Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Don't Forget the Big Kindle Boogie!

Caught My Eye


Love the fantasy aspects of this one, but the guy's face tooks too realistic, photoshopped into place and not as fantasy as the giant lumbering after him.  Love the architecture, the lantern, and the blues.

Caught My Eye


This cover wins me over through subtle imagery.  I love the commonplace and everyday look of the place and the heroine.  She's just a working girl in a blue collar job, but she's walking in magic.


Caught My Eye


Love the cover.  The mystery, the feel of gritty suburban life.  The way the perspective drops away in the background.  Oh yeah, and the wolf seriously grabs my attention as well.  This is the fourth book in a series, and Kelly Meding has been getting lots of good press.


Monday, January 30, 2012

Saturday, January 28, 2012

HELLGATE: LONDON




And I just noticed my Hellgate: London books are out on Kindle as well!  I had a blast writing these.  Too bad the game went under.  We were planning on doing three more books when we got the news.







Friday, January 27, 2012

Hunters of the Dark Sea


Quite possibly the best novel I've ever written, and certainly one of my favorites.  Now on sale as a Kindle book!

If you've read my books before and enjoyed them, or if you like historical action and aliens, this is the book for you.  Joe Lansdale was kind enough to blurb this one for me.

X-Men Pulp Cover


Saw this over on Paul Bishop's site and almost missed the fact that this was an X-Man pastiche.  Caught the Chris Claremont name first, then the revelation this was Emma Frost sitting on a desk with Cyclops' silhouette in the doorway.

The Rover Books On Kindle


I just noticed three of the four ROVER books are up on Amazon as ebooks!  I'm assuming the last one will follow suit soon.

Man On A Ledge


I'm interested in seeing how this one plays out.

Stephanie Plum Is In Theaters!


Loved the book.  Love Katherine Heigl.  My wife, son, and I are gonna be there.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Sharon Sala A Field of Poppies Available on NOOK!


Click here to get Sharon's latest bestseller on the NOOK!

Style?


Hat tip to Bill Crider, who obviously has questionable fashion sense.  :)

More info.

The Hunger Games Movie


I'm getting more and more excited.

Underworld Awakening


Women action stars are making bank this week!

Haywire


This one just looks like fun.  A real shoot-em-up.

Movie I Want To See


World War II flying action.  Cuba Gooding Jr.  What's not to love?  I'm there!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Stealing Souls Now 99 Cents!


Paul Bishop & Felony Fists Nominated for Pulp Ark Award


Up for two awards now!  Definitely a contender!

Arron of the Black Forest Up for Two Pulp Ark Awards!


Pulp Ark has the book listed in the NOVEL category as well as the COVER category!

See the list!

Joe R. Lansdale Interview


Good, informative interview with my buddy, Joe Lansdale.

Click here.

Paul Bishop/Fight Card: Felony Fists Up For Award!


Paul is up for the Spinetingler Award, which also counts votes from people who drop by and vote.  If you like what you see, if you like what you read, log on and do Paul a solid.  Thanks!


A FIELD OF POPPIES by Sharon Sala


My buddy Sharon Sala's new book is on sale for the Kindle today.  Paperback and Nook version coming soon.

Two families. One secret.
Separated by a river and twenty years of lies.

Five minutes changed Poppy Sadler’s life forever. Tick. The hospital called. Her mother’s battle with cancer was finally over. Tock. The police showed up at her door. Her father’s body has just been pulled from the River. Tick. Murdered.
Tick, Tock. Five minutes and a secret is coming undone.

Across the river, Justin Caulfield’s vast fortune can buy him anything but more time. Tick. A deadly disease is stealing his daughter’s life. He needs a miracle. Tock. The person he never doubted names the price he never knew he owed. A price more than one man can pay. Tick. Betrayed. Tick, Tock. Twenty years of lies may cost him his very soul.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

DEAD MAN: FIRE AND ICE Out Today


The latest release from the DEAD MAN!

The saga of Matthew Cahill continues as the man who sees a nightmarish netherworld nobody else does fights to save us all—and his own soul—from the clutches of the purely evil Mr. Dark.

