Paul Bishop's Blog, page 63

FIGHT FICTION: 3 WRESTLING PULP STORIES

FIGHT FICTION: 3 WRESTLING PULP STORIES

PERIL PRESS

THAT TERRIBLE WRESTLER
TOP-NOTCH, APRIL, 15, 1925 THOMAS THURSDAY 
THE TRAGEDY OF KING LEARYALL SPORTS, SUMMER, 1943THOMAS THURSDAY Wherein we introduce the wrestler of the ages, the champ who practiced on alligators, and set him up against a rubber man!  BALDY MUZZLES THE TIGERTHRILLING SPORTS, FALL, 1943JACK KOFOED Women Can Provide Complications for Manager Simmons even at an Army Wrestling Match!
 

FIGHT FICTION: PUGILISTIC PULP STORIES!

FIGHT FICTION: PUGILISTIC PULP STORIES! PERIL PRESS  VOLUME #1 SOCK OF AGES FIGHT STORIES, OCTOBER, 1928
THOMAS THURSDAY A fighting organist! From the Brotherhood Mission to the white glare of the prize ring! Punch for punch he gave, but the big sock came in the last frame, with the crowd on its feet and the referee in a daze. (4,000 Words) SINBAD THE SAILORFIGHT STORIES, JANUARY, 1929
ROBERT H. H. NICHOLS A fighting fool of a sailor, with a mania for airplanes and red-headed sweethearts—that was Sinbad! Dumb in many ways, perhaps, but dumb like a fox with that left hand of his! Another whirlwind of laughs and leather, featuring the great Roland Rigormortis. (6,300 Words) THE EXECUTIONERTHE ALL-AMERICA SPORTS MAGAZINE, JANUARY, 1937
CHARLES PIFER (4,300 Words) LITTLE BOY BLOOEYTEN STORY SPORTS, JULY, 1937TOM THURSDAYBlooey Mccoy and Ape Anderson fight an epic battle in cactus gulch, New Mexico (2,200 Words) FIRE FIGHTERPOPULAR SPORTS, FEBRUARY, 1938
THOMAS THURSDAY When You go around picking world's champion boxers off cactus bushes, you're bound to get stuck! (7,100 Words) TOMAHAWK MCCLOSKEYTHRILLING SPORTS, MARCH, 1938
THOMAS THURSDAY Dan Cupid and a hash-house brunette flatten a fightin' Irish-injun for the long count! (4,900 Words)  VOLUME #2 THERE’S HICKS IN ALL TRADESALL SPORTS, FEBRUARY, 1940TOM THURSDAY Mike McAbner had the next lightweight champ under his wing, if only the Kid would answer the bell to fight his opponents as fast as he answered the bell to fight a fire! (5,400 Words) ROMEO’S JULIETSPORTS FICTION, FALL, 1943TOM THURSDAY You’ve heard of historic correspondences – Napoleon’s mush-notes to Josephine, Voltaire’s letters to Frederick the Great, Joe Davies’ communications to FDR. And SPORTS FICTION won’t object to releasing the following fighting correspondence to future historians ... (4,600 Words) HERM THE GERMALL SPORTS, WINTER, 1944-45TOM THURSDAY Another hilarious fight fiasco. (5,800 Words) CROOK, FINE, AND STINKERSUPER SPORTS, JULY, 1949TOM THURSDAYWhen we hear that Felony Jones is around, it's just natural to expect a whammy artist in the background. (5,200 Words) ANTS IN HIS PLANETSTHRILLING SPORTS, SUMMER, 1951HAL K. WELLS When the pretty astrologer named Abigail came along waving her horoscopes, what happened to Howitzer Hogan was unpredictable! (6,200 Words) BUZZ BOMB CHAMPSHORT STORIES, FEBRUARY, 10, 1945JACKSON V. SCHULTZ What he was contributing to the war seemed so completely futile – to him. (6,600 Words) 

KEEP THEM TIGHT

KEEP THEM TIGHT

OUR FIGHT CARD SERIES HAS ADOPTED A NEW THEME SONG ...

Keep Them Tight is an original song written by 16 year old Dominic Dunn from Kirkdale in Liverpool. The video also features Derry Mathews (Commonwealth Lightweight Champion and Patron of Fazakerley9), Jamie McVey (Fazakerley9) and Adam Unsworth (Rotunda ABC). The song was recorded as part of the Threshold Northern Lights Showcase Programme.


