The Pro Se Team Conquers Windy City!!!

For three days the Pro Se Team talked, bought, sold and delivered Pulp to the masses!!!

PRO SE UPDATE!

PRO SE PRESS IS LIVE AT WINDY CITY!  Tommy and Fuller have entered the building in the company of the likes of The Rook, Peculiar Oddfellow, Masquerra, The Divine Wraith, Aloha McCoy, Lazarus Gray, Hugh Monn, and many more fantastic characters in our PRO SE line!!   Check back here for updates!

Pro Se Hits Chicago!!!

         For the next three days, Pro Se will be shaking hands and kissing babies at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention. Feel free to bring all your babies and hands to the Convention for the Pro Se stamp of approval.  

THE OPTIMIST BOOK ONE: You Don’t Know Jack By Chuck Miller - Chapter Four

PULP MACHINE EXCLUSIVE!!!!!!

BOOK ONE:

You Don’t Know Jack

By Chuck Miller

CHAPTER FOUR:

A Yardstick For Lunatics, One Point of View 

Why was I going to do this? I was of at least two minds about the Johnny’s ghost incident. I wasn’t very interested in revenge, to be honest. The way I felt about Johnny at that moment, I wouldn’t walk across the street to avenge him, much less hunt down one of the most mysterious and dangerous men in the world. But it was a challenge. I  found that I couldn’t resist it. I knew I could do it, but I had to prove it.

I explained the whole thing to Vionna. She listened with great enthusiasm and many questions.

"How do you find a guy like that?" she wanted to know. "You don't know anything about him at all, really. Where do you even start?"

"Nowhere," I replied. "I can't find him. It's totally impossible. An absurd idea."

"Oh."

"I said I can't find him. But if I give him a reason, I bet he can find me."

"Oh!" she said, her face brightening. "Hey, that's good. You just turn it around. That's kinda brilliant, really."

"No, it is incredibly brilliant. I am incredibly brilliant. A genius."

Arkansas Literary Festival

Pro Se got out the mighty word this weekend at the Arkansas Literary Festival, and we were excited to meet all of the visitors to our tables.

Next weekend Pro Se will be in Chicago at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Con, we look forward to seeing all who attend. 

The Pro Se Flyer

Feel free to print as many of these as you want and post them all over town.

THE OPTIMIST BOOK ONE: You Don’t Know Jack By Chuck Miller - Chapter Three

PULP MACHINE EXCLUSIVE!!!!!!

BOOK ONE:

You Don’t Know Jack

By Chuck Miller

CHAPTER THREE:

Little To Win, But Nothing To Lose

Whatever it was, it was in costume. Or the ghost of a costume. It looked like Captain Mercury, but it wasn’t solid. I could see through it in places. It was like a reflection on a window pane at night—some lighted object in the room behind you, superimposed over the darkness outside, incomplete but distinct.

The  mother of all “someone just walked over my grave” chills snapped my whole body like a bullwhip. I was waiting for myself to shatter completely, to succumb to a fatal panic attack.

But I didn’t. Oddly, The panic receded and I found that I was utterly calm.

“You,” I said. “Damn. You know who you look like, right? I mean, are you him?” 

“I am his spirit,” it said in Johnny’s voice. It certainly sounded like him, though it was kind of tinny.

“Okay,” I said. “That’s cute. His spirit.” I looked at him. He looked at me. Silence. I studied his face. It was both translucent and masked, neither of which was conducive to making a positive ID. The inside of my head was empty. Or maybe it was too full, I dunno. Finally, I came up with the following:

THE OPTIMIST BOOK ONE: You Don’t Know Jack By Chuck Miller - Chapter Two

PULP MACHINE EXCLUSIVE!!!!!!

BOOK ONE:

You Don’t Know Jack

By Chuck Miller

CHAPTER TWO:

Dead Kings, Many Things I Can't Define

“All of which, I suppose, makes me a sort of optimist.”

Vionna smiled like a goofy little kid and said, “Then I am too. I’ll be what you are. I always did really admire you.”

“You have good instincts, Vionna.”

“Um. Well, it’s so nice to see you and talk to you. I’ve been… I’ve been really lonely for… There’s nobody to… Say, if I tell you something, will you promise you won’t laugh at me?”

“I can’t promise that if I don’t know what it is. I promise you I’ll try not to.”

“Okay. Well, when I was a kid, back in those days, I used to kind of daydream about you and imagine that you were my big brother. Don’t laugh! I never had any brothers or sisters, and you were always nice to me, and I just really wished that I was your little sister.”

