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
Monday, June 17, 2013
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Kickin' The Willy Bobo With: ERIK FROMME
Derrick Ferguson: Who is Erik Fromme?
Erik
Fromme: In the simplest words that I can put together: Erik Fromme is highly
critical, highly opinionated and passionate about the things he loves be it his
family, work, entertainment or hobbies. Though, family and work tend to take
the most of my time at the cost of most other things. Which, I guess, is the
way it should be.
DF: Where do you live and what do you
tell the IRS you do for a living?
EF: I
currently, and pretty much have always, live in Buffalo, NY. Yes, that means
I’m cursed to support sports teams that have done very little to earn that
support in recent decades, but it is what it is.
As far as
what the IRS needs to know about how I earn an income I would say that I’m a
drafter for a Mechanical Contractor. What does that mean? Well, I basically
design either process systems for Industrial facilities like 3M - you know, the
place that made the sponge you use to clean your dishes with - or Praxair for
liquid gases. Other times it’s for heating and cooling systems for Schools,
Hospitals or other Commercial buildings. I mostly work in pipe, but I’ve
recently expanded my talents into sheet metal.
As far as
what I don’t tell the IRS I do to
earn an income... Well, if I tell you I’d have to kill you. And I do know
where you live.
DF: What writers have influenced you?
EF: Truthfully,
I don’t have a good answer for that. I guess I could say that - looking back on
it - I can point to authors like Peter David as being an influence, but that’s
because I’ve been exposed to his work throughout all of my likes from Star Trek
to comics. When I grew up I never paid attention to whose work I was reading as
I cared about what I was reading, and
whether it fit into what I liked. It was simply just about the story. Where the characters acting like the
characters I knew? Was the universe the universe I knew? When it came to those
works, I knew that authors changed every book or every few arcs so I never got
attached to anybody in particular. Their names weren’t likely to draw me to
other works.
Sure, in
hindsight, it was probably a shitty way to deal with it, but I didn’t care as I
didn’t know better. I was never that
hardcore a fan. I never took it that
seriously. Over the past few years, I’ve learned that quality tends to follow quality authors.
Author’s like PJ Parrish whose detective novels really showed me how to
structure a mystery over the long play. Not just how to develop clues, but to build them into the structure of the
story to when these clues came up later as the story unfolded it was organic
and not alien to the story as an afterthought or leap in logic. I was forced to
think about the story as a whole and what I wanted from it.
I will go
back to Peter David who has penned over dozens of titles and has managed to
give individual voices to the many characters he’s either created or taken over
in his time. To be able to get into the various mindsets of all those different
people and understand their motivations is a strong skill to have and to do
that in all of the landscapes is a very strong skill to have.
DF: Let’s get right to it: why Fan
Fiction?
EF: Well,
Fan Fiction was the natural evolution of the PBeM’s I was playing at the time.
13 years ago, RPG’s were all the rage. But, building on pieces of a story as
they sporadically dropped into my e-mail started getting tedious with the one
or two paragraphs I was responsible for at a time when all I had to work with
was a lame three sentences from somebody who wasn’t putting in the effort I
was. When I was presented this new option, I liked the appeal of building whole
stories directly from my own mind with just my own input. It forced me to
consider new factors I hadn’t before like ensemble casts and how to juggle them
all. I was responsible for me and the freedom I had with that responsibility
couldn’t be equaled.
The easy
part to that answer is: the world was already there - in this case being Marvel
- and I’ve been reading comics for years so my mind already occupied that
space. I knew these characters and their universe. All I needed to do was move
them like pieces in chess and focus more purely on story structure and I could
let the character development follow. I guess part two to that answer was the
collaboration. I didn’t have to explain my world to somebody for them to get
it. It was already gotten. So the world building - which I love the most -
could start immediately.
DF: How long have you been involved
with Fan Fiction?
EF: I
started with Marvel Anthology in ’00. It was a very young site with a handful
of titles and a lot more available for proposals including the one I was
interested in the most: Daredevil. Since then I’ve developed a few more titles
across a few more sites, and morphed into the role of EiC for both Marvel and
DC Anthology and have been in that position for about 12 years now.
DF: How long has DC Anthology and
Marvel Anthology been around?
EF: Marvel Anthology started in April of ’00 and DC Anthology was launched in October of
’01. I’ve been affiliated with both sites for pretty much their entire
existence. There have been some sketchy moments when I doubted the longevity of
the sites, when production slowed to almost nothing or when I thought the
bottom would drop out as people realized that they’re writing ‘fanfic’ and
could ‘do better’. But, I’ve been blessed with some very bright and dedicated
authors who wouldn’t let either site die. And right now - even through various
purges and reboots - both sites boast a combined number of over 1,000 issues.
DF: What are the goals of DC Anthology
and Marvel Anthology?
EF: They
should be the same goal as anybody else who wants their stuff read: to put
forth entertaining and quality stories that builds a cohesive world. That’s the
simplest answer I can come up with. We want to be good. Which, knowing the
slams that go around when people see shitty pro work and goes ‘that reads like
bad fanfic’, might sound ridiculous when applied to fanfic, but I take what we
write serious. Otherwise, why do it?
DF: Why should we be reading DC
Anthology and Marvel Anthology?
EF: Because
we have some really talented authors working for us who deserve to be read.
Everybody treats their title and genre inside the universe - like horror or
sci-fi titles - with genuine effort. Characters, personalities, relationships
and story structure all get attention. And I like to think that DCA and MA
offer a bit of a community feel. That these stories don’t just exist inside a
vacuum to each other, but that you can tell the authors collaborate to not just
strengthen their own books, but each other’s and they show that by crossing
over with their titles and building little interconnecting circles that flow
from title to title. Despite, obviously, not
being paid professionals we all act like we are. These are all characters we
love and it would be a disservice to treat them without respect simply because
we’re ‘fanfic’.
DF: One of the criticisms about Fan
Fiction is that it’s either poorly edited or not edited at all. Your response?
EF: Considering
the amount of shitty Fan Fiction out there I almost can’t blame that
perception, but when it comes to the Anthology’s - and a few other sites out
there inside the community - that couldn’t be farther from the truth. We have a
serious of checks that are in place to help insure quality. Firstly, every
title on site starts with a proposal that is examined by - at our site - about
a half dozen people. Any concerns that are raised in that process get addressed
with the proposer and, hopefully, swiftly taken care of to help keep the
acceptance process quick. It then gets voted on and it has to have a majority
vote before it’s accepted.
