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Archive for the ‘News’ Category

One new eBook this week from Wonder Publishing Group by Science Fiction legend, Murray Leinster.  Here’s an excerpt from the wikipedia entry for this novel, The Forgotten Planet:

The “forgotten” planet had been seeded for life, first with microbes and later with plants and insects. A third expedition, intended to complete the seeding with animals, never occurred. Over the millennia the insects and plants grew to gigantic sizes. The action of the novel describes the fight for survival by descendants of a crashed spaceship as they battle wolf-sized ants, flies the size of chickens, and gigantic flying wasps.

The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster

KINDLE | FICTIONWISE | IPAD (coming soon)

The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster

NATURE’S MISLAID MADHOUSE! Beneath dense gray clouds through which no sun shone lay a forgotten planet. It was a nightmare world of grotesque and terrifying animal-plant life. Gigantic beetles, spiders, bugs and ants filled the putrid, musty earth–ready to kill and devour anything in sight. There were men amidst this horror–men who cringed and ran from the ravening monsters and huddled in the mushroom forests at night. Burl was one of these creatures. But one day inspira-tion hit Burl. He would find a weapon–he would fight back. And with this idea the first step was taken in man’s most desperate flight for freedom in this most horrible of all worlds. But it was only a first step.

Groovy, four new eBooks titles from Wonder Publishing Group.

The Graveyard Rats and Other Stories by Henry Kuttner

AMAZON KINDLE | FICTIONWISE

The Graveyard Rats and Other Stories by Henry Kuttner

Old Masson had a secret– One of Salem’s oldest and most decrepit cemeteries was put in Old Masson’s charge, but he didn’t mind–he was more than sufficiently compensated by the treasures the newly departed wholeheartedly offered him. Unfortunately, he always seemed to have to work harder to earn his keep, for he had an unusual rival to match: rats! The critters, large as cats, often took whole bodies out of the coffins and into some dark, sinister place–where it is rumored that ghouls and evil creatures worse than the rats dwell. Old Masson never worried, though; these were, after all, just rumors–and they were, after all, just rats. Or were they? Also contains the stories: THE EGO MACHINE, WHERE THE WORLD IS QUIET, PROBLEM WITH ETHICS, WHAT HATH ME?, and the classic HOME IS THE HUNTER.

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Cropper’s Cabin by Jim Thompson

AMAZON KINDLE | FICTIONWISE

Cropper's Cabin by Jim Thompson

Tommy Carver was a raw nerve, an angry young Okie sharecropper. Sharing the narrow confines of a hot and steamy cabin with a violent father. But his stepmother was the one that was really pushing his buttons. And her affections were way beyond maternal. The heat of the situation was making Tommy boil over. It was just a matter of time before he’d do something he regretted.

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The Planetary Adventures of Eric John Stark by Leigh Brackett

AMAZON KINDLE | FICTIONWISE

The Planetary Adventures of Eric John Stark

He is Eric John Stark, known far and wide around the galaxy because of his many exploits and unparalleled fearlessness. But he is also called N’Chaka, Man-Without-a-Tribe. Born and raised in the savage surroundings of Mercury, and then reclaimed by his fellow Earthmen after they have destroyed his tribe and home, Stark spends his life wandering, not staying in one place for long, yet ever and always leaving his mark. From dry and arid Mars with its vampiric Ramas, to red and lush Venus with its psychotic Lhari, and back again to the cold and cruel winter region of Mars and the Gates of Death, Stark fulfills overwhelming deeds of heroism, creating friendships and discovering love, yet still remaining true to his namesake–N’Chaka, Man-Without-A-Tribe.

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Gunfire at Salt Fork by William Hopson

AMAZON KINDLE | FICTIONWISE

Gunfire at Salt Fork by William Hopson

He had a five-notch past and plenty more room on his gun. Carr was coming back and along the silent dusty street of Salt Fork you could almost smell death in the air. In the gray light of morning the four Kendalls waited for him, gun-hot and swaggering–but thinking, too, of the five dead outlaws strung out down Jonathan Carr’s back trail. The morning grew brighter–and so did the knowledge that by sundown in Salt Fork there would be burying to do.

