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Introducing Progenitor

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By Christopher D. Abbott

‘You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there will be war?’

‘I think it is very probable.’

‘Then, sir, prepare for war.’

Sherlock Holmes to Lord Bellinger, taken from The Second Stain by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When it comes to war, I think we can all agree that no matter the reasons why we end up fighting, the business of it is, well… nasty. Like most people born after 1945, I cannot truly understand the horrors of it. Some 85 years have passed since its ending and despite the many terrible situations our world has faced since then, those horrors have diminished. We will remember, we say. But do we honestly recount the specifics of those who lost their lives so horrifically? I don’t think we always do.

When I wrote Progenitor for Crazy8Press, I decided on horror as my theme for the narrative. It made sense, since I set it during that terrible war. Yet the story itself isn’t about the war. It’s about a different kind of struggle under hideous circumstances, with a sci-fi(ish) twist.

Anyone who has read my work will know that I’m a character driven writer. I prefer dialogue and interactions over swathes of descriptive texts. Watching old sci-fi TV shows from the 50s and 60s, I find myself embroiled in their situations, lost inside a strange world that I can recognise… almost. And that’s what I wanted for this book. A sense of the real world, coupled with a terror that is far removed from it.

Progenitor, then, is a sci-fi horror mash-up with a little detective work thrown in for good measure. A story set in the backdrop of war, yet far enough away from it that it hardly features at all. A cataclysmic event in Washington, DC., finds the city destroyed by monsters. A few lone survivors, led by General William Marshall, escape to a facility that they hope they’ll be safe in. They couldn’t be more wrong.

The premise was borne from stories like The Thing and Alien. Combining the two, I put my heroes in circumstances that would test their strengths and weaknesses. Along the way, they come to understand that their world has changed. But there are still those misguided men who persist in holding onto their selfish and hideous ideals. Our heroes find themselves locked within a facility they thought would protect them. But they are not alone. They have to deal with an unscrupulous monster who has zero empathy for them or their predicament.

I hope that you enjoy the tale I’ve written. It has been a genuine joy delving into this genre. I, therefore, invite you to take a walk with General Marshall and his ragtag bunch of survivors but beware… the terrors that lurk within the pages, are not for the faint of heart.

News

It was 10 Years Ago Today

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Ten years ago today, Mike Friedman had to pee.

One of the three charity roasts, organized by David Mack. A day later, the idea for Crazy 8 Press was launched and everyone depicted here (from left: Mike Friedman, Bob Greenberger, David Mack, Keith R.A. DeCandido, and Dayton Ward) has contributed to at least one release in the past decade,

While he was taking care of business, a gaggle of authors at Shore Leave, the premiere fan-run con in America, were lamenting the idiocy of publishers letting marketing people drive editorial purchases. As a result, ideas that got us excited were being met with, “we can’t pigeonhole that so can’t sell it”.

We were watching other authors begin to self-publish, with more than a few forming their own consortiums. By the time Mike came out of the men’s room, we buttonholed him, since he started this thread of thinking earlier. Before we knew it, a group was forming.

From left: Glenn Hauman, Howard Weinstein, Peter David, Mike Friedman, Aaron Rosenberg, and Bob Greenberger introduce the world to Crazy 8 Press during our debut panel.

A year later, Crazy 8 Press made its triumphant debut at Shore Leave, with the authors publicly writing a round-robin novella that was our first release. Demon Circle was published at the beginning of fall 2011 and we have been going at it ever since.

We started with Mike, Aaron Rosenberg, Peter David, Howard Weinstein, Glenn Hauman, and Robert Greenberger. Others, who were part of the initial planning, bowed out, but we still called ourselves Crazy 8, because, why not? Soon after, Paul Kupperberg joined the band and a few years later, we welcomed in Russ Colchamiro. Two years back, we invited Mary Fan to the asylum. Kathleen O’Shea David and Jenifer Purcell Rosenberg both took turns trying to help our social marketing and wrangling the eight author cats. Silly them. But, both were welcomed to the party and each has contributed to several of our anthologies.

Our founding father, Mike Friedman, takes his turn writing our round-robin story, Demon Circle, in the brick prison, as an anxious public watched his sweat.