When it
comes to our monthly releases our editor has a rather thankless job of proofing
every single issue before it gets posted to the site. Every issue gets checked
for grammar, continuity errors or other concerns that might be raised in the
story around the characters and what we might feel be a detriment to the story.
Sure, we’re not perfect but we do our best to ensure that any potential reader
that stumbles upon us wants to come back, or better yet, spend some of their
time offering feedback on things they like and don’t like so we know how to be
better.
DF: Detractors of Fan Fiction will
claim that those who write it are wasting their time they could be better using
to write original stories. What do you say to them?
EF: They
might be right, and there have certainly been a lot of people in our immediate
community who have moved on from Fan Fiction to pursue professional careers to
the detriment of fanfic. But, for me Fan Fiction is writing for the sake of
writing. It’s pure. It just is what it is: an exercise in bettering my talent
and have fun doing it. Maybe it’s a cop-out on my end for not pursuing a shot
to be published and not deal with the hassle that comes from it and if I did
who knows, maybe I could be good at it but for me personally I like the built
in knowledge that comes with Fan Fiction because you’re working with like
minded people. They’re all there to share the same goal. When it comes to
world-building, you don’t have to hold back ideas for fear of infringement and
you don’t have to explain your work in detail for somebody to get it before you
develop new ideas with them.
At the end
of the day, I just like to write. I don’t need an agenda or a paycheck to
motivate me. And I applaud and have given as much support as I can to my
friends who have pursued a professional career. Sure, part of me might feel a
little jealous of them being a professional, but I’m also jealous of the fact
that I’ll never be called ‘doctor’ or ‘astronaut’ or ‘archaeologist’ as I love
space and history too.
And when
it comes to wasting my time I know that, ultimately, I’d rather waste my time
writing if for nothing but to write than watch shitty reality tv show. If some
asshole can watch ‘American Idol’ and yet point the finger at me for wasting my
talent and being creative then who’s the one really wasting their time?
DF: Tell us about some of your
writers. What is their motivation for writing Fan Fiction?
EF: If I
had to judge their motivation for writing Fan Fiction then it would be for one
thing: to tell a story about the characters they love. That maybe they want to
do more with Superman than just read about him. The secondary motivation would
be to share that with somebody else who loves it just the same. It’s fun.
DF: What’s the best advice you can
give someone who wants to write Fan Fiction?
EF: To:
Just Do It. And, no, I paid Nike no royalties for that slogan. Who gives a
damn? Maybe it’s silly to somebody else, but I don’t think so.
DF: Since you’re involved with Marvel
and DC Fan Fiction it can be safely assumed you’re a DC and Marvel fan?
EF: Yes.
Comics were part of what introduced me to serialized story telling. Beyond
that, I liked how it challenged everything. It wasn’t just GI* Joe or the
A-Team doing neat things with guns, it was guys flying unprotected through
space, performing incredible feats of physicality that would put most people in
the hospital. It allowed for anything to be possible and it was exciting to see
where a story without any real limits could go. ‘Guardian’s of the Galaxy’ -
the new one that the movie will be based on - is a perfect example of that.
DF: What’s your opinion of DC and
Marvel these days?
EF: I
would guess its pretty low. Frankly, I haven’t read much of either just because
I don’t have the money to spend on them. When I did I got very tired of the
constant string of events that Marvel and DC forced themselves in. Every event
was sure to ‘change things forever’ and it just got boring. There were few
books that just told a story that didn’t have to blow up 9 planets and kill
about 437 people to be ‘awesome’.
DF: Is Fan Fiction a viable
alternative for those readers dissatisfied with DC and Marvel?
EF: I
would say both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Sure,
we’ve all asked ourselves ‘How could I do that better?’ or ‘If I did that, I
bet I would have done that this way?’ and Fan Fiction can be an answer to that question. But, if you’re there to just do
DC and Marvel better than DC and
Marvel then I’d think you’d run out of excitement quick because you’re not telling your own story. You’re
re-hashing somebody else’s for your own satisfaction. I’d rather people come to
the Anthology’s to tell a story that they’ve always wanted to read themselves,
but was never written until they did it.
DF: Why not just write original
superhero fiction?
EF: Maybe
someday I might. I just haven’t had that strike of inspiration on an idea that
really pushed its way out of my head. I’ve thought about it, but have always
dropped back on Fan Fiction to scratch that itch. Maybe I find it safe. Maybe I
just find things too derivative to be happy with it.
DF: Do you yourself have any
aspirations for professional writing or editing?
EF: Given
my position at the Anthologies I’ve been doing a lot more editing than writing
lately with coordinating groups of titles together, helping flesh out ideas that
authors come to me with and applying my own touches to those books with
direction - when asked - to help maintain a certain vision and direction for
the site as a whole. I do genuinely enjoy building whole universes.
DF: Do you enjoy editing more or
writing?
EF: I
enjoy writing more than editing, which might sound contradictory to the
previous question. I do editing to help the health of the site as a whole, but
writing allows me to creative for my own ego. I get to toss down my own ideas
and build them as I see them without loaning them out for others to develop.
DF: What’s a typical Day In The Life
of Erik Fromme like?
EF: Typically,
I wake up every Monday thru Friday at 6:00 am and get to work by 7:00 am where
I’m expected to do my duty and deal with about 30 interruptions in that day.
Which, is pretty much like day at home when I roll in at about 4:30. I don’t
get much time to myself and the things I wish to do as my children demand
pretty much every waking moment. I’ve got about 20 or so different projects around
the house to do: kitchen renovations, basement renovations, landscaping and
what not that also demand my time.
Derrick Ferguson: Anything else we
should know about Erik Fromme?
Erik
Fromme: Not really, I would think everything about me is spelled out here. I
appreciate the time everybody spent reading this and not closing it out after
the 3rd question. And I especially appreciate Derrick’s thought for wanting to
interview me for his blog. I’m always fascinated when somebody thinks they need
my opinion, but I’m clearly not opposed to giving it.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
A Little About Me From A to Z
A=Age: 55
B=Bed Size: King
C=Chore I Hate: I actually like doing chores. While I’m
doing them I’m thinking about what I’m going to write next time I sit down at
the computer. This way there’s no time wasted staring at the screen wondering
what I’m going to write.
D=Domestic Animal Names: N/A
E=Essential Start To My Day: Coffee. A lot of it.
F=Favorite Color: Red
G=Gold or Silver: Gold
H=Height: 6 ft 4in.
