LOOK AT THE ROOK...THE BACK COVER THAT IS!

This is the back cover for the upcoming THE ROOK VOLUME SIX by Barry Reese from Pro Se Press!  Check out the bottom of the cover....Pro Se is very proud to be a leader in The New Pulp Movement!

ROOK VOLUME 6 COVER!

Pro Se Press is proud to say that Barry Reese's THE ROOK VOLUME SIX is very nearly ready to go to the printer! Stay tuned to the pulp machine for more details...but in the meantime, take a look at this fantastic cover, art by Ed Mironiuk, Design by Sean Ali!

PRO SE AND NEW PULP OFFER FREE PULPTRESS STORY!

Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se Productions and member of the New Pulp Movement announced today that the first ever tale of THE PULPTRESS, 21st Century Pulp Heroine and spokesperson for Pro Se and New Pulp, would be available for anyone interested for FREE for a period of one week.

"The Pulptress," Hancock said in his statement, "is a concept and a figure that has already drawn much interest since her debut two weeks ago at Pulp Ark. But she's more than that.   She is just a hint at all that New Pulp has to offer any reader, from the uninitiated person to the avid, obsessed Pulp fan.  There's a vibrance, an excitement to The Pulptress that draws directly from the vibrant exciting pace and and action that New Pulp is rifled with.  And to celebrate that connection as well as to put a little more New Pulp out there, we'd like to offer this first tale of The Pulptress for free to any takers for a limited time.  And New Pulp fans take note-There is a special guest star in this first tale that many New Pulpsters may recognize."

The tale, written by Hancock, is one of a collection that is being written and will be printed by Pro Se Productions when complete.  Other writers currently participating in this collection include Derrick Ferguson, Robin Bailey, Ron Fortier, and Barry Reese.  

In order to get your free copy, email Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net between now and Sunday, June 5th, 2011 and the story will be emailed to you directly.

"This is an opportunity," Hancock pointed out, "to introduce your friends who may know nothing of New Pulp to the Movement and get others interested in the heroic fiction some of today's best writers are producing!"

PRO SE'S THE PULPTRESS SPEAKS!

THE PULPTRESS, 21st Century Pulp Heroine and Pro Se and New Pulp Spokesperson

AP:  It is indeed a pleasure to have you at ALL PULP today!  I’m fairly sure this will be a short answer, but can you tell us something about you personally?  Some background maybe?

PULPTRESS: (laughs) Sorry, but the mask is my free pass on most of that question.  Let’s see, I’m twenty something…maybe.   I have august red hair…unless I don’t.   My eyes are brown with hints of green…except when they aren’t.  I’m just your every day average girl…who can use any weapon put in her pretty porcelain hands.  I will say that I came into the world much like everyone else did, even though things changed dramatically not long after my auspicious beginnings.   But looking back on it, I don’t think I’d change a day.  Except maybe one, my ninety third one, so I’ve been told.

AP:  Your…when you were three months old.  That would be when your parents…

PULPTRESS:  Yes, when they disappeared.    They were well known in the Pulp crime fighting circle, probably the best known.  I haven’t been told much about them, only that they had made a plan in case something like….them disappearing happened.  Which it did, so I’m thankful they planned ahead.

AP:  Best known?  Many people speculate that your parents weren’t just any crimefighters, but-

THE PULPTRESS as drawn by
Rob Davis

PULPTRESS:  Ah, ah, ah. (shaking a single red nail tipped finger playfully) Not something to discuss on, off, or even to break a record.  I didn’t have them at all that I can remember, but they gave me the next best thing.  A family like none anyone has ever had.

AP:  Yes, you had a particularly interesting raising.  Can you talk about that at all?

