The Adventures of Fortune McCall

Posted on January 8, 2012May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Last week, I reviewed the first installment of Pro Se’s Sovereign City Project, The Adventures of Lazarus Gray by Barry Reese. And now, I’ve just tackled the second installment, The Adventures of Fortune McCall by Derrick Ferguson.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve already read previous reviews I’ve written of Ferguson’s material. This one won’t be much different. The same witty dialogue and heart-pumping action Ferguson brings to his Dillon stories are present here with Fortune and his gang.

Fortune is a new arrival in Sovereign City, having arrived on his gambling ship, The Heart of Fortune. Also onboard are a loyal crew and an army of soldiers from the Otwani tribe based in the African nation of Khusra. And here’s where things get really interesting.

Despite the urban 1930s setting and Fortune’s gangster-like appearance of a fedora, trench coat and suit, right from the start you can tell there’s something different about Fortune. Namely that he doesn’t speak the way you’d expect a character like this to speak. Although there is occasionally some slang thrown in, for the most part Fortune speaks in a very formal tone and you can picture his speech tinted with an African accent. Turns out, Fortune is royalty in Khusra, but to what extent or why he’s traveling the world, we don’t yet know. We only get the barest hints of this and, just as with Reese’s Lazarus Gray, the mystery of the character’s backstory is the most interesting aspect.

Whereas Reese’s Lazarus Gray tales are more of the supernatural and superheroic variety, Ferguson takes on more of an investigative slant, handling crimes committed by very human people. It’s an important distinction that helps set Fortune McCall apart from Lazarus Gray, but despite that, you still feel like these two characters inhabit the same city. Indeed, just as there were mentions of Fortune McCall in The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, so you also have mentions of Gray in this collection.

The little snippets we’re given of Fortune’s supporting cast are interesting but I feel like the cast itself is a bit too large. For the amount of time there is to tell these stories, there’s not enough space to really go into any of the characters except in a few instances. Names are thrown around a lot and it’s difficult to get a feel for all but a few of them. Tracy is one who stands out immediately, because she’s front and center in most of the stories. Ronald gets some nice spotlight in one of the tales as well. But other than that, it’s difficult to get a feel for them.

Even though it’s difficult to get into some of these characters, when they appear they’re written with great, snappy dialogue, as is Ferguson’s trademark. The stories are quick and punchy and I found myself breezing through each of them in short order.

The second entry for Sovereign City is now in place. I’m looking forward to Tommy Hancock’s installment, featuring the oft-mentioned Doc Daye. But after reading both Reese’s and Ferguson’s takes on Sovereign City, I will say that the bar has been set extremely high. And while I’m confident Hancock will be able to at the very least reach that bar (if not raise it further himself), I will say it’s a task I do not envy. Although other books in the New Pulp movement have had shared continuity, none of them have felt as ambitious as the Sovereign City Project. That makes this a very exciting time for New Pulp fans and I encourage you to get in on the ground floor, if you haven’t already.

Pick up your copy of The Adventures of Fortune McCall at my store now!

The Adventures of Lazarus Gray

Posted on January 4, 2012May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Barry Reese is one of the leading figures in the New Pulp movement, and one would be hard-pressed to ask why, given his prolific output and consistently high quality of work. With The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Reese not only launches into the adventures of a brand-new creation, but he also sets the tone for Pro Se Press’ Sovereign City. And it’s a damn good start.

We’re introduced to the titular hero as an amnesiac who washes up on the shores of Sovereign City. The only key he has to his identity is a medallion around his neck which bares the name Lazarus Gray on the back. Taking this as his name, Gray establishes himself as a force for good in the corrupt Sovereign City, opening up the offices of Assistance Unlimited. His aides include Morgan Watts, a former figure in Sovereign’s underworld; Eun Jiwon, a Korean martial artist with a fiery temper; and Samantha Grace, a socialite with no shortage of fighting skills and intelligence. Together they take on a number of cases in Sovereign City, ranging from simple acts of crime but seeming more often than not to lean towards the supernatural and running afoul of figures from Gray’s previous life as a member of the occult organization known as the Illuminati.

