Kickin' The Willy Bobo With: PERCIVAL CONSTANTINE

Derrick Ferguson: Who is Percival Constantine?

Percival Constantine: I was born in Illinois and lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago until shortly before my 25th birthday. While growing up, I subsisted on a pretty consistent diet of superhero comics, action movies, TV shows and video games, which I have to thank for warping my mind into its current state.

DF: Where do you currently reside and what do you do for a living?

PC: Currently I live in Japan’s Kagoshima prefecture. Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of it, most people outside of Japan haven’t. The claim to fame of this place is that it’s home to Shinmoe-Dake, which was used for the exterior shots of Blofeld’s volcano base in “You Only Live Twice”. At the moment, I teach English lessons in several elementary schools, but that will hopefully change in the near-future as I’ve been speaking with some local colleges about job prospects. I also write and edit, and I do the occasional comic book lettering job, all while pursuing my masters degree online. I’ve also started doing some cover design and book formatting, since apparently I’m not busy enough.

DF: How does it happen that a nice boy from the Midwestern U.S. finds himself teaching English in Japan?

PC: I always had an interest in Japanese culture, probably first caused by shows like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Power Rangers” that I watched while growing up, plus dubbed anime like “Dragonball Z” and video games like “Final Fantasy VII”. But what really cinched it was when I was in college, I became really interested in live-action Japanese movies—films by guys like Akira Kurosawa, Takashi Miike, Seijin Suzuki, Takeshi Kitano, Kinji Fukusaku, and others, plus the novels of Haruki Murakami. Around this same time, I discovered the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Program, which invites people from native speaking countries to work in Japan as assistant language teachers in Japanese public schools for 1-5 years. I applied for the program, hoping to end up in a bustling metropolis like Tokyo or Osaka, but instead I got sent out to Kagoshima. At first I didn’t like it, and the plan was to return to the States after my first-year contract was up, but one year turned into three, then three into five, and now I’m in my sixth year in Kagoshima.

DF: Tell us as much about your background as you’re legally able to.

PC: Well, if it’s only stuff I’m legally able to discuss, that’s going to be a short story. As a kid, I fell in love with the “X-Men” animated series, and that led me to collecting comics—first X-Men, then later Avengers, and more and more titles, primarily Marvel. When I was around 10 years old, I had a few teachers who had us write stories as assignments, and I would write superhero stories, some of them featuring characters I was a fan of, some of them featuring my friends and I becoming superheroes. And that’s really what led to my desire to be a writer.

DF: What is your philosophy of writing?

PC: Don’t bore yourself or your readers. I’m very much from the school of thought of guys like Elmore Leonard, where it’s focused on characters and dialogue over description. My favorite rule from Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing is “avoid the parts readers tend to skip.” And not boring yourself also applies to what you’re writing in addition to how you write it. Write what you enjoy, regardless of whether it’s popular or marketable, and to hell with anyone who tells you otherwise.

DF: You actually intended to be a comic book writer and not a novelist. True?

PC: Absolutely true. Ever since I started writing, the goal was always to become a comic book writer. Outside of the stuff I created as a kid, my first serious attempts at writing my own original characters and ideas were written as comic book scripts, not novels. Many of them later became novels, but comics were always my first love.

But being a poor college student when I started writing meant my options for paying artists page rates were limited. I hooked up with a number of different artists for a number of different projects, but something always got in the way. Sometimes it was as simple as the artist getting offered a paying job, which naturally is fine—if you get offered a project for money as opposed to royalty sharing, then you should take that project. But what became really frustrating were the artists who would just plain stop answering emails. After about two or three instances where that happened, I decided to focus instead on prose.

I would still love to do more comics work, particularly for Marvel or DC. Those are the characters I grew up with, so getting the chance to write them professionally would be a dream come true. Don’t get me wrong, I also love doing my own thing, but it would be a lot of fun to work on my favorite characters.

DF: You enjoyed an extensive and successful career in writing DC and Marvel fan fiction. What are the benefits of writing fan fiction and what are the drawbacks?

PC: The biggest benefit is, provided you hook up with a constructive community, it’s one of the best training grounds you could ask for. It’s a lot easier to jump into a world and characters you grew up with and know inside and out than it is to come up with your own from scratch. I would not be the writer I am today if I didn’t spend my teenage and college years writing fanfic, that much I can guarantee. In that time, I learned a lot about characterization, description, dialogue, plot, and even editing. It also gave me confidence to eventually move beyond into original fiction.

The drawback is, of course, you won’t be able to make any money off it, nor do you own these characters you’re writing about. Fanfic is still frowned upon by a lot of people as a waste of time and energy. Of course, if you’re willing to put in the effort, you can take a story that began life as fanfic and turn it into something that’s all your own creation. I did that with my second novel, Chasing The Dragon, and it’s been done by other writers as well.

DF: You’ve done work for professional comic book companies as a letterer, haven’t you?

PC: I have. When I was initially putting together Love & Bullets as a comic book, I had found an artist, but a letterer was still out of reach, until the day I found the Ninja Lettering website. I followed their tutorials for using Adobe Illustrator to letter comics, did a number of practice pages, and then began lettering the first issue of Love & Bullets. To my surprise, I actually really enjoyed lettering, and so I began seeking out work. I lettered a number of submissions that were never picked up, and also did work for a few independent companies, most notably AC Comics. While lettering stories for their Femforce anthology comic, I developed a very good relationship with Mark and Stephanie Heike, the editors on that comic. That relationship led to my first published work-for-hire in the form of a finishing off the final two parts of a three-part story featuring their character of Threeta.

