Age of Bronze: 2023

Friday, December 15, 2023

Online Reading

Tonight, Friday, December 15, 2023, come listen to a reading of stories from the new anthology Winding Paths at 6:30 PM Pacific on Zoom. Wherever you are in the world, if you have an internet connection, you can attend this event.

I'll be reading a selection from my short story "Bored Stupid Demons" and several other authors of stories in Winding Paths will read from their works.

Here's the Zoom link info for you to join:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87078847408?pwd=b9Od4xvwQAU5Vaeks0Wwodn1s0PUeY.1Meeting ID: 870 7884 7408Passcode: 555024

Monday, December 11, 2023

Oz Connection Interview

Colin Ayres of The Oz Connection recently conducted a video interview with me. We talked about my book All Wound Up: The Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz.

During the forty-minute interview, I discuss some of the extensive research I conducted for the book. I also mention several aspects that make the book unique--including the first publication of L. Frank Baum's 1913 script for The Tik-Tok Man of Oz.

Watch the entire interview on The Oz Connection's Youtube channel at this link.

And if you want to order a copy of the book from the publisher, Hungry Tiger Press, so that I can autograph a copy for you, here's the place to order.

Cosmic Horror with Larry, Moe, and Curly

Cosmic Horror has been a thing this year for me. I don't know why. The projects I've done in 2023 involving cosmic horror have all been unrelated to each other.

Anyway, here's the latest: The Three Stooges vs. Cthulhu, issue #1 from American Mythology. I drew the cover for this mash-up of the Stooges and H. P. Lovecraft's iconic figure of terror from beyond.

I actually loved drawing this cover. The colorist did a decent job, too. Here's the link to order your copy from the publisher.

Winding Paths

So, the book launch for Winding Paths yesterday at Board Bard Games in Portland, Oregon, went well.
Really well. Seemed like everyone had a fun time.

Winding Paths, the playable short story anthology from Demagogue Press, will have another event--this time online, so that everyone, regardless of geography, can attend. More than a dozen authors included in the book will be reading selections of their stories online through Zoom, Friday, December 15, at 6:30 PM Pacific.

Every story in the book has some type of game in it--and the variety is surprising. Each story also contains an element of speculative fiction--fantasy, science fiction, magical realism, or other. I'll be the Zoom event on Friday to read from my story, "Bored Stupid Demons." I'll post the Zoom link on Wednesday, December 13.

I hope you can make it. Even if you can't, you can still experience the book itself, which is more than a group of short stories, but a gaming experience on its own, if that's the way you'd like to encounter it. The editors, Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito and Ken Hueler, have turned nearly every aspect of Winding Paths into a game or puzzle. Even the cover is a game--the ancient Mesopotamian Game of Ur--with rules and gamepieces included in the final pages of the book. Winding Paths is like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure on steroids. But if you just want to read the stories in a traditional manner, you can.

Can't wait to get your own copy of Winding Paths? Here's the link to order from the publisher.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Want to Play a Game?

Winding Paths, A Playable Reading Experience will be published by Demagogue Press on December 10, 2023. This book is much more than just an anthology of short stories. It's a game unto itself! Play along as you read Winding Paths for an enhanced experience.

Or just read the stories as you choose. Each story in this anthology features a game in its narrative. My story, "Boring Stupid Demons," features not one, but TWO games! It's the story of a guy who wants to become rich, so for help he summons a demon from Hell. The story starts out like most of this type of story starts, but then it turns the tropes on their heads. I hope you enjoy it.

It's up to each reader to experience Winding Paths in a new way. One bonus I especially like is the cover featuring the oldest game known--the Game of Ur. You can play the game yourself, right on the cover of the book. Playing tokens for you to cut out are included in the back of the book. (This means you should buy two copies--one to cut, one to keep pristine!)

The publisher, Demagogue Press, is accepting pre-publication orders for Winding Paths. Click here to order and to see the full list of contributing authors.

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Reading in Olympia

Reading tonight in Olympia, Washington. Cozy Cosmic Horror! 4-6 PM at Browsers Bookshop. I'll join a bunch of authors to read our stories from the new anthology published by Underland Press, The Cozy Cosmic.

Details at Bowsers Bookshop website, click here.

Friday, October 6, 2023

Reading Cozy Cosmic Horror

I'll be reading my work at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon, tomorrow, Saturday, Oct 7, at 4 PM. Cody Goodfellow and John Skipp are also on the reading program. The readings at the Lovecraft festival are open to the public. Location: Sam's Hollywood Billiards, 1845 NE 41st Ave., Portland.

My reading is in conjunction with the publication of The Cozy Cosmic, the new anthology of cozy cosmic horror short stories from Underland Press. A bunch of other authors in The Cozy Cosmic will also be reading at the Lovecraft festival throughout the weekend. I understand that copies of The Cozy Cosmic will be for sale at the festival, debuting several days before official publication date.

For details about the Lovecraft festival, click here for the website.

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Getting Cozy with Cosmic Horror

Cosmic horror that's cozy? Is such a concept possible? Thirty-three authors answer that question in a forthcoming anthology of cozy cosmic horror stories and verse from Underland Press, The Cozy Cosmic, edited by Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito and Mark Teppo.

I'm one of those thirty-three authors. You can read my short story "The Purple Emperor" in the book when it goes on sale October 10. Order before publication here.

"The Purple Emperor" follows an elderly female gardener into a world of seemingly endless bedrooms. Will she ever find a way out of this strange and eerie world? Perhaps, but only after she confronts the unexpected secret at the world's heart.

I'm perfectly content to read cozies, though I'd never set out to write one. Some cosmic horror I've enjoyed, some I haven't. The stories of H. P. Lovecraft, considered the premiere author of cosmic horror, often leave me unimpressed, though I enjoyed The Mountains of Madness and his short story "In the Walls of Eryx." My taste in horror runs more along the less-than-cosmic lines of work by William Hope Hodgson, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, and Bram Stoker. When it comes to cosmic horror, I prefer the book The King in Yellow by Lovecraft's predecessor Robert W. Chambers, considered by many to be proto-cosmic horror.

In writing my story "The Purple Emperor," I tried to catch as much a hint of Chambers as I did of Lovecraft. I chose the title "The Purple Emperor" as a sort of play on words of The King in Yellow--then realized, after I'd finished the story, that Chambers himself wrote a story with an identical title, a story I'd heard years ago. However, the similarity seems to end there. Chambers's title refers to a type of butterfly, while my title refers to a type of rose. My idea to build a fantastical world of endless bedrooms owes a debt to Chambers's name. Bedrooms--chambers. Get it? Heavy-handed, I admit, but the story itself doesn't draw attention to the wordplay.

Order The Cozy Cosmic direct from Underland Press by clicking here. To whet your appetite, check out the table of contents:

John Shirley ~ "Death, in Two"

Tais Teng ~ "On Hearing the First Shoggoth in Spring"

Tyler Battaglia ~ "What the Sea Provides"

Ellis Bray ~ "My Grandmother’s Sacristy"

E. E. Marshall ~ "Right and Bright"

Devan Barlow ~ "Dinner, Overlooking the Sea"

Scotty Milder ~ "A Little God in Their Hands"

Maxwell I. Gold ~ "Great Cosmic Itch"

Remy Nakamura ~ "Wet Dreams in R’lyeh"

Andrew S. Fuller ~ "A Perfectly Fine Hobby"

Kiera Lesley ~ "Obsolescent"

Kurt Newton ~ "A Mournful Melancholia of Things Forever Lost"

J. B. Kish ~ "Lo-Fi Chocolate Cake"

Rajiv Moté ~ "Carrisa and Kevin Gaze into the Abyss"

Daniel David Froid ~ "In Another Distant Land, in a Luminescent Land"

Kate Ristau ~ "Shine"

Erik Grove ~ "Fuzzy Fuzzy Kitty Kitties"

William J. Connell ~ "Poe’s Guys Respond to Their Significant Others"

Paul Jessup ~ "The Museum of Endless Summer"

Ngô Bình Anh Khoa ~ "Through Life and Death, Forevermore"

Jonathan Wood ~ "Javapocalypse"

L. E. Daniels ~ "Final Cycle"

Ken Hueler ~ "The Unknowable Ones"

Tania Chen ~ "A Study of Metamorphosis Calamity"

Eric Shanower ~ "The Purple Emperor"

Kevin Wetmore ~ "A Child’s Christmas in Innsmouth"

Megan Lee Beals ~ "Splinterbone"

Corinne Hughes ~ "The Sheep Rancher’s Husband"

Shanna Germain ~ "A Napkin Upon Your Glass"

Simone Cooper ~ "Gnocchi"

Jessie Kwak ~ "Blood and Glitter"

Cody T Luff ~ "Den Mother"

R. Ostermeier ~ "The Dark Young"

Tik-Tokking to You

At last! My three volumes on The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, the 1913 stage musical by L. Frank Baum and Louis F. Gottschalk, were published at the end of July by Hungry Tiger Press.

They're all available here.

First is All Wound Up: The Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. This hefty softcover volume of 440 full-color pages contains the complete history of the show with a generous load of images and photographs. It also includes L. Frank Baum's complete, newly-discovered 1913 script for The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, Baum's complete 1909 scenario titled The Rainbow's Daughter, a full biography of composer Louis F. Gottschalk, an account of Hank the Mule's career across the world, and more.

I'm delighted to say that All Wound Up has been garnering praise from those who see it. You can purchase the book by clicking here.

