OOPS!!!

Okay, true believers-  a correction on Toni's blog site, so go to HERE: http://www.tony-paul.com/  for much literary goodness!!!!

new book out and an awesome author friend

Hi gang (or at least the 12 who stop by:).)- some news--

First up I'd love for you to stop my my friend Toni's website and check out her blog- always something interesting to read and she has some new books out : http://www.tony-paul.cm/


And Songs of A Warrior Priest is out today from Whiskeycreekpress.com--

a collection of sword and fantasy tales that have echoes of old pulps and new fantasy...

I haven’t posted to this blog for a bit because I’ve been just a bit busy:

In October I had a story in Metahuman Press “Pirates & Swashbucklers Volume 2”,  a new collection of plup alternate world tales in “Adventures in Otherwhen” from Books for a Buck, in November I have “Songs of a Warrior Priest “ coming out from Whiskey Creek Press,  “Murder Most Faire from Post Mortem Press in December, And “The Bloodstone Confidential” from Pro Se Press in January.

And a couple of sales to Archeon Press - two Pulp novellas which will be out in January. Not to forget a story of mine will be in issue 361 of Weird Tales.

Other than that I’ve choreographed fights for a couple of stage shows, wrote and acted in a radio serial and have done stunts for a couple of films. Just a relaxed fall….

New Book- really out of this world!!!

Its been a crazy month, folks,

I have a story in the new volume from Pulp Empire: Pirates and Swashbucklers 2 (The story is "What Would Synbad Do?")
and my lastest (and I think- greatest collection) Adventures in Otherwhen is out from BooksforABuck.com!!
To quote the first review:
"

According to some theories of quantum physics, the real universe doesn't make choices, it takes every path. Somewhere out there, there's a you who chose another spouse, who became a serial killer or a rock star. Somewhere, there's a version of the universe where dinosaurs still rule, and another where your parents hated each other on first sight and never connected. Somewhere, Adolf Hitler had a change of heart in prison and somewhere there are cops who work to keep the branes of reality from conflicting, prevent one version of you from murdering another and taking his place.
Author Teel James Glenn (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of speculative fiction by Glenn) approaches the alternate universe theory from the standpoint of the pulp fiction author. His version of a time cop rides Slepnir, Odin's 8-legged horse and is stuck with a Chimp as a sidekick at a magic convention. Adolf Hitler turned from politics to become an adventure writer and heads to Egypt with Robert E. Howard (who somehow left Cross Plains, Texas). Add in a Skullmask story, a story featuring the intrepid newspaper reporter Moxie of Maxi and Moxie fame, a steampunk story of transformation, warbots and romance, and a medieval tale of magic and betrayal and you have a fun collection of pulp adventure set in a universe of maybes and what-ifs.





I hope you'll  check them both out....

Welcome to my World...

Welcome to my Universe…

I did not set out to create a united world with my stories set in the 1930s but it is not easy for me to ignore constructs and previous research when I write new material. And in the process of writing one story in one ‘genre’ I often see story possibilities in other directions. For instance, in writing a detective tale for Dr. Shadows I see the possibilities of a horror tangent that would be more appropriate to the Skullmask, etc.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

First came my love for the period and the writing style born in it: depression area pulp writing!

Pulp magazines were so named because of the cheap wood pulp they were produced on. They reigned supreme from the 1920s, well in to the late 1940s with their sensationally garish colored covers and daring purpled prose within.

 It was an era of covers painted in bold strokes and larger than life characters painted with equally bold strokes of the typewriter keys. It was a world that has faded into the mists of time; devoured by and then reborn into its own offspring, the paperback novel.

The so-called ‘bloody’ pulps ran the gambit from Range Romances, to Battle Aces, Gangster Molls and Fantastic Planetary Stories; but it was in the areas of detective and heroic fiction—that they soared the highest.

Black Mask, the high watermark in gumshoes, gave us Phillip Marlow, Same Spade, the Continental Op, Race Williams, Oscar Sail and countless variations of the first, & truly, American deductive champions.

The Hard-boiled Private Eye.

