Tuesday, November 29, 2011
FIGHT FICTION: BEFORE THEY FALL
AT THE BIJOU CONTINUES ITS NOVEMBER GOES NOIR OFFERINGS WITH A TOUGH ADDITION TO FISTICUFFS, PALOOKAS, AND NOIR . . . BEFORE THEY FALL, A TAUGHT TALE FROM PUSHCART NOMINEE KEVIN MICHAELS . . .
It was a short hook to the body that took the fight out of me. A nothing punch in the fifth round – but once it connected the strength and will to go on drained away.
The problem was that I needed to make it through the fifth round so I could go down in the sixth. That’s the way it was supposed to happen and I couldn’t do anything to change that.
Not if I wanted to get off the hook with Matty “Two Fingers” Howard.
And not if I didn’t want bigger problems than the ones I already had.
FOR THE FULL BLOW BY BLOW CLICK HERE
FIGHT FICTION: FIGHT STORIES!
NICK SMITH
Thrilling action from the bloodstained canvas of the fighting ring! Eleven action-packed stories from the pen of no-holds-barred fighting's most exciting writer. Smell the blood and sweat as the toughest and craziest bare knuckle fighters crack heads in 200 pages of Fight Stories!
Cage fights in Newcastle were as crooked as a combatant's nose and made a tidy sum for the local gangsters. But then Ukraine's best heavyweight rolled into town and all bets were off.
Now the crowd would see the real Red Menace. Rozon was the toughest no-rules fighter to leave Brazil. But when he said 'I'll Fight the Devil Himself' he didn't expect it to actually happen! Just how do you fight a demon from hell?
Also includes: Verdun Fight Club 1916; The Dreams of Harry Wilde; The Ninja Scroll; Sucker Punch; The Bearers of Thunder; The Loneliest Place; Brawl by the Beach; Commander Chaos; A Quiet Autumn in Greenfield Village
FIGHT FICTION: FOUL FIGHT WITH A PIT VIPER!
ROBERT EVANS
THE O'QUINN FIGHTS #2
KINDLE EDITION $1.50
Things go awry from the moment Staff Sergeant Mickey O'Quinn arrives in Qatar. SSG O'Quinn, the brawling mixed martial arts fighter from the 4th Infantry Division, finds himself going from rescuing a frightened young American woman to landing in the middle of the toughest and deadliest underground MMA bout of his life. Will O'Quinn win the fight and the girl? Or has he finally taken on too much?
FIGHT FICTION: BASEMENT BRAWL!
ROBERT EVANS
THE O’QUINN FIGHTS #1
KINDLE EDITION $1.99
In this first outing of a new short story series by Staff Sergeant Robert Evans, Sergeant O'Quinn finds himself battling in an underground mixed martial arts fight in Iraq. Is the fight really just two men battling, or is it a setup for something far more dangerous for the American soldiers involved?
FIGHT FICTION: NO FLESH WILL BE SPARED!
THOM CARNELL
KINDLE EDITION $4.99
MMA MEETS ZOMBIES IN THE PIT . . . COOL!
Set in a near future where society has dealt with the global outbreak of the Living Dead, a new highly lucrative international sport, zombie pit fighting, emerges. No Flesh Shall Be Spared is the story of Cleese, his recruitment and rise to supremacy in this violent world where every match could be his last. The Dead will fall. Friends will die. The question that arises is that of Cleese's fate in the ensuing mayhem.
BIONIC BOPPER BOXING ROBOTS
Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots are a classic toy, passed down from parent to child for a few generations. It was a simple dynamic that wormed its way into the hearts of millions. The aim of the game was to control a clunky toy robot, aiming its clunky toy fists at its rival robot’s head until it shot upward. It was a game as simple, and nearly as vicious, as Hungry Hungry Hippos. With time, however, comes innovation and upgrades to classics. Monopoly has gone digital and even Scrabble has had a few facelifts.
The Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em bots have changed a little from their classic look, but never quite like this. These life size bots the size of bumper cars try to make the game all too real. The Bionic Bopper robots allow users to climb inside and control the robot fists much more closely. Of the potentially dangerous robotic duo, their site states:
“These are the motorized boxers controlled by two drivers who battle to deliver chin-lifting uppercuts for victory. Similar to bumper cars, a driver up to 300 lbs. sits inside the robot's protective steel cage cockpit and uses a thumb-triggered button on two independent joysticks to activate two pneumatic-powered, tire-tread-fisted arms, which throw upward punches at an opposing robot's head. A successful hit sends an opposing robot's head back, scoring a point.”
No worries, two friends can duke it out inside some Bionic Boppers without causing any permanent damage. A safety cage shields each user from getting hurt. To get the real Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em experience you’ll just have to get into a regular fist fight. The gas powered boxers, however, do come at a hefty price. A set of two costs a total of $17,000.
TO SEE MORE ON THE BIONIC BOPPERS AT HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER'S PRODUCT SITE CLICK HERE
FIGHT COMICS: SUPER BOXERS ~ JUSTICE BE DONE
A MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL
RON WILSON / JOHN BYRNE / ARMANDO GIL
In the not so distant future corrupt and ineffective governments no longer rule the people of earth. Large corporations such as Aerotech, Ben Clair Oil and Delcosmetics control everything from the police force to sporting events.
For corporate big wigs life is fantastic and everything is at their disposal, but for the masses life is hard and tedious. The only thing that the corporates and the common man have in common is sport and their is only one sport – Super Boxing.
Near superhuman athletes wear body armor, jet boots and superpowered gloves to boost their already considerable attributes to levels so powerful that every bout could end in death. Roman Alexis is the corporate champion born and bred to be the best, undefeated in 200 bouts.
Max Turner is a near perfect specimen who fights in the rough underground rings, he is undefeated except for 2 draws. Max's fierce fighting and impressive record draws the attention of the corporate higher ups who set-up a match between Roman and Max. It's big business versus the common man and only one can survive.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
WAYNE DUNDEE REVIEWS THE CUTMAN!
EXCITING, ENTERTAINING SLICE OF PULP ACTION!
This is the second title in the exciting Fight Card series co-created (and also written, at least for the first two entries) by Paul Bishop and Mel Odom. Like Bishop's Felony Fists, Odom's The Cutman scores an on-the-button KO in the grand old pulp style of the "sports pulp" magazines from the '30s and '40s.
Set in Havana, Cuba, 1954, The Cutman centers on Mickey Flynn, a seaman in port for a few days from the ship Wide Bertha. Mick is a Korean War vet raised in a Chicago orphanage with his brother Patrick. At St. Vincent's Asylum for Boys (aka Our Lady of the Glass Jaw), both brothers were schooled by the nuns, but also educated in the "sweet science" of boxing by Father Tim, the fighting priest.
This background has left Mickey a tough, competent warrior hardened by conflict in the streets, in rings, and on the battlefield. Never looking for trouble, but also never backing down from any, his simple goal these days is to be loyal to his ship, his captain, his crew –and in the process see as much of the world as he can.
Mob-run Havana in the early '50s, however, proves not an easy place for somebody like Mickey Flynn to stay out of trouble. In no time at all, Mick and his shipmates have tangled with some local mob thugs, gotten in a brawl at a club where illegal boxing matches are staged in the back room, and suffered retaliation in the form of having Wide Bertha looted and the captain's entire stash of money ripped off. The only bright spot is the dalliance with a lovely barmaid that Mick manages to fit in, but even that comes with consequences.
In the climactic final battle, to save his ship and maybe his life, Mick must once more climb into the ring and face the mob's top boxer, a savage technician known to enjoy punishing and pounding his opponents into hamburger before he's through with them . . . But then, he's never faced a street-tough, Irish-stubborn, war-tempered student of Fighting Father Tim before.
