Word of Mouth speaks volumes on Live Free or Sci-Fi

Word of Mouth speaks volumes on Live Free or Sci-Fi

The excellent NH Public Radio program “Word of Mouth,” hosted by intergalactic priestess of cool Virginia Prescott, broadcast an interview today with the editor of the NH Pulp Fiction series talking about Live Free or Sci-Fi. No problem if you missed it, since they post the show online. Check it out at the friendly attached link.

The Media Responds!

The Media Responds!

Here’s a great Concord Monitor story by Melanie Plenda on the NH Pulp Fiction series (particularly “Live Free or Sci-Fi”) with some great quotes from contributor Alex Caldwell. 

Sci-Fi or Die! NH Pulp Fiction Volume 3 in Stores Before Halloween!

Question: Why did the martian keep zapping himself with his Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator?

Answer: Because it felt so good when he stopped.

This pretty much sums up my only excuse for my proneness to procrastination, and that tendency has never been more clearly demonstrated than with this, the third volume in the NH Pulp Fiction Series, i.e. “Live Free or Sci-Fi.”

It’s taken two years but I’m here to tell you the feeling good has begun. The book is due back from the printer by the end of the first week of October, which means it should be on sale at all worthy book dealers in plenty of time to be purchased by the caseload and added to the trick or treat candy bowls of wealthy Granite State science fiction fans. Those less wealthy may want to limit themselves to buying only a few copies for now, but remember that Christmas and Hanukkah (and Muharram, which doesn’t involve gift-giving but just to be PC about it) are just around the corner. 

If anyone is actually still checking this site, thanks for your patience. And spread the word.

Sincerely, your humble and procrastinatory-no-more-editor,

Rick

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The London Olympic Stadium is 53 meters high. This blog had about 610 visitors in 2012. If every visitor were a meter, this blog would be 12 times taller than the Olympic Stadium – not too shabby.

Click here to see the complete report.

CDC Offers Zombie Apocalypse Emergency Plan

Correct Deadline is March 31!

Maintaining two blogs is not that complicated, but it does allow for stupid errors. When I extended the date for submissions to Live Free or Die, Die, Die! I made the corrections on the NHPulpFiction.com blog, but forgot to do so here. The deadline is March 31, and if you’ve got something coming and need another day or three, just let me know.

Hope I didn’t lose anyone because of the oversight.

Now Seeking Granite State Murder, Mystery and Mayhem

Volume two of the NH Pulp Fiction is finally on track (a bit behind schedule, but we’ll make up time in the air). Below is the press release we’ve sent out, but most people familiar to this site know the ropes. Just submit your fiction with a detective/mystery/murder theme set firmly in the familiar settings of the Granite State and get it to me by March 31.

If you want more details, they appear below:

New Short Story Anthology of Combines Familiar New Hampshire Locales with the Devious Plots of Pulp Detective Fiction

A new publishing venture will use familiar New Hampshire locations and landmarks as the setting for twisted tales of hardboiled detectives, femme fatales and two-bit thugs in a style inspired by the classic pulp fiction of the early 20th century. “Live Free or Die, Die, Die!: Granite State Murder, Mystery and Mayhem,” will be released by Plaidswede Publishing in the fall of 2011, but editor Rick Broussard wants to get the investigation started now. He’s seeking submissions for his anthology, and he’s offering local writers a chilling challenge.

“All the best detective fiction is endowed with a sense of place,” says Broussard, “Think about Robert B. Parker’s “Spencer” books, based in Boston, or Raymond Chandler’s tales of Los Angeles crime. I want writers to use New Hampshire like that.”  As encouragement, he’s offering the book’s title, “Live Free or Die, Die, Die!” to be affixed to the one mystery tale that creates the most immortal characters, either criminal mastermind or plucky private eye. “I think New Hampshire deserves its own Philip Marlowe,” says Broussard.

Writers need to get busy. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2011. Anyone, whether a seasoned author or a new talent, is invited to submit a story of less than 8,000 words, but with three requirements: “It’s got to be set in New Hampshire and it’s got to be have that special atmosphere you find only here,” says Broussard, “Oh, and it ought to have a mystery.”

All entries will be considered but the editor and publisher reserve the right to select the one that will appear in print. Other efforts may be posted on the NHPulpFiction.com Web site with the authors’ permission.

The mystery anthology is the second is a series of collections of short stories to known as the New Hampshire Pulp Fiction series. The first anthology, “Live Free or Undead: Dark Tales from the Granite State,” was published by Plaidswede Publishing last fall and is available at most N.H. book sellers and from nhbooksellers.com. Volumes featuring science fiction and historical romance are planned as well. Stories featured in the series will be written mostly by New Hampshire authors but they will always be embedded firmly in the Granite State.

“The state is rich with fascinating lore and compelling locales,” says Broussard. “With our combination of deep, rugged nature and fast-growing urban complexes, any writer seeking a setting for fiction can find ample inspiration here.”

Submissions should be sent to Rick Broussard at nhpulpfiction@gmail.com and more information is available at http://www.nhpulpfiction.com.

