Airship 27 Productions Presents C.O. Jones – Hometown U.S.A.

Airship 27 Production is thrilled to announce the release of the fourth installment of writer Fred Adams Jr.’s action-packed C.O. Jones series.

When things in L.A. get a little too hot for C.O. Jones, a change of scenery is in order and he’s only to happy to return to Brownsville, PA at the summons of his old boss, Mobster Skitch Mottola.   Several unknown men have attacked local businesses to include a half-hearted attempt on the bank. All the incidents seem random and unconnected, but Skitch believes another gang is attempting to surreptitiously take over his territory by causing criminal mischief. He wants Jones to find out who they are, who they work for, and how to stop them.

It seems simple enough until Jones recognizes the attacks perpetrated by these mystery men are all familiar military tactics and he comes to the startling conclusion that the group they are dealing with is made up of war veterans. Now things are really going to get complicated.

Airship 27 Production’s Art Director Rob Davis provides the cover and interior illustrations.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now from Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.

Jim Beard: Why Can’t It Just Happen by Osmosis or Something?

Jim Beard pounds out adventure fiction with classic pulp style and flair. A native Toledoan, he was introduced to comic books at an early age by his father, who passed on to him a love for the medium and the pulp characters who preceded it. After decades of reading, collecting and dissecting comics, Jim became a published writer when he sold a story to DC Comics in 2002. Since that time he's written official Spider-Man, X-Files, and Planet of the Apes prose fiction, Star Wars and Ghostbusters comic stories, and contributed articles and essays to several volumes of comic book history. Jim is also the co-publisher at Flinch Books, a small-press pulp house.

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

My friend John Bruening and I just published our tenth book through our Flinch House imprint. It’s called OCCUPIED PULP and features six tales set in post-war Europe and Japan during the Allied occupation. We’re so proud of it it’s not funny.

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

I wanted to be an artist, even went to school for it, but I found out I didn’t have the drive to make it work. I’d always loved creative writing since I was a small kid, and when I realized there was this community of people reviving and refreshing the classic style of pulp fiction, I jumped in, found I could do it, and have never looked back. So, failure at one thing can sometimes open up doors somewhere else.

What inspires you to write?

Very little! But seriously, just about everything. I get ideas from everywhere, from just about anything I can be doing. I’ve been blessed with never running dry of ideas—I got a million of ‘em!—but the hard part for me is the actual writing. True story. It’s like pulling teeth. I’d almost rather be the idea guy and hand concepts off to others to do all the dirty work.

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

An odd one is hubris. It showed up in a lot of my earlier writing and stories. I don’t know why. I’m also very fond of the idea of a team of characters and the dynamics between each member. That harkens back to my love of comic books and groups like the Fantastic Four, the Justice League, and the Avengers. I’ve found I’m always coming up with teams. Even when it’s a supposed solo character, I tend to want to surround them with partners or similar.

What would be your dream project?

Very easy: An original prose novel based on the 1966 BATMAN TV series. Sadly, no one will let me do it.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Lester Dent, of course, and in some ways Norvell Page. One of my most favorite writers is Ray Bradbury, but I’m kind of the anti-Ray Bradbury in my own writing, just about the complete opposite of him. He was a poet. I’m a hack-and-slasher.

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

My Spider-Man novel, definitely. The highest-profile thing I’ve ever done, and the one I’m almost too embarrassed to even acknowledge. It was ****ed up even as it was being written, and so edited in committee that I can only look back on it in frustration. For one thing, what was published was an uncorrected proof, so there are a boatload of typos. Beyond that, there are whole sections that were excised and I would like to restore.

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

Hate to come down in the middle, but it’s both. Or it can be both. There’s a kind of science involved with the rules of the language and all, but there’s also an art to how you can take those building blocks and string them together and create worlds. Kind of cool.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Writing! I mean it—just sitting down and banging out words and paragraphs and pages each and every day makes me want to run for the hills. Like I said before; I got the ideas, it’s making something out of them in book-form that nearly kills me each and every time. Why can’t it just happen by osmosis or something?

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

No, those ****ers are my demons! I hate them! They make me so jealous because they’re so cool and, well, I’m me! Otherwise, they often inspire me…when they’re not kicking my ass with the fifty-million books they put out every year.

What does literary success look like to you?

Golly. Sales? Hate to sound so capitalistic—well, no I don’t, but you dig it, I’m sure. Sales are nice, but when all is said and done, I could get by with the knowledge that someone, somewhere has read my stuff. They don’t even have to necessarily enjoy it, but it’d be nice to know I’m not writing and publishing in a vacuum. Success would mean one or two people recognizing my name. Isn’t that sort of pathetic?

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

Yeah, I have my very first epic fantasy novel coming out this summer, and I’m working on the second of my D.C. Jones books, which are pastiches of the 1970s GI Joe Adventure Team toys. Pretty excited about both of those.

For more information, visit:

• www.facebook.com/thebeardjimbeard
• www.amazon.com/author/jimbeard 
• @writerjimbeard on Twitter

Movie Reviews for Writers: House

"Ding, dong. You're dead." Let me just start by saying when I was a kid, this movie scared the crap out of me. But it also made me laugh, and that's the one-two punch of most great horror flicks. Set you up, then get your good. That said, I think it's also the mark of great films about authors. Distract you with something or someone (or both) interesting to watch, and then slip a little something meaningful about the craft and/or the writing life into the mix. 

And House certainly does that before it goes full-on adventure and excitement in the second act. But just what does it actually say? I'm glad you asked. 

First, we as writers don't get to define our audience. Sure, we can write to a target type and we can visualize our ideal reader as we create, but ultimately we have very little say in who reads, likes, dislikes, goes super-fan, or loses their shit about out work. Once the story is out there, it's out there, and it's fair game for anyone to react to. 

Roger (William Katt) learns that at a signing early in the film. There's a long line of "weirdos" played for laughs whom the more serious Roger really, really can't identify with and he asked his agent, "Who are these people?" The agent responds, "They're your fans." 