Crazy 8 Press is unique in that it has a decentralized structure as authors publish as they see fit, and we all join forces to help market and support each new release. About six years ago, we struck on the notion that since most of us attended Shore Leave, it was an ideal place to launch a new title and hit on the themed-anthology idea in order to showcase all of our us. Then we started inviting our friends and we generated some excitement.

Last year, we decided this was working so well, that we’d shift to twice a year releases, timed to our appearances at Farpoint in February and Shore Leave in July. Covid-19 sort of threw a spanner in the works so that first release, Mike’s Pangaea III, got delayed. But, tomorrow, right on schedule, Mary Fan’s Bad Ass Moms arrives right on time. Since it is coming out at the beginning of our tenth anniversary year, it also sports our brand new 10th anniversary logo.

We have plans brewing for the next twelve months, including some new titles, some merchandise, and whatever else we can do while socially distance and keeping one another safe.

This looks to be an exciting year for us so stay tuned for our announcements.

New Releases, News

Crazy 8 Press to Release ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE! The Subterranean Blue Grotto Guide to Batman ’66 – Season One

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March 16, 2020 – Crazy 8 Press announced today it has agreed to release ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE! The Subterranean Blue Grotto Guide to Batman ’66 – Season One, Jim Beard’s celebration of the 1966 classic Batman television series. This new collection of essays creatively examines each episode of the ABC series which aired during the first half of 1966.

Edited by respected comic book writer and essayist Jim Beard, the 208-page Bat-tastic collection will be released by Crazy 8 in April, both as a trade paperback and eBook.

“There’s still so much to say about this legendary TV series, and this book sets out to prove it,” said Beard, who also wrote the opening essay examining the two-part pilot episode.

The worldwide Batman TV series phenomenon starred Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo, adapting the DC Comics series to the small screen, riding the Pop Art and Camp craze that were trends during the turbulent 1960s. The show spawned a feature film and a bonanza of merchandising the likes of which had never been seen before. Thanks to syndication, the show has rarely been off the air and in the last decade has spawned a fresh wave of merchandising.

Season one introduced viewers to Batman, Robin, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon, as well as iconic villains including Julie Newmar as Catwoman, Frank Gorshin as The Riddler, Caesar Romero as The Joker, and Burgess Meredith as The Penguin. And, of course, the inaugural season thrilled fans with the Batcave, Wayne Manor, and one of the most heart-pounding elements of the entire franchise — the Batmobile.

“Crazy 8 Press is always on the look-out for kindred spirits, given most of our roots in comics,” said Crazy 8 co-founder Robert Greenberger, who has spent more than 30 years as a comic book editor and contributor for DC and Marvel Comics. “Previously, Crazy 8 released Rob Kelly’s anthology Hey Kids, Comics, a look back at the joys of comic collecting. It was high time we added to that portion of our inventory. Jim’s book project seemed a perfect fit. And as we still see today, Batman never goes out of style.”

The paperback ($14.99) and eBook ($4.99) contains essays from Crazy 8’s Greenberger and long-time comic book writer Paul Kupperberg, in addition to frequent Crazy 8 contributors Keith DeCandido, Will Murray, and Dayton Ward. Other ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE! contributors include long-time Batman writer Chuck Dixon, comics historian Peter Sanderson, ComicMix contributor Ed Catto, 13thDimension.com’s Dan Greenfield, the Batcave Podcast’s John S. Drew, Rich Handley, Alan J. Porter, Pat Evans, Steve Thompson, Mark B. Racop, Joe Crowe, and, Chris Franklin.

“I’ve never ceased in being amazed and delighted at fans’ appetite for a show that lasted barely over two years back in the 1960s,” Beard added. “It‘s a testament to not only the character’s overall appeal, but specifically the unique take on Batman offered up in the series.”

Beard previously explored the television series in Gotham City 14 Miles (Sequart), an anthology of essays covering the length and breadth of Batmania. He is a regular writer for Marvel.com, an essayist for pop culture collections, and made his Crazy 8 Press debut in 2019’s Thrilling Adventure Yarns with a short story co-written with his late wife Becky.

He is already at work on ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE! Volume two, exploring the complete second season, to be released by Crazy 8 Press in 2021.

