Windy City Pulp - The Verdict....

Me and Ron Fortier - the Intellectual
Powerhouses of Zone 4

To be honest, I entered this year's Windy City Pulp & Paper a bit underwhelmed - no, not by the convention itself, but because C2E2 was a bit wearing (yet not totally unenjoyable).

But thankfully, with fedora on head, I headed out to Lombard - normally, the home of Chicago TARDIS, but this year, the site of....well, the beginnings of my writing career.

It's unusual for me to head out on a Sunday - I'm used to visiting Windy City Pulp on Saturday, but thanks to Easter's placement on the calendar, C2E2 and Windy City were both on the same weekend. Thankfully, I headed out on New Pulp day, where Zone 4 cohost/Airship 27 "boss" (yes, I edit for Airship 27) Ron Fortier had me run a few panels....and it was fun.

Now, for some more important news - as many of you know (because I've said it on Facebook), I've written a story entitled "When Angels Fall" for Mark Bousquet's New World Navigation anthology. Currently, I'm giving it some last minute edits, and that should be out in the fall. My story is a heady mixture of hard boiled private detective, high fantasy, and a cartoon bear. Yes, you did read that correctly.

However, I am pleased to announce that throughout the latter half of 2014, I will have some short stories in various anthologies published by Pro Se Productions. They're a small outfit out of Arkansas and Tommy Hancock, the major domo of Pro Se, is a great guy with a singular taste in headgear. So if you like stories about alternate worlds, or corrupt mayors, or even former state legislators who become bounty hunters....I think you'll like what I'll be writing. (You also might want to check out many of their works, including Black Pulp , Fortune McCall, and Lazarus Gray). I'm also working on a story for Airship 27 - the subject matter will be familiar to blog readers as well....

Interesting postscript - as I headed back from Windy City, delighted to see my pulp-loving pals and acquire some reading materials (those Doc Savage reprints won't purchase themselves, you know), I was thinking of possibly doing an event with Chicago Nerd Social Club....but thought that they might think of pulp as too old fashioned. A member post in CNSC's Facebook group (which is members only) openly wondered why more people hadn't heard of it....and several others expressed pulpy interest.

If life in Chicago means being a pulp nerd and a Doctor Who nerd....then so be it.