Tagged: Pro Se Productions

Ed Catto: Ron Fortier, Pulp Fiction & Geek Culture

Plates

Geek Culture is a big term that’s used to describe various aspects of Pop Culture. Comics, superhero movies, games and graphic novels are at the center of it all, but it’s a big crazy quilt composed of so much more: anime, cosplay, RPG’s… the list goes on and on. This week, I sat down with one of the standard bearers of another flavor of Geek Culture – modern pulp fiction. Ron Fortier is a writer, a publisher and an all around good guy to chat with over a beer.

620923Ed Catto: Ron, it’s a pleasure to have this opportunity to speak with you. I was first introduced to your comics writing, and especially loved your work, on Now Comics’ Green Hornet series. Can you provide me with a little background on your comics career and that series in particular?

Ron Fortier: Hi Ed, happy to be here, my friend. As I recall, I came home from the military in 1968 and immediately got back into comic collecting… and writing. Really wanted to break into the business and all that happened in 1976 when I sold my first story to Charlton Comics out of Connecticut. Shortly after that I was approached Mike Friedrich of Star-Reach Agency and signed on as a client. It was Mike who prompted me to go to the San Diego Con in 1989. There I met the good people at Now Comics and landed the job of writing the Terminator series for them. Before leaving the con, I gave them my proposal for a new Green Hornet comic series. Four months later they called to say they’d gotten the license, based on my proposal, and gave me the go ahead to start writing the book for them.

EC: As a guy named Catto, I’ve always liked the Green Hornet’s sidekick, Kato. You introduced some fresh innovations in the Now Comics series, and I feel your clever innovations have almost become “industry standards” for reboots. What do you think?

HornetRF: Honestly, Ed, I think my major innovation was eschewing the whole reboot from scratch idea in the first place and instead incorporate all the various incarnations that came before. By creating a family saga that started with the characters from their radio days through the two cliffhanger serials and the popular 60s TV series, I was purposely attracting all the Green Hornet fans to one book. So you could say, I inadvertently invented what has since become known as “legacy characters” in the industry.

EC: In retrospect, it seemed pretty gutsy to develop a new publishing imprint like Now. What do you think they did right and what could they have done better?

RF: That’s a rather easy one. Now followed the old 60s Dell Comics formula of going after licensed properties from film and TV. By the time we did the Green Hornet for them, they were already doing comics based on Ghostbusters, Speed Racer, Terminator and Fright Night to name a few. If something is popular in one medium, you’ve a pretty good shot at selling it in another. As to what they did wrong, well that’s the business end. They couldn’t manage their cash flow and soon were not paying their creators or distributors, which eventually cause them to go into bankruptcy. Really a shame. With smart business practices they could still be around today.

Air-16EC: The Green Hornet wasn’t really a Pulp character, having been created for radio, but at some point you became enamored with Pulp. What sparked that for you?

RF: Anyone who is a true comic book fan will invariably learn its history and discover comics evolved from the hero pulps of the 1930s and 40s. When those pulps died out, many of the pulp writers and artists gravitated to comics after World War II. Thing is there has always been an active pulp fandom and a little over ten years ago, just out of curiosity, I attended one of the very last Pulp Cons in Dayton, Ohio. From that came the idea of bringing back these great classic characters in brand new stories and thus was born Airship 27 Productions.

EC: Airship 27 is a fascinating publishing imprint, and obviously a labor of love.

What’s the best part about Airship and what have enjoyed the most?

RF: Well, as I just said, getting to bring back such great pulp characters to an entire new audience of readers has been truly gratifying while at the same time we think we’ve given the entire pulp fandom a much needed shot in the arm in keeping alive and healthy for future generations of genre readers. And perhaps the most rewarding part of publishing has been our opportunity to give new, super talented young writers and artists their first big breaks in establishing their careers. You just can’t put a price on that.

Haz3EC: And for Airship 27, what do you have planned for the future?

RF: Hmm, I guess we just want to keep the old Airship 27 flying as long as we can and that means embracing the various media venues out there. Aside from traditional book publishing, we’ve become stable of the big pulp shows and have started branching out to comic cons to show off New Pulp to comic fans. Four years ago we began doing digital copies of our titles and Kindle sales exploded through the roof. Now, within a few weeks, fans will be able to get audio book via our new deal with Radio Archives. Every single one of our titles will soon be available as an audio book. What’s next beyond that? Movies? TV? Who knows?  If you are going to dream, I say dream big.