Next is The Tik-Tok Man of Oz Performance Script. This 114 page volume features the script I synthesized from Baum's surviving materials to create a version that can be performed today. The words are L. Frank Baum's in this two-act musical play for nine principal roles, three minor roles, and a chorus, in a running time of about 2 hours. You can purchase the script by clicking here

The third book is The Tik-Tok Man of Oz Piano-Vocal Score. Its 194 pages hold 26 core musical numbers by Gottschalk/Baum and Schertzinger/Morosco, originally written for the show. Also included are 2 optional numbers by Cowles/Wulschner and Waters/West, interpolated into the 1913 production. The music is arranged for piano. You can purchase the score by clicking here.

All three volumes are offered as a set with a $10 discount off the total price. Click here for the complete set.

Whether you want to act, sing, or just read about Tik-Tok, the copper clockwork man of Oz, here's your chance.

Saturday, July 8, 2023

Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz

My new book detailing the history of the stage musical The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, is due for release at the end of this month. All Wound Up: The Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz presents 440 full-color pages bursting with photos and images about the 1913 musical written by Oz-creator L. Frank Baum and composed by Broadway and Hollywood composer Louis F. Gottschalk.

I produced a revival of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz in 2014 at Winkie Con 50 in San Diego, CA. I wrote a long article for the convention program book on the history of the show. That article was the basis for the book, but I greatly expanded on the information I originally wrote (as well as correcting my mistakes). I've been working on the book intensively for the past several years, researching and collecting long-forgotten details of the show and the people involved in it.

The book offers a wealth of treasures, including these features:

The first publication of L. Frank Baum's original script for the show, newly located
The first publication of Baum's original scenario for the show, when it was titled The Rainbow's Daughter
Hundreds of photos and images, showing scenes from The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, the actors and production team, posters, publicity photos, advertisements, and much more
Capsule biographies of all the principal actors and many of the chorus members--along with photos of as many show participants as I could find
A biography of Louis F. Gottschalk, the show's composer, detailing his high-profile career on Broadway and in Hollywood
A biography of Fred Woodward, the actor who played Hank the Mule in The Tik-Tok Man of Oz and who, surprisingly, continued to play Hank the Mule for several decades afterward

In conjunction with All Wound Up: the Making of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, my script for The Tik-Tok Man of Oz and my reconstructed piano-vocal score for the show will also be published. From Baum's and Gottschalk's surviving materials, I prepared these for the 2014 revival, although I subsequently revised a few bits in preparation for publication. For almost ten years now, I've wanted to make this performable version of The Tik-Tok Man of Oz available for others to produce. At last, that plan approaches fruition.

Hungry Tiger Press will release all three books in late July 2023. I'll announce publication and a link to order the books. Look for those here!

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

New Webstore Open for Business

Hungry Tiger Press's new webstore is open! There you'll find Age of Bronze graphic novels, Age of Bronze comic books, Age of Bronze t-shirts, Age of Bronze posters, and a whole lot more.

The new store provides a standard shopping cart experience, with easy checkout. Payment is accepted
from all major credit cards. Shipping is through the US Post Office.

Come check out the new store here:

hungrytigerpress.store

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Temporary Webstore Closing

The Hungry Tiger Press webstore, where Age of Bronze graphic novels, comic books, t-shirts, and posters are sold, is moving to a new online site. The online store will be temporarily inaccessible starting at the end of the day, June 30, 2023, and lasting sometime through the first couple days of July 2023.

Unfortunately, the actual hours or days that the store will be unavailable can't be predicted. That has to do with webhosts and servers and a lot of technical aspects.

But if you're trying to visit the store about that time and you can't find it or you get some sort of error message, simply return later. The brand spanking new store will be opened as soon as they let us put it online. The hiatus should only last a few days--possibly only a few hours.

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Betrayal Part One, the Full Color Edition

Continuing the color version of Age of Bronze!

The Trojan War continues in the acclaimed graphic novel series by Eric Shanower, published by Image Comics.

Book 3, titled Betrayal Part One, is now for sale at the Age of Bronze website. John Dallaire's subtle and appropriate coloring brings new life to the betrayal of Philoktetes, one of the Achaean kings in the battle against Troy. This volume also presents the peace embassy of Menelaus, Odysseus, and Palamedes to King Priam of Troy. Akamas expects to find Aithra in Troy, but a surprise awaits him instead. Troilus agonizes over Cressida. Achilles confronts Tennes, ruler of Tenedos, and thus seals his own fate.

All orders of Betrayal Part One in the Hungry Tiger webstore will be signed by cartoonist Eric Shanower. Order at this link.

Click here for a 6-page sample in full color.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

The Magician: Review

Colm Toibin's recent book The Magician tells the story of the life of Thomas Mann. The book is engaging and filled with powerful characterization. I recently discussed it with Alan Rose and Caroline Miller on the video review series Just Read It. Here's the link to watch and listen:

https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/portfolio/just-read-it-reviews-the-magicianby-colm-toibin/