Just Downloaded to my Kindle

Part of me is amazed that I can read classic pulps on my phone. We're living in the future.

Now Reading

I'll admit it--one of my guilty pleasures is The Suicide Squad by Emile Tepperman.

A New Review of Dead Sheriff: Zombie Damnation

This one comes from Tales from the Bookworm's Lair.

Current and Future Reading

For those who are interested in this sort of thing.

Reading Now

Reading Next

New Review and Possums, Too

Here's a new review of The Dead Sheriff.

And my latest column in the Ashland Beacon concerns The Possum Ranch...it's on page 2.

Happy Mother's Day

I'll be spending some time today with my wonderful mother and, if you're fortunate enough to still have your mother, I hope you can do the same. 

For a tribute to my own mom, check out my column in this week's Ashland Beacon. It's on page 2.

Doc Savage: Skull Island

Before I launch into this, I want to cover a couple of things, in case I review more of these new adventures of Doc Savage.

First, the books cost too damn much. $24.95 is a hefty tag for a trade paperback. There are probably some financial necessities at work here. They’re selling to a niche readership, so they won’t be moving Stephen King numbers. Also, everybody has to make money. I get it. I just wish the price was closer to $14.95, so I don’t have to do so much soul-searching (and wallet-searching) before I order.

Secondly, these new Doc novels are generally (with a couple of exceptions) way too long. One of the appeals of the original Doc pulp novels (and most pulp novels, for that matter) was the length. You could easily cruise through one in an afternoon or two. The best of Lester Dent’s Doc Savages was the literary equivalent of being duct-taped to a rocket and blasted to the moon. Again, I’m assuming publishing conditions demand a longer product to justify the price. I’m just not sure the Doc Savage fan is getting the best possible product.

Now that I’ve gotten my objections out of the way, I’ll tell you that neither complaint applies to Doc Savage: Skull Island.

This is an original novel by Will Murray, author, pulp scholar and agent for the estate of the late Lester Dent, Doc Savage’s original main scribe.

The novel in brief: Doc Savage meets King Kong.

The novel begins after the fall of Kong from the Empire State Building where, as we all know, Doc Savage operates from the 86th floor. Doc was out of town during Kong’s rampage, but returns during the aftermath, and it falls to the Man of Bronze and his crew to remove the great beast’s corpse. Kudos to Murray for the nice role given to Renny, my favorite among Doc’s men, who engineers Kong’s transportation out of midtown.

Doc reveals to his men that he has met Kong before, and that he and the big ape saved each others’ lives.

The rest of the novel is the retelling of that saga from 1920, when Doc, a veteran of the Great War, joins his father to search the seas for Doc’s grandfather, the legendary and near-mythological clipper captain Stormalong Savage.

To reveal any more of the plot would deny you the delight of this excellent adventure.

Murray has been writing Doc novels since the 90s, and this is easily his most ambitious and most successful. Unlike many of the Murray’s earlier Docs, this one does not feel bloated, nor does it suffer from the slightly disjointed narrative that has occasionally occurred, I assume,  from trying to make Dent’s original prose fit into a Murray novel.

Instead, Doc Savage: Skull Island reads like one of Murray’s Destroyer novels: loose, fast-paced, thrill-a-minute. If this is what he can do with Doc when freed from the constraints of following 80-year-old plots and discarded bit of Dent’s novels, then I hope Murray can find a way to produce more Doc Savage novels whole-cloth from his imagination.

Doc Savage fans will love the many bits of lore revealed over the course of the book, from family history to the name of Doc’s mother. Fans of adventure novels will cheer a story that reads like Clive Cussler with the boring parts removed. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Murray tried his hand at a mainstream adventure thriller in the near future. Doc Savage: Skull Island is that good. For King Kong aficionados, there are many nods to the 1933 film, and the action on Skull Island is worthy of Burroughs or Robert E. Howard.