On Matt’s third day of temping at a plant, disgruntled former worker Kevin Radowski (aka K-Rad) walks in and starts shooting. As the day progresses and the body count rises, Matt finds himself locked inside with four fellow employees—and no discernible way out. Matt soon realizes K-Rad has more in mind than killing his co-workers…he’s using the chemicals available to blow the plant, and several square blocks of surrounding businesses and residences, sky high. But just when Matt thinks things can’t get any worse, Mr. Dark steps into the game, raising the stakes in a gruesome and horrifying way.

Fire and Ice delivers the non-stop action, high body count, and edgy thrills that make The Dead Man series impossible to put down.

Paul Bishop & Fight Card


LISTEN to my buddy Paul Bishop talk about writing and about Fight Card.

Click here.



Things That Should Be Bright And Beautiful


Since I had a post yesterday about things that should not be colorized, let me mention that I'm a fan of color...andthe amazing Joe Jusko.

People, real life will never look like this, and it shouldn't.  This is the stuff adventures are made of, along with Red Sonja!

Free Book Today Only!


PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE AFFAIR OF THE WOODEN BOY

In Drummond, James Stark and his pretty wife Mina run a discreet inquiry agency and are used to laying their lives on the line to see that justice and the truth prevail. The city is rife with dark creatures, great monsters and men who are beasts, and fantastical foes live in the shadows, waiting for victims.

When a puppet knocks on their door in the dead of night claiming to be a real boy who has had his body stolen through black arts, James takes up his pistol and sets out to balance the scales. Mina accompanies her husband as they investigate the dangerous affair of the wooden boy.

 

Monday, January 16, 2012

Arron of the Black Forest


New Year!  Time to get pimping again!  My buddy Phil Athans wrote a great sword & sorcery novel to introduce our character, Arron of the Black Forest.  Give it a read.  You'll enjoy it.

Mine's coming soon!

Covers are by the fabulous Keith Birdsong.



The Shadow Is Coming!


Now this looks awesome!  Coming in April!


Some Things Should Not Be Colorized



I got a link to this from my buddy Bill Crider's blog.  I know the details in the colorized picture are much clearer, but it takes away so much from the romance of that early shot.  With the black and white rendering, the image looks like a snap shot out of time.

This is one of those iconic pictures that has been part of American history for generations.  I'm glad we have the technology to do these things for people that want it, but you can have too much of a good thing.

I've seen The Maltese Falcon in the original black-and-white and as a colorized version.  I would much rather see the black and white version.  The same goes for Casablanca.

And there's a wonderful movie that perhaps some of you have not seen called Portrait of Jenny that makes magnificent use of black-and-white imagery that would not stand out if colorized.  In fact, the film is one of the first that started using color, but only in the last few frames of the movie, and that is done to stunning effect.

Alcatraz Premieres Tonight!


I've been anticipating this one.  Can't wait to wrap my head around it, and I hope it makes more sense to me than Lost.  I know a lot of people liked that show, and I hung with it for a while, but I got tired of waiting to see something happen.  This one looks really cool.

Who's New (Again) In The DCU?


And here are the six new titles coming from DC's New 52 in the coming months to replace the six that got axed.

Batman Incorporated is a no-brainer to a degree.  It met with a lot of acceptance and fans were miffed when it got retconned.  However, the plans are for a LONG story arc that could potentially cheese off as many readers as it makes happy.  Batman and and his newly franchised legions square off against Talia Al Ghul and Robin (Damien) is caught in the middle.

It'll get a good run, but then what do you do after that story wraps?


The Haunted Tank is one of my favorite strips, and this is going to be a return to World War II stories from what I see.  The main headliner is gonna be The War That Time Forgot, which could offer enough science fiction goodness to keep readers coming back.  Besides the Haunted Tank back up, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti are gonna write some Unknown Soldier stories, and they've got the chops to deliver done-in-one tales as well as multi-parters that will deliver in action.  This new incarnation of GI COMBAT could work.


Duh!  Everybody was wondering when this one was gonna be done.  James Robinson is gonna write it, so it should be good.  Gonna be interesting to see who's in the line up on Earth 2, which is what the book is gonna be called this time out.


Now this one is interesting.  Power Girl and the Huntress were both original Earth 2 creations that got lost along the way with the Crisis storyline that brought everything back down to one earth.  Now, with multiple earths again, the two are going on a road trip to figure out their true origins and where they fit into things.  It's a great premise, but unless the characters really gel, what are you gonna do after that?  This one's called World's Finest, which originally featured Superman and Batman teamups.


