced across the spectrum of our Fight Card imprints.

Keep Punching ...

ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES ~ A WEEK AT FIGHT CARD!

ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES ~ A WEEK AT FIGHT CARD!

I’ve been hitting the heavy bag and doing extra sparring this week in the virtual Fight Card training camp. While my publishing/boxing analogy is certainly tongue-in-cheek, there is a thread tying the two disciplines together.

Every fighter has to train before getting in the ring for the big fight.  So it is in the world of publishing the Fight Card novels – there is much preparation to be done before each of the Fight Card novels gets to go toe-to-toe with all the other novels on the virtual bookshelves.

Even though Fight Card is an authors cooperative (with each member contributing back to the endeavor as a whole), there still has to be a central lynch pin ... and that lynch pin can get pretty busy.  This past week has been even more hectic than usual as Fight Card’s profile continues to rise with the release of several new books and a number of different blog posts delineating the workings of the Fight Card cooperative.

As a result, I thought it might be interesting to keep track of a week’s worth of Fight Card interactions …

Exchanged emails and shared a phone conversation with author Kathleen Rice Adams (Galveston, Texas) about writing the second book in our Fight Card Romance series, tentatively titled Love On The Ropes.  Kathleen also has a story in the first upcoming Fight Card charity anthology ...
Checked in via Facebook messaging with Jeremy C. Jones (South Carolina), who is helping edit the Fight Card charity anthologies.  Celebrated the news the first anthology is full. Jeremy also put me in touch with writer and martial arts expert, Balogun Ojetade ...
Traded emails with Balogun Ojetade (Atlanta) and then spoke on the phone as we ironed out the plot details of his proposed Fight Card MMA entry, A-Town Throw Down, as well as a follow up Fight Card MMA novel, Circle Of Blood.  Steeped in African culture, these titles promise to explode in the cage ...
Received via email  the manuscript for December’s Fight Card: Sherlock Holmes novel from author Andrew Salmon (Vancouver, British Columbia) ...
Fight Card Sherlock Holmes is an important tale for Fight Card – the world’s most famous detective gets ready to rumble – and creating the correct cover could have been a major problem, but it was brilliantly solved by artist Carl Yonder (Maryland) with some help from Fight Card stalwart, David Foster (Australia).  Carl has been working for the past month or more on a painted cover, and David has been working his own magic on the cover’s lettering.  Made decisions regarding the final product and left the project in the hands of the artists for last tweaks ...
After having had email exchanges and reading the manuscripts for three Sailor Tom Sharkey short stories, I tracked down author Mark Finn (Texas) on the phone.  Mark is on the board of the Robert E. Howard Foundation  as has been a prime mover in bringing to fruition the REH Foundation’s recent four volume publication of REH’s fight fiction.  Included, were all of REH’s Sailor Steve Costigan tales, upon which Finn based his Sailor Tom Sharkey stories.  Agreed to publish Finn’s seven Sharkey tales as a Fight Card Presents anthology in 2014 ...
Contacted artist Carl Yonder via email, sending him various images of Sailor Steve Costigan and asking him if he would do a painted cover for the similar Sailor Tom Sharkey tales.  Also checked in about progress on the cover for the upcoming Fight Card Luchadores ...
Coincidentally received the finished manuscript for Fight Card Luchadores: Rise Of The Luchador from Jason Ridler (Toronto, Canada).  Exchanged emails and decided on a first quarter 2014 date for book release ...
