Tuesday, March 24, 2015

What's new Brad?

I'm a little behind in promoting my stuff but better late than never!

I did my first ever podcast appearing on Percival Constantine's The Exploding Typewriter

My topic was Creating Pulp Characters.  Percival was a great host and it was a pleasure chatting with him. 

Sadly, this is the final episode of this podcast and if you have any interest in writing in general or pulp writing in particular I would highly recommend listening to the other twenty episodes.  Percival has assembled a fascinating array of guests covering a number of interesting topics. 

Pro Se has released the first of my Pro Se Single Shots : Australis Incognito: Bus Bait Blues

'FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PULP DOWN UNDER IN NEW PRO SE SINGLE SHOT SIGNATURE SERIES-
AUSTRALIS INCOGNITO DEBUTS FIRST DIGITAL SHORT STORY!

Masked men and mystery women from the Land Down Under explode to life in author Brad Mengel’s Pro Se Single Shot Signature Series- Australis Incognito! 

Crime is alive and well in Australia and thankfully so are several Pulp Heroes ready to take on evil! Brad Mengel’s own creations, including The Question Mark, The Cutlass, The Aggressor, Sai, Risqué, The Bushranger, and others will stand alone and combat thugs, crooks, and psychopaths in their own stories. But behind the scenes, a puppet master of Machiavellian proportions is yanking the strings, jerking the world toward the brink with every tug, and pulling Australia’s heroes closer together. Closer to the answer. And to the final battle. 

In the first stand alone short story, Bus Bait Blues, a hero known as The Question Mark follows in her predecessor’s footsteps trying to protect the common people of the city. Witnessing what appears to be the pick up of a young girl for a life of prostitution on the streets, the Question Mark uncovers something much more heinous. Can she survive the gauntlet she must run to save a girl and herself? Or will she be the second bearing the name The Question Mark to disappear? Find out in Bus Bait Blues by Brad Mengel. 

Brad Mengel’s Australis Incognito, a Pro Se Single Shot Signature series from Pro Se Productions, features an evocative cover by Jeffrey Hayes and digital formatting by Russ Anderson.  The first short story in the series is available for Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/loya4o2 and for most digital formats at http://tinyurl.com/lp8wb6f for only 99 cents. Australis Incognito - A Pro Se Single Shot Signatures series from Pro Se Productions.'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PULP DOWN UNDER IN NEW PRO SE SINGLE SHOT SIGNATURE SERIES-
AUSTRALIS INCOGNITO DEBUTS FIRST DIGITAL SHORT STORY!
...
Masked men and mystery women from the Land Down Under explode to life in author Brad Mengel’s Pro Se Single Shot Signature Series- Australis Incognito!
Crime is alive and well in Australia and thankfully so are several Pulp Heroes ready to take on evil! Brad Mengel’s own creations, including The Question Mark, The Cutlass, The Aggressor, Sai, Risqué, The Bushranger, and others will stand alone and combat thugs, crooks, and psychopaths in their own stories. But behind the scenes, a puppet master of Machiavellian proportions is yanking the strings, jerking the world toward the brink with every tug, and pulling Australia’s heroes closer together. Closer to the answer. And to the final battle.
In the first stand alone short story, Bus Bait Blues, a hero known as The Question Mark follows in her predecessor’s footsteps trying to protect the common people of the city. Witnessing what appears to be the pick up of a young girl for a life of prostitution on the streets, the Question Mark uncovers something much more heinous. Can she survive the gauntlet she must run to save a girl and herself? Or will she be the second bearing the name The Question Mark to disappear? Find out in Bus Bait Blues by Brad Mengel.
Brad Mengel’s Australis Incognito, a Pro Se Single Shot Signature series from Pro Se Productions, features an evocative cover by Jeffrey Hayes and digital formatting by Russ Anderson. The first short story in the series is available for Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/loya4o2 and for most digital formats at http://tinyurl.com/lp8wb6f for only 99 cents. Australis Incognito - A Pro Se Single Shot Signatures series from Pro Se Productions.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Metro 7 by Matthew J. Hellscream (2014)

 
This novel is the first Australian kickstarter,  I was lucky enough to meet Matthew at the Brisbane Library Comic Book Reading group.
 
Metro 7 was a really good book, Hellscream makes an exciting scenario with lots of complicating subplots .  The story opes with the crew of the Icarus transporting the most dangerous prisoner in the
galaxy back to New Earth for trial when they get a distress signal from the Metro 7.  Metro ships are basically giant space cruise ships.   
 
What the crew finds on board the Metro 7 makes for an exciting adventure that might be best described as Matthew Reilly meets Alien turned up to 11.  Indeed there was one scene that was a neat homage to Reilly's Scarecrow series that I was grinning ear to ear, however Hellscream writes the scene in such a way that it is still effective even if you weren't aware of what he is homaging.
 
The characters were all well drawn and I got enough information about each of the main characters to understand them and I want to know more about them.  More than that Hellscream has created an entire universe that I want to see explored in future books
 
I'm also keen to see more of Hellscream's writings in other stories.  This is recommended