My Blog

Retirement. Publishers, thank you for the many years of reading pleasure you gave me, but all good things must come to an end. Due to failing eyesight I am forced to retire. I can no longer review your books, and any that you send will be donated to the local library, unread. Do not send any more. I can only read for a couple hours every day, and this does not allow me to finish a book in reasonable time. I will be devoting time to my own books from now on, and reading on a personal level. Books that interest me. I prefer paperbacks and hardbacks, not eBooks. My eyesight has been failing the last few years, and I cannot handle hundreds of review books any more. My books are still available for review. Anyone interested in reviewing any of them, they are found in the Link to Tom’s Books On Amazon. Contact me for pdf copies at fadingshadows40@gmail.com

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Ghost Dance

Now Available From NTD
Ghost Dance,
 by Rod Marsden
Paperback: $13.95
eBook: $4.99
website: www.bloodredshadow.com
 
If Helen Kiln wanted a quiet life she should never have become a psychic for the PSI division of the Secret Compass. Of late there were ghosts to sort out, vampires running amok, a Gypsy warning to heed and a young man becoming a monster to befriend. With any luck she’d get in her morning cup of coffee and donuts.  Frank Burkhard, a young man, and Petra Card, a female vampire, were expected in Worms (Voems), Germany where they were going to try to save the world. There was also a warlock out to save humanity by killing off many people. In all of this Helen could envisage, through her powers, a dead man about to make a stand. Helen knew this for a certainty. It just wasn’t clear to her who it was going to be. 

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Betrothal, Betrayal, And Blood

Betrothal, Betrayal, And Blood
By JoAnna Senger
Now available from Amazon and www.bloodredshadow.com
$15.50
How does a small, self-contained city react to a brutal murder in its only tourist attraction? Hush it up? Blame an unknown outsider? Find a scapegoat? Then what? Ask Karl Kelly and Vito Kostowki, San Tobino detectives baffled by the outrageous murders of various visitors to Milady’s Manor: nothing taken, nothing left behind, unrelated victims, no clues. Milady’s Manor puts San Tobino on the map due to its 200 rooms each lavishly decorated according to a unique theme. But what if tourists stop coming? However, not all the citizens concern themselves with the local tourist industry. Some of them are too buy shopping. Or having affairs. Or covering up murder.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Double Danger Tales #64 On Kindle

Compere had not been able to get Peggy away from the door leading to the stairwell, and he knew that danger lay in that direction. He increased his deadly fire, but had become a non-moving target himself. A bullet from one of the gangster’s guns clipped the little gas container on his belt, and suddenly two skull-faced apparitions appeared, one on each wrist of his hands. With a slight movement of his wrists, the gas-filled balloons were disconnected and flew from his outstretched arms with a loud hiss, each flying in opposite directions.

The appearance of the banshees was so sudden, gangsters turned their fire on the two escaping gas balloons, and Compere accounted for another four hoodlums as their guns had been diverted from him.

Unfortunately, his luck was running out. He heard a light sound from behind, a short sigh from Peggy, and then he felt the cold hard steel of the barrel of a revolver digging into his spine. A vicious voice grunted from behind, "Drop your cannons, friend, or this girl gets a bullet in the head!"

Now available on Kindle for $.99. For the eBook edition we've gone with a different cover than the print copy, which is still available from Fading Shadows at $10.00 postpaid in the U.S..

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Bob Larkin Sketchbook

STARWARP CONCEPTS
P.O. BOX 4667 • SUNNYSIDE, NY 11104
www.starwarpconcepts.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



 “THE BOB LARKIN SKETCHBOOK” DEBUTS

StarWarp Concepts Presents Legendary Artist’s First Pencil-Art Collection


He’s created some of comics’ most iconic images—a snarling Hulk raising a green-hued fist in anger, Conan the Barbarian strangling an enemy, even the disco-inspired first-issue cover for The Dazzler—and inspired some of the industry’s most popular artists.

From Doc Savage and Spider-Man to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock, from the Planet of the Apes to Babylon 5 and Star Wars, and from James Cameron’s low-budget epic Piranha II to William Shatner’s directorial turn on Star Trek V, there’s little that artist Bob Larkin hasn’t painted. But few of his fans have ever seen the incredible pencil drawings that begin these eye-catching pieces—until now.

