Marc Myers has collected the work of newave cartoonist and painter Roman Scott in a new volume. Oddities and Other Grotesques includes the full run of Scott’s Oddities and Head artzines as well as his one-off publications: Oddity Comix and Insane Harlequin. The 168-page deluxe hardcover volume includes tributes by Jonathan Falk, Todd Mecklem, Marcus Reed (Pastime Publications), and editor Marc Myers.
Print copies are now available exclusively thru Lulu.com
The new Fate arrived this week.
Fate No. 736
Highlights of this issue include two articles on mermaids, a report on nature spirits, and a piece by dowser Marty Cain.
Get a copy on newsstands now, or order directly from fatemag.com
Status Updates
The print proof of Oddities and Other Grotesques by Roman Scott arrived this week from Marc Myers. The overall package looks great, but quite a few pages require some tweaks. Mostly image adjustments to make the artwork reproduce in its best light. A little time consuming, but I progressed about half way through the book by week’s end. More to do next week.
Alec Cizak sent a few ads for the next Pulp Modern. And Ran Scott completed another illustration. We’re making good progress, and hope to wrap things up before the end of the year.
The second print proof for The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 is in St. Paul on its way to Vancouver. Although next week is probably a lousy week to release a book, I’ll do it anyway ‘cause I’m an indie publisher and there are a few folks who’ve been patiently waiting. Watch for an update next week.
In the meantime, our current issue: The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is available in print at Lulu.com and Amazon, and in digital formats at Kindle Books and Magzter.
This audio biography of Dr. Anthony S. Fauci by Michael Specter provides an excellent overview of the famed doctor’s career, along with excerpts from interviews recorded along the way. Covering more than three decades of work and discovery, from his childhood in Brooklyn to his pioneering research and advocacy for patients with AIDS, up to the current global pandemic with COVID-19.
In addition to its fact-based case for science, its also an illustration of the power of grounding yourself in facts. Faced with a tidal wave of emotion, and too often misinformed rage, Fauci kept his cool and his self-esteem intact by sticking to facts as the foundation for his even-handed, often generous, response to his critics and those intent on bullying. A casebook for going high, when your critics go low.
WIP Update
The proof copy of The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 arrived this week. The book will be manufactured by Lulu.com and was originally spec’ed on their 60 lb. interior stock. The proof looks good, but the color cover repros were not quite as crisp as I’d like. When I went back to upgrade to Lulu’s 80 lb. option, I found the selection no longer available since the book had already reached the proofing stage. This didn’t make sense to me, but there may be good reason(s) of which I’m unaware. I filled out a customer support request, but the response was an automated email that didn’t address my problem. I ended up “retiring” the project and opening a new one using 80# stock. A fresh print proof is in progress. Probably unnecessary, but I want to be sure everything looks good before the book’s release. The heavier stock is more expensive, so the price will be $20 for the print version. The release will likely be the week of the Christmas holiday. Watch for the announcement here.
Marc Myers finished reviewing the proof copy of his latest book Oddities and Other Grotesques by Roman Scott. Several pages are a bit dark, so he’s forwarded the proof to me. I’ll adjust the contrast/density to the pages that need it and upload a new interior file in the next week or two.
Ran Scott completed several more interior illustrations for the next Pulp Modern and sent some cover sketch ideas to editor Alec Cizak and I. We make the selection and now things are back in Ran’s capable hands. Still no hard date for release, but late Dec/early Jan seems realistic.
Our current issue: The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is available in print at Lulu.com and Amazon, and in digital formats at Kindle Books and Magzter.
New Release:
Nostaglia Digest Winter 2021
The remarkable life of OLIVIA de HAVILLAND, Hollywood legend
The screen partnership of NELSON EDDY and JEANETTE MacDONALD
How THE SHADOW became one of radio’s great heroes
From Teddy Bears to Barbie dolls: The world’s most famous Christmas gifts
The career of DANNY THOMAS, and a promise he kept
Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark and other radio actors who became movie stars
A complete listing for Steve Darnall’s Those Were The Days!
FLOYD GIBBONS, the globe-trotting reporter who became a radio star
PLUS: Memories of mimeograph machines; the way televisions used to be; more!
Ordering Information
Status Report
Finished up The Digest Enthusiast No. 13 and ordered a print proof from Lulu.com this week. Hopefully, the proof will show up next week and everything will align with the targeted Dec. 18th release. Meanwhile, prep on the Kindle and Magzter versions kept me busy.