If you’ve read any number of Reese’s work over the past several years, you already know what to expect of him—great characterization, tense action sequences, and entertaining stories. And as usual, Reese delivers. The threats Reese comes up with for Assistance Unlimited and the backstory behind Gray are easily the two most interesting aspects of this collection. My personal favorite choices of villains are Gray’s recurring nemesis, Walther Lunt and the Claw. Some may know that the Claw is actually a public domain character that first appeared in Lev Gleason Publications back in the 30s. If you find some images of him online, he looks somewhat goofy and is pretty much the epitome of everything that was wrong with the “Yellow Peril” craze. But Reese is able to tone that down and instead crafts a Claw who is incredibly threatening and terrifying while avoiding the racial problems that dogged the original incarnation.

The backstory behind the Illuminati is also great. I’m a sucker for stories involving secret societies (or at least I am when they’re well-told), and Reese does a great job of giving us just the barest hints of his version of the Illuminati while still keeping them shrouded in mystery. Particularly interesting is Miya Shimada, Gray’s former lover whom he brought into the society and who seems to have more ambiguity than her fellow Illuminatus, Lunt. The dynamic between them leaves the possibility for future stories really fascinating.

The members of Assistance Unlimited are similarly great, with Eun and Samantha being the standouts in my mind. Both these characters are well-written and extremely capable. Morgan doesn’t make as much of an impact in the early stories, but towards the end of the collection in “The God of Hate,” he starts to take more of a central role and becomes much more interesting.

Surprisingly enough, the character who held the least appeal for me was Gray himself. It’s not because Reese writes a bad character, but it feels at times that Gray is a bit too stoic and a bit too good at his job. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed “The God of Hate” more than any other story in this collection, because it’s the one where we really get the feeling that the odds are stacked against the hero.

But that aside, the collection is very good and even when things seem like they’re too easy for the hero, the stories never fail to entertain. If you’re a fan of The Rook series, you should definitely check out this collection. Especially since the Rook makes an appearance in one of the tales.

Pick up a copy of The Adventures of Lazarus Gray from my online store!

A free book for the holidays!

Posted on December 29, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

We are just a few weeks away from the release of Outlaw Blues, which is the second book in the Infernum series! In this tale, we follow the path of another of Dante’s operatives, an aging gunman named Carl Flint, whose path intersects with Angela Lockhart and Christian Pierce (the protagonists of the first book, Love & Bullets) as well as Christian’s partner, Julie Kim.

If you haven’t read Love & Bullets, then there’s no need to worry. Because from now until the end of January, you will be able to get the ebook of Love & Bullets for free if you download it from Smashwords! While this won’t be reflected on Amazon, Smashwords offers the book in a variety of formats to fit whatever device you prefer to read books on!

Here’s the description of the book:

Beautiful. Cunning. Deadly. These are just a few of the words that describe Angela Lockhart, former operative of the mysterious Agency. Now working as an assassin for an international syndicate called Infernum, led by a mysterious power broker known only as Dante, Lockhart has become the ‘Most Wanted’ for every major law enforcement agency in the world. But when Agency operative Christian Pierce begins a dangerous game of deception to try and bring her back into the fold, Angela will find herself torn between her old life and her new one…

From Pulp Ark Award-nominated author Percival Constantine comes the first action-packed title in the Infernum series!

Don’t miss out on this first chapter in a growing series! Download your free copy right now!

Outlaw Blues

Posted on December 28, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Infernum. A shadowy, globe-spanning network of operatives run by the mysterious power broker known only as Dante. They hold allegiance to no one, existing as rogues on the fringes of society.Carl Flint was once an assassin, until a mistake on the job led to disastrous consequences. Years later, he’s a broken man, living out his days playing music in a dive bar. He’s convinced by Dante to come out of retirement to kill one more person — Agency operative Christian Pierce.

Now on the run from Pierce’s former partner, Flint has to flee what’s left of his former life. But in his quest to find peace, he’ll have to face off with a Colombian drug cartel. Is this the redemption he’s been searching for, or the final nail in his coffin?

From Percival Constantine comes the long-awaited follow-up to the Pulp Ark Award-nominated Love & Bullets!

“The bible quote is, ‘He who lives by the sword, shall perish by the sword.’ Around that one single theme, Percival Constantine has given us a truly memorable character and powerful tale that proves his emergence as a genuine master of noire fiction.”
-Ron Fortier, author of The Hounds of Hell

“A tour-de-force that shows this author is one to watch.”
–Barry Reese, author of The Adventures of Lazarus Gray

Four Bullets For Dillon

Posted on December 26, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

I’ve made no secret of my affection for Derrick Ferguson’s Dillon series of stories. Ever since I read Dillon and the Voice of Odin, I was hooked. If you’ve never heard the name Dillon before and are wondering just what the hell I’m talking about, I’ll give you some background information: Dillon is the titular character of a number of tales written by Derrick, beginning with Dillon and the Voice of Odin, continuing with Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell and the latest installment, Four Bullets For Dillon, features four short stories about the character, stories which are interweaved through the history laid out in the previous two full-length novels.

Dillon is a soldier of fortune. If you’re a fan of Doc Savage, Indiana Jones, Nick Fury, James Bond or any number of similar characters, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t read any of the Dillon stories. He’s an adventurer in the classic sense, a man of action armed with not only an impressive set of combat skills, but a great deal of intelligence and a cunning wit and sense of humor that brings a nice sense of fun to the stories. If you want to know more about the background of Dillon, Derrick’s made that easy for you by setting up a website that tells you everything you need to know about the character.

“Dillon and the Bad Ass Belt Buckle,” “Dead Beat in La Esca,” “Dillon and the Escape From Tosegio,” and “Dillon and the Judas Chalice” are the four tales that make up the book. I was fortunate enough to read “Dillon and the Bad Ass Belt Buckle” and “Dillon and the Judas Chalice” before, but re-reading them has been an absolute treat.

“Dillon and the Bad Ass Belt Buckle” remains one of my favorite Dillon stories. While on a mission to rescue an award-winning actress, Dillon and his ally, Eli Creed, come across a town run by Kudro Mayoka, the certified Bad Ass of Cheap Prayer — and his certification comes in the form of a belt buckle. Dillon has to challenge Kudro to a race in order to leave with the actress, but during the course, they run across the kidnappers.

“Dead Beat in La Esca” was co-written with Joel Jenkins and features a meeting between Dillon and Joel’s character Sly Gantlet of the Gantlet Brothers series (The Gantlet Brothers’ Greatest Hits and The Nuclear Suitcase). It’s a fun tale involving two very proud guys constantly trying to one-up each other and you could tell both Derrick and Joel must have had a ball writing it together.

“Dillon and the Escape From Tosegio” is interesting in that it began as a story for Frontier Publishing Presents #1, an attempt by Derrick and others associated with Frontier Publishing to put together a quarterly comic anthology. The comic is out of print now, but it’s great of Derrick to include a prose version of the story in this collection. If you’re wondering how Dillon ended up at the Goliath in Dillon and the Voice of Odin or why he’s got so much animosity towards fellow adventurer Awesome Times in Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell, you need to check out this tale.

And last but not least, “Dillon and the Judas Chalice.” It’s the longest tale in the book, taking up about 50% of the space (at least according to my Kindle). There are some absolutely thrilling action sequences, particularly the opening with a car chase scene through the streets of Denbrook. The story itself is interesting, with a secret society having melted down Judas Iscariot’s thirty pieces of silver into a chalice that’s been passed down through the centuries. It brings the owner whatever they desire, but with the curse that they must betray their loved ones to receive it.