Available exclusively from independent publishing house StarWarp Concepts, THE BOB LARKIN SKETCHBOOK is the acclaimed artist’s first collection of pencil art, featuring superheroes, wrestling stars, and pulp adventurers—including a pair of brand-new Doc Savage sketches exclusive to this volume! For more information, please visit www.StarwarpConcepts.com.


CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR BOB LARKIN:

“Nothing was more inspiring to me as a young wannabe comics artist than to become like Bob Larkin and try my best to breathe life into dreams like he did.”
Alex Ross,
in The Savage Art of Bob Larkin (SQP Inc.)

“Larkin’s magazine and paperback covers are both legendary and iconic. There are few pop culture touchstones which this artist hasn’t depicted with his unique and powerful style of illustration.”
Bud’s Art Books

“Long before Alex Ross, Bob Larkin became the first major painter to be known for superhero covers, thanks to his work on Marvel’s magazine covers.”
ComicMix.com

“Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, if you saw Bob Larkin’s name on the cover to a magazine or comic, you simply had to have it…. This is a guy that’s never truly received the credit for being one of the best all-time cover artists.”
Shotgun Reviews

“To try and deny the awesomeness of Bob Larkin’s art is to deny your very existence. It is impossible.”
Marvel.com


About the Artist:
BOB LARKIN has provided cover artwork for every major U.S. book-publishing house, from Ace Books and Simon & Schuster to Random House and Penguin; movie posters for Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, and New Line Cinema; and comic book covers for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Warren Publishing. A highly praised successor to renowned painter James Bama as cover artist for Bantam Books’ Doc Savage pulp series, Larkin’s talents have been acclaimed by colleagues and art fans around the world.


About the Book:
The Bob Larkin Sketchbook
by Bob Larkin                                             
Published by StarWarp Concepts
24 pages, digest (5.5” x 8.5”)
Price: $12.00 U.S.

THE BOB LARKIN SKETCHBOOK™ and © 2011 Bob Larkin.
All rights reserved.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Fight Card: Felony Fists

Fight Card: Felony Fists
By Jack Tunney (Paul Bishop)
Kindle Edition $2.00
Fight Car Productions
Rating 5 Stars

“Let’s make this look good,” I said. We parted and King tagged me with a right uppercut as I moved away. I hadn’t meant that good.

Patrick “Felony” Flynn was known as the giant killer. Coming out of the Navy, where he had fought anyone put up against him, he had never went down. Now a cop in L.A., his boss wants to stop mobster Mickey Cohen’s grab for control of the fight mecca. Taking Flynn’s badge, he offers him another one – Detective! But the giant killer had to take down Cohen’s contender, King. The mobster has other ideas, however, and before the fight, the daughter of Flynn’s friend is kidnapped and held hostage. If Flynn doesn’t throw the fight, she will die.

It has been a long time since we had a good boxing magazine or series, and the genre is sorely missed. Fight Card Productions has began a new series of boxing stories by various authors under the Jack (Dempsey) (Gene) Tunney pseudonym. For the fight fan, Paul Bishop’s “Felony Fist” is the Main Event!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Master of Madness

Coming soon from Altus Press, Steve Payne's original Secret Agent X novel, first published in serial format in DOUBLE DANGER TALES #1, 2 & 3 (February, March, and April 1997). "Master of Madness" was the first Secret Agent X novel in fifty years, quickly followed by two more exciting novels by Steve of the Man of A Thousand Faces. Altus Press previously published one of his other "X" novels, and plans are for the third one to follow later.