I only have one gripe: the author is inordinately fascinated with Doc’s trilling sound, the one affectation of the original pulp novels that I’ve always detested. On the other hand, if you’re down with the trill, then this book is practically blemish free.

Doc Savage: Skull Island is mandatory reading for Doc fans, and well-worth the price. It should be the same for anyone who loves a good, old fashioned adventure novel.

Best News of the Week

From Variety: 
‘Iron Man 3′ Director Shane Black Eyeing Sony’s ‘Doc Savage’ As Next Film

Read the full article here.

Come back tomorrow for my review of Doc Savage: Skull Island.

Sabrina and Me

Just because it makes Monday a little better.

Links

My latest column for Horror Word is mostly about the writing of Dead Earth: Sanctuary. You can read it here.

In this week's column for the Ashland Beacon, I try to answer reader mail. It's on page 2.

Another Dead Earth: Sanctuary Review

A nice one, from HellBound Times.

If it gives you the urge to order the book, you can do it here.

Judging Dead Earth

The first review is in for Dead Earth: Sanctuary, courtesy of Hellnotes. You can read it here.

And since I've run the cover of the book several times in posts, I have opted to give you a photo of a kitten with an automatic weapon.

A Good Mail Day

You Have Found Sanctuary

Or you will, when you click this link.

Dead Earth: Sanctuary is the third book in the series written by David T. Wilbanks and me. The first was the introductory novella Dead Earth: The Green Dawn. The second was Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road. Both are available by clicking on the titles.

For those who don't relish scrolling down a few entries, here's the book's description:

After stopping a madman who controlled an undead army and barely surviving the destruction of the aliens responsible for the plague that decimated humanity, Jubal Slate leads a small band of humans across the shattered landscape of America, fighting off the forces of the living and the dead. The group races north pursuing a legend, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale: a town protected from the walking dead. Tired of the war and his nomadic life, Slate follows the path to Sanctuary, even while doubting its existence. Along a journey filled with hordes of zombies, Slate and his companions face new enemies and find themselves pursued by the final weapon of the vanquished necros. Is sanctuary even possible on a dead Earth? And if so, is the cost more than Jubal Slate is willing to pay?
Even after alien invasion and zombie armies, Slate will discover that the worst horrors are home grown.

Here are some other Dead Earth: Sanctuary links to make it convenient for you to purchase the book in whatever format you prefer:

Paperback

Kindle 

Nook

Audiobook

Kobo

I hope you enjoy the novel, which is chock full of action, blood and guts and zombies, and maybe--just maybe--some nice character moments. As always feedback is appreciated.

The Dead Sheriff in Rue Morgue

Rue Morgue is one of the best magazines covering the horror field. For my money, they're the best, because they cover comics, music and books, in addition to films. So to find out that they reviewed The Dead Sheriff, however briefly, is a pretty big deal to me. Here's the review. If you're a horror fan, please support Rue Morgue. You won't be disappointed.

Dead Sheriffs and Pickles

Geek's Podcast has a nice review of The Dead Sheriff. Peruse it here.

And this week's column in the Ashland Beacon is another stirring tale from deep within the Pactolus Pickle Processing Plant. You'll find it here on page 2.

The King Rises Again

I'm a little behind in reminding you of this. It's been a crazy week here at Casa de Justice, causing the schedule to swirl right down the toilet. 

This week's column in the Freakin' Ashland Beacon concerns another encounter with the semi-retired King of Rock .n. Roll, Elvis. You can read it here on page 2.

New Dead Earth

The little zombies 'n' aliens series that keeps on giving is back. Or, will be back soon.

I don't have a release date, but Audible lists the audiobook as being available on March 26.