Keep Them Tight: Written, performed and co-produced by Dominic Dunn.

Produced by Mark Brocklesby and Kaya Herstad Carney for Threshold Northern Lights Showcase Programme.

Vocals, acoustic guitar and electric guitar: Dominic Dunn
Backing vocals: Kaya Herstad Carney, Ian Prowse, Muireann McDermott-Long and Amy Freeman
Bass: John Fellowes
Drums: Ashley Turner
Trumpet: Michael Mohebbi
Percussion: Mark Brocklesby

Video: Director & Editor: Andrew AB, Assistant Director: Tom Lox, Lighting: Ste Webster, Production Assistants: Jo McNeill ans Kaya Herstad Carney

Recorded by Mark Brocklesby at Western Recording Company, Liverpool.

Mixed by: Mark Brocklesby, Kaya Herstad Carney and Dominic Dunn. Mastered by Mark Brocklesby

  ©Dominic Dunn and Threshold Ltd ℗Dominic Dunn
 
ON THE WEB

https://www.facebook.com/Dominic.Dunn
 
Twitter: @Dominic_Dunn22

THE TROUBLE WITH BLONDES!

BOXING SHADOWS

BOXING SHADOWS 

DERRICK FERGUSON ON WRITING FIGHT CARD: BROOKLYN BEATDOWN 

I actually was supposed to have this thing written months ago, y’know.  I mean, Brooklyn Beatdown has been in print for about three months now.  Prior to the book’s due date, series editor Paul Bishop mentioned he’d like to have a short essay from me on the how and why I wrote this particular Fight Card novel – particularly as it was the first Fight Card novel to feature an African-American protagonist.  

So, why didn’t I write the thing when I was supposed to? Didn’t I take it seriously? Well, of course I did. There are other African-American writers Paul could have invited to write for the series – writers who easily leave me in the dust when they stomp on the pedal and get their word engines cranked up to where she’ll run like that black Trans Am from Smokey and The Bandit. No, I took it very seriously when Paul came to me and asked me to contribute a book to an excellent series of novels, which certainly didn’t need me to help it. 

Maybe I’m just lazy? Hardly. I think my output proves, despite all other evidence to the contrary, I’m not a lazy guy.  Not when it comes to writing at least.  So, what was the holdup? To be honest, I felt like a fraud much of the time while writing Brooklyn Beatdown.  Really.  I mean, I’ve got no boxing background at all. I’ve been in some fights in my time.  You didn’t grow up in Bed-Stuy during the 1970’s without getting into a fight on occasion.

And I haven’t watched a boxing match in quite some time. I was a big fight fan during the 1970’s and 80’s, though.  Thanks to my father.  And I feel very lucky to have grown up during a time when boxing was so vibrant and alive with such personalities such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Frazier, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler. And this was during the glory days of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, which would show a lot of boxing matches on Saturday afternoon. This was before the rise of cable which jumped on sports programming, boxing especially, and took it away from the networks.  So, I got to see a lot of the classic boxers do their thing during their glory days. However, what I always took away was not only their phenomenal skill, but their larger-than-life personalities.  

That was my hook for the character of Levi Kimbro. I wanted him to be a personality with dreams and hopes and ambitions outside of the ring.  The ring wasn’t his life. It was a tool to get where he wanted to go in life. The clincher was everybody else except for Levi knew that being in the ring was the thing for which he was best suited.

So, that was my inspiration for Levi. As for the rest, I watched a lot of boxing matches on YouTube and Warner Brothers fight films I borrowed from the library. In my head I saw Brooklyn Beatdown as an homage to not only those great old Warner Brothers fight films, but also blaxploitation films of the 70’s. I doubted my ability to pull it off, but I hiked up my pants and took my best shot at it.  

But again, that specter of being a fraud nagged at me. What business did I have writing a boxing novel? But then again, I write novels about mercenary adventurers, spies, superheroes and supernatural gunslingers and never lose any sleep over it. So, why was I chewing my toenails about this particular book? 

In my gut, I knew why – for the first time in my career, I was being asked by a professional writer/editor to deliver a book about real people in a real world. No falling back on tricks like bringing in fantastic superweapons, diabolical supervillains, or mythical martial arts. In the popular vernacular, I had to keep it real. 

