From ALL PULP: Exploring The Power Of The Centipede with Chuck Miller

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

http://allpulp.blogspot.com/2012/01/exploring-power-of-centipede-with-chuck.html

Exploring The Power Of The Centipede with Chuck Miller

One of the great things about being part of the all pulp staff is the ability to read great pulp. The Black Centipede was given to me generously by Chuck Miller, and the book is a fascinating read. This doesn’t have a very one dimensional approach to it. Heroes could very easily be villains, and even the staunchest villain has some heroic qualities to them. The dark side of humanity is made commonplace, and Chuck Miller does it seamlessly. The characters are believable and they feel human, much more so than many other stories.

Chuck himself is a fascinating man. I discuss with him Black Centipede, his other projects and the nature of man.

All Pulp: Who were your writing influences growing up?

Chuck Miller: I guess comic books would be a major one, since i've been reading them since literally as far back as I can remember. When I was 8 years old, I was given a copy of the Complete Sherlock Holmes, which made a huge impression on me. I'm a die-hard Holmes fan to this day. And not just the Conan Doyle stories-- I really love a lot of the pastiches that have sprouted up, beginning with The Seven Per-Cent Solution and The West End Horror by Nicholas Meyer. I loved the way Meyer involved Holmes with genuine historical persons and events, and I do the same thing with the Black Centipede. In Creeping Dawn, he has encounters with Lizzie Borden, H.P. Lovecraft, Frank Nitti, and William Randolph Hearst.

I also started reading the paperback reprints of the Shadow and Doc Savage stories when I was still a pre-teen, and those stuck with me. I very much preferred the Shadow, because he was so mysterious and had an air of the supernatural about him, though there was never any hint of the occult in any of the stories. Later on, I got into the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout, and those would become a major influence in terms of narrative voice. I was really captivated by the way Archie Goodwin's personality came across in the writing, and I try to do the same thing myself, as best I can. Just about everything I do is in first person. I like to get really deep inside a character's head, and I'm really not very comfortable as an omniscient third person.

There have been a huge number of influences on my writing, in terms of both style and content. Hunter S. Thompson, Philip Jose Farmer, Flannery O'Connor, William S. Burroughs, Dorothy Parker, Raymond Chandler, Philip K. Dick... it just goes on and on, really. I have taken a little something from each of them. And not only books, but movies and music as well. I bring in a lot of very diverse elements. It has been said that my work is very unique and original. The fact is, the Centipede is very derivative character, but he is derived from so many wide-ranging sources that he appears to be completely original.

AP: Why pulp?

CM: That happened sort of by accident. About 20 years ago, I came up with an idea for a comic book called The Optimist. It never went anywhere, but I had a huge cast of characters I had created for it, and they continued to simmer in my head after the project was finally abandoned completely back in 2001.

A couple of years ago, I decided to really get serious about the writing. I'd always wanted to do it, and I was in a position where I could devote a lot of time to it, so I did. For subject matter, I went back to The Optimist. The original concept was a post-glory-days superhero saga, vaguely similar to The Watchmen. I didn't want to do a comic book-- and had nobody to draw it even if I had-- so I just did it as an ordinary prose piece. The protagonist, Jack Christian, was a grown-up superhero kid sidekick whose mentor had died under dodgy circumstances 12 years earlier. Jack, a down-on-his luck alcoholic by this time, returns to the city of Zenith, where the tragedy took place. He encounters a number of retires heroes and other oddballs. Among these was the Black Centipede, who was originally intended to be a fairly minor character. I wanted him to be a genuine oddball-- he is based in part on William S. Burroughs-- and he was the only character cast in the mold of a traditional pulp action hero from the 30s.

So, anyhow, I wrote this novel, and the Centipede started stealing scenes. He ended up with a much bigger role. When I finished, I started promoting it myself on the web, making it available for free in hopes of attracting a publisher. It really didn't stir up much of anything, though.

At one point a friend of mine told me she didn't think many people would want to sit and read an entire novel online, and suggested I do some shorter pieces if I really wanted to get noticed. Since The Optimist didn't lend itself to that, I decided to explore the past of one of the supporting characters. The Centipede was the obvious choice for this. I wrote a story set in 1957, "Wisconsin Death Trip." I enjoyed doing it, so I went ahead and wrote a novella called Gasp, Choke, Good Lord, an homage to the EC horror comics of the 1950s, guest-starring the infamous Doctor Fredric Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent, and EC publisher William M. Gaines. And I posted all of this for free on a blog I put together. I created a rather elaborate history for the Centipede, which included him being not only a "real-life" crime fighter, but also the star of a highly-fictionalized pulp adventure magazine published by William Randolph Hearst.