Steve is a fan of both G.T. Fleming-Roberts, and of Secret Agent X, and is an expert on the pulp character. He is hard at work on new adventures of "X", and I expect we will see some high adventures of this exciting character return soon.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Bob Larkin


BOB LARKIN: THE ILLUSTRATED MAN
Founders: Courtney Rogers • Scotty Phillips
http://boblarkin.blogspot.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



“BOB LARKIN: THE ILLUSTRATED MAN”

WEB SITE LAUNCHES

Online Gallery of Acclaimed Artist’s Work Debuts


BOB LARKIN has provided cover artwork for every major U.S. book-publishing house, from Ace Books and Simon & Schuster to Random House and Penguin; movie posters for Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, and New Line Cinema; and comic book covers for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Warren Publishing, and now Boom! Studios. Renowned for his work as successor to legendary painter James Bama’s cover artistry for Bantam Books’ Doc Savage pulp series, Larkin’s talents have been acclaimed by colleagues and art fans around the world.

Now, those fans can find his work on display at the Web site “Bob Larkin: The Illustrated Man.” Launched on January 6, 2012 by longtime fans Scotty Phillips and Courtney Rogers, the site displays the book, comic, and magazine covers, movie posters, and toy packaging art that has inspired a generation of artists.

“Why a Bob Larkin blog?” asked Rogers. “Three reasons: First, because Bob’s prodigious amount of artistic output deserves to be collected all in one place, to enable fans and art lovers to go to one source and see an incredible amount of varied material. Second, Bob's talent is simply amazing; his work is deserving of being shared and marveled at. And third—and probably most important—because Bob is just the greatest person around and he deserves the attention and accolades.”

For more information, please visit http://boblarkin.blogspot.com.


CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR BOB LARKIN:
“Larkin’s magazine and paperback covers are both legendary and iconic. There are few pop culture touchstones which this artist hasn’t depicted with his unique and powerful style of illustration.”
Bud’s Art Books

“Long before Alex Ross, Bob Larkin became the first major painter to be known for superhero covers, thanks to his work on Marvel’s magazine covers.”
ComicMix.com

“Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, if you saw Bob Larkin’s name on the cover to a magazine or comic, you simply had to have it…. This is a guy that’s never truly received the credit for being one of the best all-time cover artists.”
Shotgun Reviews

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Attack of The Flying Spiders


Attack of The Flying Spiders (SF/Horror)
By Charlie Meadows
ISBN #None
Atomic Publishing www.atomicpublishing.net
170 Pages
Price $5.99
Size: 3.5 x 5 Paperback
Rating 5 Stars

Wonderfully Fun!

Before reading this book, I let my mind wander back to the 1950s. It’s a Friday night in 1957, and I’m 17 years old. I pick up my high school sweetheart in my hotrod ’47 Ford coupe and head for the edge of town. The Drive-In is a dollar a car load, but it’s just the two of us. Finding an empty space, I park and turn the speaker on at the post, then put my arm around her as the movie begins to play on the big screen up front. As I turn my head to kiss her, my girl’s eyes get big as saucers, then she screams …

Inside a secret laboratory in the New Mexico desert in 1957, something very terrible has gone wrong. A scientist and his beautiful lab technician are suddenly menaced by an experiment out of control. Breeding a species of giant flying spiders for military use, the beasts have somehow escaped their cages. There is nothing that can stop them, and soon the monsters leave the facility and head for the nearby town, where they begin a campaign of terror; their fangs dripping venom as they spin a cocoon of black web around everything. The creatures were bred for warfare. The scientist was breeding them as weapons against an enemy, but their weapon was turning on their creators.

This short novel took me back to the 1950s, when I was a teenager, taking dates to the drive-in theaters, and watching those wonderful old B-sci-fi movies with giant spiders, insects, and reptiles. I could imagine this story playing out on the screen while I was trying to steal a kiss from my date. The author captures that period perfectly as he weaves a wonderfully scary tale to frighten your date. And like those old movies that entertained us for a few hours, this book was impossible to put down until the last page!

Tom Johnson, Editor
Fading Shadows

Monday, January 16, 2012

Pulp Boxing Novel

An uppercut seared Danny’s chest. His lungs felt like they were stuffed with hot ashes. He took a wild swing and connected. Cardona’s nose collapsed with a sluggish flow of crimson, and now it was the Italian’s turn to hold on to his opponent, crowding him into a corner.
            A hook drove home near Danny’s heart, and the wind shortened instantly. He tried to get up on his toes, to stay away and jab the cook off his balance. But there was no life in his reflexes now. Cardona forced his guard down and nailed him on the cheekbone. Donovan tried to clinch again, but Cardona stepped away and Danny’s knees buckled, dropping him to the mat.
            The referee’s voice picked up the count, and with each stroke Danny could hear the words drumming against his ears – “You cops ain’t so tough without a gun, Donovan!”
            “Get up, punk!” Cardona yelled. “I’m not through pounding on you yet. Get up and take it, damn you!”
            Danny got one knee under him and one glove on the ropes, pulling himself up just before the count of ten by Calvin, the tall, broad-shouldered referee.