Odom's writing and pacing are pitch-perfect, the sense of time and place is solid, and the characters are colorful and memorable. Exciting entertainment not to be missed!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
REAL STEEL WINS A SPLIT DECISION - BARLEY!
Like Hugh Jackman’s ancient G2 robot, Atom, I barely went the distance with Real Steel. Because it’s a movie, I want to call it Reel Steel, which I guess is better than Real Steal. And there-in lies the problem, because Real Steel steals every boxing film cliché you can imagine making a film as cobbled together as its silent robot hero – a non-character who gets all the punishment and none of the glory.
However, Real Steel gets the judges’ decision in the end. By the time the last metal punches were being thrown, the music was swelling, and Hugh Jackman was on the verge of redeeming himself, I was caught up in the clichés, as I am every time I see the same boxing formula – I can’t help myself, I love the underdog making a comeback – and, like Rocky before it, Real Steel goes the distance.
COMING ATTRACTIONS PLUGS FIGHT CARD!
THE ONE PLACE FOR ALL HOT PULP RELATED NEWS, COMING ATTRACTIONS, O0UTS OUT A PLUG THIS WEEK FOR FIGHT CARD . . .
Mel Odom and Paul Bishop teamup to create and write the pulp inspired Fight Card series!
The Fight Card series began when Mel Odom released a short story on Kindle which caught the attention of Paul Bishop, a career LAPD detective, who -like himself – grew up on pulps, Gold Medal novels, and the idea of tough guys. They talked about the story, about their mutual loves, and wished that someone still wrote stories like that. Mel and Paul ultimately decided, much to our benefit, that they would write the stories they longed to read.
The series is set in the 1950s. Mel's character, Mickey Flynn, is a merchant marine sailor who's tough as nails. Paul's character is Patrick Flynn, an LAPD detective on Chief Parker's infamous Hat Squad. The brothers grew up in an orphanage in Chicago where they were taught the "sweet science" by Father Tim. The orphanage is nicknamed Our Lady of the Glass Jaw.
Once other writers found out what they were doing, a few of them wanted on board and were granted admission to the club.
Coming up next is Eric Beetner's "Split Decision" in December.
TO CHECK OUT COMING ATTRACTIONS CLICK HERE
Friday, November 18, 2011
KNOPF NOTES REVIEWS FELONY FISTS!
THX TO MYSTERY WRITER AND MEMBER OF THE ELITE HARDBOILED COLLECTIVE, CHRIS KNOPF, FOR THIS GREAT REVIEW OF FELONY FISTS POSTED OVER AT HIS KNOPF NOTES BLOG ...
Welcome to the new Fight Card series by a group of skillful hardboiled artists writing under the name Jack Tunney. In the episode “Felony Fists,” Paul Bishop presents Pat “Felony” Flynn, an orphan raised in the school of hard knocks.
Literally, fighting his way through childhood and the neighborhood, and then during WWII as a ferocious pug who liked nothing better than boxing above his weight. Now back stateside trying to adjust to civvie life, he’s a cop whose honor is more important than his life, and whose loyalty to a family-run boxing gym is more important than anything else.
The story is a period piece, with all the gritty reality that entails, though Flynn is a man who anyone – black, white, hooker or priest – wants to have by their side.
“Felony Fists” is a classic pulp novella that rings true both as an exemplar of the sub-genre (the tone is dead on, though never over-the-top cornball, as these things can go) and a look inside the surprisingly complex experience of big strong men doing everything they can to beat the crap out of each other. If you’re into either or both, it’s a very satisfying read.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
WHY PULP!
E-PUBLISHING GURU AARON PATTERSON LETS ME SPOUT OFF ABOUT NEW PULPS, OLD PULPS, AND WRITING FIGHT FICTION . . .
Far too much of today’s fiction output is bloated filler designed to turn books into 700 page doorstops under the false assumption more is better. If you’re like me, you don’t have the time or patience to plow through 700 pages to read a story better served in 300 pages – or less.
The writers who work on the pulp magazines from back in the day understood this. Their audience wanted stripped down yarn filled with action, twists and turns, all with the point of providing reader satisfaction.