Don't know about this one.  The Ravager, Deathstroke's daughter, gets her own team and has ties to both the Teen Titans and Superboy strips in The Ravagers.  I like Rose.  Gotta see who she gets paired up with, but the idea of fighting against supervillains out to make them part of their organization is kinda cool.  But, again, for how long?

And is this one gonna depend on the survival of the Deathstroke strip?


I'm of mixed feelings about this one.  When I was a kid, I loved the idea of the H Dial and being able to just change into a hero but not knowing what you were gonna get.  ("Becoming a hero is like a box of chocolates...")  China Mieville is slated to write this one, but his take on the Swamp Thing got nuked so I wonder how neatly he's gonna fit into the DCU.  He's a great novelist.  If he could do his own thing, unfettered, it would probably be really neat.

So?  See any favorites?  Sure bets?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Free Book!


Great crime novel by a real LAPD detective and star of  Take the Money and Run

A Calico Jack Walker / Tina Tamiko L.A.P.D. novel . . .

It’s 1977 and veteran L.A.P.D. cop Calico Jack Walker and his rookie partner, Tina Tamiko, are planning to make Calico’s last shift on the job something special – but plans, as they do, come apart because Walker and Tamiko are good cops no matter what the cost . . . even if they're L.A. cops, in uniform, in their patrol car, on duty, and way out of their jurisdiction on the Las Vegas Strip.

When a major crime is going down, good cops never hesitate.

PRAISE FOR HOT PURSUIT

“The closest equivelent to Joe Wambaugh yet . . . Hot Pursuit could hardly be better.” — The Los Angeles Times

"A full-throttle reading experience that sweeps you aboard with its opening sentences, speed shifts into high gear, and doesn't give you a chance to catch your breath until you've reached The End . . . the most exciting caper you're likely to find in print this year." — Wayne Dundee, Editor, Hardboiled

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Paul has twice been honored as Detective of the Year. Aside from his numerous novels, he has written scripts for episodic televison and feature films. As a nationally recognized interrogator, he appears regularly on the hit ABC reality series Take The Money And Run.

He categorically denies ever making an on-duty run such as the one described in this novel and will continue to do so until the statute of limitations has expired . . .

First Casualties in DC's New 52 Line-Up


Well, the cancellations are starting to arrive.  I knew it would.  Everyone did.  No way was DC Comics gonna rearrange the worlds and come up with 52 lightning strikes in their new titles.  However, I really thought some of these would make it.

Hawk & Dove was one I thought might make it.  Solid writer (Sterling Gates), and the concept is still playable in today's world.  But Rob Liefield is the catalyst for this one, in my opinion.  Fans either love his stuff or they hate it.  I just didn't care for it.  The artwork was too sketchy, and didn't draw the eye well enough.  Look at Hawk's head on this cover -- way too small for the body, and everybody has those rounded hips.

Interestingly enough, Liefield is being left on the last three books for the art and the writing.  And he's being shuttled onto three of the surviving books, The Savage Hawkman, Deathstroke, and Grifter.  He's doing the art and writing on Deathstroke, and plotting the other two.  Gonna be interesting to see what happens to those titles.


This was another potential survivor in my books.  DC Comics has a successful history with war books, and these issues were about today's military.  Maybe too real?  People want more fantasy in their war stories?


Don't know what went wrong with this one either, so now I'm curious enough to read the books.  Shoulda been a contender.  The new Mr. Terrific has been a fan favorite from the JSA title, and there's a lot of science background that can be used.



Honestly, I don't know why they revamped this title.  Never cared for the concept even when Jack Kirby did it with that outlandish mohawk hairstyle.


I was really surprised at losing this one.  My son is really disappointed.  Static Shock is one of his favorite heroes.  I didn't particularly care for the artwork, but Chandler was okay with it.  This one should have made it with the younger readers, but maybe there aren't enough younger readers, or readers young at heart?


Loved the idea of the Blackhawks, and I loved Lady Blackhawk in the Birds of Prey title that Gail Simone wrote.  In the 1980s, DC Comics tried to update the concept and move the series into the present.  It was interesting, but it didn't work.  Howard Chaykin did a three-issue prestige series that performed a little better.  I think this is one of those series that will always touch the hearts of old readers and when pulled out for special stories, not an ongoing series, the 'Hawks can fly again.

So what are the six books replacing these?  Glad you asked!  Tune in tomorrow!