PULPTRESS:  Enough just to tease your readers, certainly.  The plan that my parents had devised in case of their…being unable to raise me was basically the next best possible option.  I was left with one of my parents’ closest confidantes until I was able to walk and talk. At that point, my training began.  I have lived with Cherokee Indians, Inuit tribesmen, Shinto priests, and any other group of experts in anything you can think of.  I’ve been taught every style of fighting by the fiercest warriors, academics by today’s greatest minds, science and other disciplines by people that most only believe are legend and rumor.  From my first steps until my 18^th birthday, I was steeped in disguise, strategy, espionage, and every learnable skill, field, and technique that the world had an expert in. 

AP:  Really?  To what purpose?

PULPTRESS:  That’s another thing wrapped in innuendo and smoke.  Some say that there’s a greater good I’m being prepared for, something my parents knew I would have to be ready to face.  Others say it wasn’t so grand, that they just wanted to groom me to follow in their footsteps.  (Chuckles)  There’s a few who think that I was brought up that way because it was the only life my parents ever knew.  Regardless, I consider myself the luckiest gal in the world for the way I came up in the world.

AP:  And now that you’ve survived until adulthood, you seem to actually have taken up where your parents left off.  Why?

PULPTRESS:  Not just my parents, but most of my foster family as well.  And the why is fairly simple.  Even though I learned many different things from all the teachers and mentors I had around the world, they each imparted one common idea to me, almost a mantra.  ‘Regardless of how the world changes, it will always need a Hero.”  I had other options, choices I could have made.  Any career I wanted was an open door.  But those words were etched in my heart and wear heavy on my mind every day.  And there’s not a truer statement.  So, yeah, that’s why.

THE PULPTRESS as drawn by
Ralf van der Hoeven

AP:  Interesting.  All right, what is it you do, then?  How do you describe your chosen vocation?

PULPTRESS:  Adventurer, Explorer, Problem Solver, a gal who likes a good fight and is good at fighting?  All of those fit and a few more.  Basically I’m the person that Henry Fonda described even better than Steinbeck himself wrote it.  Wherever someone is need, wherever someone is hurt and abused, wherever there’s absolutely no chance to survive, no way out, no justice at all, I am there.  I do all I can to meet the need, fix the hurt, save all I can, cut a door where there isn’t any, and bring justice in the prettiest package ever.  That’s what I do.

AP:  And on top of that, you recently debuted as the public face and voice for Pro Se Productions and even more than that, for the New Pulp Movement at the recent first PULP ARK Convention/Conference.  How did that happen?

PULPTRESS:  Have you met Tommy Hancock?  That man could talk the North Wind into blowing from the South if he wanted to.  (Laughs) Among many of the attributes that I picked up through the years was reading.  I often would rather read than eat and sleep and almost more than punching bad guys.  (Grins) Almost.   I’ve read thousands and thousands of volumes, tomes, and manifestos, but my favorite genre has always been Pulp.  I know, right?   But it has.  The classic heroic fiction rendered by Gibson, Burroughs, Dent, and others has a special place in my heart.  Part of that has to do with it being so reminiscent of people I have known throughout my life, heroes who lived Pulp lives all their own.

When I got to know Tommy due to our paths crossing, and that’s a tale someone should one day write, he exposed me to the writers and artists that have made New Pulp the force it is today.  And he brought up the fact that many consider me the New Pulp Heroine of the 21^st Century and that New Pulp, while continuing the traditions established by the classics, is its own Movement, so there’s a relationship of sorts between the two.  And it doesn’t hurt a girl, even one in a mask, to be associated with the best stories told today for the readers of tomorrow!

AP:  So, you signed on just because you liked to read Pulp?  Or is there more, does New Pulp have an importance all its own?

PULPTRESS:  Of course it does.  Actually, it’s the same importance, the same mission that I feel like I have.  Regardless of how the world changes, it will always need stories about Heroes.  New Pulp provides that in spades and aces.   You don’t just get a rapid action high adventure tale with New Pulp stories.  You get ideals to reach, models to follow, and the reassuring fact that no matter how dark reality gets, the light eventually shines through.  You can’t get more important than that. 