Here's the description from Amazon:

After stopping a madman who controlled an undead army and barely surviving the destruction of the aliens responsible for the plague that decimated humanity, Jubal Slate leads a small band of humans across the shattered landscape of America, fighting off the forces of the living and the dead. The group races north pursuing a legend, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale: a town protected from the walking dead. Tired of the war and his nomadic life, Slate follows the path to Sanctuary, even while doubting its existence. Along a journey filled with hordes of zombies, Slate and his companions face new enemies and find themselves pursued by the final weapon of the vanquished necros. Is sanctuary even possible on a dead Earth? And if so, is the cost more than Jubal Slate is willing to pay?

Even after alien invasion and zombie armies, Slate will discover that the worst horrors are home grown.

Yowzah!

I'll let you know when the book is available for pre-order.

Now back to writing the next Dead Sheriff.  

Sports' Most Shameful Secret

It's juicing.

Juicing in checkers.

And, finally, somebody's talking about it.

That would be me, and I do it right here on page 2.

Tonight's Reading Material

The Flu Done Shooed

My second bout with the flu (or something that seems very flu-y) has come and gone, so I can peek out long enough to update a couple of things. 

First, my column this week in the Ashland Beacon answers reader questions. As always, it's on page 2.

And, tonight, I'll once again venture into that Internet radio den of despair known as The Funky Werepig, joined this time by my Pod of Horror co-host, the Goddess of Horror World, Nanci Kalanta. You can listen live tonight at 9:00 PM eastern. I'm told there's a chat room, too.

Death of the Death Star

The recent news item about the US rejecting an online petition asking for the government to construct a Death Star caught the attention of a lot of people. I found this on the Tumblr feed of Future Journalism Project:

The White House responds to the Death Star Petition
In response to a petition at We the People, Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, writes:

Even though the United States doesn’t have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we’ve got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we’re building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.

Besides, he adds, “The Administration does not support blowing up planets.”

Well played. Very well played.

The Artless Art of Whining

I read a lot of blogs, primarily those of writers. I probably read too many of them. But discovering the struggles of other writers makes me feel better when my own writing isn’t going well. Misery loves etc., etc.

I used to read the blog of a writer who had some prominence in my youth. He hasn’t done much in a long, long time and he spews a lot of anger toward publishers. He expresses it on a regular basis, then every couple of weeks he tells his readers how lucky he is because he has a great family, and the evil publishers and Internet trolls who are trying to destroy him can never touch that.

It’s a great sentiment, except that it’s delivered in the tone of a man trying to convince himself, as if he’s chanting a mantra to ward off monsters under his bed.

It makes me a little sad for him, and I’ve decided not to check in on his page as often as I had. I'm sure the gentleman in question is working through some important and long-festering issues, and I wish him all the best with that.

I bring this up to ask a favor: if I ever get mopey and self-pitying here (and face it, we all have our moments) and I go on too long about it, you have my permission to smack me in the head.

Now, since this was a decidedly unfunny subject, here’s a local news reporter who tries to say “asphalt” and says “asshole” instead:

On-Air Justice

 

Photo by Kevin Goldy/The Daily Independent

My wife is now doing the afternoon show at my radio station. It's great to be able to listen to her again on a daily basis (she's hasn't had a regular show since the late 80s, though she's on the air with me for a segment every morning). 

One of our local newspapers did a story on her return to the airwaves, and you can read it here.

Nothing Butt The Truth

My column in this week's Freakin' Ashland Beacon is all about the true, totally non-embellished story of my butt surgery from some years ago. Yes, I once again unselfishly make an ass of myself for you, my readers. Read all about it on page 2 by clicking here.

A New Beginning

 My first column of the year for The Freakin' Ashland Beacon, and my first under my exciting new week-to-week contract, is up now. You can read it here. It's on page 2.

Why There Wasn’t a Pod Of Horror In December

Because I have trouble saying no and I suck at time management.

That’s the simple – and basically true – answer. The more complicated one is that I have a job. It pays the bills and the mortgage and provides much-needed health insurance. And I like my job, unlike many people I know. It takes a lot of hours and it involves a certain amount of creativity and brain work. Some days when I finish, there’s hardly any gas left in the tank for other things, like writing.