Well, to cut a long story short, I got noticed by Tommy Hancock of pro Se Press, who was very enthusiastic about my work. After a bit of back and forth, it was decided that I should write a novel for Pro Se, which I did. That novel was Creeping Dawn: The Rise of the Black Centipede.

AP: What did writing Creeping Dawn teach you as an author?

CM: I'm not entirely sure. I guess I learned to tell a story with a specific word count. Now that it's published, and I have read it in book form, I noticed several things I really didn't like about it, and i have tried to avoid those while writing the next one.

AP: One of the things that I really found fascinating with Creeping Dawn was how you write about the more monstrous parts of people. From Lizzy's past to William's own acceptance of things. You make it seem so normal. I'm kind of jealous, but also wondering where those ideas came from. Is this something you've always thought? Or did it just fit the context of your story?

CM: All of that comes from my own life. My mother died when I was very young, and my father just sort of went nuts after that. He deteriorated mentally and emotionally for about five years, and then ended up killing himself. And I had a front row seat for the whole thing. So I have always been conscious of this darkness in the world, that seems to be just under the surface of everything. That is somewhat analogous to what the Black Centipede refers to as the "Dark Power," though in his fictional world, it is more literal and manifests itself in more overt ways. But, in my own life, I've always been aware that things and people are not really what they seem to be, not exactly. And if you look even just a little way beneath the surface, you're apt to find a nasty surprise.

But I don't think you have to give in to it. I think there is good in the world, too, but sometimes you have to wade through some pretty toxic sludge to find it. In "Creeping Dawn," the young Centipede seems to believe that the darkness is the true power, the only thing worth striving to understand. But, being the kind of person he is, he doesn't want to give himself over to it. Instead, he decides to oppose it, as a way of measuring its scope and capabilities. In the beginning, he isn't motivated by a desire to see justice done. He is simply curious. He wants to understand the world in a way nobody else ever has. Quite a bit of hubris on his part, really.

In the second section of "Creeping Dawn," which is set six years after his experience with Lizzie Borden, we see how he becomes a crime fighter, and how he goes about establishing himself in the city of Zenith, in a series of events that revolve around the rise of a shadowy new crime lord called Doctor Almanac. In the beginning, the Centipede is very ruthless and reckless and he ends up in trouble with the law and the press. But his cause is taken up by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Hearst is a fascinating historical figure, whose public and private life make him a great cast member for the Black Centipede series. Through some devious and underhanded maneuvering, Hearst transforms the Centipede-- in the mind of the public, anyhow-- from a dangerous, psychotic vigilante into a national hero. In addition to this, Hearst launches a Black Centipede pulp adventure magazine, featuring highly fictionalized accounts of our hero's adventures. This is another example of how things appear to be a certain way, but are really something entirely different. The real Black Centipede is not the Doc Savage-style paragon the public perceives.

The Centipede is a celebrity akin to Doc Savage and other classic pulp.

Nothing is black-and-white. But there is right and wrong, I believe. Sometimes it takes even a good person a long time and a lot of mistakes to make the distinction and choose one or the other. Most of my villains have some heroic qualities, and most of my heroes are criminals at heart. They do kind of believe they are somehow above the rest of society, and have a right to disregard the rules. Life is a process, a constant parade of choices. A villain can choose to be noble, a hero can choose to act deplorably.

In "Blood of the Centipede," the next book in the series, the Centipede gets a bit of a moral compass in the form of Amelia Earhart, who has been asked by President Roosevelt to keep an eye on our hero. I don't want to go into any more detail about that now, except to say that, as the series progresses, we will see our hero evolve in some interesting and unexpected ways.

AP: If you had to pick just one scene, what was your favorite in Creeping Dawn and why?

CM: I guess the one I had the most fun writing was the Centipede's accidental invasion of Doctor Almanac's secret headquarters. I got a kick out of describing his sort of gleeful approach to lethal violence. And then, of course, that whole episode led up to his first encounter with Stan Bartowski, a Zenith police officer who becomes a friend. He'll be an important mainstay character throughout the series. He's also sort of a comic foil, since a lot of things the Centipede says to him sail right over his head. I put a lot of humor in the stories, and strive to strike a good balance.

