My Short Story MOVING DAY Over at A Twist of Noir

My short short story MOVING DAY is over at A Twist of Noir. This is part of a long-running series in which the story has to be the exact number of words as its order in the series. For example, my story is #686, so it had to be 686 words.

What I didn't mention is that my story is partly based on a true story (NOT autobiographical, but pretty amazing nonetheless.)

A Twist of Noir is one of the most popular of sites that publishes noir and crime stories. With that, you should know that there is adult language and content. I love writing these!

Would love to read your comments, so feel free to write them.

Historic Magazine Collection, Including Pulps, For Sale

Steven Lomazov, owner of the Magazine History: A Collector's Blog, announced today that he is selling his collection. They are entertaining serious offers only and expect it to sell in the seven figures.

Description of the collection from the blog:

The collection contains virtually every major magazine highlight ever published from the eighteenth century to the present and covers virtually every topic- literature, politics, technology (TV, Radio, Movies, Aviation etc). It also includes by far the largest collection of first issue pulp magazines (over 850) in existence. Any institution or individual that acquires it will immediately become one of the leading repositories of American popular culture.

Interested? Just won the lottery? Go here for more details.

Western Fiction Review Likes RIDING THE PULP TRAIL

Western Fiction Review posted a nice review of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL today - I'm so pleased that WFR liked the book - this blog is considered one of the top blogs when it comes to reviewing current Western fiction around. If you want to read the review, go here.

Here's just one excerpt:

I found the book very easy to read, and as I finished one story I found myself jumping straight into the next. I can honestly say there isn’t one tale in this collection that I didn’t enjoy.

Thanks, Western Fiction!!!

Wednesday's Forgotten Pulp: ARTISTS AND MODELS STORIES

They probably thought it was a good idea at the time.

These are the only two issues I could find on Galactic Central. From 1929, it was a bedsheet published by Ramer Reviews out of Illinois.

Review of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL at The Tainted Archive

The reviews for RIDING THE PULP TRAIL are starting to come in. Here's one over at THE TAINTED ARCHIVE.

Pulps A-Z: The Letter H

The letter "H" has to be the most difficult of all the letter so far. I always try to find the less-famous titles for this series, but there aren't a lot of titles with that letter. Out of frustration I ended up picking a HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE, even though it was also known as DAN TURNER HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE and wasn't exactly an obscure title. In addition, HIGH SEAS ADVENTURES was a magazine that shared billing with PIRATE STORIES. By the way, I would love to read some of the HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE stories; what are they like and have there been any reprints?

As for the rest of these titles, I think the HOW7 looks the most intriguing.

HUSH, June 1930

HOW7, April 1928

HONEYMOON STORIES, December 1933

HOLLYWOOD DETECTIVE, February 1946

HIGH SEAS ADVENTURES, February, 1935.

New Review of PULP WRITER

I was so pleased to see this review on PULP WRITER over at the Writing For the Brand blog. PULP WRITER has been out for four years now, and it's nice to hear that people are still enjoying it and talking about it. I know my grandfather would be tickled to death.

We Have a Winner for Week Two...

And the winner is Kris Feldman! She won this Serendipity Jack Daniels whiskey bottle:

If you're interested in seeing more of these Serendipity bottles, go here on the OutWest site.

Book Review: THE DESERT DEMONS

THE DESERT DEMONS
The All-New Wild Adventures of Doc Savage
by Will Murray & Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson
Altus Press, 2011

With apologies to Will Murray - my typing abilities are still limited so this review is shorter than I normally would write.

I have a confession. Until now, I had never read a Doc Savage story: None of the 1930s, nor any of the later publications and reprints. So did I do a good thing by picking THE DESERT DEMONS, the newly published collaboration between Will Murray and the late Lester Dent, as my first Doc Savage novel? The answer is yes, because reading this one makes me want to read more stories about the Man of Bronze.

The first new Doc Savage novel in 20 years is about a bizarre swarm of red "things" that drop down from the sky in 1930s Hollywood and devour anything in its path. It's choice of prey seems random at first as it destroys everything it descends upon, even the HOLLYWOODLAND sign. It's up to Doc Savage and his band of eccentric but talented and fiercely loyal crew members to figure it out. There's a twist though: somehow Doc's cousin Pat has disappeared during the initial chaos.

This story has everything a pulp fiction lover could want: a fast moving story with nonstop action with twists and turns that send Doc and his gang all over Los Angeles, to the desert, San Diego, up to Bakersfield, and back. What I particularly loved were the bizarre gadgets and the emphasis on science, whether factual or far-fetched: I think steampunkers will love this story.

