James Bojaciuk
Showing posts with label doc savage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doc savage. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
And Now, an Open Letter from Anthony Tollin
I have enjoyed the reprints from Mr. Tollin for some years now. I am honestly shocked by the things that Nostalgia Ventures is doing. Also there is a sick feeling in my gut because I bought some of these "Sale pulps" that Nostalgia Ventures was printing. Admittedly, I had no idea of their duplicity, but it still makes me sick to know, that in some small way, I was a part of their criminal actions.
Before we get to the letter, I want to applaud Conde Nast for honoring their verbal agreement with Walter Gibson in that the Gibson family would be given a share of all future profits derived from The Shadow. It is truly a rare thing to see decency like that in today's business world
Now to Mr. Tollin.
James B.
An open letter to the pulp community:
For those taking advantage of the discounted SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE volumes at Half-Price Books, please be aware
that Nostalgia Ventures began remaindering these books last summer in direct violation of its sub-contract with
me. Also, as of today (July 22, 2009), Nostalgia Ventures has still not paid royalties to either Condé Nast or me for any books it has sold since July 1st, 2008. (A semi-annual royalty payment was due back in February, and
another six months of royalties are coming due in August.) There is a very good reason why Nostalgia Ventures/Nostalgiatown is no longer co-publishing these books, and it involves a continuing series of contract violations.
And for anyone who may not be sympathetic because Condé Nast is a huge corporation, please be aware that Condé
Nast has chosen to continue the oral agreement it had for decades with Walter Gibson, and is splitting its royalties for the SHADOW reprints with Walter's family. This is an extremely rare and decent act that is quite unusual in the publishing world.
I think my SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE double-novel trade paperbacks are a great value at the $12.95 cover price.
Obviously, the books are an even better value at discounted prices. However, please be aware that purchasing these books from either Half-Price Books or Nostalgiatown does nothing to encourage the continuation of these series. And since Nostalgia Ventures still hasn't paid its contract-required royalties for any of the books it has sold during the past 12 1/2 months, the money from Nostalgia Ventures' and Half-Price Books' sales also hasn't been continuing on to Walter Gibson's family.
It's not necessary to purchase THE SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE directly from Sanctum Books to support the ongoing
publishing operation and encourage the continuation of these reprints. Bud Plant Comic Art, Adventure House, Mike Chomko, Vintage Library, Girasol, Edge Books, The Mysterious Bookshop and any comic specialty shop that orders its books from Diamond Comic Distributors all get their books either directly or indirectly through Sanctum Books (which continues to make its regular royalty payments to Condé Nast and would like to continue publishing these reprints for many more years).
Please feel free to forward this message on to other pulp-oriented email groups.
--Anthony Tollin
Sanctum Books
Before we get to the letter, I want to applaud Conde Nast for honoring their verbal agreement with Walter Gibson in that the Gibson family would be given a share of all future profits derived from The Shadow. It is truly a rare thing to see decency like that in today's business world
Now to Mr. Tollin.
James B.
An open letter to the pulp community:
For those taking advantage of the discounted SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE volumes at Half-Price Books, please be aware
that Nostalgia Ventures began remaindering these books last summer in direct violation of its sub-contract with
me. Also, as of today (July 22, 2009), Nostalgia Ventures has still not paid royalties to either Condé Nast or me for any books it has sold since July 1st, 2008. (A semi-annual royalty payment was due back in February, and
another six months of royalties are coming due in August.) There is a very good reason why Nostalgia Ventures/Nostalgiatown is no longer co-publishing these books, and it involves a continuing series of contract violations.
And for anyone who may not be sympathetic because Condé Nast is a huge corporation, please be aware that Condé
Nast has chosen to continue the oral agreement it had for decades with Walter Gibson, and is splitting its royalties for the SHADOW reprints with Walter's family. This is an extremely rare and decent act that is quite unusual in the publishing world.
I think my SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE double-novel trade paperbacks are a great value at the $12.95 cover price.