Spent time on Facebook and Twitter posting about the above activities.  Also wrote blog posts for the Fight Card website and other connected blogs detailing various Fight Card activities.  Sent those links out via social networking ...
Checked on the ongoing episodic serialization of Fight Card: Felony Fists on the Venture Galleries website.  Linked the episodes to social networking sites and Twitter ...
Checked in with Fight Card Romance author Carol Malone (California) about the upcoming paperback release of Ladies Night.  Checked in with David Foster about progress of paperback pdf file and paperback cover for CreateSpace.  Both now in hand ...
Made email contact with Cesar Mallorqui (Spain) regarding the rights to his father’s boxing pulp novels.  Jose J. Mallorqui was one of Spain’s most prolific pulp authors, specializing in sports pulps of all kinds, but especially boxing and soccer.  The goal of contacting Cesar is to see if Fight Card can bring translations of some of his father’s boxing pulps back into e-print for a new audience ...
Finished the final chapters of my own, long overdue, Fight Card novel Swamp Walloper – the sequel to Felony Fists.  Did a final edit of the 30,000 word novel and sent it off to Mel Odom (Oklahoma) and David Foster (Australia) for their editorial input ...
Finished the edit on the next Fight Card release, Punching Paradise by Nik Korpon (Baltimore).  Did some thinking and decided (because of its modern day setting and boxing as opposed to MMA theme) to promote Punching Paradise as the first in a new spin-off brand, Fight Card Now – featuring contemporary fight stories.  Sent edits back to Nik for approval ...
Did some work planning out the next few months schedules for Fight Card, Fight Card MMA, Fight Card Romance, Fight Card Sherlock Holmes, Fight Card Luchadores, and Fight Card Now ...
Contacted Carol Malone and asked her to bring her computer skills to bear on the cover for an upcoming Fight Card title ...
Exchanged emails with Sam Hawken (Maryland) regarding his desire to write a Fight Card MMA entry.  Sent writer’s guidelines.  Later received back from Sam an outline for Rosie The Ripper and the first twenty pages.  Edited the pages and sent back approval to move ahead ...
Received another Fight Card MMA enquiry from Walter Conley (Virginia).  Sent guidelines.  Please to have another potential Fight Card MMA novel in the pipeline ...
Received manuscript from Joseph Grant (Los Angeles) for Fight Card: Guns Of November – an inspired Fight Card tale set in Dallas at the time of the JFK assassination (who knew Jack Ruby was a boxer?). Exchanged emails with Joe regarding editing and publishing timeline for 2014.  Release date is relatively far away, but need to get started ...
Prepare interview questions for Dave Whitehead (England) of Piccadilly Publishing.  Cross promoting other publishing ventures, authors, and books creates synergy and good relationships ...
Wrote several 1,000 word blog posts designed to promote the upcoming publication of Fight Card: Swamp Walloper. Interviewed myself – twice – in order to have interviews ready to place during upcoming Swamp Walloper blog tour ...
Virtually hung out with Anthony Venutolo (New Jersey) via Facebook and email in regards to creating a book trailer for Swamp Walloper.  Ant created a brilliant trailer for his just released Fight Card novel, Front Page Palooka.  Also talked about creating a pulpy version of the Front Page Palooka e-cover for the paperback release ...
I’m sure I have forgotten a couple of additional Fight Card activities, but from the above, you can see you have to keep punching to keep up … publishing is very much a juggling act … Galveston, South Carolina, Atlanta, Vancouver (Canada), Maryland, Australia, Texas, Toronto (Canada), Baltimore, California, Spain, Virginia, Oklahoma, Los Angeles, New Jersey, and England … Fight Card is truly becoming international in its scope and contacts.

