Author Archives: The Geek Curmudgeon

Speaking of Armadillocon…

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Armadillocon XXX with Guest of Honor John Scalzi and Special Guest Joe Haldeman starts today. As usual I’m on several panels.

    Interstitial Fiction
    Fri 9:00 PM-10:00 PM deZavala
    Denton, Klaw, Person, Richerson, Trimm*
    A lot of recent fiction falls between the cracks of genre. There have been anthologies devoted to it, and now there is the Interstitial Arts Foundation. The most recent Nebula-winning novel falls into this category. What are the essential works and authors, and is this a full-fledged literary movement?

    What You Should Have Read
    Sat 2:00 PM-3:00 PM deWitt
    Dimond*, Hevelin, Klaw, Marin, W. Siros, S. Williams
    Our distinguished panel of writers, editors, and book-sellers discuss their take on the most important, influential, and enjoyable books and stories of the year.

    Reading
    Sat 6:30 PM-7:00 PM Robertson
    Rick Klaw

    Metafiction in Comics
    Sat 9:00 PM-10:00 PM deZavala
    Benjamin, Blaschke, Klaw*, Porter, Potter
    Metafiction has a long and rich history in comic books and graphic novels. Recent works such as Dr. 13, Nextwave, Scott Pilgrim and Ambush Bug have ushered in a new era for this insightful and entertaining storytelling method. What are some of the best examples, why do writers & artists use this method, and why has it become so popular?

    Movies
    Sun Noon-1:00 PM deWitt
    Klaw, Leicht, Miles, Scalzi, Person, M. Williams*
    This has been a booming year for science fiction, comic book, and fantasy movies. Our panelists tell us which ones you should have seen, and which you can safely avoid. Of course, they’ll probably talk about movies of the past as well.

    Autographing
    Sun 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Dealers’ Room
    Anderson, Klaw

RevSF editors (past and present) Matthew Bey, Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Mark Finn, Alan Porter and Steve Wilson will also be there. Stop by and say howdy!

Article about Armadillocon

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I am quoted in Richard Whittaker’s excellent Austin Chronicle article about Armadillocon‘s 30th anniversary.

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For editor/columnist/publishing polymath Rick Klaw, back as a panelist for his 14th year, it’s the presence of highly literary writers like Haldeman, Lansdale, and Crider that makes this event important. "One of the strengths of ArmadilloCon has always been that it’s three fans to every pro, so the pros feel a lot more comfortable," he said. "You have a chance to sit down and talk about whatever projects you’re working on. As an editor, you can sit down to talk about working with newer writers. As a new writer, you get to meet these people. It enables you to get nearer to the fans." At the bigger conventions, he adds, "it’s all about promoting whatever you’ve done. This, you’re talking about what you’re going to do."

Bigfoot Trackers Claim They’ve Found Their Prey

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I’m a little dubious…

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PALO ALTO, Calif. — It’s more than 7-feet tall. Weighs over 500 pounds and walked upright — three "Bigfoot" seekers, including a Redwood City man, Wednesday claimed they have proof that they have found the body of the elusive creature in the wilds of Georgia.

And on Friday, at a news conference in Palo Alto, they say they will present DNA evidence to prove the carcass of “Rickmat” is that of a bigfoot.

Soon after the publication of my anthology The Big Bigfoot Book, I was flooded with letters, cards, and clippings making much the same claims as described above.

(Thanks to Mark London Williams for sharing this with me.)

How to Get Published and Avoid Alien Bloodsuckers

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Lore Sjöberg in his excellent Alt Text blog offers up some helpful advice to new writers in the internet age.

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Scammers can smell fear, and to them it smells like the still-living flesh strips that make up most of their diet. A lot of aspiring writers see publishers and agents as bored nobility, offering contracts in a whimsical attempt to inject some entertainment into an otherwise tedious existence. They suspect that even putting too long a delay between "yes" and "please" will cause the contract to be withdrawn and fed to a purebred Saluki.

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Now, even if the editor initially appears to be a mammal, it’s still possible to get scammed. There’s a wonderful rule of thumb known as Yog’s Law: "Money flows toward the writer."