The trouble is they don't look like he imagined. They don't act like he imagined. They are as "cool" as he imagined. Or they are way too mainstream to be "real" fans. The whys and what-nots don't matter. Only the preconceived perception does. 

The lesson? Don't think you're better than your fans and readers. They're the reason you can do what you do professionally, whether as a side gig or as a main career. In the words of The Human League, "[they] picked you up, [they] shook up, and turned you around, and [they] can put you back there too."

But wait! There's more!

Our poor Roger also learns the terrifying lesson that there are some stories that are so important to who we are, so crucial to our growth as not just writers but often human beings as well, that they will stymie us to no end and simply refuse to spill out of our brains onto the page. 

Roger believes that his story is about his time in Viet Nam, but it's not. That's just the red herring, the false Moby Dick he's chasing. His real story is the mystery of what happened to his son. Sure, the two tales, the surface story and the deeper one, end up coinciding, as they often do, but he can't move forward until he wraps his mind around the deeper one. 

Most of us, I feel, can relate. We all have that "white whale" story we chase that just doesn't want to come out, and we don't know how to figure out why it refuses to get with the program like all the other stories. Sometimes when you can't get that werewolf story to work it may have nothing to do with lycanthropy -- it may be more about your relationships at work. Sometimes that stubborn detective mystery that doesn't flow might be more about an ailing parent. The trouble is there's often no way to know until you're on the other side of it. 

Deep, right? Sadly so, and also sadly true. So endure. Take care of yourself. Work on a different story until things loosen up and you can dig deeper at your own pace. 

And to think, we can learn that lesson courtesy of the Greatest American Hero.

James Palmer -- A Man at Loose Ends Gone To Writing

James Palmer is an award-nominated author of science fiction and pulp adventure. A recovering comic book addict, James lives in the wilds of Northeast Georgia with his wife, daughter, three dogs, and a metric ton of books.

Tell us a bit about your latest work. 

I always have a lot of irons in the fire. I'm writing a follow-up novella to my series in the Shadow Council Archives series from Falstaff Books, this time starring Allan Quatermain. I just wrote a story I'm shopping around in a Lovecraftian space opera world I'm developing, and plotting a story about Dragon Con. I wrote a space fantasy novella in the vein of Roger Zelazny's Amber and Van Allen Plexico's Lucian about a god-like planet conquerer with amnesia. in 2019 I adapted the late Jerry Pournelle novel Exiles to Glory into a one-hour audio drama for the Atlanta Radio Theater Company. They plan to stream it at virtual LibertyCon this year. I also wrote a comic book for Lucky Comics. Recently I edited War on Monster Earth, the third and final volume in a trilogy of anthologies in which the Cold War is fought with giant monsters instead of the threat of nuclear weapons. 

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

I don't know that it was any one thing. I've always wanted to create and get paid to use my imagination. When I was a kid I wanted to be a movie producer, without having any inkling of what a movie producer does or is. Sometime early on in my high school years, I decided I wanted to write after I started reading Stephen King. I wanted to write something that made someone feel like King's books and stories made me feel.

Alfred Bester once said, "Put any man at loose ends and he invariable goes to writing." I've had a lot of odd jobs and dead-end jobs over the years, but there was always something in me that made me believe I was superior to my circumstances, that if I just got out of my own way long enough I could really do it. 

What inspires you to write? 

Everything. Other books and writers. A snippet of science news. Sometimes I combine two or more ideas that have been nagging me into something new. Reading (or rereading) great writers like Robert E. Howard, Harlan Ellison, and Ray Bradbury, even a trip to the book store makes me want to run to the keyboard.

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

I use a lot of Lovecraftian themes in my work, the idea that we are just small specks fighting over a dust mote in one forgotten corner of an indifferent universe. I like to play with time travel. But most of all I like the idea of the reluctant hero, someone who isn't equipped to lead the charge but does it anyway and figures it out by the end of the story. 

What would be your dream project? 

I would love to write a Marvel comic. I don't know which title. Probably the Silver Surfer. 

What writers have influenced your style and technique? 

A lot of writers have influenced me in different ways, including the above-mentioned. I try not to copy any one writer's style. Lovecraft's cosmology has influenced a number of my works and continues to do so. I love the idea of species and races that are far older than us and turned to dust before we came down out of the trees, but not before leaving behind their mysterious and often dangerous engineering projects for us to stumble upon. 

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

My first full novel, Star Swarm. It has a number of structural problems that stem from the jumbled way it was written. If I had it to do over I'd probably burn it down to the ground and start over. 

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

The line between art and craft is a blurry one. Every writer comes at it differently, with a different set of skills. He may be naturally good at structuring plot or creating rich characters. Everything else he or she has to learn. In a word, I think it's both. But those elements are different for every writer at different stages of their growth as a writer. Or maybe I'm just flat-out wrong. Who knows?

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process? 

The planning stage of a new project, and getting out of my own way long enough to finish the thing. 

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not? 

I consider myself lucky to know so many creative people, not just writers but visual artists as well. Their successes buoy my spirits and their struggles give me insights into my own. They make me want to be a better writer so that I will work hard to become one. 

What does literary success look like to you? 

I've never really chased literary success, though I would certainly accept an award or two if one were tossed my way. I want to reach readers and sell my books and stories to as many people as possible. Success to me would be to write full time.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug? 

I have a current project, War for Monster Earth, the third and final volume in the Monster Earth anthology series. It's about a world where the Cold War was fought with giant monsters instead of the threat of nuclear weapons, and features stories by talented folks Jim Beard, Teel James Glenn, Nancy Hansen, Desmond Reddick, John C. Bruening, and Russell Nohelty, with cover art by the dynamite Jeffrey Hayes. You can check out the entire series here.

I'm also trying to guide people over to my Patreon, where I'm going to be serializing some novellas and stories. Readers can get full access for as little as $1 per month. You can check it out at www.patreon.com/jamespalmer.

