Tonight my co-author, Rick Spence, and I discuss publicly for the first time our new book, Empire of the Wheel: Espionage, The Occult and Murder in Southern California...
A revelation about The Zodiac Killer will be announced tonight, as well, on the Radio Misterioso program at killradio.org... 8-10PM PST...
Empire of the Wheel
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Adventure Musings
So as I move SOTAQ closer to production, and have finished my three-year non-fiction project about the same time I finished the accompanying novel inspired and written during that time, and I've attended my last and eighth Comic Con as a mere professional attendee, my mind is meandering toward the next adventure novel. It's time, I think. Julius Corbin is calling for another expedition...
It looks like I may start traveling for pay again. That'll really put the adventure focus into high gear. I've been spending time in the travel section of the bookstores, considering which maps I'm going to need. My eye was on a really good South America map, as well as a nice waterproof map of India.
I've also been in REI and Bass Outdoor World, making a serious assessment of particular accessories and specialty items. It sincerely enthuses me just thinking about travel again. I wrote both Corbin novels entirely out of the US, so if I start consulting again, you can look for that third Corbin book by Christmas.
However...it does take place mostly in North America and the Arctic...I've decided I want a little getaway to Big Bear Lake in August, so I may just pick up where I left off in Saudi Arabia a few years back, with Chapter Two of Black Apples...
Barnes & Noble has a 30% discount on a copy of one of my favorite films of that prolific year in cinema, 1939: Only Angels Have Wings.
This one has Cary Grant as a postal pilot in the Andes. I've mentioned it here before, I believe. I place this film in that category of light adventure dramas, a favorite of mine which classic Hollywood did so well. Great trappings and atmosphere, the right attitude, and the right kind of broad for when there's gotta be a dame in the story (No friggin' Willie from Temple of Doom - Ugh, she ruined that picture!)...
Recently I watched March Or Die,
a mid-70s attempt at an homage to a Marlene Dietrich/Gary Cooper film titled Morocco (1930). It may have had a little touch of Lost Patrol, but all the Foreign Legion flicks do.
Anyway, after hearing so much bad about this film, I had to see it because I'm a Gene Hackman fan. I decided that March Or Die is not such a bad film. Again, adventure drama, trappings and atmosphere, and a broad, but I liked it enough. Not everything adventure needs to be wall-to-wall bullwhips and bullets...
Still waiting for the latest on the Lost City of Z movie. I'll have to do some browsing. I did see some months back that David Fincher was still doing 20K Leagues, maybe in 3D. Not sure what the latest is on that...
If you haven't seen the 40's serial of The Phantom, I recommend it.
Not as cheesy bad as many. And I'm finally working my way through my Terry and the Pirates serial set, and it's not drudgery. I'm liking it a lot, actually. Remember back in 1980 when someone was seriously considering T&theP? It was in a movie mag that summer with a really cool tableau painting and logo. I did an article on T&theP including this possible movie in my LCL Mag. I was thinking while watching the serial how cool it would still be if they did a movie trilogy. Since Lucas has given Indy the slow death, we've all been cheated out of great high adventure so he could give us the slow death with the ruination of Star Wars. T&theP would be a great idea right now, especially since Tintin looks pretty cool...
When are we gonna see the first great steampunk movie of this century? What would it be? Any ideas?
Not sure what I'll watch tonight before hitting the hay, but it'll be an adventure film...
It looks like I may start traveling for pay again. That'll really put the adventure focus into high gear. I've been spending time in the travel section of the bookstores, considering which maps I'm going to need. My eye was on a really good South America map, as well as a nice waterproof map of India.
I've also been in REI and Bass Outdoor World, making a serious assessment of particular accessories and specialty items. It sincerely enthuses me just thinking about travel again. I wrote both Corbin novels entirely out of the US, so if I start consulting again, you can look for that third Corbin book by Christmas.
However...it does take place mostly in North America and the Arctic...I've decided I want a little getaway to Big Bear Lake in August, so I may just pick up where I left off in Saudi Arabia a few years back, with Chapter Two of Black Apples...
Barnes & Noble has a 30% discount on a copy of one of my favorite films of that prolific year in cinema, 1939: Only Angels Have Wings.
This one has Cary Grant as a postal pilot in the Andes. I've mentioned it here before, I believe. I place this film in that category of light adventure dramas, a favorite of mine which classic Hollywood did so well. Great trappings and atmosphere, the right attitude, and the right kind of broad for when there's gotta be a dame in the story (No friggin' Willie from Temple of Doom - Ugh, she ruined that picture!)...
Recently I watched March Or Die,
a mid-70s attempt at an homage to a Marlene Dietrich/Gary Cooper film titled Morocco (1930). It may have had a little touch of Lost Patrol, but all the Foreign Legion flicks do.
Anyway, after hearing so much bad about this film, I had to see it because I'm a Gene Hackman fan. I decided that March Or Die is not such a bad film. Again, adventure drama, trappings and atmosphere, and a broad, but I liked it enough. Not everything adventure needs to be wall-to-wall bullwhips and bullets...
