Dracula Lives!

Posted on October 25, 2010May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

I’m going to admit something here and now, something which I’m sure my fellow horror fans will probably want to flay me alive for even thinking, let alone giving voice to:

I’m not a fan of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

I’m not sure what it is, but something about the book just doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve tried reading it a few times and each time I do, I just can’t get into it (although interestingly enough, the other horror classic, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is in my eyes one of the greatest books ever written).

But that’s quite different from the character of Dracula. I love the character of Dracula, I just don’t care much for his first outing. He is, without a doubt, one of the best villains ever created. So popular that even now, over a century after his creation, he still manages to raise hairs on the back of your neck. That’s nothing to scoff at.

One of the best things about Dracula is also one of the worst. Since Bram Stoker’s Dracula is in the public domain, anyone can use one of literature’s greatest villains in their story. The downside to this is that…well, anyone can use one of literature’s greatest villains in their story. This has led to some truly awful renditions of the character (if you’ve seen Dracula 2000 or Blade: Trinity, you know what I’m talking about).

Dracula has transcended the medium of literature. He’s been depicted in film, television, comic books, video games, stage (including a puppet musical in Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and so on. There are some very iconic Dracula renditions, my personal favorite being Christopher Lee’s portrayal in the classic Hammer films.

Of course, this is all just rambling and for that I’m sorry. I’m supposed to be talking about Joshua Reynolds’ latest book, Dracula Lives! And I should devote some time to it, because remember how I mentioned lesser writers who completely abused Dracula’s character?

Josh isn’t one of those guys.

Josh’s Dracula is menacing, imposing, monstrously vicious and savage, but also with a certain charm and elegance. And the amazing thing about Dracula Lives? For the most part, Dracula’s not in it. He remains an imposing figure in the background, and the build-up and tension to his first appearance is handled with masterful subtlety and suspense. By the time Dracula does show his face, you might think it’d be a let-down. But no, not at all — Dracula’s debut in this novel is well-worth the wait.

Of course, you won’t be doing much waiting. The book’s not very long and there’s plenty to keep you entertained up until the titular character stands revealed. Dracula’s been portrayed in gothic romances, slasher flicks, comedies, but it’s not often you see him in a tale of espionage and mystery. And that’s exactly what this is — an espionage thriller, complete with backstabs, shady characters from shady organizations, and some femme fatales for added bonus.

The book centers around an assassin named Jonas Cream. And if you’re like me, you may have chuckled a little when you first read that name. But fortunately, Josh doesn’t give you much time to mock the character and quickly, you’re shown that Cream is the kind of guy you don’t want to mess around with. Unless of course you’re part of one of the shady organizations pulling his strings or trying to kill him.

The thrills never let up, and the veil of mystery over why Cream is so important to these people is handled masterfully. But even better than that, even better than Cream’s development through the book, is the growing menace that casts a shadow over every page. So by the time the last page hits, you are left dumbfounded.

This is only the first of a series of Dracula novels Josh is working on. The second one is titled Dracula Unbound! which if the preview at the end of this book is any indication, hopefully won’t be too far off.

180 pages, available from Pulpwork Press
Buy now at my store!

The Sea Witch

Posted on October 25, 2010May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

I first discovered Joel Jenkins when I read Dire Planet. This is the first book of Joel’s I’ve read that took place in the real world, so to speak, so it was interesting to see how Joel’s style translates in a non-fantasy setting.

Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

The Sea Witch introduces us to Max Damage, an Olympic fencer and son of Pierre Dommage, a very eccentric man. Growing up, Max was given some very unusual tutoring. Max himself is a bit unusual, extremely strong and fast, a quick healer, but with some drawbacks including sensitivity to light. But Max’s life gets turned upside down when his father passes away and he inherits the family business, Damage Inc. While Max and his new accountant Seth investigate the mysterious projects and messy bookkeeping, they’re confronted by a strange Russian woman named Minnie. It seems Max’s father was involved with a man named Zhinov, President of a splintered Russian state. And now Max and his friends have become Zhinov’s targets.

The Sea Witch opens with a bang and never makes the mistake of letting you get bored. The banter between Max, Minnie and Seth is always fun to read and Joel always manages to find a new way to keep your eyes glued to the page. This is a book that will always surprise you with new action ideas Joel is able to pull out. And the machinations of Zhinov fit in perfectly with his character as a chessmaster. And the mystery behind Max’s unusual abilities as well as his connection to Minnie is maintained nicely through the course of the book until its revelation.

