I Go Spelunking

I'm appearing on a recent episode of The Book Cave with hosts Ric and Art. I discuss my book The Nuclear Suitcase, The Gantlet Brothers, and they track down a Gantlet story from ten years ago and expose a continuity error on my part. Good Fun!

Also we discuss upcoming projects and book releases. Check out the Book Cave PodCast here.

Dire Planet Compendium: Geltar & The Geltar Whip

The geltar is a cold-blooded, scaled creature which is sometimes domesticated for use as a beast of burden. They are thick-skinned, slow-witted, but incredibly strong and sometimes incredibly stubborn. The geltar whip is braided with diamond chips that can lacerate even the thick hide of the geltar, and is a most effective tool in making the geltar more submissive. They are slow to anger, but there are more than a few tales of a "geltar pushed too far" which has turned on its master and made a meal of her.

The geltar are used among the steltic ice mines of the Rathuri Tribe and also as beasts of burden among the agricultural tribe of the Fejuvisi. Geltars are not commonly used among the Muvari Tribe.

Copyright 2010 by Joel Jenkins. All Rights Reserved.

Pick up the Dire Planet books at Amazon or PulpWork Press.

Scorpions Throw Down the Gantlet

On March 23rd the Teutonic rockers, The Scorpions, throw down a new (and reportedly their final) album, Sting in the Tail, which my sources tell me includes a tribute to Slatko 'Sly' Gantlet. Indeed, a perusal of the Scorpions official website confirms that track number 10 is entitled Sly.

Though the Scorpions and the Gantlet Brothers were initially from opposite sides of the wall--The Gantlet Brothers escaping over the Berlin Wall in 1982--they considered each other as fellow Germans, double-billed a number of shows, and even celebrated the fall of the Berlin wall together. Though former Scorpion drummer Herman 'the German' Rarebell and drummer Mitz Gantlet were said to have a few moments of friction on their tour, these were invariably ironed out the next day.

Anyway, it's very cool to see The Scorpions honoring their lost brother. Of course, you can read further about the life and adventures of Sly Gantlet in my book The Nuclear Suitcase which is available at PulpworkPress and Amazon.

The Last Sudden Silence

I enjoy author Josh Reynold's work, but there are a couple of his characters that I particularly enjoy reading stories about. One is his masked ambassador, Ulrich Popoca, and the other is Mr. Brass who is the remnants of a human brain in a clockwork body.

So, good news for me--a new Mr. Brass story has been released through A Thousand Faces magazine. The Last Sudden Silence is the case of a missing girl, the Parisian sewer system, and Frankenstein and the Phantom of the Opera even show up. Good stuff and you can read it at the Thousand Faces website.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Derrick Ferguson visits the Book Cave for an in-depth interview about the creative process behind Dillon and the Legend of the Golden Bell. Also, find out why he regrets mentioning the Gantlet Brothers and Damage Inc in the pages of that book.

The Gantlet Brothers are, of course, the main focus of my book, The Nuclear Suitcase, and erstwhile guns and guitars for hire. You may not be familiar with Damage Inc unless you were former followers of Electronic Tales, when a pair of my Damage Inc stories were serialized on that website and via their email service. However, you will be hearing more from Max Damage and his companions in adventure, Minnie Zhinov, and Seth Armstrong when Pulpwork Press releases the novel, The Sea Witch, later this year.

For the record, I think it's great that the Gantlet Brothers and Damage Inc make a brief appearance in the ink of The Golden Bell.

The Book Cave Gets Weird

On episode 64 of The Book Cave, hosts Shayne and Ric speak with the wonderfully weird Russ Anderson, editor of How the West was Weird, the devilishly handsome Joshua Reynolds (he pays a small stipend each time someone addresses him that way), and the brilliantly deranged Barry Reese about how How the West was Weird came into being.

Also, in searching out the likenesses of these estimable gentleman I have discovered some unlikely alter egos. It seems that Russ Anderson is also the Lead Singer of a band called The Forbidden (yes, that's him in the middle), Josh Reynolds is also a skater of some renown, and Barry Reese is a notorious rapper. These folks lead interesting and varied lives--and are apparently, also, masters of disguise!

Reviewing the Weird West

Mike Exner continues his review of How the West was Weird, click here to read part three.

If you haven't already, you can pick up a copy of How the West was Weird at Pulpwork Press or Amazon.

Dire Planet Compendium: A Skelk in the Cake

The skelk is the Martian equivalent of a rat, and it is particularly agile and nimble because of its six legs. These pesky rodents are often found in unlikely and unwanted places and the phrase 'a skelk in the cake' is likely derived from one or more situations where a skelk was actually found in the cake. This expression, however, has developed to signify any number of unwelcome or inopportune events, much in the same way that an inhabitant of Earth might say that someone has 'thrown a wrench in the works'.

Copyright 2010 by Joel Jenkins. All Rights Reserved.

Fistful of Devils

Mosey on over to author Joshua Reynolds' blog and ponder his ruminations on the Weird Western genre and for a bonus short, short story.

When you're done with that you might be interested in checking out Mike Exner's blog for his second part of the How the West was Weird review.

Diablo Canyon

Welcome to Diablo Canyon, Arizona. Two hundred and fifty-five feet deep and blistering hot. During the summer of 1881 the Pacific and Atlantic Railroads ran out of financing and the rail crews holed up at Two Gun, a small town about 2 1/2 miles away, waiting for work to resume.

Two Gun was a shack town with two lines of buildings facing each other on the way to the yellow-painted depot, and it was full of too many people with too much time on their hands. Murder was a regular occurrence, and newcomers were frequently mugged and robbed for everything that they owned.

Eventually work resumed on the rail and the fantastic trestle that you see above was constructed. However, there were sinister forces working behind the completion of this railroad, which was in fact a conduit formed along mystical ley lines to gather dark energies.




How Lone Crow, renowned Native American gunslinger and erstwhile investigator for Miskatonic University, stumbled into this conspiracy is told in the pages of the Pulpwork Press How the West was Weird anthology--more specifically in Wyrm Over Diablo.

You'll also find some other interesting tales of the wild, weird west which your teacher didn't dare tell you about when you were in school.

First Weird Review

The first review of How the West was Weird is out and you can check out Mike Exner's thoughts on the first three tales at his blog. I have a vested interest in his review since a story I wrote, Wyrm Over Diablo, is one of those first three stories. So click on over and check it out.

Cover Story

If you've been following my blog you might already be aware of Pulpwork Press's second release for 2010, How the West was Weird. And you might also be aware that I have a story in it called Wyrm Over Diablo.

However, you might not be aware of the process of creating and choosing cover art. So head on over to cover artist Jim Rugg's sketch pad/blog and peruse a few of his sketches and alternative ideas that are just now seeing the light of day.

Oh, and you can pick up a copy of How the West was Weird on Amazon or at the PulpworkPress website.