I write a weekly newspaper column and a monthly web column (which I’m late with) and another quarterly column.

I also have published a few books and those require a bit of behind the scenes details which would be boring to the non-writers out there.

Also, like everyone else, I have to deal with the mostly mundane details of everyday life.

And I want to write more. I have dozens of ideas for novels and stories. These ideas tug at me and sometimes wake me in the middle of the night, demanding to be written down. The real agony (and, believe me, there is true pain involved here) comes from not having nearly enough time to do it all.

They say you make time for the things that are important to you. So here’s my priority list:

1)    My family.

2)    Staying employed.

3)    Writing.

4)    Pod of Horror.

I love PoH. I will continue to do PoH. I will try to have a new episode by the end of this month. But a more realistic target may be February because I’m on deadline to turn in a new book on January 31st. 

What Was I Going To Say? Oh, Yeah...

Marvelous Mash-Ups

Here are a couple of great examples of comic book team-ups that never happened but should've, from the cool site Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues.

 

If this were a movie I would start lining up now.

The Doc-Cap crossover would have had 12-year-old me peeing down both legs. As it stands now, I may need to buy some Depends.

It's a Holiday Tradition Around Here

We call it The Battle for the Box. ESPN, where are the cameras?

New Contract

Read about it in this week's column in the Ashland Beacon, along with my message to the Mayans. It's all on page 2.

Evil Flatwoods Tree Update

On today's walk I captured this image of Evil Flatwoods Tree contemplating the close of another year of evilness.

The True Meaning of Christmas...

...getting cool superhero toys.

And, you know, that peace on Earth stuff, too.

Merry Christmas!

More Fun With Ancient Mayans

Permuted Press, publisher of the Dead Earth Series, is having a "The Mayans Were Wrong Sale". From now through January 2, 2013, several of their books are $2.99 for Kindle and Nook, and this includes Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road.

You can get more details here.

So What Are YOU Doing on Christmas Eve?

My Letter to Santa

It's on page two of this week's Ashland Beacon.

Here's A Story You Don't See Every Day

"Thieves Steal Woman's Driveway".

Click on the headline for the details.

The Rhythm of the Holidays

Because we are a classy outfit here at Ye Olde DoJ, we now delve in to the most sophisticated of the arts. So sit back with your snifter of egg nog and enjoy...

The Charlie Brown School of Dance.

Shop For Holiday Chills

At the request of a few people I’ve put together an easy to access index of some of my books for your online Christmas purchasing pleasure. These would be for the horror lover on your list, although the Dead Earth books certainly have a lot of science fiction elements, too.

Just click the highlighted text to browse or order.

Let’s start with my latest, The Dead Sheriff: Zombie Damnation.

Here’s my collection of stories and novellas (including the long-out-of-print Deadneck Hootenanny), Looking at the World with Broken Glass in My Eye. And the Kindle version is still 99¢. Zoinks!

Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road in print.

And the audio version.

If that person on your list is a reader of ebooks, Dead Earth: The Green Dawn is till free.

Finally, to give you a reason to stay up on a cold winter night, here’s a book of scary holiday stories I edited called Appalachian Winter Hauntings.

Obviously, it’s too close to the holidays to sign books but if you buy one and want it personalized after the Christmas rush, drop me a line.

As always, your support means the world to me. Thanks!

Haven't We All Been There?

That's a mighty profound philosophy summed up in just a few words.

And it's making me hungry.

If I Ran the Holidays, and Other Festive Thoughts

Hey, bros and bro-ettes!

It's time for my weekly column in the Ashland Beacon, festooned with squishy holiday goodness.

You can check it out in its usual spot on page two of the paper. But take care--whatever is read cannot be unread. At least not without a sizable amount of alcohol

Double Wide Trailer

For your Tuesday viewing pleasure, a twin spin of movie trailers.

