Monthly Archive: October 2010

Hard Case Crime Returns!

News
October 20, 2010

Titan Books to Relaunch

Acclaimed Pulp Paperback Series

“Wickedly voluptuous.”

–Janet Maslin, New York Times

“Hard Case may be the best new American publisher to appear in the last decade.”

— Neal Pollack, The Stranger

“One hell of a concept. Those covers brought me right back to the good old days.”

— Mickey Spillane

New York, NY; London, UK (October 19, 2010) – Titan Books and series creator Charles Ardai announced today that they are teaming up to relaunch the popular Hard Case Crime series of paperback crime novels. Nominated five times in five years for the Edgar Allan Poe award, the mystery genre’s highest honor, Hard Case Crime has published such luminaries as Stephen King (the book that was the basis for the new TV series “Haven”), Mickey Spillane, Ed McBain, Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, Pete Hamill, Max Allan Collins, Madison Smartt Bell and Roger Zelazny, to name just a few. Each book features new cover art in the classic pulp style, including covers painted by Robert McGinnis, the legendary illustrator who painted the original James Bond movie posters.

Hard Case Crime has won praise from dozens of major publications ranging from Time, Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly to Entertainment Weekly, Playboy and Reader’s Digest, and has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s Fresh Air, and in every major newspaper in America (including repeated coverage in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and USA Today).

First launched in 2004, Hard Case Crime published 66 titles through August 2010, at which time its long-time publisher, Dorchester Publishing, announced it was exiting the mass market paperback publishing business after nearly 40 years. After receiving offers from five other publishers (including two of the largest in the world) to continue the line, Charles Ardai selected UK-based Titan Publishing as Hard Case Crime’s new home.

“Titan has an extraordinary record of creating beautiful, exciting books with exactly the pop culture sensibility that Hard Case Crime exists to celebrate,” said Charles Ardai, founder and editor of Hard Case Crime and an Edgar Award-winning mystery writer himself. “Titan is one of the few publishers that loves pulp fiction as much as we do.”

Titan’s first new Hard Case Crime titles, scheduled to come out in September and October 2011, include QUARRY’S EX, a new installment in the popular series of hit man novels by “Road to Perdition” creator Max Allan Collins; CHOKE HOLD, Christa Faust’s sequel to her Edgar Award-nominated Hard Case Crime novel MONEY SHOT; and two never-before-published novels by major authors in the crime genre (both recipients of the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America).

Additionally, Titan plans to acquire all existing stock of Hard Case Crime’s backlist titles from Dorchester Publishing and resume shipping those titles to stores immediately.

“Hard Case Crime has done a remarkable job in a very short time of building a brand known for outstanding crime fiction and stunning artwork,” said Nick Landau, Publisher of Titan Books and CEO of the Titan Publishing Group. “We are thrilled to partner with Charles and look forward to bringing Hard Case Crime to a wider audience around the world, not only through the novels themselves but also through an innovative merchandise program.”

For more information, call Hard Case Crime on 646-205-2181 or e-mail wlmailhtml:{A2CE945F-BE84-4D89-9957-6B567BA08337}mid://00000129/!x-usc:mailto:media@hardcasecrime.com; call Titan (US media) on 914-788-1005 or email ktc2000@aol.com; or call Titan (UK media) on +44 (0)20 7803 1906 or email wlmailhtml:{A2CE945F-BE84-4D89-9957-6B567BA08337}mid://00000129/!x-usc:mailto:sophie.calder@titanemail.com.

About Hard Case Crime

Charles Ardai founded Hard Case Crime in 2004 through Winterfall LLC, a privately owned media company responsible for a variety of print, film, and television projects. The series has been nominated for and/or won numerous awards since its inception including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Anthony, the Barry, and the Spinetingler Award. The series’ bestselling title of all time, The Colorado Kid by Stephen King, was the basis for the current SyFy television series “Haven,” on which Charles Ardai works as a writer and producer. There have also been a number of feature film deals involving Hard Case Crime books, including “The Last Lullaby,” based on The Last Quarry by Max Allan Collins and starring Tom Sizemore as the titular hit man, and more recently Universal Pictures’ purchase of the film rights to Little Girl Lost and Songs of Innocence by Richard Aleas.