A top boxing novel.

Pulp goes Top Secret in this military comedy drama set in Europe during the height of the Cold War. A group of misfit MPs must confront spies and the black market while dealing with a boxing tournament on Post! Not since M*A*S*H* and Soldier In The Rain have we been treated to an inside look at military life with a touch of humor by a soldier who actually experienced it.

COLD WAR HEROES by Tom Johnson is loosely based on the author’s experience with the 202nd Military Police Company in France during the 1960s.

Available on Amazon and Kindle.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Double Danger Tales #64 Now Available

Captured

Compere had not been able to get Peggy away from the door leading to the stairwell, and he knew that danger lay in that direction. He increased his deadly fire, but had become a non-moving target himself. A bullet from one of the gangster’s guns clipped the little gas container on his belt, and suddenly two skull-faced apparitions appeared, one on each wrist of his hands. With a slight movement of his wrists, the gas-filled balloons were disconnected and flew from his outstretched arms with a loud hiss, each flying in opposite directions.

The appearance of the banshees was so sudden, gangsters turned their fire on the two escaping gas balloons, and Compere accounted for another four hoodlums as their guns had been diverted from him.

Unfortunately, his luck was running out. He heard a light sound from behind, a short sigh from Peggy, and then he felt the cold hard steel of the barrel of a revolver digging into his spine. A vicious voice grunted from behind, "Drop your cannons, friend, or this girl gets a bullet in the head!"

Now available from Fading Shadows, DOUBLE DANGER TALES #64, featuring two pulp crime mysteries by Tom Johnson in a 4 x 7 paperback: Murder Town and The Legend. Until these start selling, the series is being published in a limited run. $7.95, plus $2.25 postage (in the U.S.). For this initial run, book and postage is $10.00. Contact Fading Shadows at fadingshadows40@gmail.com for ordering information.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Great Minds Interview

Hello Tom, thank you so much for honoring us with this interview. My first question is, being a 'voracious' reader from such an early age, what were some of your all time favorite books you ever read?

Tom: The Classics come to mind. White Fang, Call of The Wild, Heidi, Tom Sawyer, Robin Hood, and King Solomon’s Mines. All the classic literature gave me adventures in foreign lands with exciting tales of daring-do.

Tell us about your style of writing and some of the influences that helped you along the way.

Tom: Plot is very important to me, but I think my stories are stronger in character development. Probably the best way to describe my writing style is to refer you to “purple prose”, which was a tag given to the early mass market magazine writers earning a half cent a word for their fiction. They had to use every adjective, verb and adverb in the English language to add word count to stories in order to feed and support families. Today, editors want shorter, tighter sentences, without a lot of throwaway words. But I try to stick little helpers in when they’re not looking. I still enjoy reading a purple prose story from the 1930s and ‘40s. Sure, today you could cut that 60,000-word novel down to a 40,000-word novelette, but what would be the fun in that?

How did your military career help you in your writing career?

Tom: I was raised in farm and ranch communities, and my dad wanted me to be a cowboy like him, but I saw how he struggled in life and wanted more than that. The military offered the opportunity to see the world, and meet other people and learn new customs. Plus, the Army taught soldiers discipline. The life I experienced in the service was an education I could never have obtained as a cowboy. Don’t get me wrong, God Bless the farmers and cowboys. It just wasn’t the life I wanted. When writing stories of other lands, I can describe people and places from actual experience. And for someone with an imagination like me, I could see dinosaurs and lost civilizations in the jungle of Vietnam.

You are a very blessed man having married the love of your life and in turn having been gifted by your son with six beautiful granddaughters. Tell us how they feel about your writing and do you look to them for critiques?