Still waiting for the latest on the Lost City of Z movie. I'll have to do some browsing. I did see some months back that David Fincher was still doing 20K Leagues, maybe in 3D. Not sure what the latest is on that...
If you haven't seen the 40's serial of The Phantom, I recommend it.
Not as cheesy bad as many. And I'm finally working my way through my Terry and the Pirates serial set, and it's not drudgery. I'm liking it a lot, actually. Remember back in 1980 when someone was seriously considering T&theP? It was in a movie mag that summer with a really cool tableau painting and logo. I did an article on T&theP including this possible movie in my LCL Mag. I was thinking while watching the serial how cool it would still be if they did a movie trilogy. Since Lucas has given Indy the slow death, we've all been cheated out of great high adventure so he could give us the slow death with the ruination of Star Wars. T&theP would be a great idea right now, especially since Tintin looks pretty cool...
When are we gonna see the first great steampunk movie of this century? What would it be? Any ideas?
Not sure what I'll watch tonight before hitting the hay, but it'll be an adventure film...
Friday, July 29, 2011
'Secret of the Amazon Queen' Update
I will be meeting with my storyboard artist within a few days to get started on the visual creation of the script. Yanis Zambeis is a young artist I have known for a few years and one of the most gracious human beings I've ever met. He's a good cook, too!
Yanis and I will have some storyboard imagery to post here for your enjoyment. I know I'm excited to be moving to this stage. I have also been talking with a photographer, who recently worked with some talent I manage, about a promotional shoot with one of the stars of the movie, so look for future news about when those images will be incorporated into SOTAQ marketing.
My casting director and I are still considering various actors for the lead roles of Julius Corbin, Califia and Claude Toussaint. I'm pretty clear on my vision for the queen, so there are very few on that list: My first choice, a more well known second choice, or an unknown whose got what it takes. I'll name her when I cast her. My first choice for Claude has always been Tim Curry, but we'll have to see about that. There have been some other very interesting names discussed for that role. The longer list has been who we've considered for Julius Corbin. He has an age range that's flexible. In the book, Julius is 39, but for the film he could be ten years older, or five years younger. However, I'm adamant that he be no younger than 35 (much to my casting director's LA/Hollywood frustration, LOL NYAH HA HA!!)
I will be kicking off the official promotional campaign at the SOTAQ website as well, and I'll post that link when it's ready...
For now, if you've never read the book, it's in the links to the right in a double volume including the second book, Tropic of Despair
...
Yanis and I will have some storyboard imagery to post here for your enjoyment. I know I'm excited to be moving to this stage. I have also been talking with a photographer, who recently worked with some talent I manage, about a promotional shoot with one of the stars of the movie, so look for future news about when those images will be incorporated into SOTAQ marketing.
My casting director and I are still considering various actors for the lead roles of Julius Corbin, Califia and Claude Toussaint. I'm pretty clear on my vision for the queen, so there are very few on that list: My first choice, a more well known second choice, or an unknown whose got what it takes. I'll name her when I cast her. My first choice for Claude has always been Tim Curry, but we'll have to see about that. There have been some other very interesting names discussed for that role. The longer list has been who we've considered for Julius Corbin. He has an age range that's flexible. In the book, Julius is 39, but for the film he could be ten years older, or five years younger. However, I'm adamant that he be no younger than 35 (much to my casting director's LA/Hollywood frustration, LOL NYAH HA HA!!)
I will be kicking off the official promotional campaign at the SOTAQ website as well, and I'll post that link when it's ready...
For now, if you've never read the book, it's in the links to the right in a double volume including the second book, Tropic of Despair
...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
'Empire of the Wheel' Authors On Radio Misterioso This Sunday, July 31
Rick and I will be interviewed by Greg Bishop this Sunday night, 8-10PM PST at killradio.org on the Radio Misterioso program. Remember, faithful listeners and newbies, if it gets started a few minutes late, it WILL be on!
Take a look at the press release that has gone out to several newspapers around the US, as well as a few TV stations:
EMPIRE OF THE WHEEL:
Espionage, The Occult & Murder in Southern California
Walter Bosley & Richard B Spence
Corvos Books has released the new non-fiction book by Walter Bosley (I Will See You In Time, LCL 2011) and Richard B Spence (Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence & The Occult, Feral House 2008) which reveals what may have been occult serial murder in San Bernardino, California almost a century ago. Unexpected to the authors was a revelation about The Zodiac Killer that emerged from their research into the questionable deaths of seven people (three of them children) in late 1915 in the San Bernardino Valley. Empire of the Wheel explores the questions that arise from the only available record of the deaths and proposes a theory that the victims were human sacrifices at the hands of an occult driven criminally insane madman or group. The possibilities are just as esoteric as the analysis, which the authors use to explain the motive of a psychopathic killer or killers moving amid WWI espionage activity in the area, along with Aleister Crowley and Harry Houdini. Sure to capture public interest is the material on The Zodiac Killer which presents what the authors think is the factor that ties all The Zodiac’s victims together, thus providing one of the biggest contributions to Zodiac Killer investigations in several years.
