HUGH MONN IS BACK IN HIS FIRST FULL LENGTH NOVEL!

Pro Se Productions once more proves to be a leader in genre fiction with its latest release. A man of the far future plying his dangerous trade like one of the past.  1950s Sensibilities collide explosively with Science Fiction Action and Danger once again as Lee Houston, Jr. follows up his debut 2012 collection with HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: CATCH A RISING STAR!

Thick, red lips were just a shade darker than her crimson skin tone, but both were in striking contrast to her long orange hair. Her eyes appeared to be only irises, as black as a starless corner of the universe resting on a field of white, but that toothy smile was brighter than a supernova. She was dressed in white like everyone else, but her outfit was a sleeveless, short hemmed number at least one size too small, that did everything possible to accent every aspect of her figure.

“Do I have the pleasure of addressing Hugh Monn, the private detective?” asked the older man with an accent I couldn’t place. After all, it’s a pretty big universe and xenology wasn’t one of my strong suits, so I couldn’t identify any of their races or species. Besides, the woman was the only one present any insensitive jerk would call ‘alien’. Outwardly, all the men appeared to be as human as me.

“There’s no pleasure involved from my perspective,” I said, while motioning my head to indicate his traveling companions. -- From Chapter 1 of HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: CATCH A RISING STAR

Hugh Monn, the private detective of the far flung future, is back in his first full length adventure!

In Lee Houston's latest installment of his 1950s style detective in the future, Hugh is hired as a security consultant when actress Ruby Kwartz comes to the island nation of Galveston 2 to record a new vid.  What is supposed to be an easy assignment turns deadly when Monn discovers that everyone around Ruby has a hidden agenda and someone wants to make sure this production will be her last.  Can Hugh Monn catch a rising star before she falls?

"After writing short stories for his first book," states Houston, "I wanted to create longer adventures for Hugh in a second anthology, but CATCH A RISING STAR took on a life of its own and became his first full length novel.  Fans of the private detective in the far flung future not only get more action, adventure, and mystery in this tale; but more Big Louie too."

"We're excited," comments Tommy Hancock, Pro Se Partner and Editor in Chief, "to not only have Hugh back for another adventure, but to see Lee push both himself and this wonderful world he's imagined into a full length novel.   The definitely different mix of Science Fiction with the Detective genre as well as Lee's placing of Hugh somewhere along the center of the Private Eye spectrum makes the concept a fun, exciting one and one that appeals to many types of readers."

As for Hugh Monn's first adventures, Ron Fortier, noted Reviewer, Author, and Publisher stated: "What is particularly refreshing in these tales is that Houston wisely opts not to make his hero a hard-boiled, typically cynical type. Hugh Monn is a genuinely nice guy who likes people and aliens alike and is sincere in trying to make his world a better place for all to live in. He's a good guy I liked meeting and hope to see him again real soon."

HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE: CATCH A RISING STAR features an excellent and evocative cover by David L. Russell as well as stunning cover design by Sean E. Ali and e-book formatting by Russ Anderson!  Available in Print at Amazon and from Pro Se's own store for only $15.00!

This stunning addition to Hugh's adventures is also available for $2.99 as an e-book! Available for the Kindle, via the Nook, and at Smashwords in multiple formats!

For More Information on the author, visit his Pro Se page.  For more about Pro Se itself, go to www.prose-press.com.

For interviews, review copies, and questions, contact Morgan Minor, Director of Corporate Operations at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com.

VOICE OF PRO SE AUDIOBOOK LINE DEBUTS-HUGH MONN PRIVATE DETECTIVE FIRST TITLE!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VOICE OF PRO SE AUDIOBOOK LINE DEBUTS-HUGH MONN PRIVATE DETECTIVE FIRST TITLE!

Pro Se Productions, an independent press on the cutting edge of genre fiction, heroic storytelling, and New Pulp, was the first company formally involved in the New Pulp Movement to enter into the world of audiobooks with its original line of magazines. Pro Se, in conjunction with New Pulp audiobook pioneer Dynamic Ram Audio Productions announce the first audio title for ‘The Voice of Pro Se’ audiobook imprint!

“Audiobooks,” Tommy Hancock, Partner in and Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions states, “have always been in the plans for Pro Se. The sort of fiction we publish lends itself well to the spoken word and adaptation of all sorts. That, and I am a major fan of Audio Fiction, from old time radio shows to modern day audio drama and especially audiobooks. And our first trip into the medium was a great experience and to have Chris Barnes, our engineer the first time around and the man behind Dynamic Ram Audio Productions now, on board for this debut as well as what is coming, it just couldn’t be any better.”

The debut title in THE VOICE OF PRO SE Audiobook line is HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE, the novel written by Lee Houston, Jr. One of Pro Se’s flagship characters, Hugh Monn comes wonderfully to life thanks to Audiobook Narrator Pete Milan in eight tightly written fast paced uanbridged stories. Milan is a voice actor, writer, narrator, audio drama producer and cosmopolitan jackadandy. He has previously appeared in works by Pendant Productions, the Colonial Radio Theatre On The Air, Gypsy Audio and Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater.