For more information, visit: 

• My website: www.jamespalmerbooks.net
• My Patreon page: www.patreon.com/jamespalmer
• My Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/James-Palmer/e/B004QVULIK
• Monster Earth series page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08M6BKQMJ

Motivational Mondays -- A Genuine Escape

 

You Should Be Writing (Thanks, Sean Ali)

 

[link] Fandom, Entitlement and the Alt-Right

Well… no evil except casual racism and misogyny, but still….

by Jim MacQuarrie

As a kid, my favorite superheroes were the Flash and Green Lantern. The Flash, because his real power wasn’t super-speed; his speed was a tool he used, but his real power was that he was smart – he outsmarted his opponents. He knew more about scientific principles than they did and he applied his knowledge in clever and creative ways to solve problems that he couldn’t outrun. As a puny little kid who read too much and knew too much random stuff, that resonated with me.

My other favorite, Green Lantern, worked on two levels (three if you count the fantastic art by Gil Kane). First, he had a ring that was functionally magic; if he could think of it, the ring could do it. Second, and more importantly, the ring ran on willpower. He had to bring resolve to the fight, to dig in and hold on and never give up, because if he didn’t, the ring would fail. He kept that willpower up through something completely unique to comics: his daily oath. When he charged up his ring by pressing it to its power battery, he would recite the pledge I quoted at the top. Some writers suggested that he said it as a way of timing the process; the length of time it took to recite the oath was how long it took to charge the ring for another 24 hours. But he could just as easily have sung “I’m a Little Teapot” if it was just about timing. It’s so much more than that.

As I said, the Green Lantern Oath is unique in comics. Superman had a mission statement (“fighting a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way”); Spider-Man had an aphorism (“with great power must also come great responsibility”); Batman had a promise (“I swear by the spirits of my parents to avenge their deaths by spending the rest of my life warring on all criminals”); and Captain America had several thick volumes of inspiring speeches on the nature of freedom and the responsibility to defend it. But only Green Lantern had an ongoing, present-tense pledge that he recited daily.

When my son was a Boy Scout, I found that the Scout Oath and Law were the best thing anyone ever gave a parent. Suddenly I had a checklist of ideals and standards that he promised to uphold, principles he publicly raised his hand and swore to every Monday night, and I held him to them. “A Scout is clean,” I’d say while pointing at a mess he’d made. “A Scout is helpful,” “a Scout is courteous,” and so on, and I believe the reminders about who he was and what he’d promised to become helped to make him the good, kind and decent man he is today.

Read the full article: https://atomicjunkshop.com/fandom-entitlement-and-the-alt-right/

AYM GERONIMO AND THE POSTMODERN PIONEERS: TALL TALES’ NOW AVAILABLE!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACTION! ADVENTURE! PULP! SCIENCE FICTION! MYSTERY! HORROR! DRAMA! SPORTS! ‘AYM GERONIMO AND THE POSTMODERN PIONEERS: TALL TALES’ NOW AVAILABLE!

Pro Se Productions proudly announces that an anthology years in the making is available in print and digital formats. Originally conceived as a comic concept and appearing in the Shooting Star Comics lineup, this modern pulp hero and her team of adventurers live again in a massive collection of tales from some of today’s best writers-AYM GERONIMO AND THE POSTMODERN PIONEERS: TALL TALES!

Headquartered in the Wonder Wall, a complex carved from a side of the Grand Canyon. the PostModern Pioneers travel to all corners of the globe and undertake dangerous deeds, discover the unknown, defy disasters, and defeat the diabolical using the advanced tools of technology forged by the brilliant mind of Ms. Geronimo and the prodigious skills of her comrades.

With a Preface by Chuck Dixon and all story introductions and character biographies written by AYM Co-Creator J. Morgan Neal, these modern-day tall tales are told by Sean Burnham, Rebecca Upson, Diane Colchamiro, Neil Sarver, Scott E. Hileman, Cliff Roberts, Sarah Beach, Corrina Lawson, Brenda Roberts, Danny Donovan, John David Bock, Bobby Nash, Sean Taylor, Scott McCullar, Tommy Hancock, and Eric Burnham.

AYM GERONIMO AND THE POSTMODERN PIONEERS: TALL TALES-Available from Pro Se Productions!

Featuring a stunning cover by Co-Creator Todd Fox and cover design and print formatting by Sean Ali, TALL TALES is available in print at https://tinyurl.com/3xh8568f for $15.99.

This pulpy anthology is also available on Kindle formatted by Antonino lo Iacono and Marzia Marina for $2.99 athttps://tinyurl.com/3s9srbf2. Kindle Unlimited Members can read these PostModern Pioneering adventures for free!

For more information on this title, interviews with the creators and authors, or digital copies for review, email editorinchief@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

John L. Taylor: All Art Is Science

John L. Taylor is a recent find from my Facebook friends list. It only seemed fair that you meet him too. I"m just an "a'right, a'right" guy like that. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

My latest work is a self-published collection of poetry and flash fiction called Liber Dulcis Dolorum: The Book of Sweet Sorrows. Its contents are horror and pulp fantasy themed in a vein like Clark Ashton-Smith and features my own Illustrations. It will be available in June as a physical book, With electronic editions coming this summer. 

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

This is complicated, but at the end of high school I realized (and by realized, I mean was informed by career counselors) That my math skills weren't good enough to get me into college for the career in science I was pursuing. Their computer job assessment was that I would be best suited to do car repossessions for the IRS. I literally looked up from the paper and said "** this, I'm doing comics." I learned to draw and had some minor exposure as a newspaper cartoonist in rural Kansas, but couldn't get a break in comics after eight years. People did tell me I was a gifted speaker and storyteller, so I took a correspondence course in creative writing. Afterward, I had some essays and op-ed column's run and won a $250 prize from the Marquette monthly's annual short story contest. But I didn't like the literary fiction style. I grew up reading authors like Edgar  Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and various other pulp authors. In 2014, began writing neo Pulp pieces and had greater success getting published. It's not profitable, but I enjoy it 

What inspires you to write?

