Tagged: Wold Newton

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With A Roar Of Thunder– The New Blood ‘N’ Thunder Arrives This Labor Day

The New Issue of Murania PressBLOOD ‘N’ THUNDER issue #38 will be available Labor Day Weekend. A few highlights from the upcoming issue:

This issue’s outstanding feature is a lengthy excerpt from Nathan Madison’s recently published book, Anti-Foreign Imagery in American Pulps and Comic Books, 1920-1960. In this richly detailed, extensively illustrated piece Nathan explores “Yellow Peril” fiction from the pulps. His exhaustive study complements Bill Maynard’s celebration of Fu Manchu’s centennial from our last issue.

Another book published earlier this year, Will Murray’s Skull Island, pitted Doc Savage against King Kong and aroused much interest not only among the Bronze Man’s fans in general but devotees of Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe in particular. BnT contributor and Wold Newton adherent Rick Lai examines Skull Island and catalogs its deviations from the Universe in an unusually absorbing work of scholarship. In a separate piece Will responds to critics of his approach. Let it never be said that BnT refuses to present both sides of a story!

Will’s second contribution to BnT #38 is an 80th Anniversary hat-tip to the long-running hero pulp G-8 and His Battle Aces, adventures from which are now being offered in audiobook form by Radio Archives. He covers a hitherto overlooked attempt by Popular Publications editors to gauge reader interest in a proposed shift of emphasis for the magazine.

This summer marked another important anniversary in American pop culture: Superman debuted 75 years ago in the first issue of Action Comics. Mike Bifulco, author of The Original Superman on Television (a definitive guide now in its third edition), weighs in on the recent theatrical release Man of Steel and reflects on the enduring popularity of the TV series starring George Reeves.

This time around our “Tricks of the Trade” department boasts a particularly comprehensive installment by long-time pulp editor and science-fiction specialist Robert A. W. “Doc” Lowndes. Originally written for a 1949 writers’ magazine, this 6400-word treatise is perhaps the most informative piece of its type we’ve published to date. It provides the clearest look yet at how pulp editors appraised the manuscripts they received by the thousands every year.

BnT #38 also reprints two fascinating short stories culled from vintage pulp magazines. James B. Connelly’s “The Last Passenger,” from an early 1913 issue of The Popular Magazine, may well have been the first work of mass-market fiction inspired by the Titanic tragedy. “The Tenth Man,” from a 1922 issue of Adventure, is a taut tale of African intrigue by the unjustly forgotten Robert Simpson.

Learn more about Blood ‘n’ Thunder #38, along with ordering information, here.
Learn more about Blood ‘N’ Thunder here.

Panel Fest Episode 22: Pulpfest 2013 Doc Savage Panel

The panelists

The Book Cave’s Art Sippo hosted the Philip Jose Farmer panel on Doc Savage at this year’s PulpFest convention in Columbus, Ohio. Rick Lai, John Small, Christopher Paul Carey, and Win Scott Eckert share their knowledge with the listeners.

Listen to Panel Fest Episode 22: PulpFest 2013 Doc Savage Panel here.

About the Philip José Farmer’s Doc Savage panel:
Since 2011, PulpFest has hosted FarmerCon, a convention within a convention. FarmerCon began in Peoria, Illinois, the hometown of Grand Master of Science Fiction Philip José Farmer. Originally a gathering of Farmer fans figuratively, and literally, right outside Phil’s back door, FarmerCon offered presentations, dinners, and even picnics at the author’s house.

After the passing of Phil and Bette Farmer in 2009, it was decided to take FarmerCon on the road to broaden its horizons. By holding  the convention alongside events like PulpFest, Farmer fans get a variety of programming and a room full of pulp and book dealers to enjoy. This year, PulpFest is once again pleased to welcome FarmerCon VIII to the Hyatt Regency Columbus.

