NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK

NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK

FIGHT CARD: BAREFOOT BONES

BOBBY NASH

FIGHT CARD: BAREFOOT BONES

Korea, 1951 

Mentored in the hollows of hardscrabble Georgia by mysterious loner Old Man Winter, then in a Chicago orphanage by ex-fighter Father Tim Brophy, James ‘Barefoot Bones’ Mason has relied on his fists to make his way. But it’s a long way from St. Vincent’s Asylum For Boys to the battlefields of Korea where Bones’ fists may not be enough. 

Entered in an inter-camp boxing tournament by his commanding officer, Bones finds himself in a war within a war. When a tenuous cease fire is explosively shattered, Bone’s is fighting against the highest odds of all – staying alive. Can a skinny kid from the north Georgia mountains survive the hell of Korea and still have the guts to climb back into the ring one more time? 

The one constant in Bones’ life has been fighting – Lucky for him… he’s good at it.

FIGHT FICTION: PUGILISTIC PULP STORIES!

FIGHT FICTION: PUGILISTIC PULP STORIES!

 

PERIL PRESS 

 

VOLUME #1

 

SOCK OF AGES

FIGHT STORIES, OCTOBER, 1928
THOMAS THURSDAY

 

A fighting organist! From the Brotherhood Mission to the white glare of the prize ring! Punch for punch he gave, but the big sock came in the last frame, with the crowd on its feet and the referee in a daze. (4,000 Words)

 

SINBAD THE SAILOR

FIGHT STORIES, JANUARY, 1929
ROBERT H. H. NICHOLS

 

A fighting fool of a sailor, with a mania for airplanes and red-headed sweethearts—that was Sinbad! Dumb in many ways, perhaps, but dumb like a fox with that left hand of his! Another whirlwind of laughs and leather, featuring the great Roland Rigormortis. (6,300 Words)

 

THE EXECUTIONER

THE ALL-AMERICA SPORTS MAGAZINE, JANUARY, 1937
CHARLES PIFER

 

(4,300 Words)

 

LITTLE BOY BLOOEY

TEN STORY SPORTS, JULY, 1937

TOM THURSDAY

Blooey Mccoy and Ape Anderson fight an epic battle in cactus gulch, New Mexico (2,200 Words)

 

FIRE FIGHTER

POPULAR SPORTS, FEBRUARY, 1938
THOMAS THURSDAY

 

When You go around picking world's champion boxers off cactus bushes, you're bound to get stuck! (7,100 Words)

 

TOMAHAWK MCCLOSKEY

THRILLING SPORTS, MARCH, 1938
THOMAS THURSDAY

 

Dan Cupid and a hash-house brunette flatten a fightin' Irish-injun for the long count! (4,900 Words)

 

VOLUME #2

 

THERE’S HICKS IN ALL TRADES

ALL SPORTS, FEBRUARY, 1940

TOM THURSDAY

 

Mike McAbner had the next lightweight champ under his wing, if only the Kid would answer the bell to fight his opponents as fast as he answered the bell to fight a fire! (5,400 Words)

 

ROMEO’S JULIET

SPORTS FICTION, FALL, 1943

TOM THURSDAY

 

You’ve heard of historic correspondences – Napoleon’s mush-notes to Josephine, Voltaire’s letters to Frederick the Great, Joe Davies’ communications to FDR. And SPORTS FICTION won’t object to releasing the following fighting correspondence to future historians ... (4,600 Words)

 

HERM THE GERM

ALL SPORTS, WINTER, 1944-45

TOM THURSDAY

 

Another hilarious fight fiasco. (5,800 Words)

 

CROOK, FINE, AND STINKER

SUPER SPORTS, JULY, 1949

TOM THURSDAY

When we hear that Felony Jones is around, it's just natural to expect a whammy artist in the background. (5,200 Words)

 

ANTS IN HIS PLANETS

THRILLING SPORTS, SUMMER, 1951

HAL K. WELLS

 

When the pretty astrologer named Abigail came along waving her horoscopes, what happened to Howitzer Hogan was unpredictable! (6,200 Words)

 

BUZZ BOMB CHAMP

SHORT STORIES, FEBRUARY, 10, 1945

JACKSON V. SCHULTZ

 

What he was contributing to the war seemed so completely futile – to him. (6,600 Words)

 

KEEP THEM TIGHT

KEEP THEM TIGHT

OUR FIGHT CARD SERIES HAS ADOPTED A NEW THEME SONG ...

