Pulp Fever

It’s a recurring disease that hits me every summer. Suddenly, the thought of reading “legitimate” fiction is repulsive. I need grotesque and heinous villains, larger than life heroes, mayhem and hot lead.

I have no choice. I have to read pulp fiction.

Over the next couple of months I’ll read a few escapades of Doc Savage, several Spider thrillers, a couple of Phantom Detectives, A G-8 WWI adventure, maybe an Avenger or a Secret Agent X or Captain Future, supplemented with a couple of Candid Camera Kid tales and a Suicide Squad adventure.

When summer rolls around pulp becomes my crack.

I also have to write pulp fiction.

Yes, I love reading and writing horror, but the 12-year-old that still lives inside me occasionally must have his way. And he wants more pulp from my keyboard.

I hope to write a big chunk of Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods in the next few weeks.

I also have two other big pulp projects in the work, one set in the anything-can-happen blood and thunder 1930s and the other in World War 2.

I’m not sure yet where they’ll show up. Perhaps over at Pulp Nocturne, or maybe I’ll self-publish. Take it from me, nobody is getting rich from pulp fiction. At least not the writers. You write it because you have to.

By the way, new pulp fiction is becoming quite the cottage industry. There’s some good stuff being published by the next generation of pulp writers. At the same time, some of the stuff is simply awful. But that’s the way of most things.

(Quick aside: the fandom that has sprung up over the new pulp fiction is a little schizophrenic. On one hand it’s great to see a lot of enthusiasm over something I’ve loved since I was 9 years old. At the same time, the territorial fiefdom of fandom can be a little confusing. A few years ago I was invited to join a blog for pulp writers. This was about the time that a publisher (not associated with the members of the blog) was beginning a series of pulp facsimile reprints of Doc Savage and Shadow novels. I made a post about the topic on said blog, only to see the post deleted because I had violated the unstated rule of talking about a pulp project that wasn’t originated by a blog member. Later, I was asked to leave the blog because I wasn’t posting enough.

The other day I dropped in on the blog and discovered a post heralding the new series of original Doc Savage novels.

The unstated rules have apparently been rewritten.)

Anyway, the pulp fever rages and Tylenol can’t touch it. Time to dig through the boxes of moldering paper. There’s a dirigible and a tommy gun waiting for me.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods

Two new chapters of my pulp adventure novel have gone up this week. You can check them out at Pulp Nocturne.

Writing Update

It’s been a while since I’ve done this. Here are where the current writing projects stand.

Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye is done, as mentioned in the last post, and should be available in a few weeks.

Book One of The Dead Sheriff, my supernatural western series, has gone through several rounds of editing and appears to be finished. A release date has not been set but I expect it to be out by summer. Watch this space for future updates.

The third Dead Earth book continues along nicely. I would think it should be finished by the end of May, If accepted by the publisher, it could be in print early next year. Of course, that’s merely speculation on my part.

My novella The Ghosts of Logan County is nearing completion. It’s been put on hold a few times, due to the projects we’ve just discussed, and for some additional research.

Also, I continue to update Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods over at Pulp Nocturne. Work on that pulp adventure novel continues when my schedule permits. I’m having a great time writing it, and the novel is only going to get wilder as it progresses.

Other projects are bubbling just under the surface, though I am hesitant to mention them yet. I have enough on my plate, along with my job, to fill most of my writing time.

I do have a humorous horror story I want to write for an upcoming anthology. I also recently received two interesting invitations to licensed-character anthologies. I’m waiting to hear more details, including deadlines, before I commit. Anything else I sign on for has to fit into my crowded schedule or I can’t do it. This is me trying to learn a lesson from my past.

Also, Pod of Horror #65 is coming along. I’m aiming for a mid-to-late May premiere date.

Okay. You’re updated. Now it’s time for more coffee and much more typing.

