The Adventures of Doc Atlas

 

The Adventures of Doc Atlas, Volume 1 

by Michael A. Black & Raymond Louis Lovato

Airship 27 Productions have just (re-)released the initial adventures of Doc Atlas. Their plan is now to move forward with new volumes of new stories.

The cover art pretty much tells you what you're getting. Doc Atlas is a Doc Savage pastiche that doesn't stray far from its roots.

I guess you can consider that Doc Atlas is to Doc Savage as Solar Pons is to Sherlock Holmes.

Atlas is the next generation, adventuring after World War II (these three novellas take place in 1947.) Atlas and his team are headquartered in the Empire State building, just like his predecessor. The team is more streamlined, featuring Ace Assante as an analogous Ham, and Mad Dog Deagan as the analogous Monk. Unlike the stoic Doc Savage, Atlas also has a girlfriend, Penny Cartier.

Another difference is that Atlas and team will kill the bad guys when the danger heats up. No mercy bullets or brain operations to rehabilitate criminals here.

In this volume they take on temple robbers in Mexico, investigate strange airplane crashes in Roswell, and investigate the rise of a new threat in Brazil.

Doc Atlas is a fun pastiche of Doc Savage.

Looking forward to more!

Slava Ukraini!

 

change of pace post - Music 2021

I have a Spotify account and I know Spotify doesn't pay much to artists. If I find something I like, I eventually buy it outright. That also allows me to play tunes in the car without roaming digital data.

 

Music I Bought in 2021:

 

The Living Daylights (soundtrack)

The Bottle Rockets - 24 Hours A Day

The Bottle Rockets - Brand New Year

Los Lobos - Native Sons

The Steepwater Band - Turn of the Wheel

The Steepwater Band - Shake Your Faith

Gilby Clarke - The Gospel Truth

The Warner E. Hodges Band - Just Feels Right

Warner E. Hodges - Right Back Where I Started

AC/DC - Live at the Paradise Theater, Boston 1978

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Dan Baird & Homemade Sin

Dan Baird & Homemade Sin - Get Loud

Have a happy new year! See you in 2022!

Blood on the Blade, anthology coming in November!

Via Flinch Books' Facebook page;

This November, Flinch Books unleashes an all new pulp fiction anthology on an unsuspecting world, their first fantastic foray into the realm of Sword & Sorcery!

BLOOD ON THE BLADE boasts of ten tales of slashing swords and sinister sorcery brought to you by master pulp scribes Cliff Biggers, Adrian Cole, Anne Marie Lutz, Paul R. McNamee, James A. Moore, Dave Ritzlin, Charles R Rutledge, Frank Schildiner, Steven L. Shrewsbury, and James Ray Tuck Jr. It’s a feast of fantasy you won’t soon forget!

Conceived and edited by Jim Beard and John Bruening. Cover by Mark Wheatley.

My tale features my stalwart heroes of spear and spirit, Lono & Makani, once again riding the ocean waves of adventure.

new short story in AN UNHOLY THIRST

Pavane Press (Cliff Biggers & Charles R. Rutledge) have released their latest anthology, AN UNHOLY THIRST. As you might infer from the title, the theme is vampires.

My story "The Wreck of the Black Swan" features my occult hero Doran Coyle, last seen in WEIRDBOOK #40.

Created in Hero Forge®

 The cover art by Lynne Hansen knocks it right out of the park!

recent reads; The haunts of Christopher Golden

 It's autumn. It's October. The time for spooky reads has arrived.

I thought I might again try for 31 short stories read in the month. The issue (not really an issue but, you know, *raises hand* reader-type here) with that is that I hop around various collections & anthologies and while I reach my month goal, my goodreads reading challenge invariably slips because it tallies complete books.

So, this year I decided to read short stories but stick with the book(s), as well. Pick one and read it through. Repeat.

Christopher Golden has a new collection out, THE GHOSTS OF WHO YOU WERE. Before getting to that book, I decided to dig into my TBR piles and pull out two older collections; TELL MY SORROW TO THE STONES and DON'T GO ALONE. The latter features co-writes.

Both collections were fun reads. Chris's short story telling has only gotten better over the years. The man can write a ghost story, among all the other weird and haunting tales.

 One tale was a co-write with Thomas Sniegoski, and was set in their The Menagerie series. It was a good calling card. I decided to take a detour and read the first novel, THE NIMBLE MAN. If you want wall-to-wall monster killing and fast-paced urban/dark fantasy action, you should give it a read. I'll be getting back to the series soon.

Great stuff for October!

recent read; THE CHAINS OF ARES by Frank Schildiner

Frank Schildiner has created a unique character with Marcus Fabius Maximus and his occult adventures in ancient Rome. The historical setting is full of touches that elicit veracity. The club & sword slinging Germanic gladiatrix Kara adds an element of sword-&-sorcery as the duo take on mythic monsters and navigate the turbulent waters of Roman politics.

So, are these stories historical dark fantasy? Occult detective? Sword-&-sorcery?

YES!

Highly recommended! (and looking forward to more of these and other tales from the Schildiner's Worlds!)