BEN Books release Secret Agent X and the Tenth Circle!

Secret Agent X and the Tenth Circle

An all-new pulpy action thriller

From author Bobby Nash and BEN books

You know his name.

A hero reimagined for a new century. 

His alias is legendary. Secret Agent X.

His true name is a mystery. A closely guarded secret known only to himself and his handler, Agent K-9, Secret Agent X works in the shadows to weed out crime, corruption, and terror. A master of disguise, X works undercover, switching between identities to carry out his missions. He could be anyone Look to your left. See that person? That could be X.

X could be anyone.

When K-9 learns that a dangerous criminal terrorist organization that has been looking war-torn locations, stealing precious antiquities, and using the proceeds to fund their war on peaceful loving people everywhere.

Join the action as the newly instituted Man of a Thousand Faces faces off against the mysterious Tenth Circle. Can X thwart their plans before a new attack begins?

Pulp Fiction’s long-running hero returns in an all-new action/thriller from award-winning pulp novelist, Bobby Nash.

BEN Books

Amazon link needed

Motivational Monday: Sing the Truth

Sunday Funnies: 49th Time's the Charm

[Link] Why It’s So Hard To Find Small Press Books (And what you can do about it)

by Melanie Jennings and Elizabeth Kaye Cook

In December, we wrote an essay about how small presses still fight the good fight for risky literary fiction, even as the conglomerated Big Five publishers abandon it. In a time when companies like Meta steal books to build generative AI, then claim that individual books “are no different from noise” in terms of their contribution to AI, defending wild fiction matters more than ever. Many readers reached out to us: after too-often plunking down $30 for a well-reviewed but ultimately disappointing new release, they were clamoring for better options. If small and independent presses offered fresher, more challenging books, how could they find and read them?

It’s a more difficult question to answer than you might expect.

Books navigate a long, complex journey before they appear on bookstore shelves, if they ever do. Most people still read books as physical objects, meaning they have to be warehoused and shipped. The Big Five have their own distribution centers, but most small presses are distributed by Ingram, a conglomerate superpower in its own right. (One small press editor we spoke to described it as “The Death Star.”) Ingram’s only other real competitor is Independent Publishers Group (IPG), a distributor for small and independent presses.

There’s a romantic vision that a book becomes a hit when readers stumble upon it, en masse, and fall in love. But in the real world, most readers hear about a book from a friend, social media, or a book review, then search for it at their local bookstore or Barnes & Noble or Amazon. If it’s not there, they’re not reading it.

Read the full article: https://www.persuasion.community/p/why-its-so-hard-to-find-small-press

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTON PRESENTS QUATERMANIN AND CHALLENGER’S 13.5 BILLION-YEAR DETOUR

Adventure 27 Production is thrilled to release a truly unique pulp adventure written by Thomas Kent Miller.  Several years ago Kent wrote “Allan Quatermain and the Star of Wonder,” wherein H. Rider Haggard’s hero encountered evidence of alien incursions on our planet, specifically the African coast of Sierra Leone. This story takes place in 1873 and though Quatermain survives to tell the tale, it’s ending is not complete.

 Then, Kent changes course and offers up “Challenger and the Ancient Nova in Aquila,” which transpires 42 years after the Quatermain tale. In this adventure, Conan Doyle’s eccentric Prof. George Challenger discovers, in the South American state of Ecuador a similar ruins whose origins and purposes he can only guess at. Both facilities, though separated by an ocean, are identical in construction.

 Now, we’ve reprinted both back to back as Kent always intended in this new Kindle-only edition. It contains the original interior illustrations by Clayton Hinkle and a new cover by Rob Davis.  Originally released on Kindle, it is now available in paperback as well.

 AIRSHIP 27 – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

 Available now on Amazon in paperback as well as Kindle.

Gordon Dymowski: Ideas Three for a Dollar

As a New Pulp writer, Gordon Dymowski has written many short stories, including the 2019 Pulp Factory Award-winning tale “Knights of the Silver Cross.” He has also crafted non-fiction essays for Crazy 8 Press, ATB Publishing and the DePaul Pop Culture Celebration. He also regularly contributes to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere and the National Institute of Social Media. He has published with Pro Se Productions, Pilot Studios, Airship 27 Productions, and Space Buggy Press.