Hero pulps from the ‘30s and ‘40s, such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Avenger, pull major collector’s prices today. To a lesser extent so do the weird menace and aviation pulps. Western pulps can still be had for bargain prices as can many of the romance and sports pulps.
The best of the sports pulps, Fight Card Magazine, however, demands the same high collector’s prices as the popular hero pulps. The stories in Fight Card Magazine were a definite cut above the stories in the multitude of other sports pulps. The most collectible issue of Fight Stories Magazine contain two-fisted tales of Sailor Steve Costigan written by the creator of Conan, Robert E. Howard . . .
FOR THE FULL POST CLICK HERE
IN THE RING WITH ALL PULP!
I TALK SPORTS PULPS AND FIGHT CARD OVER AT ALL PULP . . . NEW PULP’S PREMIERE BLOG . . .
I’ve been a pulp fanatic for as long as I can remember, but not just for the hero pulps. The aviation pulps and the western pulps also caught my imagination along with the sports pulps . . . Wait? Sports pulps?
In my typical walking to the beat of a different drummer way, the sports pulps have become my passion. Street and Smiths Sport Story Magazine, Sports Novels, Fifteen Sports Stories, Dime Sports, and Thrilling Sports were among the best of the many sports pulps that proliferated between the late ‘20s and the mid ‘50s.
FOR THE FULL POST CLICK HERE
ED GORMAN REVIEWS FELONY FISTS!
THANKS TO ED GORMAN FOR REVIEWING FELONY FISTS AND GIVING TWO THUMBS UP TO ‘NEW PULP . . .
As someone who grew up in the Forties and Fifties boxing fiction was almost as familiar to me as detective stories and westerns. Hollywood especially loved boxing material. Some of the movies were extraordinary but most were lame and predictable.
When I read about Paul Bishop’s Felony Fists (under the name Jack Tunney) I wanted to read it because Paul is such a good writer and because he set his story in his hometown, Los Angeles in the historically interesting year of 1954 (Joe McCarthy, mob hearings in the Senate and Ike promising to end the Korean war one way or the other, including dropping the big bomb).
Felony Fists give us the era vividly and it also delivers a knock out story with the protagonist police officer (and amateur boxer) Patrick “Felony” Flynn.
If I had to categorize Felony Fists I’d call it New Pulp. Yes it’s fast paced, honors many pulp tropes and delivers everything pulp readers require but it’s much more realistic than Old Pulp. For one thing Paul Bishop knows boxing and it shows. He also gives headline names like Mickey Cohen real life.
This is a story that just won’t quit. I read it in two sittings and enjoyed every page. And all it cost me was $2.99. Next in the series is Mel Odom’s Cut Man.
FOR THE FULL POST ON ED’S BLOG CLICK HERE
ROUGH EDGES REVIEWS THE CUTMAN!
THANKS TO JAMES REASONER OVER AT HIS ROUGH EDGES BLOG FOR THE HIS REVIEW OF THE CUTMAN . . .
The Cutman, by Mel Odom writing as Jack Tunney, is the second installment of the new Fight Card series, and it's every bit as good as the debut novel, Paul Bishop's Felony Fists.
This one is narrated by Mickey Flynn, brother of Patrick Flynn, the hero of the first book. The Flynn brothers are orphans who grew up at St. Vincent's Orphanage (better known as Our Lady of the Glass Jaw) in Chicago, where they were taught to box by the priest Father Tim. Mickey travels the world as a sailor on the cargo ship Wide Bertha, and as The Cutman opens, the ship is docked at Havana, Cuba, where Mickey and his colorful friends among the crew quickly run afoul of gangsters who have moved in and taken over Havana in those pre-Castro days. The friction escalates until Mick finds himself in the ring battling a vicious boxer who works for one of the local mob kingpins, with the fate of his ship riding on the outcome.