First, The Lone Ranger.




And here's the new trailer for Man of Steel.

Callie: Demon Cat or Just Powered By A Thermonuclear Core?

You decide.

Personally, I think it's a little of both. Or she just gets really excited about her toy basket. Either way, I'm keeping my distance. I've seen her toast bread with those eye beams.

Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot

 Here are Carl Sagan's words and voice set to a fitting piece of animation, a tribute that I found very moving. Or maybe I haven't had enough coffee.

Pale Blue Dot from ORDER on Vimeo.

Because Nothing Says Lazy Sunday...

...like water balloons to the face in super slo-mo.

♫ It's the Most Frightening Time of the Year♬

That guy is waiting on you. And he's not very patient. The man in the hat knows when you've been naughty. And, honestly, naughty is all he cares about.

So grab some dark winter scares right here.

Teasing Trek

Here's the first teaser trailer from J. J. Abrams' sequel to Star Trek. I enjoyed Abrams' reboot for the franchise.

 I'm on board with dropping the numbers for the sequel titles, with Star Trek Into Darkness instead of Star Trek 2. 

As soon as I can find Abrams' email address I'll send him my pitch for the third Trek film. It's the probing story of the Enterprise's encounter with an intergalactic proctologist. I call it... Star Trek Into Your Colon.



(By the way, the villainous narrator is Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the title character in the BBC's Sherlock.)

Hey, Kids! Comics!

I love me some funny books. That was my mother’s name for comics when I was a kid (and it probably still is, come to think of it), although it wasn’t funny where she burned them all in the trash barrel in the backyard. Nope, not funny at all. If I ever go into therapy that will be topic #1.

I don’t read many comics at all these days, for a couple of reasons. I’ll talk about them later this week. For now, I want to direct you to my new Horror World column. The subject this time is, you guessed it, comic books. Of the scary variety.

You can dig into it here.

Now Available For Your Yuletide Reading Pleasure

My latest column for the Ashland Beacon, in which I spray holiday joy everywhere and reveal my loathing for “Dominic, the Italian Christmas Donkey”.

You can read it online here, on page 2.

Great. Now that friggin’ donkey song is stuck in my head again.

Do Not Watch This

This is a video compilation of people falling off treadmills.

Speaking as someone who is so uncoordinated he once broke his foot on a treadmill, I can say with some authority that this is wrong, wrong, wrong.

So do not watch this and do not laugh. That would be, you know,  wrong.

 

Archeology Made Easy

North Korea just announced the discovery of an ancient unicorn lair.

They discovered this wondrous site because of a nearby sign that said..."Unicorn Lair". It must be a good time to be a North Korean archeologist. Or a North Korean sign maker with a sense of humor.

Oh, if only Indiana Jones had it this easy.

You can get the full story, such as it is, right here.

In case you're planning a relaxing vacation to Pyongyang (I hear it's lovely and totalitarian this time of year), if you meet a unicorn, don't do this:

 

So This Was Sunday

I read a lot, watched some football and wrote a short story.

Actually, the story wasn’t planned. I don’t have a market in mind and it’s pretty short. If it survives a couple of re-readings  I may post it here.

So how was your Sunday?

The Long, Strange Week in Review

This one has been a little different, with a couple of business developments that seem to point to some positive events in the future.

Sheesh. That sounded like a badly written, generic horoscope. I wonder if actual people still make up horoscopes or if the predictions are generated by software now.

On the writing side, I worked mainly on non-fiction stuff that had Looming Deadlines. I hope to be back to fiction writing tomorrow.

The week ended with a Christmas parade, for which I was honored to emcee. Here I am before the parade started with my niece, Scarlett.

                              
                                                        

Tonight we watched Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, a much more enjoyable movie than I had anticipated. It certainly had a deeper emotional richness than I had anticipated.

I haven’t seen Spielberg’s Lincoln yet. Is Abe a master of Axe Fu in that one, too?