SECTIONS

NEW FICTION: Bourbon & Blondes has arrived!

From the bus stations of Rt. 66 to the smoky, neon-tinged jazz dives of the big cities, these wanton tales of longing introduce us to vixens on the fringe and those shifty men that drove them there.

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Watch: The 'Bourbon & Blondes' Book Trailer

Get your shot glass ready because you're about to enter a retro world of showgirls, drifters, barmaids and thieves.

The eternal question for scribes?

In this new social media landscape, the question becomes: Is blogging dead? It just may be...

Watch: The 'Front Page Palooka' Book Trailer

Read the pulp novella that one reviewer called 'A potboiler in the style of old school writers like Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler...'

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

PULP/NOIR: DAN TURNER HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE AND AUDIO TREATS

You tend to find some gems while poking around the web in the wee small hours. While hunting on YouTube for a NOIR documentary, all sorts of goodies come up -- namely some full-length gems like "Detour," "Borderline" " Cape Fear" and "While the City Sleeps." I've created a Noir playlist (a work in progress) so enthusiasts can enjoy. These are perfectly watchable on a smartphone or tab. Enjoy.

One YouTube discovery simply that simply blew me away was an audio reading of a. short story that centers on Hollywood detective Dan Turner written by prolific scribe Robert Leslie Bellem. I looked Bellem up and to say he was prolific is an understatement. He penned over 3000 pulps with Turner starring in at least 300 during the heyday of men's magazines.

When most of the pulps folded, Bellem went on to an equally prolific TV writing career for such shows as "The Lone Ranger," "The Adventures of Superman (1950s version)," "Perry Mason" and "77 Sunset Strip."

But his first person prose as Turner virtually sings on the page and this audio reading (by the gravel-voiced Steve Black) is a stupendous example. Personally, I wish Black made more of these.


Here are links to Part Two and Part Three. Certainly worth a listen. For more on Bellem click HERE and HERE.

Finally, if you like your pulp and noir in audio form, I've also stumbled across a wonderful streaming radio station called AUDIO NOIR that plays hundreds of pulps and detective stories that were heard on the radio back in the day. It supports most audio platforms. Here's the link.

Monday, March 12, 2012

BOXING PULP: FIGHT CARD SERIES


Just a quick (and slightly long) post to pass along a promotion for a great new pulp series, one that I will be a part of hopefully later in the year.

If you dig the great adventure boxing tales that populated vintage men magazines and dimestore novels of yore, look no further than the FIGHT CARD series, created by Paul Bishop and Mel Odom.

Written by different authors under the pseudonym of 'Jack Tunney' (in a homage to pugilists Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney), the tight-fisted tales are pure throwback to sweaty fight halls and back alley double-crosses. Fun and quick reads.

During the month of March, if you buy "Fight Card: Felony Fists" from Amazon.com you can get "Fight Card: The Cutman" for FREE, or vice-versa. To receive your FREE Fight Card novel forward your receipt email from Amazon.com to fightcardseries@gmail.com and you will receive a Kindle file by return email to send to your Kindle email address.

Along with your FREE Fight Card novel, you will also receive a free copy of Fight Fictioneers Magazine featuring numerous articles and reviews pertaining to fight fiction and the Fight Card series.

Here's a breakdown of the titles with synopsis (via Amazon) thus far:

FELONY FISTS (Paul Bishop): Los Angeles 1954

Patrick “Felony” Flynn has been fighting all his life. Learning the “sweet science” from Father Tim the fighting priest at St.


Vincent’s, the Chicago orphanage where Pat and his older brother Mickey were raised, Pat has battled his way around the world – first with the Navy and now with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Legendary LAPD chief William Parker is on a rampage to clean up both the department and the city. His elite crew of detectives known as The Hat Squad is his blunt instrument – dedicated, honest, and fearless. Promotion from patrol to detective is Pat’s goal, but he also yearns to be one of the elite.

And his fists are going to give him the chance.

Gangster Mickey Cohen runs LA’s rackets, and murderous heavyweight Solomon King is Cohen’s key to taking over the fight game. Chief Parker wants wants Patrick “Felony” Flynn to stop him – a tall order for middleweight ship’s champion with no professional record.

Leading with his chin, and with his partner, L.A.’s first black detective Tombstone Jones, covering his back, Patrick Flynn and his Felony Fists are about to fight for his future, the future of the department, and the future of Los Angeles.

* * *

THE CUTMAN (Mel Odom): Havana, Cuba. 1954. Mickey Flynn is an ex-Korean War vet turned merchant marine. He was born in the ghettos of Chicago and raised in an orphanage with his younger brother, Patrick. He was one of several young men who received an education from the nuns at St. Vincent's. But he was also taught the "sweet science" by Father Tim, a Golden Gloves boxer and retired police officer who only knew one way to bring a troubled boy to manhood. Father Tim worked with his young charges, taught them how to jab and punch and throw a hook that seemed to come out of nowhere.

When the young men left St. Vincent's (Our Lady of the Glass Jaw), they were changed, fit and ready to take on the troubles the encountered around the world, no matter where they found them. Now Mick's in Havana, working on WIDE BERTHA, his ship. After surviving a fierce storm at sea, the last thing Mick and the crew need to do is get crossways with the Italian organized crime flooding Havana, but it doesn't take much to put him in the cross hairs of a vengeful mob boss working for Lucky Luciano. Unable to get free of bad luck and unfortunate circumstance, Mick ends up in the ring in an illegal boxing match fighting a human killing machine.

***

SPLIT DECISION (Eric Beetner): Kansas City, 1954. Jimmy Wyler is a fighter punching his way straight to the middle. All he wants is to make enough dough to buy his girl, Lola, a ring. And maybe make the gang back at St. Vincent’s orphanage proud.

A slick mobster named Cardone has an offer for Jimmy – money, and lots of it – for a fix. Jimmy takes the fight. The ring is almost on Lola’s finger, until Jimmy collides with Whit – another mobster with another up-and-coming fighter. Whit has an offer of his own. Same fight, different fix.

Now Jimmy is caught between two warring factions of the Kansas City underworld. He can’t make a move without someone getting mad, getting even, or getting dead. From sweat-soaked fight halls to darkened alleyways, the countdown has begun. With his girl and his manager in the crossfire, everything Jimmy ever learned about fancy footwork and keeping his defenses up may not be enough … Fight night is approaching and nobody is going to be saved by the bell.

***

COUNTERPUNCH (Wayne D. Dundee): Danny Dugronski has been a fighter all his life.

As an orphan at St. Vincent's Asylum for Boys, he first learned the "sweet science" of boxing from Father Tim, the battling priest. Then the Marine Corps taught him far more lethal fighting tactics before shipping him off to do battle in the hell of the South Pacific.

Now, with World War II over, Danny "The Duke" has returned home and earned a respectable ranking as a regional heavyweight in the Milwaukee area. But his record, free of KO losses, is jeopardized by a mob front man who tries to push him into a series of rigged fights.

When Danny refuses, hard push comes to deadly shove, and he must call upon all his fighting skills to stand his ground. And when Danny comes out swinging, he’s determined to put the mob down for the count.