Keep Them Tight is an original song written by 16 year old Dominic Dunn from Kirkdale in Liverpool. The video also features Derry Mathews (Commonwealth Lightweight Champion and Patron of Fazakerley9), Jamie McVey (Fazakerley9) and Adam Unsworth (Rotunda ABC). The song was recorded as part of the Threshold Northern Lights Showcase Programme.



Keep Them Tight: Written, performed and co-produced by Dominic Dunn.

Produced by Mark Brocklesby and Kaya Herstad Carney for Threshold Northern Lights Showcase Programme.

Vocals, acoustic guitar and electric guitar: Dominic Dunn
Backing vocals: Kaya Herstad Carney, Ian Prowse, Muireann McDermott-Long and Amy Freeman
Bass: John Fellowes
Drums: Ashley Turner
Trumpet: Michael Mohebbi
Percussion: Mark Brocklesby

Video: Director & Editor: Andrew AB, Assistant Director: Tom Lox, Lighting: Ste Webster, Production Assistants: Jo McNeill ans Kaya Herstad Carney

Recorded by Mark Brocklesby at Western Recording Company, Liverpool.

Mixed by: Mark Brocklesby, Kaya Herstad Carney and Dominic Dunn. Mastered by Mark Brocklesby

 

©Dominic Dunn and Threshold Ltd ℗Dominic Dunn
 
ON THE WEB

https://www.facebook.com/Dominic.Dunn
 

Twitter: @Dominic_Dunn22

BOXING SHADOWS

BOXING SHADOWS 

DERRICK FERGUSON ON WRITING FIGHT CARD: BROOKLYN BEATDOWN 

I actually was supposed to have this thing written months ago, y’know.  I mean, Brooklyn Beatdown has been in print for about three months now.  Prior to the book’s due date, series editor Paul Bishop mentioned he’d like to have a short essay from me on the how and why I wrote this particular Fight Card novel – particularly as it was the first Fight Card novel to feature an African-American protagonist.  

So, why didn’t I write the thing when I was supposed to? Didn’t I take it seriously? Well, of course I did. There are other African-American writers Paul could have invited to write for the series – writers who easily leave me in the dust when they stomp on the pedal and get their word engines cranked up to where she’ll run like that black Trans Am from Smokey and The Bandit. No, I took it very seriously when Paul came to me and asked me to contribute a book to an excellent series of novels, which certainly didn’t need me to help it. 

Maybe I’m just lazy? Hardly. I think my output proves, despite all other evidence to the contrary, I’m not a lazy guy.  Not when it comes to writing at least.  So, what was the holdup? To be honest, I felt like a fraud much of the time while writing Brooklyn Beatdown.  Really.  I mean, I’ve got no boxing background at all. I’ve been in some fights in my time.  You didn’t grow up in Bed-Stuy during the 1970’s without getting into a fight on occasion.

And I haven’t watched a boxing match in quite some time. I was a big fight fan during the 1970’s and 80’s, though.  Thanks to my father.  And I feel very lucky to have grown up during a time when boxing was so vibrant and alive with such personalities such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Frazier, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler. And this was during the glory days of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, which would show a lot of boxing matches on Saturday afternoon. This was before the rise of cable which jumped on sports programming, boxing especially, and took it away from the networks.  So, I got to see a lot of the classic boxers do their thing during their glory days. However, what I always took away was not only their phenomenal skill, but their larger-than-life personalities.  