I still keep an eye on the various job boards for letterers, and if there’s something that catches my interest (and I have an opening in my schedule), then I’ll apply for it. I would like to do more of it, though.

DF: You’ve also tried your hand at screenwriting and film directing, correct?

PC: Also true. Screenwriting and comic writing are very closely related in a lot of ways, so I found it pretty easy to switch between the two, and movies were and still are a huge influence on me. During my undergraduate years, my minor was in mass media with a heavy focus on film studies and it was during that period that I did some directing work on some short student films. Only one was ever completed, and that was a short film called Russian Roulette, based on a short story written by a friend of mine named Anastasia Peters. 

She had asked me to critique the story and I thought it was incredible and while reading it, I kept picturing it playing out as a film and so I asked her if she’d let me adapt it. I had several friends who were skilled in different areas of film, so we came up with a script and shot the film in three days.

The masters degree I’m pursuing involves a screenwriting concentration, and I’d love to write and/or direct another project at some point in the future. It’s just a matter of finding the right idea for a script and all the necessary elements to translate the script into a movie.

DF: Your output is diverse. You’ve written Fantasy, Espionage Thrillers, Science Fiction, Pulp Action/Adventures. Is the diversity to keep your readers from getting bored or you?

PC: More to keep me from getting bored. The nice thing about New Pulp is that we’re not restricted by genre. We don’t have to stick to Horror or Crime or Sci-Fi or Fantasy. We can play in all these different areas, sometimes all at once. If I get the inkling to write a Horror novel, I can just do it. If I want to write a Western, I can just do it. It’s a nice way to keep me from getting bored, but it’s also a great way to challenge myself. Recently, I wrote a Western story, and it was the first time I ever wrote a Western. It was just an idea that came to me one day, it coincided nicely with an anthology that was in the works, so I pitched it and was given the greenlight to write it. Even if I didn’t get the greenlight, I probably would have written it anyway and figured out something else to do with it.

DF: Tell us about The Infernum series.

Infernum began life as a film project, initially titled Codename: Black Widow, if I recall correctly. It was the brainchild of a very good friend of mine, Kyle Shire, who wanted to direct it as a student film. He came up with a basic outline and asked me if I’d be willing to write a screenplay, and of course I was more than happy to do that. The film never happened, but Kyle gave me his blessing to write it as a novel.

Infernum is an organization of assassins run by a mysterious and charming power broker known as Dante. In Codename: Black Widow, which later became Love & Bullets, the main character is named Angela Lockhart, a former operative of a government organization called the Agency. After the death of her husband, she goes rogue and gets recruited by Dante as an assassin, the deal between them being that Dante will use his resources to help her find her husband’s killer.

Love & Bullets was followed up by Outlaw Blues, which involves a lot of the same characters, but in different roles. The protagonist in Outlaw Blues is a retired hitman named Carl Flint, who gets brought out of retirement by Dante for one final job. It ties into Love & Bullets in several ways, but is also its own story—whereas Love & Bullets was more of an espionage spy vs. spy novel, Outlaw Blues is more of an urban western.

I do have plans for future books. I’ve been kicking around ideas for the next book, tentatively titled Gentleman Rogue, for a while, but have had other projects I wanted to focus on first.

DF: I’m a big fan of The Myth Hunter, Elisa Hill. Tell us about her.

Elisa Hill is my attempt to try my hand at a more pulpy adventure story. I came up with the character a while ago, initially as a pitch for the now-defunct original fiction website, Frontier. In initial form, Elisa was a vampire hunter, but that morphed over time into what she is now. Initially I tried to do it as a comic, but when that fell through, I decided to try it as a novel.

The basic premise is that all the various mythologies of the world are rooted in fact. Pursuing these legends are people called myth hunters. Some are mercenaries, some are knowledge-seekers, some are treasure hunters. Elisa is the daughter of two myth hunters and she initially became one of the rogue myth hunters, working with a mercenary named Lucas Davalos. But after the death of her parents, she came back to their way of thinking, attempting to continue their research with the help of their good friend and her mentor, a retired myth hunter named Max Finch.

In the first book, The Myth Hunter, Elisa and Max pursue the myth of the lost continent of Lemuria, while also trying to avoid the reach of the mysterious Order and a vicious mercenary named Seth. During the course of that book, Elisa ran into Asami, a kitsune or Japanese fox spirit, who can change between fox and human forms and possesses some degree of magical abilities.

The sequel, Dragon Kings of the Orient, has Asami seeking out Elisa’s help to protect the Dragon Kings of China from Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, a powerful demigod who sought revenge on the Dragon Kings for imprisoning him. The lives of the Dragon Kings are tied to the oceans of Asia, and so if they die, that could mean chaos for the continent. Of course, things aren’t what they seem.

There’s been another addition to the Myth Hunter series in the form of “The Wild Hunt,” a short story featured in the PulpWork Christmas Special 2013, which is now available in digital and print formats. “The Wild Hunt” has Asami traveling to Hokkaido in Japan where she runs across a yuki-onna, or snow woman. But there’s something else, something far larger at play.

DF: What are your future plans for Elisa Hill?

PC: Elisa will be back. Dragon Kings of the Orient ended on something of a cliffhanger, and that will lead into the third book. The ending of “The Wild Hunt” also hints at something else coming down the road for Elisa and her allies. At some point in the future, I’d also like to invite other writers to contribute stories about Elisa and her allies and put out an anthology of those stories, but I haven’t put that into action just yet.