AP: Can you tell us a bit of where you want to take the Black Centipede. He's gone from supporting character to a mainstay. Would you be happy to continue writing him or are there are other things you like to work on?

CM: I don't think I'll ever tire of the Centipede. He's pretty versatile, and I have lots of plans for him. But I do have a number of other characters I want to develop into their own series. "The Incredible Adventures of Vionna Valis and Mary Jane Kelly" is one of these. http://theblackcentipede.blogspot.com/2011/09/their-first-adventure.html

It deals with a peculiar pair of "psychic detectives." I've done a couple stories that I posted on my blog, but they have yet to be officially published. However, they live in the same world as the Black Centipede, and they appear briefly in the second Centipede novel. So does Doctor Unknown Junior, a very businesslike sorceress whose adventures I want to get out there one of these days.

AP: Are you working on anything else at the moment?

CM: I have something coming out in February from Pacific-Noir Press. "The Bay Phantom Chronicles Episode One: The Return of Doctor Piranha" is the first tale of the Bay Phantom, a 94-year-old, retired pulp-era masked hero based in my old home town of Mobile, Alabama. In this one, he is befriended by Janie Marie Colson, a young college student who is helping him write his memoirs. Complications arise when the Phantom's arch-foe, 98-year-old Doctor Piranha, is released from federal prison after serving a 70-year sentence. Piranha, of course, swore revenge-- no matter how long it took...

And I am involved in the Pulp Obscura project from Pro Se and Altus Press, which will be coming out throughout 2012.

The Black Centipede Is...

The Black Centipede and related characters are part of a grand concept I came up with myself and started writing and publishing on the web.

They had actually been festering in my skull for more than 20 years-- a proposed comic book that never made it off the ground-- and it seemed about time to let them out.

I realized I wasn't getting any younger. So I started cranking out prose like a man possessed. Well, the Black Centipede Press web project caught the eye of Tommy Hancock at Pro Se Press, and they have now published the first Black Centipede novel, "Creeping Dawn: The Rise of the Black Centipede." (Order it now from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Creeping-Dawn-Rise-Black-Centipede/dp/146633813X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316819459&sr=1-1)
The Black Centipede is a traditional pulp action hero who refuses to behave like one. He casually breaks every rule in the book. Then he writes new rules. Then he breaks those. He is the world's greatest action hero. He is a dangerous madman. He is both criminal and crimefighter, pursuing an agenda that he himself has yet to fully define.

His career has spanned 80 years (so far), and he has become involved with some of the most famous and infamous individuals of the 20th and 21st centuries. "Creeping Dawn" takes up his story in the pivotal period between 1927 and 1933.
In his fictional world, the Centipede is both a real-life crime fighter and the star of a successful pulp adventure magazine, which presents highly-fictionalized accounts of his adventures. The series explores, among other things, the disparity between the public image and the man himself. We also learn the "shocking truth" about several well-known historical people and events. In the world of the Black Centipede, absolutely nothing is what it seems to be.
THE CITY OF ZENITH, home of the Black Centipede, is a living example of the uncertainty principle. It is on the East or West Coast, or one of the Great Lakes, or the Mississippi River. Everyone has lived there at one time or another, including you.

Zenith is one of the most versatile cities in the United States. It is as large or as small as it needs to be for whatever story I happen to be writing at a given time. I did not, however, discover it myself. The city was founded by Sinclair Lewis. According to WIKIPEDIA, "Winnemac is a fictional U.S. state invented by the writer Sinclair Lewis. His novel Babbitt takes place in Zenith, its largest city (population 361,000, according to a sketch-map Lewis made to guide his writing). Winnemac is also the setting for ‘Gideon Planish,’ ‘Arrowsmith,’ ‘Elmer Gantry,’ and ‘Dodsworth.’"

Inspired by the work of the late Philip Jose Farmer, I have developed the habit of treating fictional characters as though they actually lived, and people who actually lived as though they were fictional characters. The Centipede has an elaborate history, for which I have created artifacts. Amelia Earhart, Frank Nitti, and William Randolph Hearst have prominent roles in the saga.
Farmer's biography of Doc Savage, along with his "Riverworld" novels, started wheels turning in my head that are still grinding today. Farmer's influence on my own work cannot be overstated.