That was my hook for the character of Levi Kimbro. I wanted him to be a personality with dreams and hopes and ambitions outside of the ring.  The ring wasn’t his life. It was a tool to get where he wanted to go in life. The clincher was everybody else except for Levi knew that being in the ring was the thing for which he was best suited.

So, that was my inspiration for Levi. As for the rest, I watched a lot of boxing matches on YouTube and Warner Brothers fight films I borrowed from the library. In my head I saw Brooklyn Beatdown as an homage to not only those great old Warner Brothers fight films, but also blaxploitation films of the 70’s. I doubted my ability to pull it off, but I hiked up my pants and took my best shot at it.  

But again, that specter of being a fraud nagged at me. What business did I have writing a boxing novel? But then again, I write novels about mercenary adventurers, spies, superheroes and supernatural gunslingers and never lose any sleep over it. So, why was I chewing my toenails about this particular book? 

In my gut, I knew why – for the first time in my career, I was being asked by a professional writer/editor to deliver a book about real people in a real world. No falling back on tricks like bringing in fantastic superweapons, diabolical supervillains, or mythical martial arts. In the popular vernacular, I had to keep it real. 

And I guess that’s why I didn’t get around to writing this when it was supposed to be written – I didn’t feel as if I had kept it real. I felt like I had made it all up. And that’s when it it hit me – That’s what you do anyway, stupid. You make up stories. The good news is, you make up stories people like to read. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. 

And so I wrote Brooklyn Beatdown and it was published and apparently a few of you think it’s a good story and that’s all that matters.  Still doesn’t explain why I didn’t write this essay when I was supposed to write it. 

Maybe I am lazy. 

FIGHT CARD: BROOKLYN BEATDOWN 

Brooklyn – 1954 ... Bare knuckler brawler Levi Kimro battles his way through the bloody backroom ghetto bars of Brooklyn in pursuit of his dream of owning his own business. It’s a hard and vicious road he walks and it becomes even more complicated when he falls hard for the electrifying Dorothea McBricker. 

Dorothea’s brother, Teddy, has fallen under the influence of notorious gangster Duke Williamson – a powerful man who is pressuring Levi to join his stable of fighters or face off against the human killing machine, ‘Deathblow’ Ballantine. A knock-down, drag out, Brooklyn Beatdown is brewing, and Levi will need every ounce of his fighter’s heart if he wants to save not only himself, but the woman he loves … 

FAST FIVE WITH FIGHT CARD'S CAROL MALONE

 

FAST FIVE WITH FIGHT CARD'S CAROL MALONE

PAUL D. BRAZILL'S BLOG, YOU WOULD SAY THAT WOULDN'T YOU, TALKS BOXING AND ROMANCE WITH FIGHT CARD'S CAROL MALONE ...

Writing as Jill Tunney, Carol Malone has recently injected a touch of romance into the two-fisted, pulp-infused, Fight Card series with her debut novel, Fight Card Romance: Ladies Night … Boxing and love? What’s going on here?

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART II

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART II

I CONTINUE MY EXPLORATION OF FIGHT FICTION OVER AT THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG …

As the ‘70s progressed, the public became primed for a change in their fight fiction.  Unlike with prior generations, this change in popular entertainment would not be  tied to the socio-economic factors of the day.  Instead, a blurring of the lines of fact and fiction – especially in the world of boxing – was occurring, reflecting the hyper embellishments of celebrity being inflicted upon larger popular culture as a whole …

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART I

HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION PART 1

I GO DEEP INTO THE HISTORY OF FIGHT FICTION OVER AT THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG …

The fight fiction genre has become an integral part of our cultural history – especially when economic times have been as tough as the character’s in a fight fiction tale.

Even before the explosion of fight fiction stories in the pulps of the ‘30s and ‘40s, Jack London was penning fight stories for the masses, such as his classics A Piece of Steak and The Abysmal Brute, among others.  Feeding the need of the everyman to rise above his daily struggle for survival through vicarious fight entertainment, London’s fight tales were devoured.

