ATHENA VOLTAIRE: PULP TALES

New book in the ArcLight library:

I think I've rambled about liking pulp heroes at some point - growing up digging out every Doc Savage book I could find in the various used-book stores I've come across, spending weekends rewatching the Indiana Jones films (along with THE PHANTOM, THE SHADOW, THE ROCKETEER, etc.), that sort of thing.

Added to that mix of daring heroes of the 1930s and thereabouts is Athena Voltaire. Who is she? From a Westfield Comics interview with writer/artist Steve Bryant:

"Athena Voltaire is a 1930s pilot/adventurer. She’s the daughter of a stage magician, so growing up on tour with her family, and traveling with other magicians, circuses, and air shows helped her to develop her unique skill set. She’s the pilot who everyone calls when they want to get into—and out of—dangerous places."

Those dangerous places are often inhabited by gangsters, zombies, vampires, Nazis, and assorted other monsters. Also the occasional run-in with major historical figures of the times. Fun stuff.

Started as a webcomic (co-written with Paul Daly), Bryant has shepherded Athena from the web to print comics, including a new upcoming series from Action Lab Entertainment, and now to a prose volume also from Action Lab consisting of close to twenty tales of derring-do by a variety of writers, each story illustrated with a piece by Bryant.

I've only just started reading it so I can't get in to which stories I like best. I'll guess that Bryant's own tale will be up there, of course, and I expect good things from Ron Fortier's entry (among other things he's written stories for The Phantom and The Spider for Moonstone Books' recent anthologies of those characters and the Green Hornet revival from NOW comics in the early 90s *and* currently heads up Airship 27 Productions which puts out many cool pulp-inspired projects featuring heroes new and "classic," so yeah, I think he knows his stuff). Other authors in the Chris Murrin edited volume include Elizabeth Amber Love, Tom King, Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman, Genevieve Pearson, Dirk Manning and more.

Currently available from all the major online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Target, if you've got the slightest interest in the likes of Indiana Jones, Lara 'Tomb Raider' Croft, the Uncharted games series, and naturally the pulps that started it all, I'd definitely reccommend you making the acquaintance of Athena Voltaire.

Back in the saddle...I hope.

 

So...been awhile. Again.

While the work weirdness has wound down (at least as far as hours go - how much longer I actually have a job...different story) the computer decided it was as good a time as any to start giving me fits. 

After dealing with it for a couple of weeks - running every virus/malware scan I could and even re-installing Windows - I think I finally hit upon the root cause of my problems when my hard drive up and died.

I've had computers for a long time. I've never EVER had a hard drive fail, which I guess is why it never occurred to me that it was dying, especially since it's still a fairly young machine. I was even trying to figure out if my new graphics card was causing the problems.

Anyway...new drive, yet another Win8 installation, and I'm slowly getting my old stuff reloaded so things seem to be working fine now. And my Skyrim has never looked better. 

I'll try to get back to semi-regular postings but I wanted to get something out there sooner rather than later so I figured I'd plug a couple of things.

First, there's the trade paperback collection of the rather fun THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN series from Dynamite. Most of my postings last year were of this series as the individual issues came out and I dug every one of them, so it's nice to have everything all in one handy package. Plus, I figure every copy bought is another vote for James Kuhoric getting to continue the title. 

Also up is the ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, a hardback collection of the excellent web-comic-turned-paper-comic adventures of a high-flying, monster-hunting, Nazi-fighting aviatrix in the 1930s. I'm a big fan of pulp adventures and I'm a big fan of this series. Can't wait to see what Steve Bryant has in store next for Athena.

Both are available at Amazon and other fine retailers.

Rocket Ranger Reloaded

http://rocketrangerreloaded.com/

Work has been its usual insane self these last few weeks, which explains why I pretty much go missing this time of year, every year.

BUT...I had to poke my head out for this.

Way back in the day when I was just a baby ArcLight, I had a Commodore Amiga computer. Fantastic little machine, complete with a Buckaroo Banzai reference in the manual.

Without a doubt, the coolest games I had for it all came from Cinemaware; the World War I flight game WINGS, the 50s-movie style giant ant game IT CAME FROM THE DESERT, and the pulp serial inspired ROCKET RANGER.

Cinemaware is back. They've released Amiga-emulated versions of WINGS and ROCKET RANGER already. They have a great, updated version of WINGS out, and now they're working on supercharging ROCKET RANGER. 