As it has every year since 2011, FarmerCon will provide some of PulpFest’s evening programming. On Friday, July 26th, at 7:30 PM, our FarmerCon friends turn their attention toward the Grand Master‘s work related to Doc Savage with a panel entitled His Apocalyptic Life, Escape from Loki, and The Mad Goblin.

The earliest of the three works, The Mad Goblin, was first published in 1970, paired with The Lord of the Trees as half of an Ace Double. Both novels were sequels to an earlier work, A Feast Unknown, that introduced Lord Grandrith, a thinly disguised Tarzan, and a “man of bronze” known as Doc Caliban. In Feast, Grandrith and Caliban learn that a powerful secret society known as The Nine has manipulated their lives. The two heroes go to war against their tormentors: The Mad Goblin tells the story from the point of view of Doc Caliban, while The Lord of the Trees presents Lord Grandrith’s version.

Although he published over fifty novels and 100 short stories during his career, Philip José Farmer may be remembered best for his Wold Newton Family. According to the author, the radiation from a meteorite that landed near the village of Wold Newton caused mutations in the villagers’ descendants, making them smarter, stronger, and more driven than most. Including among the offspring was Lord Greystoke, Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, Fu Manchu, and Dr. James Clarke Wildman, Jr., best known as Doc Savage. Much of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, first published by Doubleday in 1973, is devoted to this idea.

The last of Farmer’s works of bronze was Escape from Loki, published by Bantam Books in 1991. Shot down behind enemy lines during World War I, sixteen-year-old Clark Savage, Jr. finds himself in a German baron’s notorious escape-proof prison. Here Doc and his future aids come together to match wits and derring-do against the sinister baron, who Doc believes is intent on wielding a weapon of mass destruction that could very well mean the end of freedom and victory for the Kaiser.

Moderator Art Sippo, author of Sun Koh: Heir of Atlantis, a 2010 Pulp Factory Award nominee for Best Pulp Novel, and his panelists will dissect and analyze the Grand Master‘s contributions to the Doc Savage mythos. Joining Art will be Christopher Paul Carey, the co-author with Philip José Farmer of Gods of Opar: Tales of Lost Khokarsa, and the author of Rick Lai, well known for his articles expanding on Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe concepts, recently collected into four volumes by Altus Press; Win Scott Eckert, the co-author with Philip José Farmer of The Evil in Pemberley House, and the author of its forthcoming sequel, The Scarlet Jaguar, featuring Doc Wildman’s daughter Pat; and John Allen Small, an award-winning journalist, columnist, and fiction writer whose work includes “The Bright Heart of Eternity,” a tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Philip José Farmer, and “Into Time’s Abyss,” anthologized in The Worlds Of Philip José Farmer 2: Of Dust And Souls.

Exiles of Kho, a prelude to the Khokarsa series;

Meteor House premiered a new, expanded edition of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life at PulpFest 2013. Featuring dust jacket art by Joe DeVito (pictured above) and essays by Win Scott Eckert, John Allen Small, Keith Howell, Rick Lai, Art Sippo, Christopher Paul Carey, and current Doc Savage writer Will Murray, it will be available as a deluxe hardcover. Altus Press will be publishing the softcover edition. It will be available at PulpFest through Mike Chomko, Books.

You can listen to Panel Fest Episode 22: PulpFest 2013 Doc Savage Panel here.

The panelists autographing books.

Pulp Fiction Reviews and the Scarlet Jaguar

Cover Art: Mark Sparacio

New Pulp Author/Publisher Ron Fortier returns with another Pulp Fiction Review. This time out Ron takes a look at The Scarlett Jaguar by New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert.

THE SCARLET JAGUAR
By Win Scott Eckert
Meteor House
136 pages

Graced by a sensational, totally pulpish cover by Mark Sparacio, this little novella chronicles the second action packed adventure of Doc Savage’s daughter, Pat.  Well, not exactly Doc as created by pulp master Lester Dent, but rather his Wold Newton clone as envisioned by the late sci-fi author, Philip Jose Farmer.