5 of the top 15 bestselling Science Fiction eBooks at Fictionwise are published by Wonder Publishing Group. How cool is that? Check out all the WPG eBooks at Fictionwise.

8	Venus is a Man’s World and Other Stories [MultiFormat] by William Tenn		Wry, brilliant stories from the late William Tenn. Stories of irony, poignancy, humor and satire. Vampires, time travel and paradoxes, government projects, war, and the battle of the sexes. Stories included are: VENUS IS A MAN’S WORLD, OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS, NULL-P, BROOKLYN PROJECT, SHE ONLY GOES OUT AT NIGHT, PROJECT HUSH, ME MYSELF AND I, and RICARDO’S VIRUS. The Science Fiction Encyclopedia ranked Tenn as “one of the genre’s very few genuinely comic, genuinely incisive writers of short fic… more info>> Words: 35884 – Reading Time: 102-143 min. Category: Science Fiction/Humor
	Regular     Club You Pay: $3.49     $2.97
9	Worlds Without End and Other Stories [MultiFormat] by Clifford D. Simak		A link between yesterday and the tomorrow that was here already ? The closer you move to something the farther away it got ? Dreams constructed and maintained by society ? Stranded on an alien world with nobody to talk to except your spaceship ? A world-to-world search for an elusive secret ? The bizarre, weird, strange creations of thing and worlds only Science Fiction Grand Master, Clifford D. Simak could have written ? and make believable. Words: 55262 – Reading Time: 157-221 min. Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy
	Regular     Club List Price: $4.99     $4.24 You Pay: $4.24     $3.60 You Save: 15.03%     27.86%
11	Lorelei of the Red Mist [MultiFormat] by Ray Bradbury, Leigh Brackett		Hugh Starke, space-rat and convict, was being pursued by spacecraft into the unknown parts of Venus. He had just pulled off the largest lone wolf heist in the history of that planet. But now it looked like he was going to pay the ultimate price for his misdeeds. But fate had a strange twist on Starke’s life when he woke up in a different body. A body that was strong and powerful. In a body of a Venusian barbarian named Conan. But was Starke anything more than a puppet in this new body? For he so… more info>> (Published: 1946) Words: 22469 – Reading Time: 64-89 min. Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy
	Regular     Club You Pay: $1.99     $1.69
14	The Green World [MultiFormat] by Hal Clement		Four scientists, one guide–and a dangerous beast following their trail. Nothing unusual from the looks of things, except that they are all in a planet far away from Earth. Robin Lampert, Take Mitsuitei, Hans Krendall and Ndomi Sulewayo, and their guide John McLaughlin, get together to scour the wilds of Viridis and take what scientific information the land can offer. They discover puzzling yet wondrous mysteries, yet little do they know that the the land itself is unwilling to give them the an… more info>> Words: 24823 – Reading Time: 70-99 min. Category: Science Fiction
	Regular     Club You Pay: $2.49     $2.12
15	The Towers of Titan and Other Stories [MultiFormat] by Ben Bova		Five extraordinary stories by one of Science Fiction’s most revered writers. THE TOWERS OF TITAN–Across the frozen cliffs they loomed–the unbelievably ancient towers with the unimaginable engines deep inside them still pouring out their endless power. Dr. Sidney Lee, back from living death, vowed to find the secret of the Towers of Titan! THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP–Ordinarily the military least wants to have the others know the final details of their war plans. But, logically, there would be times… more info>> Words: 44667 – Reading Time: 127-178 min. Category: Science Fiction
	Regular     Club You Pay: $2.99     $2.54

Here at Brain Plucker we are way too cerebral to talk about sex, right? As some of the regular readers of this blog knows, I design most of the art work for Wonder Publishing Group by re-purposing older artwork in the public domain. WPG is publishing a story as an eBook called Lorelei of the Red Mist by Ray Bradbury and Leigh Brackett. There’s a wonderful painting by Frank Kelly Freas that graced a magazine called Tops is Science Fiction.

Tops In Science Fiction, Fall 1953

This was actually the second printing of the story. I would of repurposed this art if it wasn’t already reused for a excellent Leigh Brackett collection by Haffner Press called Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances. I didn’t want to create any confusion between that title and my own published version. So decided I needed to look elsewhere. Lorelei of the Red Mist first appeared in the Summer, 1946 issue of Planet Stories. The cover to that issue left me uninspired. I knew I could find something better than that. I then found an eBay auction that had a photo from the interior art from the already mentioned Tops in Science Fiction magazine. The interior was also by Frank Kelly Freas. Let me stop here to say that I think that Frank Kelly Freas was an exceptional artist in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. He most famously known for his paintings, but I love his interior illustrations for the old SF mags. So back to the picture from the eBay auction. I bid and lost on that issue. I bid and lost another auction for that issue. I decided to colorize the image from the auction. Now this is the first thing interior artwork that I colorized. But I still consider myself a dilettante as a colorist. I can’t look at a black and white drawing and really visualize its completion. In a sense this really exciting when the work starts taking shape. The first thing I did was to make the image more symmetrical.

Interior Art from Tops in SF. Image was found from an eBay Auction picture.

I copied the layer and flipped it, did some cutting and cloning and merging to create the  final B&W image. I then started colorizing it. The female represents Rann, an ivory colored Venusian with aquamarine hair. As I cleaned up the image I noticed how phallic the post she was bound to looked. Yes that ring she bound to makes most body piercings seem mild (ouch!). I had the art just about nailed down when I showed it to a friend. I pointed out the phallicness of the art. And he noticed that the base was very vagina-like. In fact the phallic was going right through it. What have a created? By making the base symmetrical, I created one f**king awesome cover. Well before writing this post I had to figure out what the opposite of phallic is called. I have to admit to wondering this before. The best word I’ve found was “yonic”. Which means anything that can be described as vagina-like. Who knew?

Black and White and Symmetrical

Colorized- (ouch! that ring had got to hurt)

The Final Cover (coming March 2010)

Look for the eBook in March!

Here’s a reposting I did from the Science Fiction Oral History Association (SFOHA.org) website:

One of Science Fiction’s master short story writers, Phil Klass, passed away Sunday, February 7, 2010 at age 89. Phil Klass, who may be better known by the pseudonym William Tenn, wrote more than 60 SF stories. Connie Willis in her introduction to the book Immodest Proposals: The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn, Volume 1
wrote:

Tenn’s stories are witty, clever, thought-provoking, ironic, intensely intelligent, touching, and hilarious. And too few and far between. Most of the stories in this collection were written in the fifties and sixties, and, until now, have been hard to find. I’m overjoyed that they will all be in print again and all in one place (though it’s also delightful to come across one in an anthology when you least expect it, and have him seduce or surprise or swindle you all over again), But I wish there were more of them.

He was named Author Emeritus by SFWA in 1999. Some of his more famous short stories (and this list is by no means complete) are:

• Brooklyn Project (1948)
• Venus and the Seven Sexes (1949)
• Down Among the Dead Men (1954)
• The Liberation of Earth (1953)
• Time in Advance (1956)

There is an excellent interview (well really it’s a monologue) with Phil Glass AKA William Tenn at Pulpnet.com. It was recorded at PulpCon 35 in 2006. Phil talks about working with John W. Campbell, Horace Gold and Fred Pohl among many others. He certainly had the gift of gab. If you feel saddened at his passing as I do, this recording will bring smile to your face.

Also there’s an another excellent interview from 2004 when he was on WNYC’s Spinning On Air. Which also has him reading his short story On Venus, Have We Got A Rabbi! [via: SFFaudio]

If you have any recordings of William Tenn, we’d love to post them here. Please contact us.

Three new eBooks from Wonder Publishing Group. I really like the art on these covers. But I’m the designer so I might be biased.

The High Ones and Other Stories by Poul Anderson

FICTIONWISE | AMAZON KINDLE

THE HIGH ONES AND OTHER STORIES by POUL ANDERSON

Now was Eben Holbrook’s chance to play hero—and win his lady love.
Eben Holbrook was not much of a spaceman; he was just a simple nucleonics engineer, not even close to being a scientist. Yet a rare burst of inspiration on his part was what saved them from harm … or maybe just the thought that his dear Ekaterina was in danger.
After having landed on a planet which had the makings of a new Earth, Rurik’s troop discovered that someone else beat them to it. The Zolotoyans—a more highly intelligent race—started an arbitrary attack, which forced an investigation into the reason for their hostility.
Holbrook, Ekaterina and Grushenko were assigned to the task, and set out for Zolotoy. Much to their surprise, the natives did not attack them once they landed; in fact, they seemed altogether indifferent to their guests’ presence, though they were required to stay indefinitely. Holbrook knew that the atmosphere and environment weren’t conducive for humans, and sought immediately to escape, but Grushenko insisted on trying to reason with the Zolotoyans no matter what the cost.

From a Science Fiction Grand Master comes ten exciting stories from the 1950s. Over 100,000 words of the future from the past.

Also includes the stories: OUT OF THE IRON WOMB!, TURNING POINT, THE APPRENTICE WOBBLER, STAR SHIP, THE CORKSCREW OF SPACE, LORD OF A THOUSAND SUNS, THE SOLDIER FROM THE STARS, SWORDSMAN OF LOST TERRA, THE CHAPTER ENDS

Woman's World and Other Stories by Evan Hunter

FICTIONWISE | AMAZON KINDLE

WOMAN’S WORLD AND OTHER STORIES by EVAN HUNTER

Classic Science Fiction from the 1950s by S.A. Lombino who most famously wrote under the pen names Evan Hunter and Ed McBain.

Damion couldn’t believe his eyes—the universe’s most beautiful women in one single planet, and they were all GIANTS!
But he shouldn’t let that fact overwhelm nor deter him. That trip to planet Krinn was crucial—their alliance to the Federation would mean the alliance of all other planets left in the System. He would have to find a way to somehow convince the beautiful Queen Alidia that being a member of the Federation will be to her kingdom’s best interests.
Together with his long-time partner and friend, Konars, they formulate an agenda that at first glance seems devious, except that the tables are turned on them. For a lot of what happens next aren’t part of the original plan: becoming the Giant Queen’s court jester, war between the larger females and the relatively smaller males, the Daxonians’ involvement—and falling in love.

Also contains the stories: THE PLAGIARIST FROM RIGEL IV, SILENT PARTNER, and A PLANET NAMED JOE

Gateway to Darkness by Fredric Brown

FICTIONWISE | AMAZON KINDLE

GATEWAY TO DARKNESS by FREDRIC BROWN

Crag was a no good drunk and deviant, now facing life in prison. But the good judge Jon Olliver offers him his freedom—plus a million credits!—in exchange for a small favor: steal a harmless tool from a rich scientist in Mars. Crag suspects a catch, but he finds it so hard to resist … especially when he knows that Olliver’s beautiful wife, Evadne, will be joining them in the adventure!

A great 1940s novella from a master of the form.

A new year and new goals for 2010. The top thing on my list is to publish 100 eBook titles this year. That’s two a week, so you can expect to see two new releases every week. That’s pretty ambitious since this is basically a two person operation, working part-time at that (actually working a full-time job in addition to WPG is more accurate).  There is me and my wonderful freelancing proofreader (Hi, Junelle!). Why are we called Wonder Publishing Group if there’s only two people? WPG started as Wonder Audiobooks, then we started publishing eBooks, and print books; so you see, there’s a whole group of kinds of books. And speaking of print books and audiobooks, there will be more of those published this year as well.

There hasn’t been many posting here of late. But that was because I had to jump-start the year with getting a lot of titles going in the pipeline. You’ll be seeing a new release posting here tomorrow. Here are some of the titles coming out within the next month:

Death Quotient and Other Stories by John D. MacDonald – Several Science Fiction stories, many before reprinted.

The High Ones and Other Stories by Poul Anderson - Other 100,000 word anthology of 10 great SF stories from the 1950s. I’m planning on releasing a print book version of this title as well.

Double for Death by Rex Stout- A novel by Rex Stout, people. In fact he called it his favorite mystery.

Woman’s World and Other Stories by Evan Hunter – Four great SF stories from this mystery and SF master. BTW, Just watched the movie, The Blackboard Jungle, today. It’s based on Evan Hunter’s novel of the same name. What a great movie. Vic Morrow’s character really scared me.