London learned to box by sparring with his friend Jim Whitaker, and his love of the sport never waned.  Wherever his wanderings took him, London always had a pair of boxing gloves, always ready to mix it up with any challenger.  Most often, however, London’s regular sparring partner was his wife, Charmian Kittredge, with whom he routinely sparred ...

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

BOBBY NASH PUTS UP HIS DUKES

BOBBY NASH PUTS UP HIS DUKES

AND IN THIS CORNER … BOBBY NASH TELLS THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG ALL ABOUT WRITING FIGHT CARD: BAREFOOT BONES …

When I agreed to write a Fight Card story, I approached it as a character piece about a boxer. Knowing the character is the most important thing for me and when the plot started to gel together in my mind, it was James Mason, the boy the bullies called Barefoot Bones who sold me on the idea of telling this story. I’m not sure where the name came from. As I was plotting out the ideas for this story, it was the week between Christmas and New Years Day. On one of the many drives to family events, it just popped into my head and it fit…

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

BOXING AND ROMANCE

BOXING AND ROMANCE

CAROL MALONE GETS IN THE RING WITH THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG TO PROVE FIGHTIN’ AND SMOOCHIN’ CAN GO TOGETHER …

I started to write Ladies Night in March, 2012, all the while working on other romantic manuscripts. For boxing research, I watched fights from the 50′s on YouTube, typing the descriptions of the punches into my computer while announcers describe the action. I rounded out the research with old LA city maps, period photos, boxing statistics, and scads of boxing technique videos…

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

JUST WHAT IS A FIGHT CARD ROMANCE?

JUST WHAT IS A FIGHT CARD ROMANCE?

ANSWERS TO LIFE'S BIG QUESTION ... FIGHT CARD'S CAROL MALONE (WRITING AS JILL TUNNEY) SPELLS IT OUT OVER AT BOOK LIFE NOW ... 

When I was in high school, I started reading and writing romance, and have since then written numerous manuscripts. So, I decided to take a dare and without Paul’s knowledge began pecking out my own Fight Card tale. I didn’t start out to necessarily write a romance, but the main characters dictated their story, I simply jotted it down. A year later, voilà – Ladies Night ...

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

WRITERS AND FIGHTERS

FIGHTERS AND WRITERS

THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG TAKES ON FIGHTER AND WRITERS WITH A LOOK AT THE WRITING OF FIGHT CARD MMA: WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON BY GERARD BRENNAN (WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY) ... 

I write. That’s a fact. You can find my stuff online or on bookshelves in some very select places. And yes, I do enjoy my booze, but I’m considered a light drinker in many circles. I don’t drink much for an Irish guy sums it up. My fighting is done in the form of sparring at a small local boxing club. I’m no pro, obviously. I’m don’t even consider myself good enough to be an amateur boxer. But I hold my own at our wee club and I know what it feels like to take a punch. Not bad for a guy in his thirties ...

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

WRITING AGAINST THE ROPES

WRITING AGAINST THE ROPES

THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG GETS AGAINST THE ROPES WITH FIGHT CARD'S TERRENCE MCCAULEY (WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY) ... 

Writing a prequel to a successful first novel can pin a writer against the ropes of his storyline … Why did I write Against The Ropes? The short answer is because Paul Bishop let me. I’ve been a fan of the Fight Card series from the beginning and had wanted to try my hand at writing for the series. I’d already covered Terry Quinn’s boxing career in passing in my other book Prohibition, which was written several years before the Fight Card series began. But since Quinn’s days in the ring play such an important role in which the character has become at the beginning of Prohibition, I’d always dreamed of being able to tell the story of the end of his career in more detail ...

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

COMING SOON ~ FIGHT CARD: FRONT PAGE PALOOKA!

COMING SOON ... THE LATEST FROM FIGHT CARD: FRONT PAGE PALOOKA BY ANTHONY VENUTOLO WRITING AS JACK TUNNEY ... COVER BY DAVID FOSTER ...