If you’re asking whether or not you should read Four Bullets For Dillon, my answer is the same as it’s been for all other Dillon tales: abso-freaking-lutely. Derrick doesn’t waste any time with his prose — he’s got a snappy style, an ear for dialogue, an eye on action and he never makes the mistake of boring you. I loaded this book onto my Kindle last night and read it from cover to cover this morning without missing a beat.

You can pick up Four Bullets For Dillon through my online store for $9.95 in print format or the digital version directly from Amazon for $4.99.

Upcoming book release dates!

Posted on December 3, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Over at Pulpwork Press, we’ve hammered out our release schedule for 2012. And you’ll have the chance to pick up not one but two books written by me in the upcoming year!

The first has been long in development. Outlaw Blues is the second book in the Infernum series, which began with the Pulp Ark Award-nominated Love & Bullets in 2010. I actually finished this manuscript a year ago (adding more credence to Richard Lee Byers’ statement that writers live in the future), but we had our schedule full up for 2011.

Outlaw Blues is not really a sequel, per se. The main character is Carl Flint, a former Infernum assassin who’s brought out of retirement by Dante for one last job. The target? Agency operative Christian Pierce, who was one of the main characters in Love & Bullets (and if you’ve read that book, you might be really intrigued already).

There are some characters from Love & Bullets who appear in Outlaw Blues. Naturally, Dante appears, but his role is significantly smaller in comparison to Love & Bullets. Another returning character, and in a much larger role, is Pierce’s partner, Agency operative Julie Kim. Angela Lockhart, the main character of Love & Bullets, does appear, but only in a very small, cameo appearance. Same goes for Dante’s right-hand woman, Tauna. There are also some characters who debut in this book who will play larger roles in future Infernum installments. Such as Johnny Venom, an arms dealer who gained his nom de guerre by specializing in chemical and biological weapons.

Outlaw Blues is scheduled for a January release, which means it will be the first 2012 release from Pulpwork Press. You can see the preliminary cover design, but it’s not quite complete. The PWP insignia is undergoing some tweaks and I’m going to receive the New Pulp insignia very shortly to add to it as well.

My second release for 2012 is Dragon Kings of the Orient. This is the sequel to my most-recent book, the critically-acclaimed The Myth Hunter. This adventure brings back three of the central characters of that adventure back together. Naturally, Elisa Hill is back, since she’s the focus of this series. Her mentor, Professor Maxwell Finch, is also back again. And so is Asami, the shape-changing fox spirit. Lucas Davalos makes a cameo and we meet a new character, Jason Shroud.

This time around, Elisa and Max, at the request of Asami, travel to Hong Kong. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, has been freed from imprisonment and his targets are the beings who put them there — the four Dragon Kings of China! It’s up to Elisa and her friends to make sure the Dragon Kings escape death. Because if they do go down, environmental chaos will rage in Asia!

Dragon Kings of the Orient is scheduled for release in July.

Following both these two books, I may take a short break from the Infernum and Myth Hunter series. I’m about 10,000 words into a new project and have begun work on what may be the first in a collection of stories featuring a new character set in the mid-40s. It’s still a bit early to talk about either of those, so more on them in the future if they end up panning out.

YesterYear – A Tale of the Past and Present

Posted on December 1, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

In Derrick Ferguson’s introduction, he says that Tommy Hancock knows of Harlan Ellison’s mythical idea factory. And as someone who knows Tommy personally, I can definitely attest to that—the man’s got a million and one ideas, and that’s a low-ball number. Anyone who knows anything at all about the New Pulp Movement knows the name Tommy Hancock. I don’t know if he’s the originator of New Pulp, but to my knowledge he coined the term and I don’t think there’s a person alive who will argue with me when I say no one has done more for the movement than him. Whether it’s his work as the editor in chief of Pro Se Productions, running the All Pulp and New Pulp websites, his great promotional work, or his willingness (and eagerness) to talk to anyone who might have a question about pulp.