I=Instruments I Play: None
J=Job Title: Writer (I guess…some days I’m just not sure)
K=Kisses or Hugs: Kisses
L=Living Arraignments: Three family house. My wife and I
live on the first floor & basement and we rent out the other two
apartments.
M=Mood: Surly on the best of days.
N=Nicknames: Ferg, Fergie, Big D, D Nice, Tummy Boy, Ol’ Hot
Chocolate
O=Overnight Hospital Stays: Lemme see…as a kid I had my
tonsils and adenoids removed and as an adult I had two pulmonary embolisms that
caused me to stay in the hospital for about a week each time.
P=Pet Peeves: Any unnecessary noise and people who are proud
of their ignorance.
Q=Quote From A Movie: “So let it be written, so let it be
done” from ‘The Ten Commandments’
R=Right or Left Handed: Right
S=Siblings: Two sisters, Valarie and Jan
T=Time I Wake Up: Usually between 8 and 9AM.
U=Underwear: Yes
V=Vegetable I dislike: Okra
W=Ways I Run Late: Generally I’m not late because I hate to
feel rushed or be rushed so I allow myself plenty of time to get where I’m
going.
X=X-Rays I’ve Had: My chest has been X-rayed more times than
I can count.
Y=Yummy Food I Make: I’ve been told that my cheeseburgers
are pretty damn yummy.
Z=Zoo Favorites: Tie between the elephants and panda bears.
Monday, April 15, 2013
From the "Victory Lap - The End of the Big Project" File...
Since this is my blog
you’re used to me running off at the mouth in this space here that I’ve carved
out for my thoughts and updates and news on my projects. But this time I’m
turning it over to Sean E. Ali. He’s the extraordinarily talented cover
designer for Pro Se Press and the genius behind so many of their covers that
readers and fans of Pro Se have salivated over. He also did the artwork and
designed the cover for “Dillon And The Pirates of Xonira.” He’s wonderful at
his job and his latest project is yet another important milestone in his
career.
But it’s also
important to Sean in a very personal way and I thought it was only fitting that
he be allowed space here to express how important this project is to him. He
originally posted it on his Facebook page but it’s so heartfelt and so touching
I felt compelled to re-post it here along with the front and back cover of
BLACK PULP so that it will hopefully be seen by a wider audience and not lost
in an avalanche of FB posts that come after it.
And I think I’ve
spoken quite enough. Mr. Ali, the floor is yours…
Now that it's done, I can talk about the latest project I've
done for Pro Se, BLACK PULP.
In advance this is more of an op ed thing that's just for
me. You're not obligated to read it.
To give you the highlights BLACK PULP is a volume of fiction being published by Pro Se Press
which features stories with an African American focus and features stories by :
Joe R. Lansdale, Gary Phillips, Charles R. Saunders, Derrick Ferguson, D. Alan
Lewis, Christopher Chambers, Mel Odom, Kimberly Richardson, Ron Fortier,
Michael A. Gonzales, Gar Anthony Haywood, Tommy Hancock and features an
introduction by WALTER MOSLEY!
Yeah "Devil In A Blue Dress - Denzel was in the movie
version" Walter Mosley…
Which made this the biggest damn deal name wise this side of
Barry Reese's Rook as our first major licensed property. So that's the short version, you want to slog through the
longer part below, think of it as the unofficial afterword for BLACK PULP from my point of view…
Here endth the disclaimer.
Some time ago, long before the vast majority of us were
born, the public entertained itself with cheaply produced fiction magazines
called pulps, that pretty much took them from the Great Depression and the
prospect of a second World War into hidden civilizations, steamy underworlds
where masked vigilantes dealt out two-fisted justice and literally hundreds of
other variations on genres that explored fantastic situations populated by
extraordinary people.
It was an amazing time in popular culture. Literally, people
were on the verge of the first real wave of mass produced popular media. It was
entertainment and escape packaged behind luridly illustrated covers that
beckoned to its potential audience with a promise of a story that you'd lose
yourself in and, while it wouldn't solve your immediate problems, you'd be
satisfied knowing that your heroes came through for you and made their corner
of the fictional universe safe for all until your next visit. The best part?
You had heroes who were usually from the people, they were special, but for the
most part, they were just like you...
Or at least that's how it was for the vast majority of the
population.
In most of the minority communities, the representation of
race in those early days of the 1930s, 40s and into the 1950s was less than
flattering. Given the times and the publisher, African Americans, or (for the
sake of accuracy) let's go with the more diplomatic terminology of the day
using either Negros or Colored People, found themselves represented in most
media of the day as slow witted or under educated clowns and buffoons -
caricatures which were holdovers from the old minstrel shows where bugged out
eyes, incredibly huge lips and flaring nostrils were pretty much the standard
and actually kinder than the bone through the nose, grass skirt wearing
variation or the stooped over monkey/ape variant (that still enjoys a certain
amount of favor among some classes of the ignorant, bigots and racists today). The surge of graphic entertainment with the emergence of comic books in general
and superheroes in particular turned those stereotypes into standard fare for
readers, projecting perhaps some of the views of the creators involved as well
as reflecting society's view of race at that time.
The one major possible exception may have been in the pages
of a particular pulp that clamored for attention on the newsstands.
One of the best examples of diversity from that time in pulp
fiction was an organization called Justice, Incorporated. The group was fronted
by a swashbuckling adventurer in the form of Richard Benson, known to the
public-at-large as the Avenger. He formed a group of like minded individuals in
a war against crime which included a Negro couple, Josh and Rosabelle Newton,
who were both accomplished academics with college degrees (from Tuskegee
Institute, now University) who actually used the stereotypes of their race to
infiltrate the underworld and relay information and assistance to their chief
as the story needed them. If Benson hadn't shown up in their lives, they
probably would've continued on with their lives after their initial appearance
in "The Sky Walker", but thankfully someone in the editing department
didn't have an issue with the Newtons coming on board as a part of the team.
Justice, Incorporated was unique even among the pulp hero set, with the
possible exception of Diamondstone the Magician who had a Negro sidekick, in
giving these two not only equal status, but one that ran counter to the current
perception of race at that time. The Shadow had a guy in the ranks of his
agents, and while Doc Savage didn't have a Negro cast member, he was generally
respectful of the ones he encountered along the way. Josh and Rosabelle were
about as close as I got to an African American version of Nick and Nora Charles
in detective fiction, or Jonathan and Jennifer Hart from TV's Hart to Hart.
Which is around where I came in.