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

Currently, I have a short story titled “The Mists of Koramu” in CNI Classified Volume 4 from Blue Planet Press. I am also working on a Sherlock Holmes tale and a non-fiction project. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I rarely,  if ever, think about themes when I’m writing. It feels rather pretentious and can often seem rather deliberate in a “read-this-because-it-has-the-secrets-of-the-universe” way.

Looking back, however, I find myself focusing on issues around personal integrity, social justice, and complex morality.  That’s one of the reasons I consider myself a pulp writer: I can write about such issues simply and directly without feeling like I’m pandering or lecturing. Although  I’ve been more direct in my writing about such issues (see  “One Bullet Too Many” in Pilot Studios’ Always Punch Nazis Volume One), my preference is creating fictional scenarios to explore those themes. To paraphrase  Alfred Hitchcock, some stories are slices of life...mine are slices of cake. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I grew up an only child, so I learned to entertain myself by creating stories when I was alone. My mother had given me a beat-up clipboard and used computer paper when I was six, and I remember consistently drawing and narrating stories. For a third-grade paper, I wrote a story about a boy who wanders into a “haunted” house making strange noises... and discovers a lost dog. 

But both parents fostered a love of reading: my father purchased several Dr. Seuss books right after I was born. My first “alone” trip was heading to the Brighton Park branch of the Chicago Public Library where I discovered both Sherlock Holmes and Doc Savage. In high school, I was often part of the “marketing”  team for various events, even down to writing and making announcements over the intercom. (My Joe Piscopo Sports Guy impersonation is second to none).

In college, I wrote a semi-regular column for the Loyola Phoenix, as well as various humor and music zines. That led to an online writing gig with Comic Related (which you can find via the Wayback Machine), which led to Airship 27 and Pro Se Productions, and the rest, they say, is history….

But if you want something more colorful, I was rocketed to this planet by my parents when Krypton exploded. That works. 

What inspires you to write?

There’s a store on 32nd Place and Aberdeen in Chicago, just across the street from the yellow pushcart hot dog stand. Head to the hot dog stand, and ask Mike for a “Nelson Algren special, hold the poppy seeds.” After that, I’m allowed into the store and I buy ideas three for a dollar. 

You don’t believe me, don’t you?

Inspiration comes from everywhere. It’s usually a case of me finding something or someone interesting and asking “What if?”

It also comes, on some level, from my fellow creatives. My fellow writers frequently craft stories that make me go “I wish I had thought of that”, but enable me to create something different with the same vibe. My musician/performing friends inspire me to stay in the moment, to “follow my muse” when I’m “in the zone.”

(I’m Generation X, so using “quotation marks” in that context is on-brand) 

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Let me just name names and you can draw your own conclusions: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Sara Paretsky, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, Octavia Butler, Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, Robert R. McCammon, Robert B. Parker, Jonathan Kellerman.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or is it a science continuum?" Why?

It’s both an art and a science. 

Now, the obligatory rant: two words are used when describing the creative arts that get on my nerves. They are franchise and content. 

I know franchise is used as a shortcut for “movies highlighting a character, characters, or premise”, but it makes such entities sound too clinical. It’s like characters are fast food. But content is extremely evil since it makes any kind of creative endeavor (novel, movie, book, comic, web site copy, social media posting) as equal...and they’re not. Each piece of media serves a specific purpose and has a specific set of instructions. We’re seeing too many people call it all “equal”…

Yes, I am calling out advocates of generative AI to craft “content.” It takes more time to craft the “ideal” prompt to get halfway workable prose and “tweak” it than to think through what you’re attempting to write and craft it. 

One is focusing on quantity, the other quality. 

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process? 

Finding the time to write has been challenging, since I have been busy the past few years. Caring for my mother until her passing in 2022, dealing with a less-than-professional property owner, and regaining my professional footing have been exhausting. Plus, since my day job is focused on online meetings and consultations (I work as a copywriter and affordable housing advocate), that means I would rather not face the keyboard or sit down to write. Luckily, I manage to get some writing done per day, but it can be especially challenging at times.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?  

Besides my short story, I encourage people to become a free or (preferably) paid member of my Patreon community. I’ve been working on increasing my outreach (and have been editing and writing some things), but I could really use the grassroots support. 