At the end of the book is a short biography of Lester Dent, another of Will Murray, and one of the cover artist Joe DeVito. These summaries helped me understand the chain of events that led to Will becoming the literary agent for the estate of Lester Dent and the person lucky enough to have the opportunity to take Dent's unfinished works and piece them together into fantastic pulp fiction like THE DESERT DEMONS. I understand the deluxe hardcover edition (available through Altus Press website) also has an extensive Afterword that goes into detail as to how Murray pieced together parts of Dent's unifinished writings to come up with THE DESERT DEMONS.

I understand there are a total of 7 novels that Murray will be writing in collaboration with the unfinished works of Dent. The next due out is HORROR IN GOLD. Like every kid during the Depression who was a loyal fan of the DOC SAVAGE magazine, I'll be waiting impatiently for it.

Don't forget about the Contest!

Don't forget about the RIDING THE PULP TRAIL contest - you have a little over 24 hours from now to get your entry in!

Here's a recap of what to do:

Look for a clue in this story title: "Judgement Day on Whisky Trail."

Go over to the OutWest web site and go to their Gourmet Food & Gifts page OR their Home Decor page. Look for a gift that contains the word "W...." woops - I almost gave the prize away.....

Then send an email to Powerspulpwriter@gmail.com with your name, address, and the name and number of the item. There will be a drawing Sunday to pick a winner.

The prize is the item you found on OutWest!

So come on, join in on the fun. You have a pretty good chance of winning!

Week #2 of the RIDING THE PULP TRAIL contest

Here is Entry #2 in the RIDING THE PULP TRAIL contest.

The title of the story is "Judgement Day on Whisky Trail."

So go on over to the OutWest Boutique and Cultural Center website and look for an item in the GOURMET FOOD & GIFTS page. You can also find it on the HOME DECOR page. While you're there, you can check out all the great gifts they have - remember Christmas is right around the corner!

This week, the item is the prize you will win.

Once you know what the item is, send your name, address, the name of the item and the item # to Powerspulpwriter@gmail.com. You have until Saturday at midnight, Pacific time, to get your entry in.

This story, "Judgement Day on Whisky Trail," is one of my favorites. It originally appeared in the October 1947 issue of THRILLING WESTERN. Here's the cover of that issue and below is the beginning of the story.

IT WAS a yellow buckboard with bright green wheels! The three riders in the cedar thicket had been prepared for almost anything but that, and for the better part of a minute they sat frozen in their saddles, staring in open-mouthed astonishment.

Finally, at a snarled, word from their leader, they rode their horses out on the trail just as the amazing vehicle came abreast of them. The wagon was being pulled by a sleek black and white pinto, and one of the men seized the animal by the head while the others yanked out guns and covered the driver.

"Where do you think you're goin'? This here's a private road, and you're trespassin'--know that?" The oldest of the trio, the one in authority, was a man in his middle forties, metallic of eye and with a long, equine face. The others wore nondescript and shabby range clothes, but he was better dressed, and the cayuse he straddled was a magnificent sorrel.

While waiting for the lone occupant of the buckboard to make some kind of reply, the men took a closer look at this remarkable rainbow on wheels. The back, which was covered with a tarpaulin, bore two enameled, vividly blue panels, one on each side, lettered in gilt and crimson:

Indian Emperor Salves And Remedies For Horses, Cattle & Sheep
Doctor David Dana
-Veterinarian-
The Horse's Friend

"What are you doin' on this trail?" the bleak-featured man on the sorrel demanded again.

The driver, presumably Dr. Dana, wrapped his lines around the whip-socket, stood up and doffed his wide, flat-crowned hat, making a sweeping bow.


Don't forget that you can buy RIDING THE PULP TRAIL here at the OutWest site.

You can also buy it at Altus Press and on Amazon.

Thumbs Down For This One

It figures that Yours Truly would be diagnosed with something called Trigger Finger.

Or, in my case, Trigger Thumb.

About 10 days ago I started to have this very uncomfortable situation in which every time I bent my left thumb, or then straightened it, there was a popping sensation. It's worse in the morning, gets better, then gets bad again at night.

Here's the definition by Wikipedia: "Trigger finger, trigger thumb, or trigger digit, is a common disorder of later adulthood characterized by catching, snapping or locking of the involved finger flexor tendon, associated with dysfunction and pain.[1] A disparity in size between the flexor tendon and the surrounding retinacular pulley system, most commonly at the level of the first annular (A1) pulley, results in difficulty flexing or extending the finger and the “triggering” phenomenon.[1] The label of trigger finger is used because when the finger unlocks, it pops back suddenly, as if releasing a trigger on a gun."

