Saturday, April 30, 2011

Shorts Weather

As I write this, it's a beautiful Saturday morning in Maine, the temperature climbing, the sun shining bright. I should be raking my yard, or spreading mulch, or whatever it is normal, decent folk do instead of killing imaginary people messily on the page.

Instead, I've been killing imaginary people messily on the page.

See, a while back, Nigel Bird and Chris Rhatigan cooked up an anthology idea. They wanted pulp tales inspired by tracks from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. And they invited me to contribute one.

Of course I said sure. The track I was assigned was "Royale with Cheese." So I popped onto iTunes and gave it a listen. (What? Mr. Self-Styled Pulp Writer doesn't own a copy of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack? As a matter of fact, he does. It just doesn't have tracks per se, on account of it's a store-bought cassette. Shut up.)

Anyways, today I put the finishing touches on my contribution to the PULP INK anthology: "A Night at the Royale." Old-school Tarantino fan that I am, it's got more references per page than maybe any story ever. (There's even a Four Rooms reference or two. Seriously, who the hell but me even remembers Four Rooms?)

(Actually, my short story "Action" gives "A Night at the Royale" a run for its reference money. That one was my love letter to the comic capers of Donald Westlake.) (Did I say "love letter"? I meant "homage." "Homage" sounds manlier.)

Oh, and in other pulpy short-story news, I have no other pulpy short story news. So beat it. To a pulp. Say, two rounds worth of pulp-beating, just to be on the safe side.

Hmm. BEAT TO A PULP: ROUND TWO. That's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it? (See what I did there? Ring? 'Cause the title has a boxing theme? Oh, you did catch that. It just wasn't very clever.)

Great idea though it would be, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of BEAT TO A PULP: ROUND TWO. Which would make speculation that Matthew P. Mayo was joining David Cranmer in putting together one of the most startling collections of pulpy talent for it the world has ever seen premature at best. And any rumors of Crow-creator James O'Barr reprising his role as kickass cover artist would be correct only rumors, nothing more. Oh, and don't even think of asking me whether my ghost story "An Open Door" is to be included, because obviously, I couldn't say...

13 comments:

Clare2e said...

Sounds cool- pun intended, and I eagerly await the only-mythical BTAP2, a project subject to more leaks than the Hindenberg : )

Chris said...

Of course, there's always a chance these leaks are masterminded by a certain Mr. C...

Oh, no -- I've said too much.

Naomi Johnson said...

I'm jealous. I'm still struggling with my contribution to Pulp Ink. I should be working on it instead of mowing my foot-high (no exageration) grass.

Clare2e said...

Could he be that crafty and deceptive? And where can I get a dollar's worth of that?

David Cranmer said...

ROUND 2! Good lord, when?

Elizabeth said...

Yay! Can never have enough Chris F. Holm crafted goodness.

Chris said...

I confess, Naomi, my PULP INK tale was tougher to crack than I anticipated. Maybe we'll switch, now -- I'll go do my yard work, and you can get writing!

Clare, if you find out, let me know; I could use a bit of that myself.

David, I wouldn't sweat it; it's just a rumor.

And Elizabeth, as ever, thanks!

Chris Rhatigan said...

Four Rooms references? Awesome. I actually really liked that movie, but, yes, no one even remembers it now.

Chris said...

Chris, I just hope you dig the story...

Charles Gramlich said...

Rumors rumors everywhere. Or at least here. :)

Chris said...

Or at least here. (And if that David fellow truly was surprised, perhaps only here!)

Matthew P. Mayo said...

Round 2? That sounds excitin'. Rumor? It must be for real. They said the same thing about sasquatch and look at all the irrefutable ... oh, wait.

Chris said...

Well played, Mayo; well played...