I know that in a world filled with kickbacks and graft, this seems too good to be true. It seems perfectly logical that you might have to spread around some cash, grease some palms and lubricate the chassis of commerce with some crude currency in order to make publishing run smoothly. Scammers leap on this misapprehension like a cat on cantaloupe.

A cat on cantaloupe?

Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008

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[ Listening to Shaft theme! Currently: Listening to Shaft theme! ]
I toyed with the idea of writing a piece about Isaac Hayes and what his death meant to me, but after reading Leon’s Spill post, whatever I had to say would sound trivial.

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Isaac Hayes was Black Moses.
He was Truck Turner.
Gandolph Fitch
The Duke of New York
Chef.

Isaac Hayes was my hero.

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I blew it on my first chance to see him. At the Million Man March and I was so busy staring at M.C.Hammer that I didn’t know that Isaac Hayes was standing less than 50ft. behind me until my friends came up and told me later.

In 2001 I drove to Dallas and paid the $5 entry fee for the Nokia-sponsored ‘New Age Festival’ to watch him perform outdoors in front of a full crowd of hipster 20-somethings that only knew him as “Chef” from South Park and probably got most of his songs confused with Barry White’s. It was still a great show even with having the Nokia Employee Band (which I heckled) as opening act.

I was with Leon at that Noika show. A memorable evening.

Leon even exposes the unique Mike Judge-Isaac Hayes-South Park relationship.

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One of the things I bonded with Mike Judge over was our mutual man-crush on Isaac Hayes. It was he that introduced Hayes to Trey Parker and Matt Stone after having him sing the theme to Beavis & Butthead Do America.

The unique and amazing talent Isaac Hayes will be missed and never replicated.

Thanks to my buddy Leon for the excellent tribute and putting what many of us were feeling and thinking into words.

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You see this cat Shaft is a bad mother–
(Shut your mouth)
But I’m talkin’ about Shaft
(Then we can dig it)

He’s a complicated man
But no one understands him but his woman
(John Shaft)

Michael Moorcock names his top 10 science fiction novels

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Legendary author Michael Moorcock was asked backed in 2001 by the Guardian to list his ten favorite science fiction books.

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"I would guess that, Wells, Ballard and Aldiss aside, I only have about 10 SF novels I really like. Most SF is fundamentally retrospective, like modern politics. Big spaceships have an immediate soporific effect (the first time I fell asleep in 2001 I was with an amiable Arthur Clarke!) So, if you haven’t read any SF, this list might suit you. Few of these books make any mention of spaceships, but they’re all by substantial writers and most have a characteristic elegaic note inherited from the likes of Shelley and Wells."

Intriguing list that begins with Brian Aldiss’ Greybeard and culminates with one of my all time favorite books The Exploits of Engelbrecht by Maurice Richardson.

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10. The Exploits of Engelbrecht by Maurice Richardson
While not actually SF, this was such an enthusiasm of mine, Ballard’s and several others that it deserves inclusion. Richardson certainly knew his science, his literature and his surrealism. If you do not know the Surrealist Sporting Club, The Day We Played Mars and the Night of the Great Witch Shoot (illustrated by Searle, Hoffnung and Boswell in a superior edition) you do not know English literature.

(Thanks to the ever helpful Matt Staggs)

Rick Klaw Talks about Irving Klaw

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An interview with me about my famous grandfather appears on the BettiePage.com blog.

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How has your own life, work and passions been shaped by experiencing the "cult" audience of Bettie Page?

The cult of Bettie enabled me to learn more about a part of my family history that I thought lost. I didn’t learn about my grandfather’s famous history until I was 21 and at the 1992 San Diego ComicCon. I remember the event clearly.

"Are you related to Irving Klaw?"

I stood dumbfounded. I knew the name but never expected to hear it at 21 while attending a comic book convention. Irving Klaw was my grandfather.

Irving died about 16 months before I was born. His death is the stuff of family legend.

The grey-haired man in front of me was Ray Zone. As a comic book and magazine publisher, Zone was single-handedly responsible for the 3-d boom of the late 80’s.1

"He was my grandfather. Why?"