WALTER BOSLEY is a former counterintelligence specialist with the FBI, served as a Special Agent AFOSI for over five years after earning his USAF commission, traveled the world as a counter-terrorism consultant from 2000 to 2005 and is now a licensed private investigator. Bosley resides in the Inland Empire.
RICHARD B SPENCE, PhD is a Professor of History at the University of Idaho and has appeared as a guest on the History Channel, Coast to Coast, and other programs in the US and abroad.
Empire of the Wheel is available at Amazon.com
Take a look at the press release that has gone out to several newspapers around the US, as well as a few TV stations:
EMPIRE OF THE WHEEL:
Espionage, The Occult & Murder in Southern California
Walter Bosley & Richard B Spence
Corvos Books has released the new non-fiction book by Walter Bosley (I Will See You In Time, LCL 2011) and Richard B Spence (Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence & The Occult, Feral House 2008) which reveals what may have been occult serial murder in San Bernardino, California almost a century ago. Unexpected to the authors was a revelation about The Zodiac Killer that emerged from their research into the questionable deaths of seven people (three of them children) in late 1915 in the San Bernardino Valley. Empire of the Wheel explores the questions that arise from the only available record of the deaths and proposes a theory that the victims were human sacrifices at the hands of an occult driven criminally insane madman or group. The possibilities are just as esoteric as the analysis, which the authors use to explain the motive of a psychopathic killer or killers moving amid WWI espionage activity in the area, along with Aleister Crowley and Harry Houdini. Sure to capture public interest is the material on The Zodiac Killer which presents what the authors think is the factor that ties all The Zodiac’s victims together, thus providing one of the biggest contributions to Zodiac Killer investigations in several years.
WALTER BOSLEY is a former counterintelligence specialist with the FBI, served as a Special Agent AFOSI for over five years after earning his USAF commission, traveled the world as a counter-terrorism consultant from 2000 to 2005 and is now a licensed private investigator. Bosley resides in the Inland Empire.
RICHARD B SPENCE, PhD is a Professor of History at the University of Idaho and has appeared as a guest on the History Channel, Coast to Coast, and other programs in the US and abroad.
Empire of the Wheel is available at Amazon.com
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
End Of An Era
Well, Borders is soon to be no more as we have known it. Much as the bookstore industry in general.
It was not quite twenty years ago when I visited my first super-bookstore. A B&N in upstate New York on my way back from a Vermont mini-vacation in 1992. Back then, B.Dalton and Waldenbooks were the most proliferated book retailers in the areas of the country where I lived before moving to Long Island. You could often count on both those stores being in any shopping mall. They were essentially the same place: they sold the same books, were divided in pretty much identical categories, only the signs were different. Waldenbooks was dressed up a tad more with paned glass windows on the facade and oak shelves. B.Dalton was perhaps more willing to offer discounts and specials. It really came down to which nuance of retail atmosphere you preferred and I recall preferring B.Dalton because their selection was slightly larger--but not quite everything that was available. That is where the superstores came into the picture.
Bookstores used to be places where you'd peruse titles and then purchase your selection, to dive into at the food court over a beverage or hurry home to read on the couch. You never saw people sitting on the floor. Coffee? Huh? There was only one place I ever knew that offered such things in a bookstore. The Upstart Crow in Seaport Village in San Diego. I loved the place. Went there a lot during my years at SDSU. But I thought of the Crow as a specialty place, not a norm. But that changed in '92 when I walked into a B&N for the first time. Being a bibliophile, I thought it was the most amazing wonderful thing that there could be a bookstore so big -- and with chairs! COMFY CHAIRS WITH HIGH BACKS! There were so many books and so many categories! Sure, there were Crown Books stores, but their inventory was discount and usually odds and ends. This B&N superstore had new and current releases! Still, there wasn't a store like this near where I lived, so again I considered it a freak of nature, another novelty in a place associated with vacation, not the real world. The most appealing aspect was the diversity of special interest categories of books that neither B Dalton nor Waldenbooks carried.
Then I returned to California and discovered Borders and found myself there every time I wanted to shop for books. For me, it was a book store designed with a reader's sense. When I was assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB (I was on active duty at the time), I found my personal favorite Borders ever in Dayton, Ohio. I spent many evenings and weekend afternoons there. When my son would visit in the summer time, we'd go to the Borders there just about every day, after a movie or miniature golf. When I planned my terminal leave trip to Europe, it was mostly in the Borders cafe. I first started to enjoy 'world music' at that same Borders. Some of my best memories are associated with that store. My Borders in Dayton was a hangout where I could find what I liked to read.
Of course, things change. The economy and technology have everything to do with the demise of Borders and the certain drastic change coming to B&N. Personally, I have always found B&N less personable than my experience with Borders. Maybe it's just me, but I always found Borders employees to seem more like real book lovers, whereas B&N seems like a place that hires anyone who wants the job. I could be wrong in general, but my experience has been that. Anyway, technology was inevitably going to change how we read. People love gadgets and the convenience of them. The economy's downturn forced the issue: It is simply smarter for publishers to market a product that does not require very much money up front to produce, does not require much space to store, and isn't wasted if it doesn't sell every copy. As a publisher, I love e-books. So does the public, mainly because the market has begun to force prices way down. Unfortunately for the bookstores, the traditional model, people began using bookstores like libraries.