EC: Airship 27 is a big supporter of Pulp conventions. Can you compare and contrast them to comic conventions? Are they really just another flavor of Geek Culture?

RF: Pulp fandom is really much smaller than general comic fandom but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Whereas most comic cons today have evolved away from comics to become media cultural events focusing primarily on films and TV rather than comics, pulp cons have remained true to their subject. Oh sure, they do sell books, DVDs, posters etc., but their continued reason for existence is pulp magazines and books …old and new. If you’ve never been to a pulp con, I recommend both the Windy City Pulp & Paper show in Chicago in the spring and Pulp Fest in Columbus Ohio in late summer. Both are wonderful shows and tons of fun.

EC: Tommy Hancock is one of the leading voices for and supporters of New Pulp Fiction. Can you tell me a little about him?

RF: Tommy got his start in pulps by submitting a western story to Airship 27 Productions. We hit it off immediately and after his story was published in our Masked Rider – Tales of the Wild West Vol One, Tommy was hooked on pulp writing. But if you know Tommy, he never settles for just one taste of anything. Within months of that story’s publication, Tommy went out and launched his own new pulp company and called it Pro Se. And yes, they are by far our main competitor in the field and we love it. Why? Because having another quality publishing outfit doing New Pulp raises the stakes for all of us, pushing us to do better and better books and thus the readers of pulp fiction benefit. Tommy has become one of the leading proponents of this movement and remains a dear and close friend to this day.

EC: Thanks, much, Ron.

RF: This was fun – thanks, Ed. Only next time we do this, I’ll buy the beer.

 

‘A Week In Hell’- First In New Pulp Crime Digest Series- By J. Walt Layne Debuts From Pro Se Productions

Pro Se Productions continues its tradition of providing the best in New Pulp and Genre Fiction with its latest release- A WEEK IN HELL, the First volume in the Champion City digest novel series by author J. Walt Layne!

 

“Crime stories,” Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor-in-Chief of Pro Se, comments, “have always been an essential part of Pulp Fiction.  It’s a genre not restricted by time periods or certain story conventions.  Crime is Crime and Crime is everywhere.  What J. Walt Layne does in  A WEEK IN HELL is tell a tale of crime and murder in a very tried and true style, reminiscent of paperbacks of the 1950s.  It’s two fisted, it comes at you guns blazing, and doesn’t ask for permission or forgiveness.”
 
Welcome to Champion City. A megatropolis it isn’t. But you couldn’t arrive at that conclusion by looking at the police blotter.  Most everyone in the city would tell you that a day in Champion is like… A WEEK IN HELL.
 
 
It all starts with a girl and a bag of cash. Candi was the kind of gal who could give a guy indigestion. She was poison, with looks to kill, a reluctant moll looking for a way out. Thurman was a young flatfoot, not necessarily the knight in shining armor. He went to shake out a brawl and nearly fed her his gun, was it any wonder he got a date? They spend an evening on the run, but where does it lead? Just when it looks like its over, BOOM! Is it a dead girl, a bag of somebody else’s dough, or both?
 
“Writing A WEEK IN HELL,” says Layne, “was a chance for me as a writer to try and give something back to the pulp novels and magazines of yesteryear that I enjoyed reading as a kid when no one was looking. Something about the honest, yet ornery sound of the language. The not so innocent victims, the uncompromising men. The story bigger than the hero can handle, yet coming out on top against all odds. Forty Miles of bad road for the big payoff or the big sleep.”
 
Written in the style of slang ridden, bullet riddled classic crime Pulp and mystery fiction, Layne’s A WEEK IN HELL drops the reader square into all the corruption and corrosion of human spirit that is Champion City.  Dames, gats, gumshoes, and brass cupcakes die, shoot, run and glitter from every page.  Edited by David White and David Brzeski, this book features a beautiful cover by Terry Pavlet with design, logo, and print formatting by Sean Ali and Ebook formatting by Russ Anderson.  A WEEK IN HELL by J. Walt Layne courtesy of Pro Se Productions.
 
A WEEK IN HELL is available in print for $9.00 from Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/n6meb2q and via Pro Se’s createspace store at  https://www.createspace.com/4407054.  This crime thriller is also available as an Ebook for $2.99 for the Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/lsgbvo5   and on the nook from Barnes And Noble at http://tinyurl.com/n5lgkjx and in most digital formats at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/348511.
 