To learn more about Fight Card and the Fight Card authors cooperative visit: www.fightcardbooks.com

FIGHT CARD: FRONT PAGE PALOOKA!

AVAILABLE NOW ~ FIGHT CARD: SWAMP WALLOPER!

AVAILABLE NOW ~ FIGHT CARD: SWAMP WALLOPER!

PAUL BISHOP (WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY)

THE LONG ANTICIPATED SEQUEL TO THE ORIGINAL FIGHT CARD NOVEL – FIGHT CARD: FELONY FISTS ...

PATRICK FELONY FLYNN IS BACK ... AND THIS TIME HE’S IN WAY OVER HIS HEAD ... 

New Orleans, 1956 ... When the battered body of boxer Marcus de Trod turns up on the edge of the Bayou Sauvage outside New Orleans with the words ‘Get Felony Flynn LAPD’ tattooed in his armpits, Hat Squad detective, Patrick Felony Flynn, knows he is in for the fight of his life.

Far from the hardboiled streets of Los Angeles, Flynn and his partner, Tombstone Jones, are on a two-fisted rampage to find a killer.  But hiding in the swamp, deep inside the walls of the Bayou Sauvage Federal Penitentiary, the killer patiently waits to crush his prey with razor sharp teeth and deadly jaws.

After taking down gangster Mickey Cohen’s championship prospect Solomon Kane in Felony Fists, Patrick Flynn triumphantly returns in Swamp Walloper, facing an even more dangerous foe – a killer fueled by voodoo and revenge ...

 

PULP NOW: A DIRTY DOZEN INTERVIEW WITH PICCADILLY PUBLISHING'S DAVE WHITEHEAD!

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PULP NOW: A DIRTY DOZEN INTERVIEW WITH PICCADILLY PUBLISHING'S DAVE WHITEHEAD!

The novels of David Whitehead – aka: Ben Bridges – dominate Amazon’s western bestseller lists, but it’s not just his own novels keeping fans of fast action westerns on the edge of their seats.  In the 1970s, numerous violent, pulpish, western series, concocted by a revered group of writers known collectively as the Piccadilly Cowboys, filled the paperback spinner racks of their day.  These lost gems have now been given new covers, new formatting, and new life under the Piccadilly Publishing umbrella.

Piccadilly Publishing began as the brainchild of Dave’s saddle-pard, Mike Stotter (himself no slouch when it comes to writing successful westerns). Let loose to ride the publishing range again, Herne The Hunter, Crow, Caleb Thorn and many other rough, tough, six-shooting characters are thrilling fans around the world again.

Recently, Piccadilly Publishing has expanded their range to include two of the top western series of all time, Fargo and Sundance from John Benteen, as well as more contemporary pulp titles – such as the classic WWII series The Sergeant and spy series Butler from Len Levinson.  

Taking time out from his busy schedule (which also includes installing the flooring in a new residential conservatory), David (“the good-looking half of the partnership”) answers some pointed questions about the current state of publishing ...

[image error] FIRST, PLEASE GIVE US THE LOWDOWN ON DAVID WHITEHEAD, AKA: BEN BRIDGES.  HOW DOES AN ENGLISHMAN COME TO RIDE THE RANGE?

I grew up at a time when western movies were still big box-office, and western TV shows were still very popular. In addition, my dad was a big western fan. He took me to see all those movies, and we never missed a single episode of any of those TV shows. He worked a lot of graveyard shifts as a security guard, and when I was very young he sometimes spent his days (while I was at school) making up and recording his own western stories into our reel-to-reel tape recorder. That way he could still tell me a bedtime story, even though he was at work! He used to wiggle his fingers in a bowl of water to denote outlaws fording a stream, and burst balloons to simulate gunfire.

I myself was always a natural writer—it’s all I ever wanted to be. So I guess I was steeped in the Old West right from the word go.

Next year, I celebrate thirty years as Ben Bridges. My first book, The Silver Trail, was bought in 1984, but not published until 1986. What I hope to do is write a new story in all my old series, just as a thank you to the good folks who are still reading them all.

[image error] FOR THE UNINITIATED, CAN YOU BRIEF US ON THE PICCADILLY COWBOYS?
Sure. In the early 1970s, New English Library wanted a western series for its list, and they went to a writer named Terry Harknett because he had previously written novelizations of A Fistful of Dollars, A Town Called Bastard, Hannie Caulder and Red Sun. Initially, Terry had no special interest in the genre, but he was a professional writer and wrote what people were willing to pay him to write. He created Edge: The Loner and its success took everyone by surprise.

Pretty soon, every UK publisher wanted at least one Edge clone on its list. A small number of writers provided them. Among them were NEL editor Laurence James, who was the man who commissioned Edge in the first place; Angus Wells, who was an editor at Sphere Books, but wanted to make the leap to full-time writer; John B. Harvey, who was known to Laurence James for a series of biker novels, and to a lesser extent Ken Bulmer, a well-known writer who was responsible for a great amount of science fiction and naval fiction.

These five became the Piccadilly Cowboys, so-called because it was their proud boast that although they wrote westerns, they had never been further west than Piccadilly … in the heart of London’s West End.

Eventually I started an Edgefan club in the UK, and when Mike Stotter took it over, he widened the scope to include all the other authors.  Between us, we also took the idea of a western magazine to one of the biggest magazine publishers in the UK, and to our great surprise they said yes and went on to publish WESTERN MAGAZINE, where Mike and I worked as consultants.

[image error] WHAT WAS THE GENESIS OF PICCADILLY PUBLISHING?

It was very, very simple. I was speaking with Mike Stotter one day and just before the conversation ended he said, “I know what I wanted to ask you. How do you fancy bringing back all the old PC books, this time as e-books?” It was a no-brainer—of course I fancied it!

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WHAT OBSTACLES HAD TO BE OVERCOME TO MAKE PICCADILLY PUBLISHING VIABLE?

Well, it was a low-cost enterprise, and the market was more or less wide open. All we had to invest at the outset was our time, our energy and a dash of initiative. But Mike and I have known each other since we were kids—at least forty-five years now, by my calculation. We’ve been through an awful lot together and we work very well as a team, so we were always on the same page about what we wanted and how best to go get it.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT OBTAINING THE RIGHTS TO BOOK SERIES LONG OUT OF PRINT?

We started with nothing more than a large stock of goodwill. Mike had kept in touch with John Harvey and Elizabeth James, Laurence’s widow. So, he brought some of Laurence’s back catalog to the table and was able to bring John’s contributions to the Herne and Caleb Thorn series, as well as his own Hart the Regulator. I’ve known Mike Linaker for years, so I was able to add him to the roster, in the shape of his pseudonym ‘Neil Hunter’. Mike pitched in with another old chum, Fred Nolan, alias Frederick H. Christian. I came back with Keith Hetherington, who has written hundreds of westerns in his native Australia, but who is best known here for his Madigan westerns, as by Hank J. Kirby.

Little by little, we began to build up a backlog of material. From there we went after more series, such as Bar 10, Iron Eyes, Lou Prophet, the Storm Family, and so on. Somewhere along the way we were fortunate to renew acquaintance with the great Tony Masero, who has painted a stack of covers for us, as well as allowed us to issue his Belle Slaughter series.

Tony was a great unsung hero back in the PC days. He took over the Edge covers from the late Richard Clifton-Dey and very quickly made them his own. He’s probably the most prolific and best-loved paperback artist of that period. When our trails crossed again, and we asked him to become part of PP, he did so because, as he puts it, “I love doing it, and I have faith in what you guys are doing.”

I mention this because you have to remember that when we first started PP, we were a relatively unknown quantity. So, we were and remain always grateful to those authors who put their trust in us and allowed us to take on so many of their books. We wanted to do right by them and justify their trust in us, and as luck would have it, that’s exactly what we were able to do.

WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY/APPROACH TO PUBLISHING THESE BOOKS FOR A NEW MODERN AUDIENCE?

To bring back as much good stuff as we can, to give our books eye-catching, uniform covers and to make them affordable. I’ve seen too many good books fall by the wayside simply because the publisher has pitched the price prohibitively—sometimes ridiculously—high. To have fun doing it, and to create a brand that readers can follow loyally. In short, to bring back a little excitement and anticipation to publishing genre fiction.

PICCADILLY PUBLISHING HAS PRODUCED SOME STUNNING COVERS.  HOW DO YOU MAKE COVER ART DECISIONS?

Thanks for the compliment, Paul. The look is largely in the hands of the individual artist. When we started, the look of the PP product was created by my good friend Cody Wells. As we’ve gone on, we’ve brought in artists like Ed Martin and of course, Tony Masero, and between us we’ve managed to give each series a distinct identity, at the same time maintaining a uniformity that says these are all from the PP stable. I guess, to an extent, we’ve tried to recreate those colorful paperback covers of yesterday.

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FOREIGN LEGION STORIES, HARDBOILED COPS, WAR STORIES ... HOW DID PICCADILLY PUBLISHING COME TO EXPAND INTO PULP GENRES BEYOND THE WESTERN?

Pure selfishness! I’ve always had a soft spot for Foreign Legion stories, and I always loved war series like The Sergeant. Since no one else was issuing them, we thought we’d take them on and see how they performed. It’s too early to tell for sure, but I believe we’ve proved that readers still want this kind of escapist literature.

WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON E-PUBLISHING?

That it’s been a Godsend. The rise of e-publishing, which has given so many people a chance they might not otherwise have had to publish their own work or that of other writers, has coincided with what I see as a growing sense of writer- and reader-disillusion/frustration with traditional publishers. Publishers seem to have marginalized genre fiction writers in order to concentrate on the big bestsellers. In essence, they’ve started to give the reading public what it THINKS they should be reading, and not what it actually WANTS to read.