A mix of dreamlike fantasy and real-life pain. I'm on the Autism spectrum and was beat to hell by other kids when I was young. My retreat was books of both pulp fiction and books on the paranormal, occult, and science. Dark, pulp fantasy is my comfort zone and I write both for the joy of storytelling some degree of catharsis 

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

Many of my themes are opposites, ironically. For adventure, I liken themes of heroes fighting for the people they love against impossible odds. Horror, I do cosmic and body horror with a strong sense of impending doom. See, my family was always close-knit, but very sick. I spent far too much of my life at hospitals and nursing homes. That medical suffering had a great influence on my horror writing. I also love Egyptian, Middle Eastern, and Semitic mythology. I return to those themes constantly. Those cultures aren't well known to modern readers, and increase the sense of the unknown and ancient, as well as a good introduce my readers to near eastern philosophy. 

What would be your dream project?

My dream project would be to write a screenplay for an adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft work or remake a cheap 70's movie with a pulp twist. I've not written a screenplay before, but my first writings were comic scripts in screenplay format. I'd love the challenge! Oddly, not many pulp authors did. 

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Most of my influences were literary fiction types like Steinbeck, Hemmingway, and Ray Bradbury (Bradbury is still my favorite author). Some of Lovecraft rubbed off on me in reverse, I hate going adjective happy in descriptions. But if I had a pulp influence, it would be Robert E. Howard. That go-for-the-throat intensity he had -- powerful! 

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

For a do-over, my novella The Rocket Molly Syndicate. When it was being edited, I was asked to make the changes of four beta readers. Those changes pushed the word count to over 12,000 on an anthology that had a stated word count of 8,000. since the changes weren't all my idea, the editors allowed it, but I wound up cutting a scene of character development that made the ending make more sense. I'd edit it to be about six pages longer to fit it in. 

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

Is writing an art or science? All art IS science. Writing is to me a trade like any other, learning to engineer sentences. I see drawing like that, too. People often compliment me on only taking three art lessons in my life,  and say they "don't have a natural talent." My answer is: neither do I, because in my mind natural talent doesn't exist only dedication to the craft. I have a disability that affects my fine motor skills. I couldn't tie my own shoes till I was 27, you still don't want to see me play a video game. But I can draw because I put in the effort to compensate for my shortcomings and learn how. Writing was no different. There are principles of grammar, theme, dialogue, and plot that are like a kitchen recipe. Learn to use them and the story inside you comes out. 

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Time. I do most of my work at night when any other priorities are done with. I don't really sleep at night,  my wife is on me about that all the time. Otherwise, it's more like how do I get the process to stop? I get ideas everywhere, every day, more than I can express. 

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

I'm a member of the Marquette Poet's Circle in Marquette, MI. We do regular online open mic events and writing workshops for all written forms. I get free beta readers for some of my short works, both fiction and poetry, and they will promote their member's work for free on their Facebook page. When the Circle did their five-year anthology, I had three pieces run, one was a Pulp Sword and Sorcery poem that was actually compared to Robert E. Howard's style in local magazines. Have a pool of creative people with different voices who believe in each other is an amazing thing 

What does literary success look like to you?

Success to me is connecting with a broad audience. My writings will likely not be highly profitable in my lifetime, but If I was in this for the money, I'd have quit years ago. I want to write someone's favorite story. The one that sticks with them for a lifetime. Staying power is big for me, too. I want to leave something behind when I'm gone that can express my take on themes I cared about for decades to come. I mentioned before I was beaten up a lot as a kid. If those bullies have to someday help their grandkids write a book report on my works, I'll call it even...  

For more information, visit:

https://www.deviantart.com/iron-triceratops

That's my online visual arts portfolio and new home of my writings. Some content may be NSFW, but that's my creative hub.

Movie Reviews for Writers: Paris When It Sizzles (part 2)

 

Read the first part of this review. 

Yes, I know this is the first movie I've done a second review for. But, trust me, there's just so much to unpack in this classic rom-com. Really. 

The bulk of the movie and the biggest lesson for writers is the one covered in the previous review -- Getting the story out of your head and onto the page is the real work of the writer, and it's also the hard work of the writer. You can't sell what you haven't created yet. An idea is just an idea. A story exists only in a readable format. 

However, that key motiff aside, Paris When It Sizzles has a few other treats in store for us when we examine it. 

A writer's life is a lonely one. In the midst of trying to seduce Audrey Hepburn, William Holden does manage to get one thing honest. Of course, he's just playing it up to tease Hepburn's sensitivities, but it's indicative of Holden's acting that the character is able to convey a subtlety that gives away the truth of his statement. You can't help but see a sort of sadness in his expression as he says the words, and that's why it really plays with Hepburn's feelings. And it's true. No matter how much we may surround ourselves with friends and family, or even other writers when it gets down to it, the thing that takes up the bulk of our lives pulls us away from others and builds the walls to keep us focused on the work. 

The second treat is this one: My Fair Lady is Frankenstein. Or let's put it a different way. There are no original ideas so get over yourself. Just like My Fair Lady is an upper-crust re-telling of Frankenstein and A Thousand Acres (Jane Smiley) is just a farmland re-telling of King Lear, whatever great and original idea you think you have is just your own way of rehashing something that has already been done. (And bought the t-shirt.) But that's okay. Accept it and tell the story you feel you need to tell. Good writers borrow and great writers steal as the axiom goes. So steal to your heart's content. 

Finally, and this one is super important to writers in the genres of adventure or romance or mystery or horror, or -- let's face it -- any genre (and that includes all you fancy pants literary authors who stopped calling yourself writers years ago), learn how to turn your story around when it needs a change. Holden is "coaching" Hepburn and tells her about "switches" -- that part of a story when a sudden change happens to shuffle up the character's status. Then he hits the next one, switches on switches. And so on and so forth, until Audrey Hepburn (admittedly a little drunk at this point in the film) informs the master screenwriter that great stories are simply switches on switches on switches on switches on switches on switches. 