That long, epic battle is a classic, and Mickey Flynn would be right at home next to some of the "iron man" characters who populate Robert E. Howard's boxing stories. There's plenty of local color and tough-guy action, and Odom keeps the story moving along at a great pace. The best thing about this novel, though, is Mick's voice, which is just about perfect.
Like Felony Fists, The Cutman is pure entertainment, and Fight Card is shaping up to be a great series. Highly recommended.
FISTICUFFS, PALOOKAS, AND NOIR!
AT THE BIJOU'S HEAD USHER ABSOLUTELY KATE LEADS YOU TO YOUR PLUSH THEATER SEATS FOR A SCREENING OF PAUL BISHOP'S TAKE ON FISTICUFFS, PALOOKAS, AND NOIR . . . A LOOK AT BOXING MOVIES WITH A NOIR KAYO PUNCH . . .
There’s always the classic femme fatale involved in these tales – usually a high class socialite who gets her slumming hooks into the blue collar fighter and plays him for a sap. She’s usually responsible for pitting the palooka against the mob – you know, the bent-nosed guys looking to take over the fight racket by making the hero take a dive in the 4th round ...
FOR THE FULL POST CLICK HERE
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
BILL CRIDER REVIEWS THE CUTMAN!
I read this one last night. The setting is great, and the first-person narration is right on the money. The final bout between Flynn and Simbari is classic stuff. The fate of the Wide Bertha is riding on the outcome. Great stuff in the pulp tradition . . .
FOR THE FULL POST CLICK HERE
Monday, November 14, 2011
FIGHT CARD DEBUTS!
When I was a kid, I had a soft spot for tough guys. I loved them in the movies, on television, and the guys I met in real life. Okay, maybe I still have a soft spot for them. That’s one of the reasons I loved all the Spenser books Robert B. Parker wrote.
A few years ago, I had a chance to write a boxing novella for an editor, something I’d always wanted to try. That one had a supernatural element to it, but the boxing was clean and the 1950s atmosphere was strong, at least in my opinion. I also loved the first-person voice I came up with for the character and I enjoyed sinking into the world.
At any rate, I released the short story on Kindle and it caught the attention of Paul Bishop, a career LAPD detective, who — like me — grew up on pulps, Gold Medal novels, and the idea of tough guys. We ended up talking about the story, about our mutual loves and wistfully wishing that someone still wrote stories like that. The more we talked, the more we realized we wanted to do that. BTW, Paul is a bestselling writer and a television star as well (Take The Money And Run).
So we decided we would write those stories. We set them back in the 1950s. My character, Mickey Flynn, is a merchant marine sailor who’s tough as nails. Paul’s character is Patrick Flynn, an LAPD detective on Chief Parker’s infamous Hat Squad. The brothers grew up in an orphanage in Chicago where they were taught the “sweet science” by Father Tim. The orphanage is nicknamed Our Lady of the Glass Jaw.
Once other writers found out what we were doing, a few of them wanted on board and we gladly let them. (There were a lot of orphans that went through Our Lady of the Glass Jaw!) Next up is Eric Beetner’s Split Decision, and that will be out in December.
These beautiful covers are by Keith Birdsong.
Paul and I had a lot of fun with these first two books, and we’re already planning the next round for our characters. So if you like tough guys, boxing, noir, crime stories, and pulps, I hope you’ll find something in these books that you like. Let us know.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
ROUGH EDGES REVIEWS FELONY FISTS!
THANKS TO JAMES REASONER OVER AT HIS ROUGH EDGES BLOG FOR THE FIRST REVIEW OF FELONY FISTS . . .
The eagerly-awaited Fight Card series makes its debut with the novel Felony Fists, written by Paul Bishop under the house-name Jack Tunney. Set in 1954, an era that really resonates with me, it's the story of Patrick "Felony" Flynn, a Los Angeles cop who's also an amateur boxer. Flynn gets a chance to combine those two parts of his life when he's offered a promotion to Detective that involves him taking down a fighter owned by gangster Mickey Cohen, thereby thwarting Cohen's attempt to take over the boxing game in LA.
