Monday, October 29, 2012

FIGHT CARD GETS PULPED!


FIGHT CARD GETS PULPED!

Pulped host Tommy Hancock begins a multipart saga featuring the creators, writers, and artists behind the New Pulp phenomenon known as FIGHT CARD!

This series of boxing focused Sports Pulp tales was created by veteran writers Paul Bishop and Mel Odom ... and in the space of a year has taken New Pulp by storm!

Listen as Bishop and Odom talk about the concept, how they put together so many writers, and why people WILL read stories of gloves, rings, punches, and black eyes!

Also Tommy talks to Fight Card writer Wayne Dundee about his contribution to the series as well as vampires, Private Eyes, and Westerns! Tune in at least the next two weeks for more FIGHT CARD!

TO LISTEN CLICK HERE

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

THE SCIENCE (FICTION) OF FIGHT FICTION!

THE SCIENCE (FICTION) OF FIGHT FICTION!

ROBERT EVANS ~ AUTHOR OF FIGHT CARD: GOLDEN GATE GLOVES

Science Fiction and Fantasy grabbed hold of me in high school and didn’t let go. I started writing in the genre as soon as I realized I could, but somewhere between then and now, I was introduced to the military as a whole and a specific military form of self-defense called the Army’s Modern Combatives. This is a great program, both challenging and rewarding, and it is where I was first introduced into the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and in a roundabout way, to boxing. However, I didn’t start writing stories in the boxing and MMA genres because of my experiences in the Army or with the Combatives program.

The thrust to write boxing/MMA tales came during a time in my life when I decided to take a trip into history and read the masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I searched the Internet and old bookstores (sadly, many of these are disappearing due to the influence of the Internet) for the old pulps. I was looking for and reading the stories that started the sci-fi/fantasy genres by authors who cut their teeth in the pulps – such as Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Fritz Leiber, and many more. I searched for those who wrote enthralling and entertaining tales, who were the cutting edge in fiction.

None stood out more than Robert E. Howard, in particular his tales of the battling boxer Sailor Steve Costigan. My imagination was immediately captured by these “two fisted” boxing yarns – by the character of Costigan himself, a man fighting with honor and a deep set of morals, in far off exotic lands. That is one of the things I miss most about the old stories … the settings were exotic, dark, foreboding and full of adventure.

Today, with the internet and nearly every square inch of the world photographed and recorded, the allure of an exotic local is lost, but it was something I was hoping to revisit with my stories. While I was becoming acquainted with the pulp masters, I was also becoming very interested in MMA and following the sport as a fan. I started looking for new authors who were writing in the MMA/boxing field. However, I failed to find any.

Suddenly what sounded like stories I would be interested in reading, became a great opportunity for me to jump into the genre, and fill a specific void. With that little bit of spark, I created my MMA fighting Army Staff Sergeant Mickey O’Quinn. Mickey O’Quinn’s first two stories, Basement Brawl and Foul Fight With A Pit Viper, caught the attention of Paul Bishop – the co-creator of the Fight Card series – who asked if I would be interested in contributing a Fight Card tale.

I had already read the available Fight Card titles, and was very excited about the storylines and the pulp/noir feel of the writing. As a result, it wasn’t much of a choice for me to say yes and get to work on a story that had been sitting in the back of my brain looking for a way out.

The story, Fight Card: Golden Gate Gloves, takes place around San Francisco and the Gold Country of the California foothills. These are places I know very well, having worked in San Francisco for over five years and currently living and working in the Gold Country. The main character is Conall O’Quinn, the grandfather of my MMA fighting Staff Sergeant, Mickey O’Quinn. I couldn’t help but tie these two storylines together with a bloodline, because like a well executed combination – it just worked.


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

AVAILABLE NOW ~ FIGHT CARD: GOLDEN GATE GLOVES!

AVAILABLE NOW ~FIGHT CARD: GOLDEN GATE GLOVES!

Fight Card’s October release, Golden Gate Gloves from wordslinger Robert Evans,has just hit Amazon's virtual shelves.  Robert is also the author of two MMA related tales featuring Staff Sergeant Mickey O'Quinn, Basement Brawl and Foul Fight With A Pit Viper (both available on Amazon). 

FIGHT CARD: GOLDEN GATE GLOVES

San Francisco 1951

Conall O’Quinn grew up at St. Vincent’s Asylum For Boys, a Chicago orphanage where he learned the sweet science of boxing from Father Tim, the battling priest. After a stint in the Army, Conall finds work on the docks of San Francisco – a place where his fists make him the dock champion. Soon, however, he gets on the bad side of a union boss and is set up for a dock side brawl designed to knockout his fighting career. When Conall comes out on top, things go from bad to worse when he is framed for the docks going up in flames.