That's where this post (and the above graphic) come in. The Kickstarter campaign is almost over and they still need some help. Hit the link, download the demo, and toss some spare coin their way so they can continue bringing back the old school games in new school style (and releasing emulated versions of the originals for nostalgic types like me).

I know only about four people actually read this (Hi, Mom!) but I figured I'd do what I could to help them out since I love their stuff so much.

Kickstarter link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/850516062/rocket-ranger-reloaded

"Can you imagine what it must have been like then... then... then... then... then... then... then..."

The 10th of August, 1984.

That's when it happened.

That's when THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI: ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION was originally released (limited - it would go wide - at least, as wide as it got, on the 15th).

I'd say that's the day that changed my life; that's the day I became a fan, but that's not right.

In a lot of ways, I'd become a fan some years earlier when I discovered Doc Savage (first via the Ron Ely film, then the Golden Press hard back reprints and finally the Bantam books reprints) in grade school.

Doc Savage was a physical and mental marvel, the perfect pulp hero of the 1930s, and a character who quickly influenced a few other heroes you may have heard of. Fortress of Solitude? Doc had it before Superman. (His first name was also 'Clark' and he was The Man of Bronze before anyone ever heard of a Man of Steel.) An independently wealthy man who was both a perfect physical specimen and an expert in many mental disciplines who used his fantastic gadgets and vehicles to fight crime? All Bruce Wayne did was add a bat suit to the mix.

Doc also had a crew of adventurers helping him in his quest. Five men, each experts in their own fields of study, who traveled the globe with him, righting wrongs and punishing evildoers.

So yes, by the time THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI (or TABB as it's affectionately known to fans) came out, I was ready for it.

Some seriously random musings on my history with Dr. Banzai follows. It's long and a bit rambly but there are some cool websites at the very end if  you want to skip down to those.

POISONED FOR REVENGE- A CASE FOR KITTY MCGEE

Official Synopsis:

"The Hottest Lady Shamus in 1920s Hot Springs returns! Kitty McGee continues to find life harder than she wants it to be. Hired by a bootlegger accused of poisoning his own hooch, Kitty goes head to head with the police, gangsters, and a relentless lady reporter. With enough grit to gum up a tommy gun and her trusty blade, Kitty McGee tears her way through the home away from home for America’s gangsters in the early 20th Century in true lady gumshoe style."

I like pulp adventure. I stumbled across some of the Bantam reprints of Doc Savage pulps, originally published between 1933 and 1949, back when I was in grade school and was hooked. Movies like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK just served to reinforce that addiction.

In recent years, there's been a bit of a resurgence of the genre, with imprints like Hard Case Crime reprinting hard-boiled, two-fisted tales of adventure by great classic authors like Lester Dent (of Doc Savage fame) and Cornell Woolrich along with new tales by the likes of Stephen King and Christa Faust inspired by those stories of yesteryear. There are even new Doc Savage stories being published today, written by pulp expert Will Murray (using the 'Kenneth Robeson' byline the originals were credited to) and published by Altus Press.

Especially with the advent of digital publishing, others have gotten into the game. One of the leaders of this new wave of pulp is Pro Se Press and one of their most intriguing innovations is the Single Shot line of short stories, available to download for the bargain price of ninety-nine cents from Smashwords and Amazon.

One of their newest offerings is POISONED FOR REVENGE- A CASE FOR KITTY MCGEE by Ashley Mangin.

Kitty McGee is a pulp-era private detective who specializes in helping those who have no other place to turn, because she remembers what it was like to lose everything after the stock market crash.

That's why she's answered the call of Donald Gordon, a small-time bootlegger with a big-time problem; his hooch has been poisoned and the cops are wanting to pin the deaths on him. When she speaks to him, Gordon points his finger at mob boss Big Al Candelari. In short order, Kitty is caught between mobsters and an overenthusiastic rookie reported named Billie Jean Byline, trying to solve the case and not get herself killed in the process.

'Poisoned...' is a quick read, both due to its short length (Amazon estimates it at 20 pages) and the breakneck pace that fits so well with the pulp feel the story is going after. Kitty is a fun character, armed with her knife and riding around on an Indian motorcycle, willing to take on the mob to help someone that the police are perfectly happy to lock up. Gotta love someone who fights for the little people.

If you like pulp stories, especially those with tough female protagonists, or have just been wondering what the whole 'pulp' deal is about, this title is good, inexpensive way to dip into the pool.

Personally, I wouldn't mind see more (and longer) Kitty stories in the future.