Well. I certainly wasn’t laughing. I hadn't expected anything like that. It confused me. I felt as though an indecent liberty had been taken. Then it made me feel something odd. It had been so long since I was actually touched by something someone said to me, it took me a second to recognize what it was. When I did, it felt like a branding iron. It was unpleasant. I resented it.

THE OPTIMIST BOOK ONE: You Don’t Know Jack By Chuck Miller - Chapter One

PULP MACHINE EXCLUSIVE!!!!!!

BOOK ONE:

You Don’t Know Jack

By Chuck Miller

CHAPTER ONE: 

VIONNA VALIS

A long time ago, I was something special.

My life, when I was very young, turned bad. It was bad for a while, then it turned good. And it stayed very, very good for a few years. Then it went down the toilet. But during the good part, I was something rare and fine. I did things few other people ever do. I was part of something strange and glorious and ultimately unsustainable. And after that, as I say, came the toilet. I bobbed around in there for twelve years, and then something happened. A dead hand reached out to me from the past. I was so bombed-out and jaded that I might have ignored even that, if the hand hadn’t been clutching money.

I’ve got a story of sorts to tell.

Life being what it is—and what it isn’t—stories don’t really begin or end anywhere. There are things that seem to be more important than other things, and you can focus on those and slice off everything that happened before and  after. Then the whole thing seems to teach a lesson or make a point or offer some kind of closure for one thing or another.

Well, a lot of unusual things happened to me recently, but nothing was really resolved, and I can’t say for sure that I learned any lessons. But I made a bunch of interesting new friends and found, for the first time in many years, something resembling a purpose. Maybe that’s the lesson, then. If so, it’s ongoing, and I am a long way from the jackpot.

Not long ago, I was sitting in a little bar on a side street in the city of Zenith, the place where I was born and where I died. My life had ended twelve years earlier, on a street not far from where I sat.

I was at a table by myself with a drink in front of me. It was one of a very long series. I don’t recall the first,  and cannot envision the last.

I'm a horrible drunkard. That isn't the most important thing about me, but it's one of the most obvious. You need to know it, because it is a part of the context in which everything took place. But it's not the whole thing. It isn’t even the most important.

PULP ARK WEEKEND-LOCATION AND SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED AND DETAILED!

Announcing the newest place for Pulp Writers, Artists and Fans to come together!

MAIN STREET, BATESVILLE, ARKANSAS!!!

Pro Se Productions, LLC (http://www.proseproductions.com/) in conjunction with Main Street Batesville of Batesville, AR announces PULP ARK 2011!!  Pro Se Productions, a company specializing in pulp storytelling in various mediums, primarily magazines and comics, made its debut in March, 2010!  Pro Se also seeks to bring all the over the top, grandiose, slam-bang impact of pulp to the South!  PULP ARK, scheduled for May 13-15, 2011 will be a convention dedicated to the Pulp Genre as well as a conference made up of panels, workshops, and activities to appeal to the Pulp writer, the Pulp fan, and that most unique creature, The Pulp Writer/Fan! 

PULP ARK will be held in the historical town of Batesville, AR.  Nestled in the scenic Ozark foothills, Batesville provides most definitely a small town charm, but has facilities of all sorts, including hotels, major and local restaurants, and several venues for hosting panels, conferences, and vendors.  Batesville also affords a relaxed setting, different from most large cities where conventions are held, but also conducive to creativity, relaxation, and a furthering of Pulp fandom!

 PUBLISHERS AND VENDORS WELCOME-REASONABLE TABLE RATES

LEADING NAMES IN PULP TODAY AS GUESTS

INCLUDING

RON FORTIER

VAN PLEXICO

BARRY REESE

DERRICK FERGUSON

MARK HALEGUA

TOMMY HANCOCK

NANCY HANSEN

LEE HOUSTON, JR.

KEN JANSSENS
WAYNE REINAGEL
FULLER BUMPERS

JOE GENTILE

ROB DAVIS

ERWIN K. ROBERTS

WAYNE SKIVER

ART SIPPO

RIC CROXTON

ERIC JONES

MEGAN SMITH

MARK POLL

AND MORE!!!!

PANELS LED BY WRITERS, ARTISTS AND PUBLISHING COMPANIES

WRITERS AND ARTISTS WORKSHOPS BY LEADING NAMES IN PULP TODAY

A PULP STYLE INTERACTIVE ADVENTURE THROUGHOUT PULP ARK

EVENTS FOR SPOUSES AND FAMILY MEMBERS

DISCOUNTS AT LOCAL HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, AND OTHER BUSINESSES

 

MAY 13-15, 2011-Prepare for the Flood of All that is Pulp-Get your place on the PULP ARK today! 