Along with Benson, his best friend and trainer, Conall heads for the hills in search of a lost treasure in the vicinity of a mine controlled by the union boss. However, where Conall goes trouble follows and he is quickly embroiled in a heated grudge match between fist-happy miners and lumberjacks.

Championing the miners in an all out slugfest, Conall is about to find out there is more to fighting than just swinging fists … giant, hammer-fisted lumberjacks, the mine owner’s beautiful daughter, union flunkies, and mob thugs all want a piece of him … and when the opening bell rings, the entire world appears to be against him …

Thursday, October 18, 2012

ATOMIC NOIR!

ATOMIC NOIR!

CONGRATULATIONS TO FIGHT CARD WORDSLINGERS TERRENCE MCCAULEY AND ERIC BEETNER FOR BOTH BEING WINNERS IN THE ATOMIC NOIR SHORT FICTION CONTEST, CHOSEN BY HEAVYWEIGHT JUDGES DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI AND LOU BOXER.

TERRENCE’S STORY, A BRAVE NEW WORLD, AND ERIC’S STORY, THE NEON COME-ON, WILL BOTH APPEAR IN THE ATOMIC NOIR ANTHOLOGY TO BE PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER BY OUT OF THE GUTTER PRESS.

FOR MORE INFO CLICK HERE

Monday, October 15, 2012

PULP ARK 2013 GUESTS OF HONOR REVEALED!

PULP ARK 2013 GUESTS OF HONOR REVEALED!

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTION ...

Pulp Ark 2013, the Official New Pulp Creators' Conference/Convention in its third year announced today its Three Guests of Honor for the Third year of the convention to be held in Springdale, AR, on April 26-28th, 2013.

"Pulp," Tommy Hancock, Pulp Ark Organizer and Partner in Pro Se Productions, the company sponsoring Pulp Ark, "is a marvelous, massively diverse field...a style that has transcended its origins in the early 20th Century in cheaply printed magazines and found its way into every medium available to modern fans. Classic characters and stories are finding new life with readers and enthusiasts today and new tales centered around original characters are exploding onto the scene as well. This year, Pulp Ark 2013 will celebrate the variety that is Pulp in many ways. Our Three Guests of Honor most definitely reflect both the differences and the common denominators in Pulp, both classic and new, both originals of today and inspirations of yesteryear. I am extremely proud to announce that JOE DEVITO, MARTIN POWELL, and PAUL BISHOP will be the Guests of Honor for Pulp Ark 2013 this year!"

PAUL BISHOP is a thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department whose career included a three year tour as an interrogator with his department's Anti-Terrorist Division and over twenty-five years’ experience in the investigation of sex crimes. For the past eight years, his various Special Assaults Units have consistently produced the highest number of detective initiated arrests and highest crime clearance rate in the city. Twice honored as Detective of the Year, Paul also received the Quality and Productivity Commission Award from the City of Los Angeles.

As a nationally recognized interrogator, Paul co-starred with his professional partner, bestselling author and prosecutor, Mary Hanlon Stone, as the regular interrogators and driving force behind the ABC reality show Take The Money And Run from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Based on his expertise in the area of deception detection, Paul continues to work privately conducting interview and interrogation seminars for law enforcement agencies, military entities, and human resource organizations.

Paul has had twelve novels published, including Hot Pursuit, Deep Water, Penalty Shot, Suspicious Minds, the short story collection Running Wylde, and five novels in his L.A.P.D. Detective Fey Croaker series – Croaker: Kill Me Again, Croaker: Grave Sins, Croaker: Tequila Mockingbird, Croaker: Chalk Whispers, and Croaker: Pattern of Behavior. All his novels have recently been released in e-book format.

Paul has also written feature film scripts and numerous episodic scripts for television, including such shows as Diagnosis: Murder, LA Dragnet, The New Detectives, and Navy Seals: The Untold Stories.

Paul is currently writing and editing the monthly Fight Card series, 25,000 word e-novels, designed to be read in one or two sittings, inspired by the fight pulps of the '30s and '40s – such as Fight Stories Magazine – and Robert E. Howard’s two-fisted boxing tales featuring Sailor Steve Costigan. His latest entry, Fight Card: Swamp Walloper (written as Jack Tunney) will premiere at the 2013 Pulp Ark convention. He can be found blogging at http://www.bishsbeat.blogspot.com/ and followed via twitter@bishsbeat. A full list of his novels is available at http://tinyurl.com/7x8xo5k

MARTIN POWELL has been a professional writer since 1986. He received early critical praise with the Eisner Award nominated Sherlock Holmes/Count Dracula graphic novel, Scarlet in Gaslight, which has remained in print for more than twenty-five years.