WHY FIGHT CARD ROMANCE?

WHY FIGHT CARD ROMANCE?

BOOK LIFE NOW PUTS FIGHT CARD ON THE ROPES ... WHEN THE TOUGH, TWO-FISTED, PULPTASTIC, SERIES FIGHT CARD SOFTENS ITS EDGES THERE HAS TO BE A METHOD TO THE MADNESS …  

Fight Card has its roots deep in the pulp genre – and so does romance. The love pulps flourished between the ‘20s and the ‘50s, often not only outselling all of the best remembered pulp genres, but often supporting the costs of those other pulps on romance’s broad shoulders ...

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

IN THE RING WITH THE BOOK TALK WITH GINGER DAWN PODCAST

IN THE RING WITH THE BOOK TALK WITH GINGER DAWN PODCAST!

COMING THIS THURSDAY ...

This week on Book Talk with Ginger Dawn get ready to grab your boxing gloves and step into the ring!

Mob fixed fights, Rocky Graziano and Tony Zale , Chicago where "the thick air hung heavy with the scent of stale cigarette smoke and fermenting beer." Ka Powie! Today I have two heavy weight champions in the ring.

Authors Carol Malone and Paul Bishop allow me to be their cornerman as we knock out some of those tough questions on the newest book in the Fight Card series ...

FIGHT CARD ROMANCE: LADIES NIGHT! IT’S NO PALOOKA!

TO CHECK OUT THE PODCAST (THURSDAY) CLICK HERE

IDEAS LIKE BULLETS LOOKS AT FIGHT CARD

IDEAS LIKE BULLETS LOOKS AT FIGHT CARD

PULP MAVEN TOMMY HANCOCK GIVES HIS OWN TAKE ON THE FIGHT CARD PUBLISHING PARADIGM ...

Fight Card revitalizes the Sports Pulp type stories and does it exceedingly well.  But the approach that Paul and Mel have taken, by reaching out to various authors, by bringing them all in under a house name or two, by working with them not only hand in hand to complete the stories, but in promotion and support, this approach reinvents how a Publisher should work with an author. 

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

FIGHT FICTION AND THE FIGHT CARD SERIES

FIGHT FICTION AND THE FIGHT CARD SERIES

BOOK LIFE NOW GIVES US MORE FROM PAUL BISHOP ON THE FIGHT CARD SERIES ... 

I savor fight fiction because, as a reader and a writer, it brings my imagination alive, it makes me want to stand up and cheer, it elevates me beyond the ordinary, and takes me into the world of one man’s determination and skill pitted against another in the brutal ballet danced in the ring or cage. The Fight Card series and associate spin-offs celebrates these stories …

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE

THE FIGHT CARD PUBLISHING PARADIGM

THE FIGHT CARD PUBLISHING PARADIGM

AS THE START OF A FIGHT CARD PUBLICITY BLITZ, THE BOOK LIFE NOW BLOG HAS PUBLISHED PUPLISHED A POST ON THE FIGHT CARD AUTHOR COOPERATIVE PUBLISHING PARADIGM ...

Part of the [Fight Card] appeal was the new publishing paradigm Mel and I had established … Fight Card was not a publishing company, but something different – an author’s cooperative.

Using the shared open pseudonym of Jack Tunney (to maintain series cohesiveness on Amazon) for the e-books, and the author’s own name for the cover of the paperback versions (via CreateSpace), each author would launch the books from their own individual KDP platform.  This ensures the royalties from each Fight Card title go directly to each individual writer – not to a company.

In return, each writer brings back to the cooperative whatever skills they can offer – cover art, editing, blurb writing, website design and maintenance, publicity contacts, podcasting, e-formatting, blog tours, advertising, creation of our free quarterly Fight Fictioneers Magazine, social networking, etc. – all as part of the Fight Card team. Fight Card became, first and foremost, a dynamic for the writers and of the writers.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE