WHITE ROCKET UNLEASHES GIDEON CAIN ON KINDLE!
http://www.amazon.com/Gideon-Cain-Demon-Hunter-ebook/dp/B005YFBQKO
Perhaps someone more plugged into this particular format war can comment, but, for myself, I’ll just mention the two things that happened over the last week in the world of ebook formats.
First, EPUB 3.0, the next generation of the format used by most electronic reading devices, was officially made a Recommended Specification at the Frankfurt Book Fair by the IDPF.
A few days later, Amazon — which is the sole user of their proprietary, competing format, derived from a format invented by Mobipocket — announced a new generation Kindle format for their devices, without mentioning EPUB or the growing global standard.
There had been chatter that Amazon was going to converge to EPUB — or, at least, allow EPUB files to be read on Kindle devices — sometime late this year or next, but, from this evidence, that does not seem to be coming any time soon.
Linda Pendleton has released the following information regarding Richard S. Prather’s “The Death Gods,” his final book of the Shell Scott Mystery Series.
The long-awaited The Death Gods, by Richard S. Prather—the final book in his long-running and best-selling Shell Scott Private Eye Series is now available on Kindle and will be in print at Amazon in two weeks or so, then at Smashwords very soon. Cover by Judy Bullard http://customebookcovers.com/
You can purchase The Death Gods on Kindle for $7.29 at http://www.amazon.com/Death-Shell-Scott-Mystery-ebook/dp/B005UNKR0A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318455390&sr=1-1
About The Death Gods:
In “The Death Gods,” happy-go-lucky, Los Angeles Private Eye, Shell Scott, bulldozes his way thru thugs, often with light-hearted humor, and with a beauty or two along the way, in this final novel of the long-running Shell Scott Series by Richard S. Prather, published for the first time.
Shell Scott is hired to locate a lost dog belonging to a local physician, Henry Hernandez, M.D. But Scott soon discovers the needs of Dr. Hernandez go far beyond his missing dog. There has been an attempt on the doctor’s life and Dr. Hernandez believes it is due to his knowing too much about a deadly virus that appears to be taking hold in the country. Dr. Hernandez sets out to not only prove to Shell Scott, but to the world, that the IFAI virus and the vaccine being developed by a well-known local medical researcher and his wealthy business partner, is a complete fraud. Shell Scott finds himself in deep and getting deeper by the hour in this battle of good against evil, life against death, and medical “quackery” against allopathic medicine. Can Scott convince a beautiful female medical author that the medical researcher she admires may not be all he claims to be? And what about Scott’s client, Dr. Henry Hernandez: is he a nut-case, a quack, as some claim? Shell Scott finds he is in the battle of his life and chances are he may not come out alive.
More than 40 million copies of Richard S. Prather’s hard-boiled Shell Scott mysteries have been sold in the U.S., with millions more world-wide since Shell Scott first appeared in 1950.
Richard S. Prather (1921-2007) received the Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986, and was twice on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Writers of America. He was Editor of “The Comfortable Coffin,” the 13th Mystery Writers of America Anthology. His stories have appeared in numerous magazines, “The Shell Scott Mystery Magazine,” and several anthologies.
You can purchase The Death Gods on Kindle for $7.29 at http://www.amazon.com/Death-Shell-Scott-Mystery-ebook/dp/B005UNKR0A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318455390&sr=1-1
Cover: Danny Kelly |
The sleepy rural community of Woodland is caught up in a nightmare from which they cannot escape.
Suddenly, mysteriously, a small group of extraordinary visitors arrives to save them, coming from a place where orange, gold, and crimson leaves follow you in the autumn breeze. A place of eternal October, where imagination is magic, monsters are real, and pumpkins are more than they seem.
They know what scares you, and only they can stop it.
Evil—beware, the World’s Weirdest Heroes!
The Halloween Legion © Martin Powell.
The Halloween Legion prose novella, featuring cover art and interior illustrations by Danny Kelly, is currently being designed by William Carney for Wild Cat Books. It’s hopefully that the print version will be available on Amazon.com by Halloween!
And Stay Tuned to ALL PULP for Halloween Legion Interviews and other goodness with Creator Martin Powell!!
The KINDLE version is now available at http://www.amazon.com/THE-HALLOWEEN-LEGION-ebook/dp/B005U8345K/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1318256315&sr=1-2
I finally downloaded a few comics onto my iPad using the updated Comixology app. I mean, I’m on record as being a lover of comics on paper, as well as the comic book shops that sell them. However, I’m also a big fan of prose on paper, as well as the bookstores that sell them, and I love my Kindle, so I thought I should give the new delivery system a try.