Powell has since written hundreds of stories in numerous genres, including mystery, science fiction, horror, and humor, and has been published by Disney, Marvel, DC, Moonstone, Wild Cat Books, and Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics, among others, working with such popular characters as Superman, Batman, Tarzan, Lee Falk’s The Phantom, Frankenstein, The Spider, Kolchak the Night Stalker, The Avenger, and more.He also a prolific author of many acclaimed children’s books, and is the creator of The Halloween Legion. His The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan won the coveted Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Best Graphic Novel of 2010.

Martin lives in Saint Paul, MN.

JOE DEVITO was born on March 16, 1957 in New York City. He graduated with honors from Parsons School of Design in 1981 and studied at the Art Students League in New York City.

Over the years DeVito has painted many of the most recognizable Pop Culture and Pulp icons, including King Kong, Tarzan, Doc Savage, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Newman and various characters in World of Warcraft, with a decided emphasis in his illustration on dinosaurs, Action Adventure, SF and Fantasy. He has illustrated hundreds of book and magazine covers, painted several notable posters and numerous trading cards for the major comic book and gaming houses, and created concept and character design for the film and television industries.

In 3D, DeVito sculpted the official 100th Anniversary statue of Tarzan of the Apes for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate, The Cooper Kong for the Merian C. Cooper Estate, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman for Chronicle Book’s Masterpiece Editions, several other notable Pop and Pulp characters. Additional sculpting work ranges from scientifically accurate dinosaurs, a multitude of collectibles for the Bradford Exchange in a variety of genres, to larger-than-life statues and the award trophy for the influential art annual SPECTRUM.

An avid writer, Joe is also the co-author (with Brad Strickland) of two novels, which he illustrated as well. The first, KONG: King of Skull Island (DH Press) was published in 2004. The second book, Merian C. Cooper’s KING KONG, was published by St. Martin’s Griffin, in 2005. He has also contributed many essays and articles to such collected works as Kong Unbound: The Cultural Impact, Pop Mythos, and Scientific Plausibility of a Cinematic Legend and Do Androids Artists Paint In Oils When They Dream? in Pixel or Paint: The Digital Divide In Illustration Art.

2012 saw the release of Kindle and iBook versions of KONG: King of Skull Island that were accompanied by Part 1 of a cutting edge app version of the book. With the property in full development as a motion picture, other plans include the release of Part 2 of the interactive Kong book app, the beginning of a KONG: King of Skull Island YA series and Kong collectibles for the Cooper Estate.

Presently DeVito is painting covers for The All New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage (written by Will Murray), while also finishing the screenplay and developing imagery for his newest creation, a faction world of truly epic proportions tentatively titled The Primordials.

www.jdevito.com
www.kongskullisland.com
FB: Joe DeVito-DeVito Artworks

"These three," Hancock stated, "represent a huge variety within Pulp today, but they all also show the commonalities of what Pulp is. And as far as mediums, everything from books to comics to television to sculpture to painting and more is represented by these fantastic Guests. It's a privilege for Pulp Ark to have them as its centerpiece in 2013."

Pulp Ark is a Writer's Conference/Convention focused on 'Pulp' fiction. Although defined narrowly by many, Pulp Ark promotes Pulp Fiction as multi genre multi medium storytelling that typically involves action, adventure, larger than life heroes and villains, and a strong focus on both plot and characterization. "Pulp," Hancock said, "began as a medium in which many great writers told a lot of wonderful stories and readers could pick 'em up a 100 or more pages at a time for a dime. Although it's no longer that necessarily, the sensibilities of Pulp storytelling, the style, the methodology, all the stuff fans have remembered and enjoyed for over 80 years about those kinds of tales, all of that is still around and available from all sorts of authors, artists, performers and companies. That is what Pulp Ark is all about."

Pulp Ark 2013 will be held in Springdale, Arkansas April 26-28, 2013 at the Holiday Inn Springdale Hotel and Convention Center in Springdale, Arkansas, 1500 South 48th Street, phone number- 1-479-751-8300. 

SPECIAL PRICES UNTIL JANUARY 1ST, 2013! Any and all who plan to attend Pulp Ark 2013 and want to get the Discounted Room Rate MUST reserve a room or rooms by January 1st, 2013 to take advantage of the Special Pulp Ark rate of $84.00 a night. To reserver your room online, please click HERE!