AP:  What about your stories?  Any plans for a New Pulp writer to tackle the life and times of The Pulptress?  Or are you more of a to yourself kind of girl?

PULPTRESS:  Are you kidding?  The lady who, depending on what the adventure is, comes dressed as a cowgirl, a space explorer, pirate, or whatever fits being a to herself kind of girl?  Yeah, right.  Stories are not only underway, but multiple authors, like Barry Reese, Derrick Ferguson, Ron Fortier, and Robin Bailey, are already committed to a collection spotlighting me and my rollicking adventures. The collection, when ready, will be available from Pro Se Productions. And, on the ball as he is, Tommy has already completed one story about me in the Big Apple and is hard at work on another one…one about me at home.  AP:  That brings up a good final question.  Where is home?  Who are you when you hang up the mask on the hook beside your fedora?  Who are you when you’re not The Pulptress?

PULPTRESS:  Home is…the only place where The Pulptress isn’t.  Other than there, I can’t be…don’t want to be anything other than The Pulptress.

AP:  And the New Pulp Movement and the world are thankful for that.  Thank you so much for taking time to talk to ALL PULP.

PULPTRESS:  Hey, anytime.  It’s not often bullets stop flying and villains stop trying to conquer the world long enough for me just to visit. So thank you!


(Want to follow The Pulptress daily?  Then join 'The Pulptress' Page on Facebook!!!  And follow her here at Pulp Machine, as well as at allpulp.blogspot.com and http://www.newpulpfiction.com/!)

PRO SE NOW PROVIDES PORTABLE CONVENTION PROGRAMMING!

 

Press Release-

PRO SE PRODUCTIONS’ NEW PULP PROGRAMMING

SETS SAIL TO A CONVENTION NEAR YOU!

May 28th, 2011                                                              Batesville, AR

Pro Se Productions, LLC.,  a Publisher of New Pulp books, anthologies, and magazines, as well as the sponsor of PULP ARK, a Creators Conference/Fan Convention that debuted in Arkansas May 13-15, 2011, announces today plans to offer Pulp convention programming to other Conventions, Pulp and otherwise.

Dubbed NEW PULP CONVENTION PROGRAMMING, Pro Se Productions Partner and Editor in Chief Tommy Hancock states, “With the success of PULP ARK in terms of programming, education, and entertainment all in a Pulp vein, there has been much discussion on how to share this with others that can’t get to Arkansas. PULP ARK 2012 is already being planned, but we began looking at avenues to do even more than that.  Out of a discussion about possibly hosting other NEW PULP conventions came an extremely interesting idea.

“So many conventions,” Hancock continued, “that have or should have aspects related to New Pulp already exist.  Comic conventions, old time radio and new audio drama shows, genre specific gatherings like Horror, Western, etc., the list is probably endless.  Instead of adding a whole roster of NEW PULP Cons to that, Pro Se Productions now offers NEW PULP CON PROGRAMMING PACKAGES.  Essentially what this means is Pro Se Productions will provide any interested convention or show with Pulp related programming.  These packages will range from a single one hour session to a full blown multiday experience, including panels, classrooms, interactive theater drama, and other special events.  Although this is New Pulp programming, panels and classrooms will also include sessions on classic Pulp as well because without those at the beginning, there would not be a New Pulp Movement today.”

These packages, according to Hancock, will include Panel and Classroom presenters, actors for any dramas and participants from other activities drawn from some of the biggest names in New Pulp today. The packages emulate the program used for the first PULP ARK, one that received rave reviews from guests and fans in attendance.  And location is not a concern.  “If your show is in Colorado for example,” Hancock explains, “then we would draw our presenters for various panels and classrooms from the New Pulp community that exists there.  The same goes for Georgia, New York, other states, and even Canada.   Our plan is to provide conventions with the best New Pulp programming possible at the best rate possible. However, if you want a full line up of top of the line New Pulp writers and artists and are willing to cover expenses, Pro Se will at the best of our ability arrange to partner with the best possible and get them to your event.”

The Packages are as follows-(NOTE-All packages depend on Author/Artist availability.  No financial exchange will occur until the Convention Producers, Pro Se Productions, and the Staff Pro Se will dispatch are in full agreement)

NEW PULP PACKAGE ONE-Introduction-Basic

If a New Pulp Artist or Author is within 50 miles of your convention/show and you are interested in a one hour Classroom or Panel, then Pro Se will set this up.  The only cost is that the attending NEW PULP Author/artist be provided a table at the convention free of charge, if requested.

NEW PULP PACKAGE TWO-Single Day-Full Basic Programming

Three Classrooms and/or Panels utilizing a minimum of Three NEW PULP Artists/Writers. (If more than three are wanted/necessary, then cost may be higher)

Cost-$200.00 plus free tables for each Artist/Author Attending as well as any travel expenses incurred by Authors/Artists more than 50 miles away from Convention site.

NEW PULP PACKAGE THREE-Single Day-Deluxe Programming

Three Classrooms and/or Panels utilizing a minimum of Three NEW PULP Artists/Writers. (If more than three are wanted/necessary, then cost may be higher)

A fully produced Pulp Drama done onsite or another similar event (total time 1.5-2.5 hours

Cost-$300.00 plus free tables for each Artist/Author Attending as well as any travel expenses incurred by Authors/Artists more than 50 miles away from Convention site.

NEW PULP PACKAGE FOUR-MultiDay Deluxe Programming

Three Classrooms and/or Panels  each FULL DAY utilizing a minimum of Three NEW PULP Artists/Writers. (If more than three are wanted/necessary, then cost may be higher) (One-two panels/classrooms on partial days)

A fully produced Pulp Drama done onsite (total time 1.5-2.5 hours) that can either be performed in one setting or throughout the convention’s run.

An event to be determined in negotiation (Old Time Radio recreations, further drama, Pulped! Game Show, and other possibilities exist)

Cost will include free tables for each Artist/Author Attending as well as any travel expenses incurred by Authors/Artists more than 50 miles away from Convention site and Hotel expenses incurred by those who are not local to the area.   Cost beyond this must be negotiated due to multiple factors, including number of days expected, etc.

Hancock also reports, “Although we have a beginning list of writers and artists from one coast to the other and beyond that will participate in this Programming, schedules allowing, any New Pulp Writer/Artist interested in participating can contact me and if they fit what we’re looking for, we’ll add them to our list of available personalities to participate.”

Hancock states, “What we want to do with NEW PULP Programming is allow any Convention or Show interested in having a Pulp line of programming included in their regular schedule of events, programming that they do not have to plan, design, recruit, or set up for.  We will come in and all we’ll require is to be pointed in the direction where we’ll speak, teach, and perform from.  This will be beneficial to not only New Pulp, but also to the Convention itself as well as bringing new fans to each and introducing existing fanbases to another entertaining aspect of Pop Culture-New Pulp!”

For More information, contact Hancock at 870-834-4022 or at proseproductions@earthlink.net.

YesterYear Review - New York Journal of Books

YesterYear

---

by Tommy Hancock

Reviewed by Ron Fortier | Released: April 12, 2011
Publisher: Pro Se Press (180 pages)

As reviewed at: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/yesteryear    

---

“Mr. Hancock knows his history, and the richness with which he paints the times adds much to the book’s plot and appeal. So on a purely literary basis, this book is highly recommended—it was tons of fun to read.”

One of the most widely recognized facts regarding American comic book heroes is that they actually evolved out of the Depression Era pulp magazines. Fans of both media are well aware that the likes of Batman and Superman were the literary children of characters such as The Shadow and Doc Savage. Tommy Hancock employs this historical theory against which to set his first novel, Yesteryear.

Mr. Hancock, the winner of this year’s Pulp Ark Award for Best New Writer, has earned that title based on his short fiction. Now, with this novel length drama, he soundly cements that position with a deft work of immeasurable imagination heralding past days of American glory.

J. C. Smithernson is a one-time crime fighting boy detective who has grown up to become a writer and publisher. He has put his hero days behind him, though his good friend, Detective Donovan Bradley, suspects he still harbors longings to get back into the fray.

Then one day a mysterious package is left on Smitherson’s steps. It contains the journal of newspaperman Ramsey Long, who was part of the Golden Age of Heroes back in the 30s and 40s. The heroes are all thought of as old-fashioned myths, but it is said that the musings in Ramsey’s journal comprise a tell-all book that rips aside the veil of public relations mumbo-jumbo to honestly detail the factual history and true exploits of those early and mysterious men and women.

Which is why when it is learned that Smitherson possesses the book, factions both political and private begin targeting him and his loved ones to guarantee that the journal never sees the light of day. For J. C., it is an eye-opening revelation that some of the people he once admired are flawed enough to want to destroy him rather then have their human failings publicly exposed. Still, he is determined that the truth will be told regardless of the consequences.

Yesteryear is a marvelous homage to all those great pulp characters and the Golden Age comic heroes who followed in their footsteps; it is both wonderfully told and reflects a true sense of time and place. Mr. Hancock knows his history, and the richness with which he paints the times adds much to the book’s plot and appeal. So on a purely literary basis, this book is highly recommended—it was tons of fun to read.

But there is one criticism, and it deals with the book’s presentation and design—not the story. I don’t often make mention of actual production values, but in this case felt compelled to do so because in the end, they did lessen my overall enjoyment of Yesteryear. Also functioning as the book’s producer, Mr. Hancock has filled many of its pages with some truly fantastic drawings of many of the fabulous characters described in the text. That’s all well and good. Alas, that’s where his design efforts should have stopped.

Instead, author Hancock also chose to change the fonts and styling of the text throughout the entire book so that the reader is confronted with bold type, cursive scribbles, lighter thin fonts—all constantly changing—and many difficult to adjust to after finishing a chapter presented in an entirely different way. I understand that he was trying to achieve something unique with this mashup, but it does not work, instead creating a real, physical flaw in an otherwise stellar offering. Hopefully his next book will have a more conservative presentation in reprint.

Reviewer Ron Fortier is an author and a frequent reviewer of pulp fiction. He is currently working on a new comic series, Mr. Jigsaw, Man of a Thousand Parts, from Rob Davis’ Redbud Studio.

Go to https://www.createspace.com/3589965 

and buy your copy today!!!!!!

INTRODUCING...THE PULPTRESS!

As discussed previously, Pro Se Press unveiled the Pulp Heroine for the 21st Century this past weekend at PULP ARK.   THE PULPTRESS will serve as spokesperson for Pro Se Press as well as the New Pulp Movement in a variety of ways in the near future.

Many have asked for details about this mysterious maven and, even though her identity is unknown to even the Pro Se folks, there is some information about her...and now, Pulp Machine shall share with you....THE PULPTRESS!

The Pulptress is the face of New Pulp for the 21st Century! Raised to be a Heroine of unmatched greatness, She uses her skills for the betterment of life for all and to spread Pro Se and New Pulp wherever her high kickin' feet tread!

	The child of two mysterious Pulp Heroes, The Pulptress was orphaned when her parents, forced out of retirement, disappeared within days of her birth. Due to the likelihood of such an event taking place, her parents had made arrangements with a wide variety of people and groups to insure that not only would their daughter be well cared for and healthy, but that she would grow up to be the greatest Pulp Hero yet. Passed from teacher to teacher, The Pulptress learned every fighting skill as well as earned a multitude of degrees in her very few years. She has lived with the Cherokee Indians, Eskimos, Tibetan Monks, Oriental priests, and many, many other types of groups and people, all dedicated to insuring that she would be no ordinary woman...dedicated to giving life to...THE PULPTRESS!
	The Pulptress, untiring in her efforts to bring justice and the value of Pro Se and New Pulp stories to the world, has little time for a social life. What there is remains hidden in shadows...until stories of her own begin to be told.... The Pulptress has many looks for any kind of adventure! The Wild West, Pirates on the High Seas, Deep Space Action, and any other New Pulp genre you can name! Whatever the adventure, The Pulptress will look the part!
	Fighting Crime, Promoting New Pulp stories when and wherever and through both, showing us that Heroes have been, are, and will always be here.