For interviews or review copies or further information on the book or the author, contact Morgan Minor, Director of Corporate Operations at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com.   To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com.

PRO SE’S LATEST ANTHOLOGY, BLACK FEDORA, AVAILABLE FOR ADVANCED REVIEW!

Pro Se Productions, a leader in New Pulp and Genre Fiction, announces digital advanced reader copies of its newest anthology!

Pro Se Productions proudly presents BLACK FEDORA! Following a Classic Pulp tradition, the stories under the BLACK FEDORA all feature villains in the lead role! Authors B. C. Bell, Phillip Drayer Duncan, and Kevin Paul Shaw Broden pen stories where Bad is Good, Dark is Light, and Wrong is Better than Right! From hardcore crime noir to Super Villainy at its Worst and beyond, BLACK FEDORA proves that one crime is another person’s glory!

Reviewers established with websites, print media, or other formats may request a review copy of this volume. Also, reviewers who consistently post reviews on their own personal sites may also request a copy. To get your review copy of BLACK FEDORA, email Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations Morgan Minor at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com.

BLACK FEDORA will be published in mid September.

For more information on Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com

THIS WEEK ON PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST- AARON SMITH AND ‘NOBODY DIES FOR FREE’!

THIS WEEK ON PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST- AARON SMITH AND ‘NOBODY DIES FOR FREE’!

This week on Pro Se Presents: The Podcast, Tommy Hancock welcomes Aaron Smith, long time Pulp Author with Pro Se as well as other companies.  Aaron discusses his most recent title from Pro Se, the spy thriller NOBODY DIES FOR FREE as well as his influences for the book and what intrigues him about the spy genre!  Also, Aaron discusses future plans for one of Pro Se’s long time and most liked characters, Aaron’s own Lieutenant Picard!  This and much more as Pro Se Presents: The Podcast welcomes Author Aaron Smith!


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ADVANCED READER COPIES AVAILABLE FOR REVIEWERS OF THE FIRST SYNN, UPCOMING RELEASE FROM PRO SE!

Pro Se Productions, a leader in New Pulp and Genre Fiction, announces digital advanced reader copies of an upcoming title are now available for Reviewers!

Pro Se Productions gladly commits THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL, the first of a new series of supernatural pulp thrillers by noted award winning author Teel James Glenn.  Complete with chills and thrills harkening back to the classic Pulps, THE FIRST SYNN introduces the first sibling duo in Pulp history, ready to take on whatever horror flies their way! From Teel James Glenn and Pro Se Productions- THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL!


About the Book:

The Bloody Curse of the Vampire!


Years ago Gideon Synn tried to save Faith Bloodstone from a deadly family curse in upstate New York. He failed and Faith died at the hands of a mysterious blood drinking fiend.  Synn ran from his failure and became a world traveler, joining the French Foreign Legion and eventually becoming a mercenary in China.


Now, years later he has opened a security firm with his sister Kathy. Charity Bloodstone, Faith’s younger sister, comes to him for help against the same curse—the supposed vampire ghost of her ancestor, Justice Bloodstone! According to legend, Charity has only one week to live!


Several people have been killed by what appears to be the undead Justice in ways that suggest a supernatural cause. The Synn siblings are drawn into a whirlwind of terror and evil as the mystery of the vampire murders comes closer and closer to fulfilling the curse.

Has Gideon found love with Charity only to lose her to dark forces? Who are the armed thugs that have attacked the siblings? Can Kathy Synn keep her brother out of trouble long enough to solve the mystery of the Bloodstone Confidential?

Reviewers established with websites, print media, or other formats may request a review copy of this volume. Also, reviewers who consistently post reviews on their own personal sites may also request a copy.  To get your review copy of THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL, email Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations Morgan Minor at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com.  

For more information on Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com

Advanced Reader Copies Available for “Reviewers of the First Synn”

Pro Se Productions, a leader in New Pulp and Genre Fiction, announces digital advanced reader copies of an upcoming title are now available for Reviewers!