A store cannot stay in business if people use the products in the store without buying them. It's very simple. Also, when there is an alternative that is more convenient, less expensive, and technologically fun and hip, the traditional model is doomed. As Borders and B&N did to the independents and chains before them, the digital marketplace has done to them. Amazon was the first very clear sign of what was to come. My personal vision of the bookstore of the future is this -- and I believe we will see this within five years (or less): The remaining book superstores will exist but in an altered form. Customers will have access to about a third of what these stores offer now. There will be a cafe, cashiers, nick-nack and gift area, and maybe magazines. However, there will be no massive floor of shelves with physical books on hand. Instead, there will be numerous computer stations. The only actual books in the store will be the single samples of bestselling or popular titles. Customers will instead peruse the online catalogue and select their purchases there. The remaining space of the store will be the production area, filled with Esso machines or the like, and your book will be printed while you wait (if you want it printed, and I believe people will still want printed books). You can enjoy a tea or coffee while you wait. This is the bookstore on the close horizon. Prices will be lower, no teenagers will be sitting on the floor in the aisles, the bookstore will be relevant again.
What we must point out is the irony of it all. The superstore model that wiped out the model before it actually included its own destruction in its very design: the library atmosphere encouraged people not to buy product.
As much as I loved my favorite Borders stores, and have shopped at B&N, as a publisher I have embraced the digital model of selling books. The digital world has allowed me, a small press guy, to compete with the big guys. Believe me, getting my product onto the shelves in the superstores cost me more in schmoozing sales reps and ineffective promotional costs than it did to produce the physical book. And forget the small stores, for I have never encountered a more sour and unpleasant lot of human beings in the retail world than owners/managers of indie or used bookstores. Not all, but unfortunately enough that it is a fair characterization, with a few exceptions (like Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego who are always friendly, and the Coliseum Bookstore in Manhattan, to name a few). If I am able to market product for little to zero cost, I can drop my prices and do not need to be in any store. This is the new model, and the new era to come.
In the end, it doesn't change the content.
So, farewell Borders. You will be missed.
(I hope this wasn't too rambling, I had to write it in two sessions several hours apart...)
It was not quite twenty years ago when I visited my first super-bookstore. A B&N in upstate New York on my way back from a Vermont mini-vacation in 1992. Back then, B.Dalton and Waldenbooks were the most proliferated book retailers in the areas of the country where I lived before moving to Long Island. You could often count on both those stores being in any shopping mall. They were essentially the same place: they sold the same books, were divided in pretty much identical categories, only the signs were different. Waldenbooks was dressed up a tad more with paned glass windows on the facade and oak shelves. B.Dalton was perhaps more willing to offer discounts and specials. It really came down to which nuance of retail atmosphere you preferred and I recall preferring B.Dalton because their selection was slightly larger--but not quite everything that was available. That is where the superstores came into the picture.
Bookstores used to be places where you'd peruse titles and then purchase your selection, to dive into at the food court over a beverage or hurry home to read on the couch. You never saw people sitting on the floor. Coffee? Huh? There was only one place I ever knew that offered such things in a bookstore. The Upstart Crow in Seaport Village in San Diego. I loved the place. Went there a lot during my years at SDSU. But I thought of the Crow as a specialty place, not a norm. But that changed in '92 when I walked into a B&N for the first time. Being a bibliophile, I thought it was the most amazing wonderful thing that there could be a bookstore so big -- and with chairs! COMFY CHAIRS WITH HIGH BACKS! There were so many books and so many categories! Sure, there were Crown Books stores, but their inventory was discount and usually odds and ends. This B&N superstore had new and current releases! Still, there wasn't a store like this near where I lived, so again I considered it a freak of nature, another novelty in a place associated with vacation, not the real world. The most appealing aspect was the diversity of special interest categories of books that neither B Dalton nor Waldenbooks carried.
Then I returned to California and discovered Borders and found myself there every time I wanted to shop for books. For me, it was a book store designed with a reader's sense. When I was assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB (I was on active duty at the time), I found my personal favorite Borders ever in Dayton, Ohio. I spent many evenings and weekend afternoons there. When my son would visit in the summer time, we'd go to the Borders there just about every day, after a movie or miniature golf. When I planned my terminal leave trip to Europe, it was mostly in the Borders cafe. I first started to enjoy 'world music' at that same Borders. Some of my best memories are associated with that store. My Borders in Dayton was a hangout where I could find what I liked to read.
Of course, things change. The economy and technology have everything to do with the demise of Borders and the certain drastic change coming to B&N. Personally, I have always found B&N less personable than my experience with Borders. Maybe it's just me, but I always found Borders employees to seem more like real book lovers, whereas B&N seems like a place that hires anyone who wants the job. I could be wrong in general, but my experience has been that. Anyway, technology was inevitably going to change how we read. People love gadgets and the convenience of them. The economy's downturn forced the issue: It is simply smarter for publishers to market a product that does not require very much money up front to produce, does not require much space to store, and isn't wasted if it doesn't sell every copy. As a publisher, I love e-books. So does the public, mainly because the market has begun to force prices way down. Unfortunately for the bookstores, the traditional model, people began using bookstores like libraries.