For the uninitiated, Farmer postulated this fantastic idea that all the famous heroes and villains of the 19th and 20th Centuries for related by blood tracing their common ancestry to a dozen English men and women who had become exposed to a strange meteor’s radiation when it crashed by their carriages in a place called Wold Newton.  From that beginning these men and women became the originators of incredible heroes to include Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, the Shadow and the Spider, Captain Nemo, the Avenger, Phineas Fogg and the list goes on and on and on.  Well, you get the idea.

Whereas most of these fictional personages were licensed properties, Farmer could not use them in his fiction.  He solved this problem by giving them different names while clearly describing them so as to be recognized by readers.  Thus Doc Savage in the Wold Newton universe became Doc Wildman; he married and had a daughter named Pat.  Farmer had begun to write a Pat Wildman novel, “The Evil of Pemberley House,” but passed away before completing it.  That task was left to his loyal and talented protégé, Win Scott Eckert.  That book met with both public and critical success.  Now Eckert takes over the reins with this new tale and Pat Wildman couldn’t be in more capable hands.

Looking like a very alluring female version of her famous father, complete with a near perfect physique of a bronze hue and gold-flecked eyes, Pat and her British partner, Peter Parker own and manage Empire State Investigations using her inherited Pemberley Mansion as their headquarters. Soon after a very distraught young woman arrives on their doorstep asking their aid in finding her missing father, a British envoy to a small South American country, they are attacked by a bizarre menace that turns people into red glass and then shatters them.  Soon Pat, Peter and their client are winging their way to upstate New York where she plans on arming herself with some of her father’s powerful weapons before moving on to their final destination, the country known as Xibum.

No sooner do they land in the states then they are set upon by mercenary killers working for a twisted villain known as the Scarlett Jaguar.  Pat soon discovers this fiend has threatened to destroy the Panama Canal with his mysterious ray unless the entire country of Xibum is ceded to him by the British government.  Now their quest to find the missing dignitary becomes a deadly race against time.  Once in Xibum, Pat begins to learn long lost secrets of her renowned sire’s past adventures.  But can she take on his heroic legacy and save the day?

Eckert skillfully whips up a truly fun tale that blends both the sensibilities of classic pulp fare with some wonderful seventies James Bond touches that the savvy reader will recognize instantly.  It’s a heady mash-up that works extremely well.  “The Scarlett Jaguar” is a terrific new pulp actioner you do not want to miss.

 

Uuncovering the Scarlet Jaguar!

Cover Art: Mark Sparacio

On his blog, New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert shared the final cover design for his upcoming novella, The Scarlet Jaguar. The cover was painted by Mark Sparacio with design work by Keith Howell.

A Pat Wildman adventure, The Scarlet Jaguar is a sequel to the Philip Jose Farmer/Win Scott Eckert collaboration The Evil in Pemberley House.

The Scarlet Jaguar will be available July 2013 and is available for preorder now, direct from Meteor House.

The Scarlet Jaguar Under Cover

Cover Art: Mark Sparacio

Meteor House Press has shared the Mark Sparacio’s cover for the upcoming July release of The Scarlet Jaguar by New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert.

About The Scarlet Jaguar:
When we last saw Patricia Wildman, daughter of Doc Wildman, the bronze champion of justice, six months had passed since the main events of The Evil in Pemberley House. She and her associate Parker, an ex-Scotland Yard Inspector, had set up Empire State Investigations at her Pemberley House estate—and she just received a mysterious phone call from her supposedly late father . . .

Several months later, Pat receives a visitor, a young girl named Emma Ponsonby, whose father, a British diplomat to a small Central American country, has been kidnapped by the Scarlet Jaguar. Pat, following in her father’s footsteps of righting wrongs and assisting those in need, agrees to help, but before they can set off on their quest the Scarlet Jaguar sends a gruesome warning.

Undeterred, the investigation takes Pat, Parker, and their young charge from Pemberley House in the Derbyshire countryside . . . To New York, where they battle agents of the Scarlet Jaguar and meet Pat’s old friend, the icy, pale-skinned beauty Helen Benson, who agrees to join them on their quest . . . To the small nation of Xibum, where the Scarlet Jaguar’s reign of uncanny assassinations threatens to expand to the rest of Central America—and beyond!

Now, it’s a race against time deep in the wilds of the Central American jungle, as Pat Wildman and her crew search for Emma’s father, and confront the Scarlet Jaguar’s weird power to eliminate his enemies from afar, marked only by a wisp of crimson smoke—smoke resembling nothing so much as the head of a blood-red screaming jaguar. But who—or what—is the Scarlet Jaguar? A power-mad dictator determined to reclaim power? A revolutionary movement bent on taking over the country, and the rest of Central America?

Or a front for something even more sinister . . .?

The Scarlet Jaguar is the second in Meteor House Press’ series of signed limited edition novellas. Just like (the now sold out) Exiles of Kho, the print run will be determined by the number of copies preordered. Also, if you preorder before June 30th, your name will appear in the book on the acknowledgements page. You know you want to see your name near the top of that list, so don’t delay, preorder your copy now!

Learn more here.

Doc Savage: His Revised Apocalyptic Life

Not actual cover

Meteor House is proud to announce a new edition of Philip José Farmer’s landmark biography, Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, is now available for preorder and will be available in July 2013 with a cover by Doc Savage cover artist Joe DeVito!

PRESS RELEASE:

Back in print for the first time in over 30 years, Philip José Farmer’s biography of the bronze crusader who fought almost 200 separate battles against the forces of evil “is ingenious, sardonic, adulatory, outrageous and funny in turn.” (Publisher’s Weekly)

Philip José Farmer, biographer of Lord Greystoke, has turned his superb research and narrative skills to one of the greatest heroes of our time: Doc Savage, the bronze champion of justice. Now, at last, the incredible life story of the real man behind the exploits in the Doc Savage pulp novels can be told, including: his true name (Dr. James Clarke Wildman, Jr.); his family background, covering his relationship to such stalwarts as Lord Greystoke, Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, James Bond, and Fu Manchu); detailed information on some of his most devilish opponents—John Sunlight, the Mystic Mullah, and Mr. Wail; a summation of some of Doc’s most amazing inventions; and biographies of the Fabulous Five—Monk, Ham, Renny, Long Tom, and Johnny—as well as the group’s Lady Auxiliary and Bronze Knockout, Doc’s own cousin Pat Savage!

Together with other data and brilliant deductions, Philip José Farmer offers an amazing account of this remarkable man’s astonishing career!

Available now for preorder, the newly revised edition of Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life also features a brand new foreword by Farmer and pulp expert Win Scott Eckert, updates to the “List of Doc Savage Stories” including the latest novels, and rare material culled from Mr. Farmer’s notes.

The deluxe hardcover edition arrives just in time for Doc’s 80th anniversary, and features tributes by other Farmer and Doc experts, including John Allen Small, Keith Howell, Rick Lai, Art Sippo, Christopher Paul Carey, and current Doc Savage writer Will Murray, as well as other bonus materials not seen in prior editions, such as:

Doc’s Coat of Arms, reconstructed by Win Scott Eckert and illustrated by Keith Howell, from notes by Philip José Farmer. A List of Doc Savage Comics by Win Scott Eckert and John Allen Small (a rundown of authorized Doc Savage comics which supplements Mr. Farmer’s “List of Doc Savage Stories”)
Writing Doc’s Biography by Philip José Farmer.

“Written with wit and charm, sprinkled with allusions, this is a book to delight both science fiction and mystery fans.” (Library Journal)

If you want a signed copy, be sure to read this:

All copies preordered by June 30th, 2013 will be signed by Win Scott Eckert at FarmerCon VIII / Pulpfest 2013. In addition, Meteor House will try to organize a signing by the bonus material contributors (John Allen Small, Keith Howell, Rick Lai, Art Sippo, Christopher Paul Carey, and Will Murray), who are available at FarmerCon VIII / Pulpfest 2013. (Hint: almost all of them are sure to be there!)

