I’m about 10k away from finishing the first draft of Lazarus Gray volume 3 so I hope to have that done by Friday.

Then it’s on to my secret Moonstone project, which shouldn’t take too long – it’s a short story. The characters aren’t my favorites but I understand them and the premise (which I was assigned) is something I have a lot of experience writing.

After that? I don’t know. A part of me wants to keep going with Laz and company – ride that wave until it crashes. But I also feel like doing something new so we’ll see.

Nobody responded to my question about rpg stats you wanted to see – I knew going in that posting those was mostly for me, anyway lol. I do plan to continue doing them, cause I enjoy it.

A new Ubergeeks is live! Check it out by clicking the link on top of the blog.

We weren’t able to record a new episode of Ubergeeks last night but the plan is to do it tonight and upload it soon after. So stay tuned.

The end is in sight for Lazarus Gray volume 3. I’m currently at over 48,000 words for the book, which looks like it will contain two stories: “Murder Unlimited” and “Eidolon.” Another week or so and I think I’ll be typing THE END on this 2013 release. After that, I have a story for Moonstone to finish up and then I might start work on something for Jim Beard & Tommy Hancock. We’ll see how it all shakes out.

Tales of the Rook is in production so hopefully we’ll be seeing that one soon — I think folks will really enjoy the stories in this one. All of them are terrific pulp adventures told by talented guys – Ron Fortier, Bobby Nash, Tommy Hancock, Mike Bullock and Perry Constantine all have contributions to the book, along with a cover by Bob Hall and interior art by George Sellas. It’s going to be one of the best books of the year, I think (and, yes, I am biased).

Reading The Bat Staffel, the first G-8 novel. It’s terrific fun — I don’t think my prose will ever be as effortlessly “pulp” as these old guys did it. I’m jealous of their ability.

I’ll have something concrete to report about the Lazarus Gray ‘Origins” project by Monday.

The art for today is a production sketch for the new edition of The Rook Volume Two‘s cover. George and I ended up picking a slightly different design as we felt this one was a bit “busy”. I’ll show you the approved version tomorrow.

 

So work is speeding along on several fronts: Tales of the Rook going through formatting as we speak and should be on your shelves soon. George Sellas has already begun designing the cover for The Rook Volume Two re-release and is also working on the interiors. The menacing fellow at left is Shinigami, a deadly mirror image of The Rook from the classic adventure, “Blitzkrieg.” This is just a rough but man, isn’t it gorgeous? George is amazing.

I’m well over 30k on the Lazarus Gray novel, Eidolon. I think it’s going well but I still can’t reveal much about it until after Die Glocke is out. A lot of what’s in Eidolon builds upon that.

Hope folks are enjoying the rpg writeups I’ve been posting — so far I’ve done The Shadow and Lazarus Gray. If you do enjoy them, let me know what pulp heroes you’d like me to do next. I’ve thought about The Rook, Doc Savage or Derrick Ferguson’s Dillon… but I’m not sure yet.

Currently a Shadow novel, The London Crimes. After that, I’ll be reading a couple of G-8 novels and then on to other things.

Two new reviews have gone up at Amazon.com — let’s see what folks are saying about The Adventures of Lazarus Gray!

Jose Rivera posted the following:

I picked up this e-book on a random whim. I liked the cover, I like pulp-esque characters and I have to say this was a pleasant surprise. The mystery of who Lazarus Gray is, combined with a great supporting cast and some really interesting villains, kicked off my first experience with an E-Book. And what’s even more surprising is the fact that while each story can be viewed as a stand alone piece, there is a nice running thread which builds the tension.

Each villain in each story is a worthy opponent, running between alien menaces, a cursed mummy, cults and oh yes, a Nazi with an axe to grind with Lazarus.

I’m trying to avoid all spoilers here because I truly believe these stories need to be read and enjoyed. This book was right up my alley but I’m so happy I caught it randomly. It scratches me right where I itch and I hope to see more adventures of Lazarus Gray!

C William Russette chimed in with the following review:

THE ADVENTURES OF LAZARUS GRAY by Barry Reese delivers everything that I was hoping it would. There is plenty of action, occult, happenings, a quartet of interesting characters and even a guest star from Mr. Reese’s other, likely better known character, The Rook.

I have read elsewhere that this is a character that is a sort of homage to the classic pulp character The Avenger. I’ve never read anything of said character so I went in blind save for the knowledge that Mr. Reese knows how to spin a yarn.

