This Memorial Day, like last Memorial Day, and all the Memorial Days to come, remember our brothers and sisters who gave the last full measure of devotion, and dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work these men and women so nobly advanced.
General Orders No. 11: “The 30th day of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
“We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among other things, “of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.” What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic.
“If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remains in us.
“Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the nation’s gratitude—the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.”
Well, I wanted to write one, so I guess we’re both out of luck.
Missing out on adapting RTT! and other Dirk Pitt adventures into graphic novels when I really most sincerely thought it was going to happen remains the most frustrating what-could-have-been writing project in my career. I have alluded to it from time to time here but just never had the gumption to drudge up the full details. Not until this gorgeous mock RAISE THE TITANIC magazine cover by Matthew Robert Smathers that reminded me of the classic Gold Key comic book covers by George Wilson inspired me to get off my duff and indulge in some catharsis.
Oh, what could have been. This absolutely gorgeous mock cover brought to you by Matthew Robert Smathers.
“LET’S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING” or “THEN HE GOT AN IDEA”
S. Clarke Hawbaker’s cover for the first issue of Malibu Graphic’s DRACULA.
Mundania Press edition of KING OF HARLEM. Cover art by Christopher Jones.
During this stage of my writing career I was constantly trying to think of ways to make a name (and money) for myself in the comics industry; however, unlike most of my peers I was just as anxious to break into the fiction novel market. I had a literary agent, Lee A. Matthias, who was shopping my novel KING OF HARLEM to publishers, and I succeeded in getting accepted by the University of Iowa’s prestigious Writer’s Workshop MFA program. So perhaps it was this heterogeneousness that made me susceptible to this idea: “If a comics adaptation of a public domain classic can generate respectable sales, how much more could you reap with adaptations of recent bestselling novels by brand name authors?” Such adaptations would not be limited to direct-market comics shops but could be sold in retail bookstores like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, where people who would never consider picking up a superhero comic book might try a comics adaptation of a favorite author’s story. It seemed to me that, if successful, such adaptations would expand comics into a whole new market.
This probably doesn’t sound very revolutionary now, but what I’m describing had never been attempted forty years ago. Heck, the publishing industry was still trying to figure out what to call graphic novels much less how to take optimum advantage of the suddenly-popular medium.
If my idea was going to have a chance, however, the first adaptation had to make a really big splash with comic books readers and novel readers.
Fortunately the best choice was also my first choice: Clive Cussler’s RAISE THE TITANIC!
Why do I say it was the best choice?
The Grandmaster makes his cameo appearance in the RAISE THE TITANIC movie.
At the time, romance was the most popular novel genre, but comic book readers weren’t going to go coo-coo for adaptations of Danielle Steele or Rosemary Rogers. It was a different story, though, with the next most popular genre: adventure. The most popular comic books at the time were almost all adventures. Meanwhile, in the novel market, Cussler was considered the Grand Master of Adventure. His Dirk Pitt novels had made him one of the world’s most popular and successful writers. Even better, his novels were influenced by the same classic pulp adventures that still influenced most adventure comic books. This was a connection that many comic book readers and novel readers could respond to.
I also didn’t overlook the undying fascination of the RMS Titanic. A fascination Cussler had banked on when he conceived his novel to be a property that would put Pitt and his adventures on the map. A fascination that ballooned into Titanic mania in 1985 with the discovery of the ship’s resting place. I figured there was a good chance at least some Titanic buffs would give the graphic novel a look at to “see” the ship in action as it were.
TOP: RMS Titanic breaches in the 1977 BEST SELLER SHOWCASE newspaper strip adaptation of Cussler’s novel. BOTTOM: She breaches somewhat more impressively in the 1980 movie adaptation.
Why do I say it was my first choice?
Because I realized before I thought through any of that stuff I just droned on about that I wanted to write an RTT! graphic novel.