Meanwhile (as they say), back on the magazine racks, a phenomenon occurred: the Hero Pulp was started by Street and Smith publications; a company with a long history in periodicals (including dime novel hero Nick Carter.) The company decided to embrace the new medium, radio, with the Street & Smith hour, where a narrator would read stories from their detective magazines as an extended commercial for the book. As a gimmick, they named the narrator ‘The Shadow’, with no thought to any other effect than to make the stories a bit spookier. No biggie, or so they thought.

Soon however, letters poured into the publisher wanting to know more about this mysterious host. The publisher, W. A. Ralston and Editor John Nanovic, quickly decided to rush a magazine titled, “The Shadow” into production to protect a potentially lucrative property.

They had no idea who or what the Shadow was, but they knew just the right guy to write it; a magician/journalist cum pulp writer named Walter Gibson.

It was the perfect marriage of man and material: Gibson (under the house name of Maxwell Grant), created a fascinatingly dark & mysterious crusader who, with his army of aides and agents, fought a constant war against the forces of gangdom.

The magazine was an instant hit selling out month after month so consistently that Street & Smith began to print issues every other week!

Other publishers jumped on the band wagon with lesser ‘dark avengers’ over the next few years: George Chance-the Green Ghost, The Green Lama (of the Tibetan variety), The Black Bat, The Red Mask, Street & Smith’s own The Whisperer, and the most successful and colorful of all The Spider.

None equaled the heights the Shadow achieved in the ensuing decade of the hero pulp!

Street & Smith succe eded lightening in a bottle a second time in 1933 with a counterpoint to their dark Avenger in a bronze crusader named Doc Savage.

No lurker in the shadows this time, the good Doctor was a science based good guy who did his combat with evil in the naked light of public exposure. Again the perfect scribe was found to write/create him in Lester Dent, a former telegrapher, inventor and adventurer.

Many lesser Titans followed in Doc’s wake—Capt. Hazzard, The Avenger, Thunder Jim Wade, Captain John Fury, The Skipper etc. but none held a candle to the metallic man’s success.

Just as the dime novel was eclipsed by the pulp the magazines evolved into digests and paperback books.

Many pulp characters appeared directly, or strongly influenced, their comic book off-springs as well. Most notably the Man of Steel Superman owes much to the Man of Bronze, Doc Savage.

A few of the pulps limped along as digests and a vast number of pulp stories, novel length and the short stories, were reprinted into paperback form. Thus, an era was disappearing.

This is where I come into the story directly. In 1964 Bantam Books began to reprint the Doc Savage books with dynamite James Bama covers (the pulp had ceased publication in 1949) aiming, & rightly so, at the growing science fiction market. It caused a resurrection of many of its pulp brethren and inspired scores of imitators and pastiches.

I made up my mind then to visit that time through characters that lived there but not someone else’s characters. There is a whole school of writing that ascribes to writing new stories of old (public domain) characters, which is well and good when continuing the official continuity such as Will Murray has done with his exceptional Doc Savage stories—but otherwise, I feel it is a little sacrilegious and somewhat like poaching. (I’ve since written in a couple of stories that continue other people’s characters-even working on a Lester Dent pre-Doc Savage character following in my hero’s footsteps but, all were ‘sanctioned’ by publishers or the writer’s estates.)

I sought to create characters that could have graced the newsstand in the golden decade of the ‘30s and would have fit in as ‘just one of the guys

My first original-and one might say ‘gateway’-character was firmly in a bronze shadow- The Granite Man, Dr. Shadows ( whose given name was Anton Chadeaux). He was a ‘science hero’ with purely heroic motives who owed as much to George Chance-The Green Ghost, and the Green Lama (being he is Buddhist) as Doc.

I chose the year 1937 as the starting point for my pulp-verse because in my estimation it was a lynchpin year when the post war years and the depression was changing into what some might call ‘the modern era’, when a certain innocence was to be lost in the horror of WWII.