Zone proceeded to show me examples of my grandfather’s work: Images of Bettie in black leather and leopard print bathing suits bound in a variety of positions. Some of the pics had Bettie with a whip. In some she was spread in doorways or suspended from a ceiling, bound and gagged. A few even had other women, but none had any nudity at all.

So you could say the "cult of Bettie" changed my life but not in the way most expect. I became curious and over the years and learned as much as I could abut his life and work. It’s enabled me to re-establish a relationship with my Uncle Arth. Turns out we have a lot more in common than Irving.

Quark coming to DVD!

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[ Happy Mood: Happy ]
As children, my sister and I often fought over the TV. This was back in the 70s when households often had only one TV, five channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and an independent), and no VCR. After school we raced home. Whoever got the TV first could make a claim. Course it didn’t usually stop us from a pitched battle, but every day it was the same. On one channel they showed Looney Tunes. My sister in her insanity hates Looney Tunes. She preferred The Brady Bunch, which showed on another channel. UGH! It was even more crucial for me to get home on those occasions when the Million Dollar Movie had Ape and Godzilla weeks. You never knew when those gems might be shown again. For a while Friday nights were awful when for that brief period Quark ran opposite Donny and Marie. They canceled Quark and I went back to my reading while she watched the Dancin’ Mormon Happy Hour.

I recall Quark, the tale of an intergalactic garbageman, being hilarious. I’ve not seen the episodes since they originally aired back in the dark ages of 1977-1978, mostly because the show was never put out on VHS (except for bootlegs) nor DVD.

Well happily this tidbit arrived in my inbox this morning:

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Buck Henry — Oscar® nominated screenwriter (The Graduate, Heaven Can Wait) and Emmy® winner for his work on the hit TV series “Get Smart” — created a wonderfully wacky sci-fi spoof Quark starring Richard Benjamin which since its debut and short run in 1977-78 has become a cult hit. In addition to Emmy® nominee Richard Benjamin (TV’s “He & She”), the out-of-this-world space age comedy stars Tim Thomerson (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Patricia and Cyb Barnstable, Bobby Porter, Conrad Janis (TV’s “Mork & Mindy”), Alan Caillou, and Richard Kelton (TV’s “Gunsmoke”). Quark: The Complete Series will be available for $19.94.

I’m not sure if it will be the same without the weekly fighting, but I imagine I’ll muddle through. I just hope it isn’t a Spaceballs turd that my ten year old reality gussied up into a rose.

The DVD is scheduled for a mid-October release. Expect a review soon after!

Evil Dead 4?!?!

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This potentially great news from the mouth of Sam Raimi about the fourth Evil Dead comes courtesy of Twitch:

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I’d love to make another Evil Dead picture. And actually that’s in the wheelhouse. I’d like to work on it with my brother Ivan [Raimi] when he comes up next week.

Although this is very exciting, I’m more interested in Raimi’s new horror film Drag Me To Hell. It’ll be his first non-Spider-man movie since the 2000’s underrated The Gift as well the first horror collaboration with his brother Ivan since Army of Darkness.

Though he better hurry up with the new Evil Dead or it’s going to be very old man Bruce in a wheelchair fighting zombies! Course we all know Bruce can kick some serious ass even with a walker!

Darwyn Cooke to Adapt Parker Novels!

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"When a fresh-faced guy in a Chevy offered him a lift, Parker told him to go to hell." —The Hunter, Richard Stark opening line

From PW Comics Week on July 26, 2008:

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Eisner Award-winning artist Darwyn Cooke will adapt the first four Parker novels by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake, a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America) as graphic novels, IDW announced today. The adaptations will be released at a rate of one every two years, starting in 2009 with The Hunter.

Richard Stark’s antihero stories influenced an entire generation of crime writers and filmmakers including Elmore Leonard, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Price, Brian Bendis, David Laptham, Dennis Lehane, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese.

Stark fans often refer to the Parker adventures as the crack of crime fiction. After reading one book, you’re hooked and before you know it you’ve devoured, like so many boxes of Milanos, some twenty books. The junkie you’ve become begins to sweat and shiver waiting for the next hit!

The perfect artistic choice for these adaptations, Cooke should offer the perfect methadone to tide you over until the latest Stark stuff hits the streets.