Pulp Thursday

Gabriel Hunt – coming in May

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Thanks for the tip Paul!

Here's a funny story about visiting every 15 year old boys favorite planet…GOR!

and last but not least a few Pulpy images…

Do ya think I'm sexy?

Manly Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo dump

The thrifty DM

Lately I've become quite the thrift store hunter. For reasons unknown to me Sacramento has a plethora of thrift stores, from your standards like Goodwill and the Salvation Army to esoteric ones like WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment) and St. Jude DePaul.

I’m no stranger to thrift stores, as a kid I went with my Grandmother to Mass every Sunday, and part of that trip always included a stop at what my grandmother referred to as “La segunda” (segunda being Spanish for second). she and my aunts would hunt through the baby clothes and house wares while my cousins and I hit the toy section. When I think back at the treasures I found back then- plastic bags filled with miscellaneous action figures (GI Joe, Major Matt Mason, Johnny West) and toy soldiers, it almost brings a tear to my eye.

My return to thrift store shopping was prompted by a chance visit to the “Thrift Town” near my gym where I netted a dozen or so Alistair Maclean titles for .50 cents a piece. Since then, the more hunting I've done, the more treasures I’ve uncovered.

New bookstores don’t carry any of the older pulp paperback titles I look for, used book stores and antique shops slap a “vintage” sticker on them then sell them at premium prices, and EBay is no longer the bargain place it once was, the book may only cost $2.00 but shipping is what kills the deal. The hunt is both affordable and enjoyable, and while spending a dollar on a copy of Swords of the Horseclans isn’t as titillating as stuffing it down a strippers G-string, it’s a heck of a lot safer for me when “She who must be obeyed” looks over the Visa statements.

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover…the cover is nice, the book sucked.

 

I found The Colorado Kid in a .99 cent used book bin. I should have left it there. Instead, I brought it home and struggled through 37 torturous pages before I just said  “Fuck it” and moved on to the next book.  I should have remembered that for me Steven King does horror real nice but I’ve never enjoyed any of his works outside of the horror genre. When he came out with The Eyes of the Dragon I was in full Steven King fan mode, so I was extremely excited that he was doing what I thought would be a kickass fantasy/ horror story. It wasn't a total bust, but I remember being disappointed.

The Colorado Kid was just a complete waste of my time. funny thing is that King himself states in the afterword that readers will either love the story or hate it, with no middle ground. in my case he hit the nail on the head. The little that I read was about as exciting as peeling a potato. 

The Colorado Kid was released by a small crime novel publishing outfit called Hard Case Crime. As a small publisher I’m sure they shit their pants when they managed to sign Steven King on for a story. It probably didn’t matter too much to them what he wrote about, I mean hell it’s Steven fricken King!  Oh well…

But hey! Something good did come out of all of this. While working on this post I ran across The Tainted Archive Blog. On the blog is an interview with one of the publishers, from whom we get this little gem of a quote:

“Well, we are branching out into pulp adventure fiction next year: In May we'll publish HUNT AT THE WELL OF ETERNITY, the first in a series of novels about a two-fisted modern-day adventurer named Gabriel Hunt, and additional volumes will follow every few months after that. The books will be published under Gabriel Hunt's name, but will actually be written by some old Hard Case Crime hands (me, David J. Schow, Christa Faust) as well as some friends of the family (James Reasoner, Nick Kaufmann, Raymond Benson). The books are intended to harken back to the style of H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs and Sax Rohmer, or Doc Savage and The Avenger, or Indiana Jones. They're a ton of fun to write and edit, and again, it's a type of book you just don't see being published anymore -- inexplicably so, when you consider just how popular the genre is at the movies.”

So maybe there was a reason for the pulp gods to test me so. It was their little way of letting me know to be out on the look out for some new two fisted action- coming soon.

The end is near.

Legends of Steel- Savage Worlds Edition is going through a second round of editing. This should be the last hoop. The cover and interior art are all ready. Following this last bit of editing it's off to Heyoka to be scheduled for Layout.


I've found a cover artist for Lost World of Hador. We are currently tweaking the sketches. Ryan is working on the map and the manuscript is coming along nicely. Hador should follow right on the heels of Legends of Steel by a month or two, and then it's time for serious work on Mission: Adventure!

Manly Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo dump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New issue of Danger Magnet available now!

Yeah I know I’m late on this. But since this is their Halloween issue I figure you guys can cut me some slack.  Good stuff!

A Christmas classic-Island style

I spent several years in Hawaii. Christmas in Hawaii is very special holiday. They don’t have the blustery weather and the snow men, so they give it a twist of their own and go all out in their special Island way.
A place that is already one of the friendliest places around becomes even more friendly. 

One of my most memorable experiences was hearing a local musician by the name of Willie K. perform his rendition of “Oh holy night”.  his performance blew me away. the passion in his voice, the power of his words, the beautiful translation in Hawaiian, the whole experience moved me to tears. Willie K’s rendition of Oh Holy night became my favorite Christmas song of all, and every time I hear it I’m back in the islands, if just for a few minutes.

 

PO HEMOLELE! KE OLI NO NEI NA HOKU,
IA PO I HANAU AI KA HOOLA:
LOA KE AO MENA HEWA NA LUULUU,
KA WA IHO EA MAI, A OLU KA UHANE.
HAUOLI E NA LUHI MANAOLANA, POHA, NU HOU KA WENA O KA LA.
PELU NA KULI, HOOLOHE INA LEO ANELA,
KA PO KAMAHAO, I HANAU AI O KRISTO,
KA PO KAMAHAO, KA PO KAMAHAO.

Manly Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo dump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children of the Lion

  Written by a variety of authors under the pseudonym Peter Danielson, This historical fiction series begins with Abraham’s journey to the land of Canaan to claim it for his people in the name of God.  This is a sweeping epic that stretches nineteen volumes. I’m not sure that I'll read all of them but I found seven volumes at a thrift store, so we’ll see what happens. I’m currently reading the first and enjoying it. the cover art on these remind me of the Kent family chronicles written by John Jakes. The Children of the Lion series was published in the 80’s during a period where stories of this size were very popular.   I could see this as a setting for ZeFRS.  I checked to see if Green Ronin’s D20 game Testament had anything referencing this, but it didn't.  It would be easy to dismiss this as a romance novel when glancing at it on a bookstore shelf, but from what I’ve read so far its a nicely detailed work of historical fiction. It appears decently researched and offers an interesting day to day view of characters and peoples that most of us only know through history books, Cecil B. Demille epics, or from reading the old testament.

I'm trying out Live Writer from Microsoft

This seems pretty cool.

lots of features.

I can also use the many fonts I’ve collected over the years.

Posting Pics seems easy…

It allows me to resize the pictures…

And create a photo album…

View Full Album

I can insert a map…

Hey look! there's my old apartment on Coolidge street in Hawaii. Back in my Bachelor days….Good Times.

Anyway this looks like a nice little tool.