Great art: Rulah by Christina Marie Lacey

We close out today with a Teen Titans style take on the aforementioned Rulah by the Christina Marie Lacey, a.k.a. Glee-chan. Definitely a very different take but still lots of fun!

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's up for June 30, 2017

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

The Dresden Files: Storm Front | Aquaman: The Drowning | Punisher: Black and White | Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince | Bionic

Gandhi was like that! (Kickstart the Week 59)

What if Gandhi's peaceful facade was just his way of avoiding unleashing the monstrous rage beast inside him?

Welcome to the world of Gandhi: The Beast Within. The new graphic novel by Jason Michalski and Antonio Rojo looks to miss hilarity with hijinx as Gandhi goes head to head with none other than Hitler himself.

This looks like a great one for fans of Atomic Robo or just general fans of pure awesome. With six days left, it's just over 50% funded, so head on over to Kickstarter and give it your support.

Have Gun, Will Edit (WIP Wednesday)

Original Pulpsploitation cover by Nik Poliwko.

Not a lot has changed since my last WIP Wednesday update. Writing wise I'm still slowly working through my Moon Chopper story for an upcoming 70s era anthology.

Editing wise, I'm back hard at work on the first Gunmaster novel by Teel James Glenn. This will be the first Pulpsploitation novel to come following the release of the original anthology a couple years ago. Hopefully it will not be the last, as I have plans for more with my own Airboy feature in the future and I've already solicited input by a few other writers and contributors.

That's it for this time around. My hopes are to finish both those projects by the end of the month, which will mean a very new WIP Wednesday next time around!

Cosplay Friday: Shanna the She-Devil

The Jungle Queen is a gimmick nearly as old as comics, but Shanna made the concept part of an extended universe. She's not a character with a ton of great cosplays, but this one makes up for that!

As always, you can check out a lot more great Cosplay pictures over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great cosplay here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's Up for June 16, 2017

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

The Dresden Files: Storm Front | Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Crimson Volume 1 | Ultraviolence

Please feed your independent author

The struggle of being any kind of small press writer, publisher or businessman is always the fight to get more eyes on the work. I have been publishing my own work for years now, but growing the audience has always been my greatest challenge.

First, thank you for following me or reading this blog. But if you enjoy my work, the biggest request I can make to you as a fan is to please head to Amazon and leave a review of my work. Every review helps bring more eyes to the work and every new eye helps makes it easier for me to sell books.

Don't get me wrong, selling books isn't the be all and end all of why I write. I can't imagine not sharing my creations with the world. But the more profitable my writing becomes, the more likely I can focus more of each day on the act of creation.

So please head over to my Amazon Author page, find my books you've read and give them a review.

Cosplay Friday: Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn may be the easiest cosplay ever to find on the internet, but few cosplayers ever really make her their own. Rachel Nycole is an exception to the rule as she truly embodies the character in this and several other shots on her DeviantArt. Harley's been on my mind a bit lately, as I have spent a bit of time of late trying to understand her sudden rise to popularity.

As always, you can check out a lot more great Cosplay pictures over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great cosplay here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's Up for June 9, 2017

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

Countdown | Nightwing: Better Than Batman | Star Wars: Kanan | Moana | We Are Shampoo

Monster motorcyclists and the women that love them (WIP Wednesday)

Chris Hebert's cover for Dino Force.

Since Jim Beard has already hinted at his next project to be published by Metahuman Press, I can reveal that my current PROJECT DEMON is actually a short story called Moon Chopper. The new book is something of a sequel to the Super Swingin 1968 Special. This time the heroes are coming out of the 1970s however and get to play with two of the eras' major tropes: bikers and the supernatural.

Obviously, one such character stands out as a prime example of those combined genres, but I hope I'm making Moon Chopper unique enough that he doesn't just seem a clone of any other ghostly riders.

My new tale will introduce the world to Gordon Bridges, a simple man on the road with a dark secret. After nearly dying, he was given the powers of the Moon Chopper. Now he can transform into a beast of the night, but one with a purpose. His quest to defend the open road often brings him up against dark threats. His only ally is his girl, Friday, an intrepid reporter with a knack for trouble.

While working on that, I'm also giving a second pass to my Dino Force offering. Paolo may be the most unique character on the book, and perhaps the one with the strongest redemption story. I'm hoping it can do justice to the great work T. Mike McCurley, Don Gates and Travis Hiltz are also bringing to the book.