For more information, visit: 

Website: https://www.gordon-dymowski.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gordondymowski

Motivational Monday: The Job of an Artist

Visit me June 21st at The Crazy Book Lady!

[Link] We asked people to share books that changed their life. Here are 12 top reads.

by Annie Reneau

The power of a good book is unmatched.

Out of all human inventions, books might just be the greatest. That's a bold statement in the face of computers, the internet and the international space station, but none of those things would be possible without books. The written record of human knowledge has allowed our learning advancements to be passed down through generations, not to mention how incredible it is that we're able to capture human creativity through long-form storytelling.

Books have the power to change our lives on a fundamental level, shift our thinking, influence our beliefs, put us in touch with our feelings, and help us understand ourselves and one another better. That's why we asked Upworthy's audience to share a book that changed their life. Thousands of responses later, we have a list of inspiring reads that rose to the top.

Unsurprisingly, the most common responses were religious scriptures—the Bible, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, etc. Beyond those, here are the most common books, both fiction and non-fiction, that people considered life-changing.

Read the full article: https://www.upworthy.com/12-life-changing-book-ex1

FLINCH! BOOKS RELEASES SGT. JANUS AND THE HOUSE THAT LOVED DEATH!

Who is Death at the End?

Life and Death. Sgt. Janus struggles with these two concepts every single day of his existence to balance the scales when wrongs and injustices are perpetrated in the paranormal realm. But what does he truly know—truly understand—about the nature of either?

A mysterious and macabre stranger-killer is on the loose in Mount Airy, taunting the authorities with letters to a local newspaper’s editor-in-chief, and baffling everyone with a seeming supernatural ability to stalk and murder their victims. What the killer doesn’t count on, though, is the intervention of the Spirit-Breaker himself, Roman Janus, when death strikes far too close for comfort within the sergeant’s personal circle of friends.

The stage is set for Sgt. Janus’ greatest challenge yet—to stop death itself, even though his very possessions may be working against him to prevent it. The battle is fought on more than one plane, and everything he knows of the spirit world may be turned upside down before the dust clears and a victor emerges.

SGT. JANUS AND THE HOUSE THAT LOVED DEATH brings writer Jim Beard back to the adventures of the celebrated ghost hunter who has charmed and entertained fans of the classic occult detective genre in three previous volumes. Beware, though—the house is open and waiting for you to enter, but only the brave may be able to leave to tell its tale.

Cover art by Jeffrey Hayes

Catch up on all the Sgt. Janus stories here: 

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089SRDCT5 
• www.FlinchBooks.com

Book Talk Playlist (updated automatically)

 

Bookmark this page because as new videos are uploaded, this playlist will update. 

And I Quote (in case you missed it live)

Motivational Monday: Write Smaller

Sunday Funnies: I Read Your Book

[Link] Truth, Power, Art: A Critical Manifesto on Creative Nonfiction

Lauren Markham and Chris Feliciano Arnold on the Urgency Writing Truth to Power

by Lauren Markham and Chris Feliciano Arnold

Back in 2017, White House Press Secretary Kellyann Conway coined the phrase “alternative facts” to describe realities that were inconvenient to the first Trump Administration. Eight years later, as the second Trump Administration reconfigures the federal government around the facts, opinions and impulses of its choosing, the US public is becoming desensitized to life in a country where reliable information is harder to find—and where the few remaining independent news outlets are routinely attacked for faithfully recording the realities of our fast mutating world.

At a time when reporting the facts is becoming a lost art, how can artists—no matter what they’re making—respond to history in the making?

This is work that used to happen in newspapers. But since the early 20th century, the roughly 24,000 newspapers regularly published in the US has been reduced to 6,000. The US has lost some 2,900 newspapers since 2005 alone, 130 of them in 2023. And with that dramatic reduction in news coverage, thousands of reporters and editors—writers trained in how to seek, evaluate and communicate facts in the form of stories and images—have lost their livelihoods. Worse yet, much of that storytelling and image making has been outsourced to machines and algorithms.

Not only are news sources dwindling, but, in spite of the right-wing obsession with the so-called “leftist media,” an increasing number of outlets are owned by the right. The brazenly conservative Sinclair Media controls 294 broadcast stations nation-wide. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, where he attempts to manipulate his editorial staff to cater to his business interests—and has recently shown a willingness to even to pull advertising critical of the administration and its billionaire allies. Speaking of billionaires, Patrick Soon-Shiong owns the once venerable Los Angeles Times. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, both of these newspapers declined to run an endorsement for President in the 2024 election.)