Chiller Theater/Why Horror/The Dead Sheriff

This morning, The New York Times ran an article on SyFy’s so-bad-they’re-fun original movies. This line caught my attention:

Syfy’s Saturday-night movies harken back to the so-called “creature feature” days of local television. Starting on a widespread basis in the 1960s and continuing through the 1980s stations programmed off-peak hours with old horror movies like “Creature From the Black Lagoon.”

Anybody who reads or writes the stuff I love has gotten some variation of this question: “Why horror?”

(Of course, it’s sometimes phrased differently. As in Why do you read that junk/ that crap/that weird shit, and the line is delivered by someone who, upon discovering your copy of Night of the Crabs by Guy N. Smith or Salem’s Lot by Stephen King or, going back further, a copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, looks like he or she just bit into a nice steak only to find it was filled with thick, squirming maggots.)

Here’s my answer: Chiller Theater.

Chiller Theater ran on Channel 13 in Huntington, WV, from the time I was a child until sometime in the 80s. By the end, they ran the pre-packaged Elvira show and I rarely tuned in.

When I say “a child”, I mean exactly that. One of my earliest memories is a Saturday when I was sick and my parents let me stay up to watch Chiller Theater. I remember walking down the stairs from my bedroom, realizing I had never walked down those steps at night.

We moved from that house when I was four.

So this horror thing has been with me for a while.

Channel 13 (which went by the call letters WHTN when I first tuned in, then later became WOWK), unlike many stations in other markets, never had a horror host, at least that I recall. For a couple of years, they had an out of focus dude with Christmas lights on his clothes moaning about something, but I usually took advantage of his time on-screen to run to the bathroom or get a snack. Remember, those were the pre-VCR or DVR days.

During one period, Chiller Theater had Barnabas Collins doing the weekly opening. Channel 13 was an ABC affiliate at the time (they’re with CBS now) and Dark Shadows was a popular ABC daytime soap (and the only soap with vampires and werewolves). Jonathan Frid, the actor who played the tortured, blood-sucking Barnabas, made a publicity stop in Huntington, and the TV station got him to record some brief segments for Chiller.

Since Dark Shadows was also one of my favorite shows, this was awesome.

At least for the first couple of years.

After a while, it sunk in that the TV station only had Frid for a short time, and they ran the small handful of Barnabas bits over and over and over.

But, God, I loved all those horror movies. Chiller was where I was introduced to the classic Universal monsters and the darker and sexier Hammer flicks. It’s also where I saw the AIP library. Even then, I knew a lot of it was crap, but who could resist tuning in to The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow? And don’t forget, AIP also gave us all those cool Vincent Price movies based on the works of Poe that ran every few month during my adolescence.

So if you are wondering “Why horror?” it’s because of Chiller Theater. And Dark Shadows. And Famous Monsters of Filmland and Marvel Comics like Werewolf By Night and Tomb of Dracula and Ghost Rider and The Living Mummy.

***

I got some writing done this weekend, including my latest section of the third Dead Earth novel and another chapter of Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods (that’s three chapters in a week, kids) over at Pulp Nocturne.

I started revisions on The Dead Sheriff today. This is going to take more than the couple of days I set aside for it. There are so many red editorial comments on every page, it looks like the manuscript was used to clean up after a Manson Family party.

I need to hire an editor to edit my stuff before it goes to the actual editor.

Anyway, there are several good editorial suggestions regarding the plot, and I have to give them serious consideration. This will be my major project for the next week or so, along with prepping the next episode of Pod of Horror.

What’s next?

I’ll be getting back to a novella set in West Virginia. It’s a ghost story, and I did some research for it a couple of months ago. It will be good to get the story written.

After that, I’m revising a horror novel to submit to a publisher.

I also have an idea for a 12-issue horror/SF comic book series. I’d like to type up the proposal and script the first issue, but it has to sit on the back row for a while. My 2011 vow is to stick to my schedule. Besides, some ideas get better with age.

