Comics and New Pulp writer and Comics Historian Jim Beard is the guest on this week’s episode of the White Rocket Podcast. Jim joins Van Allen Plexico to discuss everything from Sgt Janus to the 1960s Batman TV show!
LEGION 1 : LORDS OF FIRE By Van Allen Plexico White Rocket Books 311 pages
Something foul has invaded the galactic empires of mankind; something ancient and powerful beyond imagining. Veteran space opera author, Van Plexico once again spins a tale of cosmic proportions but narrates it through the eyes of several believable characters thus bringing the reader along intimately for yet another thrill ride.
Military Colonel of the First Legion, Ezekiel Tamarlane is the protagonist in this book, the first of a new series, and he jumps onto the stage in full action mode having been ordered to steal one of the empire’s more treasured artifacts; an artifact he is personally in charge of protecting. Thus successfully completing his secret mission he is then publicly demoted for allowing the artifact to be stolen.
Sound convoluted? You bet it does and soon Tamarlane finds himself the target of cleverly disguised murder attempts. When he takes his suspicions to his trusted superior and mentor, General Nakamura, he is forced to confess his own part in the theft which has created dangerous political and military ripples throughout the known worlds. To his credit, the General’s faith and trust in his subordinate motivates him to dig deeper into the affair all of which leads to their witnessing the Emperor’s disappearance into another realm where live gods and demons.
A rescue sortie is launched with Nakamura and Tamarlane in charge and what they find on “the other” side is far beyond their scope of reasoning. That they manage to save the Emperor and his retinue is the catalyst for further attacks on both their lives until both must accept the undeniable truth that they are mere pawns in a vast conspiracy that threatens all the star kingdoms of man.
Plexico amps his already manic writing pace in this volume and readers had better buckle up because the action never stops from page one to the end. In fact the climatic battle in the off world cathedral had this reviewer getting paper burns for turning the pages so fast.
In the end this is of course all a set up for much more intrigue and dastardly alien shenanigans. LEGION 1: LORDS OF FIRE is a fiction stew that is both new and familiar. Imagine “Dune” as written by Robert E. Howard and that’s the gift we have here. This is one of the best new pulp titles of the year thus far. Miss it at your own peril.
Last weekend, New Pulp Author Van Allen Plexico was a guest at the 2013 Alabama Phoenix Festival. He spent some time with several other notables in attendance– Bobby Nash, Sarah White, Sean Taylor, Doc Osborn, Mike Gordon, and David Wright– discussing what they’re up to and what they think about the Festival. A good time was had by all! So load up on Zaxby’s and grab a seat in the Cahaba Center–good times await!
This week, the tables are turned as new pulp author Van Allen Plexico himself is interviewed by Dr Art Sippo, Ric Croxton, and Bruce Rosenberger of the Book Cave Podcast. This episode presents excerpts from that interview, discussing Van’s latest SENTINELS novel, METALGOD, as well as his new Military SF novel series, “The Shattering.”
Critically Acclaimed Podcast Adds Additional Features to Serve New Pulp Community
(April 3, 2013) White Rocket Books proudly announces that the critically-acclaimed weekly podcast, The White Rocket Podcast with Van Allen Plexico, immediately will move to a more New Pulp-oriented format and add additional features to more extensively serve writers, artists, publishers and fans of the New Pulp community.
The White Rocket Podcast has proven to be an unquestioned critical and listener success in its five-plus months “on the air,” having received nearly five thousand discrete channel visits and attracting hundreds of ongoing subscribers. It has been publicly recognized for its organization and focus, production values, variety of topics and guests, one-on-one discussion/interview format, and above all for its entertainment and informational value.
After its first month in production, the White Rocket Podcast was invited to join the Earth Station One (ESO) Network of programming, where it has prospered, reaching an additional crossover audience with the New Pulp message and expanding its presence in the market.
Each roughly one-hour-long episode thus far has featured noted New Pulp author and publisher Van Allen Plexico (Sentinels; Lords of Fire) discussing some aspect of popular culture with a special guest.Popular episodes have included the ongoing series on “Superheroes in Novels and Beyond” and interviews with authors working in the superhero pulp genre, such as Jeff Deischer and Ian Healy.
New featureswill include additional interviews with key figures in the New Pulp community and industry; book reviews; audiobook segments and previews; occasional video interview segments, as pioneered by White Rocket at the 2012 Windy City Pulp and Paperback Convention; and the New Pulp Best Sellers List Discussion, examining that week’s crop of best sellers.
Fans of the show can rest assured that other popular topics, including action movie discussions with film critics such as Mark Bousquet and novel discussions with authors such as Mark Finn, Rick Lai, and James Hickson, will continue.
White Rocket Books is a leader in the New Pulp movement, publishing exciting action and adventure novels and anthologies since 2005, in both traditional and electronic formats. White Rocket books have hit the Amazon.com Top 15-by-Genre and reached #1 on the New Pulp Best-Sellers List, and have garnered praise from everyone from Marvel Comics Vice-President Tom Brevoort to Kirkus Reviews.The White Rocket Podcast, a member of the ESO Network of shows, began in October 2012.
The White Rocket show heads to Sweden for this week’s episode, as comics editor/publisher/writer extraordinaire James Hickson joins Van to discuss Stieg Larsson‘s fantastic MILLENNIUM TRILOGY of crime fiction novels and (American and Swedish) movies: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST. It’s a computer-hacking, neo-nazi-whackin’ good time!
This week author Rick Lai joins Van Allen Plexico to discuss one of the greatest achievements in both literature and television: James Clavell’s epic ASIAN SAGA– SHOGUN, NOBLE HOUSE, TAI-PAN, KING RAT, GAI JIN and WHIRLWHIND. Climb aboard Struan & Co’s Lasting Cloud and try not to get shipwrecked in the Japans, you foreign devil, as Van and Rick explore the (gargantuan) novels and the TV miniseries and movies that were made from them!
John Ringer and Van Plexico count down (and debate) their TEN FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME on this week’s episode. What’s included? Is Van right? Is John nuts? YOU DECIDE!!
White Rocket 012: MASTER & COMMANDER (movie & books)
“THIS SHIP IS ENGLAND!”
New Pulp Author Van Allen Plexico and his guest, Bryan Crowson, have a blast talking about debauched wombats, the lesser of two weevils and all other things MASTER and COMMANDER (or Aubrey/Maturin), including the Russell Crowe/Paul Bettany movie (directed by Peter Weir) and the great Patrick O’Brian novels, in Episode 012 of the White Rocket Podcast–part of the Earth Station One Network!
This week, New Pulp Author Van Allen Plexico is joined by John Ringer (co-host of the “Wishbone Podcast“) to discuss George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel series, and the “Game of Thrones” series on HBO that came from it.
Spoiler warning! They talk about the entire show (to date) and all of the books, as well as speculate on where it may be going.
Episode 11 of The White Rocket Podcast: Game of Thrones/Song of Ice & Fire is now available on Podbean, iTunes, via the Podcast app on iPhone/iPad, or you can use the mini-player at the White Rocketsite.
Comics and New Pulp writer and Comics Historian Jim Beard is the guest on this week’s episode of the White Rocket Podcast. Jim joins Van Allen Plexico to discuss everything from Sgt Janus to the 1960s Batman TV show!