The Black Centipede himself began to take shape many years ago, when I read Farmer's essay, "The Fourfold Vision," in "Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life," which discusses the work of Lester Dent, E.E. Smith, Henry Miller and William S. Burroughs. Now you know who to blame for the connection I made between Burroughs and pulp heroes! Farmer pointed the way.

The Centipede was originally conceived as a cross between Burroughs and the Shadow, with a dash of Doc Savage. (Black centipedes are a loathsome centerpiece of Burroughs' novel "Naked Lunch.") Like Doc, he makes his home/headquarters in the top floors of the tallest skyscraper in the city; he is addicted to the use of clever gadgets of his own invention; and he performs brain operations on criminals. Of course, these operations involve the application of hot lead to the troublesome organ. (Though the survival rate is zero, so is the rate of recidivism.) The Centipede shares Burroughs' enthusiasm for orgone accumulators, the cut-up method, and quoting Shakespeare, as well as a certain unfortunate vice they both have in common with Sherlock Holmes. I have three other series, aside from "Tales of the Black Centipede." All of them sprang from my first novel, "The Optimist Book One: You Don't Know Jack," as did the Centipede himself. All of my "stars" started life as supporting characters in this novel. Here is a mercifully brief synopsis:
JACK CHRISTIAN ("THE OPTIMIST") is the grown-up former kid sidekick of deceased superhero Captain Mercury. After 12 years away from his home city of Zenith, Jack is lured back by the promise of a substantial trust fund. When he gets there, he meets one oddball after another, starting with Vionna Valis, a strange young woman with a startling secret that nobody-- herself included-- knows. An encounter with what purports to be the ghost of Captain Mercury puts Jack and Vionna on the trail of the Black Centipede. Along the way, they run afoul of the ghost of Jack the Ripper, and seek the help of Doctor Unknown Junior.

In the beginning, Jack Christian was going to be my star. That was how I had it planned. The Centipede, Vionna, Mary Kelly and Dana Unknown were to be his supporting cast.
Well, John Lennon once said that life is "what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." I can now confirm that the same is true of fiction. The supporting cast staged a coup, leaving poor Jack behind. I now regard the Optimist as an artistic failure, but one that still has considerable merit. I don't plan to continue the series in its original form. Jack Christian has been co-opted by Doctor Unknown Junior to serve as her "Watson."


Vionna and Mary's first adventure, "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A KIND WE'D RATHER NOT THINK ABOUT," may be read in its modest entirety by clicking HERE.
You will find a nifty preview of Doctor Unknown Junior's first solo outing, "The Return of Little Precious" by clicking HERE.

Philip Jose Farmer's inspiration came to me not only through his own novels and stories, but also by way of two lengthy conversations he was gracious enough to endure with the young fan that I was some 20-odd years ago. (Very odd years, for the most part.) I will always treasure those memories, and hope that I can do them justice now. I only wish Farmer were here to see this offspring of his vision come to fruition. It is to him-- and to the Original Centipede, William S. Burroughs-- that I dedicate the Black Centipede's maiden voyage.

William S. Burroughs, 1960. Photo by Brian Duffy. (Authorized for use with attribution.)


An Older Interview with ALL PULP:
January 2011
From ALL PULP
http://allpulp.blogspot.com/2011/01/nine-for-new-spotlights-chuck-miller.html

Friday, January 21, 2011

NINE FOR THE NEW (New Creator Spotlight)

CHUCK MILLER-Writer/Creat

AP: Chuck, welcome to ALL PULP! First, can you tell us about yourself, some personal background?

CM: I’m a lifelong fan of comics, pulps, detective stories, horror movies, and so forth. I’ve got a BA in creative writing from the University of South Alabama, and have worked as a journalist and a paralegal, among other things.

AP: As a writer, what influences have affected your style and interests the most over the years? Do you have a particular genre/type of story you prefer to write?

CM: In terms of writing style, the craft of writing itself, my four biggest influences, or role models, are Flannery O’Connor, William S. Burroughs, Carson McCullers and Hunter S. Thompson. Each of them had things—and this is more in terms of style than content—that I admire and have tried to cultivate in myself.

I should also mention Rex Stout and the Nero Wolfe novels and stories. There are some pretty strong echoes of Archie Goodwin in my first-person protagonists, I think.