A store cannot stay in business if people use the products in the store without buying them. It's very simple. Also, when there is an alternative that is more convenient, less expensive, and technologically fun and hip, the traditional model is doomed. As Borders and B&N did to the independents and chains before them, the digital marketplace has done to them. Amazon was the first very clear sign of what was to come. My personal vision of the bookstore of the future is this -- and I believe we will see this within five years (or less): The remaining book superstores will exist but in an altered form. Customers will have access to about a third of what these stores offer now. There will be a cafe, cashiers, nick-nack and gift area, and maybe magazines. However, there will be no massive floor of shelves with physical books on hand. Instead, there will be numerous computer stations. The only actual books in the store will be the single samples of bestselling or popular titles. Customers will instead peruse the online catalogue and select their purchases there. The remaining space of the store will be the production area, filled with Esso machines or the like, and your book will be printed while you wait (if you want it printed, and I believe people will still want printed books). You can enjoy a tea or coffee while you wait. This is the bookstore on the close horizon. Prices will be lower, no teenagers will be sitting on the floor in the aisles, the bookstore will be relevant again.
What we must point out is the irony of it all. The superstore model that wiped out the model before it actually included its own destruction in its very design: the library atmosphere encouraged people not to buy product.
As much as I loved my favorite Borders stores, and have shopped at B&N, as a publisher I have embraced the digital model of selling books. The digital world has allowed me, a small press guy, to compete with the big guys. Believe me, getting my product onto the shelves in the superstores cost me more in schmoozing sales reps and ineffective promotional costs than it did to produce the physical book. And forget the small stores, for I have never encountered a more sour and unpleasant lot of human beings in the retail world than owners/managers of indie or used bookstores. Not all, but unfortunately enough that it is a fair characterization, with a few exceptions (like Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego who are always friendly, and the Coliseum Bookstore in Manhattan, to name a few). If I am able to market product for little to zero cost, I can drop my prices and do not need to be in any store. This is the new model, and the new era to come.
In the end, it doesn't change the content.
So, farewell Borders. You will be missed.
(I hope this wasn't too rambling, I had to write it in two sessions several hours apart...)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Comic Con In The Rear View
Not much to report. As you know, I wasn't too thrilled this year.
I did not go Saturday, as I was returning home to pick up some of my entourage. However my correspondents who stayed informed we didn't miss much. I was back ion the scene that night and returned the next day. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... Naturally, I did some business. That's really what usefulness remains with this event for me.
So...On to the next event:
The H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival in San Pedro in September
More to follow...
I did not go Saturday, as I was returning home to pick up some of my entourage. However my correspondents who stayed informed we didn't miss much. I was back ion the scene that night and returned the next day. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... Naturally, I did some business. That's really what usefulness remains with this event for me.
So...On to the next event:
The H.P.Lovecraft Film Festival in San Pedro in September
More to follow...
Friday, July 22, 2011
Comic Con Brief
OK,
We went to see Captain America today and I really like it. Any fan of classic or pulp hero literature and comics should like this movie a lot. I place it in a personal category of favorites that has consisted of The Rocketeer, The Shadow and The Phantom, three movies I love in spite of nitpicky critics. It's a cool flick. 'Dum Dum' and other Howling Commandos are in the mix and you gotta stay after the credits to get a glimpse or two of the new Avengers movie coming next year.
I gotta get up early to return to the Con, so this report is short. The Con itself is sort of weak this year, in spite of Spielberg's presence pitching Tintin. Of course, I didn't battle the crowd simply to get in and watch Spielberg on a screen hanging from the roof simply to be in the same ENORMOUS room with him. Been there, done that. Doubt I'll even sit through Kevin Smith this year. But a guy I was in film class with in junior college thirty years ago has a booth this year. He's a voice actor, Dino Andrade. We'll be getting together with a couple other classmates to catch up after the Con. Probably the MOST important thing was collecting contact data on four VERY lovely actresses interested in talking with my casting director for Secret of the Amazon Queen...More on that later.
Two more days left. If anything worthy happens, I'll share it here...
We went to see Captain America today and I really like it. Any fan of classic or pulp hero literature and comics should like this movie a lot. I place it in a personal category of favorites that has consisted of The Rocketeer, The Shadow and The Phantom, three movies I love in spite of nitpicky critics. It's a cool flick. 'Dum Dum' and other Howling Commandos are in the mix and you gotta stay after the credits to get a glimpse or two of the new Avengers movie coming next year.
I gotta get up early to return to the Con, so this report is short. The Con itself is sort of weak this year, in spite of Spielberg's presence pitching Tintin. Of course, I didn't battle the crowd simply to get in and watch Spielberg on a screen hanging from the roof simply to be in the same ENORMOUS room with him. Been there, done that. Doubt I'll even sit through Kevin Smith this year. But a guy I was in film class with in junior college thirty years ago has a booth this year. He's a voice actor, Dino Andrade. We'll be getting together with a couple other classmates to catch up after the Con. Probably the MOST important thing was collecting contact data on four VERY lovely actresses interested in talking with my casting director for Secret of the Amazon Queen...More on that later.