About Titan Publishing Group

Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. The company is based at offices in London, but operates worldwide, with sales and distribution in the US & Canada being handled by Random House. Titan Publishing Group has three divisions: Titan Books, Titan Magazines/Comics and Titan Merchandise. In addition to fiction, including novelizations of films such as Terminator Salvation, original novels based on TV shows such as Primeval and Supernatural and the popular computer game Runescape, and the celebrated Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series of novels launched in 2009, Titan Books also publishes an extensive line of media- and pop culture-related non-fiction, graphic novels, art and music books.

News
October 20, 2010

ALL PULP FOCUS-KIDS’ PULP, YAY OR NAY?

Introducing a new ALL PULP recurring event-ALL PULP FOCUS! The purpose of this is to take up a topic within the Pulp community, much like ALL PULP does with its panel, and broadening the focus to include other parts of ALL PULP. This focus is on the concept of pulp for kids. Is pulp appropriate for children? Is there a distinct area within the genre that can be identified as ‘kids’ pulp’? A new panel will be posted later today for the Spectacled Seven to look at this concept, but for now enjoy throughout the day reviews of stories from Martin Powell that just could be kids’ pulp….if there is such a thing..

TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews by Tommy Hancock
“RED RIDING HOOD: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL”
Writer-Martin Powell
Artist-Victor Rivas

One of Four Reviews of ALL PULP FOCUS-KIDS’ PULP, YAY OR NAY?

The story is the one everyone knows and that story at its most basic is a scary tale indeed. A little girl traipsing through the woods on a humanitarian mission to her elderly grandmother, a chance encounter with a smooth talking wolf, that same wolf in grandmother’s clothing, and a slice of an axe ending the lupine evil makes the tale of Little Red Riding Hood a horror story in its own right. What Powell and Rivas do in their graphic novel retelling of this popular legend is take that innate fear and terror to a whole new level.

Powell puts several distinct turns on this already twisted children’s tale that take it out of the realm of ‘fairy tale’ and put it squarely in the pulp area. The story opens with an elderly woman visiting a fortune teller she’d visited before and that fortune teller giving her a warning of sorts and a gift colored in red. The story becomes somewhat familiar at that point, the little girl wanting to visit her sick grandmother wearing the red hood made by said relative. Where this story really takes a horrific twist is the introduction of the wolf. Rivas’ interpretation of the wolf is basically a lot of jagged dark lines all converging into a face that is simultaneously pleasant and horrendous. Powell continues that image by writing the Big Bad One less as a creature of the forest and more like a potential child molester grooming its prospect.

Powell also ups the ante with Red Riding Hood, too. She becomes the ultimate pulp heroine, facing the evil one on one and without her greatest protection even. The final scene in the grandmother’s home and the subsequent chase through the woods on many levels had the intensity of any climactic scene in any horror movie. Rivas’ art is as creepy as it is endearing and cute, adding to the disturbing content of a story that boils down to a little girl left alone in the woods to be ravaged by the evils in the shadows. Well, this Red Riding Hood definitely ain’t down with that.

The storytelling gets awkward at a couple of points and transition from scene to scene is a bit jerky, but overall RED RIDING HOOD in the hands of Powell and Rivas is a wonderfully delightful, scary ride through a children’s classic

Four out of Five Tips of Hancock’s Hat (usually reserved for heads of state, arresting officers, and little old ladies, which is pretty darn good.)

National Graphic Novel Writing Month Day 19: Pages As Scenes

News
October 20, 2010

Consider the simple comic book page.

I know, your first thought is: this isn’t my problem. I’m the writer, not the artist. This is National Graphic Novel Writing Month. National Graphic Novel Drawing Month isn’t for a while yet.

No no no. The page is important as a unit of storytelling, and as a writer for graphic novels, you should be thinking visually to prepare for it.

Think about an hour long episode of television. Many people think of it as the five act structure, with eight or nine minute acts acts being broken up by commercial breaks. (Yes, 44 minutes of television.)

But it’s often more useful to think of it as twenty-two two minute scenes. It breaks the story down into much smaller bits, with each scene delivering some useful piece of information about the story or characters, while allowing for contrasting bits and alternating plotlines.

Think of an episode of House MD, broken up into two minute scenes.

1. Meet the patient, who collapses from something strange.

ROLL CREDITS

2. Doctors sit around table, House comes in, establishes problem.

3. Doctors meet with patient, run tests, get background info needed for the patient.

4. House gets involved in wacky scheme to get Wilson and Cuddy to appear in roadshow production of Guys & Dolls to pay for new MRI machine.

