A (Black) Gat in the Hand – The ‘Lost’ Mike & Trixie Intro

A (Black) Gat in the Hand – The ‘Lost’ Mike & Trixie Intro

Comments 0 Comment

“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep

(Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun)

So… I agreed to write an introduction for The Complete Cases of Mike & Trixie: Volume One, from Steeger Books. That intro is below. It is not, however, in that particular book, as I missed the deadline in epic Douglas Adams fashion. It was entirely my fault, and I’m fortunate that Steeger didn’t drop me entirely. Since this essay has just been sitting around taking up space on my hard drive, I decided to run it in A (Black) Gat. It’s pretty self-explanatory and covers the first four stories in the series. I like T.T. Flynn, and maybe I could write an intro for Volume Two…

Most pulpsters earned less than a penny a word, with the legendary Black Mask offering a princely three cents! So it comes as no surprise that not only did writers produce at great volume, – some, like Erle Stanley Gardner, could crank out over one million words a year – but they also wrote for multiple magazines in different genres. Robert E. Howard, best known for Conan (Hollywood added ‘the Barbarian’), wrote boxing yarns, Westerns, spicy adventures, horror, historicals, and even mysteries; submitting stories to almost anyone who would pay, it seems. Like his contemporaries, he was just trying to make a living as a pulpster.

…

Read More Read More

Vintage Treasures: Science Fiction Discoveries edited by Carol and Frederik Pohl

Vintage Treasures: Science Fiction Discoveries edited by Carol and Frederik Pohl

Comments 0 Comment


Science Fiction Discoveries (Bantam Books, August 1976). Cover artist uncredited

Five years ago Steven H Silver had a daily column at Black Gate in which he covered Science Fiction Birthdays for a full year. His choice for November 4, 2018 was Kara Dalkey, and Rich Horton had this to say in the comments.

I suppose the only other candidates were M. T. Anderson (I’ve liked a couple of his recentish short pieces a fair bit) and an interesting one: Babette Rosmond, who had a couple of pieces in Unknown in the early ’40s, then a quite interesting short novel, Error Hurled, in a Fred and Carol Pohl anthology in the ’70s.

Rosmond of course was an important editor — first at Street and Smith (Doc Savage was one of her titles) and later in magazines like Seventeen. She also wrote several contemporary novels (including one set among pulp editors), and she was an activist for more woman-led treatment of breast cancer. Interesting person.

The anthology in question was Science Fiction Discoveries, published in 1976, the fourth anthology Fred and Carol edited together, and the first to contain all-original stories. It had an impressive line-up — including a Thousand Worlds novelette by George R. R. Martin, an Azlaroc tale by Fred Saberhagen, and stories by Robert Sheckley, Scott Edelstein, Roger Zelazny, Doris Piserchia, and others. But the contributor that captured my interest was Babette Rosmond, with the complete novel Error Hurled, her sole science fiction publication. Rich is right — Rosmond was a fascinating person, for multiple reasons.

…

Read More Read More

Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora

Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora

Comments 0 Comment
Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine & the Diaspora (edited by Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Olha Brylova, and Iryna Pasko; Atthis; Arts Indie Publishing, TBD). Cover Illustrator, Taras Kopansky

Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora

Here is a wild effort to crowdfund a fantastic fiction loaded with meaning. This post consolidates a few press releases with the hope that readers will follow along.

In the early months of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, writers internationally looked for a way to help raise awareness and funds for humanitarian efforts. Through network and word of mouth, and several transfers of leadership and scope, a more comprehensive project developed. Now, with a primary focus on bringing Ukrainian storytelling to broader global audiences, they hope this book will raise awareness of Ukrainian culture, pride, and literature — and will encourage people to contribute to Ukrainian humanitarian and artistic causes alike.

…

Read More Read More

New Treasures: Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco

New Treasures: Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco

Comments 0 Comment


Silver Under Nightfall (Saga Press trade paperback reprint, July 25, 2023). Cover by Avery Kua

It’s Friday before a long weekend, and there’s a host of books in my to-be-read pile vying for my attention. But it’s the end of summer and I’m in the mood for something different, so the title I plucked from the pile is Silver Under Nightfall, the adult fiction debut from the author of the popular Bone Witch trilogy, Rin Chupeco.

What’s so intriguing about Silver Under Nightfall? Partly it’s the great Castlevania vibe, which is a definite plus for an end-of-summer read. It’s the tale of a vampire hunter who encounters a “terrifying new breed of vampire” and a “shockingly warmhearted vampire heiress.” There’s a lot more in the back cover text, but honestly they had me at “warmhearted vampire heiress.”

There’s the usual enthusiastic press (Publishers Weekly says it “Makes the vampire genre feel fresh… packed with political intrigue and treachery in both human and vampire realms,” and Strange Horizons says it “packs a powerful punch… a wild, wicked, and welcome addition to the ranks of vampire fantasy novels”) but that’s just noise at this point. My tall chair and comfy drink are ready on the porch, and it time to get this weekend started.

…

Read More Read More

Goth Chick News: Here Comes Another Classic Monster Remake

Goth Chick News: Here Comes Another Classic Monster Remake

Comments 4 comments

Much like fashion, movie themes come in repeatable waves, and if you wait long enough everything that was called “classic” will eventually come back around. Such seems to be the case with the classic movie monsters, originally made famous in the 1930’s and 40’s by Universal Studios. Recently we’ve seen The Invitation and The Last Voyage of the Demeter (Dracula), The Cursed (werewolf), and Birth/Rebirth (Frankenstein), but frankly, there are a whole list of projects currently in production which pay homage to the originals. Of late there have been industry announcements around titles such as Frankenstein vs Dracula, This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, and Feed to name a few. So, if you’re wondering if the bride of Frankenstein’s monster is going to get any love in the modern age, I’m here to tell you that she is.

A couple weeks back MovieWeb announced that Maggie Gyllenhaal was set to step behind the camera as the director of a remake of Bride of Frankenstein. Christian Bale was announced to be playing Victor Frankenstein, alongside Peter Sarsgaard (Gyllenhaal’s hubby) in a yet-to-be named starring role. There are rumors that in addition to directing, Gyllenhaal herself might play Elsa Lanchester’s iconic character, but I can’t find anything to substantiate this. The project, which is said to be titled The Bride, is set up at Netflix.

…

Read More Read More

Every Page a Delight: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

Every Page a Delight: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

Comments 2 comments


The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear (Overlook Press, August 29, 2006). Cover by Walter Moers

My brief Goodreads review of Walter Moers’ The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear follows. I have been on Goodreads since 2008 and this is the highest praise I have ever given to any book on the site… 🙂

Years ago, I felt that a few books of James Branch Cabell (specifically Figures of Earth, The Silver Stallion, Jurgen) would be enough to reconstruct “Fantasy” literature if ever a strange disaster happened and all other works of fantasy were destroyed.

I now think the same thing is true, to an even greater extent, with this one huge volume of Walter Moers’. It is magnificent. It is comprehensive. It is fabulously inventive. If all other fantasy vanished overnight (including the Cabell books) Fantasy would still remain, provided Bluebear still existed. It contains multitudes. It is a cornucopia of fictional marvels.

…

Read More Read More

Reviews Are Not For Authors

Reviews Are Not For Authors

Comments 13 comments
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Hello! Welcome to the end of August (nearly). Where I am, the nights are starting to get cool, and some of the trees have begun their autumnal blush. It is my favourite time of the year, at risk of outing myself as ‘basic.’ It honestly is wonderful. The heat finally leaves. I blame my largely Irish ancestry for my inability to handle the summer temperatures. The night air moves from obnoxious heavy and thick to clear and brisk. As the season progresses, an evening walk will deliver the delightful, homey scent of wood-burning fireplaces, and the sweeter scent and satisfying crunch of fallen leaves. Coats and hats and scarves make an appearance. It’s the perfect weather for a blanket, your favourite warm drink, and a good book.

Perfection.

So much better than summer, in my opinion. I am of the firm opinion that the heat makes people a little nutty. That might be why this summer I’ve been watching from the edges of author and reader social media and watched a couple of writers careen wildly into a good many readers ‘Never Read’ piles. This is not on the weakness of their work, but rather a horrifying flight of their good sense. Two happened quite recently, and I watched from a safe distance (as I hadn’t yet read or reviewed the books in question); both weirdly similar situations, in which authors received a review that was less than absolutely gushing and seemed to lose their minds.

…

Read More Read More

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Evan Lewis on Cleve Adams – Black Knight, Cannibal and Forgotten Man

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Evan Lewis on Cleve Adams – Black Knight, Cannibal and Forgotten Man

Comments 5 comments

“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep

(Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun)

If you read Pulp, you know who Evan Lewis is. He’s an MLB MVP while I’m AAA on a good day. Hardboiled, Adventure, Doc Savage, Dick Tracy, Davy Crockett, Nero Wolfe – the guy knows it all. He and I message about our like interests, and I conned – I mean, convinced – him to join in the Black (Gat) parade, this year.  I know a little about Cleve Adams, but not nearly enough to write about the once popular but now mostly forgotten pulpster.

 

Chapter 1

OBSCURITY

Cleve F. Adams is the forgotten man among hardboiled pulp writers. Though he produced well over a hundred stories and more than a dozen novels, almost every word is now out of print.

Adams was an anomaly in that his characters were genuinely hardboiled, while his style was not. His detectives were sometimes harder and more brutal than their contemporaries, but remained likable due to his easy-going whimsical style. This blend of violence and humor made him one of the relatively few hardboiled pulp writers to successfully move his magazine characters into hardcover.

…

Read More Read More

New Treasures: Witch Wizard Warlock, edited by Carol McConnell, David Lawrence Morris and Robert Allen Lupton

New Treasures: Witch Wizard Warlock, edited by Carol McConnell, David Lawrence Morris and Robert Allen Lupton

Comments 0 Comment
Witch Wizard Warlock (West Mesa Press, Aug 21, 2023; 415p). Cover design by Campbell Blaine

Wizardry is always a draw for attention. Halloween is around the corner too, and there will be special attention toward beloved (feared?) magical arts.

Three Cousins Publishing (an imprint of West Mesa Publishing) gathered Carol McConnell, David Lawrence Morris and Robert Allen Lupton to collect tales of spellcasting with a global perspective from contemporary voices, and so Witch Wizard Warlock was conjured. It is available now in Kindle ($4.99), Paperback ($16.95), and Hardcover ($25.99).  An audiobook is in the works.

…

Read More Read More

Kickstarter for The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Volume IV Launched!

Kickstarter for The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Volume IV Launched!

Comments 2 comments

HFQ powered through the pandemic and stuck to our regular publishing schedule; but we fell behind on getting our best-of anthologies put together — a situation we aimed to correct with the August 19th launch of our Kickstarter to fund Best-of 4.

As of this writing, we are 85% to our goal of $1,500.  Check out our campaign and help us out if you can!

— Adrian Simmons and the HFQ crew.

P.S. On the fence?  Head over to issue #57 and see what we’re all about.