As much as I enjoy Joel’s fantasy work, I have to say The Sea Witch is a welcome change and just might be my favorite of his works to date. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Max and the rest of Damage Inc.

200 pages, available from Pulpwork Press
Buy now from my store!

Let’s Talk Crow

Posted on October 22, 2010May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Anyone who knows me very well will know that I have some very firmly-held beliefs. Among these beliefs is that The Crow starring Brandon Lee is one of the greatest films of all time. As a lonely young teenager, the story of Eric Draven made my life bearable.

Like many people, that first movie is what first introduced me to the world of The Crow and it led me to seek out the original graphic novel by James O’Barr. And when I read that, it blew me away just as much as the first time I watched the movie. I even enjoyed the much-maligned follow-up film, The Crow: City of Angels. And even though I despised the next two direct-to-video follow-ups, The Crow: Salvation and The Crow: Wicked Prayer, I still own them. I also have a bit of fondness for The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, a syndicated, low-budget television series that continued the story of Eric Draven, replacing the ideas of revenge with redemption. Sure, it had a lot of bad writing and bad acting, but there were some real gems in the series as well, including the performances of Mark Dacascos and Marc Gomes. And if you have a chance, you should definitely track down Image Comics’ ten-issue series by Jon J. Muth, which took a similar idea as Stairway to Heaven, except did it in a manner far more faithful to O’Barr’s original story. And I also own the student-made bootleg film, which was extremely faithful to the graphic novel.

I’m a firm believer that given the proper team who view the original story in high esteem, The Crow could easily fly again. So when I first heard of the Stephen Norrington-helmed remake, I didn’t take the route most fans did and instantly decry it as an insult to O’Barr and the memory of Lee. You see, Norrington didn’t want to simply remake the first film. He wanted to go back to the source material and view it from a grittier angle. And as much as I love the first film and as close as it was to the original in terms of tone, they also took quite a bit of liberties with it (those liberties worked to the benefit of the story, but I digress).

So having a new version of Eric’s story told in a manner more akin to the way O’Barr told it? That would have been very interesting to see.

Now, word has it that Norrington has left the project. Before Crow fans rejoice, I want them to look at the reasons why Norrington left. This is from CHUD:

Unfortunately, the reasons Norrington left were sound and good. He left because the “big actor” interested in the playing the titular avian wanted the script rewritten. Fair enough if this was Norrington’s script, but this was the script Cave had worked on. Let me repeat that: They trashed Nick Cave’s script. Says Norrington: “As I had gotten involved explicitly as a writer-director my exit was inevitable. I was bummed. I had developed a genuinely authentic take that respected the source material while moving beyond it, and Nick Cave came in and added more depth. I think the fans would have been pleasantly surprised.”

That doesn’t sound good to me. In fact, it sounds like Norrington and Cave were going to do the story justice, but now it’s going to be butchered by the studios and some unknown “big name actor” (Norrington wouldn’t name names, but he said it wasn’t rumored choice Mark Wahlberg, whom Norrington claims he had no idea was approached).

Going with a big-name actor who wants to change the script doesn’t sound good to me. The Crow doesn’t need a big-name actor. Lee, despite being the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire when he was cast. His previous credits included Rapid Fire and Showdown in Little Tokyo where he played second-fiddle to 80s B-movie action star Dolph Lundgren (sidenote: Lundgren actually holds a masters degree in chemical engineering, so don’t listen to anyone who tries to paint him as an idiot — he’s a bad actor, but at 52 years of age, he can kick your ass both in a fight and in a classroom). The Crow was supposed to be Lee’s ticket to stardom, and it was–but not for the reasons he hoped (Lee tragically died in an accident during filming).

So Crow fans, be careful what you wish for. Yes, Norrington is gone and you’re probably rejoicing. But the cost may be a reboot of The Crow that’s even worse than what you predicted. Of course, as there are many in the fan community who seem to thrive on complaining, they may have gotten just what they wanted.

A New Beginning

Posted on October 18, 2010May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Even though I registered for this site about a month ago, I’ve just now actually added all the relevant content to it. For those of you who are coming here from my previous website, welcome. I hope you’ll find this site more visually appealing as well as easier to navigate. I know I do. For those of you who are just meeting me, introductions are probably in order.