Here’s a cover preview of the issue, with a painting by Brian Buniak.
In other updates, Ran Scott continued his work creating artwork for Pulp Modern Vol. 2 No. 6.
No news from Marc Myers on the print proof from Lulu.com on his Roman Scott collection–with a little luck he can release it next week.
Our current issue: The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is available in print at Lulu.com and Amazon, and in digital formats at Kindle Books and Magzter.
Marc Myers, Jonathan Falk, and I were hard at work on the Roman Scott anthology this week. Marcus Reed sent in a piece about his work with Roman on Pastime Publications. The book’s page count is now at 168.
Alec Cizak secured final drafts on three stories and final edits on the others for Pulp Modern No. 6. We’re trying out a two-column layout this time around, to bring the look-and-feel closer to past pulp digests. Bob Vojtko gave us three new cartoons to fill out the pages that needed them. Ran Scott is hard at work on the illustration and cover art. The book should be out in late December or early January.
News items are coming in for the next Digest Enthusiast and I’m proofreading the rest of the book as I await more. This issue will likely be printed by Ingram, like issue No. 11. We’ve picked up a new advertiser this time: Fenham Publishing. If you’re an H.P. Lovecraft fan, be sure to check out their website.
Our current issue: The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is available in print at Lulu.com and Amazon, and in digital formats at Kindle Books and Magzter.
Current Releases
Analog Sep/Oct 2020
Contents Page
Sheila Williams’ Anniversary Retrospective Editorial
Lewis Padgett “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” (reprint)
Jason Kahler “After National Geographic” (verse)
James Van Pelt “Minerva Girls”
Derek Kunsken’s Science Fact: The Science Behind The House of Styx
Holly Lyn Walrath “Yes, Antimatter is Real” (verse)
John J. Vester “Where There’s Life” art by Kurt Huggins
Sean McMullen “The Chrysalis Pool”
Aimee Ogden “A Skyful of Wings”
Jacob C. Cockcroft “Going Small”
Beth Goder “True Colors”
John G. Cramer’s The Alternate View: Where’s All the Antimatter?
Stephen S. Power “Drive Safely”
Wang Yuan “Casualties of the Quake” translation by Andy Dudak
Dan Reade “The Home of the King” art by Tomislav Tikulin
In Times to Come
Joel Richards “City”
M.L. Clark “Seeding the Mountain”
Jay Werkheiser “The Writhing Tentacles of History”
Alan Dean Foster “The Treasure of the Lugar Morto”
Richard A. Lovett’s The Alternate View: The Post-Coronavirus “New Normal”
James Sallis “Schools of Thought”
Mary Soon-Lee “The Boy Who Went to Mars”
Sarina Dories “I, Bigfoot” art by Mark Evans
Adam-Troy Castro “Draiken Dies” art by Soo Lee
Don Sakers: The Reference Library
Brass Tacks (Letters)
Anthony Lewis: Upcoming Events
Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding) Vol. 140 No. 9 & 10 Sep/Oct 2020
Publisher: Peter Kanter
Editor: Trevor Quachri
Managing Editor: Emily Hockaday
Editorial Assistant: Rae Purdom
Senior Art Director: Victoria Green
Cover: Soo Lee
208 pages, $7.99 on newsstands until Oct. 20, 2020
Analog website
bare•bones No. 3
Contents Page
W.D. Gagliani’s epic overview of the original Planet of the Apes films, novel and sequel novelizations
Craig Miller recalls being on-set for Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
John Scoleri looks at the Apes adaptations from Screen Stories
Jack Seabrook interviews collector Walker Martin
Matthew R. Bradley’s look at Ray Bradbury’s Elliott Family
J. Charles Burwell on the Western Noir novels of H.A. DeRosso
Don D’Ammassa’s Overlooked Library returns
Peter Enfantino Digs into Crime Digests
S. Craig Zahler ducks into Sleaze Alley
David J. Schow’s latest installment of his R&D column looks at Monster Movies
bare•bones No. 3 Summer 2020
Editors: Peter Enfantino, John Scoleri
Layout: John Scoleri
Cimarron Street Books
6” x 9” 107 pages
Print $9.95
Digest Magazine Writers Update
Alexandria Blaelock, whose story “The Perfume of Peaches” appears in Ellery Queen Sep/Oct 2020, muses about The Thin Grey Line at Something is Going to Happen.