Also sometime in the near-future, probably before I have the chance to write the third book, Elisa will be appearing in another story written by someone other than me and featuring her teaming up with one ofthe biggest New Pulp characters! So keep an eye out for that.

DF: You’ve got a new novel out. Tell us about SOULQUEST.

PC: SoulQuest, like almost everything I’ve done, began life as a comic book pitch. It never went anywhere and some time later, I pitched it as a serial for the Revenance original fiction site. The first chapter was posted, but Revenance went down shortly after that. I had already written several pages and continued it for a bit, but ultimately got distracted by other projects.

Then last year, I was struggling with a project for NaNoWriMo and I started looking through abandoned manuscripts (of which I have more than a few). One of those was SoulQuest. I began jotting down notes and found myself quickly sucked back into that world.

SoulQuest is basically my love letter to the Final Fantasy series, in particular Final Fantasy VII, which is my all-time favorite video game. The book focuses on Zarim, who is a pirate along with Ekala, Zarim’s lover and a consummate thief, and Swul, a hard-drinking exile of the faerie kingdom. From the airship Excalibur, they live the lives of mercenaries, traveling wherever the money is. But when the legendary Soulstones surface, they’re tasked with locating them. Also pursuing the Soulstones is Lord Vortai, a powerful sorcerer who basically controls the empire. With the Soulstones, Vortai could have the power to remake the world as he sees fit.

It’s part fantasy, part science fiction, part steampunk, with a lot of action thrown in. This book was me really pushing myself out of my comfort zone, especially after a very long dry spell when I came close to quitting writing altogether. And it’s out now in print and for Kindle.

DF: Is SOULQUEST going to be a series? And if so, what can we expect in future books?

PC: I had considered making it into a series, but for now, it’s just this one book. Given what happens in this book, I think a follow-up where the stakes are the same or even higher would be very difficult to pull off. I might consider revisiting the characters in short stories set at different points in their lives, because it is a big, ensemble cast, and there’s a lot that can be done with the different characters. But there are other projects that I really want to work on at the moment, and so I’d like to focus on those.

DF: What’s A Day In The Life of Percival Constantine like?

PC: My work schedule is kind of all over the place, so if it’s a day when I have classes, then I’ll usually get up around 6 and drive anywhere from 40-90 minutes to which of the eleven elementary schools I teach at. If I have free periods during the day, I have my laptop with me and I’ll work on whatever projects are on my docket, be it formatting, editing, lettering, studying, or writing. If I have a day off from work, I might be recording or editing episodes for the two podcasts I’m part of, working on the aforementioned projects I have to work on, or just relaxing in front of the TV or reading comics or books.

Derrick Ferguson: Anything else we should know?

Percival Constantine: I’m a writer for WhatCulture and a contributor and regional partner at JapanTourist. As mentioned, I also produce two podcasts. One is The Exploding Typewriter, a podcast that features me and a member of the New Pulp community discussing whatever aspect of pulp that creator wants to talk about. To date, I’ve done interviews with Tommy Hancock, Ron Fortier, Barry Reese, Derrick Ferguson, Jim Beard, and Richard Lee Byers, with other interviews planned. It’s great fun talking with these various guys and getting their insight on the world of New Pulp.

The other podcast is called The Geek Screen, and I co-host that with one of my good friends from Chicago, Juan Bracich. We talk about geeky movies and TV shows, focusing on a different film or show each episode as the main portion and also touching on different news and whatever other tangents we might find ourselves on.

Other than that, please pick up a copy of SoulQuest and the PulpWork Christmas Special 2013. Those and all my other books are available at various places all over the net, and if you head over to my website, PercivalConstantine.com, you can find out where you can buy all those books and in what formats.

And also, thank you for the interview! It’s always a good time when you and I get to sit down and chat a little.

Percival Constantine
Writer, Editor, Letterer
pc@percivalconstantine.com
percivalconstantine.com

On B-Boys and Pulp Culture: An Essay by Michael A. Gonzales

The essay below was done as a promotion for the short story collection BLACK PULP edited by Gary Phillips and Tommy Hancock. Enjoy!



On B-Boys and Pulp Culture:
Black Pulp edited by Gary Phillips and Tommy Hancock
by Michael A. Gonzales
Gonzales.gonzo@gmail.com

Planet Hip-Hop has always overflowed with folks into various forms of pulp culture. Over the years, I’ve interviewed many rap artists and producers who shared their love for Star Wars, crime movies, karate flicks and the novels of Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines. Still, I was surprised when Queensbridge legend Nas told me in 1999 that he had once created a Black Pulp hero when he was a kid.

“I used to used to draw my own character called Sea God,” Nas told me. “I copied the body of Conan the Barbarian, but had him standing on the corner instead of in the forest.” Without a doubt, I’m sure Nas isn’t the only one with a stash of drawings and/or writings detailing the bugged adventures of urban champions.

Last year, when respected crime novelist/comic book writer Gary
Phillips invited me to contribute a short story to his latest project BLACK PULP (Pro Se, 2013), co-edited with Tommy Hancock, I immediately thought of that long ago conversation with Nas and decided I too wanted to create a hood hero.

Leaning back in my office chair, I closed my eyes and thought of my own pulp filled childhood growing-up in Harlem: of listening to old Shadow radio programs that were released on records, watching blaxploitation and kung-fu flicks every weekend, devouring the Marshall Rodgers/Steve Englehart’s version of Batman, discovering the weird worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, watching Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon serials on PBS and falling in love with the work of pulp artist supreme Howard Chaykin, the dude George Lucas requested to illustrate the first Star Wars comic book.