Pro Se Productions gladly commits THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL, the first of a new series of supernatural pulp thrillers by noted award winning author Teel James Glenn.  Complete with chills and thrills harkening back to the classic Pulps, THE FIRST SYNN introduces the first sibling duo in Pulp history, ready to take on whatever horror flies their way! From Teel James Glenn and Pro Se Productions- THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL!
About the Book:
 
The Bloody Curse of the Vampire!
Years ago Gideon Synn tried to save Faith Bloodstone from a deadly family curse in upstate New York. He failed and Faith died at the hands of a mysterious blood drinking fiend.  Synn ran from his failure and became a world traveler, joining the French Foreign Legion and eventually becoming a mercenary in China.
Now, years later he has opened a security firm with his sister Kathy. Charity Bloodstone, Faith’s younger sister, comes to him for help against the same curse—the supposed vampire ghost of her ancestor, Justice Bloodstone! According to legend, Charity has only one week to live!
Several people have been killed by what appears to be the undead Justice in ways that suggest a supernatural cause. The Synn siblings are drawn into a whirlwind of terror and evil as the mystery of the vampire murders comes closer and closer to fulfilling the curse.
 
Has Gideon found love with Charity only to lose her to dark forces? Who are the armed thugs that have attacked the siblings? Can Kathy Synn keep her brother out of trouble long enough to solve the mystery of the Bloodstone Confidential?
 
Reviewers established with websites, print media, or other formats may request a review copy of this volume. Also, reviewers who consistently post reviews on their own personal sites may also request a copy.  To get your review copy of THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL, email Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations Morgan Minor at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com.
For more information on Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com

THIS WEEK ON PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST- SPEND ‘A WEEK IN HELL’ WITH J. WALT LAYNE!

THIS WEEK ON PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST- SPEND ‘A WEEK IN HELL’ WITH J. WALT LAYNE!

This week, PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST introduces Pro Se Fans to Author J. Walt Layne and his debut Pro Se novel,  A WEEK IN HELL, the first novel in the Champion City Series.  Listen and learn about Layne’s background, influences, the true life inspiration for Champion City, and his love for pulp crime and the slangy jargon and tough bitten characters that go with it.  Tommy Hancock acts as tour guide as PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST vacations in Champion City with J. Walt Layne for  A WEEK IN HELL!

(Apologies for Technical issues)

http://prosepodcast.libsyn.com/pro-se-presents-the-podcast-j-walt-layne-spends-a-week-in-hell

Pro Se Productions- www.prose-press.com

Pulp Crime and Noir! ‘A Week in Hell’ Available for Reviewers from Pro Se Productions!

ADVANCE DIGITAL REVIEW COPIES AVAILABLE OF 
‘A WEEK IN HELL’  BY J. WALT LAYNE!
 
Continuing its tradition of action packed two fisted books featuring the best in New Pulp and Genre Fiction, Pro Se Productions announces the first in a Crime/Noir Series from Author J. Walt Layne!  A WEEK IN HELL will hit the hard bitten streets on August 15th and Pro Se wants established reviewers interested in an advance digital copy to get there first!
 
 
Welcome to Champion City. A megatropolis it isn’t. But you couldn’t arrive at that conclusion by looking at the police blotter.  Most everyone in the city would tell you that a day in Champion is like… A WEEK IN HELL!
 
 
Pro Se Productions continues its tradition of providing the best in New Pulp and Genre Fiction with its latest release- A WEEK IN HELL, the First volume in the Champion City digest novel series by author J. Walt Layne!
 
It all starts with a girl and a bag of cash. Candi was the kind of gal who could give a guy indigestion. She was poison, with looks to kill, a reluctant moll looking for a way out. Thurman was a young flatfoot, not necessarily the knight in shining armor. He went to shake out a brawl and nearly fed her his gun, was it any wonder he got a date? They spend an evening on the run, but where does it lead? Just when it looks like its over, BOOM! Is it a dead girl, a bag of somebody else’s dough, or both?
 
“Writing A Week In Hell,” says Layne, “was a chance for me as a writer to try and give something back to the pulp novels and magazines of yesteryear that I enjoyed reading as a kid when no one was looking. Something about the honest, yet ornery sound of the language. The not so innocent victims, the uncompromising men. The story bigger than the hero can handle, yet coming out on top against all odds. Forty Miles of bad road for the big payoff or the big sleep.”
 
Written in the style of slang ridden, bullet riddled classic crime Pulp and mystery fiction, Layne’s A WEEK IN HELL drops the reader square into all the corruption and corrosion of human spirit that is Champion City.  Dames, gats, gumshoes, and brass cupcakes die, shoot, run and glitter from every page.  Edited by David White and David Brzeski, this book features a beautiful cover by Terry Pavlet with design, logo, and print formatting by Sean Ali and Ebook formatting by Russ Anderson.  A WEEK IN HELL by J. Walt Layne courtesy of Pro Se Productions!
 