A recent Pew poll shows that 20 percent of US Americans rely on Meta for their news, and another poll showed 59 percent regularly using X for news. The billionaire owners of those corporations have made their subservience to the Trump Administration clear as day.

Even as readers are drowning in information, our ability to reliably source facts, and to make meaning from those facts, is more imperiled than at any point in US history. As journalists, we are devastated to behold the wreckage of our field. As writers and artists, we wonder how literature can help fill the void.

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/truth-power-art-a-critical-manifesto-on-creative-nonfiction

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS HEROES OF THE WEST

The western frontier of America’s past produced many great heroes, both real and fictional. In this new collection, they are well presented in five action-packed pulp adventures. The book kicks off with the classic Masked Rider, then opens the trail to such great historical cowboys as Wild Bill Hickock, in not one, but two gun-blasting tales. Then real-life figures, Bat Masterson teams up with Annie Oakley and finally, the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp wraps up the volume.

 Here are stories by Alan Porter, Teel James Glenn, George Tackes, and the late John Rose. With both interior illustrations and cover by Shannon Hall.

 This is western action as only Airship 27 can whip up.

 AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION.

 Available now from Amazon in paperback and soon on Kindle.

Using Fiction Technique in Nonfiction

On the surface, nonfiction writing might appear to be much easier than fiction writing. With fiction, the writer has to create a distinct world, characters, atmosphere, and plot, engaging in cerebral “heavy lifting” to tell a tale. Nonfiction (in some quarters) is mostly seen as compiling facts, data, information, and the occasional direct quote. If you didn’t know better, you would swear that it took no effort to create a nonfiction piece.

But writing nonfiction can be as creatively engaging as fiction, and I have the experience to prove it. I have written newspaper editorial columns, zine pieces, pop culture essays (published in such fine collections as Rising Son Reruns and When the Shadow Sees the Sun), and even academic pieces for the DePaul Pop Culture Conference. Spoiler: writing nonfiction isn’t “easier” than writing fiction, but you can find fiction-writing techniques scattered throughout various nonfiction works.

First, consider your “main character” of the work. Whether you’re writing a biography, an oral history, or a narrative of an event, there is always a protagonist (or group of protagonists), antagonists, and a general sense of conflict. Highlighting those protagonists and their efforts, and finding a naturally occuring arc, can provide a sense of that the overall “story” is about. Harvard University professor Yunte Huang integrates themes around assimilation and Chinese-American culture into his work. Two of his books focus on specific individuals: the first, Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, not only focuses on the fictional character but also his creator, Earl Der Biggers, and how the character has impacted American culture. It also integrates Chang Apana, the Hawaiian detective who may or may not have influenced the creation of Chan, and provides insight into the relationship between a cultural assimilator and the assimilated. His latest work, Daughter of the Dragon, focuses on Chinese-American actress Anna Mae Wong‘s career and her efforts to integrate aspects of her culture into her acting and other professional efforts.  In my essay for ATB Publishing’s Outside In Regenerates, I used the fictional character of the Monk to generate insights into the Doctor Who story “The Time Meddler.”

Another technique is developing a unique atmosphere around your nonfiction subject through selected perspectives. Fiction handles this through descriptive prose and dialogue, establishing a sense of “world building” that engages the reader to dive more deeply into the subject. Two Marx Brothers-related works achieve such an atmosphere: one through engaging in a similar tone to their movies, the other through stark differentiation. Roy Blount Jr’s Hail, Hail, Euphoria!: Presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, the Greatest War Movie Ever Made provides a pitch-perfect match of scene-by-scene commentary and insight into their 1933 film that fosters both readability and strong narrative. In contrast, Robert J. Bader’s Zeppo: The Reluctant Marx Brother provides a down-to-earth examination of the youngest Marx Brother (and the one who seemingly has less of a reputation). Bader provides a historical and emotional context that provides a much-needed source of humanity and relatability to an individual who opted to wander back into relative obscurity. 