After an hour of drifting on those dusty memories, quicker than I could say, “Batman and Robin, Green Hornet and Kato or Easy Rawlinsand Mouse,” my own pulp heroes Jaguar and Shep were born. The lead character Coltrane (Jaguar) Jones owns a Harlem rap club called the Bassment and drives through Harlem cool as Super Fly in a fly sports car. His murderous friend Shep, who just got out of prison, becomes his badass sidekick as the two self-appointed crime fighters go in search of a music minded kidnapper.

Although I’ve never been big on constructing strict outlines for fiction, I knew that I wanted the period to be 1988, the last year Mayor Koch was in office. Crack was at its height, Public Enemy’s brilliant It Takes a Nation of Millions was rockin’ the boulevards, Dapper Dan was creating his bugged designer fashions and New York Citywas still on the verge exploding.

Recalling Fab 5 Freddy, who also appears in the story, telling me about the jazz/hip-hop shows he did with Max Roach at the Mudd Club in the 1980s, the finished story told the tale of a be-bop lover trying to rid b-boys and their music from the streets of Sugar Hill. While working on the story, I consulted with my good friend Robert (Bob) Morales, himself an accomplished comic book writer, co-creator of the black Captain America graphic novel "The Truth" and a pulp culture aficionado. Although he was working on a graphic novel about
Orson Welles at the time, he always found the time to talk. Once, when I thought the Paul Pope/John Carpenter-Escape from New York inspired climax might be too crazy, Bob reminded me, “It’s a pulp story…there’s no such thing as too wild.”

So, after several weeks of calling Bob, sometimes a few times a day,and writing, “Jaguar and the Jungleland Boogie” was finally finished. Sadly, Bob Morales died suddenly on April 17, so I’d like to dedicate the story to him.

In addition to my b-boy/be-bop tale, Black Pulp has a cool line-up of creators of color that include famed novelist Walter Mosley, who penned the introduction, Gar Anthony Heywood, Christopher Chambers, Kimberly Richardson, Mel Odom and others.

BLACK PULP

WALTER MOSLEY INTRODUCTION

BLACKADELIC POP

Kickin' The Willy Bobo With: LUCAS GARRETT Part Two

Derrick Ferguson: Do you ever feel uncomfortable with the rampant racism, sexism and stereotypes in Classic Pulp? Do you ever get questioned by your friends and acquaintances on your choice of reading material?

Lucas Garrett: To be honest, I would rather read fiction of that period because it was so honest in their sentiments about race, sex, and class. There was no “political correctness,” and there was nowhere to run and hide. Granted, I don’t care for the blatant racism in books such as Tarzan, Tom Swift, Hugo Drummond, and Fu Manchu. Moreover, the Spicy Pulps of that period were generally horrible towards women. However, the stories were part of that time period. Right or wrong. And those times were very harsh. That’s why characters such as Dillon, Fortune McCall, Mongrel, Diamondback, Damballa, Changa, and Imaro are very important for New Pulp. I feel that one of the greatest literary tragedies of the 1890’s, all the way into the 1940’s, is that black communities throughout the United States did not have their own dime novel and pulp writers to give opposing viewpoints to what was being published at that time. Try to search “black pulp writers” or “African-American pulp writers” in Google and see what you get. Nothing. Nothing at all. And that is a shame.

And the best time for it to have happened would have been the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s. That’s why having writers such as Charles Saunders, Milton Davis, and you, Derrick, is very important. We are playing catch up for over a century of racial bigotry and prejudice. Better late, than never. As far as anyone knowing about my interest for pulp literature, they equate it with early adventure/action fiction. It’s nice, but it’s not interesting enough to due proper research. If my father were alive, he would understand the history of pulp literature. Moreover, I think he would realize that I was adding my perspective to that genre, and “redeeming” it to some extent. If that’s possible.

DF: Do you feel New Pulp is addressing and correcting the racism, sexism and stereotypes of Classic Pulp?

LG: Yes. I do. In my opinion, New Pulp represents a multicultural melting pot of characters, and civilizations, that approach perils and situations on a realistic and non-biased perspective. Furthermore, New Pulp use issues such as racism, sexism, and other bigotries and prejudices to reveal layered reasons behind them better than Classic Pulp did during the 1920’s. 1930’s, and 1940’s.

DF: In what way does Classic Pulp speak to you?

LG: Classic pulp shows me the mindset of the men and women in the racial majority, and in places of power and prestige, during that time. For a young Caucasian male or female between the ages of say, 10 to 45, the South American, African, Near East, Far East, Arctic and Antarctic continents would appear “alien.” The predominant racial worldview was different back then. Political correctness had not yet set in on a global scale. Therefore, people, who were not Caucasian, were considered subservient, or savages to be subdued. 

Initially, early pulp literature (an outgrowth of the dime novel industry of the Gilded/Victorian period of the 19th century) capitalized on this shared racial worldview. In addition, you had the Physical Culture movements at the turn of the last century in countries such as England, Germany, and the United States that mixed religion with physical fitness, racial hygiene, and perhaps eugenics. Then we have the wartime trauma of the First World War, and the period of Prohibition, and the need for “superhuman” vigilantes and heroes to permeate the public’s consciousness.