And, by God, she's right! The best stories are those that keep characters moving and growing and changing and learning (which also means the reader is doing all those things as well). Thanks to movies like The Sixth Sense, we're accustomed now to the one BIG SWITCH, so much so that we tend to forget the importance of all the small switches that actually form the story itself. That moment when Rebecca questions the motives of her husband and Manderley. That moment when Lucky in Them realizes ghosts are real and her kids are actually in danger as much from them as from the world outside their door. That moment when Carl Good (Murder Doll) starts to question which woman is being honest with him and which is trying to have him killed. Those are the moments that lead to other moments that lead to other moments that make a story captivating to readers. 

So, yes, Paris When It Sizzles has a lot more to say about the writing life that I remembered it having, and I think most writers would benefit from giving this classic screwball rom-com another (or at least a first) viewing.

Harding McFadden: All My Songs Are Protest Songs

Harding McFadden is a Pennsylvania-based scribbler. He is the writer of two Young Adult adventure books, The Great First Impressions Trip and The Children's War (with Chester Haas), a collection of his short fiction, The Judas Hymn, and is a regular contributor to The Libertarian Enterprise online magazine. When not writing, he is reading, and spending as much time as possible with his long-suffering family. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

Tons of short stories. I mean tons. Much as I enjoy the heartburn-inducing loveliness of writing a book, even a short one, I find that I’m most at home working on shorter stuff. As such, I’ve got about a half dozen things outlined and ready to be written, to submit with fingers crossed to various anthologies and magazines, as well as another dozen or so either getting written or on the back burner for when my brain is ready to kick them out. Whatever the case or genre, I have a great, good time getting words down on paper. 

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

No specific thing that I can recall. I guess I’ve always enjoyed telling stories. When I was a kid, my cousin took my to the local comic shop and I picked some stuff up, and just fell in. It started me on the road to reading just about anything that could keep my interest. Eventually, I decided to give it a try. My first story was a dreadful little thing called Iron Wreckage, a horrible mess with dragons and knights and robots and God only knows what else. I hope I’ve gotten better since then, but I’ll leave it up to the folks who read my stuff to be the judges. At this point, I write things that I hope my kids will enjoy. They’ve been kind so far, but smart tikes that they are, they’ll move on from my stuff in favor of better horizons. 

What inspires you to write?

Life. Everything that I see or experience or read about gets hodgepodged in my head until its well blended and ready for me to write it. There are scenes in some of my stories that, while they didn’t come exactly from reality, were still influenced by that reality. In the book The Great First Impressions Trip, there’s a death scene that was very hard to write. I’ve never been in the exact situation as the witness in that scene, but as the words were coming out of me I couldn’t shake the feelings that had engulfed me at the death of a particularly close relative. As such, trying to reread the scene now, it chokes me up.  

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

Faith. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Fighting for what you feel is right, regardless of odds and repercussions. I saw an interview with Bob Dylan years ago where he said that all his songs are protest songs. I feel pretty much the same way. I have a defined sense of right and wrong, and addressing both is a very big motivating factor in most things that I write. I try to be a nice guy, and in general I try not to let my stuff get bogged down in preaching, but anyone who’s read my longer stuff knows where I stand on things. 

What would be your dream project?

I don’t have an answer for this. Anything that I write and don’t hate is a dream come true. I suppose a dream project would be something that could be seen only in retrospect: something that I write, that one of my kids thinks is the greatest thing ever written. That’d be beyond cool.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Heinlein, first and foremost. His work did more than change my take on storytelling, it changed my life, set it on a path that I’ve tried never to diverge from. Bradbury would be another. I’ve been accused of writing with flowery prose. I don’t see it, but whatever. If it’s true, it’s because of the countless hours that I’ve spent, and still spend, reading Bradbury’s beautiful, poetic words. Add to that personal giants like L. Neil Smith, Victor Koman, Herman Wouk, and recent discoveries like Bill Webb, and you can get a feel for where my brain’s at. And I’d be crap if I didn’t add Chuck Dixon and Mike Baron to this list. I’ve never read any other writers whose sole goal seems to be pure entertainment. Every word is a joy. Second to none. 

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

Sad to admit it, but the first book, The Children’s War. I still like it, and I’m proud that we managed to get it done, but there are a lot of places where I look at it, and think, “Wow, I could have done that better.” That being said, I still enjoy it, but I’m my own worst critic: all I see are the worts. Something that I did manage to change for the better would be a short story, “Casual Blasphemies,” published in The Idolaters of Cthulhu a few years back. The thing was written in a rush, so there was no time to revise or smooth out. When I read it in the collection, I was practically reading it for the first time. It trucked along just fine, until a paragraph in the center ruined it for me. Before and after that paragraph the story was quiet, kind of subtle. I still enjoy the atmosphere. But that one paragraph was too graphic for the story it was in, and as such ticked me off. When I was putting together the collection of my shorter stuff, The Judas Hymn, I chucked the paragraph and put in something quieter. Managed to save the whole story for me, even if it did drop about 100 words from the manuscript. 

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

Neither, and both. Saying that it’s an art feels like making it something mystical or magical; likewise saying that it’s a science is just too dry. In truth, it’s a job. Whether you’re selling or not, you’re writing to get a point across. You sit down at your typewriter or computer or pad of paper, and you empty your mind out on it. Take it seriously, by all means, but don’t attempt to make it into something God-like, or make yourself out to be the Einstein of fiction. Do your job, do it well, but never make the mistake of thinking that you’ll be that one in a hundred million folks whose words can change someone’s world. You’re a guide: be a good one.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Getting it done. I write a bit every day. Hardly ever more than 1,000 words a day, but at least that many. If I try to force it, everything turns to crap. To avoid this, I’ll think about what I want to write for hours, getting my thousand-sh words down in my head to just about what I want, then typing them up. If I get more than that, the more’s the better. Sometimes things explode unexpectedly. A few weeks back, I managed to get a short story that I’d co-written with my oldest into the upcoming issue of Airship 27’s Mystery Man (& Women). There were many technical delays, so much so that I was finishing the thing up months after I’d wanted. Though in those months, I’d managed to flesh out the story in my head to the point of knocking out the final 10,000 words in about two days. I haven’t been that productive since I was 18, and a terrible, hallucinatory flue allowed me to get 20,000 words in two days. Unsellable garbage, but it was there. 