I was not content to visit the era with only one original pulp hero, however. I cast my eye toward the Shadow, the Spider and his ilk (and a little to the comic strip Phantom) and created my generational dark hero “The Skullmask.’ The Skullmask is really the one ‘hero’ who is many, for any who where the mask in a quest for just vengeance acquire the memories of all those who have worn it before.

Both of those characters I placed firmly in a ‘real world’ that I meticulously researched, but it was a ‘real world that co-existed with the classic pulp characters I loved. Not that they interact directly with ‘famous’ folk of times past, but these ‘legitimate’ period characters are acknowledged as readily as historical persons.

I could not stop with a hero and a dark avenger, however, because the newsstands in the ‘golden era’ had a great variety of fare and I wanted to explore other genres.

One of those genres was the Dime Mystery ‘reporter of the unusual’. Moxie Donovan is one of a long line of reporter heroes that stretch all the way back to O’Henry’s 1905 short story “Calloway’s Code” and up to Kolchak the Nightstalker. Intrepid reporters were a natural for the pulp scribes to pen since they knew the world of the fourth estate having, many of them, been reporters before they turned to ‘honest’ fiction writing.

My hero was out to scoop the other papers but gave us a two for one journalistic good guy and the reporter of the unusual in Moxie Donovan and his eventual mate Maxi, who was a showgirl at the series start.

 I did not stop with those three series.

There was still the hardboiled adventurer-in-search-of-redemption mold to be explored. Such a character that might have graced the pages of Argosy or Adventure. That fellow is Gideon Synn, the ivory adventurer. Of course, I had to give even that hero a little ‘spin’ so he has something no other pulp hero had as a regular feature in his tales- his sister! They are the first crime fighting sibling duo that I know of.

Another ‘genre’ excursion was the Sovereign Wolf detective tales. Sovereign is a Native American marshal who fights crime with a different attitude. In a sense he spans the western and ‘odd’ detective categories.

I’m not done yet, of course, there is Declinn Blayde a frontiersman, Gideon Rizk a swashbuckling pirate and Josiah Silence, and a western bounty hunter (written under my Gideon Teel nom-de-plume), Though these stories predate the 30’s milieu they might have appeared in pulps of the era.

Then, of course, I have the contemporary stories with Jon Shadows, son of my 1930s hero and Deacon Furie, S.A. S. soldier.

All these characters I mention inhabit the same world, either meeting, acknowledging or mentioning each other in a large patchwork of stories.

Mind you, these tales are not part of an alternate timeline or series, like my “The Cowboy and the Conqueror” or Dr. Argent or the Hairy Khetar Time Cop tales or Renfairies stories, but a self contained in a ‘straight line,’ where any ‘major events’ outside of our normal history are ‘secret and don’t change the ‘big picture.’

So there you have it my ‘pulpverse’ that has evolved into and will continue grow, as my literary ‘world’. I am sure as I explore other corners of my cluttered mind and discover new facets of real history to exploit.

I’m sure I’m not done…

From Fantasybookreview.UK

Queen Morgana and the Renfaries

Rating

8.2/10

Shakespeare with a contemporary feel, injected with detective noir and strictly for adults.

Review by Floresiensis

It has been a few years since I last reviewed Teel James Glenn but I still remember both author and work fondly. And so I was pleased when he made contact regarding a new book that had recently been published, Queen Morgana and the Renfaires. Glenn’s latest work is a collection of interweaving stories with the titular Queen Morgana being the major connection between them. I think the best way of describing this work is as Shakespeare meets pulp fiction meets film noir. Does that sound like a lot of fun? I hope it does because that is certainly what I found it to be.

To summarise events… Queen Morgana will not allow free passage between the realms of the Fae and of humans. Because of this, both realms are dying and the only bridge between the worlds is the place where dreams live in the daylight – Renaissance Faires. As the book progresses a group of humans stumbles through the portal (a movie make-up man, a Vietnam vet, a private detective and a crippled cop to name a few) and one must show the Queen of the Fae what true love is or they will perish in the greater darkness that is growing day by day.