Hi, my name’s Percival Constantine, but my friends call me Perry. I’m a freelance novelist, comic book writer and comic book letterer and I’ve been at this for a few years now. I started out in the comic book industry back in 2005 as an editor on HaVeN for Making Comics Studios. I also worked as an editor on MCS’ second title, Frater Mine. In 2007, I self-published my first novel, Fallen. Shortly after that, I shifted my focus in comics, becoming a letterer for, among others, AC Comics, Cosmic Times, Blackglass Press, and FYI Comics.

Although I was born and raised in Chicago, in 2008, I moved to southern Japan, where I’ve been for the past two years. Shortly after I moved to Japan, I self-published my second novel, Chasing The Dragon. Eventually, I began doing some comic writing, with short stories appearing in AC Comics’ Femforce and Blackglass Press’ Kagemono: Tooth and Claw (both of which are available on the Comics page).

Then in 2009, I completed my third novel, Love & Bullets, which had gone from screenplay to comic book to finally a novel. This is what began my association with Pulpwork Press, a small publisher focusing on pulp fiction novels and collections. Love & Bullets was released in 2010 and my second novel, The Myth Hunter, is aiming for an early 2011 release.

My focus these days is on pulp fiction. Hopefully you’ll like what you see. If you want a taste of my work, excerpts of my books are available at Amazon and I also write an online serial fiction called SoulQuest for Revenance Original Fiction.

You can also find me on both Facebook and Twitter.

Love & Bullets

Posted on March 17, 2010May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

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…

“The author’s able to impart both important information and character bits through the words that the characters share and it helps keep the book moving. This is a fast read — I literally finished it in two days without really trying to. The action scenes really sparkle and are definitely one of the author’s strengths.”
-Barry Reese, author of The Rook series

“There’s a rhythm to certain stories: a beat that echoes the story-spikes in the plot. Like a heart beat. For some stories, it’s a soft thing. A whisper of information, an undercurrent that gently prods and pokes and pulls the story towards its resolution. Quiet and subtle. For other stories, it’s a bit louder. More visceral. A rampaging, roaring sonnet that threatens the senses as it plunges towards a fiery finale. Ronnie James Dio in Times New Roman, twelve point. Percival Constantine’s new book, Love & Bullets, is of the latter variety. The title is apt…it’s a red romance, a pretty Valentine’s Day box of chocolates full of spent brass casings and broken promises.”
–Josh Reynolds, author of The Executioner: Border Offensive

Chasing The Dragon

Posted on August 25, 2008May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

Brenda McKenzie is a single mother working double-shifts as a waitress and struggling to make ends meet. But Brenda’s life gets turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Alyssa, runs away with Ryan Cunningham, her heroin-dealing boyfriend. With the police providing no assistance, Brenda feels all hope is lost.

Until the day a strange man offers his help. His name is Riker Stone and he has a monster lurking inside him–literally. Riker’s quest will lead him to Ryan as well as the people who support him. And in his search for revenge, Riker will leave a trail of bodies.

From Percival Constantine, the author of Fallen, comes a bloodspilling, ultraviolent tale of vengeance in a noir style.

“At its core, it’s a tough crime novel. For an over-saturated market, it would actually stand out quite a bit because it’s better written than some of the stuff out there with moments where it actually borders on some of the better contemporary crime writers.”
-Green Valleyside Productions

Fallen

Posted on March 7, 2007May 30, 2014 by Percival Constantine

After the creation of the Earth and the birth of Man, the Presence seemingly vanished from existence. Once the angels and demons discovered that mortals possessed souls, they became locked in an endless conflict for ownership over mankind. But Gabriel, once the leader of Heaven’s forces, felt humanity should be allowed to live in peace. For his transgression, he was stripped of his wings and expelled from Heaven. Now, centuries later, the wars of man have brought the world to ruin. Man’s once-vaunted technology has regressed. Lance Kells, a drifting writer with no direction in his life, inadvertantly stumbles upon this war and finds himself trapped in the middle of it. As Lance tries to uncover the truth, he will encounter a host of intriguing characters, from a hard-drinking, pink-haired avatar of death to an elderly Native American mystic. During his journey, Lance will discover a method of ending a conflict as old as time, as well as a disturbing secret which links him to Gabriel.

“Combines elements of science fiction, horror both psychological and gory, Navajo mysticism, Christian dogma, action/adventure, comedy and even the modern day comic book (or graphic novels if you take your inner geek seriously) all wrapped up in a road trip. This is a book that will never make the mistake of letting you get bored. You’ll want to keep turning the pages just to see what new and innovative plot twist Percival is going to throw into the mix.”
-Derrick Ferguson, author of Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell