Airship 27’s resident Air Chief, Ron Fortier, has reviewed my latest book, Outlaw Blues. Here’s just a sample of what he had to say:

Pulpwork Press is one of the leading New Pulp publishers and books like “Outlaw Blues” are fine examples of the fast-paced, action packed offerings they put forth.  This particular novel, by Percival Constantine is the second in a gritty spy-vs-spy type series labeled Infernum. Infernum is an ultra secret organization of mercenary assassins operated by a shadowy spy-master called Dante.

Although I did like the first book, it had flaws common to most new writers.  This is Constantine’s second book since that review and it is all too evident that his innate talent is quickly maturing with each new effort.  I have no reservations in saying this is easily the best thing he has ever written.

You can read the rest of the review here. As always, Ron, your reviews are greatly appreciated! Glad you enjoyed it!

Outlaw Blues hasn’t received as much exposure as The Myth Hunter or Love & Bullets, but those who have read it seem to agree with Ron. I’m really pleased with the response its gotten so far.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up your print edition today from CreateSpace or get a digital copy at Smashwords!

Imagine a story where Wendy, John and Michael Darling from Peter Pan have a massive group orgy with Peter. Imagine Captain Hook as a rapist who hires Peter as his personal male prostitute. Now imagine Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a nympho at the age of sixteen who has sex with three farm hands as well as her father. Now imagine Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is also a nympho who has sex with her father’s friend as well as many of her classmates at an all-girl’s boarding school, then later becomes her employer’s sexual plaything before being locked in an asylum where she’s systematically raped by the hospital staff. Upon release, she continues having sex with various women and starts using drugs.

I’m betting most of you are probably thinking that this is an absolutely terrible idea for reimagining those classic children’s stories. But you’d, in fact, be wrong. Because it’s not an idea—it’s been done. These events were depicted in Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s graphic novel, Lost Girls.

“Completely shameless” is a phrase I’d probably use to describe Lost Girls. “Completely shameless” is also the phrase Moore used to describe DC’s latest move, the Before Watchmen series of comics. It will feature seven titles: Rorschach by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, Minutemen by Darwyn Cooke, The Comedian by Brian Azzarello and J.G. Jones, Dr. Manhattan by J. Michael Straczynski and Adam Hughes, Nite Owl by J. Michael Straczynski and Andy and Joe Kubert, Ozymandias by Len Wein and Jae Lee, and Silk Spectre by Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner.

Judging from what we’ve seen so far about these books, I’m betting we won’t see Nite Owl blowing Rorschach or anything like that. So to recap, underage characters from classic children’s stories involved in orgies, rape, incest and drug abuse is perfectly acceptable. Mr. Hyde anally raping the Invisible Man to death is perfectly acceptable. But characters from an 80s comic book depicted in a prequel tale is “completely shameless.”

Wow.

There’s this justification I’ve seen a lot saying it’s okay for Moore to do these things because those characters were public domain…but then Moore himself cited a public domain work without prequels or sequels as a justification for why this was a bad idea.

“I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had twenty-five years ago. As far as I know, there weren’t that many prequels or sequels to Moby-Dick.”

This was said by the writer of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Lost Girls. You either need to have some pretty big balls or a severe lack of self-reflection to make a statement dripping with that much irony. And I’d say the only reason there aren’t any prequels or sequels to Moby-Dick is because Moore is still trying to work out the logistics of how the whale will rape Ahab.

There’s this other justification I’ve seen a lot, basically saying it’s okay when Moore does it because it’s “deconstruction” so that makes it a different situation. Then why can’t Moore use archetypes, like he did with Watchmen in the first place? What this justification can be summed up as is: because he’s Alan Moore, that’s why. As a friend of mine pointed out, Moore seems to have bought into his own hype. It’s fine for him to write stories about characters created by J.M. Barrie, Robert Louis Stevenson, H.G. Wells, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Bram Stoker, etc., but no one can touch his characters because he’s Alan freaking Moore.