Another big influence on me was the AP Stylebook. Working as a journalist, I learned to practice a certain economy of words, and how to get the most out of a limited number of them. Though I do tend to get long-winded when I’m not working under any restraints.

AP: What about genres that make you uncomfortable? What areas within pulp are a little bit intimidating for you as an author?

CM: Going into it, I didn’t have a lot of experience doing pure action scenes. I was kind of intimidated by that, and wasn’t sure I could pull it off. But I’ve gotten my feet wet, and it’s getting easier to do them, and they seem to flow better as time goes on. It’s one of those things that you don’t want to overdo, but you really can’t have a piece of pulp fiction without it. I’m learning new ways to handle it, and ways in which I can make it more unique to the characters I write. Vionna Valis is going to have a much different approach to a fight or a chase scene than the Black Centipede will.

AP: Are you a pulp fan? If so, how has that affected you as a writer of pulps. If you aren’t a longtime fan, then why pulp?

CM: Well, I’m a comic book fan literally as far back as I can remember. And, of course, there’s been a lot of cross-pollination between comics and pulps. I first encountered the Shadow and Doc Savage in their early-70s comic book incarnations, from DC and Marvel, respectively. Not long after that I got into the paperback reprints of the pulp magazine tales, and realized that these particular characters worked better in this format than they did in comics. Now, I had been a fan of Sherlock Holmes for a few years, the Conan Doyle stories, and was also into H.G. Wells and a few other things. And I saw all of that as something completely different from comic books, though not inconsistent with them, if you see what I mean. But characters like the Shadow and Doc Savage seemed like sort of a “missing link.”

At this point, I can see how everything connects, and have no trouble moving from one genre or medium or era to another. You can have Sherlock Holmes in a comic book and Batman in a novel, and the two can interact anywhere—books, comics, movies, whatever.

AP: What do you think you bring to pulp fiction as a writer?

CM: I have a pretty good imagination, and I also have a head full of comic books and pulp magazines and detective stories and monster movies. I bring a lot of different elements into my stories. I mine a lot of sources. You’ll find bits and pieces from all over the place. And I think I combine them in unique ways, and draw from them things that have not been seen before. And I use a lot of humor. I guess one of my main influences there would be the old “Kolchak: the Night Stalker” TV show, of which I have been a devoted fan since the night the first episode aired. The show was a great mixture of pulp detective and classic horror sensibilities—like Sam Spade got his wires crossed with a Universal Studios monster movie. Darren McGavin held it all together as Kolchak, who was a very funny guy, very accessible character. Not anybody’s idea of a superman. But, at the same time, you took him seriously as a monster hunter. He wasn’t an idiot. Most of the people he dealt with thought he was, but the viewer was in on the secret and could relate. Kolchak was an ordinary guy who kept running up against extraordinary threats—and he always won! That really worked its way into my blood, and I think I have that kind of sensibility in mind with any character I write.

AP: You have an extensive website already chock full of your work. Just Who is The BLACK CENTIPEDE?

CM: The Black Centipede started out as a very peripheral character in a comic book series I wanted to do twenty or so years ago. As originally conceived, he was a sort of cross between the Shadow and William S. Burroughs. Burroughs is an author I find fascinating in terms of his personal life and things he has said and done, though much of his work is unreadable. Not all of it. He did some fine work. His first novel, “Junkie,” was a big influence on my own writing style. It was the only one of his works that I would cite as an influence, but it was a pretty profound one. It was a very low-key, matter-of-fact, reportorial style he used, which I’ve always found to be the best way to present sensational material. I never got into his more experimental stuff, like “The Ticket That Exploded.” And there’s a pulp connection there, because I first got interested in Burroughs through Philip Jose Farmer’s Doc Savage biography. In the chapter called “The Fourfold Vision,” he discusses E.E. Smith, Lester Dent, Henry Miller and Burroughs.

Anyhow, as I say, the Centipede was just this little grain of an idea in my head for a long time. The comic book thing never happened back then, and I forgot about it in the press of other things. Then, a couple years ago, I decided wanted to get serious with my writing, and start producing some original material. It always helps if you actually HAVE some, and so I went back to those old comic book characters I’d never done anything with. That turned into “The Optimist Book One: You Don’t Know Jack,” which focused on Jack Christian, a 20-something guy who had, when he was much younger been the kid sidekick of a superhero called Captain Mercury. Mercury had died years before under very dodgy circumstances, and Jack’s life had pretty much gone to hell. The novel deals with his return to the city of Zenith and his involvement with an assortment of oddball characters, including the Black Centipede.