Details, details…

With all the media attention this project has been getting, I’ve been fielding questions from out of state about where to buy the book. The best place is from the publisher’s website: www.nhbooksellers.com. The other question I’m getting is “When are you going to publish those unused horror stories online like you promised? Huh? When?” I reply with the eternal status line of the dread Cthulhu’s Facebook site: “The stars aren’t right yet…. but soon…. soon.”

Undead — Live Readings

Glowing with pale green phosphorescence, individual units of “Live Free or Undead” will be delivered in tightly packed cardboard boxes, pages still warm and moist from the Hyperborian presses, to a secure, labyrinthine warehouse on Oct. 14. Like viral cells, the books will then begin to stream through the semi-permeable membrane of the vast gelatinous network of independent bookstores to the gaping maws of the slavering reading public. And what is the soundtrack of this dark digestive ballet? It is the borborygmos of human voices, intoning aloud the spells and chants contained within the literary bowels of this granitic grimoire.

Enticed?

Here’s a list of opportunities to listen in on the authorial readings of stories from Live Free or Undead. If you know of some bookstore or other public venue that would welcome the Undead into their midst, let us know. The readers stand by, ready to spread their contagion to unsuspecting ears.

VENUES, READERS AND STORIES

RiverRun October 20, 7 p.m.
http://www.riverrunbookstore.com

Trevor Bartlett: A Lot Like Life

J. Zachary Pike: The Spiral

Ernesto Burden: Live Free or Undead

Jeffrey DeRego: Lillies for Donald

Joyce Wagner: Acalia

Concord Literary Festival – Oct. 22 – Barley House – 5-7 p.m.
http://www.nhwritersproject.org, http://www.thebarleyhouse.com

Becky Rule: The Haze

James Patrick Kelly: The Waiting Room

Brendan Dubois: Uneasy Lies the Head

Ernesto Burden: Live Free or Undead

David O’Keefe: Wonders in the Woods

Kristopher Seavey: Little Ones

Elaine Isaak: Memento Mori

Jason Allard: Love in the Time of Zombies

Double Midnight Comics, Manchester, Oct. 27, 7 p.m.
(note: there will also be a zombie costume contest with prizes!)
http://www.dmcomics.com

Ernesto Burden: Live Free or Undead

Catie Jarvis: Deer Island

Jeffrey DeRego: Lillies for Donald

Gregory L. Norris: Road Rage

Rye Public Library – Oct. 27, 7 p.m.
581 Washington St., Rye

Brendan DuBois: Uneasy Lies the Head

Michael DeLuca: Misty Rain

Elaine Isaak: Memento Mori

Andy Richmond: Epitaph

Kimball-Jenkins Estate, Concord, Oct. 29 and 30
http://www.kimballjenkins.com

Becky Rule: The Haze

David Elliott: Couple Voted Most Likely to Stay Together

Toadstool Books, Peterborough, Oct. 30, 11:00 a.m.

http://www.toadbooks.com

Joyce Wagner: Acalia

Kristopher Seavey: Little Ones

Lorrie Lee O’Neill: Mairzy Doats

Toadstool Books, Milford, Oct. 30, 7 p.m.

http://www.toadbooks.com

David O’Keefe: Wonders in the Woods

Gregory Norris: Road Rage

David Elliott: The Couple Voted Most Likely to Stay Together

Jason Allard: Love in the Time of Zombies

Lorrie Lee O’Neill: Mairzy Doats

For Your Consideration: A Press Release

Local Horror is Invading New Hampshire Bookstores this Halloween

An anthology of short fiction in a horror vein written by local authors and set in the familiar locations of New Hampshire will appear in bookstores just in time for Halloween. “Live Free or Undead: Dark Tales from the Granite State” is being released by Plaidswede Publishing of Concord and should be available across the state by Oct. 14. The book presents 20 spine-tingling tales, some by first-time writers and some by such well-known New Hampshire authors as Rebecca Rule, Brendan Dubois, David Elliott and Hugo Award winner James Patrick Kelly. The book cover is illustrated by Dover artist Marc Sutherland and the whole project was edited by New Hampshire Magazine Editor Rick Broussard.

Last fall, word about the project was spread via the NH Writers Project and various online sites for authors of fiction. Broussard says he expected a good response, but he was surprised by the quantity — nearly 170 submission came in from eager authors — and the quality. “I could easily have filled three or four books with great stories,” he says.

“New Hampshire has always been home to some amazing writers,” says Broussard, “but there are fewer places for them to get started or to see their work in print.” To turn that trend around, Broussard came up with a concept that would connect local writers with local fans of genre fiction. “Live Free or Undead” is just the first volume in the “New Hampshire Pulp Fiction Series” of books that will use the state as a backdrop for action-packed storytelling and as an inspiration for new writing talent. The next volume, tentatively titled “Live Free or DIE, DIE, DIE,” will feature stories in the genre of murder and mystery, also set in New Hampshire.

In spite of the trend towards electronic media, “the book is still has great power and elegance,” says Broussard. “It’s the place where and writer can connect with a reader personally and tangibly.” He says he wanted to work with Plaidswede because of their ability to produce books that “really look great.”

“The writers who have been picked, both newbies and seasoned pros, are incredibly excited to have one of their stories appear in a book. I wanted to be sure that the book they were in was a thing of beauty,” says Broussard.

Even if the cover is a picture of brain-eating zombies.