Bobblehead Dave

My buddy Bill Ervin, who did the sharp illustrations for Adventures of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles Vol. I and Vol. II, was kind enough to caricaturize me ... kind because I asked him to please remove the bulging gut and make me thin. 

By Bill Ervin

And a Rah, Rah, Rah for Rocket

My 2-year-old daughter enjoys the Disney show called Little Einsteins. Four animated friends -- Leo, Annie, Quincy, and June -- take off on all kinds of flights of fancy in their rocket ship, aptly named Rocket. The kids play instruments, make up songs, and dance to classical music by composers like Mozart and Beethoven, while they try to complete a mission that is inspired by folk art and fine art from around the world.

Every episode, the adventurers ask the audience to help Rocket fly. They pat their hands on their laps to rev him up, then they raise their hands above their heads, saying, “Blastoff!”

Of course, that’s when imagination takes over for my daughter and probably millions of other children.

Well, one fine day when Rocket went skyward, Daddy decided to lift the Elmo plane Ava was sitting on. She loved it! We spun around the room, and then I got as close as I could to the screen, and Ava had joined the friends. Now, she expects me to do it every time … and this old man has to deliver.

Here are two pics, one of me flying Ava and one she took herself of her toy Rocket -- a birthday gift from mom and dad.

 

Available Now: Hardboiled 2

BEAT to a PULP: Hardboiled 2 follows the blood-soaked trail left behind by the 2011 award-winning collection edited by David Cranmer and Scott D. Parker, pumping out another thirteen knuckle-breaking, crime tales. With writers from the 1930s and 40s golden era of pulp (Paul S. Powers and Charles Boeckman) and modern hardboiled masters (Robert J. Randisi and Wayne D. Dundee), this wild bunch is set to blaze a rat-a-tat sweep across the pulp fiction landscape. Keeping the body count high are top-shelf stories from Jedidiah Ayres, Eric Beetner, Jen Conley, Matthew C. Funk, Edward A. Grainger, BV Lawson, Tom Roberts, Kieran Shea, and Jay Stringer.

Me And My Girl

This was a candid shot my Charmer took after our little cherub decided she wanted a sip of Daddy's milkshake. Baby Coconut just plopped her straw in my cup and tried it out for herself.

Hardboiled 2

The BEAT to a PULP: Hardboiled 2 cover is revealed here.

and check out this Hardcore Hardboileder post by Jedidiah Ayres.

The Big Adios

Ron Earl Phillips, one of the creative minds behind Shotgun Honey, had approached me about a new Western site he was putting together and asked if I was interested in contributing a story. Hell, yeah I was. And so I sent him a piece called "Missing" that I had just finished at the time with gracious input from Chuck Tyrell. Mr. Phillips accepted my story and I'm pleased to say it kicks off the debut of The Big Adios.

In “Reflections in a Glass of Maryland Rye,” which concludes Adventures II, Cash has killed a man and wife who turn out to be innocent. I figured that story would end the Adventures series on what I considered a perfect note, but watching the success of Wayne D. Dundee's MANHUNTER’S MOUNTAIN fanned the writing fires, making me want to sit my butt back in the chair to hammer out a few more. My thoughts returned to ‘Reflections,’ and I knew I wanted to answer how Cash Laramie handled having innocent blood on his hands. “Missing” picks up the story with Gideon Miles tracking his friend to a remote Wyoming location where we find a Cash Laramie living on the edge of what separates the rational with the mad. It's a first in the first: Gideon Miles tells the tale from his point of view. And I hope it's not the last ... the Memoirs of Gideon Miles is something I've been floating around my mind.

Until then, I'm very pleased to say Cash and Miles are at The Big Adios. Take a look and support what I know will be another avenue for top Western fiction on the web.

Now Available: A Rip Through Time #2: In The Clear, Black Fields Of Night

The new Simon Rip novella by Chad Eagleton is out now. And in case you missed them, the first series of stories can be found here.

Book description: In his first adventure, Simon Rip pursued Dr. Robert Berlin from the Ice Age to the end of time to retrieve the most powerful invention the world has ever known, the Baryon Core. Now, with his employer's schemes to control all of time revealed, Rip travels across the centuries assembling a team to stop The Company once and for all. With the assistance of Ada Lovelace, Allegra Byron, John Whiteside Parsons, and a mysterious young boy imprisoned in a medieval monastery, the daring time-cop takes the fight directly to The Company. He'll trace the origins of the conspiracy to the darkest heart of World War II, uncover the mastermind, and discover the secrets of his own past.