Two more days left. If anything worthy happens, I'll share it here...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
EMPIRE OF THE WHEEL Now Available!
Read about occult serial murder and a revelation about The Zodiac Killer case...
Now available at Amazon.com
Now available at Amazon.com
Comic Con 2011
My group and I are in Del Mar tonight and will be heading into San Diego in the morning for the first day of our last Comic Con for a while. Over the next few days I'll be posting photos from the event and some of the fun we'll be having, as well as reporting on anything that might interest classic and pulp adventure fans.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
EMPIRE OF THE WHEEL: Espionage, The Occult and Murder in Southern California
This has nothing to do with classic adventure, but the book I discuss in the interview link posted yesterday should be available at Amazon by or before the weekend. It is available only as a Kindle book, for $6.99. For those who may not know, you can download the Kindle program for free to use on the device of your choice, you don't need to buy a Kindle device to read Kindle books...
If you're interested in Aleister Crowley, Harry Houdini and The Zodiac Killer, you will want to read this book...
If you're interested in Aleister Crowley, Harry Houdini and The Zodiac Killer, you will want to read this book...
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Unraveling the Secrets W/ Walter Bosley [07/17/2011]
Unraveling the Secrets W/ Walter Bosley [07/17/2011]
The link takes you to my guest appearance over the weekend on 'Unraveling the Secrets', talking a little about my upcoming non-fiction book, 'Empire of the Wheel'. I wrote this with Richard B Spence. It's not exactly on the topic of classic adventure, but you can hear me talk about something, in this case the possibility of ritual occult serial murder I believe I have discovered...
The link takes you to my guest appearance over the weekend on 'Unraveling the Secrets', talking a little about my upcoming non-fiction book, 'Empire of the Wheel'. I wrote this with Richard B Spence. It's not exactly on the topic of classic adventure, but you can hear me talk about something, in this case the possibility of ritual occult serial murder I believe I have discovered...
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
New Cover Art for Sesh Heri's 'Wonder' Trilogy
Here's a glimpse at the new cover art for the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy. I brought them into a more cohesive look...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
New 'Tintin' Trailer!
Thought I'd share this link here...I'm really looking forward to this!
Tintin Trailer
Tintin Trailer
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Sesh Heri Working On New Novel!
The author of the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy, which you can purchase here at the links, is writing a new novel!
Sesh Heri has crafted a great new screenplay which he's adapting to a novel this summer. We will be announcing the title and tell you a little more on what it's about as soon as he's ready for us to make that announcement. I can tell you it's a really cool story, not in the Wonder saga but just as thrilling and intriguing. This new work will appeal to steampunk fans as well as historical fiction readers. Heri will likely finish the novel next month and then we'll take a few weeks in the editing process. Once that's done, it will be released to the public exclusively through Lost Continent Library via Amazon Kindle.
I am very excited about this new book! Heri recently finished a show biz bio that is a really great read. Look for that release to be announced soon, as well. Heri is anxious to get some new fiction out there as readers all over the world are responding enthusiastically to the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy. Still, LCL is a small press publisher and we need to get the word out there to more readers, so if you've read any or all of the Wonder books, tell your friends!
As soon as the cover art for the new novel is finalized, I will release that with a bigger announcement telling more about the book. The title will be released with a simple graphic very soon!
Sesh Heri has crafted a great new screenplay which he's adapting to a novel this summer. We will be announcing the title and tell you a little more on what it's about as soon as he's ready for us to make that announcement. I can tell you it's a really cool story, not in the Wonder saga but just as thrilling and intriguing. This new work will appeal to steampunk fans as well as historical fiction readers. Heri will likely finish the novel next month and then we'll take a few weeks in the editing process. Once that's done, it will be released to the public exclusively through Lost Continent Library via Amazon Kindle.
I am very excited about this new book! Heri recently finished a show biz bio that is a really great read. Look for that release to be announced soon, as well. Heri is anxious to get some new fiction out there as readers all over the world are responding enthusiastically to the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy. Still, LCL is a small press publisher and we need to get the word out there to more readers, so if you've read any or all of the Wonder books, tell your friends!
As soon as the cover art for the new novel is finalized, I will release that with a bigger announcement telling more about the book. The title will be released with a simple graphic very soon!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Secret of the Amazon Queen Graphics
For those looking forward to the first feature film from Lost Continent Library, here are some of the graphics created to promote the book and then the movie.
The first model LCL hired to promote the book in its first release in 2004 was Miriam Rivera, then a big reality TV star in European and Australian markets.
It seemed SOTAQ was movie material from the start for Miriam's agent in London loved the book and we almost saw it optioned by one of the BBC movie divisions. But alas, it was one of two scripts put before video director and fashion photographer David LaChappelle and he chose the other one. As it turns out, I'm glad he passed because I am the director of the film now...