As if that's not enough for Flynn to deal with, Bishop also includes counterfeiting, kidnapping, and a beautiful redheaded torch singer, as well as setting up the back-story for the rest of the series, which will be written by assorted top-notch hardboiled authors. He does a great job of capturing the time period with its swanky nightclubs, sweaty boxing gyms, and seedy back alleys. The story races along at a fine pace, culminating in an epic battle in the ring between Flynn and Cohen's fighter.
Boxing scenes are harder to write than you might think, but Bishop makes the action easy to follow for the reader, as well as skillfully mixing the fisticuffs with the hardboiled crime angle. I haven't read a lot of boxing fiction – Robert E. Howard's boxing stories are some of my favorites among his work, and the Battlin' Jack Murdock scenes in Daredevil #1 by Stan Lee and Bill Everett are still etched in my mind more than forty years later – but Bishop's efforts here are right up there with those yarns. Felony Fists is a great debut for what promises to be a highly entertaining series.
And next up is The Cutman, by Mel Odom writing as Jack Tunney.
FIGHT CARD ~ AVAILABLE NOW!
THE NEW PULPTASTIC SERIES FIGHT CARD, CREATED BY MYSELF AND FELLOW WRITER MEL ODOM (UNDER THE PSEUDONYM JACK TUNNEY), IS INSPIRED BY THE FIGHT PULPS OF THE '30s AND '40s, SUCH AS FIGHT STORIES MAGAZINE AND THE SAILOR STEVE COSTIGAN TALES WRITTEN BY ROBERT E. HOWARD . . .
THE FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE SERIES, FELONY FISTS (PAUL BISHOP) AND THE CUTMAN (MEL ODOM) ARE AVAILABLE NOW . . .
FIGHT CARD: THE CUTMAN
JACK TUNNEY
Havana, Cuba. 1954.
Mickey Flynn is an ex-Korean War vet turned merchant marine. He was born in the ghettos of Chicago and raised in an orphanage with his younger brother, Patrick. He was one of several young men who received an education from the nuns at St. Vincent’s.
But he was also taught the "sweet science" by Father Tim, a Golden Gloves boxer and retired police officer who only knew one way to bring a troubled boy to manhood. Father Tim worked with his young charges, taught them how to jab and punch and throw a hook that seemed to come out of nowhere. When the young men left St. Vincent's (Our Lady of the Glass Jaw), they were changed, fit and ready to take on the troubles the encountered around the world, no matter where they found them.
Now Mick's in Havana, working on WIDE BERTHA, his ship. After surviving a fierce storm at sea, the last thing Mick and the crew need to do is get crossways with the Italian organized crime flooding Havana, but it doesn't take much to put him in the cross hairs of a vengeful mob boss working for Lucky Luciano.
Unable to get free of bad luck and unfortunate circumstance, Mick ends up in the ring in an illegal boxing match fighting a human killing machine.
JACK TUNNEY
Los Angeles 1954
Patrick “Felony” Flynn has been fighting all his life. Learning the “sweet science” from Father Tim the fighting priest at St. Vincent’s, the Chicago orphanage where Pat and his older brother Mickey were raised, Pat has battled his way around the world – first with the Navy and now with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Legendary LAPD chief William Parker is on a rampage to clean up both the department and the city. His elite crew of detectives known as The Hat Squad is his blunt instrument – dedicated, honest, and fearless. Promotion from patrol to detective is Pat’s goal, but he also yearns to be one of the elite.
And his fists are going to give him the chance.
Gangster Mickey Cohen runs LA’s rackets, and murderous heavyweight Solomon King is Cohen’s key to taking over the fight game. Chief Parker wants wants Patrick “Felony” Flynn to stop him – a tall order for middleweight ship’s champion with no professional record.
Leading with his chin, and with his partner, LA’s first black detective Tombstone Jones, covering his back, Patrick Flynn and his Felony Fists are about to fight for his future, the future of the department, and the future of Los Angeles.
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