Obviously, the books are an even better value at discounted prices. However, please be aware that purchasing these books from either Half-Price Books or Nostalgiatown does nothing to encourage the continuation of these series. And since Nostalgia Ventures still hasn't paid its contract-required royalties for any of the books it has sold during the past 12 1/2 months, the money from Nostalgia Ventures' and Half-Price Books' sales also hasn't been continuing on to Walter Gibson's family.
It's not necessary to purchase THE SHADOW and DOC SAVAGE directly from Sanctum Books to support the ongoing
publishing operation and encourage the continuation of these reprints. Bud Plant Comic Art, Adventure House, Mike Chomko, Vintage Library, Girasol, Edge Books, The Mysterious Bookshop and any comic specialty shop that orders its books from Diamond Comic Distributors all get their books either directly or indirectly through Sanctum Books (which continues to make its regular royalty payments to Condé Nast and would like to continue publishing these reprints for many more years).
Please feel free to forward this message on to other pulp-oriented email groups.
--Anthony Tollin
Sanctum Books
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Mad Goblin--Review
Title: The Mad Goblin
Author: Philip Jose Farmer
Publisher: Ace Books
Copyright: 1970
This Doc Savage pastiche has a lot going for it. Its very well written. The characters are remarkably well drawn and jump off the page. (Although this is as much as Dent's responsibility as Farmer's) Enough action to make any red blooded teenage boy happy, and lastly a pretty good plot.
But it fumbles in the last thirty pages after Doc Caliban and his men get to England. Too bad it never really recovers.
A lot has been said about how to fit this into Wold Newton continually. While it is tempting to say "Chuck It" it has too much attachment to the rest for that. So, what to do?
I personally like the theory that Grandrith and Caliban are copys of Tarzan and Doc Savage raised by The Nine to A. Assist them in maintaining control of the world. and B. To kill the real Tarzan and Doc Savage (which failed)
How does this book stack up:
Prose:A-
Plot:B
Characterization:A+
Final Grade: B
Thats my one in the morning review of Philip Jose Farmer's The Mad Goblin
Author: Philip Jose Farmer
Publisher: Ace Books
Copyright: 1970
This Doc Savage pastiche has a lot going for it. Its very well written. The characters are remarkably well drawn and jump off the page. (Although this is as much as Dent's responsibility as Farmer's) Enough action to make any red blooded teenage boy happy, and lastly a pretty good plot.
But it fumbles in the last thirty pages after Doc Caliban and his men get to England. Too bad it never really recovers.
A lot has been said about how to fit this into Wold Newton continually. While it is tempting to say "Chuck It" it has too much attachment to the rest for that. So, what to do?
I personally like the theory that Grandrith and Caliban are copys of Tarzan and Doc Savage raised by The Nine to A. Assist them in maintaining control of the world. and B. To kill the real Tarzan and Doc Savage (which failed)
How does this book stack up:
Prose:A-
Plot:B
Characterization:A+
Final Grade: B
Thats my one in the morning review of Philip Jose Farmer's The Mad Goblin
Sunday, February 22, 2009
An Essay on Doc & The Shadow
For my English class we had to do a one page comparative essay. For some reason all my serious
ones were dropped for being far too broad.
I had 24 hours to think of a final report. My eyes fell on the Doc Savage paperback I had been reading, a desperate idea popped into my head and I ran with it. Just agumenting what was in my head with some books and websites.(I'm pretty sure I had the largest Works Cited list out of the entire class)
On this paper I got an A- for some grammeral errors and an incomplete sentence. I have not changed them for this blog.
Doc Savage Vs The Shadow
During the dark days of the Great Depression, two very different heroes began their crusades against crime and injustice. The Shadow, Master of darkness, settled mobsters’ scores with blazing automatics and a haunting, mocking laugh. Doc Savage, Man of Bronze, who was dedicated to wiping out evil through the use of science.