 

PULP ARK WEEKEND-LOCATION AND SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED AND DETAILED!

PULP ARK, the Pulp Convention/Creators’ Conference debuting May 13-15, 2011 in Batesville, AR, is proud to announce that the event will be held in a location that is a primary part of local history in the historic Arkansas town. Built in 1880, the three story building that will be the home of the first PULP ARK enjoyed life as Batesville’s Opera House for eight years. It was renovated and made into a mercantile store after that and then later was home to various other enterprises. It currently houses THE CINNAMON STICK, a coffee and sandwich restaurant. The over 6,000 square feet of space provides not only ample places for tables, displays and guests, but access to the lower level provides an onsite location for panels and classrooms. The lower level, largely untouched since the building’s construction, except for electricity being added, served as the dressing area for the various opera stars and performers in the building’s original incarnation.

A hotspot of activity, The Cinnamon Stick plays host to musicians, artists, and performers on a weekly basis as well as to customers ranging in age from high school kids to senior citizens. The location, 151 W. Main Street in Downtown Batesville, is surrounded by various amenities. Currently there are three restaurants on the street; The Cinnamon Stick, Elizabeth’s, and The Greasy Spoon. These three offer a variety of food and if that were not enough, various other restaurants are within a 1-5 mile radius of the location. Various antique stores, an used book store, a gym, and various other types of businesses line Batesville’s historic downtown area.

SCHEDULE FOR PULP ARK
NOTE-This is the schedule as of today.  Changes may occur.  If a timeslot has 'PANELS/CLASSROOM' in it, that means it is an open spot for a panel or classroom.  If these are not filled, then there will be no set aside panel or classroom at that time.  The activity in the Main Hall will be available.

PRO SE MAKES MAJOR LICENSING ACQUISITION!

NOTED PULP AUTHOR BRINGS BEST KNOWN CHARACTER TO NEW HOME!

Pro Se Productions, LLC. announces today that noted award winning Pulp author Barry Reese has entered into a contract licensing his character, THE ROOK, and all related concepts to Pro Se Productions for a period of two years!

THE ROOK, Reese's excellent take on the classic pulp hero and one of the penultimate characters leading the current Pulp Renaissance, has built up an extensive following and fan base, thanks to Reese and WILD CAT BOOKS and publisher Ron Hanna.  The agreement is that the fine work that has been done on the first five volumes will remain with WILD CAT and this arrangement is for new print material as well as development of other product featuring THE ROOK.

Reese provided the following statement-

"I'm really excited about the new relationship with Pro Se. It's a tremendous opportunity that will hopefully introduce The Rook to new audiences and new media. In a relatively short period of time, Pro Se has established itself as one of the leaders in the pulp field and I consider it an honor to bring The Rook to their publishing platform. I still consider all the folks at Wild Cat Books to be great friends and will continue to work with them on future projects."

STAY TUNED TO THE PULP MACHINE FOR A FULL LENGTH INTERVIEW WITH REESE AS WELL AS STATEMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS CONCERNING PLANS FOR BARRY REESE'S THE ROOK!

"Lash Stevens of the Arizona Territories"

"Lash Stevens of the Arizona Territories"

Part One of Four

by: Fuller Bumpers

Free Web Pulp

One of the fastest guns of western Arizona was a blazing .44 on a .45 frame in the hand of ‘Lash’ Stevens. This gun, a legend in Stevens' hand, had been handed over several times from dead man to dead man, until Lash pried it from the eternal grip of the ‘Boot Heel Kid’ out of Beaumont, Texas.

Lash, a gunman who rode both sides of the law at times,  added more than 18 notices to the handle of this well traveled hogleg before he'd leave it to his own offspring. The fact that he'd pass anything on to a son, much less eventually give him his name, revealed something few knew about Lash.  Under a carefully crafted, leather-like exterior created to strike terror into rustlers, cattle thieves, drunks, and all around badmen, the sort of men that mostly populated Arizona in the early days of its statehood, there lay the spirit of a man, a spirit peppered with kindness and warmth.

About fifteen years before Arizona became a state, Lash took work with the Mexicali Land & Cattle Co., to put a stop to stealing on their largest spread– ‘Spurs in Heaven’.  Although not the best ramrod in the territory, Lash could hold his own if needed. In almost any situation. 

He was a familiar sight along the border lands and hung his hat in the city of Nogales when he bathed. His neighbors could always mark when Lash was about by sighting the Winchester across the pommel of his saddle, his respected .44 on his hip, and the way the dust seemed to circle behind the tail of his horse, Moonshine.