Got that? The simple explanation is that a tendon nodule in my thumb has become inflamed and then every time I try to bend my thumb, the nodule "catches" on the sheath. Ouch.

I can imagine all of you squirming in your chairs now. Or maybe some of you have experienced this. Note that it says "later adulthood." Double Ouch.

Causes are unknown, but apparently there is plenty of anectodal evidence showing that manual repetitive stressful manual motion as a cause. Which doesn't surprise me at all. I know that some of you were suggesting it was from texting, but I rarely text. I do know that I'm on the computer a good 8 hours of the day. At least it's not arthiritis, which I feared.

All this is the reason why I'm not writing much lately. I'll be taking it easy until this eases up, and taking anti-inflammatory meds.

Dont' forget the contest is coming up again, Entry #2, sometime tomorrow.

Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson's PulpFest Report

I'm limited in time tonight, but I want to point you to one specific blog. Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson, my pal from PulpFest, has posted a fantastic report on PulpFest 2011 over at her blog dedicated to her grandfather Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. Highly recommended.

Pulps A-Z: The Letter G

This letter was fun. There aren't a lot of magazines with the letter G, so when I started I expected a lack of choices. I was surprised to find such interesting and obscure titles and covers.

GANG MAGAZINE, July 1935. One of three issues.

GIRL RACKETS, Vol 1, No. 1, 1932. Only issue.

GHOST SUPER DETECTIVE, January 1940. Vol 1, No. 1. One of seven issues.

GOLDEN FLEECE, December 1938. One of nine issues.

GOLDEN WEST, January 1928. This title lasted five years, but still one of the lesser known Western pulps.

Week #1 - We Have a Winner

The winner of this week's RIDING THE PULP TRAIL contest is none other than Cap'n Bob Napier. He'll be getting a signed copy of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL.

If you recall, the clue was in the title of the RTPT story, "To Steal a Ranch." If you're curious as to what the winning item was over at the OutWest website, it was this beautiful book, GREAT RANCHES OF THE WEST.

If you're interested in this book, here's the page over at OutWest that describes it. Might be a nice Christmas present for someone.

Congrats to Bob - I know it wasn't that easy to find the winning item, based on all of the things for sale on the OutWest website. He has also entered many of the previous contests here without ever winning. Bob deserves to win, if only for his tenacity.

Stay tuned on Wednesday for the next clue - this time the prize will be something really unique offered on the OutWest store and on their website.

Friday Night At the Ranch Hamburger Heaven

Only a little more than 24 hours left to get your entry in to win a copy of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL. And don't forget that it'll be a SIGNED copy by me, which will boost the resale value of your copy by about..oh.....25 cents.
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Go to Wednesday's post for the clue and instructions.

And if it helps, there's a clue in the title of this post as to what word to look for....

Other goings on...

The great Western website ROPE AND WIRE is having their second annual short story contest. ROPE AND WIRE is quickly becoming the Go To website for not only the best in new western fiction, but also as a Western online community. Go on over there for the rules for the contest. I've already asked if they would take stories from a) deceased authors and/or b) that have been published already. Unfortunately it's No for both, so you won't have to worry about competing against any of my grandfather's stories from RIDING THE PULP TRAIL.

Another web site I've been introduced to is CowboyPoetry.com, more formally known as Cowboy Poetry at the Bar-D Ranch. This is a terrific site for everything having to do with Western poetry, music, books, concerts, and events. The website was established in 2000 and it has a substantial following and a Facebook page.

More great news: David Cranmer announced that he is about a week away from releasing his Volume II of The Adventures of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles (written under his pseudonym Edward A Grainger). You can read the introduction to Volume II at David's blog The Education of a Pulp Writer.

Everyone have a good weekend! I'll be checking in sporadically.

Riding the Pulp Trail Contest: Entry #1

Before we get started, I want to make one change to the contest. Because I'm tardy in posting this, I'm going to extend the deadline to midnight, Pacific time, Saturday night.

So let's get started. Here's the first entry in the RIDING THE PULPhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif TRAIL CONTEST.

The title of the story is "To Steal a Ranch."

So with that title, go over to OutWest and see if you can find the item related to one of the words in that title.

Then send an email to: Powerspulpwriter@gmail.com and give me the name of the item, the item # and your name and address.

The prize this week is a copy of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL. I'll even sign it if you want. Note: the prize is NOT the item at the OutWest website (this week).

Good luck!

