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The State of Fantasy Fiction and Through the Groaning Earth

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:53:00 -0400

I suspect a lot of you reading this that were around in the 70’s got turned onto the sub genre of heroic fantasy called sword and sorcery the same way I did: The re-discovery of Robert E. Howard thanks to the Lancer Conan paperbacks with the exquisite Frank Frazetta covers. Idevoured all the Howard I could get and once I was through gobbling all of his stories I quickly moved onto Charles R. Saunders, Fritz Leiber,Michael Moorcock, Jack Vance and Lin Carter. Carter was a little bittoo slavish in his homage’s to Howard in his Thongor series, though.But still, at that age I didn’t care. If it was sword and sorcery, I wanted it.

Never got into J.R.R.Tolkien, though. To me, Tolkienwas all about the world building and creating a mythology and he’scertainly done that as “The Lord of The Rings” is still going strong to this day. Not that I have anything against that kind of fantasy. Iwould just rather read about working class barbarians and warriors whohack and slash their way through the day and spend their nights wenching and partying.

Which is probably why my interest insword and sorcery dropped severely once the popularity of Tolkien style heroic fantasy seemed to me to have taken over. Nobody really was writing meat and potatoes sword and sorcery and the trend appeared tohave swung over to what I call, for lack of a better way to put it;more ‘literate’ high fantasy. None of which appealed to me as I simplycan’t slog through 1,000 page books that really have just enough story and plot for 150/200 pages.

Knowing Joel Jenkins as I do Ithink he misses that kind of straight forward, testosterone laden sword swinging tale. And Joel’s the kind of guy who doesn’t lay back and wish somebody would write the kind of story he wants to read. He goes ahead and writes it himself. And in his two books set in the legendary City of Bathos that’s exactly what he’s done: write about blue collar, working class barbarians and warriors in “Escape From Devil’s Head” and THROUGH THE GROANING EARTH.

Both books, but especially THROUGH THE GROANING EARTH aren’t ‘novel’ novels. Instead, they’re like a sword and sorcery version of that old television series “Naked City” that always started off with the narrator saying that “there are eight million stories in the naked city”. I don’t know how many inhabitants of Bathos there are but they include courtesans, thieves, disgruntled godlings, out-of-work mercenaries, farmers, innkeepers, outlaws, priests, schemers, cowards, cutthroats and they all have their ownstories to tell.

And by this method of telling various storiesset within this city, with some characters occasionally crossing over from one story to another, Bathos itself becomes a character in its ownright. A marvelously decadent city that at once and the same time is wonderfully sleazy as well as gorgeously thrilling.

A large part of adding to the City of Bathos taking on a life of its own and becoming a character is Joel’s lush descriptions and dialog. One thing that turns me off from a lot of modern day fantasy is that the writers will have the most amazing characters populating their stories but those characters talk as if they’ve been watching MTV and CNN for the past 10 years or so. Joel’s characters have a richness to how they speak and how they phrase their sentences that immediately let you know that you’re reading about people who live in a mythical place and time.

And these are people, no doubt about it. Nobody’s going on some impossible quest to save the world from an all powerful wizard or to save the world from an ancient evil. Bathos isn’t that type of city and the people who inhabit Joel’s story are just trying to get through another day without getting killed. For the most part, a lot of the characters in THROUGH THE GROANING EARTH are minding their own business when they get caught up almost without knowing it into a wild adventure. And they rise to the challenge with an enormous amount of well written fight scenes in which Joel runs riot with the description. I strongly suspect Joel has just as much fun writing those scenes of carnage as I did reading them.

And Joel does go in for world building just as much as Tolkien or Stephen R. Donaldson or Robert Jordan. But he doesn’t give you these honkin’ huge pages and pages of back history or have characters relate what you need to know through info dumps. Joel weaves and integrates the geography, history and political dynamics of Bathos into the story and into the dialog of his characters. It’s an effective technique that I really like to see writers use. You get your world building but the story itself is not put on hold while the writer attempts to impress with how much effort he’s put into thinking out this imaginary world. And in fact, I’m of the school of thought that says if you’ve put enough into this imaginary world then the information can’t help but find its way into the mouths of the characters. Which is where it should be in the first place.