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

Honestly, I’ve only got one friend who’s also a writer: Chester Haas, who wrote The Children’s War with me. We ship stories back and forth, but that’s about it. Facebook and other social media outlets have allowed me to come into contact with other folks that I read, but that’s different. With them, it’s more along the lines of reading something they’ve written, and thinking to myself, “Dang, that was good!” Then I get back to my own stuff, and hope that someone, somewhere will have the same kind of reaction that I just did, only about my words.

What does literary success look like to you?

Being able to live comfortably off my writing income. That’s it. No world fame or large contracts, or anything like that. Just making enough cash from what I write to sustain comfortably. That’d be nice.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

Sure: as previously stated, I’ve got a new short coming out in Mystery Men (& Women) #7. I’m more excited about it than about anything other than that first sale. It’s my daughter’s first published story, and I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she gets to hold a copy in her hands. I couldn’t be prouder. 

For more information, visit: 

• My Amazon page
• L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise
• My Facebook page.

Motivational Monday -- You Are What Your Mind Eats

 

[LInk] Writer Needs: An Island, a Tower, and a Cat

by Dana Mentink

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Um, bleed, Mr. Hemingway? Those are not words that inspire the creative spirit. Granted, we all aren’t penning Nobel Prize-worthy fiction, but there must be something the aspiring writer can take away from the life of this literary icon, aside from the need to give up a pint or two of our life’s blood.

When I think of Hemingway, it takes me to a tropical island which is deeply entwined with my own family’s experience. Instead of bleeding onto the page, let’s take a little jaunt over to Cuba, climb up a tower, and hang out with some cats, why don’t we? Here’s the first inspiration from Hemingway’s tropical lifestyle.

Find yourself an island. Lovingly known as ‘Papa’ to the Cuban people, Hemingway moved to the island in 1940 and stayed there for twenty years. My father and mother both shared the same island home. Dad’s father, born in Guantanamo, moved the family from Central Ermita to Matahambre to Santa Lucia as his work shifted from the sugar mills to the copper mine. Like Hemingway, my parents basked in the exceptional warmth of the Cuban people, the beauty of a Caribbean paradise. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect locale for a writer to pen that magnum opus?

But nothing is perfect, is it? Suddenly there was Castro and the beautiful things were stripped away until all that was left for my father’s family was the contents of their suitcases as they fled the revolution, my mother’s side having escaped a bit earlier. Hemingway left his island home too, never to return, dying by his own hand in Idaho a year later.

So what if that idyllic writing locale is not to be? Then we must find a more mundane place for our dreams and stories. For my parents, it led them to the golden California sunshine. This noisy suburbia is home for me too, no sand, no surf, just traffic and leaf blowers, but the words get written just the same. No island, no problem. Life is a series of adjustments, after all.

Read the full article: https://strandmag.com/writer-needs-an-island-a-tower-and-a-cat/

[Link] Yes, Steinbeck Wrote a Werewolf Novel. Don’t Expect to Read It.

A scholar of American literature at Stanford says it’s worth publishing. The agents representing the Steinbeck estate strongly disagree. 

by Heather Murphy

Nine years before John Steinbeck published his Pulitzer Prize-winning historical masterpiece, “The Grapes of Wrath,” he was working on a lighthearted detective novel featuring a werewolf.

The manuscript, “Murder at Full Moon,” was completed in 1930 but was never published. A single copy has been sitting, mostly forgotten, in an archive in Texas since 1969. It includes drawings by Steinbeck himself.

A scholar of American literature at Stanford University is pushing for the book to be published, but the agents for Steinbeck’s estate vehemently refused this week, after the effort was featured in The Guardian.

The professor, Gavin Jones, is undeterred. He dug “Murder at Full Moon” out of the archive at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin while working on a book about Steinbeck. “I’d love to see it published,” he said.

Read the full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/books/steinbeck-werewolf-novel.html

OPEN SUBMISSIONS CALL FOR ‘PURGATORY'-A KIMBERLY RICHARDSON’S PULP GOTHIC ANTHOLOGY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INSANITY OR SOMETHING MORE? FAR AWAY FROM HEAVEN OR STEPS CLOSER TO HELL- OPEN SUBMISSIONS CALL FOR ‘PURGATORY'-A KIMBERLY RICHARDSON’S PULP GOTHIC ANTHOLOGY

Known for her unique work in various genres, author Kimberly Richardson invites other authors into a corner of her imagination with an open submission call for PURGATORY, an anthology to be a part of KIMBERLY RICHARDSON’S PULP GOTHIC author imprint with Pro Se Productions.

Dr. Wellington Stanford IV is the new head doctor assigned to Purgatory, a mental institution located in a small town in England named Wytchewood during the late Victorian/Early Edwardian era. The Doctor arrives to Purgatory and notices that all is not what it seems: patients are dressed in clothing from all periods of time (Ancient, Medieval, even futuristic) and they tell him that they were not meant to be at the facility. Also, the town area appears to be in a perpetual state of Summer turning to Autumn. The leaves that fall to the ground one day are found to be on the trees the next day. None of the patients ever have visitors.

There are nine nurses and they keep to themselves when they are not taking care of the patients. They range in age and size, yet they all share one thing in common - they all have brilliant blue eyes. When one of them looks at someone, that person feels something tugging deep within them. One patient ranted that the nurses were witches who met outside in the night to plan their activities. Dr. Stanford believes none of it, since he is a man of reason and science. However, the Doctor does hear the sound of a flute every night.

The patients suddenly appear at the entrance with no baggage, yet they have a look of terror and wonder when the doors to Purgatory suddenly appear before them. The patients are male and female, with some children as well, though it’s the children that look the most haunted.

Are You ready to enter Purgatory?