Other than hearing his ideas, YesterYear is the first time I’ve actually had a chance to experience Tommy’s writing. As I said before, Tommy’s got a million and one ideas, and they’re all winners. So the expectation I had going into this book was that Tommy’s writing ability would match the high quality of his ideas. Such an expectation started to worry me, because I was afraid that there was no way Tommy could possibly have lived up to the standard I set up in my mind.

I’m happy to admit my fears were unjustified.

Tommy constantly talks about one of the facets of New Pulp being plot-oriented. Some might cringe at this—I know I did at first—thinking it might imply sacrificing character development for plot development. But that’s not what happens in YesterYear. In fact, the characters are probably the best thing about this novel.

YesterYear takes place in the present when J.C. Smithenson, himself a former boy detective, is now a writer and publisher. One day, he finds a mysterious package on his doorstep, a package that holds a leather-bound book. This book contains personal journal entries and newspaper clippings of reporter Ramsey Long, who reported on the heroes of the 30s and 40s. The book details the personal histories (and thus, identities) of a number of heroes from back then. Smithenson wants to publish the journal, but there are other forces who want to see it suppressed.

The book is intercut with excerpts from the journal, showing articles and personal stories of the various heroes. Some of them are pastiches of familiar comic book and pulp characters. Others are 100% original. Each one is extremely interesting and could easily headline a novel of their own (my personal favorites being the Night, G.I. and Mind’s Eye).

Now, with all that being said, I do have a few criticisms. World-building is an important aspect of creating fiction and Tommy definitely does build his world very effectively. But sometimes, this world-building comes at the expense of the story. Some characters who appear one way in the excerpts from Ramsey’s journal later show up in the main story completely different from how they were introduced, with little to no explanation as to how they got that way. I think a few less excerpts and a few more chapters focused on the main story would definitely have helped this. As it is, some of the excerpts, although very entertaining, seem to have very little connection to the main story.

A few people have criticized the use of different fonts to differentiate between journal entries. Personally, I thought this was an effective choice and it reminded me of Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. But that praise comes with a caveat. While I applaud Tommy’s decision to vary things up, I feel some of the font choices weren’t as strong and provided more of a distraction. I think some more careful selection would have helped this a lot more. There were also some inconsistencies with typography—one example that popped up a lot was how often quotation marks interchanged between curved and straight. Granted I’m a letterer so I’m more sensitive to typography than most, but it was a distraction for me. Another stylistic choice was the constant capitalization of the words Heroes and Villains. I understand why this was done, but it caused some confusion as one of the characters is called Hero. So every time the word Hero popped up, it caused a bit of confusion whether they were talking about the character or using it as a generic descriptor.

Another distraction was the illustrations. No offense intended to the artist, I’m certainly not capable of drawing anything close to that, but I felt they could have used a bit more detail in terms of rendering and shading. As it is, they appear very flat on the page.

These criticisms are of course minor in the larger scheme and more of a technical nature than anything else. The writing is of high quality and I’m looking forward to more stories featuring the YesterYear characters.

YesterYear can be purchased for $12.00 from my Amazon store.

Two bucks for two tales of two-fisted action!

Posted on November 29, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Not sure what to get for the holidays? Well, if you’ve got anyone who enjoys action/adventure stories, you could do a lot worse than picking up The Myth Hunter and Love & Bullets! Both these novels have now had their prices slashed and shot up, from $2.99 to $0.99!

Two bucks gets you two tales of two-fisted action! Can you beat that?

Well no, but I can try. I’ve also cut the prices on the print versions as well! So instead of paying $11.95 to get your copies of The Myth Hunter and Love & Bullets, you can now get them for $9.95!

The holidays are here, so what are you waiting for? Check out my Amazon page for more info!

I would like to thank Frank Miller

Posted on November 15, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

There’s been a lot said about Frank Miller in the past few days after his comments about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Miller called the protestors “a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.”