So should you read THROUGH THE GROANING EARTH? I don’t see why you shouldn’t. If you like Old School sword and sorcery like Robert E.Howard used to make then I heartily recommend this book as well as“Escape From Devil’s Head”. Joel has a sincere love and respect for this genre and if you’ve read Joel’s other books set in the modern day then here’s an excellent chance for you to experience another aspect of the marvelous talent of Joel Jenkins.

Copies of THROUGH THEGROANING EARTH are available at Amazon or cruise over to the Pulpwork Press website and if you order quickly enough you might be able to pickup a free copy of the prequel, “Escape from Devil's Head.” The free copy of “Escape from Devil's Head” is largely unadvertised and is only good until supplies run out. It's also only available at the Pulpwork website and won't be mentioned in the checkout bin.

Coming Attractions

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:47:00 -0400

Through the Groaning Earth is now blurbed at the Coming Attractions website. This website specializes in previewing products that feature pulp characters from the pulp magazines of the thirties and forties or publications that are written in a style characteristic of the pulps of that era.

What, you might ask, qualifies as pulp-style? Ask any number of pulp-aficionados and you might receive any number of different answers, but they will all probably agree that the pulps were known for their fast-paced storyline that included plenty of action.

Does Through the Groaning Earth have plenty of fast-paced action? You better believe it. It's also got plenty of paranoia, intrigue, and characters you'd never want to meet in a dark alley--or anywhere else, for that matter.

Copies of Through the Groaning Earth are available at Amazon or cruise over the the Pulpwork Press website and if you order quickly enough you might be able to pick up a free copy of the prequel, Escape from Devil's Head. The free copy of Escape from Devil's Head is largely unadvertised and is only good until supplies run out. It's also only available at the Pulpwork website and won't be mentioned in the checkout bin.

The City in Darkness

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:58:00 -0400

In discussing my new book, Through the Groaning Earth, author Joshua Reynolds gives an interesting treatise on The City in Darkness and its place in fantasy. I only wish I would have had this treatise earlier. I think it would have made a great introduction to Through the Groaning Earth. Maybe if I ever get around to writing a third novel set in the City of Bathos...

posted by Joel Jenkins

Aar! A Pirate Mistake.

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:50:00 -0400

Typos, grammatical errors--they're a publisher's worst enemy. Recently, a grammatical error slipped through on the back book cover of a handful of proof copies for Joel Jenkins' newest children's book (for children of all ages, naturally) Pirates of Mirror Land.

If you can spot the plural possessive problem on the back cover shoot Joel an email at joel dot jenkins at gmail dot com (just convert the dots and at to form a proper email address), and he'll award your grammatical prowess by sending you a free copy of the problematic pirate book.

There's a very limited supply, so hurry...

Summer O'Fun Cowboy Contest

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:01:00 -0400

Derrick Ferguson, fellow Pulp Work Press author and co-host for the Better in the Dark movie review Podcast posted this information about the Summer O'Fun Cowboy contest that Better in the Dark is sponsoring:

How to enter the Summer of Fun Cowboy Contest-

First of all, go on over to the BETTER IN THE DARK MESSAGE BOARD. Then what you’re gonna do is write a 1000 word essay on your favorite western movie or TV show. Or if you’re in a more creative mood, a 1000 word weird western story. Please, no 30-page epics, okay? There’s a Summer O’Fun Cowboy Contest thread on the message board for you to post your entries. That’s why you’ve gotta sign up, okay? Affiliates of PulpWork Press and Earth-2.net are not eligible. So what do you get if you win? Thought you’d never ask. The Prize Package contains:

GRIMJACK OMNIBUS #1: The original GrimJack stories by creators John Ostrander and Timothy Truman gathered together in one kick-ass 400 page volume. Collected are stories from ‘Starslayer’ #10-#17 and ‘GrimJack’ issues #1-#13 as originally published by First Comics between 1983-1985. But wait! There's more! You also get an autographed copy Derrick Ferguson's first novel, DILLON AND THE VOICE OF ODIN

And Moly Hoses! There's STILL more!!!