The old adage urges an author to “write about what they know” and Glenn certainly takes this advice on-board. His colourful and impressive curriculum vitae lists stuntman, fight choreographer, sword-master, jouster, book illustrator, bodyguard and actor and almost all of the humans that cross the portal between realms are creations that owe much to his experience within these professions and this lends an air of authenticity to all his human characters. He is also a veteran of nearly fifty Renaissance Faires and this knowledge is used extensively within the story.

Glenn’s work is thoroughly likeable and he pours of himself into the stories with an obvious joy that passes on to the reader. I enjoyed each and every story – the way they were told, the plot arcs and the characters and it was also fun for there to be such an adult, sexual edge to proceedings, which  that came as as welcome change having read so much young adult fiction recently.

So, if you are looking for Shakespeare with a contemporary feel, injected with detective noir and strictly for adults then look no further. Queen Morgana and the Renfairies was a breeze to read and that main feelings I take away from it is of the passion and wry sense of humour that was prevalent throughout. If Willie S was asked to write pulp fiction this could well have been the result. I recommend this book with a large and genuine smile.

The most fitting way to end to this review is with a quote from Melchett in Blackadder II, which perfectly sums up the happenings in Queen Morgana and the Renfairies: “Like private parts to the Gods are we, they play with us for their sport.”

Come join me as I am interviewed by publisher/writer Tommy Hancock of Pro Se Productions as we discuss New Pulp in general and my upcoming projects on Pulp! The podcast:

http://www.pulped.libsyn.com/webpage/pulped-the-official-new-pulp-podcast-tj-glenn-gets-pulped

And another review of Toybox Warrior:

Modern Pulp Heroes from Pulp Empire

Reviewed by Steven Gepp

There are 2 stories I really want to highlight here. The first is ‘To The Mountaintop’ by Jeff Pawlak…

The second is ‘Toybox Warrior’ by Teel James Glenn, about Deacon Furie’s encounter with a strange boy and his sister. A creepy horror/urban fantasy story, made all the more horrific by the realistic portrayals of war and war zones. There is little I can say without giving away the ending, but Deacon is a character that In wouldn’t mind reading more about.

This is not to say the other 6 stories were bad because they were all very good, it is just that these two stuck out as being just stunning.

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Pulp-Heroes-Empire/dp/1477575618/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341278532&sr=1-3&keywords=Teel+James+Glenn

Two new pulp books

I am very pleased to be among some excellent writers in two new/old pulp volumes from two different publisher. And, to top it off, a New Pulp legend like Tom Johnson of Echoes fame liked my work in them. Here’s what he had to say:

Reviewed y Tom Johnson:

 From : New Adventures of The Eagle (from Pulp Obscura)

“The Coming Storm” by Teel James Glenn.  In the U.S., the Brown Shirts have kidnapped a scientist and holding him in nearby Camp Nordland in Sussec County, New Jersey. The FBI has sent in agents, but they were lost, feared murdered by the Bund. They request from G-2 America’s greatest spy, The Eagle.  Jeff Shannon had once been an amateur magician, and the Bund is seeking entertainers, which the FBI feels will be a way to get The Eagle in their camp.

This was a gem of a story. It had a real plot, real characterization, and good dialogue.  The story is set in September 1938, and the hurricane of September 21^st, known as the Long Island Express, plays a part in the final scene. Jeff is assisted by an ex boxer named “Lefty” Kovaks (wonder why there’s never a “Righty?), who felt he owes his life to the super spy. This is a great read by a writer who knows pulp fiction.

From Modern Pulp Heroes (From Metahuman Press)

Toybox Warrior by Teel James Glenn is an interesting tale, to say the least. A boy genius is being used by the military to create new strategies for war, but he needs a tutor to assist him in the “games”. Retired Marine Major Deacon Furie applies for the job, and then learns the real story behind the boy’s power. Well written, exciting, entertaining, and top notch.

New Sales and a guest shot...

Been a busy month, visiting my intended in Montreal and sending out completed novels to several publishers. Had another story taken by Tales of Old, a great website and had my website renewed/rebuilt by my friend Robert....
And Macbeth will be back; I've been asked to remount a streamlined version of the classic play at the Cloisters Renaissance Festival on Sept 30.  I will also be story telling there, so come on by and say hi!