Tom: Sadly, our son and granddaughters have very little interest in my writing. My wife and I were involved in small press publishing for many years while our son was growing up, and being that close to it may have turned him off. He never had the interest, and our granddaughters are at the age where “boys” are more important than anything else (lol).

Who are some of your most important inspirations as far as authors go?

Tom: There were many. I was seven years old when I first discovered Batman and Superman comic books, and they helped me learn to read while introducing me to heroes. Sometime around age ten or eleven, one of my fourth grade teachers gave me a real book to read, I guess to get me away from comic books. That book was “Doctor Hudson’s Secret Journal” by Lloyd C. Douglas. It was my first real fiction, and it fascinated me! Doctor Hudson was a doctor in a small community, and the book was episodic stories of the families he cared for. Written in short story format, each episode told a tale about a different family and their problems. A friend of the family saw me reading the book, and a few days later brought me a box filled with classic literature. From that day on, I wanted to read. Other influences would come later. As a teenager, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer turned me on the tough guy detective novels. George O. Smith’s “Pattern For Conquest” introduced me to science fiction, and I’ve never forgiven him (g). By my early twenties I had discovered the African adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard. The world of fiction allowed me to travel to faraway lands.

What is your most recent work, and what plans do you have for the near future?

Tom: Altus Press just released my nonfiction book, “G-Man Companion”, and NTD released my short story collection, “Pulp Echoes”. Currently, I’m working on the 30th Anniversary issue of our hobby magazine, Echoes. I hope to have this out by June 2012. I’m also assisting my wife with her series of anthologies, “Tales of Masks & Mayhem”, and will have a short story in each of the upcoming issues.

If you were to ever consider writing another genre, what would it be and why?

Tom: Hum. I dabble with action, adventure, western, science fiction, mystery, and costumed heroes already. Perhaps swashbuckling might be my next endeavor. I’ve always liked pirates and Zorro, and that genre. I’m not very good at writing romance, so I’m staying away from that one. Every time I throw a romantic scene into one of my stories, my wife quickly tells me, “That isn’t romantic.”

Besides your wonderful family and writing career, what do you consider to be your most prized accomplishment?

Tom: My greatest accomplishment is succeeding in life, and I owe that to my family and twenty years in the military. I don’t regret leaving the farm and ranch for the Army. Although I may have been a disappointment to my father, I achieved more than he could ever dream of in his short life.

Here's a fun question, off the top of your head, name one of your most embarrassing moments.

Tom: Wow! The one that comes to mind happened five or six years ago. I was attaching a birdhouse to a limb, and I had to reach up. As I stretched, my pants fell down to my knees. Our next-door neighbor lady was standing in her yard watching me at the time, and I’ve never lived that down. Every time I see her, she reminds me about that incident, and she is now close to her 90s.

Do you have any advice you'd like to share with other aspiring authors?

Tom: Yes, never give up your dreams. I wrote my first two novels in 1970 and hired a professional typist to type the first one into manuscript. After several rejections, I put the manuscripts in a drawer where they gathered dust while I did other things. In 2002, a friend I had published in one of our genre magazines emailed to say she was now the head editor of a publishing house, and asked if I had any unsold novels I might want to submit. I immediately dusted off the first manuscript and mailed it off. It was accepted, and they wanted the second one, which was still in long hand. This time I typed it and mailed it off, and started work on the third. I think I’m a better writer today, than I was in 1970. That comes from practicing and learning the craft. So write every day, even if it’s a daily diary.

Do you have any special hobbies or community activity that you would like to mention?

Tom: While in school I wanted to become either a paleontologist or entomologist, but the military changed that when they put me in the military police career field. However, I retained my love for both sciences, and studied and wrote on the subjects over the years. My wife and I have both been involved in the local writer’s group and Arts And Enrichment Council, helping to bring entertainment to our small community. These consist of stage plays and radio reenactments. We were also involved with the Chamber of Commerce for a while, but are slowing down now.

Thank you so much Tom for your time with this interview, I hope to be able to do another one soon!

Tom: It was my pleasure, Kitty.