Both Doc Savage and The Shadow had assistants in his war. While The Shadow’s aides followed his instructions to the letter, Savage’s might disobey him. As seen in this excerpt from The Gold Ogre by Kenneth Robeson:
“Doc Savage shouted, “No Unnecessary killings!” It was his policy never to take a life if it could possibly be avoided. If Monk heard, he pretended not to, Monk not being entirely in sympathy with the bronze man’s respect for the lives of gentlemen such as Vick Francks…bullets began moving in quantities.”
Doc Savage preferred not to kill criminals, instead as he caught them, they were sent to his “Crime College” where they would be rehabilitated and “cured” of their criminal tendencies by the extreme method of brain surgery. This operation was the near equivalent of a lobotomy. As contrast, in Serpents of Siva by Maxwell Grant:
“[The Shadow’s] guns ripped from the instant the first thug entered…bullets were pounding those brass-faced walls. Crooks were dropping, with smoking guns in their fists.”
Savage operated with the full support of the government (although they knew nothing of the Crime College.) He and all of his men carried cards that guaranteed the full cooperation of any American law enforcement agency, and several foreign organizations.
While Savage did battle from the gleaming peaks of New York’s skyscrapers, The Shadow ran his crusade against crime from the darkness shaded alleyways and decrepit buildings where malevolence lurked. He had no help from the government, local or national, nor did he seek it. Unlike Savage, The Shadow did not bend the rules for justice, He broke them outright, in order in insure that the criminal learned that “Crime does not pay”
Both Doc Savage and The Shadow used a large array of gadgets. Savage’s were things that would not be invented for decades to come like, automated telephone answering machines, Bullet-proof vests, and a radar-like tracking device. While The Shadow’s were more mundane with things along the lines of mini-flashlights, grappling hooks, and magic tricks such as gunpowder flashes from his hands.
Oddly enough both made peculiar sounds. Doc Savage made a strange trilling sound whenever he was intrigued. The Shadow scorned his foes with a haunting laugh that struck fear into their dark hearts.
One man a World War One spy driven by whatever horrors he witnessed to go from being a “Black Eagle” to a living shadow, the other a muscled polymath trained from birth to be the ultimate human, driven ever onward toward the light. They are polar
opposites yet they are the same, Flip sides of the depression coin. One battling against the utter despair of today, the other looking forward to the joys of tomorrow.
Works Cited
Farmer, Philip J. (1975). Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. New York: Bantam Books.
Grant, Maxwell (2006). The Shadow: Crime, Insured. Encinitas, CA: Nostalgia Ventures.
Grant, Maxwell (2007). The Shadow: Serpents of Siva. Encinitas, CA: Nostalgia Venture.
Leary, Roman (2008). "The Evils Against Which We Strive" anthologized in Tales of the Shadowmen Vol.4. Ed. J. M. & Randy Lofficier. Encino, CA: Black Coat Press. 90-103
Robeson, Kenneth (1969). Doc Savage: The Gold Ogre. New York: Bantam Books.
Robeson, Kenneth (1982). Doc Savage: The Secret in the Sky. New York: Bantam Books.
Robeson, Kenneth (2008). Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. Encinitas, CA: Nostalgia Ventures.
Kaluta, Michael & Goss, Joel (1993). The Shadow: In the Coils of Leviathan. Canada: Dark Horse Comics.
Web Pages Cited
Lai, Rick. "Chronology of Shadows, part 1." The Wold Newton Universe. 10 Feb. 2009.
Lai, Rick. "Chronology of Shadows, part 2." The Wold Newton Universe. 10 Feb. 2009.
Sippo, Art C. "Bullet-Proof vests." Weblog post. Speculations in Bronze. 7 July 2007. 11 Feb. 2009.
ones were dropped for being far too broad.
I had 24 hours to think of a final report. My eyes fell on the Doc Savage paperback I had been reading, a desperate idea popped into my head and I ran with it. Just agumenting what was in my head with some books and websites.(I'm pretty sure I had the largest Works Cited list out of the entire class)
On this paper I got an A- for some grammeral errors and an incomplete sentence. I have not changed them for this blog.