Writers wanting to make proposals should request the anthology bible by email to submissions@prose-press.com. Proposals should be a minimum of three paragraphs and should be written outlining the full story. This anthology is designed for six stories, each story being 5,000 words in length. If the proposal is accepted, the story will be due within 90 days of acceptance. With that being said, the volume WILL NOT BE SUBMITTED FOR EDITING OR SCHEDULED FOR PUBLISHING until the volume is full based on number of accepted proposals, not completed stories. Payment will be royalty-based.

Check out Pro Se Productions at www.prose-press.com. Follow Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Getting to Know... Austin S. Camacho

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

My most recent novel, The Wrong Kind, is the seventh starring African-American private eye, Hannibal Jones. In it, a distraught woman hires Jones to track down her daughter who has run away, trying to escape the homeless shelter life her mother has come to accept. No sooner has Hannibal found Connie Blanco than he finds himself entwined in a gang war and a murder. The corpse is barely cold before a second murder follows and Hannibal finds himself entangled in a complex plot, and the mastermind is NONE of the people you suspect.

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

Funny story. I’m a lifelong mystery fan. One day I was reading a novel and halfway thru it I knew everything that was going to happen. I commented aloud, “I could do better than this!” My wife gave me that look and said, “sure you could.” That debate became a challenge, and I actually set out to write a book to prove her wrong. The result was The Troubleshooter.

What inspires you to write?

Two things. First, every time I watch the news I play this “what if” game where I look at the story and think of an alternate set of facts that would result in the same evidence we see. (Cop publicly kills a citizen – but maybe he was paid to kill him cuz the citizen is really a spy... OR maybe someone has the cop’s family hostage forcing him to do this… OR…) The other thing is, I read other authors and think, “I want to learn to be THIS good!”

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

Mysteries are all about motivations. I like to explore what drives rich people do to what they do, as opposed to what drives the rest of us. I like to look at life for outsiders (Hannibal is mixed race so he doesn’t really fit in anywhere.) And I like to look at good things that might look like bad things. (For example, Hannibal thinks he’s chivalrous but others may see him as chauvinist.)

What would be your dream project?

I would love to work on a screenplay - with an experienced screenwriter – to create a Hannibal Jones TV show starring Shemar Moore.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Raymond Chandler’s prose. Ross MacDonald for plots. Elmore Leonard for characters. Walter Mosley for social context.

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

When I re-read my first novel, The Troubleshooter, there are places where I cringe at word choices, transitions, some of the dialog feels dated… my more recent work is just smoother. And I know the characters better. I’d go back and totally rewrite it.

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

Storytelling is an art form, yes, but writing is primarily about technique. Talent is all you need to come up with a good story, but TELLING a story well, that’s a craft you have to hone with study and practice, and reading the greats to figure out how they made you react the way they wanted to. 

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

The hardest part for me is pacing. When events are racing I want to race. And when I have an important clue to drop, I need to surround it with distractions. You can’t skip over the quiet times and you can’t rush thru the exciting times. To create suspense you have to hold back when you want to jump ahead. All of that is very hard.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

Two ways. First, I’m part of a very talented critique group. Targeted critique from writers I consider my peers or betters is invaluable. Also, other authors give me much-needed inspiration. When I attend a conference and am surrounded by authors it recharges my batteries and drives me back to the keyboard. I helped start the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Con primarily for the networking and fellowship it provides. 

What does literary success look like to you?

True success would come in three parts. 1. A hundred thousand people reading one of my novels. 2. Authors I admire telling me they like my work (this one I’ve got.) 3. Seeing any of my characters on the screen. 

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

Although my agent is currently shopping a novel with a new character, a female urban assassin, and I’m working on the next Hannibal Jones mystery, my focus is really on the 8th Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Con in September. A 3-day affair with Hank Phillippi Ryan and Sherrilyn Kenyon as keynotes, this thing has a lot of moving parts but If you’re a writer or an avid reader, you should make plans to be there this year! (https://creaturescrimesandcreativity.com/)

For more information, visit:

Readers can learn more about my work on my website or check me out on Facebook.  And everyone is welcome to send me a note or ask questions at ascamacho@hotmail.com especially if you’d like to join a meeting of your book club – I can be anywhere through Zoom.

Movie Reviews for Writers: Paris When It Sizzles

There's a huge difference between the story in your head pre-formed and the actual work of getting it down onto paper or in a digital file. That's the premise this screwball comedy with Audrey Hepburn and William Holden is based on. 

Holden is a screenwriter down to the wire with only days to turn in a full 138-page script he hasn't even started writing other than seeing a vague outline of a story in his head called The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower. Audrey Hepburn is his typist who is both bewildered and entranced by the way Holden approaches his craft (or avoids the business end of it in particular). As Holden creates the story, and then re-creates it over and over, the scene plays out as described featuring Tony Curtis as the foil boyfriend for Hepburn's leading lady. As the story grows and changes, the romance blossoms (because this is old-school Hollywood after all). And there's your plot. 

But you know from my reviews, that's not what I looking into here. 

So, just what does Paris When It Sizzles actually have to say about writing via this zany rom-com from the bygone days of Hollywood's classic flicks?

I think the movie lays out it premise clearly in the scene where Holden and Hepburn meet. After a little bit of flirty wit between the two, she asked point-blank where is the script she is supposed to type for him. He immediately grabs a stack of blank paper and proceeds to place plain, white sheets all over the flat, one at a time, as he describes scene after scene: opening scene, a girl in black on the Eiffel Tower, the girl and the man meet, they fall in love, then BAM!, tension when an obstacle occurs, the girl leaves, the whole romance shifts to the other foot, a cat drenched in the rain, and then the studio-rent-paying, popcorn selling kiss before the movies fades out. 

While the sudden kiss leaves Hepburn fluttering, she's not fooled by his act of literary bravado. Instead, she gathers her wits, and basically says, "So you haven't actually written any of it?"

To which, Holden describes his normal process of drinking and partying and gambling 98 percent of his contracted time away and then banging out a script in the last few days, one that he's ultimately unhappy with, but lets the paycheck soothe his unsatisfied writer's conscience. 