ZLONK! ZOK! ZOWIE! The Subterranean Blue Grotto Guide to Batman ’66 – Season One will be available for purchase on Amazon’sand Barnes & Noble’s sites,as well as various comic book, and mass media conventions.

ABOUT JIM BEARD

Jim Beard pounds out adventure fiction with classic pulp style and flair.

A native Toledoan, he was introduced to comic books at an early age by his father, who passed on to him a love for the medium and the pulp characters who preceded it. After decades of reading, collecting and dissecting comics, Jim became a published writer when he sold a story to DC Comics in 2002. Since then he’s written official Spider-Man, X-Files, and Planet of the Apes prose fiction, Star Wars and Ghostbusters comic stories, and contributed articles and essays to several volumes of comic book history.

His prose work also includes Gotham City 14 Miles, a book of essays on the 1966 Batman TV series; Sg.t Janus, Spirit-Breaker, a collection of pulp ghost stories featuring an Edwardian occult detective; Monster Earth, a shared-world giant monster anthology; and Captain Action: Riddle of the Glowing Men, the first pulp prose novel based on the classic 1960s action figure.

Jim also currently provides regular content for Marvel.com, the official Marvel Comics website.

New Releases, News

Introducing Thrilling Adventure Yarns

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I’ve often spoken of discovering comics when my mother gave me an issue of Superman (or maybe Action) when I was six. In short order, I began devouring larger-than-life heroes in earnest. Thankfully, DC and Marvel were able to keep up with my growing appetite and it wasn’t long before my father convinced me to add actual books to the diet.

By the time I got to summer camp, I was 10 or so, and had been told of these earlier heroes – Doc Savage, The Shadow, and Conan among them – who lived in dime magazines called the pulps. Somewhere along the way, I began buying Lancer’s set of Robert E, Howard’s adventures, fronted with those gorgeous Frank Frazetta covers. Soon after, Pyramid began releasing reprints of Maxwell Grant’s The Shadow (with those great Jim Steranko covers).

A local radio station ran a different old time radio drama at 7 p.m. on weeknights and X Minus One Saturday nights. I got to thrill to the exploits of The Shadow, the Lone Ranger, and other series.

Ever since, the pulps have been a part of my life. When we were brainstorming ideas for Crazy 8 Press anthologies, I hit on the idea of honoring those stories much as the Michael Chabon-edited book, McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, did some years back.

Everyone I mentioned it to was very eager to jump in and then, an old pal, Will Murray, keeper of the pulp flame with his pastiches, offered me an unpublished Lester Dent story. Dent, creator of Doc Savage, was a prolific author and here was a World War I aviator tale that would allow me to directly connect my anthology with the era being honored.

The problem was, the Dent Estate needed to be paid. I decided that was enough of a reason to go the Kickstarter route. I could then afford the Dent story, a proper cover, a new logo, and bring on a few other authors. Thanks to Mike Friedman, who has had multiple Kickstarter successes, I learned the ropes and he helped set everything up.

And tonight, we launch. Between now and February 19, I and my peers will be shouting from our social media mountaintops, hoping to entice enough backers to make this a success. Go check out the story here and consider being a part of the fun. Thanks in advance for your support.

Author's Spotlight, Finder's Keppers

Russ Colchamiro talks Finders Keepers: The Definitive Edition

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Nearly a decade after making his debut, author and Crazy 8 Press member Russ Colchamiro has gone back to the beginning with a new and updated version of his first novel, the wild scifi backpacking comedy Finders Keepers.

Crazy 8 Press: Finders Keepers is one of the novels you are most known for. What inspired you to issue The Definitive Edition?

Russ Colchamiro: Haha fair enough! When I first published Finders Keepers back in 2010, it was intended to be a stand-alone tale of cosmic lunacy in the vein of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, with a complete, self-contained story I very much wanted to tell—and in the way that I wanted to tell it.

But when I expanded the adventures into a three-book series, which include the sequels Genius de Milo and Astropalooza, I wanted the first book to more closely match the tone, pacing, length, and style of books two and three, so the entire series feels more cohesive.

C8P: Makes sense! What’s different about the new version?