I say this as a fan of Moore’s work (or at least his pre-Lost Girls stuff): pot, meet kettle. It’s okay for Moore to take classic characters and reimagine them, but it’s not okay for people to do it for Moore’s creations? And let’s be fair—Watchmen was not composed of wholly original characters. Originally, the story was going to feature the Charlton Comics characters who had been acquired by DC, but DC got gunshy and thought they may want to use the characters again in the future. So they told Moore to change it. Back in 1986, here’s what Moore had to say about the Watchmen deal (emphasis mine):

MOORE: My understanding is that when Watchmen is finished and DC have not used the characters for a year, they’re ours.

DAVE GIBBONS (Watchmen artist): They pay us a substantial amount of money…

MOORE: …to retain the rights. So basically they’re not ours, but if DC is working with the characters in our interests then they might as well be. On the other hand, if the characters have outlived their natural life span and DC doesn’t want to do anything with them, then after a year we’ve got them and we can do what we want with them, which I’m perfectly happy with.

In 1986, Moore was perfectly happy with the Watchmen deal. In 2012, he calls that same deal “draconian.” He’s entitled to royalties, but refuses them. Oh, and it gets better. A few years ago, Moore could have gotten back the rights to Watchmen.

Back when the series first came out, Moore said he was interested in doing a prequel story if it sold well. Given the rights dispute, it never happened. A few years ago, DC told Moore, “if you do that prequel story or some other Watchmen story, you get the rights back.” Moore refused, saying that it was too late and that he didn’t want Watchmen back.

I’ll end this with a story about the late, great Raymond Chandler. Once, Chandler was asked how he felt about Hollywood potentially ruining his books. Chandler responded that Hollywood could never do that, because his books are still sitting on the shelf.

For the past month, Love & Bullets, the first book in the Infernum series, has been available as a free download from Smashwords. And in that month, around 150 people took advantage of it. Thank you for everyone who not only chose to give the book a chance, but also recommended it to others. The promotion period has now come to an end and the book has returned to the low price of $0.99. For print copies, the book retails for $9.95.

Now that you’ve read Love & Bullets, the story doesn’t end there! Rather it continues (and a crucial event in Love & Bullets gets told from a different perspective) in the second book in the Infernum series, Outlaw Blues. Print copies retail for $8.95 while the ebook copy will only set you back $0.99! So go ahead and pick up your copy today!

I also have some other news. As some of you may know, Barry Reese invited me to participate in the upcoming Tales of the Rook anthology (and if you’re scratching your head trying to figure out who Barry Reese or the Rook are, then you’ve got some awesome pulp material to catch up on). I was extremely honored, but given difficulties I was having at the time with writer’s block, had to give him a tentative answer. Fortunately, I was able to push past it and wrote a story featuring Ian Morris, the Rook of the early twenty-first century.

Barry gave me really good feedback on the story and it’s going to be included in the anthology, scheduled for a summer release (around the time of Dragon Kings of the Orient, my next novel). To the left, you can see an awesome piece of artwork featuring the character, drawn by George Sellas. I’m really excited about this and hope the story is well-received.

The ballot for the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards has been announced! And this year, I’ve been nominated in four categories. First, for Best Novel with The Myth Hunter. Second, Best New Character with Elisa Hill. Third, for Best Writer. And fourth, Best Pulp Related Comic for All-Star Pulp Comics (an award I’m honored to share with the other people who worked on that.

If you participated in the nomination process, you should have received an e-mail from Tommy Hancock containing your ballot. Unfortunately, only people who sent in nominations are eligible to vote in the Pulp Ark Awards.

So if you have received a ballot and if you did nominate me, thank you for your support and I hope that support will continue!

If you haven’t read The Myth Hunter but are now interested in it, it’s available in electronic format for $0.99 and in print for $9.95! You can also check out my latest novel, Outlaw Blues, which is available electronically for $0.99 and in print for $8.95. You can find the links to these and my other books on the Novels tab at the top of the page.