When I look at pulp literature during that time, I also look at the period in which the stories are published. And they are very telling when it concerns race, politics, economics, and the infrastructure of societies throughout the world, whether the information in the stories are factual or assumed. Classic Pulp literature, whether it is adventure, action, spy, detective, femme fatale, space opera-based is the mythology based on the racial, sexual, and classist worldview of the early to mid-20th century. Classic pulp literature consciously, and unconsciously, taught the societal mores and ethical systems to generations of children who came of age before, during, and after the two World Wars.

By the 1950’s, the era of Classic Pulp began to wane and was overtaken by other forms of literature and other media. However, the serialized and standalone story structure, and pacing, informed the serials, television series, and films that came after. Therefore, to a certain extent, Classic pulp never went away. When you watch films such as the Usual Suspects, Sin City, LA Confidential, Last Man Standing, The Quick and The Dead, The Rundown, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Serenity, you are watching Classic Pulp. 

When you watch television series such as Mission: Impossible, Alias, Lost, Nikita, 24, Bones, The Finder, Dollhouse, Fringe, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, Heroes, and The Event, you are watching Classic Pulp. Classic Pulp is the truest form of American Mythology because it continues to permeate all forms of media, and evolve with the times. Therefore, Classic Pulp has become New Pulp for a new era.

DF: What do you think of New Pulp?

LG: New Pulp is the literary equivalent of the best action, adventure, detective, and espionage films and television series being viewed, or in syndication. It allows the reader to imagine interesting people, cultures, civilizations, and other worlds in their own minds that are as immersive, and engaging, as going to see a film in 3-D. And since I’m an immersive reader and thinker, using all of my senses, I can enjoy novels like Dillon and the Voice of Odin, Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell, and Philip Jose’ Farmer’s Wold Newton-centric novels such as Time’s Last Gift and The Other Log of Phileas Fogg. I am present in those stories, viewing every detail written by the author.

What people get out of virtual reality, video games, television, and film, literature can do as well. And with New Pulp, reader get more for their dollar, because it is time they are taking away from watching a television program, or film, playing a video game, or any other activity. Therefore, the stories had better be worth the time. New Pulp is not an easy literary industry to be in because of the competition coming from other forms of literature such as comic books, graphic novels, and other visual media. However, the material being produced is worth the struggle, in my opinion. That’s why I read New Pulp.

DF: I’ve been separating the eras of Pulp into Classic and New but do you think the two should be spoken of and evaluated as two separate eras?

LG: In terms of Classic Pulp and New Pulp, I see it as being one continuous link that has times of prosperity, and times of extreme setback. Call it Classic Pulp or New Pulp, it’s still Pulp. Pulp literature has evolved to survive, and thrive, through the times. We happen to be living in a time when it is a thriving literary industry. The reason I make this statement is that Pulp literature made a noteworthy comeback in the 1960’s and 1970’s in literature and comics. Then it somewhat fizzled out in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Furthermore, during times of economic downturn, Pulp literature seems to come back, and do well. Usually, because of the rise in criminal activity that accompanies economic downturns in those societies affected.

The thing is, because of how Pulp has evolved throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, I would say that it will survive regardless of such activity. Because it has become the unseen force behind the media mythology of America and the rest of the known world. The entertainment industries that exist today owe a huge debt to Pulp literature. Instead of declining, it has grown in various forms of entertainment. In Internet terms: Pulp has gone viral. We couldn’t get rid of it if we wanted to. It’s completely engrained in our popular culture.

DF: You’re a fan of the Wold Newton Universe. Can you tell us what it’s all about and how you discovered it?

LG: My love of classic/new pulp comes from my love of the Wold Newton Family and Wold Newton Universe, which I discovered online between 1999 and 2000. I am a fan of Timely Comics’ (Marvel Comics’ predecessor) The Invaders, a superhero team that fought in the Second World War, which included Captain America, Bucky, the Human Torch, Toro, Sub-Mariner, Spitfire, Union Jack, Miss America, and the Whizzer. Therefore, I went online to see if there were any articles about them, and I found an article written by Victorian and Pulp literature historian, Jess Nevins. The article was entitled “The All-Aces Squad,” and the premise of the article was that The Invaders, and its predecessor team, the All-Winner’s Squad, were based on “real” individuals that Stan Lee, Timely Comics’ Editor-in-Chief, had heard about while he was a playwright for the U.S. Army. In the article, Nevins identified the “real” members behind the All-Winner’s Squad/Invaders myth, and kept referring to the Wold Newton Family.

Curiosity got the better of me, I typed ‘Wold Newton Family’ into the AOL search engine, and I saw numerous websites that talked about the Wold Newton meteor event of December 13, 1795. The foremost website being Win Scott Eckert’s Wold Newton Universe website, a website dedicated to  expanding the Wold Newton Family concept developed by a writer by the name of Philip Jose’ Farmer, who wrote about it in two fictional biographies: Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (1972), and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (1973).

The premise of the Wold Newton Family is that on December 13, 1795, a meteor fell in the in a wheat field in the town of Wold Newton, East Riding, Yorkshire, England, and that within a ten-foot radius of the impact zone, there were two coaches carrying a total of fourteen passengers, and four coachmen. This party had several individuals who were written about in the popular literature at that time such as Percy Blakeney, also known as the Scarlett Pimpernel, Fitzwilliam Darcy and his wife, the former Elizabeth Bennett, and the ancestors of the literary figures in popular fiction at the turn of the last century such as Sherlock Holmes, Arsene Lupin, Fu Manchu, Hugo Drummond, Sexton Blake, George Challenger, The Time Traveler, Tarzan, Doc Savage, etc.

The thing is, these eighteen individuals were exposed to the “ionizing” radiation that emitted from the meteor. I put the nature of the radiation in quotation because I believe that there is more to the meteor than meets the eye. Furthermore, I do not believe that what the meteor emitted cannot be considered radiological, and definitely not “ionizing”. I am one a very few who share this belief. One of whom is Dr. Arthur “Art” Sippo, M.D. Nevertheless, the meteor affected the genetic structures of those exposed, and due to intermarriages with the group, as well as other relationships, descendants were born who were slightly more than human.

DF: What is the fascination that the Wold Newton Universe has for you?

LG: The biggest attraction I have to the Wold Newton Family/Universe concept is the conceit that most literary figures are based on actual people who lived, or are alive in our “real” world. Therefore, using this concept, Doc Savage is based on Dr. James Clarke Wildman, Jr., who is the son of Dr. James Clark Wildman, Sr. who was fictionalized as a young man in the character of “James Wilder” in the Sherlock Holmes story, “The Adventure of the Priory School,” and as an older man, as the character “Daniel Hardin,” in Philip Wylie’s proto-Superman pulp novel, “Gladiator.” It also made the “real” world appear more fascinating than it actually is. Ironically, the Wold Newton concept has inadvertently caused me to delve into other literature, which has broadened my literary horizons. Because without it, I never would have read a novel by Jane Austen. It wasn’t going to happen. Philip Jose’ Farmer changed my mindset. And, for that alone, I am indebted to him.

DF: Do you subscribe to the Tommy Westphall Theory?

LG: No. I look at Pulp literature, Classic Pulp in particular, as being stories based on something that may have happened, or could have happened, if the conditions were right for it during the periods in time in which the stories are published, or set. The Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis is both a genius concept, as well as a cop out, in my opinion. Because it shattered the Fourth Wall of storytelling, and caused the viewer to feel that they shouldn’t have invested their time and thoughts in the lives of the characters from St. Elsewhere. 

Personally, I think that the writers just ran out of steam. It was similar to what happened in the television series, Dallas, when Pamela Ewing woke up to find Bobby Ewing alive; after all season seeing her, and the rest of Ewing family, deal with Bobby’s death. You can’t mess with fans like that, and think there won’t be consequences. If you are dealing with exposing the viewer, or the reader, to the fact that the world you are immersed in is not “real”, then it needs to be explained at the beginning of the story, or people will not understand. That’s what made the Matrix film trilogy successful. The first Matrix film established that everything we see is an illusion. Therefore, when things started to look a little bizarre in the “real” world of the Matrix, such as towards the end of Matrix Reloaded, the viewers have that concept to anchor them.

DF: Do you have any ambitions of being a writer? If so, are you working on anything right now?

LG: Yes, I do aspire to become a published writer. I’m working on an outline project for a book about Steampunk-era werewolves set in turn of the 20th century Atlanta, Georgia. The plot revolves around a family of southern Black werewolves who are bred by a certain well-known Victorian literary mad scientist to be ferocious slave catchers before the Civil War. However, this family used their abilities to liberate plantations throughout Georgia and to form “Free Towns” that are patrolled night and day by them. The story starts with the grandchildren of the patriarch who was given the serum by the doctor while in utero in the 1830’s. In fact, the patriarch of the family was born on November 11, 1831, the day Nat Turner is executed in Virginia for his attempted slave uprising earlier that year. I take elements from Philip Wylie’s novel, “Gladiator,” and postulate that there may have been induced superhuman programs, independently funded, and conducted, for nearly a century prior to the First World War.

DF: What’s a typical Day In The Life of Lucas Garrett like?

LG: Working mostly. I work an eight-hour shift from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM for five days, and the two days I am off, I read for research purposes to help me craft my outlines. I take short breaks, play with my dog, exercise, and I get on Facebook to see what is going on in the Forum groups I’m involved in. And from time to time, I go on dates. Nothing serious. That’s it.

Derrick Ferguson: Anything else we need to know about Lucas Garrett?

Lucas Garrett: Not at this time. Thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity to share my interest in Pulp literature

Kickin' The Willy Bobo With: LUCAS GARRETT Part One

Derrick Ferguson: Who is Lucas Garrett?

Lucas Garrett: I am a thirty-three year old African American, a former United States Marine, and a concierge security officer with over fourteen years of experience in the security industry. I am the second oldest of seven children (five sons and two daughters). In addition, I write unpublished fan fiction, and I am a fan of various forms of literature, television, films, and video games. In particular, those forms of media that focus on crossovers.

DF: Where do you live and what do you do to keep the bill collectors away?

LG: For a year and a half, I have lived in a suburban subdivision in Lawrenceville, Georgia. I work for Allied Barton Security Services as a concierge security officer at a high-rise office complex near the CNN Center, in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

DF: You are a major Science Fiction/Comic Book/Movie/Classic Pulp/New Pulp/Wold Newton Universe fan. Where did all this begin for you?

LG: That’s a loaded question. My love for science fiction, comic books, movies, classic pulp, new pulp, and the Wold Newton Family/Universe comes from my Dad. He was a voracious reader, mostly of classic literature, history, anthropology, archaeology and linguistic studies. It is because of him that I have a strong love for reading.

When he was younger, my Dad was a fan of the short-lived television series, “The Green Hornet”, starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee. In fact, one of the first comic books my father bought for me, when I was a kid, was Now Comics’ The Green Hornet #2, written by Ron Fortier. The Green Hornet, and later The Phantom, were characters who intrigued me because the mantle of The Green Hornet and The Phantom were passed down from generation to generation. In the case of The Green Hornet, the mantle is transferred from uncle to nephew, whereas for The Phantom, the mantle is transferred from father to son. I loved the family dynamic. And even though The Green Hornet and The Phantom were not Pulp heroes per se (The Green Hornet originated from Old Time Radio, and The Phantom began as a comic strip character), I see Pulp literary elements in the characters and their world.