5. Doctors apply cure to patient, which fails spectacularly and leads to growth of extra arm.

END FIRST ACT, COMMERCIAL

This structure also works for comics, where you can go page by page and figure out what has to go where.

Page 1: The Green Goblin is testing his equipment, then he meets with the Enforcers to hire them to help him deal with Spider-Man.

Page 2: Goblin cuts a deal with a movie mogul to get Spider-Man to appear in a film.

Page 3: Peter Parker is at school when he hears about Goblin flying over New York; he excuses himself to change.

Page 4: Spidey meets Goblin, Goblin pitches the movie deal.

Page 5: Spidey goes to movie mogul, haggles over the deal, and signs to make sure he has money for Aunt May’s medicine. The Goblin lurks in the background, noting that Spidey is falling into his trap.

Simple sounding? Sure. And yet, that’s pretty much how Amazing Spider-Man #14 introduced the Green Goblin to the world.

In addition, the end of the page is a natural break point in your story, a good place to bring a scene to an end, while your reader is turning the page.

So take a look at how other people use the page in their writing– then try it in your own work.

Remember: you can follow all the NaGraNoWriMo posts here!

ComicMix endorses Elvira– she’s not a witch either

News
October 19, 2010

Finally, someone who we can support– and let’s face it, she needs a lot of support.

Yes, Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark and star of stage, screen, and a few hundred comic books, has a brief announcement for you. After all… she is you.

Hat tip: Lisa Sullivan.

Review: ‘Being Human’ Seasons 1 and 2

Reviews
October 19, 2010

The British approach to genre television is markedly different than the American shows. Series such as [[[Primeval, Torchwood]]], and [[[Being Human]]] take an adult approach to science fiction and horror, creating a fresh assortment of characters and settings, unencumbered by writing for frequent commercial breaks and letting their characters grow and evolve.

Over the summer months, we were given an opportunity to compare and contrast this approach as SyFy offered up the lightweight, albeit entertaining [[[Warehouse 13]]], while BBC America gave us Being Human. The series has lasted two seasons on British television and both are available in nicely packaged DVD sets released by BBC and Warner Home Video.

For those unaware, Being Human posits that a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost can try to achieve a normal life by sharing a home in Bristol. Over the course of six episodes, the first season introduced the characters, their back stories, and chronicled their attempts at leading their lives. You have your 90 year old vampire Mitchell (Aidan Turner), who left a coven bent on some form of global domination; then there’s George (Russell Tovey) who was bitten by a werewolf and now works as a hospital orderly while removing himself from human contact every thirty days or so; and finally, there’s Annie (Lenora Crichlow), a newly minted ghost, haunting the flat they share. Her story and growth as a character forms the spine of the first season.

Watching them interact with one another and with humans is a constant study in contrasts and emotions. One story in season one has Mitchell befriend a lonely young boy living across the street with tragic consequences. George also tries to have a romantic relationship with a fellow hospital worker, unwilling to share his secret with her.

Season one began slowly but grew with every episode, gaining confidence in the characters and larger supernatural world they inhabit. It is not a heavy effects-laden show, but there’s enough to remind you that there are scary things in the dark.
(more…)

PULP ARK ANNOUNCES FIRST ANNUAL PULP ARK AWARDS!! (Corrected version)

News
October 19, 2010

Pulp Ark, the Convention/Creators’ Conference scheduled in Batesville, Arkansas, May 13-15, 2011 will be presenting the First Annual Pulp Ark awards. According to Tommy Hancock, Pulp Ark Coordinator and Pro Se Productions (the company sponsoring Pulp Ark) Editor in Chief, there will be ten awards given at the event in May, 2011 recognizing excellence in various areas within the pulp field. A local Arkansas businessman,” Hancock reported, “wanted to contribute something to this singular event being brought to the state. We discussed what he might want to do and he mentioned recognizing the work done by the creators (The word ‘present’ was in the previous article. Creators do not have to be present to be nominated or receive the award.). Being a fan himself, he wanted to let writers and artists know of his appreciation for what they do. So, he’s funding the design and manufacture of ten awards.”

Nominations for nine of the ten areas will open November 1, 2010 and close January 31, 2011. The only works eligible are those produced between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010. Anyone can make a nomination and anyone that makes a nomination will receive a ballot. The only people voting in these nine awards will be those who made a minimum of one nomination. Also, each individual is allowed only ONE NOMINATION PER CATEGORY. A person may nominate someone in all nine categories, but may only nominate once in each category. All nominations are confidential and sources of nominations will not be revealed. All nominations should be mailed to Tommy Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net.