And I guess that’s why I didn’t get around to writing this when it was supposed to be written – I didn’t feel as if I had kept it real. I felt like I had made it all up. And that’s when it it hit me – That’s what you do anyway, stupid. You make up stories. The good news is, you make up stories people like to read. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. 

And so I wrote Brooklyn Beatdown and it was published and apparently a few of you think it’s a good story and that’s all that matters.  Still doesn’t explain why I didn’t write this essay when I was supposed to write it. 

Maybe I am lazy. 

FIGHT CARD: BROOKLYN BEATDOWN 

Brooklyn – 1954 ... Bare knuckler brawler Levi Kimro battles his way through the bloody backroom ghetto bars of Brooklyn in pursuit of his dream of owning his own business. It’s a hard and vicious road he walks and it becomes even more complicated when he falls hard for the electrifying Dorothea McBricker. 

Dorothea’s brother, Teddy, has fallen under the influence of notorious gangster Duke Williamson – a powerful man who is pressuring Levi to join his stable of fighters or face off against the human killing machine, ‘Deathblow’ Ballantine. A knock-down, drag out, Brooklyn Beatdown is brewing, and Levi will need every ounce of his fighter’s heart if he wants to save not only himself, but the woman he loves … 

FAST FIVE WITH FIGHT CARD'S CAROL MALONE

 FAST FIVE WITH FIGHT CARD'S CAROL MALONE

PAUL D. BRAZILL'S BLOG, YOU WOULD SAY THAT WOULDN'T YOU, TALKS BOXING AND ROMANCE WITH FIGHT CARD'S CAROL MALONE ...

Writing as Jill Tunney, Carol Malone has recently injected a touch of romance into the two-fisted, pulp-infused, Fight Card series with her debut novel, Fight Card Romance: Ladies Night … Boxing and love? What’s going on here?

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART II

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART II

I CONTINUE MY EXPLORATION OF FIGHT FICTION OVER AT THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG …

As the ‘70s progressed, the public became primed for a change in their fight fiction.  Unlike with prior generations, this change in popular entertainment would not be  tied to the socio-economic factors of the day.  Instead, a blurring of the lines of fact and fiction – especially in the world of boxing – was occurring, reflecting the hyper embellishments of celebrity being inflicted upon larger popular culture as a whole …

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART I

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART 1
I GO DEEP INTO THE HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION OVER AT THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG …

The fight fiction genre has become an integral part of our cultural history – especially when economic times have been as tough as the character’s in a fight fiction tale.

Even before the explosion of fight fiction stories in the pulps of the ‘30s and ‘40s, Jack London was penning fight stories for the masses, such as his classics A Piece of Steak and The Abysmal Brute, among others.  Feeding the need of the everyman to rise above his daily struggle for survival through vicarious fight entertainment, London’s fight tales were devoured.

London learned to box by sparring with his friend Jim Whitaker, and his love of the sport never waned.  Wherever his wanderings took him, London always had a pair of boxing gloves, always ready to mix it up with any challenger.  Most often, however, London’s regular sparring partner was his wife, Charmian Kittredge, with whom he routinely sparred ...

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

BOBBY NASH PUTS UP HIS DUKES

BOBBY NASH PUTS UP HIS DUKES

AND IN THIS CORNER … BOBBY NASH TELLS THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG ALL ABOUT WRITING FIGHT CARD: BAREFOOT BONES …

When I agreed to write a Fight Card story, I approached it as a character piece about a boxer. Knowing the character is the most important thing for me and when the plot started to gel together in my mind, it was James Mason, the boy the bullies called Barefoot Bones who sold me on the idea of telling this story. I’m not sure where the name came from. As I was plotting out the ideas for this story, it was the week between Christmas and New Years Day. On one of the many drives to family events, it just popped into my head and it fit…

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

BOXING AND ROMANCE

BOXING AND ROMANCE

CAROL MALONE GETS IN THE RING WITH THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG TO PROVE FIGHTIN’ AND SMOOCHIN’ CAN GO TOGETHER …

I started to write Ladies Night in March, 2012, all the while working on other romantic manuscripts. For boxing research, I watched fights from the 50′s on YouTube, typing the descriptions of the punches into my computer while announcers describe the action. I rounded out the research with old LA city maps, period photos, boxing statistics, and scads of boxing technique videos…

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE