Here is a great treat: Mike Hodel interviewing Arthur Byron Cover on Mike's famous radio show, Hour 25.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
DIGITAL PARCHMENT SERVICES Announces the Republication of William Charles Rotsler's PATRON OF THE ARTS
Digital Parchment Services
Is Proud to Announce the Republication of William Charles Rotsler's Nebula, Hugo and Locus Award Finalist Saga
PATRON OF THE ARTS
For Immediate Release
Digital Parchment Services, through its Strange Particle Press science fiction imprint, and the estate of William Charles Rotsler are proud to announce the exclusive publication of an enhanced edition of Rotsler's 1974 novel Patron of the Arts ... based on his triple-award nominee fiction novelette of the same name.
Born in 1926, William Charles Rotsler was truly a renaissance man: acclaimed novelist and short story writer, photographer and filmmaker, much-admired artist and illustrator and – how he is perhaps best remembered – and as a warm and special part of science fiction fandom. Star Trek fans particularly owe Rotsler a debt for giving Lt. Uhura the first name of Nyota.
Rotsler had a hand in locating the fossils, crystals and stones for the Nebula Award trophies as well as receiving five Hugo awards for his cartoon work that appeared in fanzines, convention program books, and magazines such as Locus. To honor Rotsler, The Southern California Institute for Fan Interests created the William Rotsler Art Award in 1998. William Rotsler died in southern California in 1997.
"Patron of the Arts gives us a future where art is a major driver in the culture. He envisions new technologies that deepen our arts and alter how we see our world. Rotsler at the top of his form." –Gregory Benford
Brian Thorne was a billionaire. There were only two things he cared about: women and art. And because he could afford it, he paid the world's finest artist to combine the two, to make a work of art of the unforgettable, incomparable Madelon in the new and extraordinary artform: the sensatron. Then Madelon and the artist disappeared – through the sensatron. And all the money in the world could not help Brian Thorne. To solve the secret of the sensatron, he was strictly on his own...
That is how Brian Thorne, billionaire, found himself helpless—caught in a magnificent crystal creation that grew on Mars, and without any resources even if he could get away from the killers who trapped him there. For although they knew he was Brian Thorne, he couldn't prove it. To find Madelon and the sensatron, he had gone to considerable trouble to cover his tracks. Now he wished he had not been so thorough in turning his back on the luxury-lined and very well-guarded life he lived back on Earth. Now, when it was too late!
"A fine novel!" –Harlan Ellison
This new edition of Patron of the Arts features special bonus content – including a foreword by Nebula winner Gregory Benford, an afterword by Lambda finalist M.Christian, and a biographical sketch written by the author himself. The enhanced ebook version is available now – and a premier trade paperback edition will be coming in January, 2015.
Coming soon from Digital Parchment Services will be new releases of William Rotsler's novels To the Land of the Electric Angel, Zandra, The Hidden Worlds of Zandra, and Far Frontier, as well as a collection of Rotsler's short stories.
The Authorized William Charles Rotsler site
Introductory price: $2.99 – regularly $.5.99
ISBN: 9781615085828
For Review Copies Contact:
M.Christian, Publisher
Digital Parchment Services
Twitter: @DigiParchment
Facebook: Digital-Parchment-Services
Thursday, December 11, 2014
"Mirror, Mirror" New Jerome Bixby Collection Reaches Top 10 on Star Trek Bestseller List at Amazon Kindle
The famed Star Trek script writer's new collection of eleven stories from the pulp science fiction magazines, Mirror, Mirror, has reached the top 10 on the Star Trek bestseller list at Amazon Kindle and the top 50 among science fiction anthologies and collections.
Before he wrote four fan-favorite Star Trek episodes, and the screen story for the movie Fantastic Voyage, Jerome Bixby (1923-1998) was a highly regarded professional science fiction magazine editor. But Bixby deserted magazine editing for Hollywood. Bixby is best remembered for episodes he wrote for the original Star Trek television series, and is much revered by series fans for introducing, in "Mirror, Mirror," the concept of the "mirror universe" where The Federation and Kirk, Spock, et al, are all their evil exact opposites in character and deed.
Bixby also wrote three other episodes, "By Any Other Name," "Day of the Dove," and, "Requiem for Methuselah," which are ranked among the best in the series. The new collection contains a trio of rarely reprinted novelettes containing ideas that Bixby would later mine and transmogrify in two of his highly regarded Star Trek episodes. These stories are "One-Way Street" and "Mirror, Mirror" (both used in the ST script "Mirror, Mirror") and "Cargo to Callisto" (used in "By Any Other Name"). The collection also contains Bixby's most famous short story, "It's a Good Life," memorably dramatized first on The Twilight Zone, then in the Twilight Zone Movie, and finally reinterpreted for the twenty-first century on the series 2002 incarnation, in "It's Still a Good Life."
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Starcom: The U.S. Space Force Cartoon from the 80's - written By Arthur Byron Cover!
(from Arthur Byron Cover's site)
Here's a special treat: an episode of the classic 80's science fiction cartoon show Starcom, written by Arthur Byron Cover!
Here's a special treat: an episode of the classic 80's science fiction cartoon show Starcom, written by Arthur Byron Cover!
Thursday, December 4, 2014
DIGITAL PARCHMENT SERVICES Is Proud To Announce The Republication Of Arthur Byron Cover's Nebula Nominee Breakthrough Book AUTUMN ANGELS
For Immediate Release
Digital Parchment Services, through its Strange Particle Press science fiction imprint, and Arthur Byron Cover are extremely thrilled to announce the publication of an enhanced edition of Cover's Nebula-nominated intergalactic romp Autumn Angels.
"Autumn Angels is a feast of strangeness populated by extraordinarily exotic, and yet deeply human characters. In part satire, in part thought experiment, Arthur Byron Cover's book is an exploration of the meaning of humanity, and is filled with enough wild images and witty dialogues to equal five books by a lesser writer. A must read." –Steam Dave, Amazon
This edition features introductions by both A. A. Attanasio (author of Radix) and multiple Nebula and Hugo Award winner, Harlan Ellison, as well as a very special Afterword about the writing of the book by Cover.
Digital Parchment Services is especially excited to be able to present this new edition with the stunning cover painting by Ron Cobb, the internationally acknowledged artist and illustrator who worked on films such as Star Wars and Alien, from the original edition.
The ebook edition of Autumn Angels is available now – with a trade paperback edition premiering in January, 2015.
Coming soon, also from the Digital Parchment Services, will be Arthur Byron Cover's An East Wind Coming, Platypus Of Doom, The Sound Of Winter, and a collection of Arthur Byron Cover's short stories.
"Three Godlike men (the lawyer, the fatman and the demon) ... seek to give a godlike humanity depression, in an attempt to make their race seek purpose and become the ultimate species in the universe. What follows is ... a novel which plunges you into an original sci-fi world which raises thought provoking questions throughout the plot ... fast paced with engaging and unique characters ... thought provoking and emotive ... Buy it now or I will send you to the antimatter universe."
–Adam Gent, Goodreads
The book that ushered in the 21st century – in 1975! So far ahead of its time that no one knew what to make of it!
"…recommended to readers of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett."
–The PorPor Books Blog
Autumn Angels is a fast moving, anarchistic romp, filled with pop culture references, in which the clichés and conventions of sci-fi are used as slapstick props, written four years before Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy–
"It takes the materials of everyday entertainments—pulp heroes, movies, comics, detective stories—and transforms them ... into a gestalt that is fresh ... the lawyer is modeled after Doc Savage's sidekick, 'Ham,' Brig. Gen. Theodore Marley Brooks; the fat man is Sidney Greenstreet; the gunsel is Elisha Cook, Jr. in The Maltese Falcon; the Big Red Cheese is Captain Marvel; the Insidious Oriental Doctor is Fu Manchu; the Queen of England who calls herself a virgin is Elizabeth I; the ace reporter is Lois Lane; the zanny imp from the Fifth Dimension is Mr. Mxyzptlk, and both the imp and Lois are, of course, from the Superman comics; the godlike man with no name is Clint Eastwood in the Sergio Leone-directed spaghetti westerns; the galactic hero with two right arms is Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero; the fuzzy (but boring) little green balls of Sharkosh are Star Trek scenarist David Gerrold's tribbles; and you can figure out for yourself the true identities or esoteric references for The Ebony Kings, the poet, the shrink, the bems, the other fat man and his witty leg man, and on and on."
–Harlan Ellison
No wonder Autumn Angels is a one-of-a-kind extravaganza, the author lists as influences the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Richard Lester, the silent comedians, Woody Allen, Harry Harrison, Keith Laumer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Dorothy Parker, Hemingway, Jeeves and Wooster, Phil Dick, Robert Sheckley, and Alfred Bester.
"...agile inventiveness ... extraordinary salience and outlandishness ... astonishing imagination ... grotesque and hilarious ... honest and often truly beautiful ... shocking and exultant ... nothing like the usual SF fare. I read it through in one sitting."
–A. A. Attanasio, author, Radix
Read Autumn Angels now ... you'll be glad you did!
Cover: Ron Cobb
#
ebook: http://amzn.com/B00NJX2DYQ
Introductory price: $2.99 – regularly $.5.99
ISBN: 9781615085811
Trade Paper, January, 2015
ISBN: 9781500695200
Arthur Byron Cover's Site
Distributed by Futures-Past Editions
Twitter: @futurespasted
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For Review Copies Contact:
M.Christian, Publisher
Digital Parchment Services
Digital Parchment Services is a complete ebook and print service for literary estates and literary agents. The founders of Digital Parchment Services are pioneers in digital publishing who have collectively published over 2,500 ebooks and PoD paperbacks since 1998.
DPS clients include the estates of multiple Hugo winning author William Rotsler, and science fiction legend Jody Scott; authors such as Locus Award finalist Ernest Hogan, Hugo and Nebula nominee Arthur Byron Cover, prize winning mystery author Jerry Oster, psychologist John Tamiazzo, Ph.D., award winning nutritionist Ann Tyndall; and Best of Collections from Fate Magazine and Amazing Stories.
Twitter: @DigiParchment
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Ernest Hogan on Cortez On Jupiter!
Here's Ernest Hogan's beautiful introduction to the new edition of his groundbreaking novel, Cortez On Jupiter!
Not since Ayn Rand's Howard Roarke has there been an artist as iconoclastic, as idealistic, and as splendidly spectacular as Pablo Cortez. And look out, he's twice as radical!
"Energetic, fast-paced, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable." -Analog
Combining hard science fiction with pyrotechnics worthy of "The Stars, My Destination," Ernest Hogan tells the story of the painter who founds the Guerrilla Muralists Of Los Angeles, goes on to make Mankind's first contact with the sentient life-forms of Jupiter.
“If Hunter S Thompson and Alfred Bester had a Chicano child, it would be this. - Dave Hutchinson
The Secret Origin of Pablo Cortez
An Introduction to CORTEZ ON JUPITER
A
long time ago, in the outer fringes of Los Angeles County, I was working on an
abstract painting, when Pablo Cortez popped out. The art teachers at Mt. San
Antonio College ("Mount SAC") encouraged abstract art, none of this
stuff with recognizable imagery or social commentary and certainly no
commercial art or illustration. They were Fine Artists who created Fine Art
that educated middle class people could dress up in their best clothes, visit
on the weekends in downtown galleries or museums and feel civilized.
I
was a Chicano kid (yeah, yeah, I was born in East L.A., my mother’s maiden name
was Garcia – ya wanna see my I.D. while we’re at it, officer?) whose ideas of
culture came from television, drive-in movies, and reading material I bought at
liquor stores. I felt that my art should grow out of the funky environment that
I lived in. The future starts now, and it also starts here.
No
wonder Pablo Cortez popped out of that painting.
I
was having a good time playing Jackson Pollock, slinging and smearing paint,
putting stuff like paint thinner to make it drip ... and there was a problem
with the drips. I liked them, but they had a tendency to flow in the same
direction – down. This would dominate the composition, nail it to the ground. I
needed to defy gravity somehow. Like I was on an orbiting space station.
I
was also experimenting with writing about Chicano characters – finding new viewpoints
for that gave a fresh, intense life to my stories. (Yeah, I could be an artist and writer. And I could understand science, too. Keep your
borders out of my way...) I was interested in the things that weren’t in
science fiction, after all, they were going to be in the future, too.
Also,
once you’ve got a good character – one that comes to life on the page and in
the reader’s mind, you’re like a mad scientist who has zapped a monster to
life. All you have to do after that is follow it around, study how it interacts
with its environment, report to the world what happens ... that is if the
military doesn’t come screaming down out of the sky and blast it all away for the
common good.
This
was the Seventies. The Sixties had burned out. The Vietnam War had just ended.
Nixon and Watergate were dominating the news. The economy was in the toilet.
Everything seemed to be out of whack. A lot of people thought the world was
coming to an end. As one of my teachers said, "You keep expecting to see
people wearing crossed ammunition belts."
This
was before Star Wars (yeah, I’m old) and everyone knew there was no
money in science fiction, and there was none of the trendy talk about diversity
we hear about now. Everybody seemed to think that the science fiction audience
was all white nerds who would be alienated by "minority" stuff. I was
looking out into a world that certainly was diverse, and the term
"minority" was becoming meaningless. I was trying to create the best,
most original writing that I could, because it had to be done, and I guess my
intent was to be revolutionary.
In
some ways, I was as crazy as Pablo Cortez.
My
first version of the story of Pablo Cortez – a novelette that no longer exists,
and I don’t even remember the title – was never published. I struggled to write
it, then sent it around, and got rejected. A few editors thought I showed
promise, but no one wanted to publish it.
That
was after I gave up on studying art, the whole world of Fine Art made no sense
to me, so I dropped out to pursue writing. I did have some minor success as an
illustrator and cartoonist, but that was underground. For years I lived under a
mound of rejection slips.
Granted
there were personal encouraging notes from editors, and later on the occasional
sales that kept me from quitting.
Then
Ben Bova started his Discoveries series for Tor. He was looking for new
writers. My wife, Emily Devenport, urged me to send him something. He was
asking for synopses, so I sent him one of a surrealistic, sex-crazed (and still
unpublished) space opera.
Ben
didn’t go for that one. He explained that he was working for a conservative guy
who wouldn’t go for such kinkiness, and wasn’t beyond burying a book that he
didn’t like.
However,
Ben felt that from my bio, I had something different to bring into the field
with my ethnic and artistic background. He asked for another synopsis.
And
of course, I didn’t know what to do.
Lucky
for me, Pablo Cortez, like a good monstrous creation, had refused to die.
I
had just sold a condensed version of Pablo Cortez’s story, "Guerrilla
Mural of a Siren’s Song" to
Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Weasley Smith’s Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine. I was taking Ray Bradbury’s advice that if you still believe
in a story that you couldn’t sell, after a few years, cut out a page, and send
it out again – and I cut a lot more than a page.
What
if I take that story, shove a stick of dynamite up its ass. stand back, and
take notes on what comes splattering down all over the landscape?
Ben
liked my Cortez on
Jupiter synopsis, and
suddenly, I had become a real writer, with contract with a New York publisher,
an agent, and everything.
This
was the Eighties. I did not sell Cortez
on Jupiter as a Chicano
science fiction novel. Nobody believed that there was an audience for such a
thing. I’d be honest about my ethnicity, but because I wasn’t dealing with
people face-to-face, they’d assume I was white like all the other sci-fi geeks.
I said that the main character was named Pablo Cortez, but didn’t go on about
his being a Chicano, or speaking Spanglish. I hoped they wouldn’t notice until
it was too late.
To
my surprise, Ben essentially, let me go wild, and write what I wanted, the way
that I wanted. His advice was minimal, but dead on. I don’t think this happens
much anymore.
Despite
what some people might like to think, Cortez
on Jupiter is not autobiographical. Like a lot of my
viewpoint characters, Pablo Cortez started out as parts of me would live a lot
differently if they went off on their own agenda. Good fictional characters
usually have less sense of self-preservation than real people, and have a knack
for getting into interesting kinds of trouble. Writers tend to find ways to get
along, so they can write.
But
there are people who claim that they can’t tell my fiction from my nonfiction.
Believe me, I’m always aware about where my life ends and the fiction begins.
Cortez
on Jupiter got great
reviews. I was compared to William Gibson. I smiled a lot.
Unfortunately,
it didn’t become a runaway bestseller. An editor at Tor called it a
"success d’esprit."
This
was also a time when science fiction was going in one direction, and I was
going in another. With bookstores, and publishers in the control of
corporations, the genre was becoming nerd lit – that is, fiction created
specifically for nerds, which is different from what I grew up reading. Modern
readers wanted stories focus-grouped for their demographic, part of franchises
they were familiar with, brought to them by multinational corporations they
trust. And, please, no new ideas!
"I
like sci-fi because I always know how it’s going to end, and there are no
surprises," as one once explained to me.
Still,
Cortez on Jupiter
attracted a loyal following. You could say it has become a bit of an
underground cult novel. I’ve always kept one foot in the underground, so when
the shit hit the fan, I’d have a place to stand.
Locus published two reviews, one calling it
the best science fiction first novel since Neuromancer, the other complaining about the
"abominable prose style."
Like
the rest of my work, people either love or hate Cortez on Jupiter.
Some
fans were turned off by the Spanglish, thought it was alienating and hard to
read while others loved it, telling me that it was the first time they saw
language they used every day in print. One editor called my readers, "noisy
minority.” Maybe they weren’t noisy enough.
And
now that it’s the 21st century, and tides are turning, we’re hearing a lot of
talk about diversity, postcolonialism, Afrofuturism and nerds that come in all
colors, it may be that Cortez
on Jupiter’s time has
finally come.
I
have this bad habit of being ahead of my time. Maybe that’s why I became a
science fiction writer.
So,
meet Pablo Cortez, the product of the life of a renegade Chicano. His story
isn’t nerd lit. Nerds – whatever their ethnicity – need to be challenged, not
coddled, like bulls who refuse to charge the matador, and need to be stuck with
firecracker-studded banderillas to perform. Maybe it will inspire you to
perform, face the unknown, or even our own future. The future always contains
the unexpected, and danger.
And
if you have the right attitude, it can be wicked fun.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
All Of Toffee: The Wild Fantasies of Charles F. Myers!
Read all the fabulous Toffee books - compliments of Futures-Past Editions!
Marc Pillsworth's dream girl materialized from a magical plane—but she turned out to be a nightmare of comic proportions!
Pillsworth was dreamer. That was good; it helped make him a success in advertising. But it was bad when his idle imaginings of the perfect woman turned out to be so strong they tapped the magical plane and she came to life right before his eyes!
You'd think that would be a miracle, but Marc found out otherwise! For, like so many "dream girls" since the dawn of humankind, his dream girl, Toffee, had a mind of her own—and a life of her own, too! Worse yet, she had magical powers and insisted on using them on Marc's behalf. That might have been a miracle, too, but lacking worldly experience, the impulsive Toffee's efforts had a way of proving disastrous for Marc. Soon Marc's fiancée, the police, various citizens, and even members of the local underworld are all out for Marc's scalp—and just when he has succeed in sending Toffee away!
Classic Fantasy in the Tradition of "Topper"!
Marc Pillsworth's dream girl materialized from a magical plane—but she turned out to be a nightmare of comic proportions!
Pillsworth was dreamer. That was good; it helped make him a success in advertising. But it was bad when his idle imaginings of the perfect woman turned out to be so strong they tapped the magical plane and she came to life right before his eyes!
You'd think that would be a miracle, but Marc found out otherwise! For, like so many "dream girls" since the dawn of humankind, his dream girl, Toffee, had a mind of her own—and a life of her own, too! Worse yet, she had magical powers and insisted on using them on Marc's behalf. That might have been a miracle, too, but lacking worldly experience, the impulsive Toffee's efforts had a way of proving disastrous for Marc. Soon Marc's fiancée, the police, various citizens, and even members of the local underworld are all out for Marc's scalp—and just when he has succeed in sending Toffee away!
- THE DREAM GIRL [The Hilarious Adventures of Toffee #1] by Charles F. Myers
- TOFFEE HAUNTS A GHOST [The Hilarious Adventures of Toffee #2] by Charles F. Myers
- TOFFEE TURNS THE TRICK [The Hilarious Adventures of Toffee #3] by Charles F. Myers
- THE SHADES OF TOFFEE [The Hilarious Adventures of Toffee #4] by Charles F. Myers
- THE LAUGHTER OF TOFFEE [The Hilarious Adventures of Toffee #5] by Charles F. Myers
HOW I GAVE STAR TREK'S UHURA HER FIRST NAME - AND WHAT IT MEANS
(from William Charles Rotsler: A Celebration)
William ("Bill" to his friends and fellow fans) Rotsler was a science fiction author, whose novelette, later expanded as a novel, Patron of the Arts, was a finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. The following is part 1 of a letter Rostler wrote in response to The Best of Trek 10, a paperback from New American Library/Signet, reprinting material of interest from the legendary fanzine Trek. The letter was then printed in The Best of Trek 13.
In part it is a response to complementary, but occasionally erroneous pieces about Rotsler's own Star Trek books written for Wanderer, a young readers imprint of Simon & Schuster publishing. Rotsler had followed Star Trek from the beginning, and approached the work both as a fan and a professional science fiction writer. (Check this blog for part 2 of this fascinating missive, "More than You may Have Ever Wanted to Know about My Writing Star Trek Books.")
Example: Naming Uhura was the most fun. I looked through one of those twenty-six-language dictionaries (which never seem to have the word you want) and found Nyota under "star." I got Nichelle Nichols's phone number from Bjo—I'd never met Miss Nichols—and called her, told her who I was and what I doing. She was very nice, very polite. I was careful to say I had picked a name for her character—not her—and had checked it with Gene Roddenberry.
"That's nice," she said.
"It's Nyota," I said.
"Oh, that's nice," she says, still polite.
"It means 'star' in Swahili," I said.
"Oh, wowww!" she exclaimed.
You see, I took this attitude: I was writing the official biographies. What I said goes. So "Nyota" is "official," not Penda, not anything else. (And Nichelle liked it.) I admit this is a cavalier attitude, but it was my book, so there.
I larded the book with friends, friends' books, puns, and insults (visible only to friends.).
I think the most fun of all was doing the bibliography. Once I had conceived of the format of drawing from reports, letters, official files, etc., it was an obvious step to books. If the Enterprise crew had saved the Earth that many times, it seems perfectly natural to assume there would be books (or what passed for books, rather, what will pass for books then), documentaries, etc. So I jotted down a few obvious titles, quit work, and went in to watch TV. Somewhere in the evening I thought of a title—just popped into my head—Klingon Cuisine. About one in the morning or so, my usual beddy-bye time, I stopped by my typewriter to make a note of it ... and another title occurred to me.
Next thing I knew it was 4:55 A.m. and I had written five thousand words of bibliography. I used the name of every single writer who had worked on the series; I had used most of the membership list of the Los Angeles Fantasy Society (almost always changing first names or using a first and using the street they lived on). For example, Kalisher Pelz became the author of Klingon Cuisine because Bruce Pelz lives on Kalisher Street. I used the "real" names of historians and others, mentioned in the Star Trek mythos. I switched names—Jim
Bearcloud and George Barr live together, so they became the co-authors of Art of the Stars, James Barr and George Bearcloud. There is not one author who is not based on an "authorized" Star Trek character or mixed'n'matched names of friends. Randy Lofficier becomes Randall; Lola Johnson, wife of George Clayton Johnson who we often refer to as Lola Clayton, became L. Clayton Johnson, etc.
For years I have been using the name of Gregg Calkins, ex-WW II marine sergeant, devoted SF fan, and friend—and each time I bumped him a grade. In Biographies he is a fleet admiral. I can't get you much higher, buddy . . . except promotion to civilian.
And so on.
This was the most fun to do of the Trek books, but later they asked me to cut twenty-five hundred words, so I took it all out of the bibliography and didn't try to balance things out; so probably I lost some of the original series writers.
WHAT UHURA'S FIRST NAME REALLY IS
By William Rotsler
William ("Bill" to his friends and fellow fans) Rotsler was a science fiction author, whose novelette, later expanded as a novel, Patron of the Arts, was a finalist for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. The following is part 1 of a letter Rostler wrote in response to The Best of Trek 10, a paperback from New American Library/Signet, reprinting material of interest from the legendary fanzine Trek. The letter was then printed in The Best of Trek 13.
In part it is a response to complementary, but occasionally erroneous pieces about Rotsler's own Star Trek books written for Wanderer, a young readers imprint of Simon & Schuster publishing. Rotsler had followed Star Trek from the beginning, and approached the work both as a fan and a professional science fiction writer. (Check this blog for part 2 of this fascinating missive, "More than You may Have Ever Wanted to Know about My Writing Star Trek Books.")
I was thumbing through The Best of Trek #10 when I discovered—to my surprise—not one but three references to my book Star Trek II Biographies. I thought you might be interested in reading a few words on these books, and on the references to them.
First of all, the very fact anyone knows about the book is astonishing to me. I've gone up to dealers at conventions (but not Star Trek cons) who are selling tables of nothing but Trek material and they've never heard of the book. This is not to beef up my royalties, for I get none—it and the six other Star Trek books were all "buy-outs" as they say in the trade. But that book, over the other six, I thought would be of more than ordinary interest to Trekkies. I've done about three dozen books for Wanderer Books, which is a division of Simon & Shuster, just like Pocket Books. This includes the first six of the "new" Tom Swift series (with Sharman DiVono, who wrote the Star Trek comic strip for a while), also movie novelizations and originals based on franchised characters. Some of them, including two Star Trek books, were interactive (kinda), or "plot-your-own-adventure" books, as the publisher calls them.
The distribution on these books is terrible. In checking over one hundred book stores in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Baltimore, San Diego, Chicago, and Los Angeles, I saw a few of the Tom Swifts, but only one or two copies of two or three books.
Anyway, me doing the books was a big surprise to [my then publisher] Pocket Books, who thought they had a lock. But they do novels, which left me plot-your-own (2), real-little-kiddy-books (2), short stories (2), and the biographies (1). This all was my editor's idea, not mine. So there you have one correction, as one of your writers had me doing novels.
The other correction comes on Uhura's name. I read The Best of Trek backward, and so did not come to Nicky Jill Nicholson's "The Naming Game" until I had seen several references to "Penda" Uhura. I totally agree with Nicky's uncompromising statement ... but perhaps for different reasons.
My editor, Wendy Barish, wanted me to do the biographies of the Starfleet characters and I liked that idea, but I simply did not want to rehash old material. I wanted to give the fans something new . . . and I didn't want to bore myself doing it. So I conceived the "dossier" format. This included full name, serial number, birth place, dates, commendations, etc.
Another thing you must understand is that Star Trek is licensed individually; that is, the series is licensed separately from each film, each of which is licensed individually, etc. Theoretically, since this book was Star Trek II, I could only use material in the second movie. Obviously, you couldn't do the bios on that film alone, so everyone simply paid no attention, tactfully, and firmly.
This format, then, required the addition of first names, family, serial numbers, and so on where they had not previously been noted. I used (1) my own memory; (2) Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance; (3) Bjo's memory; (4) other obvious sources. I did not read any but the one Star Trek novel I had already read—there were simply too many; I had neither time nor inclination. I was, after all, licensed, ordered, and restricted to Star Trek II (sorta). So if it wasn't in the series, the two movies, the Concordance, or behind-the-scenes-"well-established"-fact, I ignored it.
Example: I had made up a whole history for Sulu, but Pocket Books (who had bowed to the inevitable and the "resident Trekkie" read it and approved) said that Vonda McIntyre had given Sulu a history, so I used that. My whole idea was to use all reasonable sources, to make it fit in. I used some starship names from another book.
Example: Spock had never had a serial number, so I gave him WR39-733-906, which had been assigned to me some years before by the U.S. Army. McCoy got my phone number as of that date. Kirk graduated from my high school and had my sister's birthday. Chekov had my father's. McCoy had my daughter's, and he was married on the day I was married and divorced on the day I was writing it. Scott was born on my other sister's birthday; Uhura was born on my ex-wife's birthday, which is the same as our daughter's.
Example: Ships, characters, officers are named after fans and friends. (You gotta name 'em sumpin'!)
First of all, the very fact anyone knows about the book is astonishing to me. I've gone up to dealers at conventions (but not Star Trek cons) who are selling tables of nothing but Trek material and they've never heard of the book. This is not to beef up my royalties, for I get none—it and the six other Star Trek books were all "buy-outs" as they say in the trade. But that book, over the other six, I thought would be of more than ordinary interest to Trekkies. I've done about three dozen books for Wanderer Books, which is a division of Simon & Shuster, just like Pocket Books. This includes the first six of the "new" Tom Swift series (with Sharman DiVono, who wrote the Star Trek comic strip for a while), also movie novelizations and originals based on franchised characters. Some of them, including two Star Trek books, were interactive (kinda), or "plot-your-own-adventure" books, as the publisher calls them.
The distribution on these books is terrible. In checking over one hundred book stores in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Baltimore, San Diego, Chicago, and Los Angeles, I saw a few of the Tom Swifts, but only one or two copies of two or three books.
Anyway, me doing the books was a big surprise to [my then publisher] Pocket Books, who thought they had a lock. But they do novels, which left me plot-your-own (2), real-little-kiddy-books (2), short stories (2), and the biographies (1). This all was my editor's idea, not mine. So there you have one correction, as one of your writers had me doing novels.
The other correction comes on Uhura's name. I read The Best of Trek backward, and so did not come to Nicky Jill Nicholson's "The Naming Game" until I had seen several references to "Penda" Uhura. I totally agree with Nicky's uncompromising statement ... but perhaps for different reasons.
My editor, Wendy Barish, wanted me to do the biographies of the Starfleet characters and I liked that idea, but I simply did not want to rehash old material. I wanted to give the fans something new . . . and I didn't want to bore myself doing it. So I conceived the "dossier" format. This included full name, serial number, birth place, dates, commendations, etc.
Another thing you must understand is that Star Trek is licensed individually; that is, the series is licensed separately from each film, each of which is licensed individually, etc. Theoretically, since this book was Star Trek II, I could only use material in the second movie. Obviously, you couldn't do the bios on that film alone, so everyone simply paid no attention, tactfully, and firmly.
This format, then, required the addition of first names, family, serial numbers, and so on where they had not previously been noted. I used (1) my own memory; (2) Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance; (3) Bjo's memory; (4) other obvious sources. I did not read any but the one Star Trek novel I had already read—there were simply too many; I had neither time nor inclination. I was, after all, licensed, ordered, and restricted to Star Trek II (sorta). So if it wasn't in the series, the two movies, the Concordance, or behind-the-scenes-"well-established"-fact, I ignored it.
Example: I had made up a whole history for Sulu, but Pocket Books (who had bowed to the inevitable and the "resident Trekkie" read it and approved) said that Vonda McIntyre had given Sulu a history, so I used that. My whole idea was to use all reasonable sources, to make it fit in. I used some starship names from another book.
Example: Spock had never had a serial number, so I gave him WR39-733-906, which had been assigned to me some years before by the U.S. Army. McCoy got my phone number as of that date. Kirk graduated from my high school and had my sister's birthday. Chekov had my father's. McCoy had my daughter's, and he was married on the day I was married and divorced on the day I was writing it. Scott was born on my other sister's birthday; Uhura was born on my ex-wife's birthday, which is the same as our daughter's.
Example: Ships, characters, officers are named after fans and friends. (You gotta name 'em sumpin'!)
Example: Naming Uhura was the most fun. I looked through one of those twenty-six-language dictionaries (which never seem to have the word you want) and found Nyota under "star." I got Nichelle Nichols's phone number from Bjo—I'd never met Miss Nichols—and called her, told her who I was and what I doing. She was very nice, very polite. I was careful to say I had picked a name for her character—not her—and had checked it with Gene Roddenberry.
"That's nice," she said.
"It's Nyota," I said.
"Oh, that's nice," she says, still polite.
"It means 'star' in Swahili," I said.
"Oh, wowww!" she exclaimed.
You see, I took this attitude: I was writing the official biographies. What I said goes. So "Nyota" is "official," not Penda, not anything else. (And Nichelle liked it.) I admit this is a cavalier attitude, but it was my book, so there.
I larded the book with friends, friends' books, puns, and insults (visible only to friends.).
I think the most fun of all was doing the bibliography. Once I had conceived of the format of drawing from reports, letters, official files, etc., it was an obvious step to books. If the Enterprise crew had saved the Earth that many times, it seems perfectly natural to assume there would be books (or what passed for books, rather, what will pass for books then), documentaries, etc. So I jotted down a few obvious titles, quit work, and went in to watch TV. Somewhere in the evening I thought of a title—just popped into my head—Klingon Cuisine. About one in the morning or so, my usual beddy-bye time, I stopped by my typewriter to make a note of it ... and another title occurred to me.
Next thing I knew it was 4:55 A.m. and I had written five thousand words of bibliography. I used the name of every single writer who had worked on the series; I had used most of the membership list of the Los Angeles Fantasy Society (almost always changing first names or using a first and using the street they lived on). For example, Kalisher Pelz became the author of Klingon Cuisine because Bruce Pelz lives on Kalisher Street. I used the "real" names of historians and others, mentioned in the Star Trek mythos. I switched names—Jim
For years I have been using the name of Gregg Calkins, ex-WW II marine sergeant, devoted SF fan, and friend—and each time I bumped him a grade. In Biographies he is a fleet admiral. I can't get you much higher, buddy . . . except promotion to civilian.
And so on.
This was the most fun to do of the Trek books, but later they asked me to cut twenty-five hundred words, so I took it all out of the bibliography and didn't try to balance things out; so probably I lost some of the original series writers.
Tim Powers On William Rotsler!
(From the official William Charles Rotsler site)
We are very pleased to be able to bring you this wonderful interview with the celebrated author Tim Powers ... featuring some touching reminiscences about his experiences with William Rotsler:
We are very pleased to be able to bring you this wonderful interview with the celebrated author Tim Powers ... featuring some touching reminiscences about his experiences with William Rotsler:
Tim Powers is the author of numerous novels, including Last Call, Declare, Three Days to Never, and On Stranger Tides, the inspiration for the blockbuster film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, starring Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz. Tim Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare.
1. How did you first meet William Rotsler?
It was at a Westercon in San Francisco in 1971, when I was nineteen. I had gone there with the rare book dealer Roy Squires, and he introduced me to Rotsler and Paul Turner, and they asked me if I'd be interested in working for them when we were all back home in the L.A. area. The work sounded informal and irregular and paid in cash, so I said sure. I was of course already aware of Rotsler's drawings in fanzines.
2. What was your first impression of Bill?
He seemed big and confident and worldly and humorous -- the sort of guy you're flattered (especially if you're nineteen) will pay attention to you.
3. Can you share some fun anecdotes about Bill? We know that he was (ahem) quite the character....
I remember one time we went to a Mexican bar to hire guys to dress up as Arabs and be extras in "The Street of a Thousand Pleasures" - the offer was five bucks a day and the opportunity to see naked women dance, and there were lots of takers. On the way back to the van, while we were crossing a bridge over a culvert, Bill felt a hand lifting his wallet out of his back pocket; Bill spun around and rolled the guy right over the rail. I don't know how the would-be pickpocket fared, but Bill kept his wallet. I was enormously impressed.
4. Our mutual great friend, Paul Turner, and fantastic pal to Bill Rotsler, asked us to ask you about Bill's (ahem) 'adult' film Street Of A Thousand Pleasures ...?
I carried equipment around and helped build lots of sets for it - cutting walls and turrets out of plywood and painting them with a mix of paint and sand - but I wasn't there when they were filming. I think that was out of consideration for my impressionable youth. But I got to spend a number of nights at their house up on Ridpath in Laurel Canyon, and I vividly remember swimming in the pool, and hanging out with Norman Spinrad and George Clayton Johnson, and drinking beer and eating spaghetti with chili while Cat Stevens' "Tea For the Tillerman" played on the stereo.
5. Can you please share with us some thoughts about Bill's amazing creativity? His work as an author, cartoonist, photographer, filmmaker, etc?
Well, the guy was the complete artist, in every form I can think of except maybe needlepoint. Actually, I think he'd have been more successful if his skills had been limited to one or two areas! But they were all things he was very good at, and he wanted to play with them all.
6. Last, but not least, could you share with us how William Rotsler affected your life ... personally as well as professionally?
He, along with Philip K. Dick, impressed me with the chaotic life of a freelancer - stretches of wonderful idle time interspersed with periods of intense work, and how you have to be able to fully enjoy both. Financial reverses pass, and recur, and pass again. Roll with the punches and don't give up.
Read 5 Time Hugo Winner William Rotsler's Patron Of The Arts ($2.99 - Free on Amazon Unlimited) and The Far Frontier ($2.99)
Read 5 Time Hugo Winner William Rotsler's Patron Of The Arts ($2.99 - Free on Amazon Unlimited) and The Far Frontier ($2.99)
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Out Now: The NEW Edition Of William Rotsler's PATRON OF THE ARTS!
Digital Parchment Services (distributed by Futures-PastEditions), through it's Strange Particle Press science fiction imprint, and the estate of William Charles Rotsler is extremely pleased to announce the publication of a brand new edition of William Rotsler's Nebula and Hugo finalist novel, Patron Of The Arts.
This new edition features never before seen content – including a forward by the Nebula winning Dr. Gregory Benford. The enhanced ebook version is available now – and a premier trade paperback edition will be coming out in January, 2015.
Coming soon, also from the author's estate and Digital Parchment Services, will be William Rotsler's To The Land Of The Electric Angel, Far Frontier, a collection of his short stories, and a book of interviews by and about William Rotsler.
"Patron of the Arts gives us a future where art is a major driver in the culture. He envisions new technologies that deepen our arts and alter how we see our world. Rotsler at the top of his form." –Gregory Benford
Brian Thorne was a billionaire. There were only two things he cared about: women and art. And because he could afford it, he paid the world's finest artist to combine the two, to make a work of art of the unforgettable, incomparable Madelon in the new and extraordinary artform: the sensatron. Then Madelon and the artist disappeared – through the sensatron. And all the money in the world could not help Brian Thorne. To solve the secret of the sensatron, he was strictly on his own...
That is how Brian Thorne, billionaire, found himself helpless—caught in a magnificent crystal creation that grew on Mars, and without any resources even if he could get away from the killers who trapped him there. For although they knew he was Brian Thorne, he couldn't prove it. To find Madelon and the sensatron, he had gone to considerable trouble to cover his tracks. Now he wished he had not been so thorough in turning his back on the luxury-lined and very well-guarded life he lived back on Earth. Now, when it was too late!
"A fine novel!" –Harlan Ellison
Special introductory price $2.99 (regularly $4.99)
Brian Thorne was a billionaire. There were only two things he cared about: women and art. And because he could afford it, he paid the world's finest artist to combine the two, to make a work of art of the unforgettable, incomparable Madelon in the new and extraordinary artform: the sensatron. Then Madelon and the artist disappeared – through the sensatron. And all the money in the world could not help Brian Thorne. To solve the secret of the sensatron, he was strictly on his own...
That is how Brian Thorne, billionaire, found himself helpless—caught in a magnificent crystal creation that grew on Mars, and without any resources even if he could get away from the killers who trapped him there. For although they knew he was Brian Thorne, he couldn't prove it. To find Madelon and the sensatron, he had gone to considerable trouble to cover his tracks. Now he wished he had not been so thorough in turning his back on the luxury-lined and very well-guarded life he lived back on Earth. Now, when it was too late!
"A fine novel!" –Harlan Ellison
Special introductory price $2.99 (regularly $4.99)
ISBN: 9781615085828
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
DIGITAL PARCHMENT SERVICES ANNOUNCES The Republication of Ernest Hogan's Controversial Science Fiction Romp CORTEZ ON JUPITER
DIGITAL PARCHMENT SERVICES ANNOUNCES
The Republication of Ernest Hogan's Controversial Science Fiction Romp
Cortez On Jupiter
"Ernest Hogan is the creator of a Xicano science fiction genre with a crossover readership. …raw creativity."
–Frank S Lechuga
Digital Parchment Services through its Strange Particle Press science fiction imprint, and Ernest Hogan, are extremely proud to announce the publication of a brand new trade paperback edition of Hogan's Locus Award finalist science fiction novel, Cortez On Jupiter.
The enhanced ebook version of Cortez On Jupiter, which contains a new introduction about the writing of this highly controversial novel which introduced Chicano tropes to science fiction, is available now – and a premier trade paperback edition will be coming out in January, 2015.
Hogan, who describes himself as "–a recombocultural Chicano mutant, known for committing outrageous acts of science fiction and other questionable pursuits" has had stories published with great acclaim in publications such as Amazing Stories, Analog, Science Fiction Age, Semiotext(e)SF, and many others.
Cortez On Jupiter will be followed by Ernest Hogan's High Aztech, Tezcatlipoca Blues, and a collection of Ernest Hogan's short stories: Pancho Villa's Flying Circus.
Cortez On Jupiter is the story of a wild young Chicano artist who covers Greater Los Angeles with fantastic graffiti and a beautiful African telepath who opens the door to communications with the deadly Sirens of Jupiter.
Not since Ayn Rand's Howard Roarke has there been an artist as iconoclastic, as idealistic, and as splendidly spectacular as Pablo Cortez. And look out, he's twice as radical!
Combining hard science fiction with pyrotechnics worthy of The Stars, My Destination, Ernest Hogan tells the story of the painter who founds the Guerrilla Muralists Of Los Angeles, goes on to make Mankind's first contact with the sentient life-forms of Jupiter.
It's a roller-coaster ride from vulgarity to the transcendent, as the unforgettable Pablo Cortez struggles, selfishly and selflessly, to expand humanity's consciousness on a journey from the barrio to the stars.
"Hard SF, satire, adventure, and some very strange humor combine in this intriguing, inventive, and sometimes disconcerting SF story."
–Science Fiction Chronicle
"An alien first contact story featuring a hyperactive, irreverent, and self-absorbed Chicano artist from East LA. Cortez is recruited to make contact with creatures discovered on Jupiter who "speak" in projected images. It's a dangerous assignment; previous attempts to communicate have ended in insanity and death, but Pablo is always up for a little bit of craziness."
–Michael Lichter, Amazon
"It grabs you and won't let you go. The best [first novel] I've read in science fiction since Neuromancer."
–Tom Witmore, Locus
"Energetic, fast-paced, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable."
–Analog
"If Hunter S Thompson and Alfred Bester had a Chicano child, it would be this."
–Dave Hutchinson
On Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00NMQFUJK
Digital Parchment Services is a complete ebook and print service for literary estates and literary agents. The founders of Digital Parchment Services are pioneers in digital publishing who have collectively published over 2,500 ebooks and PoD paperbacks since 1998.
DPS clients include the estates of multiple Hugo winning author William Rotsler, and science fiction legend Jody Scott; authors such as Locus Award finalist Ernest Hogan, Hugo and Nebula nominee Arthur Byron Cover, prize winning mystery author Jerry Oster, psychologist John Tamiazzo, Ph.D., award winning nutritionist Ann Tyndall; and Best of Collections from Fate Magazine and Amazing Stories.