In 2008, we decided to ramp up our effort to produce the film ourselves with independent investors. Here is a graphic created for the LCL web site and ephemera such as coffee mugs, tee shirts, etc...
Of course, most of you have probably seen the one sheet, first created in 2009 when we initiated our second serious attempt to land a producer. This was the image, along with the pitch, that captured the first production company we landed and their distributor in 2010...
It was early 2010 that I decided to freshen up promotion of the book with a new face of the Amazons and that's when I found model Rryan Bouttavong who appears here (along with our first and only male model) and on the new cover of the novel below...
If you haven't read Secret of the Amazon Queen, or the follow up 'sequel' Tropic of Despair, there is a link here to the right of the page where you can get both these books in single volume Kindle format edition for only $1.99. You can also get the printed edition at the LCL Adventure Shop link for a reasonable price...
As more production art is developed, I will continue to post it here...
The first model LCL hired to promote the book in its first release in 2004 was Miriam Rivera, then a big reality TV star in European and Australian markets.
It seemed SOTAQ was movie material from the start for Miriam's agent in London loved the book and we almost saw it optioned by one of the BBC movie divisions. But alas, it was one of two scripts put before video director and fashion photographer David LaChappelle and he chose the other one. As it turns out, I'm glad he passed because I am the director of the film now...
In 2008, we decided to ramp up our effort to produce the film ourselves with independent investors. Here is a graphic created for the LCL web site and ephemera such as coffee mugs, tee shirts, etc...
Of course, most of you have probably seen the one sheet, first created in 2009 when we initiated our second serious attempt to land a producer. This was the image, along with the pitch, that captured the first production company we landed and their distributor in 2010...
It was early 2010 that I decided to freshen up promotion of the book with a new face of the Amazons and that's when I found model Rryan Bouttavong who appears here (along with our first and only male model) and on the new cover of the novel below...
If you haven't read Secret of the Amazon Queen, or the follow up 'sequel' Tropic of Despair, there is a link here to the right of the page where you can get both these books in single volume Kindle format edition for only $1.99. You can also get the printed edition at the LCL Adventure Shop link for a reasonable price...
As more production art is developed, I will continue to post it here...
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Upcoming Movie Report
Three upcoming movies rate some mention here.
First is John Carter of Mars, the long-awaited adaptation of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs saga.
This one has been with more than one director and studio, but finally Disney committed and the movie is slated for release on March 9, 2012. This could not be better as it's my mom's 78th birthday and I cannot think of a better present! I think that's very thoughtful of Disney to give me the perfect gift. I know my mom will love sitting in the theater with her bucket of popcorn, a large root beer and a couple of hours of great fantasy adventure in space. What joy!
James Purefoy of Solomon Kane -- the hit movie to which the morons in Hollywood will not give a US distribution contract -- stars as an airship captain. For those not familiar with John Carter, get the books!
Then there is 47 Ronin, another fantasy adventure.
In this one, Keanu Reeves teams up with 46 other samurai on the revenge trail after being betrayed by their master. based on the true story, this telling has the samurai facing many challenges in a world of giants and witches. I imagine there will be a lot of CGI gaming imagery for two hours. Oh yeah, it's 3D.
The third film I want to mention is Journey 2:The Mysterious Island the sequel to 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth. In this one, the kid et al go in search of his grandfather lost on an expedition. Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine are in this one. Contemporary adventure usually bores me, but I didn't hate the first one, so we'll see...
I'm looking most forward to John Carter of Mars, for obvious reasons. I thank the gods that it wasn't also 'updated' into some annoying contemporary mess featuring a damned kid. Hopefully they've done Burroughs justice...
More to follow...
First is John Carter of Mars, the long-awaited adaptation of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs saga.
This one has been with more than one director and studio, but finally Disney committed and the movie is slated for release on March 9, 2012. This could not be better as it's my mom's 78th birthday and I cannot think of a better present! I think that's very thoughtful of Disney to give me the perfect gift. I know my mom will love sitting in the theater with her bucket of popcorn, a large root beer and a couple of hours of great fantasy adventure in space. What joy!
James Purefoy of Solomon Kane -- the hit movie to which the morons in Hollywood will not give a US distribution contract -- stars as an airship captain. For those not familiar with John Carter, get the books!
Then there is 47 Ronin, another fantasy adventure.
In this one, Keanu Reeves teams up with 46 other samurai on the revenge trail after being betrayed by their master. based on the true story, this telling has the samurai facing many challenges in a world of giants and witches. I imagine there will be a lot of CGI gaming imagery for two hours. Oh yeah, it's 3D.
The third film I want to mention is Journey 2:The Mysterious Island the sequel to 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth. In this one, the kid et al go in search of his grandfather lost on an expedition. Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine are in this one. Contemporary adventure usually bores me, but I didn't hate the first one, so we'll see...
I'm looking most forward to John Carter of Mars, for obvious reasons. I thank the gods that it wasn't also 'updated' into some annoying contemporary mess featuring a damned kid. Hopefully they've done Burroughs justice...
More to follow...
