I am delighted to have been an editor for this really fun anthology now nominated for Best Pulp Anthology at this years WINDY CITY PULP & PAPER CONVENTION.
Tales of the Interstellar Bartenders Guild is available on Amazon and Pro Se Productions.
To find out what else from Pro Se Productions has been nominated for awards check out our Facebook page.
Thanks for reading,
Ernest Russell
Took a break from book review which I am writing for a new magazine and came across an article in the New York Times, Every Building on Every Block: A Time Capsule of 1930’s New York.
It has some great street scenes from the 1930’s, since an upcoming digest novel coming out later this year and I have two works in progress, its sequel and another new novel, always enjoy looking at the old photos.
One in particular caught my eye and is going to find its way into a work in progress, Tales from The Sleeping Hare, is the Gnome Bakery. It should fit quite nicely into the Pulp Noir Fantasy world.
A quote from the Times article.
“In 1930, a small building on East 59th Street by the Queensboro Bridge was remodeled for the Gnome Bakery. By the time the tax photograph was taken, a retail bake shop in front had been turned into a loading dock for Gnome’s trucks.
Today, Gnome is gone, and the building is dwarfed by postwar apartment houses. Gnome was swallowed up by a larger baking company. After housing a picture-frame maker, an exterminator and a kitchen-supply store, the building became a chiropractor’s office with a rental apartment upstairs that was listed for $14,000 a month in 2015.”
Thanks for reading and sharing a momentary excitement about my writing.
Ernest Russell
(image from Pixabay)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PSYCHEDELIC PULP RETURNS IN THE FABULOUS WORLD OF ZENITH-THE RED DAGGER STRIKES II for 99 CENTS!
Chuck Miller, the creator of The Black Centipede and perhaps the father of Psychedelic Pulp, returns readers to The Fabulous World of Zenith, an original Pro Se Single Shot Signature Series that will examine the world of the Black Centipede, Vionna Valis, Mary Kelly and Doctor Unknown Junior from a variety of strange and oblique angles.
The mystery continues in THE RED DAGGER STRIKES: BOOK TWO. Is the Red Dagger a masked demon filling citizens’ hearts with fear? Or a horrific disease spreading through the world like wildfire? Perhaps a brave hero forced to hide her identity due to some secret? Or a top secret government operation intent on dominating humanity? Only Chuck Miller knows, but every reader will learn the truth if the Fabulous World of Zenith when THE RED DAGGER STRIKES! BOOK TWO. Now Available from Pro Se Productions!
Featuring an atmospheric cover and logo design by Jeffrey Hayes and digital formatting by Antonino Lo Iacono and Marzia Marina, THE FABULOUS WORLD OF ZENITH: THE RED DAGGER STRIKES BOOK TWO is available for 99 cents on Amazon. The second chapter in Miller’s tale is also available to Kindle Unlimited members for free.
The first book of THE RED DAGGER STRIKES is also available on Amazon in digital format.
For more information on this title, interviews with the author, or digital copies for review, contact Kristi Morgan, Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations, at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.
To learn more about Pro Se Productions, visit our website and see our full catalogue. Follow Pro Se on Facebook to keep up to date on new releases and open calls.
This is a rough opening for a work in progress. A short story set in the world of The Three Billy Goats Gruff for an anthology. I think it’s off to a good start. Perspective needs to shift slightly but a good start.
*****
Don’t expect to find dignity in an old bar. Not here. Not at “The Sleeping Hare.”
The sallow light of street-lamps trickled into the darkened room through diamonds of lead panes. The smoke twisted in an artistic way, forming curls in the gloom, illuminated only by the age-speckled bar lights.
The smell has changed over the years. Once it was of cigarette smoke only, the bouquet clung to clothing, skin and furniture alike. Now it is joined by the miasma of stale beer, cheap hooch, body odor and cheaper perfume from the quiff trying to make a buck.
“The Sleeping Hare” was always a den of debauchery, alcoholism and the great unwashed of the town. It still is. No-one comes here with anything wholesome in mind. Probably why the small mountain of a goat sat on the stool by the door. Black, with tufts of grey in his beard, a tight T-shirt highlighted bulging muscles. If he did not look menacing enough, flexing those muscles was often deterrent enough for the occasional trouble maker.
Once upon a time, the place might have had a classy, old world feel. Now nicotine-stained walls, which might have been white, the darkened wood and stained reddish carpet only hinted at what might have been. There are establishments that are more like restaurants now – all clean with waiting staff. Not at “The Sleeping Hare.” Here, you still bellied up to the bar, where along the wall was every hue of amber liquid in their inverted bottles, and caught the barkeeps eye to place your order. Bring your patience though, tortoises are not known for their speed and Tabor is not as fast as he used to be, but he will take care of you.
The thunk of darts and clack of pool balls came from the back of the joint. An addition to the old building the plaster and wood gave way to cinder block walls painted black. Four red felt pool tables commanded the center of the room. They and the dart board lanes in the back of the room brought in almost as the cheap hooch Tabor stocked.
Only one table was in use tonight, a young brown goat crisp white shirt with sleeve holders, thin black tie tossed over his shoulder as he lined up a shot while nearby a ferret in a beret watched, anxiously hoping for a scratch.
Thank you for reading,
Ernest
When My Worlds Collide 