My Interview

I was recently interviewed by First Comics News about the Captain Action / Green Hornet crossover story I'm working on for Moonstone.

Fun Stuff!

BTW, the picture is the Green Hornet accessory kit to convert the Captain Action toy to the Hornet. I only ever had the Batman accessory kit, but this still brings back fond childhood memories.

Winter Special

I'm doing a short, but historic, prose story for Moonstone's Captain Action Winter Special.

"Reflections in Green" will feature the first ever crossover story of Captain Action and the Green Hornet.

The story is a lot of fun to write (though I keep wanting to make it longer than the format will allow). It's also nostalgic for me as I can remember when both characters came out in 1966. Captain Action was the original superhero action figure, and my favorite toy. The Green Hornet was right up there with Batman and Star Trek as my favorite TV show, though, sadly, it went away after one season.

There's another connection besides my childhood fandom. The Captain Action toy had a set of disguises you could buy to transform him into a whole variety of superheroes including The Green Hornet.

It's amazing the cool ways things come together sometimes.

The story is still in progress but here is the cover by the talented Reuben Procopio.

Titles

This is (for me at least) one of the hardest parts to a story. Sometimes inspiration strikes and the perfect title just pops into my head. When this happens, the title comes up as a part of the writing process.

Unfortunately those moments are rare (for me at least). I usually try to come up with a working title while I'm writing. It's usually not very good, but it serves as a place holder. If it's bad enough to grate on my nerves, it serves as a motive to come up with something better.

Usually there's a phrase or an image that comes up once the story is complete that makes a much better title than the place-holder. Sometimes the place-holder becomes the final title.


That was the case with "The Cwoss-Time Twavelew". It was a fairly ordinary time travel title written as if spoken by Elmer Fudd. There is a character in the story who uses Fuddspeak and one friend commented that she loved any story that used the word "ewectwical". Unfortunately, "Traveler" is not a word that comes trippingly to the tongue when bereft of the letter "r".

Lane Adamson liked the story but pointed out that the title was clumsy. He suggested a simpler and (to my mind) vastly superior alternative.

The upshoot of this is that, while I still struggle with titles, "Acwoss Time" has been accepted for the anthology TIMES OF TROUBLE!

HOOWAY!

Announcing Tales of the Shadowmen 7: Femmes Fatales, from Black Coat Press

US$22.95/GBP 14.99 - 6x9 tpb, 324 pages - ISBN-13: 978-1-935558-44-6

on sale: December 1, 2010 / cover by Phil Cohen

This seventh volume of the only international anthology devoted to paying homage to the world's most fantastic heroes from popular literature spotlights the females of the species: beautiful, deadly, tragic, accursed, enticing… all gathered here for an amazing collection of new adventures...

Tremble as Christine Daae meets Herbert West the Reanimator and Dr. Loveless Nurse Ratched! Experience thrills as Milady tries to outwit Captain Blood and Lady Blakeney the Black Coats! Watch in awe as Becky Sharp foils the designs of Sâr Dubnotal and Amelia Peabody those of mad King Tut! Wonder as the Bride of Frankenstein challenges the power of Dr. Omega and the vampire countess Marcian Gregoryi that of Victor Frankenstein and the Illuminati! Also starring Carmilla! Catherine Levendeur! Rosa Klebb! Fah Lo Suee! And the Eyes Without A Face!

With a foreword by Xavier Mauméjean and a portfolio by Matt Haley.

Contents:

* Matt Haley: My Femmes Fatales (portfolio)
* Xavier Mauméjean: My Femmes Fatales (foreword)
* Roberto Lionel Barreiro: Secrets
* Matthew Baugh: What Rough Beast
* Thom Brannan: What Doesn't Die
* Matthew Dennion: Faces of Fear
* Win Scott Eckert: Nadine's Invitation
* Emmanuel Gorlier: Fiat Lux!
* Micah Harris: Slouching Towards Camulodunum
* Travis Hiltz: The Robots of Metropolis
* Paul Hugli: Death to the Heretic!
* Rick Lai: Will There Be Sunlight?
* Jean-Marc Lofficier: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
* David McDonnell: Big Little Man
* Brad Mengel: The Apprentice
* Sharan Newman: The Beast Without
* Neil Penswick: Legacy of Evil
* Pete Rawlik: The Masquerade in Exile
* Frank Schildiner: The Tiny Destroyer
* Stuart Shiffman: Grim Days
* Bradley H. Sinor: The Screeching of Two Ravens
* Michel Stéphan: The Three Lives of Maddalena
* David L. Vineyard: The Mysterious Island of Dr. Antekirtt
* Brian Stableford: The Necromancers of London