This, Miller tells us, is anti-American. But the borderline fascist subtext that pops up so often in Miller’s work? I suppose that’s completely pro-American.

And somehow, Miller finds a way to claim that OWS empowers al-Qaeda. The same al-Qaeda that’s pretty much been decimated and has gotten so desperate for members, they’ve resorted to bad rap videos and porn advertising (yes, I’m serious). Miller says the OWS should do the decent thing and “go back to your mommas’ basements” or “enlist for the real thing.” Miller is obviously doing his part. What’s that? No, he’s never served a day in his life in the armed services. But he does his part by creating comics where a thinly-veiled knock-off of Batman punches Muslims (I’m not joking, but I wish I was).

Back in the day, Frank Miller was one of the masters. He was the kind of creator other creators aspired to be like. He’s done great work, such as Daredevil, Daredevil: Born Again, Ronin, Wolverine, Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Elektra: Assassin and others. But then he did a follow-up to The Dark Knight Returns, called The Dark Knight Strikes Again.

It was already becoming plainly obvious that Miller had gone a bit loopy. He then followed that up with All-Star Batman & Robin, a book so bad and so over-the-top, I still can’t tell if it’s supposed to be serious or satirical. After that, he decided to try his hand again in Hollywood, and he did so by directing ~~Batman in Sin City~~ The Spirit. Then came Holy Terror, which I mentioned above. And I’m not going to go into that too much because if I do, I’ll probably go on a rant not unlike that of “The Goddamn Batman.”

And now this. Miller comes out with a position so extreme that Glenn Beck, a man so extreme that Fox News told him to leave, is praising him. Way to go, Frank!

So this brings me to the title of this post — I would like to thank Frank Miller. Why? Because Frank Miller has shown me I have absolutely zero reason to give him any of my money. Frank Miller has come out and said to me, “please, do not buy my books. Because you’re just going to get more extreme right-wing propaganda that supports blatantly xenophobic, fascist ideals.”

Message received, Frank. Thanks for helping me save money in these difficult economic times.

Airship 27 releases ALL-STAR PULP COMICS!

Posted on November 14, 2011May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Airship 27 and Redbud Studios have just released All-Star Pulp Comics, a collection of seven stories featuring characters new and old in the classic pulp tradition! Included in this collection is a Domino Lady story written by me and illustrated by Rock Baker and Jeff Austin.

This whole project began a few years ago, actually. I had attempted to get together a number of people to do short stories featuring public domain pulp characters. Unfortunately, only two of the stories were actually completed.

About a year ago, I read an interview with Ron Fortier of Airship 27 where he said that Airship 27 did want to do some more comic stuff with pulp characters. I contacted him right away and sent him those two stories, asking if he could take a look at them and if he’d like to use them. Sure enough, Ron loved the two tales and asked if I had anything else. I did, in fact — a Domino Lady story I wrote but couldn’t find an artist for. He asked me to send it over and he liked the script and graciously assembled an art team for the project. Ron also filled out the book by gathering a number of other stories from noted creators in the pulp field and now it’s finally complete and available for sale!

What follows is the official press release:

REDBUD STUDIOS PRESS RELEASE

AIRSHIP 27 PRESENTS – ALL STAR PULP COMICS

Ron Fortier and Rob Davis are thrilled to announce the release of the first Redbud Studio/Airship 27 Productions venture in All Star Pulp Comics # 1.

This massive comic one shot features 58 pages of wall to wall pulp adventure in graphic form. Seven old and new pulp heroes as written by today’s most exciting new pulp writers and brought to glorious graphic reality by super talented artists.

Here are the Green Lama, Domino Lady, Jim Anthony Super Detective to name only a few. The volume also contains the very first ever comic adventure of Barry Reese’s highly popular hero, the Rook.

The color cover featuring the Green Lama & the Domino Lady is by Jeff Butler.

This is a comic you don’t want to miss and is available only at Indy Planet.