Previously, I’d noticed a flaw in the iPad design as far as visual entertainment goes. The screen is too shiny. Reading a book on the iBook app is more difficult for me than reading a book on the Kindle because of the glare (the Kindle has a matte finish). It’s even more distracting when watching a movie. However, I enjoy having a movie downloaded if I’m flying somewhere, and I might also enjoy having a virtual stack of comics.
I started by scouting out the free comics, because what if I didn’t like it? And I wanted something I hadn’t read already, so my previous opinion wouldn’t influence me. My son loves Robert Kirkman, and I was a fan of the TV show, so I downloaded the first issue of The Walking Dead.
It was a good choice. The app was easy to use, even for an old fart like myself, and I enjoyed my experience.
So last week, when there was a shipment glitch at New York comic shops, and I couldn’t get two of the books I wanted at any of my local stores by Saturday, I went online and paid for content. Reading Detective Comics and Stormwatch was, oddly, more difficult than reading the indie comic with lower production values. The lettering was hard to read, too small, and when I made the image bigger, I lost the flow of the page.
Did I lose some strength in my optic nerves? I went back to read Walking Dead again (and why can’t you go back to the beginning with one touch?), and that still worked well for me.
Still the color of the DC books was brilliant, and there were no ads. There were also no letters pages or other DC editorial material. For my $2.99, I got my story, and that’s it.
As it happens those two books have a reasonable amount of story. If I’d read Justice League #1 in that format, I would have been irked.
Will I buy more? Maybe back issues, because I’d rather have the stuff on my computer than in storage. Or if I’m away on a long trip, where I’m unfamiliar with the local comic book shops. Or if it’s the middle of the night and I don’t want to get dressed and go walking the streets, looking for Superman (or, I suppose, Mr. Goodbar).
But otherwise? I’m sticking with paper, at least for the near term. I like my comics with some social interaction. I like folding back the cover – and watching the true collectors freak out.
There aren’t that many occasions when I can feel eight years old again, and reading comics lets me do it once a week. So I’ll stay with the format from last century for as long as I can.
Martha Thomases, Dominoed Daredoll, really really really liked the new Animal Man.
SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman
Someone does love fans of good Pulpy books.
Stark’s ‘Parker’ has become an icon of action, violence, and crime fiction and has gained prominence in the last several months, due in part to graphic novel adaptations of the Stark works by Darwyn Cooke as well as renewed interest in the character as a film property.
Both books are available in Kindle format from Amazon. The epub edition of The Score can be had through Barnes & Noble, the PDF of The Score can be obtained from U of C, and the epub edition of God Save the Mark is available via Copia.
Wayne Reinagel’s newest novella entitled The Hunter Island Adventure is now available as a direct download eBook at http://wwwpulpheroesmorethanmortal.webs.com/Infinite%20Horizons%20Online%20Store.html. It will be available for Kindle, Nook, and other devices in a few days.
The Hunter Island Adventure is a fun-filled fantastic non-stop adventure that occurs (chronologically) roughly one year before the events of the best-selling novel, Pulp Heroes – More Than Mortal. This wild tale tells the story of what happens when four kidnapped women (friends and relatives of my main pulp hero characters) prove to be much more trouble than their captors expected. This download also features a special bonus, a complete copy of The Most Dangerous Game, written by Richard Connell and originally published in 1924, and one of the original inspirations for The Hunter Island Adventure. (As was the short story Ransom of the Red Chief by O. Henry, where two men who attempt to kidnap and ransom a wealthy Alabaman’s son; eventually, the men are driven to distraction by the boy and end up having to pay the boy’s father to take him back.)
In addition, several new eBooks are also available at the Knightraven Studios store. In addition to the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson (also available in audiobook format), Wayne has posted The Vampyre written by Doctor John Polidori and a fully illustrated (by Gustave Dore) version of Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic poem The Raven. For anyone who has not read one of Wayne’s novels, Henry Jekyll, Edward Hyde, and Robert Louis Stevenson are all characters in Pulp Heroes – Khan Dynasty novel, and Edgar Allan Poe and Polidori are a main characters in Modern Marvels – Viktoriana novel. (As well as Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, Nikola Tesla, Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Harry Houdini, H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Count Dracula, and Varney the Vampire.)
The Hunter Island Adventure is now available as a direct download eBook at http://wwwpulpheroesmorethanmortal.webs.com/Infinite%20Horizons%20Online%20Store.html. It will be available for Kindle, Nook, and other devices in a few days.
For more information on Wayne Reinagel and his novels, visit http://wwwpulpheroesmorethanmortal.webs.com/
Frank Dirscherl |
With the announcement of Lance Star: Sky Ranger joining the iPulp Fiction Library, we wanted to introduce readers to some of the Honorary Sky Rangers involved with making these stories happen. Next up is Lance star: Sky Ranger Author Frank Dirscherl.
LSSR: Tell us a little about yourself and where readers can find out more about you and your work?
FD: I’m a 38 year old librarian, live in Australia and have been writing off and on my whole life, professionally for about 10 or so years now. I’ve mainly been writing the adventures of my modern day pulp paradin, The Wraith, in both comic book and prose form, but I’ve worked on some other projects as well. My two websites contain further information and links to buy my work – http://www.trinitycomics.com/ and http://www.frankdirscherl.com/.
Attack of the Bird Man Now Available. |
LSSR: How did you become involved with the Lance Star: Sky Ranger series?
FD: I don’t quite recall how I was introduced to Mr Ron Fortier online, but ultimately, he invited me to contribute to this, and other works, from his publishing venture Airship 27, and I eagerly signed up. I only wish I’d have had the time to contribute more than I thus far have, but there will be more from me coming, rest assured. Pulp storytelling is my absolute favorite, and the more I can contribute to this genre, the better.
LSSR: Who is Lance Star? What makes pulp characters like Lance and the Sky Rangers appeal to you as a writer and a reader?
FD: Lance Star is an aviator adventurer who surrounds himself with a team of fellow enthusiasts and who end up fighting crime and seeking adventure the world over. I think characters such as Doc Savage and even Indiana Jones are probably of a similar ilk to Lance. What I love about all such pulp novel characters is that their stories are, for mine, true adventures. When coming to the end of such a story, one gets the feeling you’ve been on a real ride, unlike any other in fiction. The adventures are often fast-paced and even, at times, feverish and melodramatic—the characters go through so much in the course of their adventure, and I love that. Above all else, I’m a reader of the genre, so that makes it all the more special to also be a writer of such stories. I feel privileged to be able to contribute in some small way to the genre.
The Wraith: Valley of Evil |
LSSR: Digital content has changed the publishing landscape. As a creator, what excites you about digital content? As a reader?
FD: What excites me is that all our work can now be accessed by as wide a range of readers as possible. Never before has the work of all authors been as easily accessible as they are now with the ‘digital revolution’. This can only be of benefit to all creators. For just a few dollars—often as low as two or three—a reader can download a book and have it instantly available to read on their e-reader. I myself own a Kindle, and it’s an amazing tool.
LSSR: Your Lance Star: Sky Ranger story, “Attack Of The Birdman” is currently available in print, as an eBook, and soon to be released individually at iPulp Fiction. What can you tell us about this story? (plug it, tease it)
FD: I was somewhat inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds, but also by an incident which happened while I was pondering my Lance Star story. On that day, I looked outside my (then) home and saw dozens of birds congregated on a power line that weren’t there moments earlier. That really gave me the spark of an idea as to where to take my story. But, what if a master criminal was behind the appearance of the birds. What if he was controlling them, using them to further his own nefarious plans? And, what if he was possibly not even human? Once I’d established that, a Birdman threatening the country, everything flowed easily from there. It turned into a rollicking adventure, one which links very well into the established Lance Star mythos, and I think is one of the best stories I’ve thus far written.
The Wraith: Cult of the Damned |
LSSR: Any upcoming projects you would like to plug?
FD: My latest novel in The Wraith Adventures series, Cry of the Werewolf, will be out either later this year or early next year, and I’m very excited about that. The Wraith is truly out of his comfort zone in this one as he vacations with his girlfriend in the countryside and battles with werewolves, a Satanic cult and much more. I’ve also just completed my Wraith short story, titled Sundown, for the upcoming Airship 27 Wraith anthology and another Wraith short story, Zombies Attack!, for an anthology titled Superheroes vs. Zombies (from Coscom Entertainment). More short stories to come, and readers can always access the various comic books I’ve also written and published from my aforementioned websites.
LSSR: Thanks, Frank.
You can find Lance Star: Sky Ranger “Attack Of The Bird Man”
at http://www.ipulpfiction.com/bookstore.php?sort=Title