The categories open for nomination are (in no particular order):

1. Best Book (this includes prose novels, short story collections, anthologies. It includes ebooks as well as traditionally printed works)

2. Best short story (this includes stories that appear in short story collections, anthologies, magazines, and e magazines. If from an e-mag, the story must appear on a site identified as an e-magazine, not simply be posted on a site or blog. It includes epublications as well as traditionally printed works.

3. Best Cover Art (This is restricted to prose book publications, including ebooks)

4. Best Interior Art (This is restricted to prose book publications, including ebooks)

5. Best Pulp Related Comic (This refers to a series, complete run, one shot, etc. This award is for art, writing, and all other work associated with the nominated comics and the winner. This includes epublications as well. )

6. Best Pulp Magazine (This award is for art, writing, and all other work associated with the nominated comics and the winner. This includes epublications as well, but the epublication must be identified as an emagazine on the site supporting it. )

7. Best Pulp Revival (The Revival nominated must be published within the calendar year of 2010. This includes epublications as well.)

8. Best Author (This reward refers to the author and any published author is eligible, including novels, short stories, etc. This includes epublications as well).

9. Best New Writer (To be nominated, a writer must have been published for the first time in the pulp field in the calendar year of 2010. This includes epublications as well).

A ballot will be sent out the first week of February, 2011 after close of nominations and will be open for one month from the date the ballot is issued. All ballots must be returned to Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net.

The tenth category is a Lifetime Achievement Award and how this will be decided will be announced within the next two weeks, according to Hancock. When asked about how the Pulp Ark awards compare to other awards in both categories and how they are awarded, Hancock commented, “This is not a competition with other awards. This is further recognition of all the great work going on in pulp today. People will comment, maybe even complain that the way we’re doing voting could be better or maybe we should have different categories or whatever it may be. There’s always room for growth, but for this year, this is how the Pulp Ark Awards will be handled.”

Stay tuned to ALL PULP for all your first run Pulp Ark news and check out http://www.proseproductions.com/Press/pulpark.html for everything Pulp Ark!

CALL FOR WRITERS FOR NEW PULP SITE!!!

News
October 19, 2010

Pulp Carnivale is an alternative short fiction site that follows in the tradition of pulp magazines – a highly curated collaborative publishing space featuring varied stories of uniform quality. This is a space for authors to gain exposure and for audiences to discover quality new fiction without a lot of noise to sift through.

Pulp Carnivale is publishing 3 types of short story:

Flash Fiction: Stories of 1,000 words or less, published daily as a “News Flash”.
Short Story: Stories of differing longer lengths, around 10,000 words or less.
Serial Fiction: These stories will be 10,000 words or less and will come in weekly installments. They can be either episodic or a miniseries.

We are currently looking for stories in the following genres:

fantasy
gangster
detective/mystery
science fiction
adventure/exotic travels
westerns
romance
horror/occult

Please feel free to contact Tracy Austin, editor of Pulp Carnivale, at pulpcarnivale@gmail.com or 646-926-7857. Submissions are currently being accepted for our launch in November 2010.
By submitting, the author gives the editor non-exclusive rights to publish their works. The editor reserves the right to reject works at her own discretion.

MOONSTONE Feb ’11 releases!!!

News
October 19, 2010

1. SAVAGE BEAUTY
Written by Mike Bullock
Art: Jose Massaroli
Colors: Bob Pedroza
Cover A Thomas Yeates
Cover B Dave Hoover
Cover C Dave Hoover

Special “Retro Rollback Price”: $2.99 for 40 color pages!

Ripped from today’s world news comes a reimagining of the classic jungle girl genre debuting a new hero for the modern age!

Join the Rae sisters, recent UCLA grads, as they travel across modern-day Africa defending the defenseless. Guided by the mysterious Mr. Eden, they assume the identity of a mythical goddess and reveal their Savage Beauty.

Mike (The Phantom) Bullock presents a fresh new spin on the jungle girl genre, featuring real world conflicts in Africa and beyond.

*This over-sized premier issue also includes a Golden Age Sheena reprint, a look back at Jungle Girls with Michael “Robot 6” May and “lost art” from the proposed 1960 Raquel Welch/Sheena movie!

(cover A available separately. Cover B & C are 50-50)

________________________________________________________________

2. Rotten/Zombies vs Cheerleaders Flips Out #1
(W) Mark Rahner, Robert Horton, Steven L. Frank (A) David Namisato,
more (C) Brittany Jackson, Joel Gomez

**32 pgs, color, ONLY $1.99

**GREAT INTRODUCTORY PRICE!***
In this one-shot flip issue, you get NEW stories from two of
Moonstone’s hottest titles. Following a lead on the undead outbreaks
plaguing 1877 America, reluctant agent Wade investigates rumors of an
Indian curse with his partner, Flynn. They stumble into a grotesque
massacre… but that’s just the beginning of the horror they’ll face.
Who knew that these events would affect high school football players
and cheerleaders over a century later!

3. ANGELTOWN: The Nate Hollis Investigations

Author: Gary Phillips
Interior art: Shawn Martinbrough
Cover: Michael Stribling

176pgs, b/w, 6” x 9”, HC, $19.95

10 digit: 1-933076-88-7
13 digit: 978-1-933076-88-1

Los Angeles is the birthplace of noir because the brighter the sunshine,
the deeper the shadows and the more deadly the mischief that goes on in the dark.

Angeltown: The Nate Hollis Investigations is a HC from Moonstone
reprinting the Vertigo mini series in glorious black and white — the
original critically praised sequential mystery featuring the cool,
tough private eye’s frenzied search in the shadows for a pro hoopster
wanted for murder in “Baller.”
**Additionally, Gary Phillips (Operator 5), has penned two original
illustrated prose short stories for this volume; “Hollywood Killer,”
wherein superhero pretenders prowling Hollywood Boulevard for tips are
getting bumped off, and “King Cow,” about cattle, low-riders and babes
with nazi tattoos.

_________________________________________________

4. Airboy Presents: AIR VIXENS#1
Written by Mike Bullock
Art: Ben Hansen
Colors by: Bob Pedroza
Cover:Franchesco!

32pgs,color, $3.99

More story pages than ever before!

From the pages of Air Fighters comes the first issue of Air Vixens
starring Black Angel, Bald Eagle and Valkyrie.

When Der Furher sent Valkyrie to smuggle secret weapons and
intelligence across Europe in a zeppelin, he didn’t expect Black Angel
and Bald Eagle to crash the party, and neither did they.

Tune in for the first issue featuring the high flying femme
fatales of the Air Fighters in this oversized, bombastic first issue!

**RETAILER INCENTIVE: any purchase of 3 or more copies, retailers will
get one free “virgin” Franchesco cover variant!

The Point Radio: Behind The Scenes on RIESE

Podcasts
October 18, 2010

You heard it here first – RIESE THE SERIES is making the move to SyFy.com (and hopefully to the network itself). We sit down with the creators and stars to see just how the big move is going down. Plus THE HOBBIT is now two films and two TV shows get some extra love.

And be sure to stay on The Point via , RSS, MyPodcast.Comor Podbean!

Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day – 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net – plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO COMICMIX’s Mark Wheatley hitting the FREQUENCY every Saturday at 9pm and even the Editor-In-Chief of COMICMIX, Mike Gold, with his daily WEIRD SCENES and two full hours of insanity every Sunday (7pm ET) with WEIRD SOUNDS!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys.

Iron Man 3 Cometh!

News
October 18, 2010

So, what are you planning on doing May 3, 2013? On or about that day, unless I’ve gone to a preview, I’ll probably be seeing Iron Man 3.

If that seems like a long time, it’s only a year (almost to the day) after Iron Man and Tony Stark appear in The Avengers movie.

Amusingly, Disney will be distributing both movies. Whereas they own Marvel, the distribution rights on these projects is still in Paramount’s hands so, according to Box Office Mojo, Disney is coughing up at least $115 million to assume the privilege. It wasn’t too long ago that you could buy all of Marvel for that kind of money. Paramount maintains distribution rights to this year’s Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger.

No word about cast and villains, although Robert Downey Jr. is contractually expected to repeat in the lead.

Monthly Archive: October 2010

Hard Case Crime Returns!

National Graphic Novel Writing Month Day 19: Pages As Scenes

ComicMix endorses Elvira– she’s not a witch either

Review: ‘Being Human’ Seasons 1 and 2

PULP ARK ANNOUNCES FIRST ANNUAL PULP ARK AWARDS!! (Corrected version)

CALL FOR WRITERS FOR NEW PULP SITE!!!

MOONSTONE Feb ’11 releases!!!

The Point Radio: Behind The Scenes on RIESE

Iron Man 3 Cometh!

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