I am a huge Cussler and Pitt fan. I would later spend eight years writing THE CLIVE CUSSLER ADVENTURES: A CRITICAL REVIEW, the first serious review book about Cussler and his work (but more on that in a moment). I am also a huge fan of RAISE THE TITANIC!, which is the fourth Pitt novel, the third Pitt novel to be published, the novel that lifted Cussler and Pitt from obscurity (24 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list), and remains the best and most famous of Pitt’s adventures.
“AND HERE’S THE PITCH!” or “GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK, WILL YA’?”
So I called Tom Mason, Malibu’s Creative Director, and laid all this out to him. Tom was unfamiliar with the Pitt novels, but he did recall the RTT movie had been a box office flop. Nevertheless Tom liked what I told him about Cussler’s novels and why I thought graphic novel adaptations could benefit the comics and novel markets, so he said he would forward my pitch to Malibu’s editor-in-chief Chris Ulm, publisher Dave Ohlbrich and owner Scott Rosenberg. All three had also been unfamiliar with the Pitt novels, but Tom told me if they could track down Cussler’s agent then Malibu would pitch my idea to them.
Y-e-a-h… the hell with that.
As far as I was concerned, if you want to make sure something gets done, do it yourself. And, besides, I already had Cussler’s mailing address.
In 1977 I wrote him through his publisher to ask if he thought an idea I had for an adventure novel in which Noah’s Ark is discovered and recovered was too similar to RTT!
Cheeky?
Sue me. I was only seventeen. And Cussler actually replied with an encouraging letter.
So I mailed my pitch directly to Cussler and then did my best to concentrate on my college schoolwork so not to drive myself bonkers worrying if Cussler would be upset or even reply. I had no way of knowing at the time that Cussler’s standard operating procedure was to ask for forgiveness later instead of asking for permission now. (To see what I mean check out how Cussler approached his long-time literary agentPeter Lampack.)
As it turned out, Cussler didn’t write back.
He called.
One late summer morning I was working on a school assignment when the telephone rang and a man with a lackadaisical and somewhat nasally voice asked to speak with Steven Philip Jones. I had never heard Cussler’s voice before, but somehow I knew this was him even before he introduced himself, and I tried not to sound frazzled as I found myself unexpectedly speaking with one of my all-time favorite writers… who, by the way, liked my idea!
Cussler brought up the RTT movie but said he liked the BEST SELLER SHOWCASE adaptation and had extremely fond childhood memories of comic books. So at his instructions I called Tom Mason and gave him Lampack’s contact information.
A few days later Tom called to let me know that very promising negotiations between Malibu and Lampack were under way.
“OH FRABJOUS DAY!” or “COUNTING CHICKENS”
One of my rough script drafts for Page 1 of the RTT! graphic novel.
I spent October through December of 1989 waiting for the negotiations to end. I also sketched out layouts and narrative breakdowns for the novel’s prologue. And I thought a lot about artists to draw the adapation, even though the final decision would be up to Cussler, Lampack and Malibu. I could make suggestions, though, and as far as I was concerned there were only two artists who could pull this off.
One was Al Williamson, a comics grandmaster famous for his work at EC Comics and on the STAR WARS and SECRET AGENT CORRIGAN newspaper strips, but considering his status in the industry I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Could Al Williamson handle underwater scenes and action? Damn right he could!
That was okay because the other artist was my brother-from-another-mother and favorite collaborator Christopher Jones. Chris and I broke into comics on STREET HEROES 2005 and the powers-that-be at Malibu liked how we worked together. I liked how Chris can draw ANYTHING and make it look g-o-o-d. He is also one of the best storytellers in the business. Chris’s best-known comics include YOUNG JUSTICE and BATMAN STRIKES!, and these days he switches between comics work and animation work for such studios as Warner Brothers. My idea was to have Chris focus on penciling while a friend of ours, S. Clarke Hawbaker, handled the inking. Clarke was still a couple of years away from his landmark work on Marvel’s NOMAD and he liked my suggestion enough to draw a concept sketch of Pitt for Cussler’s consideration.
Clarke’s concept sketch of Pitt. Cussler thought that the sketch captured Pitt’s eyes, a high compliment.
