The Justice Formula

AUGMENT: HUMAN SERVICESI’m joined in the reaction chamber by author Phil Elmore, action novelist and editor for The League Entertainment Group. Phil is a long time action novelist, and we spend some time discussing his work on The Executioner, the longest running men’s action novel series to date. Phil has a good grasp of the formula that makes a successful action hero, and he shares his insights with us. In addition to his work for Gold Eagle, Phil discusses his cyberpunk work. Currently available is Augment part one: Human Services, and the serial novel working title “4104”. The former can be found on Amazon while the latter is being released only through Phil’s website. Of course, no visit would be complete without a mention of Duke Manfist, the World’s Manliest Action Hero. (It says so on his card…..) Last but not least, my Kickstarter project for Fate Core is currently funding, so get over there and check it out! read more

1-4 Courage and Sacrifice

rock the dragonIn this episode of Rock the Dragon, we touch on themes of courage and sacrifice as each of the Z fighters lays down his life in an effort to prevent the Saiyans from destroying the Earth. There’s some heavy stuff going on and in the finest tradition of Shakespeare, everybody dies.

Action Hero Apocalypse

Author Phil Elmore joins me in the Reaction Chamber to talk about current projects from The League Entertainment. Duke Manfist now has a novella for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. All of them available for free at the moment. The season one collection, Bullets Babes and Bacon is coming soon, and more information is on the way. Of course, with Duke Manfist making an appearance during our season of Doomsday Prepping, I have to get Phil’s insights on how to prep for the action hero apocalypse: what to do if you suddenly find yourself playing sidekick to a bona fide action hero! We also talk a bit about Phil Elmore’s works of self-defense education, including Flashlight Fighting and Street Sword. Find works by Phil Elmore and the other League Entertainment authors at the following locations: read more

The Most Dangerous Game

Delta-vee presents classic Old-Time Radio productions and modern audio dramas, today’s episode: “The Most Dangerous Game”. Richard Connell’s famous short story, also published as “The Hounds of Zaroff”, describes the experiences of a big game hunter who is shipwrecked on an island. The master of the island is another big game hunter who has decided to hunt the most dangerous game of all – man. First published in the January 19, 1924 issue of Collier’s Weekly, this story has served as an inspiration and spiritual predecessor for countless other media interpretations, including modern bestsellers such as “The Hunger Games” and even been referenced in the popular Disney-Pixar film “Up”. Big game hunting and travelogues of safari adventures were popular during the 1920s and 30s, leading to a spate of fiction on the subject alongside many “real life” adventures. Connell’s story makes no attempts to justify or rationalize the activities of the antagonist General Zaroff, nor does the protagonist Rainsford waste any time attempting to debate the morality of Zaroff’s actions or mitigate the steps he takes in his own defense. In this way, the story parallels the jungle adventures that it emulates, where the only law is survival of the fittest and morality is a function of tooth and claw rather than reason or spirit. The story was adapted three times for radio under the incomparable baritone of Orson Welles; the first film adaptation by RKO pictures has been the only one to share the title of the story. This episode of Escape first aired on October 1, 1947 and is the only one to feature Welles in the role of Rainsford instead of Zaroff. And now our featured presentation…. read more

The Simon Vector Enigma

Author Phil Elmore joins me in the reaction chamber to discuss the new novel from The League Entertainment, “Simon Vector”. We talk a bit about building the universe of Simon Vector and delve into a sneak peek at the background of this sci-fi space prison action novel. Elmore gives us a glance behind the curtain at what it’s like to develop a transmedia property and what it means to The League. We also discuss other project that Elmore has going on both with The League Entertainment and on his own. A mention is made of the megatrain anthology The Spirit of St. Louis, Elmore’s latest Mack Bolan adventures “Radical Edge” and “Final Judgement”. Since the interview, I’ve read through “Radical Edge”, and this is one of my favorite Phil Elmore adventures to date. Of course, no interview with Phil Elmore would be complete without a mention of the world’s manliest action hero, Duke Manfist. Since this is the season of the doomsday apocalypse, we close with some practical prepping advice from Elmore on personal survival and a pointer at some prepping resources readily available. read more

Megatrain Boarding Call

I’m in the reaction chamber with Phil Elmore, action-adventure author and editor of the upcoming anthology Spirit of St. Louis, a collection of flash fiction revolving around a post-apocalyptic future where incredible roaming megatrains have taken the place of cities. The setting visuals are described as “art-deco steampunk”, and each 1000 word flash fiction entry will be illustrated by a tarot card style painting by John “Johnny Atomic” Jackson. Elmore has issued a general call for entries into this particular project and the planned series that it preludes. read more

Asgardian Box Office

Curtis and I gather round the coffee table to kick around Thor. Not harshly, mind, but we do feel that it needs to be kicked a bit. I really wanted to like this movie in the same way that I like Iron Man or the Incredible Hulk. Unfortunately, the result was somewhat lackluster – with a story that just didn’t live up to the potential of its characters. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of good stuff going on in this movie, and we found it to be an acceptable offering, if not a particularly outstanding one. read more

Violent Chick-Lit

If you’ve missed the media hype surrounding Suzanne Collins’ dystopian sci-fi trilogy “The Hunger Games”, then you may in fact consider yourself fortunate. The guys and I sit around the round table and break down the trilogy of novels, including spoiling the plot and determining that the target audience is in fact – chicks. You’ll get plenty of warning and the magic of podcasting so that you can actually read the books if you still desire to do so. If not, check out the full scoop on this violently dystopian sci-fi beststeller. Also, head over to the Two-Fisted Blogger and check out my review on his site, as well as other articles about dude-lit. read more

Stony Man Teamwork

<A HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fcritpresmedi-20%2F8001%2F9cd24307-10fb-4540-b4fc-8b59d4a81507&Operation=NoScript” mce_HREF=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fcritpresmedi-20%2F8001%2F9cd24307-10fb-4540-b4fc-8b59d4a81507&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>

Since I can’t seem to gain access to the top secret installation of Stony Man Farm near Shenandoah National Park, I find it every bit as cool to spend a half-hour in the company of Phil Elmore. For the past several years, Elmore has ghost written Executioner novels for Gold Eagle publishing, including the Stony Man series, his second entry of which hits the shelves in February.

Elmore is a professional writer, offering a variety of services through his website, philelmore.com. He also publishes the Martialist, an online magazine concerned with self-defense as “the inalienable right of every human being”. Elmore writes a variety of columns on a variety of subjects for a variety of publishers, some of which are detailed on the front page of his website. read more