After FarmerCon VIII only unsigned copies of the book will be available to purchase.

Announcing Pat Wildman In — The Scarlet Jaguar!

Meteor House Press announced an upcoming release by New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert, The Scarlet Jaguar.

PRESS RELEASE:

The Scarlet Jaguar by Win Scott Eckert
Now available for preorder!  Coming in July 2013!

US $15.00
5×8 tpb, XXX pages
LIMITED EDITION
of ??? signed copies

When we last saw Patricia Wildman, daughter of Doc Wildman, the bronze champion of justice, six months had passed since the main events of The Evil in Pemberley House. She and her associate Parker, an ex-Scotland Yard Inspector, had set up Empire State Investigations at her Pemberley House estate—and she just received a mysterious phone call from her supposedly late father . . .

Several months later, Pat receives a visitor, a young girl named Emma Ponsonby, whose father, a British diplomat to a small Central American country, has been kidnapped by the Scarlet Jaguar. Pat, following in her father’s footsteps of righting wrongs and assisting those in need, agrees to help, but before they can set off on their quest the Scarlet Jaguar sends a gruesome warning.

Undeterred, the investigation takes Pat, Parker, and their young charge from Pemberley House in the

Derbyshire countryside . . . To New York, where they battle agents of the Scarlet Jaguar and meet Pat’s old friend, the icy, pale-skinned beauty Helen Benson, who agrees to join them on their quest . . . To the small nation of Xibum, where the Scarlet Jaguar’s reign of uncanny assassinations threatens to expand to the rest of Central America—and beyond!

Now, it’s a race against time deep in the wilds of the Central American jungle, as Pat Wildman and her crew search for Emma’s father, and confront the Scarlet Jaguar’s weird power to eliminate his enemies from afar, marked only by a wisp of crimson smoke—smoke resembling nothing so much as the head of a blood-red screaming jaguar. But who—or what—is the Scarlet Jaguar? A power-mad dictator determined to reclaim power? A revolutionary movement bent on taking over the country, and the rest of Central America?

Or a front for something even more sinister . . .?

The Scarlet Jaguar is the second in our series of signed limited edition novellas. Just like (the now sold out) Exiles of Kho, the print run will be determined by the number of copies preordered. Also, if you preorder before June 30th, your name will appear in the book on the acknowledgements page. You know you want to see your name near the top of that list, so don’t delay, preorder your copy now!

Learn more at http://meteorhousepress.com/the-scarlet-jaguar.

TALES OF THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE RETURNS

New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert shared the cover and table of contents for the upcoming TOC: Tales of the Wold Newton Universe by Philip José Farmer and Others.

Tales of the Wold Newton Universe

A collection of Wold Newton-inspired short stories by Farmerphiles, experts, and the Grand Master of SF himself.

I am pleased to announce that Titan Books has settled on the final Table of Contents for the Wold Newton Anthology, Tales of the Wold Newton Universe. The book collects, for the first time ever in one volume, Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton short stories, and also includes tales by other writers.

The Introduction by Win Scott Eckert (coauthor with Farmer of the Wold Newton novel The Evil in Pemberley House) and Christopher Paul Carey (coauthor with Farmer of the Khokarsa novel The Song of Kwasin) will provide an overview of Farmer’s Wold Newton Family and Mythos. In addition, Eckert and Carey will provide brief introductions to the stories themselves, explaining why each entry is a Wold Newton tale.

Tales of the Wold Newton Universe is available for preorder at Amazon, AmazonUK, and B&N. As with all the Farmer books from Titan, there will also be an eBook version.