DF: What are some of your favorite Science Fiction TV shows and Movies?

LG: Science fiction is the final frontier of the mind for me. Therefore, I gravitated to it very early on with movies such as the original Star Wars trilogy, the Star Trek films, Enemy Mine, The Brother From Another Planet, The Final Countdown, The Philadelphia Experiment, Tron, the Terminator films, and the Predator films. Action adventure films such as the Raiders of the Lost Ark trilogy, the James Bond films starring Sean Connery, the John Carpenter films (Escape From New York, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China, in particular), Highlander, The Rocketeer, The Shadow, and The Phantom prepared me for my early foray into pulp literature. And, of course, when I was younger, television shows like Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation were big in my home. Although, of the various Star Trek series, including Star Trek: Voyager, I gravitated more towards Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Captain Benjamin Sisko, portrayed by Avery Brooks, is my favorite character from the series.

In fact, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 were the two television science fiction series I routinely watched in the 1990’s. Moreover, I am a fan of old television series like Automan, Voyagers!, Misfits of Science, the A-Team, Magnum P.I., Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, MacGyver, Mission: Impossible, Airwolf, M.A.N.T.I.S., Kindred: The Embrace, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Jack of All Trades, Hercules, Xena: The Warrior Princess, Angel, etc. Currently, on the SyFy Channel, I watch Eureka, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, Lost Girl, and Alphas. On CBS, I watch NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles. On Cinemax, I watch Strike Back. Furthermore, I am a big fan of Doctor Who, and J.J. Abrams’ Alias, and I watch them on DVD whenever I get the chance.

DF: Do you think Science Fiction in print has lost some of the fun and sense of wonder that it used to be known for? And if so, why?

LG: I think it has since we live in a technologically-advanced period in human history. We are literally one-step away from Star Trek. All we need now are faster-than-light space vessels, and teleportation. We pretty much have everything else that Gene Roddenberry envisioned. Those who read science fiction, in the past, were trying to make it possible in real-life. I don’t see much of that drive these days. Scientists and engineers have become so successful in giving the public new technological tools and toys, that we have become complacent. Despite the recent launching of the Mars Rover, Curiosity, being a success for the scientific and academic world, very few outside those circles cared. Furthermore, literary works of fantasy, such as the Harry Potter and Twilight series, are usurping literary works based on hardcore science fiction, or science fiction based on scientific fact and logical speculation. The primary reason why books like Harry Potter and Twilight are doing so well is that there is little explanation needed to understand them, if and when, they become feature films.

The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) approach is being used to make money off literary science fiction and fantasy properties; because the aim of the publishers is to get enough buzz about a book series, so that it is optioned as a series of feature length films. That’s my take on it. Comic books are in the same boat too. Literary works are now source material for big or small screen adaptations. The literary property is a vehicle to launch a multimedia enterprise that not only markets the books, but also other connected merchandising properties. Very few people write books for the sake of having books published. The Internet and other multimedia enterprises have changed the nature of the game forever.

DF: Who are your favorite Science Fiction writers?

LG: Philip Jose’ Farmer, Win Scott Eckert, Christopher Paul Carey, Rick Lai, Arthur “Art” Sippo, Ron Fortier, Derrick Ferguson, Howard Hopkins, Charles Saunders, Milton Davis, Barry Reese, Jason Jack Miller, Heidi Ruby Miller, William Patrick Maynard, Will Murray, Lester Dent, Walter Gibson, Norvell Page, Philip Wylie, E.E. “Doc” Smith, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Frank Herbert, Michael Crichton, Howard V. Hendrix, Caleb Carr, Leslie Silbert, and J. Gregory Keyes. A lot, I know.

DF: What were the last five movies you saw and how’d you like ‘em?

LG: THE AVENGERS, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, THOR, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, and BATTLE: LOS ANGELES. I loved them. In particular, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, since I’m a former U.S. Marine, and I enjoyed seeing what type of battle plan the Marine Corps would have in the advent of an extraterrestrial incursion into our known space and planet Earth. Aaron Eckert was superb in his role as a Staff Sergeant, who had planned on leaving the Corps, but due to circumstances beyond his control, winds up leading a platoon of Marines, and other service members, in launching a counterattack against the alien invaders. I went away thinking that this would be a great prequel to Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers novel. That’s how my mind works. I see crossover potential in almost any media.

THE AVENGERS was fantastic. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER was outstanding. Initially, I wasn’t a fan of Chris Evans taking on the role of Steve Rogers. Specifically, because Evans had played Johnny Storm in The Fantastic Four films. However, and surprisingly, Evans won me over. Any actor willing to put in the time, and energy, to play an iconic character on film, as Evans did, deserves my respect. And director, Joe Johnston, masterfully told a great story about the first true Avenger in Marvel Comics history, and the world in which he fought. I couldn’t have asked for anything else.