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Pauline
In the early days of cinema, adventure was mostly represented in the serials. The first hit among these was The Perils of Pauline from Pathe Studios in 1914. Filmed when the industry was still in New Jersey, these weekly episodes starred Pearl White who did her own stunts until injuries forced her to start using doubles later in her career.
A dance hall singer in Cuba and around South America, White's movie career began when her voice started to give out and she made several serials, the Pauline series being the most famous. Though her well-known character is the model in many people's minds for the 'damsel in distress', Pauline is actually not so helpless and is more resourceful than assumed. You might consider her a model for the great adventure heroines to come like Marion Ravenwood and the like.
Interestingly, not a single episode of Pauline ever used a cliffhanger device, instead showing the resolution to her peril by the end of each installment. The plot of the series was that Pauline's wealthy guardian left her inheritance in the care of his secretary until she marries. Pauline isn't in a hurry to marry as her dream to become an author takes priority, thus she goes on adventures to prepare herself. The secretary, hoping to ultimately keep the money for himself, conspires to do away with Pauline in the course of her exploits.
Among those adventures, she encounters pirates and Indians and finds herself on a Navy target boat. In other episodes, Pauline encounters time bombs, being in peril on a train trestle, and a hot air balloon stunt over the Hudson River drew actress White into a storm and she was injured when it came down. There were twenty episodes in all of this classic serial and it inspired a 1947 movie about Pearl White starring Betty Hutton, from which much impression of the original series comes.
If you're a fan of silent era cinema, find a copy of this serial and give it a viewing. Though The Perils of Pauline is not exactly typical of the classic adventure to follow, it certainly was among the early examples of what would come to make the adventure genre so enjoyable.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Latitude 33:Key to the Kingdom
If anyone has attempted to purchase the non-fiction book Latitude 33:Key to the Kingdom, my book about the speculative esoteric engineering of Disneyland, I just discovered the link was not working. I don't know when this happened, but it was an error on Amazon's part. I have corrected it and the book is back up and available. And it's only 99 cents!
The links to this book and several others are here on this page; just scroll down a little and look on the right...
The links to this book and several others are here on this page; just scroll down a little and look on the right...
Comic Con in 19 Days!
So, even though I have my criticisms of this event lately, we are going, as I said. This will likely be our last time as a group. For the remainder of this year and starting next year, the LCL entourage will represent at steampunk events, horror, science fiction and other movie and pop culture conventions where adventure is also to be found. However, I will attend Comic Con in the future on a limited basis as business dictates.
I like to give a little projection each year, in the event LCL readers and adventure fans would like to meet up. The first step is to send me an email to the address associated here. That way we can arrange to meet either in the convention center or at any of the restaurants and drinking establishments we frequent. The LCL gang always meets one night at Hooters downtown, near Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp. We also now do a dinner or two at The Tilted Kilt, down around the corner from the outfield of Petco Park. Last year, there was a Green Hornet party in the place adjacent to the TK, so it's near the Con. And we do a night of beer and live music and general rowdy behavior at Dick's Last Resort, usually Saturday. As always, friends of LCL are welcome to hang with us in the convention center. Walking around the exhibit hall is always a good time, and seeing previews in Hall H is a great break from being on our feet. Whatever your choice, we're available.
This year, we'll be staying at a friend's home just minutes from downtown. The trolley makes it easy to get around and avoid dealing with parking downtown, and it's cheaper than the fees in garages -- which actually are not that bad, if you must bring a car.
As far as my business while there, this year I am focusing on steampunk community awareness of the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy by Sesh Heri and the works of Richard Senate. Also, I'll be discussing the possibility of graphic rights with various publishers to market a comic series of these books and others. I will also record some video while there which I'll share here after we return.
More to follow...
I like to give a little projection each year, in the event LCL readers and adventure fans would like to meet up. The first step is to send me an email to the address associated here. That way we can arrange to meet either in the convention center or at any of the restaurants and drinking establishments we frequent. The LCL gang always meets one night at Hooters downtown, near Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp. We also now do a dinner or two at The Tilted Kilt, down around the corner from the outfield of Petco Park. Last year, there was a Green Hornet party in the place adjacent to the TK, so it's near the Con. And we do a night of beer and live music and general rowdy behavior at Dick's Last Resort, usually Saturday. As always, friends of LCL are welcome to hang with us in the convention center. Walking around the exhibit hall is always a good time, and seeing previews in Hall H is a great break from being on our feet. Whatever your choice, we're available.
This year, we'll be staying at a friend's home just minutes from downtown. The trolley makes it easy to get around and avoid dealing with parking downtown, and it's cheaper than the fees in garages -- which actually are not that bad, if you must bring a car.
As far as my business while there, this year I am focusing on steampunk community awareness of the Wonder of the Worlds trilogy by Sesh Heri and the works of Richard Senate. Also, I'll be discussing the possibility of graphic rights with various publishers to market a comic series of these books and others. I will also record some video while there which I'll share here after we return.
More to follow...
Update
I've been busy the last few days with publishing business and film production activity. Shot a short film today!
I'll be back later tonight for an adventure posting...
I'll be back later tonight for an adventure posting...
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