As a kid I literally went on safari every weekend in used
book stores. In downtown Oakland near 14th and Harrison there was this huge
used bookstore, which has long since gone away (to this day one of the biggest
losses from my childhood), where I had my first encounter with the like of
Conan, Doc Savage, The Shadow and The Avenger and Justice, Inc. All of these
heroes were caught in a distilled reprinted form and repackaged as paperbacks.
I would fill my weekends with these guys who were an extension of the comics I
read then and the old time radio shows that I would encounter in the near
future and had a fondness for the Avenger in particular because of the
diversity of the group and the respect they showed one another despite their
different backgrounds.
For the time that the stories were originally written, the
Avenger was pretty progressive stuff. In the context of a child growing up in
the near post Civil Rights era, it was a good thing to see heroes who looked
like me even if they were supporting characters, contributing to the solution
of the crisis and serving in a capacity that spoke of their intelligence and
their ability to take the limitations tossed upon them based on their race and
turn that to an advantage. They basically were a preview of the world to come,
in a series that was ahead of its time. So, I went in search of other
characters from that time because there had to be a "Negro Pulp
Adventurer" series where people who looked like me were actually the lead
characters and not just assistants or comedy relief, right?
Wrong.
Okay, maybe more of a "not really".
The closest thing to an African American, Negro pulp
magazine at that time was probably more like a version of Reader's Digest
called the Negro Digest. Created by John Harold Johnson, founder of the Johnson
Publishing Company (who publishes the magazines Ebony and Jet, among others),
put together a magazine with a focus on information, opinion editorials, and
artistic content relevent to the Negro community but solicited from a diverse
number of contributors regardless of race. In fact a column called "If I
Were A Negro", where prominent non Negro guest writers were invited to
offer opinions and solutions to racial issues of the day led to the magazine's
high note with a piece from then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt which doubled the
magazine's circulation overnight. But for me as a kid reading adventure fiction
it wasn't quite the same thing as locating a "Black Doc Savage". There wasn't a hero to call my own from that era of pulp adventure
outside of glorified sidekicks.
Granted, away from pulps, I came up during a time of great
fictional Black heroes. A byproduct of the militant era, mixed with a healthy
(or unhealthy) dash of Blaxploitation media, I had heroes in my day by the score,
Shaft, Luke Cage Power Man, Black Panther, Storm of the X-Men, Cyborg, Green
Lantern - John Stewart, and my personal favorite: Black Lightning. I also saw a
surge of multiethnic characters that culminated in a whole comic book universe
as the one bright shining moment in comics that I called "The Milestone
Era".
Milestone, with the late great Dwayne McDuffie leading the
charge, walked the walk on the page and behind the scenes. Their characters
were bold brilliant and multi-everything. I had Black heroes, Latino heroes,
Asian heroes and even some White heroes. It was everything I wanted to see in
fiction in graphic form, in the media content I digested, in examples to my
nephews and nieces of four color warriors who leapt tall buildings and saved
the day and were accepted for the content of their character more than anything
else.
It was also an era that came to an end pretty quickly with the usual
excuses of not having the readership or using the fact that a book where a
minority lead was the title character just wouldn't sell. Which killed
brilliant titles like Icon, Static, Hardware, Xombi, The Shadow Cabinet and the
Blood Syndicate in Milestone and books outside of Milestone like Black
Lightning or El Diablo (the series about a Latino City Councilman who wears a
mask to fight crime but also deals with racial identity, political intrigue and
illegal immigration that ran just under a year and a half) at DC or the
brilliant, but barely seen in the mainstream, independent series, Brotherman.
All of these being series that I recommend highly if you ever decide to go on
an excursion to a comics shop and dive into a quarter bin or seek online at
sites like Mile High Comics.
"Hey that's great, Ali," you say, "but what
does this have to do with this BLACK
PULP book?"
The answer is everything and nothing.
BLACK PULP is the
fulfillment of personal dreams and goals that I set out to do "as a young
designer more years than I want to remember" ago, which was to make a
positive contribution at some point to the body of work displayed by creators
that created what I playfully refer to as "content of color". In this
book are a lot of creators whose work I've admired over the years: Walter Mosley, Ron Fortier, Joe Lansdale, Gary Phillips, Charles Saunders and Derrick
Ferguson, and they are in this volume doing pieces that are not necessarily
racial in content, but they have African American leads carrying the action and
plot of these short stories. They're retroactively giving nine and ten year old
me what I had been looking for then:positive examples of people who look like me, making their
neck of their fictional worlds a better place by being who they are.
Granted this book is not going to change society at large in
any noticeable way, shape or form. We won't read BLACK PULP today and wake up tomorrow joining hands singing
"We Are The World", but I'm hoping you'll read it for the stories and
enjoy it enough that you won't opposed to a Black Pulp 2 or a volume with an
Asian focus, or a Latino focus, or a Female focus, or an LBGT focus, or a
volume where all diversity in our culture is the focus, there's such a wide
field of themes and subjects to be explored. It's my hope that this book will
take you off your beaten track and make you curious about the possibilities we have
yet to tap into, the richness of the larger diversity creative individuals can
bring to you.
In a very real way, this diverse group of writers are providing
an example of that with characters of color, yes, but they're also characters
with content, complexity with compelling stories to tell. The efforts of this group of authors, and the personal
weight of being a kid who didn't have those kind of heroes readily available to
him, fueled my own efforts in the design of the book to make sure that a person
looking for a hero in the mirror would find one.
It's my hope that reading BLACK PULP will make you hungry for heroes that look like you and
more importantly that you find the imagination and will to create those heroes
if none exist. And that in doing so, you not only give yourself something to
look up to, but by sharing that perspective, you contribute to the greater
appreciation of our greater diversity by everyone. Yeah it's a little "We Are The World"-ish, but at
least it has the virtue of being a sincere hope.
I appreciate what Tommy Hancock has brought to the table
here. I'm thrilled that Gary Phillips put the concept together and I'm
impressed that such a wonderful array of talent came together in response to it
all. And more importantly, I'm lucky to have been a part of
bringing it to you. It's on my short list of works I'm really proud of. I hope it shows in the package we've put together.
And a shout out in particular to Derrick Ferguson who was my
silent co-pilot on this one. his input during the creative process on this one was
invaluable and appreciated.
BLACK PULP is here. Be sure to check it out.
And more importantly, enjoy it.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
What Do I Think Goes Into Making Characters Interesting?
Since I started this boulder rolling downhill with talking
about how I create my characters I figured I’d keep right on going a talk for a
bit about what I think goes into making characters interesting and how I do it.
As always, feel free to steal any of this you think will help and anything you
think is bullshit, keep it to yourself. Okay? Okay. Have a seat and we’ll jaw
jack for a bit.
For me, a story begins and ends with character. If the
characters aren't interesting and if what they're doing doesn't interest me I
don't care how mind-blowing the ideas behind the story is. There are writers
who can pull off an idea driven story and I've read many of those over the
years but as a rule, those types of stories don't put the sugar in my coffee.
I'm more drawn to character driven stories.
And the characters don't have to be likable In fact, I'm
more intrigued when a writer can present me with an unlikable character and
during the course of the story I grow to sympathize with him or her. My
DIAMONDBACK novel; “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time” was partially an
exercise to see if I could write a novel length story where 99% percent of the
characters were backstabbing, unrepentant cold-blooded bastards (especially the
lead character) and still make them compelling characters you wanted to know
more about and find out what happens to them.
That's why most of the time when you start to read a story
of mine, I'll open with the character doing whatever it is he does best. Dillon is a globetrotting adventurer so I'll usually start a story with him in the
middle of an adventure. If I write a story where a murderer is the lead
character, I'll start with him murdering somebody. For me, nothing gets you
into a character faster than showing him or her doing whatever it is they do.
And I can do that because before I sit down to write I know the lead character
so well that a lot of the indecision about what they would do in a given
situation is gone. And I sincerely believe you have to know your characters
well before you sit down to write and you have to care about them one way or
another because as a writer you're the first audience for your story and if
it's not interesting and exciting to you then why should it excite or interest
a reader?
But all this felgercarb isn't getting into the meat of what
you want to hear: what I think makes a good fictional character. Okay, here we
go:
First of all, the character has to be interesting enough for
me to want to care about what happens to him and since I'm a picky son of a
bitch, you don't have a lot of time to make me care. Six pages of description
about the main character lying in bed watching the dust motes in the brilliant
yellow morning sunshine is going to make me throw the book on my desk and go
upstairs to watch "The Walking Dead” or "Arrow"
The character has to do things that are believable in the
context of the world and situation he's placed in. In my Dillon stories I have
the character do things that would be outrageous in Real Life but in the
context of the world I've created for him, which is a pulp action/adventure
world that is larger than life than ours, what he does is plausible. It also
helps if the writer can convey his story in an entertaining manner that doesn't
make me wish I was reading 'Silas Marner'.
How about raising the emotional stakes for a character?
There's a lot of ways to do it but the one I like is that I take away the
choices my main character has until there's no course left to him but one.
Take DILLON AND THE VOICE OF ODIN for example: when the
story starts, Dillon has a lot of choices and a lot of ways to go. During the
course of the story he's saddled with a young woman who's safety he becomes
responsible for, he's hunted by the bad guys and midway through the book, even
the good guys are after him. He's cut off from his friends and he's got nothing
but a howling pack of enemies chasing him hinter and yon.
Each and every one of those points named above represents a
choice Dillon has to make. Sure, he doesn't have to take care of Kris Quinlan
but he decides to. And that means he not only has to look after his own life
but hers as well. Sure, he could cut a deal with the bad guys for the opal ring
that is the book's MacGuffin but if the bad guys get it a lot of innocent
people will die. And as we see later on in the novel Dillon has seen more than
his share of innocents die. And based on that past experience he makes another
choice. One that sends him on the run across Europe. Later on he makes another
choice that has him pursued by Her Majesty's Secret Service who send their best
gunslingers after him. And so he has to run again. In fact, even though
Dillon's our hero he spends 75% of the book running from everybody until he has
no choice left but to cut a deal and go after The Big Bad of the story to save his
own ass and the world's.
But it took me 75% of the book to get Dillon to that point
where a reader would nod his head and say; "Yeah, I can see why he's got
no choice but to go after Odin." And that's because gradually I took away
every chance he had to walk away from the whole bloody business and he was left
with only one: to go after the bad guy.
That's how I like to do it, anyway. My thing with writing is
motivation: if you don't give me a good solid reason for why your characters
are doing what they're doing, you've lost me. That's why I consider 90% of
horror movies comedies because you'd have to be a brain dead idiot to do what
people in horror movies do and I try my best to stay away from brain dead idiots.
And I try not to write about brain dead idiots. Well, only on purpose, anyway.
So that's how I like to raise the emotional stake for my
characters: I like taking away the choices they have. The more choices I take
away from them, the more pressure they're under and the more conflict and
tension is generated in the story itself among the characters.
That's all I've got for now. Thanks for stopping by and
keeping me company for a bit. Come on back by soon, okay?
Friday, March 22, 2013
How I Create My Characters (For Better or For Worse)
First off, I don't think any writer sits down saying:
"Today I am going to create a memorable character." Any more than he
can sit down and say "Today I am going to write a memorable novel."
Only the kindness of readers and the passage of time can judge the memorability
of a writer's work.
When I set out to create characters I do according to
whatever type of story it is I'm writing at the time and I tend to build them
the same way whether it's my supernatural western gunslinger Sebastian Red or
my family man superspy Jackson Rush or the enigmatic urban hitman Diamondback
Vogel. I dig out my Character Profile which contains about 30 questions dealing
with that character's background, where and when he was born, his parents,
where he was schooled, what he likes to eat, his sexual preferences and a whole
bunch of other stuff that may not seem important but to me it is.
By the time I'm finished filling out The Character Profile
I've got 12 to 15 pages of solid information about the character I'm dealing
with. Information that gives me a powerful tool since I don't have to stop and
wonder how that character would act in a certain situation. How much of this
information actually finds its way into the actual body of the story? Not as
much as you might think. But that's not what's important to me. If there's no
reason in the story why you should know who Jackson Rush lost his virginity to
at age 18 then why should I tell you? But I know and in my mind it gives the
character weight. He's not just a vague shadow I'm pushing around at my whim.
By the time I've finished The Character Profile hopefully he's taken on his own
life and begun talking to me, relating events that have happened to him that
I'm just recording. That's when I know that I've created an actual character and
not just a blow up figure.
Should you do a Character Profile? I dunno. I'm a big
believer in every writer finding his own best way of working. What works for me
may not work for you. But I find it almost impossible to start writing a story
without knowing my main character inside and out. Once I know that, everything
clicks into place with little difficulty. I wrote the Dillon novels with just a
few scenes and vague ideas of how I was going to piece them together but since
I know Dillon as well (in some cases better than) as members of my own family,
I trusted him to fill in the spaces and he did in spectacular fashion. I just
relaxed and let him tell me how the story went.
You may think I'm
bullshitting you but it's true: whenever I sit down to write Dillon it seems as
if he's just dropped off notes about what he's been doing lately and I'm just
transcribing them. But maybe you don't want to or don't need to do all that.
It's up to you to find what works your machinery and gets it humming.
How about supporting characters? Do I do a Character Profile
for them? Depends. If they're major supporting characters like Dillon's partner
Eli Creed or Diamondback's rival Nickleby LaLoosh, yeah. For other characters I
do an abbreviated CP of anywhere from five to ten questions and for minor
characters I don't even bother.
And even doing all that work on that character won't guarantee
that they'll be memorable or even interesting. Take a look at Diamondback Vogel for instance. After
I spent about two solid weeks of work on all the main characters I felt
especially proud of the work I had done on him and thought he'd be well
received. Hah. Turns out that two supporting characters, Toulon and Nickleby
LaLoosh were more popular than Diamondback. And during the course of writing
the first Diamondback novel, I had to change the ending since Nickleby LaLoosh
took over and absolutely refused to nicely die at the end like he was supposed
to. You see, by then he had started talking to me about what he wanted to do and like an idiot I
listened.
But it's all good. That's part of the fun of writing and why
I don't write detailed outlines and get myself locked into solid ideas of what
has to happen in Chapter 11 and if it doesn't, I chisel it into shape. It's
much more fun when the characters start taking an active part in their own
story and arguing with me as to what they'd like to see and the story grows organically
as I discover new things about the characters and they surprise and amaze me
with what they do.
And if you’re still interested, here’s the questions I use
for my Character Profile:
Master Character Profile For:
Name:
Age:
Height:
Country/Place of Birth:
Nationality:
Weight/Build:
Color Hair/Eyes:
Educational Background:
Sexuality:
Family:
Martial Status:
Ambition In Life:
Strongest Character Trait:
Weakest Character Trait:
Bad Habits:
General Characteristics:
Mental Characteristics:
Physical Characteristics:
Philosophy:
Religion:
Politics:
Hobbies:
Special Skills:
Current Lifestyle:
Profession/Jobs:
Relationships:
What Others Notice About Him/Her First:
Paraphanalia/Equipment/Weapons:
Fighting Skills:
Strength:
Agility/Reflexes:
Stamina/Endurance:
Monday, January 28, 2013
Black Pulp
Publisher Announces BLACK
PULP Collection
Featuring Best Selling Authors
Batesville, AR – 1/26/2013 – Pro Se Productions, a publisher
of Genre Fiction, works to not only harken back to the classic fiction of Pulp
magazines and adventure tales, but also to push the boundaries of modern Genre
fiction in many directions. To that end, Pro Se Productions reveals a new
anthology to be released in early 2013, a collection featuring the work of
various authors, including bestsellers Walter Mosley and Joe R. Lansdale.
Black Pulp is a
collection of stories featuring African characters in leading roles in stories
running the genre gamut. Pulp Fiction of the early 20th Century rarely, if
ever, focused on characters of color and the handful of black characters in
these stories were typically portrayed as racial stereotypes. Black Pulp, a concept developed by
noted crime novelist Gary Phillips, brings some of today’s best authors
together with up and coming writers to craft adventure tales, mysteries, and
more, all with black characters at the forefront.
Also co-editor of Black
Pulp, Phillips observed, “While revisionism is not history, as Django Unchained signifies, nonetheless
historical matters find their way into popular fiction. This is certainly the
case with new pulp as it handles such issues as race with a modern take, even
though stories can be set in a retro context. Black Pulp then offers exciting tales of derring-do and clear-eyed
heroes and heroines of darker hues appealing to all.”
Black Pulp
features a new original essay on the nature of Pulp, both classic and modern,
by award winning author Walter Mosley. Known for his bestselling Easy Rawlins
novel series as well as books featuring Private Eye Leonid McGill, Mosley is
widely published in fiction, both literary and genre, and non-fiction. Mosley
has received several honors, including a Grammy, PEN America’s Lifetime
Achievement Award, and an O. Henry award.
Also featured in the anthology is a classic story by Joe R.
Lansdale. Lansdale is not unfamiliar to Pulp, having written such notable
characters as Tarzan as well many of his own original creations, including Hap
& Leonard. Winner of the Edgar Award, multiple Bram Stoker Awards, The
Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award and many others,
Lansdale’s story provides his own take on Black Pulp.
Other contributing writers include Chester Himes Award
winner Phillips, two time Shamus Award winner Gar Anthony Heywood, noted author
Kimberly Richardson who currently has two works enlisted for Pulitzer Prize
nomination, Dixon Medal winner Christopher Chambers, critically acclaimed
novelist Mel Odom, hip-hop chronicler Michael Gonzales, Pulp Factory and Pulp
Ark Award winner Ron Fortier, Pulp Factory Award winner Charles Saunders, Pulp
Ark Award winners Derrick Ferguson and Tommy Hancock(also Publisher co-editor
of Black Pulp), and noted writers
Michael Gonzales and Alan D. Lewis.
Black Pulp is slated for print and digital release in early
2013 and features an original cover by Adam Shaw. For more information
concerning Black Pulp and Pro Se Productions, contact proseproductions@earthlink.net.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Kickin' The Willy Bobo With: NANCY HANSEN
Derrick Ferguson: Who
is Nancy Hansen?
Nancy Hansen: That’s a tough question to answer simply
because I’m a lot of different things all rolled into one messy package. I’m a
wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. I live on an old farm out in the
country. I’m a writer, editor, avid reader, gardener, crafter, amateur
naturalist. I like to haunt flea markets, thrift shops, and yard sales looking
for more things to clutter my house. I have a lifelong fascination with
pre-industrial culture, mythology, and the occult. I love dogs and cats, kids,
and all kinds of interesting little critters with fur, feathers, and scales. I
can hold a tune and bang on a 12 string guitar. I cook, and my cookie baking is
legendary around these parts. I have waaaay too much yarn and not enough time
to crochet things from it. About the only thing I don’t do anymore is have is
an actual day job.
DF: Where do you live
and what do you tell the government you do for a living?
NH: I currently reside in beautiful, rural Eastern
Conneticut, in one of the last agricultural and open woodland areas in this
part of the state. I’ve been fortunate not to have to work outside the home for
many years. I was a stay-at-home mom for my boys growing up, and my mother
lived with us, so I had enough time and helping hands to pursue interests and
hobbies that might turn into a later life career. Writing was one of those.
Right now, the IRS knows I am a writer, because I actually got to claim
royalties on one tax return.
DF: How long have you
been writing?
NH: There are two answers to that question.
#1) All my life; because I’ve always had a love affair with
the written word, and I’m a natural born story teller. I was that kid in school
who didn’t mind book reports, essay questions, and term papers because I knew
I’d find something interesting to say. I read a lot, and after a while you
develop a style of writing you prefer, so I guess the progression to writer was
a natural thing. I’ve kept journals and written 8 page letters to people.
#2) I started writing with the intention of getting published
sometime in the late 80s, when my boys were elementary school age. I had tried
music, marketing my artwork (I dabble) and a craft supply business before I
settled on writing as the best fit with my lifestyle and temperament. I’m very
much a creative maniac ‘behind the scenes’ sort of person, so sequestering
myself away somewhere that I could let my weird imagination roam freely was
very appealing. It also fit my home life the best, because while I was learning
the trade, I could still be there for the family. Writing has no set hours, you
can work any time of the day or night, and I did, burning that candle on both
ends. I’ve had my mind fixed solidly on fantasy fiction since the mid-90s and
switched my style from mainstream to pulp back in 2010, when Pro Se came along.
DF: What’s the best
advice you can give a woman wanting to write Pulp?
NH: Actually, I don’t think there’s any gender difference
when it comes to the actual writing, because it’s pretty open and welcoming
field right now within all the indie publishing companies. So this applies to
anyone who wants to write pulp. First off, don’t be the least bit intimidated
by what you perceive pulp to be, because it’s a lot less mysterious than you’d
think. It’s a particular technique of writing action adventure/heroic fiction
with a fast pace that has permeated all pop culture media. It can be learned,
and whatever you want to write can be adapted to it. Read some pulp—both
classic and modern—to become acquainted with how it works. Sit in on some discussions
or panels, and simply ask a few questions. Don’t be shy, because most people in
this indie part of the industry are very generous with their time and
expertise, and we are often available on social networking sites. You can learn
a lot just by lurking, because we all love to talk about what we do and why.
DF: What’s the best
thing about writing Fantasy?
NH: Fantasy has always appealed to me as a reader, because
it so successfully takes me out of this world, into one where I can relive my
childhood imagination vacations. I started writing it, because I hungered for
more of the kind of stories I loved, and decided I would just have to create
them myself. I am somewhat of an idea mill, and my mind likes to run away
somewhere and play hooky for a while, so having a legitimate reason to be
woolgathering makes me seem a lot less eccentric. My kids always patiently
explained to their friends that mom is a writer, like its some kind of
paranormal status, and I suppose it is. My family has always been very supportive.
These days, if I’m walking around in tee shirts with dragons and wizards on
them, mumbling to myself about swords and casting spells, nobody in my
household thinks twice about it.
DF: Tell us about Pro
Se Press and what you do there.
NH: I started out with Pro Se back in April 2010 as a staff
writer. My dear friend Lee Houston Jr. got his foot in the door by the
recommendation of another writing pal, and I begged him to share my name with
Tommy Hancock, who’s always been the Pro Se front man. I sent Tommy two
audition pieces (Masquerra and The Storm Lord & The Song of Heroes: Lori’s
Lament) and not only did he like them, but he published them both and asked if
I had more. That opened the floodgates on my files as well as new ideas, and
started a year long barrage of stories old and new. As I went along, I learned
to adapt what I had been doing to the pulp style, and never looked back.
Currently, I am still a regular contributor to Pro Se
Presents, as well as have my own imprint, HANSEN’S WAY, which carries the bulk
of my Terran World fantasy stories. I’ve written for the Pulp Obscura
collaboration anthologies with Altus Press, and I’ve been tapped for other
in-house anthologies as well. I write far more than sword & sorcery fantasy
these days; I’ve dipped my toes in a lot of other pulpy sub-genres.
I started editing for Pro Se when we had the larger format
magazines, where I handled Peculiar Adventures. I got a battlefield promotion
of sorts after we started printing novels and the manuscripts began pouring in
faster than Tommy could dedicate his normal 40-hour days to them. I am now
Assistant Editor, which sounds very impressive but really means I fill in
wherever I can, mostly editing book manuscripts. Other than that, I’m sort of
an unofficial ambassador and sounding board, because I like chatting with
people about what Pro Se is and what we do.
DF: Why do you have
your own imprint there?
NH: They asked me nicely, and I said sure. LOL! Seriously, I
had so much material written in this one particular fantasy world I
created—five separate series with dedicated characters and settings so far—it
just made more sense to move it out of the mainstream submissions and into a
sideline. It also helps to have those short stories out of the magazines, leaving
more room for other submissions, as well as for me to experiment with different
genres.
DF: What’s your
theory on writing Fantasy and how did you modify and/or adapt your style of
writing Fantasy to Pulp?
NH:Fantasy runs the gamut, because the only unifying factor
is a world based on some sort of mythological, magical, or occult concept
rather than hard science and technology, or a recognizable modern or historical
backdrop. It also adapts well to crossing-over with other genres like horror,
westerns, mystery, science fiction, etc. So it’s really a wide-open field,
which I enjoy immensely, as I have plenty of space to play with ideas.
As far as writing pulp fantasy, what I had to learn right
off is that it’s absolutely vital to ramp up the pacing. I came into this as a
mainstream-targeted writer, so my novels were ponderous and slow moving, and my
short stories were not as action-packed as they needed to be. I can’t stress
the pacing enough; the breathless action and endless adventure is what makes
pulp… well, pulpy. I didn’t have a strong background in pulp like most of my
peers, so this was kind of a ‘learn as you go’ experience for me. Once I
understood how it works—and a lot of that came from the editing I was doing at
the time—I found out it’s not as daunting as I thought.
Over the last couple years I’ve learned to adapt my
perception of what diehard sword & sorcery fantasy readers expect to what
pulp fans crave, with reasonable success. It requires straddling a line between
telling an energetic tale with plenty of things going on, and still retaining
the tried and true hero’s quest in a big world backdrop with lush details. Yes,
it can be done, though it takes a lot of forethought, and every word has to
count. I’ve fallen so in love with the smaller size and higher action and
adventure aspects of the pulp stories, I don’t think I’d want to go back to
writing the big doorstop books.
DF:Do you enjoy
editing?
NH:I’ll answer that with a qualified yes. I do enjoy editing
more when I am working on someone else’s manuscript, because I get to read a
lot of kewl stuff! I’ve always liked working with new writers, so I’ll often
get things that need some extra TLC, because I have the time and patience to
work closely with an author to get the very best out of their brainchild. It’s
been a very positive experience for me, and nothing makes me smile more than
helping someone previously unpublished get their first book in print. It’s like
seeing Christmas morning through your kid’s eyes, and remembering how that
felt…
I like editing my own stuff a lot less, but it’s one of
those dirty little jobs of writing you absolutely must do. I tell other authors
I get edited too, and not just by me. Nobody is perfect, and I absolutely
require a second set of eyes that makes sure my prose is readable. It’s easier
for me to see problems with someone else’s manuscript than in my own, because
I’ve read it over so many times, my brain tends to skip the problem areas.
That said, editing is a lot of work, so I prefer to
intersperse it with actual writing whenever that’s feasible. I get burned out
after a long manuscript edit, and long to start tapping those keys and making
stories again.
DF:What can we expect
from Nancy Hansen in 2013?
NH:More of the same, and more new stuff too. My sequel to
FORTUNE’S PAWN, titled PROPHECY’S GAMBIT; is due out very soon from Pro Se
Press.
I have a brand new anthology collection for the imprint written and in editing
right now, and another novel in progress with a second on the back burner—that
second novel will be the third in the series started by FORTUNE’S PAWN. I’ve
already contributed a short story to Pro Se’s TALL PULP anthology, featuring a
local Connecticut legend; not sure if that will be out this year or not. I
still have those two previous Pulp Obscura tales awaiting publication and
expect to be involved with at least a couple others this year.
I think you’ll
see my name popping up in a couple other popular Pro Se titles. As far as Pro
Se Presents, I’ve committed to continuing my Silver Pentacle, Song of Heroes,
and The Keener Eye series, and along with stories already submitted and
accepted that have yet to see print, I promised to write at least one more new
tale for each of those ongoing titles. Now and then a standalone story will
suggest itself, so I won’t rule that out either. I have a pirate yarn I’ve been
mulling over that looks to be at least a novella in length. I also have
something interesting coming up for the younger pulp fans that I can’t discuss
right now, so stay tuned; because this is something both Pro Se and I are very
excited about, and over time, it involves the collaborative efforts of two
other long time writing pals.
I expect I’ll be doing more editing for Pro Se as well.
You’re going to see my name on titles by other
publishers as well. I’ve already done one story for the inaugural volume of
Airship 27’s SINBAD, THE NEW VOYAGES, and I’d love to do another. Once I have
the time, that and perhaps another AS27 anthology might be getting a submission
from me.
I’m anxiously awaiting the publication of Mechanoid Press’ first
MONSTER EARTH anthology, in which I have a story as well. Definitely would love
to do another of those!
Other than that, I am open to any and all suggestions. I’m
finally at the point where I’ve had to turn down some work because of lack of
time. It’s a good place to be.
DF:What’s a typical
Day In The Life of Nancy Hansen like?
NH: My days vary quite a bit depending on who is home and
what’s on the agenda here, where we are renovating and most of the work is
being done by family in our ‘spare’ time. Right now, my so-called office is in
one end of the open dining room, right off the kitchen and in heart of the
home, so I am front and center for everything that goes on. It gets chaotic.
Most days I get up in the AM, schlep around online during breakfast and feeding
the dog, making my email and social network rounds, Sometime around midmorning
to noon, I get down to the heavy duty work of writing or editing. While I am at
work, I try and stay offline except for research and Dictionary.com, or maybe a
quick weather check. I don’t game or get tied up in anything non-writing
related, though now and then I might go off on a research tangent. That said,
the phone rings, people stop by, I have to handle household chores or take the
dog out.
Lunch is almost always at the desk, because I don’t want to lose my
working mojo. I pick an ending time for the day depending on how things have
been going and whether my eyes are too tired to continue (I have poor
eyesight), who’s cooking, and whether I have anything else to do before
bedtime. The evening hours are for going back to email and updating my online
status, and maybe a bit of online TV, since we don’t have cable TV set up here
yet. I have a lot of late nights when I’m busy catching up on some research or
writing, maybe chatting online with other writers or fans. This is an all older
adult household, so there’s no longer the regular chaos of kids running around
making a racket, other than on holidays and special occasions.
So it’s me and the keyboard a good part of the day at least
5 times a week, and often all 7 days if we’re having a quieter weekend.
Depending on the time of year, I might spend time out in the garden, or working
on holiday projects, cooking, or at some other project. I am never one to sit
idle and do nothing, I always have some project in my hands, even when I’m
watching a movie. Now and then, I take time off for appointments, to go
shopping, run errands and so on, but I try and cluster as much of that into one
day as I can manage. Not being able to drive because of my eyesight, I have to
depend on a ride, so I make the most of every outing.
On the noisiest construction days, when people are in and
out and I might have to move around a lot, or on days when my elderly and
chatty mom comes for a visit, unless I have a pressing deadline, I will set
writing or editing aside and focus on housework or chores. I’ve learned to be
flexible, because working from home means you are bound to get interrupted. The
time gets made up somewhere else. I meet most of my deadlines regardless.
Derrick Ferguson:
Anything else we should know about Nancy Hansen?
Nancy Hansen: Hmmm, tough question to answer. Let’s see…
I currently write a column for the New Pulp site called So...Why Pulp? where I open my brain
and let things fall onto the page every other week. I have a passion for very
dark but not very sweet chocolate, tuna salad, good coffee, fresh baked bread,
and pecans. I collect fantasy figurines and odds and ends of swords, bows,
knives and other medieval-type weaponry.
I’m dying to go to the UK and other
European countries and tour castles, barrow graves, standing stones, and other
sites that catch my fancy. I have an awful lot of houseplants and try very hard
to remember to water them regularly. I’m bossy with an explosive temper, but it
blows over quickly and I always try to remain tactful. I love a good laugh,
even at my own expense. I tend to get obsessive about whatever my current
interest of the moment is. And I do all this without the benefit of caffeine,
which my system can no longer tolerate.
I will definitely be at Pulp Ark 2013, so if you want to
come meet me, come looking for
me at the Pro Se table. I hear we’re going to be very busy, but I’m the short
& round woman with the long walnut brown hair going silver, the weird
fantasy tee shirts, and green eyes behind thick glasses. I love meeting new
people!
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