I’m delighted to announce I’m a guest blogger and have an interview on the website of author Lily Sawyer.  I discuss my new book Queen Morgana and the Renfairies and writing in general. Stop by and leave a comment at

http://lilysawyerbooks.blogspot.com/2012/05/welcome-guest-blogger-teel-james-glenn.html

Been a busy month!

After a couple of months working on my first directorial effort  with a punk-style production of Macbeth for the Delphi Theatre (It went great--awesome cast/full houses) I have some exciting announcements:

I pleased to announce that I’ve sold funny fantasy “Fae for a Day” to Weird Tales magazine for their Fairy issue!!

And I’m very excited that I’ve just signed the contract for my renaissance Faire murder mystery novel “Murder Most Faire” with Post Mortem Press for Summer release!

And  my first review for my book "Queen Morgana and the Renfaries."

Queen Morgana and the Renfairies

Reviewed by Toni Sweeny  RATING: Five Stars

 

The only bridge between the world of Fae and the world of Humans are the Renaissance Faires, the place where supernatural and natural can blend without knowing it, or without admitting it.

When a group of humans accidentally find themselves on the other side of the portal, they find themselves in a realm where all the characters of legend and myth exist…

MY OPINION:  Well, TJ, you’ve done it again!  I thought your pirates and other assorted characters were great, but now that you’ve moved into the realm of the Fae and brought it into contemporary time by tossing in Renfairies, they’ve gotten even better.

In these stories, there’s comedy, adventure, love, and a healthy dose of poignancy, as well as the accustomed television and movie references so characteristic of this author’s works.  If you haven’t read any of Teel James Glenn’s stories, this one is a good place to start.

A Bargain Book!

I am pleased to announce that the second of the 1930s husband/wife Maxi/Moxie Donovan collection Headline Ghouls has been published by BooksforaBuck.com! And for the first month it is available for only One Dollar!!!

Here’s the first review of it:

“It's 1938, Hitler rules Germany and is supporting U.S. Nazi groups, the studio system is in full force, America still suffers from the Great Depression, and hard-boiled reporter heroes are the order of the day. 
HEADLINE GHOULS follows Moxie, along with his hard-dancing, hard-drinking wife Maxi, as they confront Hollywood blackmailers, occult Nazi gangs who use human sacrifice and New Orleans voodoo. Moxie and Maxi play off against each other with quick dialogue, an assembly of interesting friends, and the glamour of the Hollywood studio system in its heyday.
 Award winning author Teel James Glenn recreates the "pulp" style with over-the-top characters, bizarre situations that combine mystery, Nazis and the occult, the hard-charging reporter hero, and plenty of fists, guns and drinking. I especially like the way Glenn pairs the fact-hungry reporter Moxie with his charming wife Maxi. Maxi, a Broadway dancer turned Hollywood actor, is nobody's idea of a damsel in distress. She can throw back drinks with the best of them and she's as likely to rescue Moxie as he is to save her.
..Teel immerses himself deep in this past, throws out cultural references and Hollywood trivia that will delight fans of old-time pulps, without ever forgetting that we're reading for the story.”

Four Stars 
Reviewed 3/16/12

Stop the presses!!!!

I am a astounded and amazed to announce that I have actually won an award!!! I was named best author by the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards which recognize excellence in new pulp writing and to be presented at the 2012 Pulp Ark Convention. It is an almost overwhelming honor. Most of us who write often feel like we are laboring in the wilderness and to be noticed, and by my peers, is incredible!!!

Congrats to all the other winners, who are, by and large a very distinguished cadre to be among. LIke they say at the Academy Awards--it is an honor to be nominated with such company. But to win---Wooohooo!!!!!

Here are my fellow winners this year...

PULP ARK 2012 AWARD WINNERS ANOUNCED

Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions and Pulp Ark Coordinator, announces that voting has closed for the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards, the first awards given in association with this inaugural Pulp creators' conference/convention.