There’s also something increasingly formulaic about what’s being published nowadays. There doesn’t seem to be any desire for innovation or experimentation. E-publishers—and I count Fight Card as a glowing example—are more likely to take risks, push boundaries and issue books that are worth issuing and which so many readers want to spend their time reading.

WILL PICCADILLY PUBLISHING BE BRANCHING OUT TO INCLUDE NEW BOOKS ALONGSIDE ICONIC REPRINTS?

Well, Belle Slaughterwas an original series, as is Chuck Tyrell’s Stryker. Tony Masero’s Deadly Manhunt was a PP original as were many of our crime books. I guess, in time, it would be nice to have a fairly even split between new and reprint titles.

HOW HAS BEING A PUBLISHER CHANGED THE WORLD OF DAVE WHITEHEAD?

It’s gotten a whole lot busier! And I have to say, a whole lot more satisfying. Every so often, Mike and I look at what we’ve already achieved and can’t help but slap each other on the back. We started PP with no great expectations, and its success has surprised no one more than us.

[image error] WHAT CAN FANS OF PICCADILLY PUBLISHING EXPECT IN 2014?

Well, right now we have 76 books scheduled to appear throughout 2014. Some series will be ending, and others will take their place. In May of 2014, we will publish the first of no less than 52 P.I. adventures in the Mike Faraday series, by Basil Copper. This will be the complete series, appearing one book a month, at a low, low price of 99c per title. We have a stack of ideas, of things we want to do—more anthologies, more westerns by American authors—but everything takes time. We can only publish so many books each month. And sometimes it proves to be close to impossible to track down authors, their representatives or their heirs. But just this morning, I believe we’ve clinched a deal that with give our readers a whole new and exciting batch of adventures to look forward to.

THANKS FOR TAKING TIME TO SIT AROUND THE VIRTUAL CAMPFIRE WITH US, DAVE ... AND BEST OF BRITISH LUCK TO YOU ON DOWN THE TRAIL ...

Right back atchya, pard!

 

MEET FRONT PAGE PALOOKA’S NICK MORETTI!

MEET FRONT PAGE PALOOKA’S NICK MORETTI!

The latest review for Fight Card: Front Page Palooka ... "A solid tale of corruption in the prize-fighting game, brought to life with period details, one-liners and slang, boxing lore, historical cameos. Anthony Venutolo gives it to us through the eyes of a whiskey-soaked newspaper man chasing a dream of his own and does so admirably. Here's hoping he returns for an encore ..."

FRONT PAGE PALOOKA

Newark, New Jersey, 1954 

Years of fight halls and newsrooms have east coast sportswriter, Nick Moretti, looking for a change. When a sloppy hustle goes bad, and Nick takes a bullet in the shoulder, it’s time to go west.  Hired by Pinnacle Pictures to write a boxing movie about troubled heavyweight champ Jericho ‘Rattlesnake’ McNeal, Nick joins forces with sexy public relations gal, Dillian Dawson, for a cross-country tour to give an everyman boxer an unlikely shot at the world title – what could go wrong?

From the crackling neon of Hollywood and Sin City, through the steamy Delta, and on to Chi-Town, the glitzy dream becomes a noir nightmare, and newshound Nick Moretti is about to commit a reporter’s greatest sin – becoming a Front Page Palooka ...  Another great two-fisted Fight Card tale!

COMING SOON ~ FIGHT CARD: SHERLOCK HOLMES!

COMING SOON ~ FIGHT CARD: SHERLOCK HOLMES!

THIS DECEMBER,THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS CONSULTING DETECTIVE GETS READY TO RUMBLE ... ANDREW SALMON WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY ... PAINTED COVER BY CARL YONDER... LETTERING BY DAVID FOSTER ... DON'T MISS THIS ONE ...

THE TROUBLE WITH BLONDES!

 CIA CASE FILE 936: NUDE BLONDE IN THE GREEN MERCEDES
THE BLONDE FROM SHACK ROAD

THE TROUBLOE WITH BLONDES!

 CIA CASE FILE 936: NUDE BLONDE IN THE GREEN MERCEDES
THE BLONDE FROM SHACK ROAD