PULP ARK 2013-Springdale, Arkansas! For further information, go to www.prosepulp.com or contact Hancock at 870-834-4022 and/or proseproductions@earthlink.net.

Expect more Pulp Ark Announcements VERY SOON!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

RAVE REVIEWS FOR THE FIGHT CARD SERIES!

RAVE REVIEWS FOR THE FIGHT CARD SERIES!

A SAMPLING OF REVIEWS OF FIGHT CARD NOVELS FROM AROUND THE WEB ...

THE PULP DEN ON FIGHT CARD: COUNTERPUNCH ... Boxing Returns With Another Knockout For Fight Card ...

FOR THE FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE

UNKNOWN GEMS ON FIGHT CARD: FELONY FISTS ... All out action makes Felony Fists a must read ...

FOR THE FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE

BEFORE IT’S NEWS ON FIGHT CARD: TOMATO CAN COMEBACK ... New Fight Card Novella Comes Out Swinging ...

FOR THE FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE

YOU WOULD SAY THAT WOULDN’T YOU ON FIGHT CARD: FELONY FISTS ... Fast moving and hard hitting with a strong sense of place and time, Felony Fists is a great start to a highly addictive series ...

FOR THE FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE


Monday, October 8, 2012

FIGHT COMICS: JOE PALOOKA #1 (OF 6)!

FIGHT COMICS: JOE PALOOKA # 1 (OF 6)!

COMING IN DECEMBER 2012

WRITERS: MIKE BULLOCK & MATT TRIANO
ART:  FERNANDO PENICHE
COVER: JACE MCTIER

The legendary Joe Palooka name returns in this all-new version, as Joe fights for his freedom and for his life around the world. Set in the violent and dangerous world of top- tier mixed martial arts, this series will get you in its grip and not let go until you tap out.

Accused of a murder he didn't commit, Nick Davis flees a police manhunt, picks up the name Joe Palooka in a Tijuana tough-man contest and then travels the world seeking to clear his name while making a name for himself at the same time.

Top UFC superstars are on board and the first full-length MMA comic book ever has MMA and UFC fans buzzing in anticipation of Joe Palooka's release.

32 PAGES • $3.99 • IDW PUBLISHING

Friday, October 5, 2012

FIGHT FICTION: SECONDS TO GO!

FIGHT FICTION: SECONDS TO GO!

BRIAN BUSBY OF THE DUSTY BOOKCASE BLOG TIPPED ME TO HIS POST ON A FIGHT NOVEL I’VE NEVER COME ACROSS BEFORE – SECONDS TO GO BY PHIL STRONG ...

Is anything to be made of the similarity between the name Danny Cannon, protagonist of Seconds to Go, and that of his creator Danny Halperin?

Hope not.

We first catch sight of Danny Cannon at age eleven as he's being beaten by his father Matt. A bat to the head, a fist in the face, whipping with a belt... and who knows what we've missed. But wait, there's more:

     Again and again the belt descended.
     At last Danny could bear it no longer. Like a caged beast suddenly freed, he turned on his father and wrestled with him for possession of the belt. Matt roared with rage; his meaty right hand clutched the boy's throat and he shook that twisting young body as if it were a rattling bag of coals.
     Exhausted, Danny went limp, Matt let him fall to the floor where he kicked him in the stomach. The boy writhed and screamed as the boot connected.
     "Now – now – what's yore answer?" said Matt, breathing heavily, laying down a fine mist of whisky breath close to Danny's face.
     "I – I'll go."
Where to?

Halperin maintains the mystery for a several more pages before having Danny walk through New York's East Side to Liffey's Canned Shrimp and Lobster. What follows is a Dickensian scene set in the Depression

FOR THE FULL POST CLICK HERE

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

DAVY CROCKETT’S ALMANACK VS. FIGHT CARD!

DAVY CROCKETT’S ALMANACK VS. FIGHT CARD!

EVAN LEWIS GIVES A GREAT REVIEW TO FIGHT CARD: SPLIT DECISION OVER AT HIS BLOG, DAVY CROCKETT’S ALMANACK OF MYSTERY, ADVENTURE AND THE WILD WEST ...

Okay, I’m hooked on this Fight Card series. I reviewed Paul Bishop’s lead-off entry, Felony Fists, a while back and knew it wouldn't be long before I returned for more. And here I am, psyched again after finishing Eric Beetner’s first contribution, Split Decision ... a nail-biter [which] delivers plenty of fireworks ...

FOR THE FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE