2016 has seen a slight uptick in productivity after an unwanted writing/publishing hiatus in 2014–15, due to my move from Colorado to Louisiana and starting a new job. For some reason this was a year which saw several previously published stories reprinted (six tales, in fact). I can't take credit for that from a productivity perspective, but I'm certainly not complaining.
"Being an Account of the Delay in Green River, Wyoming of Phileas Fogg, World Traveler, " Meteor House Chapbook No. 1 (Meteor House, July 2016)
"Chance of a Ghost" (reprint from Legends of New Pulp Fiction)
"Dame Sinestre" (team-up with the Domino Lady)
In addition to the Star Wars nonfiction piece, I also wrote introductions to The Green Ghost: Declassified and to Sean Lee Levin's Crossovers Expanded, Volume 1 (Meteor House).
I received my contributor's copy of Black Coat Press' DOC ARDAN: THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN last week. This volume contains several French pulp tales by Guy d'Armen (translated and "retold" in English by editors Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier), as well as newer stories by writers such as Jason Scott Aiken, Rick Lai, and John Peel.
The stories by latter-day writers utilize Ardan as a pastiche stand-in for Doc Savage.
Those who are sharp-eyed or versed in popular fiction will pick up references from Jules Verne, Sax Rohmer, Ian Fleming, H. Rider Haggard, Walter Gibson, J.-H. Rosny Aine, Philip José Farmer, Pierre Benoit, Albert Camus, Harry Kumel, Leo Malat, Dave Stevens, Vladimir Volkoff, H. P. Lovecraft, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, among others.
The latter three tales listed above were among my first published stories. They were not rewritten for this volume. Be kind. :-)
After the push to get through FarmerCon VII / PulpFest 2012 intact (the Convention was great; lots of pics and comments on my Facebook timeline), I'm feeling the need to take stock of the year and look forward to the remainder of the year and beyond...
2012 Published
Fiction
"The Adventure of the Fallen Stone" in Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook by Howard Hopkins (ed.) (Moonstone Books, March 2012)
"Progress" in The Green Hornet: Still at Large by Joe Gentile, Win Scott Eckert, and Matthew Baugh (eds.) (Moonstone Books, August 2012)
"The Wild Huntsman" in The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3: Portraits of a Trickster by Michael Croteau (ed.) (Meteor House, August 2012) (illo to the left by Jay Piscopo)
Nonfiction
Afterword: "Only a Coincidence: Phileas Fogg, Philip José Farmer, and the Wold Newton Family" in The Other Log of Phileas Fogg by Philip José Farmer (Titan Books, May 2012)
"A Chronology of Major
Events Pertinent to The Other Log of
Phileas Fogg" in The Other Log of Phileas Fogg by Philip José Farmer (Titan Books, May 2012)
"Gribardsun through the Ages: A Chronology of Major Events Pertinent to Time’s Last Gift" (with Dennis E. Power) in Time's Last Gift by Philip José Farmer (Titan Books, June 2012)
2012 Completed/Editorially Approved/Not Yet Published
Fiction
"According to Plan of a One-Eyed Trickster" in The Avenger: Tales from the Roaring Crucible by Joe Gentile and Nancy Holder (eds.) (Moonstone Books, FORTHCOMING)
"Zombies under Broadway" (with Eric Fein) (Moonstone Books, FORTHCOMING)
Nonfiction
"A Tale of Two Universes" in Lord of the Treesby Philip José Farmer (Titan Books, November 2012)
A Girl and Her Cat, Honey West/T.H.E. Cat novella for Moonstone Books
"untitled" for Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers CasebookVolume III for Moonstone Books (sequel to "The Adventure of the Fallen Stone")
an important novel in a well-nine well-known series; working hard to complete the three items above in 2012 in order to focus all energies on the novel come 2013
a Patricia Wildman novella, sequel to The Evil in Pemberley House
Nonfiction
"A Chronology of Major Events Pertinent to the Secrets of the Nine Series" in The Mad Goblin by Philip José Farmer (Titan Books, June 2013)
I also have hopes that Moonstone's The Green Hornet: Still at Large, which I'm co-editing with Joe Gentile and Matthew Baugh, will be out by then, although that's not confirmed yet. If it's available, of course I'll have copies with me.
Hope to see you there!
P.S. Stay tuned to this space; I hope to have an announcement about the new edition of The Other Log of Phileas Fogg soon!
This seventh volume of the only international anthology devoted to paying homage to the world's most fantastic heroes from popular literature spotlights the females of the species: beautiful, deadly, tragic, accursed, enticing… all gathered here for an amazing collection of new adventures...
Tremble as Christine Daae meets Herbert West the Reanimator and Dr. Loveless Nurse Ratched! Experience thrills as Milady tries to outwit Captain Blood and Lady Blakeney the Black Coats! Watch in awe as Becky Sharp foils the designs of Sâr Dubnotal and Amelia Peabody those of mad King Tut! Wonder as the Bride of Frankenstein challenges the power of Dr. Omega and the vampire countess Marcian Gregoryi that of Victor Frankenstein and the Illuminati! Also starring Carmilla! Catherine Levendeur! Rosa Klebb! Fah Lo Suee! And the Eyes Without A Face!
With a foreword by Xavier Mauméjean and a portfolio by Matt Haley.
Writer/translator Brian Stableford, editor/translators Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, and Black Coat Press have won a Special Award for their outstanding work in bringing French science fiction to the English-speaking public.
The award is part of the coveted Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, the oldest and most prestigious genre award in France. Created in 1974, the “GPI” is given yearly by a jury of twelve professionals.
This award recognizes the unprecedented effort made by Black Coat Press, established in 2003 by the Lofficiers, to publish classic French science fiction in the United States. Competing for this special award were two other nominees, French anthologists Richard Comballot and Jean-François Thomas.
Heading the Black Coat Press releases for 2010 are Stableford’s translations of a five-volume series of works by Maurice Renard and a seven-volume series of works by J.-H. Rosny Aîné, the two most important writers of Golden Age French SF after Jules Verne.
Amongst the other winners of the GPI this year are Jack O’Connell, Greg Egan, Ted Chiang, John Connoly and Warren Ellis.
First, the much anticipated Volume 1 of Win Scott Eckert's CROSSOVERS, 460 pages, over 200 illustrations -- a massive encyclopedia of "crossover fiction", i.e.: works bringing together various characters from popular literature, film, comics, etc. that starts at the Dawn of Time and ends on the eve of WWII. Reading this is like a stroll through a wonderful library of the imagination with Win as the erudite but also funny guide giving you a tour of the pulp universe. We are very proud of having published this tome, which perfectly embodies Black Coat Press' raison d'être. There is a lovely and substantial intro by Kim Newman, and the crossover cover is by the wonderful Mark Maddox.
Next is the fourth (out of 5) volume in the series of translations of Maurice Rensard, the French HG Wells, entitled THE DOCTORED MAN, which is a collection of ground-breaking (and very Wellsian) stories ranging to 1913 to his very last works in 1939. The title novella, The Doctored Man (from 1921), is truly remarkable: a soldier who lost his eyes because of a gas attack in the trenches of WWI is kidnapped by mysterious people -- Russians? Atlanteans? Aliens? the mystery remains -- who graft a pair of bionic eyes which enable him to see in extra-dimensional space and perceive invisible entities who share the same space as we do. He manages to escape and return to France, but the mysterious folks who gave him powers are after him... Am extraordinary piece of work.
Finally, we have the third (out of 7) volume in the series of translations of J.-H. Rosny Aîné. This one, entitled THE MYSTERIOUS FORCE includes the title novella (1913) in which Earth is invaded by a mysterious aliens who are made of light, and indeed change the properties of light on our planet. It is not unlike Doyle's Poison Belt (which came later) meets The Xipehuz. The other major piece in the book is HARETON IRONCASTLE'S AMAZING ADVENTURE (1922) in which a brave American explorer travels to darkest Africa to investigate the spread of a mysterious, intelligent (alien?) vegetal life form. This is the original version of the story which PJ Farmer loosely adapted and retold in the 1970s."
I'm pleased to announce that Black Coat Press has set the release date for Crossovers 1: A Secret Chronology of the World; the book will come out with a May publication date--although it may actually reach some early birds a few days before the first of May.
Crossovers 1 covers the Dawn of Time to 1939, and features an introduction by Kim Newman and an addendum covering television crossovers.
Crossovers 2, scheduled for July release, covers 1940 to The Future, and will have an introduction by Jess Nevins and two addenda: one on alternate universe stories, and one covering Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series.
I'll post again as soon as Crossovers 1 is available for order on both the Black Coat Press site and Amazon.
Once again, artist extraordinaire Mark Maddox has knocked it out of the park with his cover for Crossovers 2: A Secret Chronology of the World.I'm really pleased to have Mark on this project, and appreciate him taking it on. Click on the pic for the large version...
And as long as we're talking Crossovers.... I mentioned in a post a few nights ago the release date for Crossovers 1 was July. I now think that will be pulled in to June, or perhaps even May, depending on how fast I can get my corrections on the final proof back to Jean-Marc Lofficier at Black Coat Press.
In the meantime the book's specs have been updated:US$ 30.95/GBP 22.99 6x9 tpb, 460 pages ISBN-13: 978-1-935558-10-1
Yes, pricey, but this is essentially an encyclopedia, and if you're a crossover nut, it'll be worth it, I promise. :-)
So stay tuned to this space for more info on the release date!
"Writer/translator Brian Stableford, editor/translators Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, and Black Coat Press were nominated this month for a Special Award for their outstanding work in bringing French science fiction to the English-speaking public.
The award is part of the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, the oldest and most prestigious genre award in France . Created in 1974, the "GPI" is given yearly by a jury of twelve professionals
This nomination recognizes the unprecedented effort made by Black Coat Press, established in 2003 by the Lofficiers, to publish classic French science fiction in the United States . Heading the releases for 2010 are Stableford's translations of a five-volume series of works by Maurice Renard and a seven-volume series of works by J.-H. Rosny Aîné, the two most important writers of Golden Age French SF after Jules Verne.
Amongst the other nominees this year are Greg Egan, China Mieville and Brandon Sanderson. The official site of the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire is here | Google translation to English."
I'm very proud of my association with Black Coat Press, which includes participation in the annual anthology Tales of the the Shadowmen and publication of my two-volume Crossovers, forthcoming this year, and wish the Lofficiers and Mr. Stableford the best of luck with this year's award!
This month, Black Coat Press is launching an extensive program of translations of both classic and contemporary works of French science fiction and fantasy, spearheaded by award-winning writer and translator Brian Stableford, under the editorship of Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier.
At the top of the list of titles to be released in 2010 are a five-volume series of works by Maurice Renard and a six-volume series of works by J.-H. Rosny Aîné, best known to English-speaking audiences for The Hands of Orlac and Quest for Fire, respectively. More classic works by André Couvreur, Henri Falk, Jules Lermina, Gustave Le Rouge, José Moselli, Han Ryner, and Jacques Spitz are currently in the planning stage.
Contemporary authors to be translated include Kurt Steiner (a.k.a. André Ruellan), G.-J. Arnaud, Richard Bessière, André Caroff and P.-J. Hérault. New editions of previously translated works by Gérard Klein and Michel Jeury are also planned.
In total, over two dozen new translations will be released during 2010, an unprecedented effort in the history of genre publishing.
Among the proto- and golden age French science fiction classics already released by Black Coat Press are such significant works as Félix Bodin’s The Novel of the Future (1834), Didier de Chousy’s Ignis (1883), C.I. Defontenay’s Star-Psi Cassiopeia (1854), Charles Derennes’ The People of the Pole (1907), Arthur Galopin’s Doctor Omega (1906), Octave Joncquel & Théo Varlet’s The Martian Epic (1921), Jean de La Hire’s Nyctalope novels (1911-21), Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny’s The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist across the Solar System (1888-96), Gustave Le Rouge’s The Vampires of Mars (1908), Jules Lermina’s Panic in Paris (1910), Henri de Parville’s An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars (1865), Gaston de Pawlowski’s Journey to the Land of the 4th Dimension (1912), Albert Robida’s The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul (1879) and The Clock of the Centuries (1902), as well as two collections of Villiers de l’Isle-Adam stories, two collections of the pulp hero adventures of Sâr Dubnotal and Harry Dickson, and two anthologies of ground-breaking proto-SF stories by Brian Stableford.
Contemporary works include two collections by Jean-Claude Dunyach, The Night Orchid and The Thieves of Silence, a collection of stories by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Pacifica, Xavier Mauméjean’s award-winning novel The League of Heroes, and Philippe Ward’s contemporary horror thriller, Artahe.
Since its inception in the summer of 2003, Black Coat Press has been the foremost publisher of French science fiction and crime thrillers in the English-language.
A division of Hollywood Comics.com, LLC, Black Coat Press, named after Paul Féval’s seminal 19th century crime thriller saga The Black Coats, which it publishes, is a Encino, CA-based small press publisher whose products are listed on the Bowker’s Books in Print â index and Publishers Authority Database. Its books are produced by Lightning Source, a subsidiary of Ingram Industries, Inc.
Edited by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, this latest entry in the Tales of the Shadowmen anthology series from Black Coat Press "is dedicated to simpler horrors and theatrical villainy. Tremble as you face the terror of Fantômas, the villainy of Madame Atomos, the sorcery of Leonox, the unspeakable King in Yellow and the insanity of Alphaville! Fortunately for us, and for the world, there are always stalwart heroes rising up to stem the tides of darkness and restore peace and order to the world. Chevalier Dupin! Harry Dickson! Mowgli! Arsène Lupin! The Scarlet Pimpernel! Raffles and many more are there, to confront crazy sorcerers and ravening zombies, mad scientists and giant rats, evil computers and Hindu death cults, Martians and monsters!"
Contents:
Christopher Paul Carey: Caesar's Children starring The Ponto Family.
Brian Stableford: Where Zombies Armies Clash by Night (Part IV of The Empire of the Necromancers) starring Ned Knob, Germain Patou.
For you Wold Newton fans out there, my tale pitting the Scarlet Pimpernel against Leonox takes place in November 1795--just one short month before a meteor with strange properties landed near the village of Wold Newton, England.
2016 has seen a slight uptick in productivity after an unwanted writing/publishing hiatus in 2014–15, due to my move from Colorado to Louisiana and starting a new job. For some reason this was a year which saw several previously published stories reprinted (six tales, in fact). I can't take credit for that from a productivity perspective, but I'm certainly not complaining.
Doc Ardan: The Abominable Snowman by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier (eds.) (Black Coat Press, November 2015)
Here's to an even more productive 2017.