And also a reminder that we’re coming close to the end of January, which means we’ve almost reached the end of the period when you can purchase an electronic version of Love & Bullets free from Smashwords!

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.

Ric Croxton had me back on The Book Cave to give me a chance to talk about my latest novel, The Myth Hunter! Unfortunately, Art Sippo was under the weather so he couldn’t join in. So it was just Ric and I chatting for a little bit. Give it a listen!

http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/the-book-cave-episode-130-percival-constantine

Also, be sure to pick up your copy of The Myth Hunter over in my novels section!

I’ve been waiting to make this announcement for a long time, since I finished writing The Myth Hunter back in November of 2009. But now, I can finally say that The Myth Hunter will be available for a release on June 1st!

The release will be accompanied by some sweet deals. For starters, if you purchase a copy of The Myth Hunter, you’ll receive a free copy of my previous novel, Love & Bullets, in ebook format! Starting in July, we’ll also have a review contest where if you review The Myth Hunter and post up your review on Amazon, you’ll have a chance to earn some more free stuff!

And finally, we’ll of course continue the usual Pulpwork Press blog tour with the aid of some other fine gentlemen within the New Pulp movement! This will include an appearance by me on The Book Cave podcast.

During the week of The Myth Hunter‘s release, you’ll also get some insight into the various characters that populate the novel here on my own blog. In some cases, these will be accompanied by character sketches done by Jonathan Reincke and Marcus Jackson, two artists who were attached to work on it as a comic book at different times (projects which unfortunately never materialized).

So mark your calendars for June 1st, that’s when you’ll be able to pick up your very own copy of The Myth Hunter either in print or ebook format!

I posted up an announcement with a press release that talked about The Weinstein Company spearheading a film adaptation of Love & Bullets that was to be produced by Quentin Tarantino. The press release, of course, was 100% faked — I wrote it myself and the link that was supposed to take you to the press release actually pointed to the following image:

A few people did get taken in by the hoax but still others could tell it was complete bull right from the start. As my good buddy Derrick Ferguson said, “there is no way you could have kept that to yourself for a few months, doesn’t matter what they told you!” But sadly there are currently no plans for a big-screen adaptation of Love & Bullets, especially not one being produced by Tarantino (although that would be amazing — Quentin if you’re reading this, drop me a line).

A sociopath is a person devoid of empathy. It seems they’re becoming increasingly common these days, many of them even have their own television shows and devoted followings. And now, they’ve decided to make themselves known in regards to the crisis in Japan.

The most famous example of this came from Alec Sulkin, a writer of Family Guy. According to Bleeding Cool, Sulkin Tweeted, “If you wanna feel better about this earthquake in Japan, Google ‘Pearl Harbor death toll.'”

When I first read this, I was absolutely shocked and appalled. And then, I discovered there were numerous other instances of Americans Tweeting and posting on Facebook comments that said the current catastrophes in Japan are “karma” for Pearl Harbor.

First off, a history lesson — Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. The U.S. casualties were around 2,459, most of whom were military. In 1945, America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan — one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. The death toll was between 150-246,000, most of whom were civilians. Survivors of the atomic bomb attacks suffered from numerous health problems, including cancer and leukemia.

For the people making the “karma” argument, hundreds of thousands of dead Japanese civilians apparently wasn’t payback enough for less than three thousand dead Americans. No, in their mind, another estimated 10,000 Japanese civilians deserved to die for the actions of an imperialist government which has been out of power for almost seventy years. Since that time, Japan has become America’s staunchest ally in Asia.

Very few, if any of the Japanese killed during these natural disasters had anything whatsoever to do with the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Saying that they deserved to die because of actions committed by their government before many of them were even born is disgusting, vile, xenophobic and absolutely uncalled for.

If you can’t find some sympathy for the people who have suffered from this unbelievable tragedy (a tragedy which hasn’t even ended yet), if you think innocent people deserve to die for a military campaign they had no involvement with almost seventy years ago, then keep your opinions to yourself.