This week, the Dangerous Duo (plus Mike) dig into character creation and character assassination as Barry Reese, Bobby Nash and Mike Bullock discuss the life and death of their characters.
Table Talk: Powers, Life and Death with Barry Reese, Bobby Nash, and Mike Bullock is now available at http://www.newpulpfiction.com/ or click the title above for a direct link.
DEBUT NOVEL FROM FANTASY SCRIBE IS 12TH IN PRO SE’S PUBLISHING YEAR!
Pro Se Productions, a company specializing in New Pulp magazines and books, is proud to announce that the debut novel from Pro Se Author Nancy Hansen is the closing salvo to Pro Se’s first full year of active publishing. And this first book, entitled ‘Fortune’s Pawn’, in a trilogy is also currently Pro Se’s best selling title to date!
“We started out,” Tommy Hancock, Pro Se’s Editor in Chief said, “specializing solely in magazines and at that time our mantra was ‘Putting the Monthly Back Into Pulp!’ When we moved away from magazines for a bit and went into anthologies and novels, the slogan didn’t change and neither did the commitment behind it. The magazines are back now and still Pro Se is all about making sure that there’s a new Pro Se title on an average of once a month! And we are extremely pleased that the work that closed our first year of Publishing was Nancy Hansen’s first novel.”
“The basic premise is classic and familiar,” states Barry Reese of ALL PULP in a review of the book. “A prophecy warns that a red-haired child will rise up to overthrow the bad guys so the villains are out killing everyone with red hair. One infant survives such an attack and grows up to become our protagonist. Callie is an enjoyable character and her motivations and emotions are well depicted.”
‘Fortune’s Pawn’ is the first of a trilogy, but it comes from the mind of Nancy Hansen, a writer who made her debut in the Pro Se magazine line. Almost instantly, Nancy gained the title of being one of the most prolific writers in New Pulp, turning out more than twenty stories and juggling no less than three or four universes, most largely fantasy of some sort, almost instantly. “Nancy’s a godsend,” Hancock stated. “There such a richness and vitality to her take on fantasy, plus she writes as frequently as most people eat it seems, so it’s a win-win for her fans and for Pro Se.”
The inaugural publishing year of Pro Se not only ended on a high note with ‘Fortune’s Pawn’, but was filled with several notable works. 8 issues of the initial magazine lines kicked off the company and now, although down to one magazine, ‘Pro Se Presents’ has recently brought Pro Se back to the magazine business. That combined with the debut novel from New Pulp author Tommy Hancock (YesterYear) and the continuation of the New Pulp Classic series created and penned by Barry Reese, “The Rook: Volume Six.” Pro Se also created and coordinated PULP ARK, the first New Pulp Convention, this past May.
“We are beyond amazed,” Hancock said, “at how quickly and how successful this year has been for Pro Se. And there’s no sign it’s slowing down with all the things in the works that I can’t even talk about right now. I will say this, though. The mantra, the slogan, it’s not changed one bit.”
Pro Se is definitely Putting the Monthly Back into Pulp!
Table Talk, where three writer- umm, authors, discuss the ins and outs of creating fiction for prose, comics and other outlets. This week, Barry Reese, Bobby Nash, and Mike Bullock chat about how far ahead they plot and how far back they work when building their characters. Table Talk: Looking Forward Through The Rear View Mirror with Mike Bullock, Barry Reese, and Bobby Nash is now available at http://www.newpulpfiction.com/
FORTUNE’S PAWN Written by Nancy A. Hansen Pro Se Press ISBN 9781466243460 179 pages, $12.00
Okay, let’s establish something right away: I don’t generally read fantasy. I did when I was younger, really digging Dragonlance and the like… but nowadays, the only time I read fantasy is when I dig open a Robert E. Howard collection for old-times sake. So I’m not really the target audience for this one. But I’ve read some short stories by Nancy in the past and enjoyed them so I figured I’d dive into her first novel and see how it went.
First impressions: the cover is intriguing but I really, really would not have obscured the title. This is okay if it’s Spider-Man or something: we all know what the title is anyway so breaking it or obscuring it can be a bold design move. But when it’s an unfamiliar title (especially one that’s rendered in a confusing font), I think it’s not bold… I think it’s not wise. I showed the book to three different people and not one of them could figure out what the title was from the front or spine — the font chosen was way too busy. It looks like the book is called Forgude’s Pawd.
Okay, once I got past the cover design issues, I jumped into the story and found that it was told in a very readable style. For some reason the opening with the weremon seemed awkward to me but I think it just took a few pages to get into Nancy’s world. Once things shifted to the ill-fated family, things picked up and from there it all went smoothly.
The basic premise is classic and familiar: a prophecy warns that a red-haired child will rise up to overthrow the bad guys so the villains are out killing everyone with red hair. One infant survives such an attack and grows up to become our protagonist. Callie is an enjoyable character and her motivations and emotions are well depicted.
I found the parts of the story featuring conversations between characters or internal monologues to be the best part of the tale. The action scenes were clearly depicted but lacked the kind of edge that I usually like in my fantasy (think Robert E. Howard’s ability to depict sweaty violence). I was impressed by Nancy’s willingness to get her literary hands dirty, though — no one is safe in this book, including little kids. Everybody has an equal opportunity to get eviscerated.
This is obviously the first chapter in a larger story and I’m curious about where it goes from here. If I were a diehard fantasy fan, I think this would be something that would definitely go onto my shelf of favorites. As it is, I would still recommend it to anyone looking to dip their toes into the fantasy genre or who are looking for a character-driven adventure of any type.
New Pulp Authors Mike Bullock, Barry Reese, and Bobby Nash are back for another installment of NewPulpFiction’s Table Talk. This week, the guys discuss attachments to their characters as well as the writing process itself
Table Talk: At What Price? with Mike Bullock, Barry Reese, and Bobby Nash is now available at http://www.newpulpfiction.com/
Table Talk returns to New Pulp. This week, Bobby, Barry and Mike dig into the hats they wear and what it’s like to switch them around, based on the needs of the moment. You can read the Table Talk conversation at http://www.newpulpfiction.com/2011/08/table-talk-who-are-you.html
Someone coined the term “creative envy” a while back in response to seeing the intellectual property of another and wishing they’d come up with it first. Most, if not all creators have a particular character or property they wish they’d thought up first. This week Barry Reese, Bobby Nash and Mike Bullock discuss creative envy and take a look at their own properties they wish they had time to fully realize.
Pro Se Productions, an up and coming leader in the New Pulp Movement and publisher of New Pulp Magazines, books, and collections, announces today a partnership with Broken Sea Audio Productions, a leading name in New Pulp Audio.Both companies have brought their impressive talents and abilities together to produce the first ever Pro Se Press Audio Magazines!
Pro Se broke onto the New Pulp scene in 2010 with a line of New Pulp Magazines.These titles, FANTASY AND FEAR, PECULIAR ADVENTURES, and MASKED GUN MYSTERY, featured a variety of stories, both from professional as well as brand new authors and ran the gamut from horror to hero to mystery to fantasy and beyond.Although these titles have now been combined in print into the singular title PRO SE PRESENTS, Pro Se plans to continue the three titles in an audio magazine format, thanks in large part to the wonderful people at Broken Sea Audio Productions.
“There’s something,” says Tommy Hancock, Partner and EIC of Pro Se Productions, “about these fantastic New Pulp short stories that just screams to be expressed beyond print.When you’re reading words written by Ron Fortier, James Palmer, and Van Plexico or in the middle of a Sovereign City scene penned by Barry Reese or Derrick Ferguson or even marveling to the new talents of people like Nancy Hansen, Ken Janssens, Lee Houston, Jr., Megan Smith and more, you can hear the voices in your head.Likewise, the extremely talented crew at Broken Sea Audio Productions, led by Paul Mannering, have this fantastic art of bringing to life stories, some with characters we all know and others with brand new New Pulp creations.The actors and readers at BrokenSea breathe voice into pen and ink and make it leap off the page and into a whole new level of imagination.Because of this, the partnership of these two fantastic groups as well as the merging of the work they do is a great next step in the evolution of New Pulp.”
Hancock also says that plans for both future Audio Mags as well as Audio Books of Pro Se’s line of novels and collections are definitely in process and will be announced in the near future.
The first three issues of each Audio Magazine are now available for sale at www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com as downloads.“Although consideration was given to producing CD versions of these fantastic works,” Hancock states, “and we will have special CD versions available for public appearances and conventions in 2012 and beyond, we felt that with the advent of MP3 Players and other technology more attuned to playing a file instead of a CD, that this was the best and most efficient way to deliver this great new product.”Once purchased, Pro Se will send the buyer a link to download the issue(s) the customer has bought within twenty four hours of purchase.
Priced at $7.50 per issue, each magazine is over 4 to 6 hours of New Pulp Audiobook entertainment.Each magazine is read by a single reader, but the readers provide various voices and show a tremendous control of emotion and tone in each story, adding to the power and pleasure of listening to each tale.This combined with the wonderful work of Broken Sea Producer Chris Barnes makes Pro Se’s line of New Pulp Audio Mags a definite must have for any fan of Action/Adventure/Heroic/Genre Fiction.
Pro Se Audio Mag titles produced in conjunction with Broken Sea Audio Productions currently available at www.pulpmachine.blogspot are as follows-
FANTASTY AND FEAR #1
Produced by Chris Barnes
Read by Fiona Thraille
Music composed, arranged and performed by Kevin Mcleod
Stories Include-
TALES OF MYTHAS: MURDER IN THE GHETTO OF TRENTONIUM By Don Thomas
THE SONG OF HEROES: LORI’S LAMENT By Nancy A. Hansen
THE MAN OF MY DREAMS By C. William Russette
THE WAY OF THE WORLD By Lee Houston, Junior
BEAST OF THE MOUNTAINS By Ron Fortier
THE TUNNELS OF LAO FANG By James Palmer
THE BROTHERS JADE: BOOK ONE by the Brothers Thomas
MASKED GUN MYSTERY #1
Produced by Chris Barnes
Read by H. Keith Lyons
Music composed, arranged and performed by Kevin Mcleod
Stories Include-
THE THINGS HE LEAVES BEHIND By Aric Mitchell
ALOHA MCCOY: HELLO NEW LIFE, HELLO OLD By Ken Janssens
THE DAY HE FOUND THE CLOWN By Aaron Smith
HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: DINEENA’S DILEMMA By Lee Houston, Junior
MURPHY’S WAKE By Tommy Hancock
DEMON NIGHT By C. William Russette
RUN By Andrew Salmon
(NOTE- A story originally appearing in the print issue of MGM 1, CRIME OF THE ARTS PART ONE: PROBING THE CITY By Robert E. Kennedy, does not appear in this Audio Mag because this story will be recorded in a future Audio Book as one complete story, not four parts)
PECULIAR ADVENTURES #1
Produced by Chris Barnes
Read by Peter Katt
Music composed, arranged and performed by Kevin Mcleod
Stories Include-
Y-239 By Lee Houston, Junior
IN THE HOUSE OF MERCURY By Tommy Hancock
THE CEREBUS CLAN: CHANGING OF THE GUARD By Ken Janssens
THE SECRET WHISPERS OF EACH OTHER’S WATCH by Derrick Ferguson
PERRY LELL, GIRL OF A THOUSAND EARTHS IN DANCING OUT OF TIME By Megan Smith
Mike Bullock, Barry Reese, and Bobby Nash are back for another installment of NewPulpFiction’s Table Talk. This week, the guys discuss the rising cost of books and what it means to readers, writers, and publishers.
Table Talk: At What Price? with Mike Bullock, Barry Reese, and Bobby Nash is now available at http://www.newpulpfiction.com/.
When you get two or more creators sitting behind a table at a signing or convention, when no one is around, they inevitably start talking shop. I’ve now done more signings and conventions than I can remember at once but the one thing they all have in common is an opportunity to gab with other creators. Despite what anyone might think, this is the thing I love most about the events. Whether it’s comparing a common love of some old character or examining the ins and outs of the latest news or talking about our creative processes, it’s always an enjoyable conversation.
When I mentioned this one time to a non-creative friend, he replied “I bet a lot of people would love to hear those conversations.”
In response to that, we dreamed up Table Talk, a semi-regular column where you can read conversations between New Pulp creators discussing things we love. Since just about every conversation starts out with a compelling question or statement, that’s the format we’ll follow here.
I asked fellow writers Barry Reese and Bobby Nash to join me in this, as I feel a solid connection to these two guys, and can only imagine if the three of us spent a weekend sharing a booth at a convention, we’d have some sterling back-and-forths about everything from old pulps to action figures to Silver Age comics and New Pulp.
To start the inaugural column off, Barry Reese suggested someone throw out a question to get the ball rolling. Bobby and I quickly nominated Barry to come up with said question.