Doc Savage Vs The Shadow
During the dark days of the Great Depression, two very different heroes began their crusades against crime and injustice. The Shadow, Master of darkness, settled mobsters’ scores with blazing automatics and a haunting, mocking laugh. Doc Savage, Man of Bronze, who was dedicated to wiping out evil through the use of science.
Both Doc Savage and The Shadow had assistants in his war. While The Shadow’s aides followed his instructions to the letter, Savage’s might disobey him. As seen in this excerpt from The Gold Ogre by Kenneth Robeson:
“Doc Savage shouted, “No Unnecessary killings!” It was his policy never to take a life if it could possibly be avoided. If Monk heard, he pretended not to, Monk not being entirely in sympathy with the bronze man’s respect for the lives of gentlemen such as Vick Francks…bullets began moving in quantities.”
Doc Savage preferred not to kill criminals, instead as he caught them, they were sent to his “Crime College” where they would be rehabilitated and “cured” of their criminal tendencies by the extreme method of brain surgery. This operation was the near equivalent of a lobotomy. As contrast, in Serpents of Siva by Maxwell Grant:
“[The Shadow’s] guns ripped from the instant the first thug entered…bullets were pounding those brass-faced walls. Crooks were dropping, with smoking guns in their fists.”
Savage operated with the full support of the government (although they knew nothing of the Crime College.) He and all of his men carried cards that guaranteed the full cooperation of any American law enforcement agency, and several foreign organizations.
While Savage did battle from the gleaming peaks of New York’s skyscrapers, The Shadow ran his crusade against crime from the darkness shaded alleyways and decrepit buildings where malevolence lurked. He had no help from the government, local or national, nor did he seek it. Unlike Savage, The Shadow did not bend the rules for justice, He broke them outright, in order in insure that the criminal learned that “Crime does not pay”
Both Doc Savage and The Shadow used a large array of gadgets. Savage’s were things that would not be invented for decades to come like, automated telephone answering machines, Bullet-proof vests, and a radar-like tracking device. While The Shadow’s were more mundane with things along the lines of mini-flashlights, grappling hooks, and magic tricks such as gunpowder flashes from his hands.
Oddly enough both made peculiar sounds. Doc Savage made a strange trilling sound whenever he was intrigued. The Shadow scorned his foes with a haunting laugh that struck fear into their dark hearts.
One man a World War One spy driven by whatever horrors he witnessed to go from being a “Black Eagle” to a living shadow, the other a muscled polymath trained from birth to be the ultimate human, driven ever onward toward the light. They are polar
opposites yet they are the same, Flip sides of the depression coin. One battling against the utter despair of today, the other looking forward to the joys of tomorrow.
Works Cited
Farmer, Philip J. (1975). Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. New York: Bantam Books.
Grant, Maxwell (2006). The Shadow: Crime, Insured. Encinitas, CA: Nostalgia Ventures.
Grant, Maxwell (2007). The Shadow: Serpents of Siva. Encinitas, CA: Nostalgia Venture.
Leary, Roman (2008). "The Evils Against Which We Strive" anthologized in Tales of the Shadowmen Vol.4. Ed. J. M. & Randy Lofficier. Encino, CA: Black Coat Press. 90-103
Robeson, Kenneth (1969). Doc Savage: The Gold Ogre. New York: Bantam Books.
Robeson, Kenneth (1982). Doc Savage: The Secret in the Sky. New York: Bantam Books.
Robeson, Kenneth (2008). Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. Encinitas, CA: Nostalgia Ventures.
Kaluta, Michael & Goss, Joel (1993). The Shadow: In the Coils of Leviathan. Canada: Dark Horse Comics.
Web Pages Cited
Lai, Rick. "Chronology of Shadows, part 1." The Wold Newton Universe. 10 Feb. 2009.
Lai, Rick. "Chronology of Shadows, part 2." The Wold Newton Universe. 10 Feb. 2009.
Sippo, Art C. "Bullet-Proof vests." Weblog post. Speculations in Bronze. 7 July 2007. 11 Feb. 2009
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