Russ: Looking back on the original Finders Keepers, there were elements I wanted to change. Passages that needed to be cut, sections that could easily be combined, and a few character traits I wanted to approach with a bit more nuance, especially as the original was a bit rough and raunchy in places.

Maybe this updated version is me showing my age (or maturity or a few bumps on the head!), but I came to accept that some of the more raucous, sex comedy elements in the original might be distracting from the rest of the story (consider the original the Raw and Uncensored edition!).

C8P: New readers won’t notice any changes, but what about for fans of the original?

Russ: First off, for anyone who read and loved the original and thinks, “Whoa! Dude! What gives? We love Finders Keepers the way it is” … you’re awesome! But have no fear! This new version contains the same plot, the same adventure, and the same characters … only with far fewer f-bombs and naughty passages.

It also comes in at a lean 81,000 words, down from nearly 95,000. (Yup. I killed my darlings. Lot’s of ’em.)

C8P: Whew! Sounds great! For those who haven’t read Finders Keepers… what’s it about?

Russ: Finders Keepers is still about our bumbling backpackers Jason Medley and Theo Barnes, two guys in their early 20s from opposite ends of the Earth, caught in that netherworld between college and a career, zig-zagging Europe and New Zealand to have one last hurrah before they have to… blarg!… become responsible adults.

And while they’re out there, find a way to get the girl, discover the meaning of life, and, of course, save the universe, whether they realize they’re doing it or not.

RussC8P: You’re calling this the Definitive Edition. Does that mean…?

Russ: Yup. This is it! No more versions. No more tweaks. And it’s got a snazzy new cover from my go-to cover man Roy Mauritsen.

C8P: Thanks, Russ! Where can folks pick up Finders Keepers: The Definitive Version – and the entire series?

A: Sure thing! You can find Finders Keepers, Genius de Milo and Astropalooza here on the Crazy 8 Press site. They’re also available through various online channels, including but not limited to Amazon and Barnes & Noble .

 

***

Russ Colchamiro is the author of the rollicking space opera, Crossline, the outrageous SF/F backpacking comedy series Finders Keepers, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, and is editor of the SF anthology Love, Murder & Mayhem, all with Crazy 8 Press.

 

Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two children, and crazy dog, Simon, who may in fact be an alien himself. Russ has also contributed to several other anthologies, including Tales of the Crimson Keep, Pangaea, Altered States of the Union, Camelot 13, TV Gods 2, They Keep Killing Glenn, and Brave New Girls.

 

He is now working on three collaborative novella projects and the first full-length novel featuring his hardboiled intergalactic private eye Angela Hardwicke.

 

For more on Russ and his books, visit www.russcolchamiro.com, follow him on Twitter and Instagram @AuthorDudeRuss, and ‘like’ his Facebook author page www.facebook.com/RussColchamiroAuthor.

 

Russ is repped by The Zack Compnay.

 

Author's Spotlight, New Releases

Russ Colchamiro Writes of Thieves in Night – Tales of the Crimson Keep

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Talk about a long time coming.

More than 25 years ago, while I was still in college, I had an idea for a story of some kind: two thieves who, by happenstance, happen to rob the same house at the same time.

It was an amusing scenario, and I had a few of the details filled in, but I didn’t have a full blown story I wanted to tell. It needed a hook. I didn’t have one.

The story was never far from my thoughts — I knew I wanted to do something with it — but there it lived, furtively, quietly, in a drawer, and lingering like an ancient mist in the back of my mind.

Enter Crazy 8 Press.

Enter Tales of the Crimson Keep.

The Keep has wizards and ghouls. Magic and spells. Secrets. And, of course, the Keep itself.

In a flash the story that had been percolating for all those years finally had an elixir. I was able to conjure the tale. The hook was provided for me.

And so I bring you “Thief in the Night”.

The core is still there, two thieves with the same target. But this tale being part of an anthology filled with magic, demons… and danger… their night of burglary in no way ends the way either of them had in mind.

But that’s the thing about being a thief. No matter how much you plan and plot, you aren’t the only thing that goes bump in the night.

Enjoy.

Tales of the Crimson Keep the Newly Renovated edition will be out later this month.