Now I need to go find a copy of The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow.

Brief Update

For those keeping score at home, I submitted the long (and long overdue) story yesterday. That's one more 2010 obligation out of the way. I'll be sure to let you know when it will be in print. Of course, the editor could always reject it, but I think it's pretty good, and regardless of what happens with it now, I'm happy I finished it.

Today, I also crossed another late assignment off my list, this one a book review.

And I put up a new chapter of Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods over at Pulp Nocturne.

That clears the schedule for a couple of days. Dave Wilbanks sent the Dead Earth 3 manuscript to me last night, so I'll be focusing on it for the next two days. Then I'll do the edits on the first Dead Sheriff prose book, which should be published in the spring. Evileye Books gave me a great editor for the series, and he provided the best notes I've ever received on a project. I'm looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and digging into it.

So far Operation Catch-Up is going well. Don't confuse it with Operation Ketchup, something I plan to combine with Operation Tater Tot later this weekend.

So how was your week?

Write On

For those who are interested, work continues on the third – and currently title-less – Dead Earth novel. I finished my first pass at my most recent section earlier today. I’ll give it a polish tomorrow and send it back to Mister Wilbanks.

It’s still very early in the proceedings, but I have a good feeling about where this one is headed. Several possible cool twists occurred to me during today’s writing, so I’ll pass those on to Dave, so he can mock them. Hopefully, at least one of the ideas will make the final cut.

After a long delay, I also posted a new chapter of Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods, my pulp adventure novel. You can check it out at Pulp Nocturne.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 11

The latest chapter of my pulp adventure novel is up now at Pulp Nocturne. You can read it or listen to the podcast.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 10

I've finally produced a new installment of Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods, my pulp adventure novel. Chapter 10 just went live at Pulp Nocturne. You can read it or listen to it or both, if you're so inclined.

I know I've made earlier pledges that Donovan was back on a weekly basis, and I've failed to keep to the schedule. So I'm not going to do that this time.

But...

Since my recent health issues have cleared up, I seem to have a more energy than the past several months. I plan to keep working on Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods until it's finished, then collect it between covers.

As always, thanks for your support.

Look Out--You May Get Some Pulp On You

Chapter 9 of my pulp adventure serial Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods is now up at Pulp Nocturne.

For those who prefer to listen to the podcast version of the serial, there will be a delay, hopefully brief, while a technical glitch is being corrected. The podcast is recorded and edited and waiting for you to hear it. I'll let you know when it's up.

UPDATE:
The podcast is now loaded and ready to go.

The Return of Donovan Pike

My pulp adventure serial Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods has returned. Chapter 8 is up now at Pulp Nocturne. You can read it, or listen to the podcast. Or both.

I think I have my life ordered enough to resume weekly posting. There's a lot of story left, and I hope Pike used his time off to catch up on his rest. He's going to need it.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 7

The prose version and podcast of the latest chapter are up now at Pulp Nocturne.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 6

The prose version and podcast are up now at Pulp Nocturne.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 5

It just went live, prose and podcast. Check it out here.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 4

The latest installment of my pulp adventure serial is live. Read it or listen to it over at Pulp Nocturne.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 3

Chapter 3 was delayed a bit because of illness, but it's up now, along with the podcast. Find it all at Pulp Nocturne.

Donovan Pike and The City of the Gods--Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of my pulp adventure serial is live. To read it or listen to the podcast, go to Pulp Nocturne.

New Pulp Fiction

I'm serializing a new pulp adventure novel at my Pulp Nocturne blog. Donovan Pike and the City of the Gods is a two-fisted action tale in the tradition of Doc Savage and Indiana Jones.

My goal is to add a new chapter every week, though I think we all know there will be weeks where my work schedule and other writing will make that impossible. But I'm pretty sure I won't miss too many weeks.

I will also podcast each chapter of the novel for those who prefer audiobooks.

You can read and hear it at Pulp Nocturne.