“Pete Milan,” Hancock says, “channels the voice of Lee Houston’s Hugh Monn perfectly. Hugh sounds like a 1950s type detective, but plies his trade in a futuristic setting. In just the same way Lee blended those two things seamlessly together, Pete’s take on the stories has the nearly hard boiled edge you’d expect from a great PI tale, but there’s also that flexibility a good science fiction tale demands of a narrator. Hands down, the team of Milan and Houston make HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE an audiobook must have.”

Even in the future, dames still need help, criminals still need captured, and men still hire out to do both! HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE written by Lee Houston, Jr. and narrated by Pete Milan lets you walk the glittering, yet dark and mean streets of Galveston 2 and join Hugh Monn as he investigates cases with gorgeous green skinned dames, slick swindlers and hardened crooks while keeping one step ahead of the lawbots. This VOICE OF PRO SE audiobook engineered and produced by Dynamic Ram Audio Productions is over 7 hours of fantastic futuristic Private Eye Action!

Listen to the HUGH MONN trailer at http://soundcloud.com/chris-barnes-37/hugh-monn-private-detective. And the entire Audiobook is Avaiable via Audible at http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00CQ6MJHS&qid=1368850196&sr=1-1 and from Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/bdx6lmm!

The Voice of Pro Se from Pro Se Productions (www.prose-press.com) and Dynamic Ram Audio Productions (www.dynamic-ram.co.uk) proudly presents HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE-the audiobook.

Houston, We Don't Have a Problem -- Catching Up with Lee Houston Jr.

I was interested in Lee Houston Jr.'s work long before I read a single word of it. And it was all because of an image. His book, Hugh Monn, from Pro Se Productions, sported the most amazing cover image I'd seen all year. It did just what a strong cover is supposed to: IT SOLD THE BOOK AND TOLD ME WHAT IT WAS ABOUT.

Imagine my joy then in learning the words matched up and the book was as good as my expectations.

So being not only a Pro Se "fellow" with him, but also a fan of his work, I was thrilled when Lee could spare some time to sit in the hot seat. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

My latest work is PROJECT: ALPHA, a superhero novel scheduled for release this May from Pro Se Press. For the Pulp Obscura project, I have contributed a story to the upcoming NEW ADVENTURES OF THE EAGLE anthology, and am scheduled to write for a couple of more Pulp Obscura anthologies that I am not at liberty to discuss at this time. I am also at work on the next HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE book when I'm not working as the Editor-In-Chief of The Free Choice E-zine at www.thefreechoice.info.

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

For sure, somehow the hero always manages to win against the villain in the end, the "little guy" is always protected, and I try to give the readers the best stories I can tell in the process. Otherwise, I'm not consciously aware of any subtexts, if that's what you're asking. I'm sure there have been times when I've taken a position on some social issue by disguising it within the trappings of a story, but that's open to audience interpretation. I do tend to find myself writing within the genres I like as a reader: science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and (super) heroic adventures.

What would be your dream project?

I wouldn't mind collaborating with any of my fellow writers on a project, if not on an actual crossover between one of my characters and theirs. There's also every writer's dream of their creations making it to either television and/or the movies. I'd be lying if I said that thought hasn't crossed my mind a couple of (million) times. But for decades, I've longed to write for DC Comics, although I have absolutely no idea what I would do for them in light of their recent, post-Flashpoint reboot.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

"Y-239", a short story that appeared in the first of Pro Se's Peculiar Adventures magazine. My objective was to make the Captain a total cipher, so it would be up to the reader to decide the exact nature of the relationship between that character and the female science officer. Unfortunately, I wasn't skilled enough to pull that off.

I try to create the best writing I can on every assignment, but you have to let go of a project sometime. Otherwise, you'd still be working on a story well past its deadline.

What inspires you to write?

Books have been a part of my life since my earliest memories of my parents reading to me when I was kid. As I grew older, there were the books in the local children's libraries, and of course all the elementary schoolbooks before I discovered comic books with Action Comics #434. But the first straight text (no interior images) book I ever read on my own was A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. If I wasn't on a writing career path before then, I certainly have been on that journey ever since.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Definitely Burroughs, Robert B. Parker, Gardner Fox, Walter B. Gibson, Dennis O'Neil, Elliot S. Maggin, and Cary Bates would be at the top of the list, although every time I think about this, I always forget someone along the way because I've read and liked so much over the years. Yet one thing you have to remember is that while the good authors set wonderful examples to follow, you can also learn from a bad writer what not to do. But while everyone's candidates for both categories are subjective, I'm sure those in the latter group would not like the notoriety.

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

I'll have to say at most it's six of one and half a dozen of another. Technology has certainly made any writer's task somewhat easier with computers, word processing programs, and online sites to help speed research along. A lot of companies conduct business via the Internet while Print On Demand and digital e-books have changed the publishing world within the last few years. On the other hand, it is a human intelligence and emotions at work creating the stories and that will never change no matter how far technology advances.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

Amongst all the other ideas that I hope one day come to light, I would like to assure my fans that someday I do intend to collect and finish WYLDE WORLD, the Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired serial I started within Peculiar Adventures, but PROJECT: ALPHA, HUGH MONN, and other commitments keep putting that on the back burner right now.

For more info about Lee's work, visit www.thefreechoice.info.