Dragon Kings of the Orient by Percival Constantine

In every genre, there are “star” writers – I’m not sure that I’d list Constantine in that category with regards to New Pulp. That’s a shame because he absolutely deserves to be. I’ve seen novel after novel come from him and sadly, little attention paid to them in the fan sites or elsewhere.

I’m telling folks now: jump on the bandwagon!

This is the sequel to Myth Hunter and continues the adventures of Elisa Hill, a gorgeous young woman who travels the world getting into trouble. Think Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones or the novels by Andy McDermott.

The characters are well drawn, the pacing is excellent and the action is tense. The mystery this time revolves around The Monkey King and his quest to kill the ancient Dragon Kings who live amongst us.

I like the way the author mixes humor into the scenes, keeping the adventure light and fun.

Given the tease at the end, it looks like more adventures await. I can’t wait!

Lots of irons in the fire!

So I’m almost finished with the first draft of my mystery project, which is due at the end of the month. I think it’s going well but the short length is causing some problems for me. I’ll sort them out. I then have another mystery project that’s due on August 1 that I really need to get started on.  And *then* I just agreed to do a MAJOR project but I don’t have an ETA on that one, yet. But I bet it’s not going to be a long window before I have to turn in a story.

*Plus* I came up with a great idea for a third story for Lazarus Gray Volume 3, one that would team him with a classic pulp hero in a team-up of (dare I say it?) titanic proportions.

All of this has forced me to turn down a couple of other projects that were offered to me. It’s nice to be in demand.

Now if I were making enough to be able to quit my day job and write all the time, I’d be a happy man.

About the Origins project — I know. It seems almost mythical by now, doesn’t it? “You know, that Origins comic project that Barry’s been pimping for, like, three years? I wonder if we’ll ever see that?”

I often wonder that, myself.

Anyway, I’m not sure where we stand with that. Definitely have hit a few snags along with the way, losing the original artist, then signing on a new one, but then the original might have finished pages after all, it’s crazy. The chances of any of those pages appearing in Die Glocke seem slim to none, though.

Tales of the Rook should be the next release from Reese Unlimited — hopefully, it’ll be out there soon!

Got the most amazing idea… But I can’t write it yet due to other projects with deadlines. But soon… Soon Lazarus Gray will cross the paths of a classic pulp hero.

And minds will be blown.

Go call your moms! Tomorrow is a big day.

New episode of Ubergeek is now live — just click on the link at the top of the blog and you’ll be transported to a world of geeky goodness, courtesy of myself and Cari.

Still working on the mystery Moonstone project. Things are going well though the length requirements pose an interesting problem.

Look for a new rpg writeup on Sunday — it’s nobody’s mother nor is it anything particularly related to Mother’s Day. It’s just a writeup I felt like doing, lol

At some point I’ll be able to talk about both the Moonstone project and the next Pulp Obscura thing for me — but it’s waiting on publisher permission to do so.

In the meantime, have a great weekend everyone! I have to go write….

So I’ve been re-reading DC’s old The Shadow Strikes! comic book and I’ve come to the crossover between this and their Doc Savage title. This was the first team-up of the two classic heroes and was a lot of fun (Dark Horse would later unite them again). With the rumors that Will Murray might be soon writing a “major” team-up between Doc and some other pulp hero, it got me to thinking: what New Pulp characters would I like to see cross over? Let’s hit the ground running!

Elisa Hill & Fiona Chapman. Fiona is from my own Rabbit Heart while  Elisa is the star of Percival Constantine’s The Myth Hunter and Dragon Kings of the Orient. Considering they’re both beautiful women who are incredibly dangerous, I’d like to see them team up. Obviously, the tone might be a little less graphic than Rabbit Heart was!

Dillon on the Dire Planet. The Dire Planet series by Joel Jenkins is set on Mars in the ancient past… I think it’d be a hoot to drop Derrick Ferguson’s Dillon through a time warp and see what mayhem he could get into.

YesterYear meets The Sentinels. Tommy Hancock’s heroes are an homage to the classic heroes of the past… and Van Plexico’s are his take on the Jim Starlin-style cosmic supers. So what would you get by mixing the two up? I’d like to see it.

Captain Hazzard vs. The Black Centipede. Ron Fortier’s pulp pastiche crossed with the decidedly weird hero created by Chuck Miller? Sounds insane, doesn’t it? That’s why I’d like to see it…

Fu Manchu vs. Dodge Dalton. William Maynard has revived the Sax Rohmer villain and I’d love to see him cross paths with the hero created by Sean Ellis. A globe-spanning adventure worth the price of admission!

What team-ups would you like to see?

George Sellas has the script for the Lazarus Gray “Origins” project now and should be starting work on it soon — he’s also got the stories for Lazarus Gray volume 3 *and* he’s working on the The Rook Volume Two (re-release). So I’m keeping him plenty busy

We should be recording a new episode of Ubergeeks this evening so I’ll let everyone know when it’s been posted.

Been thinking about the next Marvel Heroic rpg writeup I’ll do — I’ve had some requests to do Doc’s aides or some of the Shadow’s agents so I might end up doing Harry Vincent, my favorite agent of the Shadow. Or I might do a villain — perhaps Walther Lunt from Lazarus Gray or John Sunlight from Doc Savage. The possibilities are endless!

Because I’m in meetings this week I’m moving slow on “The Flying Dead” but it’s been very good so far and hope to have it finished in a week or so. It’s fun and challenging to take characters I’m unfamiliar with, then research and learn about them, and then attempt to do a story that does justice to them. I hope this one is popular with this character’s many fans.

Pro Se designer extraordinaire Sean Ali is currently formatting Tales of the Rook so hopefully we’ll have that one out soon. I know I can’t wait to hold it in my hands and I think you’ll enjoy it, whether you choose to buy it in print or for your e-reader of choice.

Your art for today is by George Sellas and it comes from Tales from the Rook, specifically Tommy Hancock’s story pitting The Rook against Doctor Death!