That’s just a few of the titles in the works. Isn’t this exciting?

And I don’t like to do a posting without a visual. Here’s another future release. Sometimes a cover comes out a little more special than the rest. This one I tried something slightly new visually (new for me, that is). Compare the re-purposed art from the WPG cover to the original from Imagination. The new thing I tried was not erasing the sign behind the lady’s head, but cropping the hand and gun so it looks like it coming out of the picture frame. The art is by Lloyd N. Rognan.

Gateway to Darkness by Fredric Brown

As part of the SFFaudio Challenge, Wonder eBooks offered up the digital text to H.B. Fyfe’s novel, D-99. And I’m happy to report that Jerry Pyle lent his voice talent skills in creating the audiobook. I haven’t listened to it in it’s entirety yet, but Jerry does a very good job of it. The novel is available at LibriVox.org.

If you prefer an eBook version, it available in multiple formats at Fictionwise and at Amazon for the Kindle.

Four out of the top eight bestselling Science Fiction titles at Fictionwise are published by Wonder Publishing Group (hey, that’s my company!). Very Cool!

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Second Variety [MultiFormat] by Philip K. Dick

In futuristic America, Russia declares war on all of Terra, and this has left the American government no choice but to evacuate and move to a safer, secret location, the Moon Base. However, war still continues over on Terra. In defense and retaliation, “claws” were created, small machines built to search and destroy any living creature. Russia may have the upper hand, but America is determined to fight back. In their zeal they have created the ultimate weapon–robotic killing machines. But in a … more info>> (Published: 1953) Words: 15288 – Reading Time: 43-61 min. Category: Science Fiction

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D-99 [MultiFormat] by H.B. Fyfe

EARTHMEN IN TROUBLE Harris was caged in an underwater “zoo” by a pack of blue lobsters. Maria drew a five-year sentence on a puritanical planet for trying to buy a souvenir–and for being excessively feminine. Taranto & Meyers had committed the crime of being shipwrecked on a planet that didn’t like strangers. Gerson was simply kidnapped. And nobody had any idea why five citizens of Terra were being held on other worlds–and the ultra-secret Department 99 existed only to set them, and others lik… more info>> Words: 57073 – Reading Time: 163-228 min. Category: Science Fiction

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Search The Sky [MultiFormat] by Frederik Pohl, C.M. Kornbluth

Earth Colonists’s voyage to settle the far planets beyond our universe. Spaceships have been unable to evoke responses from these planets, and in a novel that is as well-written as it is ingenious, one man starts out form Halsey’s Planet to find the answer. But is there an answer? By the co-authors of the SPACE MERCHANTS and WOLFBANE. (Published: 1954) Words: 52927 – Reading Time: 151-211 min. Category: Science Fiction

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Down to Earth and Others [MultiFormat] by Harry Harrison

From one of the best, Science Fiction Grand Master Harry Harrison, comes seven fantastic stories of space, aliens, war, and robots. And his stories always have the backbone of the human condition to support them. Words: 54267 – Reading Time: 155-217 min. Category: Science Fiction

Trying to tie together a lot of loose ends before the year’s end. I’ve got two audiobooks that will be available this Winter. One contains two stories by Jack Vance and the other is a novella by Andre Norton.

I was working on a cover for the Pohl/Kornbluth novel, Search the Sky and decided to re-purpose the original cover (which is in Public Domain–so it’s all good). Even though I needed a image with a vertical orientation, I couldn’t stop myself from redoing the whole image, mostly using the cloning tool in Photoshop. The video just alternates between the before and after image. Cover art is by Richard Powers who did a lot of unique abstract SF art in the 50s and 60s.

And here’s the book cover. Look for the eBook release in the next couple of weeks.

Some other eBooks that will be coming out in soon is an anthology of stories by Science Fiction Grand Master-Harry Harrison, and a novella by Philip K. Dick! Cool covers as well, but I’ll save that for another post

I’m also currently, like right now, digitizing some old recordings from the SFOHA (Science Fiction Oral History Association) archive.

I’m also putting out a printed book of three novels by Andre Norton. More about that soon.