THOR was also very good. Better than I expected, actually. I especially, loved the way the writers showed that advanced technology and science would be perceived by lesser civilizations as being magical in nature.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS was perhaps the best X-Men film I have seen since X2: X-MEN UNITED. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were outstanding as the younger versions of Charles Francis Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto.)  And the actor to watch, in my opinion, is Fassbender. If a Hollywood studio ever decides to make a feature film about the pulp vigilante, The Spider, then Fassbender is the man you need to play the title role. I can see Fassbender portraying Richard Wentworth, alongside Lena Headey, as Nita Van Sloan. Of course, what won me over about Fassbender was his range in the film, as well as the intentional references to the Sean Connery James Bond films. Fassbender looks like he could be Connery’s son, or grandson. Overall, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS shines because of how logical the evolution of the X-Men, from a top-secret CIA assault team during the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the personal strike team of the Xavier School for the Gifted seemed. It makes complete sense that the X-Men would cut their teeth during one of the most tumultuous times in human history. The Children of the Atom would save the world from nuclear holocaust. It was pure genius, on the part of the scriptwriters, to bring that remarkable idea to the silver screen.

DF: What three Classic Pulp characters would you like to see adapted to movies?

LG: The Spider, Operator #5, and The Avenger.

DF: How long have you been reading comic books and what are your favorites?

LG: I rarely read comics anymore. The last comics I read were Moonstone’s The Spider #1, The Spider #2, and The Spider vs. The Werewolf. The last comic book series I read was Warren Ellis and John Cassaday’s Planetary series. That was two years ago. Since then, I haven’t read any other comics. When I was ten years old, my Dad bought me Classic X-Men #44, Batman #441, and Now Comics’ Green Hornet #2. Therefore, from September 1990 until March 2010, I collected and read comics books of various genres. Mostly superhero comics. Now, unless it comes from Moonstone, or Airship 27, I don’t even bother. Even Alan Moore has disappointed me with his last series about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

DF: What's the biggest difference you've seen in comic books between when you first started reading them and now?

LG: How complicated they have become. There is too much serialization and tie-ins needed to understand most of the comics out today. There are very few standalone stories in superhero comics being printed these days. And, of course, way too much political pandering, and agendas, in today’s comics that I don’t particularly think need to be in a comic book geared toward preteens and adolescents. When I was coming up, the comics I read the most were Uncanny X-Men and X-Men. Now, there are numerous X-Men, or X-related, titles to look at, and they’re all interconnected. If I had been a ten-year old coming up today, I doubt very highly that my Dad would purchase these comics.

First of all the prices for comics have gone way up. When I was younger, comics ranged from $0.50 to $1.25. Now you have comics that cost four to five dollars, at the minimum. Secondly, in order to follow the story arc for most Marvel and DC comics, you have to purchase tie-in comics. Thirdly, there are too many monumental events happening every three, or four, years. And finally, the characters are not allowed to grow up, grow old, get married, have children, and have a life. It’s idiotic, in my opinion, to have the original X-Men not age, and have lives, and families of their own. Cyclops should not look like a thirty-five year old man. A superhero can be all he or she can be, and still be a normal human being. The problem that I see from the two “big houses” is that they have run out of ideas. It’s easier to invest your attentions in an established character, or world, as opposed to expanding it through time, or creating a brand new one of your own. When I realized that unfortunate fact, I lost all interest in superhero comics.

DF: We're seeing an awful lot of Classic Pulp heroes being adapted into comics these days. What are your thoughts on that?

LG: I am happy if it is done right. When it is not done right, it affects the properties greatly. A great example of it not being done properly is the recent fiasco infamously known as “DC: First Wave.” The writers cannot take characters like Doc Savage and his Amazing Five, The Avenger, and his team, Justice, Inc., and expect them to function properly in a modern day setting.

These characters were tailor-made for the world in which they operated: The Depression era. It was easier in those days to yearn for the ‘Superman.’ Now such a person would be ostracized, and viewed with suspicion, by many people. Because that person would be perceived as being a threat to societal mores, and the wellbeing of the public, and could potentially, inadvertently, or intentionally, change the cultural and political climate of society. Back then, people were on the lookout for the “Great Man” who would save them, and take care of their problems. It was in the cultural psyche. And the pulps gave the readers what they wanted. To modern readers, they would seem antiquated. Obsolete. But they are not. Pulp heroes and villains who are set in their natural settings can still be used to tell great stories. But you cannot change the nature of the character, and their world, and expect longtime fans of these characters to come along. It’s not going to happen.

Derrick Ferguson: When did you first discover Classic Pulp?

Lucas Garrett: It happened around the fall of 1999. At around this time, I was reading Warren Ellis and John Cassaday’s Planetary comic book series for WildStorm Productions, the now defunct imprint of DC Comics. Issues #’s 1 and 5 drew me to the Pulp Hero archetypes that were clear homages to characters such as Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Spider, Tarzan, G-8, Operator #5, Tom Swift, Shiwan Khan, and Fu Manchu. I had remembered The Shadow from the 1994 film starring Alec Baldwin. It was a decent film. The main intrigue for me was The Shadow himself. How could he affect people’s minds? Furthermore, around this time, I became aware of the pulp historian and annotation expert, Jess Nevins, through his Wold Newton website, and his annotation works on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One. It was the perfect situation for me because I had had enough of superhero comics. I wanted to read something rooted in reality. The introduction of Planetary, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Wold Newton Family, and Universe, and the classic pulps, helped to direct my reading habits as I began to wean myself away from superhero comics. I would occasionally read Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s The Ultimates, Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men, and Chris Claremont’s run on X-Treme X-Men. But that was about it. It was primarily Planetary and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volumes 1 and 2. 

Stay tuned for Part Two as I continue to Kick The Willy Bobo with Lucas Garrett and we talk about Classic Pulp, New Pulp and The Wold Newton Universe