The Winners of the 2012 Pulp Ark Awards are-

BEST NOVEL-Yesteryear by Tommy Hancock (Pro Se Productions)

BEST COLLECTION/ANTHOLOGY-Four Bullets for Dillon (Pulpwork Press)

BEST SHORT STORY- The Devil’s Workmen by Barry Reese-The Avenger: The Justice Inc Files (Moonstone)

BEST COVER ART-Hugh Monn, Private Detective-by David Russell (Pro Se Productions)

BEST INTERIOR ART-The Adventures of Lazarus Gray-George Sellas (Pro Se Productions)

BEST PULP RELATED COMIC-All Star Pulp Comics #1 (Airship 27 Productions)

BEST PULP MAGAZINE-Pro Se Presents (Pro Se Productions)

BEST PULP REVIVAL-The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage by Will Murray (Altus Press)

BEST NEW PULP CHARACTER- John Blackthorn Created by Van Allen Plexico (White Rocket Books)

BEST AUTHOR-Teel James Glenn

BEST NEW WRITER-TIE Sean Taylor And Chuck Miller

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD-Howard Hopkins

The awards, 8X10 engraved wooden plaques, will be awarded in the middle of Pulp Ark, the evening of Saturday, April 21, 2012. Hancock stated that all winners as well as nominees are encouraged to attend, but any winners who could not would receive their awards by mail. Pulp Ark thanks all who nominated, all who voted, and congratulations to all the nominees and especially to the winners of the Pulp Ark 2012 Awards!

For any questions concerning Pulp Ark, contact Hancock atproseproductions@earthlink.net or follow Pulp Ark news atwww.pulpark.blogspot.com

Another great review!

Title: Shakespeared, or Wally & the Fairy Queen
Author: Teel James Glenn
Publisher: Eternal Press
 1
Rating: 4.25

Reviewed by: Bobby (of Bookwenches)

Teel James Glenn’s Shakespeared is a fast-paced and humorous short novella that embodies the phrase “the magic of Shakespeare.” Blending fairy tale magic and the world of stage acting, it contains humor, love, danger, a jealous husband, a stubborn donkey costume, and a character who speaks almost unintelligible verse. I found it to be a very quick read and a lot of fun, and it quite tickled the little Shakespeare nerd inside me.

Whenever I read a work by this author, I look forward to the action scenes, because Mr. Glenn choreographs these sequences so expertly that it transports the reader straight into the middle of the fray. Shakespeared is no exception. Mr. Glenn also displays a comfortable familiarity with the world of live theatre. He writes about the world the stage – from struggling actors to big-name celebrities to production staff – with a realism that could only spring from experience.

Folks looking for something just a little bit different should consider adding this book to their reading list.

And the next one is...

These are the front and back covers for my new book, due out next month from Whiskey Creek Press. Cover design by Gemini with much love!!! Thanks!!!

Another great review!

Across the Wasteland from Whiskey Creek Press by

MilSciFi.com

In this near-future adventure, we find The Exceptionals (government sponsored, bio-enhanced bounty hunters) Lastshot and Skorpion stranded in the hellish nuclear-wasteland which was once Chechnya--now populated by criminals, monsters, and cannibalistic natives--onboard their downed shuttlecraft is a group of "innocents," and the prisoner Rokk, a rogue Exceptional. Now the name of the game is survival.

Having grown up reading the likes of Mack Bolan, I found the author's descriptions of both his characters and graphic combat scenes to be compelling and extremely visceral in nature. I always love such narratives as "…the body hit the floor with a sound like a wet towel smacking against a countertop." This was in turn mated with expertly choreographed fight scenes and some of the most accurate weapons play I've seen in a long time.

The modern and sci-fi tech is there, but is general used to enhance the moment, rather than just being the moment. Yes there are some bits that play up the tech, such as someone crushing an opponent with their exoskeletons; and a character that had lost her limbs and now has see-through bionics, but in the context of the scenes it works, and in many ways adds to the fun.

Overall I enjoyed both the story and the writing style. If you’re a fan of the gritty action-adventure genre, then this is definitely the one for you. I give it a four out of five.


Reviewed for MilSciFi.com by William Kriegherren