There are seven stories to be found within this collection. Some have seen print before elsewhere but they were all new to me. I won’t say that I liked them all equally (or disliked ANY) but that is only because we all have preferences. I lean towards the supernatural side of things and those tales Mr. Reese wrote involving Mr. Gray and Assistance Unlimited were great fun and interesting to read.

The pacing in every story is breakneck and frankly it makes the book rather hard to put down. I won’t give away anything as far as the plot goes. Pertaining to the characters of Gray’s team I will say that I find each every bit as interesting as the lead in the tales. I particularly thing that Samantha could hold a story or two all by her lonesome.

As far as being worthy to be included among the great tales coming forth from the New Pulp movement, Lazarus Gray and his crew have their place of honor cemented.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write a review, guys! I’m pleased that you enjoyed book one and hope that you’ll enjoy the sequel just as much. Look for volume two to drop sometime in July!

 

So I’m doing research and reading into a classic pulp hero that I’m relatively unfamiliar with because I have a gig writing said character. Scary and thrilling at the same time because I know this character has some diehard fans. So I’m hoping to do it justice… but it got me to thinking: fifty years from now, are any of our New Pulp heroes going to be well remembered? Which characters, to this point, have the best chance of becoming ‘classic’ heroes? I figured I’d share some of the ones that I think might fit the bill.

A couple of rules that I set for myself were that the character should a real part of “New Pulp” so no revivals of Moon Man or Doc Savage, please. Those new stories certainly qualify as New Pulp but the character himself is from the golden age. I wanted new creations (with one exception, that you’ll see below). Also, there should be a body of work around the character. Yes, Captain Mega-X’s one novel might have been a real firecracker but until there’s more than one book about him, he’s not in the running as a classic New Pulp hero. My list, my rules.

So… in no particular order… let’s begin:

1) Dillon – Created by Derrick Ferguson.
Appearances: Dillon has so far appeared in Dillon and the Voice of Odin, Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell and Four Bullets for Dillon, with more on the way.
Qualifications: One of the most recognizable New Pulp heroes, Dillon’s writer is extremely popular. Dillon is capable of breaking out of the New Pulp crowd and reaching mainstream action/adventure audiences. There are no masks, it’s not a period piece and the fact that Dillon is one of the few great modern-day heroes of color all add up to make this a character with some real staying power.

2) Captain Hazzard — Reinterpreted by Ron Fortier (with assistance on book two from Martin Powell) .
Appearances: Python Men of the Lost City, Citadel of Fear, Curse of the Red Maggot and Cavemen of New York.
Qualifications: Though Hazzard dates back to the Golden Age, his one appearance (by Chester Hawks) was probably doomed to be forgotten before Ron Fortier redid Python Men and then launched the character into his New Pulp form. This is the only one on the list that give a break to in terms of it being a “new” character because I think that Fortier has really put the stamp on the character — any attention being given to Hazzard by others is, I think, thanks to Fortier’s work on him. A pleasant Doc Savage-style character, Hazzard is another one that could “break out” with the proper marketing.

3) Garvey Dire – Created by Joel Jenkins.
Appearances: Dire Planet, Exiles of the Dire Planet, Into the Dire Planet, Strange Gods of the Dire Planet and Lost Tribes of the Dire Planet.
Qualifications: Astronaut Garvey Dire finds himself lost on the dangerous world of Mars, trapped in its brutal past. Though the premise is rooted in ERB’s John Carter of Mars series, the action is intense and the stories are well-told, building up a continuity that eventually moves it beyond any kind of John Carter-pastiche. With five excellent volumes out there already, I think this is a character who has already established his staying power.

4) The Black Centipede – Created by Chuck Miller
Appearances: Creeping Dawn – Rise of the Black Centipede.
Qualifications: What’s that, you say? I’m violating my body of work rule? Well, it’s true that only one volume of The Black Centipede has been published to date but the character has been lived online for some time before that and Miller has a bevy of tales on the way. Given the pseudo-historical nature of the character, I think he can appeal to conspiracy buffs, history nuts, horror fans and diehard pulp hero readers. The way that horror and adventure blends together is intriguing and the way Miller weaves historical figures into the narrative sets The Black Centipede apart.

I thought about including Lance Star on the list but I didn’t want to break my “new” character rule twice and apparently Lance Star is a revival of an old pulp hero — though I’ve never seen anything but the Airship 27 stuff, so someone correct me if I ‘m wrong (EDIT: See the comments section for more on this!). There are other great characters out there (like Elisa Hill, Hugh Monn or the heroes of YesterYear) but they don’t have the body of work to warrant ‘classic’ status (yet). What New Pulp heroes do you guys think are on their way to becoming classics?