This is where the relationship between the two really shines. The imagined stories tell the real plot of a budding romance, hidden between spies, vampires, the Old West, almost anything the viewer could imagine. This is where the hard work of writing the script is done, one idea after another, editing and re-editing, throwing ideas away and replacing them with other (sometimes better, sometimes not) ideas. And this is the "moral" for us as writers when we watch this fun little flick -- ideas are gold, but getting them out, that's where the story actually happens. The hard work, the writing things down, the knocking around of ideas (sometimes even off another person), that stuff is platinum to an idea's gold. 

Even for lazy writers who waste 98 percent of their schedule. (Maybe especially so.)

Read the second part of this review.

Don't Tell the Truth -- The Key to Intriguing Stories

For our next roundtable, let's talk about the importance of lying to your readers. No, no you as a writer, but your characters lying. 

Perhaps the easiest genre to realize that some of your characters (or maybe all) need to be untruthful is the mystery genre, whether hard-boiled, cozy, procedural, urban fantasy, whatever. All genres, however, can benefit from dishonest characters, from Victorian adventure (think about Dicken's characters) to romantic leads the reader is supposed to root for? Why are dishonest characters so necessary?

Raymond Embrack: I am liking making the hero a liar to add imperfections. And when he is caught in a lie he goes "Clearly I lied. Bullshit is a tool for experts."

Marian Allen: Dishonest characters add another obstacle to the characters' journey through the story arc and another source of conflict/tension. The most intense way to handle this is to have the reader know something another character doesn't know. Prime example: in Breaking Bad, when Walt skirts around telling Jesse about Jane. The viewer is in agony, yelling at the screen, "Don't! Don't tell!"

Gordon Dymowski: Dishonest characters provide great complications to a story. Regardless of genre, having someone either hold the cards close to their chest and/or being outright deceptive provides a greater opportunity for storytelling. If every character in a story were completely honest, most stories would simply be laundry lists of events. Dishonesty provides for richer storytelling and greater potential for building atmosphere.

Sean Taylor: For me, dishonest characters are a must, as everyone my MCs encounter is out for something and they tend to keep that something close to the vest, as the saying goes. Nobody dishes out all the info in a first pass, and that's what keeps my protagonists having to search for what's really happening in the story. Anything less would be boring for the reader. 

John French: In the first story in one of my first books (Past Sins) the CSI narrator is told "Everyone lies). Even the one character who does not lie manages to shade things by telling literal truths. The thing is, to me at least, that it is important that the writers not lie to their readers. They can omit, they can distract, but they can't tell them and out and out lie. And therein lies the writing.

What are some efficient and effective ways to work dishonesty into the mouths of your characters, both those readers aren't supposed to like and those they are supposed to really love? 

Gordon Dymowski: One way of establishing a character's dishonesty is by establishing inconsistencies between what they say and what happens - in Columbo, the title character never breaks the case with an insight; it's by pointing out the inconsistencies with a slightly annoying sense of detail. (Or the "just one more thing" factor). Another is through showing how distorted a character's thinking has become - many of Jim Thompson's novels (like THE KILLER INSIDE ME or SAVAGE NIGHT) provide both the lead character's perspective as well as how that perspective may be slightly skewed in the wrong direction.

Marian Allen: If you tell your story in third person, you can show characters experience things, then let them lie or omit important things. If it's first person, you can give them a "tell" that lets your point-of-view character know they're being dishonest, or have what they say contradict what somebody else says. There's also the case of characters who leave things out because they don't think it's important or assume somebody else has told or that the person they're talking to already knows. (House: "Everybody lies.")

Sean Taylor: Having little things change in the repeating of a story or subtle details be different from person to person. That's a trick I learned from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct books. It's not the big lies that usually get people caught. It's the little ones that they can't keep all the moving parts straight about. 

The reverse downside to dishonest characters being suddenly found out or admitting their lies can be that the reader feels cheated (particularly in a mystery). The more natural it fits the character, the better. What are some tidbits you're learned to keep readers from feeling cheated at a sudden discovery or lie found out?

Marian Allen: You have to lay the groundwork. You have to let the reader know the situation and characters so well that, when a revelation comes, the reader goes, "WHAT? WHAT? ...Oh, of COURSE A would lie about that to B!" Or, "Naturally, she was lying. She couldn't tell the truth if you paid her to."

Gordon Dymowski: Shading a lie with some elements of truth can help ease the reader into accepting that a character has been dishonest. Avoiding the cliches of the "big reveal" (Non-spoiler: read THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD for an example of how *not* to do this) can make accepting the truth easier. In my novella "A Town Called Malice" for MASKED RIDER VOL. 3, I hid the 'big reveal" beneath layers of duplicity, as well as by focusing on an "obvious" antagonist to hamper the story. (Both the obvious and 'real' antagonists were dishonest; one just served as a kind of MacGuffin)

John French: (To paraphrase) There are lies. There are damned lies. And there is misdirection. In fiction, just as in real life, people lie., especially in mystery fiction. Suspects lie to the police, police lie to suspects, etc. I think the key is to let the reader know when someone MIGHT be lying. 

Sean Taylor: Like I said earlier, drop in enough hints through either characterization (i.e., you expect this lout to lie simply because he's a lout) or through subtle details changing in a character's story. Of course, you can always flip this too and have the lout be completely honest against type. 

Emily Leverett: I think readers have to know the lie was spottable. I mean, it can't just be "and then this totally surprising thing is revealed, that there was no way to even guess at happening!" That leaves us feeling cheated. I think one of the best examples is still the Sixth Sense. You're given everything you need to know--even told straight up--what's going on, and most people (me included) are good little movie watchers, and fill in all the blanks, but we fill them in incorrectly, because the film knows how most folks watch movies, and holds that against them. The main character isn't quite lying--except in the sense that he's lying to himself and refusing to acknowledge that he's dead. There are SO MANY chances for the audience to figure it out.