Contents:

Introduction by Win Scott Eckert and Christopher Paul Carey

The Great Detective and Others
“The Problem of the Sore Bridge–Among Others” by Harry Manders Philip José Farmer

“A Scarletin Study” by Jonathan Swift Somers III Philip José Farmer

“The Doge Whose Barque Was Worse Than His Bight” by Jonathan Swift Somers III Philip José Farmer

Pulp Inspirations
“Skinburn” Philip José Farmer

“The Freshman”   Philip José Farmer

“After King Kong Fell” Philip José Farmer

Wold Newton Prehistory: The Khokarsa Series
“Kwasin and the Bear God” Philip José Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey

Wold Newton Prehistory: John Gribardsun & Time’s Last Gift
“Into Time’s Abyss” John Allen Small

“The Last of the Guaranys” Octavio Aragão & Carlos Orsi

Wold Newton Origins / Secrets of the Nine
“The Wild Huntsman” Win Scott Eckert

COVER REVEAL: SHERLOCK HOLMES UND DIE LEGENDE VON GREYSTOKE

On his website, New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert shared the cover reveal for the upcoming release of Philip José Farmer’s Sherlock Holmes und die Legende von Greystoke.

From www.winscotteckert.com
With a tip of the hat to Rias Nuninga at the Philip José Farmer International Bibliography site, I’m pleased to reveal the cover for the new German edition of Farmer’s Wold Newton novel The Adventure of the Peerless Peer.

The new edition, Sherlock Holmes und die Legende von Greystoke (Sherlock Holmes and the Legend of Greystoke), is forthcoming in Spring 2013 from Atlantis Verlag (German version). English translation: Atlantis Verlag.

I’m very happy to report that the afterword I penned for the Titan Books reissue (The Peerless Peer, June 2011) has also been translated and will be included in the German edition. The foreword is by Christian Endres and the new cover is by Mark Freier.

The book will be available in hardcover, softcover, and eBook.

WOLD NEWTON COMING ATTRACTIONS

New Pulp Author Win Scott Eckert shared news on some upcoming Philip Jose Farmer releases from Titan Books.

COMING ON MARCH 12, 2013! Pre-order your copy now…

One man survived.

The great white whale with its strange passenger, and the strangled monomaniac its trailer, had dived deeply. The whaling ship was on its last, its vertical, voyage. Even the hand with the hammer and the hawk with its wing nailed to the mast were gone to the deeps, and the ocean had smoothed out the tracks of man with all the dexterity of billions of years of practice. The one man thrown from the boat swam about, knowing that he would soon go down to join his fellows.

And then the black bubble, the last gasp of the sinking ship, burst. out of the bubble the coffin-canoe of Queequeg soared, like a porpoise diving into the sky, and fell back, rolled, steadied, and then bobbed gently. The porpoise had become a black bottle containing a message of hope.

http://www.amazon.com/Wind-Whales-Ishmael-Philip-Farmer/dp/1781162972/

COMING ON JUNE 11, 2013! Now available for pre-order

Three figures moved in and out of the shadows of clouds and trees. The moon was riding high over the alpine mountain of Gramz in the Black Forest of southern Germany, only a few miles from the Swiss border. Long black clouds raced under it like lean wolves lashed by moonlight beams. Their shadow selves loped over the precipitous western side of Gramz Berg, bounding over the squat and massive stone pile of the castle on top of the mountain, writhing down the jagged slope toward the narrow sheen of the Toll River two thousand feet below.

The three figures were men toiling up the rock-strewn, pine-dotted slant. One was six feet seven inches high. He had the body of a Hercules. His bare head glinted dark-bronzish in the moonlight. If there had been more light, his eyes would have been a very light gray-green with many flecks of bright yellow.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mad-Goblin-Secrets-Nine/dp/1781162999/ref=pd_sim_b_1

TALES OF THE WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE, by Philip Jose Farmer and others, coming from Titan Books in October 2013!

http://www.winscotteckert.com/2013/02/countdown-to-new-philip-jose-farmer.html

Coming Soon.