(In my Rising Suns Reruns essay “Family Bonding Through Kaiju Fighting”, I started discussing the obscure tokusatsu show The Space Giants by describing the media landscape during my childhood…but framed it through my experience. It provided the proper historical context while generating empathy and identification for the reader. After all, many of us have rushed home from school to watch our favorite shows, but very few want to have a scholarly discussion of analog UHF/VHF broadcasting…)

One final fiction technique that works well in nonfiction is adopting a casual narrative tone. Like fiction, nonfiction strives to develop a unique voice that engages the reader. Although creating an atmosphere is critical in writing nonfiction, that atmosphere will not work if the writer takes a Jack Webb-style just-the-facts-ma’am approach. Finding the right approach to discussing a subject can differentiate between a piece read repeatedly for reference and a one-shot read that informs but doesn’t last. David Maurer’s The Big Con was initially written in the 1930s as a then-contemporary linguistic exploration of “con men” culture, but grew in prominence to eventually influence such television series as Mission: Impossible and Leverage through its descriptive and engaging insights into the workings of the confidence game. Another great example comes from Patrick McCray, writer of The Dark Shadows Daybook and The Dark Shadows Daybook Unbound. His essays about the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows take a casual yet insightful look at particular episodes of the series, integrating McCray’s experiences in theater with an extensive knowledge of the series’ storylines. 

(And I’m not just a reader – I’m a close, personal friend)

Writing engaging fiction is a challenge. Writing nonfiction also has challenges, but using fiction techniques can make it easier and your work more engaging.

(Visit the author's website.)

Movie Reviews for Writers: The Green Woman

Full disclosure. This is not a great movie. This is probably not even a good movie. But it is an interesting movie. 

There, I said it. 

There's some fun acting and an intriguing premise, but this one does suffer from the defects of a lot of indie film projects of the low-budget variety. So, if you can't enjoy micro-budget movies, just avoid this one. If you still find weird, little "writer meets alien while breaking up with his girlfriend" oddness potential to be fun, then The Green Woman just might make you happy for an hour and a half. 

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk plot. 

Rommy (short for Romulus -- Pretentious much?!) is a writer who is earning his keep but just barely. He's living with his girlfriend Mary, who is a severe Type A who constantly tries to push him into some kind of corporate, stable working environment. To add more stress to his life, Rommy begins to have visitations by a green-skinned alien woman who claims to have been sent by him (from the future) to help him in the present. Did I mention she's cute? That'll be important later. She also has a few favors she needs from him, mostly gathering random electronic parts he can steal from around his neighborhood. 

The questions abound? Who is the green-skinned alien? Will Rommy and Mary reconcile? Why does he have to collect random electronics? Is the green woman even real or just a figment of his stressed, addled, alcohol-riddled, breaking-down brain?

I'm not going to answer those questions. You'll just have to watch the movie. Suffice it to say that it'll surprise you even after you think you have it all figured out. 

If there's a lesson for writers to be learned, it is this: Being a writer can be a tough gig when you are with someone who (a) doesn't get it, (b) doesn't support it, or (c) wants you to relegate it to a hobby. 

Teresa Inge: Beginning with the Business

Teresa Inge is an award-winning mystery author. Her work appears in over a dozen anthologies and novellas including First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, Murder by the Glass, Virginia is for Mysteries, and Coastal Crimes. 

Teresa grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries. She is a member of SinC, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Virginia Writers Club.

She works for a global financial firm as an admin, notary administrator, and corporate reporter. When not writing, she displays her 1955 Ford Thunderbird at car shows. 

Teresa resides in Southeastern Virginia with her husband A.J. and dog Luke, a mixed shepherd-lab. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work. 

I am finishing edits on The Bride Arrived DOA, a catering hall mystery set in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Cass Kennedy inherits a motel from her estranged brother who died under mysterious circumstances. She investigates the events surrounding his death and discovers that her brother had promoted the motel as a top wedding venue, which was anything but. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work? 

My southern coastal mysteries feature female protagonists who run their own businesses. Each protagonist conducts investigations outside of a typical office environment. These businesses include motels, beach shops, wine shops, dog walking and grooming services, wedding and event planning, and fabric stores among other enterprises. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I grew up reading Nancy Drew. Her adventures in her blue roadster motivated me to pursue a career as a mystery writer. Additionally, her influence contributed to my decision to purchase a 1955 Torch Red Thunderbird, which is displayed at car shows and during book signings that often generate fun discussions.

Motivational Monday: What is Literature for? (video)