As I was writing it, the Centipede evidently decided he wasn’t happy with his relatively minor role, and started demanding more “screen time.” I started to see the potential in this character whose very long life—he had been active since the late 20s-- was a question mark, and I had alluded to past adventures—rather like Conan Doyle did in the Sherlock Holmes stories, when he mentioned things like “The Giant Rat of Sumatra” and “The Politician, the Lighthouse, and the Trained Cormorant.”

So, once I had finished the novel, which I posted and promoted myself, online—I realized that, with the internet, I could do more than just submit manuscripts to publishers and sit around waiting for a response—I decided the next step would be to produce some short stories featuring some of the supporting cast from “The Optimist.”

The Black Centipede was the obvious choice for the first of these, and I wrote “Wisconsin Death Trip.” Set in 1957, it tells the story of the Centipede’s involvement in the strange case of the notorious Ed Gein. Since the Centipede’s career spans about 80 years (so far), I thought it would be a nice touch to have him meet and interact with genuine historical personages. In “Forty Whacks: the Secret origin of the Black Centipede,” he has a fateful encounter with Lizzie Borden, and in “Gasp, Choke, Good Lord,” an homage to the old EC horror comics of the 50s, he meets Dr. Fredric Wertham, William M. Gaines, and Albert Fish.

AP: The Centipede’s universe is peopled with other characters who also appear in stories on your site. Tell us a bit about each of them if you would?

CM: The other character from “The Optimist” that I’ve really taken and run with is Vionna Valis. I’ve started a series about her and her friend, Mary Kelly, and the detective agency they operate in Zenith. Mary is an interesting character, because she is also a real person—Mary Jane Kelly, who was the last known victim of Jack the Ripper back in 1888. Much of the action in “The Optimist Book One” centers around the activities of what appears to be the malevolent ghost of the Ripper, and the efforts of Jack and his friends to contain him. The Black Centipede comes up with the idea of summoning the spirits of the Ripper’s original victims to lend a hand. Well, the whole thing gets a bit out of hand, and the five victims end up manifesting, not as ghosts, but as living, breathing women.

Vionna is a rather troubled young woman. Most of her past is a complete blank to her. She has somehow lost almost all of her memories, and she shares space in her head with something she calls her “roommate.” This is an entity of unknown origin and nature that communicates information to her—sometimes helpful, sometimes just puzzling. This whole thing was going to be a major part of the storyline in the continuing “Optimist” series, but since I have put that on the back burner to concentrate on these individual adventures, the solution to this mystery will have to wait a while, and I downplay it somewhat in Vionna’s current adventures. There have been two of these so far: “Close Encounters of a Kind We’d Rather Not Think About,” in which Vionna and Mary learn some disturbing truths about the phenomenon of alien abduction, and “Vionna and the Vampires,” in which the girls meet the ghost of Sherlock Holmes, and learn how Professor James Moriarty came to supplant Dracula as Lord of the Vampires.

AP: What is your creative process as far as developing a character? What techniques or steps do you take?

CM: I will come up with a basic concept, then just start writing. The characters usually flesh themselves out during that process if they’re any good at all. Everything I do is first-person narrative, and so far I have three primary narrators: Jack Christian, the Black Centipede and Vionna Valis. So, whichever one I’m writing as, I “get into character,” so to speak, and then just take it wherever it goes. The characters then develop through these extended glimpses into their minds, or, for characters that are important but do not narrate, through their interactions with the characters that do.

AP: What’s coming from Chuck Miller? Any projects you want to discuss? Publications?

CM: Right now, I’m working on something for Pro Se. “Pulp Friction” is a story about the Black Centipede’s earliest days as a crimefighter in Zenith, and deals with some of the trials and tribulations he experienced while establishing himself. It’s set in 1933, six years after the events in “Forty Whacks,” and the “real world” guest-stars include William Randolph Hearst, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and Frank Nitti, among others. We also get some insight into three of the Black Centipede’s arch-enemies, “Bloody” Mary Jane Gallows, Doctor Almanac, and the Stiff. Hearst takes on the job of polishing up the Centipede’s public image, which our hero has tarnished through the use of excessive violence. The Centipede has a sort of troubling amorality at this stage of his career. One thing I want to explore with the series is the way in which his character develops between 1933 and 2011.

And just on my own, for Black Centipede Press, I’m working on the first Doctor Unknown Junior story. Doctor Dana Unknown is the daughter of the original superhero/sorcerer Doctor Unknown. The original Doctor has retired after a traumatic incident in which he accidentally destroyed the planet Earth. He and Dana were able to monkey with the time stream and erase the incident from history. Which was good, it had a happy ending, but the whole thing really took its toll on him, as you can imagine. Dana appeared in “The Optimist Book One,” and I thought she ought to have some adventures of her own. So I have teamed her up with Jack Christian (as her “Watson”), and we will soon learn the harrowing tale of “The Return of Little Precious.”

I’m also doing “The Journal of Bloody Mary Jane", the inside scoop on the Black Centipede’s arch-enemy.

AP: Chuck, you’ve been awesome! Thanks!

CM: Thank you! I enjoyed it!

THE BLACK CENTIPEDE'S PICK HIT OF THE DAY-- Shonen Knife "Chinese Rock"

SHONEN KNIFE "Chinese Rock"

http://drsivana99.tumblr.com/post/15281075043/shonen-knife-chinese-rock

PRO SE PRESENTS- 2012

Pro Se Productions, Publisher of the monthly New Pulp Magazine PRO SE PRESENTS, announced today its magazine lineup for the first quarter of 2012! This lineup includes not only works from multiple writers, both new and familiar to New Pulp fans, but also features the first collaboration between Pro Se and noted New Pulp Publisher, White Rocket Books!

“Pro Se is ecstatic,” Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of and Partner in Pro Se Productions, stated today, “to be working with White Rocket Books and especially its owner and premier writer, Van Allen Plexico. Known as one of the leading New Pulp writers today and able to bridge nearly any genre, Van brings a special touch to anything he writes and creates. For Pro Se to be able to give Van a vehicle to showcase his latest upcoming work HAWK in a monthly magazine format is an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”

HAWK: HAND OF THE MACHINE is a stand-alone piece including an excerpt from Plexico’s HAWK novel, to be published by White Rocket Books in 2012, reworked to be a story all its own. It spotlights the title character, a member of a force of protectors of space and its galaxies and planets. HAND OF THE MACHINE will be featured in two parts beginning in PRO SE PRESENTS #7, February 2012, and ending in PRO SE PRESENTS # 8, March 2012. HAWK will also be the cover feature for the March issue.


“I couldn't be happier,” said Van Allen Plexico, creator of HAWK and Publisher of White Rocket Books, “to see HAWK getting to make his mark for the first time in the pages of PRO SE PRESENTS, before he appears anywhere else. I think HAWK will appeal to readers of all sorts--from military SF fans to space opera aficionados to pure pulp action/adventure fans--and Pro Se has positioned itself to reach that kind of broad audience and bring them the best that New Pulp has to offer.

Plexico continued, “The readers of PRO SE PRESENTS will discover a new character and a new universe to get into and enjoy, and my own readers will check out the magazine and find in it a publication that they will truly get a kick out of every month. My thanks go out to Tommy Hancock and his merry band of Pulpsters for giving HAWK this kind of spotlight to make his big debut!”

The tales that make up the rest of PRO SE PRESENTS for the January, February, and March issues only show how varied the New Pulp field and the content from Pro Se can be! Featuring stories from various genres by Kevin Rodgers, Megan Smith, PJ Lozito, James Palmer, Frank Schildiner, Ken Janssens, and Ashley Strole Mangin, the first three months of PRO SE PRESENTS is full of intergalactic adventure, Private Eyes of a feminine persuasion, dimension hopping teenagers, monster hunting gangsters, masked heroes, eerie Villains cast in classic molds, and so much more! Known for Puttin’ The Monthly Back into Pulp, PRO SE PRESENTS is headed up by Lee Houston, Jr., Magazine Editor in Chief and edited by Houston, Frank Schildiner, Nancy Hansen, and Don Thomas!

For more information on Pro Se and when PRO SE PRESENTS is available, like PRO SE PRODUCTIONS on Facebook and follow www.pulpmachine.blogspot.com and www.prosepulp.com for all the latest on Pro Se Productions!