If you're interested in the story, "To Steal a Ranch" is one of the six stories in RTPT that was never published.

The story begins:


A BULLET to welcome him! A crazy kind of homecoming, thought Slim Troy as he rolled and twisted himself across the baking gravel. His lean body crashed through a clump of mesquite and flattened against a hollow in the ground as the Winchester crashed for the second time. A shovelful of red earth erupted on the slope behind and above him, but Slim knew that as long as he stayed put he was going to be mighty hard to get!

He had instinctively thrown himself from his saddle at the sound of the first screaming bullet, for he was armed only with a .45 which was no match at long range for a rifle. Slim's roan bronc, freed of its rider, was ambling eastward across the alkali flats, stirrups swinging emptily. Slim guessed that if he had stayed aboard, both he and the horse would have been cut down. That first .30-.30 slug had missed only by inches.

"What the blazes!" Slim Troy mumbled, spitting out a mouthful http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giff sand. "And right on my own spread, too!"

Anyhow, the ranch was half his. He wondered where his partner, Red Johnson, was, and he had a lot of other wonderments, too! Who was gunning for him? There was that cattle money he had on him--twelve hundred in cash; was that why he was being dry-gulched? It seemed likely. And yet, here he was, almost within sight of his ranch headquarters. If bandits had jumped him, why had they let him get all the way home?

You can buy RIDING THE PULP TRAIL at Amazon.com and at Altus Press.

You can buy SIGNED COPIES - by me, not my grandfather :) - at the OutWest website at this page.

Rules for RIDING THE PULP TRAIL Contest

RIDING THE PULP TRAIL CONTEST

Here's the scoop.

1. We will have one contest a week for four weeks, beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, September 14. Each Wednesday for four weeks, I am going to talk about one of the stories in RIDING THE PULP TRAIL. Your job is to, using the words in the story's title as a clue, go over to the OutWest Western Boutique and Cultural Center website and look for the item relating to the title.

For example, if the story was called "Cat From Over the Pass," you would go over to OutWest and look for products that are cat-related. You may also want to look for products with the word "pass" in them. (We don't want to make it TOO easy for you.) When you find the correct item, there will be a notation that you have found the correct item. Once you have found the item, go to Powerspulpwriter@gmail.com and submit your entry. Your entry should include:

1. The name of the item and number
2. Your name and mailing address

You will have until the Friday of that week, midnight Pacific time, to submit your entry. All names submitted will be put into a random drawing and a name picked over the weekend. The winner announced over the weekend.

Different prizes will be awarded each week. Some prizes will be copies of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL; others will be the item that you find on the OutWest website.

I'd like to thank Bobbi Jean and Jim Bell at OutWest (shown below in the doorway of OutWest, 24265 Main Street, in Historic Old Town Newhall, California) for their partnership in this contest. If you haven't been to the store and met them, you're missing out on a great opportunity to meet true fans of the West and supporters of the arts.

Good luck! The first installment starts tomorrow.

Pulps A-Z: The Letter F

Other than the contest and the regular series like this one, the blog will be a little quiet this week. I've got what I think are some repetitive motion issues going on - anyone who works at a computer all day every day for years knows what I'm talking about - and I need to take it easy until I figure this all out. Don't worry - I've got my physical therapist and my doctor on the case.

There are some gems in the Fs when it comes to unusual titles.

FIFTH COLUMN STORIES, January 1941

FAMOUS SPY STORIES, Jan/Feb, 1940

FAR EAST ADVENTURE STORIES, November 1930

FLYING STORIES, December 1928

FLASH GORDON STRANGE ADVENTURES, December 1936

Stay Tuned for Another Great Contest

Starting next week, we're teaming up with OutWest Boutique and Cultural Center and having another contest. There will be one contest per week for four weeks, just like the last one. All of the clues will be related to stories in RIDING THE PULP TRAIL. That doesn't mean that you need to have read the book (although that would be nice); I'll give you enough information to get you going.

As for prizes, I won't tell you what ALL of the prizes are, because that's part of the fun, but I can tell you that for two of the weeks, the prizes will be copies of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL.

The contest starts the first part of next week, so stay tuned!

Opportunity to read Introduction of RIDING THE PULP TRAIL

David Cranmer over at The Education of a Pulp Writer has posted the introduction I wrote for RIDING THE PULP TRAIL. Some of you might remember that David got me started down the road of publishing this collection. I'll let you read the introduction to find out how. David (along with Elaine Ash) is also the owner of the very popular Beat To A Pulp web site and book that includes a Paul Powers story.