Email	ThePulptress@yahoo.com
Phone	Doesn't use one. If you need her, She'll be there...
Website	http://www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com http://www.newpulpfiction.com

WHAT, NOT ENOUGH PULP ARK ALREADY?

You say you don't have enough PULP ARK yet?  Well, others agree with you...for instance...

THE BOOK CAVE

http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/



Ric Croxton (left) and Art Sippo in PULP ARK's Dungeon

Ric and Art are running recorded interviews, panels, classrooms, and general chatter from PULP ARK all this week!  If you missed it, listen to the magic!  If you were there, relive the wonder one more time!

Or if you're more of a visual person, then check this out from Friday night (recorded by Derrick Ferguson)

And if you're interested in scenes from THE CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP, here's some videos taken by Van Plexico....

ENJOY!

PULP ARK DAY THREE-AS THE DOORS CLOSED...

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

PULP ARK came to a close at 12 Noon, May 15th, 2011.  That was four days ago.  Still, the internet is alive with pictures, comments, ideas, threads, and remembrances of a three days that we will never forget.  There are even more pictures below.  I had planned to do a major article here, but I won't.  Instead I'll say-There will be a PULP ARK 2012, most of the guests who were there for the first time around have already committed to return.  And I'll also say...

Thank you.  Thank you all.

Tommy Hancock

And for some, the Con went on!

RADIO LIVES AGAIN!

Derrick Ferguson and Art Sippo

Derrick Ferguson and Lee Houston, Jr.

Bobby Nash and Van Plexico

Fuller Bumpers and Bobby Nash

Ron Fortier and the Domino Lady

Lee Houston, Jr.

Terry Alexander and his lovely wife

And The Pulptress awaits your return next year
to PULP ARK 2012!

PULP ARK DAY THREE-FINAL ACT OF THE BLOODY PULP

Sunday, May 15, 2011
The theater day opened at PULP ARK with a rousing fight scene involving most of the cast that took two of them literally tumbling down the stairs into the middle of a panel!  After that, the cast gathered and presented the third and final act of this fast paced, high adrenaline Pulp play like no other!  And without further adieu....

CAST-
Merlin Montgomery-Tommy Hancock
Benita Isadore Magready (Bim)-Shannon O'Cain
Newt the Newsboy-Alex Hancock
Simon Sanders, The Rogue-Brian Coltharp
Nikola Deveraux-Tanya McClure
August-Bo Elrod
Captain Mordechai Maelstrom-David Jones
Buster-Lucas Smith
Shevara/Penny Preston-Megan Smith
Little Sister-Mackenzie Haugh

ACT THREE

(Puff of smoke, SHEVARA appears)

Merlin Montgomery antagonizes Shevara
BLOODY PULP, ACT THREE

SHEVARA-I have fed on the horror and hatred of a world gone mad and power flows through my body once more!  Trapped far too long in one prison, then another cage, reduced to nothing but ink and words by a trifle of an insect! No More!  I reentered life here so from here death shall spread!  And upon the bodies, the bones, the charred remains of humanity I will build my throne…my castle…my universe…starting here!

MERLIN-(Steps out in front of Shevara) Sorry, but I’ll have to see your building permits.

SHEVARA-What?? 

MERLIN-Permits….To build a throne…not to mention the red tape you’ll get tangled in trying to build your own universe.

SHEVARA-You speak nonsense!  What do you think, that you alone can stop one that your insipid ancestors worshipped as their own Goddess?  You, one pitiful little girl…

MERLIN (As she talks, all the former cast members who weren’t killed start coming out, forming a circle around her, each of them holding some kind of weapon)  Been a long time since anyone’s called me little girl.  But only my Daddy could do that and you don’t even step close to my Daddy. 

SHEVARA-I own you, rodent!  You and all like you exist only to give me power, to feed me with all the sin and terror your kind produce! You cannot stand against me!

MERLIN-I’ve stood against bigger than you, supposed deities who have whole books written about them.  You barely rated a pulp magazine!

SHEVARA-YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST TO DIE, THE CORNERSTONE I WILL BUILD MY THRONE UPON! DIE!

(SHEVARA zaps, shoots, something and MERLIN goes down…SHEVARA laughs evilly but is surprised as MERLIN stands up, grasping her shoulder)

SHEVARA-What? NO! No human can challenge the magic of SHE WHOM ALL FEAR!!



Shevara faces off with Merlin Montgomery
BLOODY PULP, ACT THREE



MERLIN-I told you I’ve gone one on one with monsters that make you look like Little Bo Peep.  I’ve picked up a few things and skills along the way.  This is barely a flesh wound.

SHEVARA-WHAT???

MERLIN-School’s out, sweetheart! NOW!

(Coordinated fight scene between SHEVARA and everyone with a weapon, but BUSTER never gets quite close.   And each one is defeated, not killed, but laid low, hurt, etc.)

SHEVARA-SHE WHOM ALL FEAR RULES ALL!  SHEVARA STRIPS ALL HOPE FROM HUMANITY!

BIM-Okay, distract and sneak attack didn’t work…any other notions?

MERLIN-Givens said something, something about the stanza…it was the key to freeing Shevara…

ROGUE-But also the key to stopping her!

CAPT’N-But who remembers that chant?

PENNY-I do!  I made sure I listened closed when Nikola said, just so I could get the scoop on all the other papers!

“Death and hatred,  take you life!

Murder and sin, become flesh and bone!

Walk this earth and spread your strife!

‘less you are laid low by man crafted stone!’

MERLIN-That’s it!  Where’s Newt?  (bolts to find him) Have to find-

NIKOLA-You have to do nothing but die, like Shevara decrees, dear Merlin

MERLIN-Nikola, what are you doing? We have to stop her!

Cast of Bloody Pulp trying to decide what to do next
BLOODY PULP, ACT THREE

NIKOLA-No.  I have realized that even though I do not control her, her will and my plans are the same.  I have served her and not even known it.  And I will continue to do so….by killing you.

SHEVARA-OH LOOK!   THEY FIGHT BECAUSE OF SHEVARA! ONE EAGER TO DIE, THE OTHER EAGER TO FEED ME!  HATRED AND PAIN FOR SHE WHOM ALL FEAR!

(Fight scene with Nikola and Merlin, Nikola gets beaten, Merlin stands up) NEWT! Where are you?

NEWT-Here, Merlin! 

(Merlin starts to cross to Newt, who is close to Shevara, but Nikola rises, grabs her.  Newt sees this, runs for Merlin, runs in front of Shevara, who grabs him)

SHEVARA-Ah, even the tiny ones throw themselves at me to sate my appetite.  Mmmm..this one is thin, but so full of energy that I can turn to hatred!

NEWT-Let me go!! Leggo!

MERLIN-NEWT, YOUR NEWSBAG! HIT HER WITH YOUR NEWSBAG!!

(Newt does just  that, smacks Shevara hard with his newsbag.  She looks as if she’s been shot with a bullet..Pain on her face.  She lets Newt go and stumbles, very clearly dying…

SHEVARA-Man…crafted…stone…from…a child….(She collapses, smoke if possible.  Lights go out.  When they come back up, Nikola and August are gone.  Penny is standing up slowly)

PENNY-What-What happened?

LITTLE SISTER-PENNY!