You’ll also get a copy of HOW THE WEIRD WAS WEIRD, an anthology of weird western stories edited by Russ Anderson and written by Joel Jenkins, Barry Reese, Mike McGee, Joshua Reynolds, Ian Taylor, Ian Mileham, Chris Munn, Bill Kte’pi and others.

But wait! Believe it or not there’s still more…

You’ll also get a copy of the ultra rare, ultra hard to find FRONTIER PUBLISHING PRESENTS #1 which features among other things “Dillon And The Escape From Tosegio” the legendary 10 page comic book story illustrated by Alex Kosakowski and scripted by Russ Anderson. Also in FPP#1 is “The Skiff” a story by the co-creators of The World’s Most Awesome Comics Magazine: EL GORGO! That’s right, we’re talkin’ about Mike McGee and Tamas Jakab and if you’ve been diggin’ EL GORGO! There here’s your chance to get your hands on one of their earliest masterworks.

Any winning weird west short story entry will be forwarded to the attention of editor Russ Anderson who compiled the PulpWork Press anthology How the West was Weird.

WHEW! Now if that ain’t enough to get you crackin’ then I dunno what will. Get busy writing those essays and stories and get ‘em in, pronto. The deadline for the contest is August 31, 2010.

Pre-Order Bonanza!

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:05:00 -0400

Joel Jenkins' newest novel, the sword and sorcery thriller THROUGH THE GROANING EARTH is available now for pre-order via our store, and, as a special inducement, the first NINE people to order the book will receive a FREE copy of Joel's previous Bathos novel, ESCAPE FROM DEVIL'S HEAD! Two books for the price of one! How can you beat that?

And if that isn't enough to tempt you, head on over to our Upcoming Releases page for a look at the first chapter, which is available for you to read for FREE!

The Nuclear Kindle

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:54:00 -0400

The Nuclear Suitcase is now available on Amazon.com for Kindle download. It's only $2.99 and he gets nearly as much royalty on a sale as if you bought a hard copy at four times the price!

The Nuclear Suitcase is Joel Jenkins' love letter to the 1980's. It's got cold war warriors, guns, guitars, pop starlets, and heavy metal icons. If you've got a Kindle please pick up a copy!

A Peek Into The Future

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:50:00 -0400

Head on over to the Upcoming Releases page to get a gander at two-count 'em TWO-soon to be released novels, both from the Pulpmeister himself...JOEL JENKINS!

Through The Groaning Earth (Pictured below) is a dystopian fantasy in the vein of Leiber and Lovecraft, set in Joel's unforgettable city of BATHOS, while The Sea-Witch is the first adventure of those loveable trouble-makers from DAMAGE INCORPORATED! And come back soon for a sneak-peek at the first chapters of each!

And be sure to take a look at our other books, including Love & Bullets, How The West Was Weird, and The Nuclear Suitcase, all of which have the first chapters available for a free preview!

The Dire Planet Book Caves

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:21:00 -0400

Ric Croxton of The Book Cave Podcast interviewed Joel Jenkins the other day, at length, about the Dire Planet trilogy and pumped him for information about upcoming Dire Planet novels. You can listen the interview here.

The Dire Caves of the Book Planet

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:55:00 -0400

Joel Jenkins, author of the Dire Planet series, gets the Book Cave treatment this week, as he talks to Ric Croxton about his sword & planet series. Go give it a listen, and if you like what you hear, why not check out our Dire Planet Page, complete with previews of each of the books?