With those two short works filling my time, I am also in the development stage of my next long work. I haven't finalized which book will be my next, but I hope to get to all three works over the rest of 2017. Right now, I don't want to go into any more details on any of them, outside of their codenames: EARTH. FAITH. GRAFT. One of these works will be a sequel to a previous release, but the other two will be all new novels. Of the two others, I expect one might be the first novel I release under a pseudonym. The genre moves outside my usual undertakings and I suspect starting the new series with a new name might be the best way to help get it off the ground.

But that's of course a long way out. For now, I've got some short stories to work on. Wish me luck.

Rabbit Heart is a damned good adventure

On Tuesday, I turn the focus to a book, movie, comic or whatever I think is deserving of more attention. It might be old, it might be new, but it always something worth a look. 

Barry Reese writes some of the best new pulp with his Peregrine, Lazarus Gray and Gravedigger series. But Rabbit Heart takes a different tract for Reese, one with more adult and urban fantasy overtones. In the process, he creates what is in my opinion his best work.

Reese combines slasher movie monsters, typical urban fantasy conceits and the legend of the Wild Hunt to create Fiona Chapman, a woman that learns she's a monster, but uses the revelation to turn herself into the ultimate monster killer. She sets out on a quest to hunt the other monsters of the Wild Hunt, only two of which she runs into over the course of this book.

Sadly, Rabbit Heart reads like the first book in a series but a sequel has never materialized. Reese is on record as being worried about the ever increasing edginess of Fiona when he started to write the sequel, but I for one would love to see what he could do with the character in a new book.

Whether it remains a standalone or eventually spawns sequels, Rabbit Heart is a great read and comes highly recommended.

Pick up Rabbit Heart on Amazon.

Great Art: Wonder Woman by Oliver Nome

With the major movie release of the weekend, it seemed more than sensible to feature this great piece from Oliver Nome, who passed away far too early in March.

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art over on the Tumblr. And while you are admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on SuperPoweredFiction.com this week!

What's Up for June 2, 2017

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)

I haven't had a lot of free time for reading or viewing as of late, but here's a couple quick links of what I have looked at:



Countdown | Black Pulp | Empowered Vol. 2 | Moana Soundtrack

On Cornell

I should have posted something a week ago about the last minute success of Dino Force and the great supporters that brought it to life. I didn't. I should have made at least a mention of my impending move and the need to lay off posting and writing for most of the last 2 weeks. I didn't.

On the 18th of May, Chris Cornell took his own life, whether under the influence or not, ending one of the greatest voices of our generation.

Chris was always a weird artist for me. I can date my first hearing Soundgarden way back to Pump Up the Volume, a surprisingly excellent Christian Slater vehicle from 1990. But it was almost certainly his work alongside Eddie Vedder with the song "Hunger Strike" that made me start to connect with him. I am still a huge fan of Temple of the Dog, the one off project Cornell produced as a tribute to a lost friend. Now it seems to come full circle as Cornell's own friends seek ways to pay tribute to him, much as I seek to do here in my own way.

I always had a fondness for his voice, but I can never say that his work with Soundgarden or Audioslave really were what I wanted from him. "Blow Up the Outside World" and "Be Yourself" are both amazing songs, but I always found the extended catalogs of both bands to be a bit lacking. But with Chris's solo work, I connected the most. His collaboration with Timbaland on the Scream album (as well as the "Scream" single) is one of those great songs that I seemed to connect with even when no one else in the world even seemed to like it.

As I listened back on his work, both alone and with his varied groups, stretching from "Hunger Strike" in 91 until "Never Forget My Broken Heart" last year, it was clear where I saw the connections.

So much of Chris Cornell's music was built around depression. Both living with it and wanting to escape it by any means necessary. I know so many fans that just appreciated the brooding aspect of all of it, but it's something that connected with me on an intimate level. I've fought depression in any number of ways over the years and I could link my mind with the messy images of life Chris brought to life with his lyrics and his always stirring delivery of them.

Chris Cornell knew pain. He channeled pain. He made art of his battle with madness.

God, it feels so familiar.

It's funny that the realization never quite punched me in the face until the world suddenly didn't have Chris Cornell. Already in a miasma with packing and moving, I found myself listening to song after song after song and just feeling the pain he felt everyday and in every word. He delivered those songs in concert often at an insane schedule. It's easy to see how such a thing could catch up with him. His history with self-medication may have been involved, but Cornell never stopped being a man that carried his demons on his shoulder.

He lasted 53 years with those monsters weighing him down. His loss makes me question my own fortitude, but at the same time, his life makes me want to create and thrive. Through the creative process I can find strength. If Chris Cornell's music leaves me one legacy it is that.

Godspeed, Chris.