BUSTER-One minute she was a reporter, next minute she’s a demon goddess…now that Shevara frail is gone..vanished ! POOF!

BIM-Yeah, and so are Nikola and her pet boy!

MERLIN-Not like we didn’t expect that! Or like we won’t see them again.

CAPT’N-What is suprisin’, though, is that this yellow sapsucker stayed.

ROGUE-With eveything that I am, I’m not a sneak away type.  Besides, I figure we’ll all make scarce soon enough.  No one wants to be here when badges and sunglasses come through the door.

PENNY-I have to go to, have to get this story in, though no one will believe it.  But I don’t understand what happened.  How did Newt’s bag get that out of me?  How did it kill a demon??

MERLIN-Show ‘em, Newt.  Show ‘em what’s in the bag.

NEWT-THIS! (holds up a brick)

MERLIN-The incantation warned Shevara that she may be ‘laid low by man crafted stone.’  It’s part of the binding.  Whoever originally came up with the way to trap her built into it a weakness she couldn’t escape.  Once she was captured the very first time, the weakness stayed with her.  And bricks are

EVERYONE-Man crafted stone.

BUSTER-So she’s dead?

CAPN’-Probably.  At least gone.  But just to be sure, we need to destroy the Bloody Pulp.

MERLIN- (walks up)  No, no you don’t.

CAP’N-Eh? Whattya mean?

MERLIN-When…whatever that thing was disappeared…the Bloody Pulp did, too. I recovered it after Nikola threw it down yesterday.   But it’s gone.  It and the parchment.   Up in a green cloud of smoke.  And now we have nothing to show…nothing to exhibit….

BIM-And I’ll bet you old Givens’ body, wherever it was restin’, is gone, too! It always goes like that!  We have nothing!

PENNY-And no one will believe me…

MERLIN-Well, you both have eyewitnesses and the participants in what just happened.  You know, those who saved the world.  We could tell the story for you.

ROGUE-And what of those authorities I mentioned, Merlin?

MERLIN-Like Bim said, Simon, there’s nothing.  No evidence.   Just great stories.

NEWT-EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT, CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP CLOSED! WORLD SAVED FROM DEMONIC DESTRUCTION! MERLIN MONTGOMERY AND  HIS COMPANY OF HEROES OF THE DAY! EXTRA! EXTRA!

THE END

Since the end of PULP ARK, there has been some clamoring for further adventures of this crew. I am already writing the sequel.  There has also been discussion of turning this play into a story and writing other stories with this cast.  If you'd like to see that, please let me know either through comments here or at proseproductions@earthlink.net - Tommy Hancock

PULP ARK DAY THREE-AS THE CURTAIN FALLS!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

After another wonderful gathering for breakfast, the guests and vendors that made PULP ARK such a success convened one final time at The Cinnamon Stick, 151 West Main, Batesville, Arkansas, for the final day of the First Annual Pulp Ark Conference/Convention. 

9-10:00 AM-PULP FACTORY PANEL-Why The Current New Interest in Pulps Moderator – Ron Fortier



RON FORTIER leading PULP FACTORY PANEL


PANELISTS
Bobby Nash
Wayne Reinagel
Art Sippo
Ric Croxton

Helmed by Comic Veteran and New Pulp pioneer Ron Fortier, this panel discussed and analyzed just what is behind the current resurgence of Pulp in general as well as interest in New Pulp tales.  Not only was this panel manned by excellent writers, but also by the geniuses behind The Book Cave, considered by many to be the best Pulp Podcast airing today.





10-11:00 AM-CLASSROOM-All You Ever Wanted to know about Sun Koh!-Art Sippo



ART SIPPO (on right) with his SUN KOH book


Taking on a monumental task, Art Sippo tackled the writing as well as the 'rehabiliation' of a Germanic character based on Doc Savage.  This class focused on the controversial history behind Sun Koh as well as steps taken by Sippo to cast the character in a plainer, more favorable light.