If you are an established reviewer of books either through a site or other venue or you have established yourself as a reviewer with a site of your own, contact Morgan Minor, Director of Corporate Operations at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com to request a digital copy for review.   Also anyone interested in interviews with the author or other information concerning the book or Pro Se Productions may contact Morgan at the above address as well as going to the Pro Se website- www.prose-press.com

COMPANION DRAGONS TALES VOLUME 1 DEBUTS FROM PRO SE AS FIRST VOLUME OF NEW IMPRINT!

A Cutting Edge Independent Publisher, Pro Se Productions introduces another groundbreaking imprint, one aimed at the future fans of Genre Fiction and New Pulp. From the Creative Mind of Fantasy and Pulp Author Nancy A. Hansen comes COMPANION DRAGONS TALES VOLUME ONE, the first volume in Pro Se’s newest line of top quality fiction!




COMPANION DRAGONS TALES VOLUME ONE: A FAMILIAR NAME marks the debut of a new universe of action and excitement created by Hansen and authors Lee Houston, Jr. and Roger Stegman.  Nancy A. Hansen (Fortune’s Pawn, Prophecy’s Gambit) brings her top notch, beloved Fantasy style to a tale full of magic and wonder as well as its own brand of action and adventure.


In A FAMILIAR NAME, the first volume of COMPANION DRAGONS TALES, Nancy Bittergreen is a busy author. She’s also a witch who regularly travels to the wondrous worlds brought to life by magical writing. A dangerous occupation to say the least. Nancy decides she needs a familiar– a small, intelligent creature who can be trusted to watch over things while she’s gone or come to her rescue when situations get just a little too weird. The very best familiars are miniature dragons, but they come with a high price and no instructions. Unfortunately there are powerful people who would prefer all magical creatures be registered, regulated, or even eliminated! Bringing a familiar home with her becomes a race against time with a dangerous opponent as this middle aged witch has to find out her new companion’s true name before sunrise turns him to stone.



COMPANION DRAGONS TALES VOLUME ONE: A FAMILIAR NAME introduces Pro Se Productions Young Reader Imprint- YoungPulp! Aimed at introducing younger audiences to the style of Pulp Fiction while providing them with engaging tales, YoungPulp features stories from all genres written both appropriately and intelligently for Young Readers to discover, enjoy, and explore! Written with intelligence and style that adults can appreciate as well, YoungPulp aims to add to the growing numbers of GenreFiction and New Pulp Fans with tales that excite and appeal to pre teen and adolescent readers.


This fantastic volume features beautiful cover art by Heidi Black as well as format and print design by Sean Ali and Ebook formatting by Russ Anderson.

COMPANION DRAGONS TALES VOLUME ONE: A FAMILIAR NAME is available in print on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/mfaclyn and via Barnes and Noble at http://tinyurl.com/lhqvj7ffor $9.00. Also available for only $2.99 as an Ebook for the Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/lufo8t9, on the Nook at http://tinyurl.com/llolll7, and in multiple formats at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/342885.


See a side of magic, action, and fun that has never been seen before as Pro Se’s YoungPulp and Nancy A. Hansen bringyou COMPANION DRAGONS TALES VOLUME ONE: A FAMILIAR NAME!


For interviews, review copies, or further information, please contact Morgan Minor, Director of Corporate Operations at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com.  For more information on Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com.  And stay tuned for further releases concerning YoungPulp.

PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST Presents BARRY REESE!

This Week on PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST-

PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST brings you one of the best known, most prolific authors and creators in Genre Fiction and New Pulp!  PSP: TP Host Tommy Hancock welcomes Barry Reese, Author, Creator, Head of the REESE UNLIMITED imprint from Pro Se, and Pro Se’s Submissions editor!  Barry discusses what he writes, how he writes, who influences him, and most of all why he writes!  Learn the behind the scenes stories about his best known creation, including The Rook, Lazarus Gray, and Gravedigger. Listen as Barry discussed what he enjoys about Classic Pulp, but also why he’s continually trying to push his own boundaries!  PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST Presents Barry Reese!
http://prosepodcast.libsyn.com/pro-se-presents-the-podcast-barry-reese-writer-creator-editor-and-more