Ana Hurtado on her story “Madre Nuestra, Que Estás en Maracaibo” from F&SF Jul/Aug 2020 at Fantasy & Science Fiction.
James Van Pelt on his cover story “Minerva Girls” from Analog Sep/Oct 2020 at The Astounding Analog Companion.
Gregory Fallis correlates day jobs with writing stories (his “Terrible Ideas” appears in EQMM Sep/Oct 2020) at Something is Going to Happen.
Leah Cypess on her story “A Sideways Slant of Light” from Asimov’s Sep/Oct 2020 at From Earth to the Stars.
Bennett North on “A Bridge from Sea to Sky” from F&SF Jul/Aug 2020 at Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Trace Evidence previews the writers and stories for AHMM Sep/Oct 2020.
Digest Magazine Review
Gideon Marcus reviews Fantasy & Science Fiction Sep. 1965 at Galactic Journey.
Storytime
M.E. Purfield shares his story “Bumper” at Rusty Barnes’ Tough Crime.
TDE Contributors’ Corner
Uncle Jack (Seabrook) and Cousin Peter (Enfantino) review Eerie No. 45, Vampirella No. 22, and Creepy No. 51 at bare•bones e-zine.
Readin’ and Writin’
I’m slowly making my way through Martin Roth’s The Crime Writer’s Reference Guide and ran across this gem on page 182: “A crime is a wrong that affects the community in its aggregate capacity. A tort is a wrong apart from contract, which affects persons in their individual capacity. One is a public wrong, whereas the other is a private wrong. In the case of a crime, the wrongdoer is liable to criminal prosecution, whereas in the case of a tort, the offender is liable only to a civil action by the person injured.”
Finished reading bare•bones No. 2, an excellent follow-up to its debut issue. Lots of good stuff on the work of Richard Matheson by Paul M. Riordan, Matthew Bradley and co-editor John Scoleri, who also provides an article/review of DC’s Captain Action comics; co-editor Peter Enfantino’s pieces on The Sharpshooter paperbacks, another peek down Sleazy Alley, and follow-on to his article on the Shock Mystery Tales digests from TDE4, about the final bedsheet editions; Gilbert Colon on Lin Carter’s “People of the Dragon”; S. Craig Zahler on select issues of The Spider pulps; and David J. Schow explains the pile-up on production credits and endless writers’ meetings. Full disclosure: I dig into crime digests Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine (Feb–Jun 1957) in this issue.
Marc Myers is creating a new collection of work by the late Roman Scott. The hardcover format book will include all the content from his Oddities and Head zines. The volume will include recollections by Jonathan Falk and Todd Mecklem. I began the preliminary work on the layout this week.
Marc also completed a beautiful collage to illustrate a new story by Robert Snashall for The Digest Enthusiast No. 13, due in January 2021.
The current issue: The Digest Enthusiast No. 12 is available in print at Lulu.com and in digital formats at Kindle Books and Magzter.
Vintage Humor Digest
Cracked Digest No. 1 Oct. 1986
John Severin “Sagebrush”
Contents Page
Editor’s Note
Keny Gamble “Rambozo”
Bill Everett “Pushbutton War”
“Cat Gifts”
Vic Martin “Hudd & Dini”
“Ultra-Realistic Dolls”
Charlie Rodrigues “Cannibal Chuckles”
Sean Powers “School for TV Wrestlers”
McCartney “Hurry Ups”
John Severin “Celebrities’ Screen Idols”
McCartney “Surfing U.S.A.”
John Severin “Beach Ballon”
Charlie Rodrigues “Take Me Out to the Old Cracked Ball Game”
“Cracked Lens” (photo gags)
Bill Ward “Cracked Interviews the Magic King”
John Severin “Silly Things We Do…”
Howard Nostrand “Foggy Night in Minnesota”
John Severin “The Cracked Late Late Late Late Movie: The Towering Infernal”
John Severin “Sagebrush”
John Severin “Rare Old Shut Ups” (back cover)
Cracked Digest No. 1 Oct. 1986
Editor-in-Chief: Michael Delle-Femine
Art Director: Barry Shaprio
Editorial Assistance: Mort Todd
5.5” x 8.25” 148 pages $2.00