Then came January 1990 and the word that Malibu’s offer had been rejected.
Ouch.
I wrote Cussler to let him know that I truly appreciated the opportunity he had given me and Malibu. (A few years later I found out that Rosenberg wrote a similar letter to Cussler at the same time.) Cussler was kind enough to write me back:
“TRY, TRY AGAIN” or “YEAH… RIGHT”
That should have been that, but a few months later it struck me that perhaps Lampack would approve of a larger publisher. I wrote to Cussler to ask if I could approach places such as DC and Marvel and he thought that sounded like a good idea. So that’s what I did over the next couple of years, but except for a nibble from Jim Shooter at Valiant Comics, no other publisher was interested.
Then in 1992 Malibu experienced incredible growth in a very short time when they temporarily became the publisher for Image Comics. Malibu went from being one of the more popular small independent publishers to owning almost 10% of the comics market.
Maybe Malibu was now at the right stage?
I wrote Cussler to ask and he wrote back, “Go ahead and give Malibu another shot. Maybe Pitt’s time has come. P.S. I agree, the comic market is getting strong, especially among the collectors.”
So I called Tom and he agreed to approach the company’s partners with the suggestion of publishing Dirk Pitt adaptations during their next meeting, but a few weeks later he wrote to say it was a no go. As he explained it, “Had our original offer been accepted over a year ago, the book would be out on the stands now to enjoy the benefits of our recent promotional pushes. Unfortunately, a deal now would take 3-4 months to negotiate and another year before going to press. Our schedule for that kind of work-intensive project is full these days.”
Well… awesome.
I continued to pitch the idea to other comics publishers until Lampack called in 1993 to say he did not see any reason to tie up licensing rights on “such a marginal” potential.
“AND THAT WAS THAT” or “WHAT? YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER IDEA?”
I’m not going to lie, my reaction was perhaps best expressed by Rousseau in a 1760 letter to Voltaire: “I don’t like you, monsieur.”
Not that realizing any of this ever salved my feelings, especially since things managed to get worse before getting somewhat better.
In 1992 I was reading THE TOM CLANCY COMPANION and it got me thinking, “Why isn’t there a CLIVE CUSSLER COMPANION?” After sketching out a format for such a book, I wrote Cussler and he replied that he liked the idea. In fact Cussler had even written up a few bios to start such a project but it never progressed beyond that stage. Cussler said he would talk to Lampack, but soon after I was informed that the idea had been rejected.
Hey, I knew it was a long shot, but at least my hat had been in the ring, so the speak. That felt nice.
Cussler and Lampack had been under no obligation to me, and Cussler did tell me he had considered writing a companion book in the past. I just thought it would have been nice if someone would have told me, “Thanks but we’re proceeding with this on our own.”
That said, CLIVE CUSSLER AND DIRK PITT REVEALED is pretty cool.
“AND, AGAIN, THAT WAS THAT” or “WHAT NOW, GENIUS?”
This is where I was standing in the UofI Main Library when I got the idea for what became known as The Cussler Book. Below my right elbow is the TERENCE FISHER book that made me realize that I wanted to write a book for McFarland.
Things turned around a bit in 2005 when I was at the University of Iowa Main Library to check out a book for a writing project. As usually happens, though, I started browsing and soon I had a pile of books to take home, one of which was a review book on TERENCE FISHER by Paul Leggett and published by McFarland Publishing. If you are not familiar with McFarland, I can’t recommend their catalog enough, and it dawned on me then how many of the company’s books I had enjoyed over the years.
Then something else dawned on me: “I’d like to write a McFarland book.”
Okay. Nice idea, genius, but what to write? What topics are you an expert on?
One idea hit me instantly, only to be followed soon after by another idea.
The first was a review book on Cussler and the other was a review book on the best and most influential Independent comic books from the late 70s to the early 90s.
I really wanted to write the Cussler book, but it only seemed courteous to first run the idea past Cussler in case he had any objections. He replied, “Why anyone would want to write a critical review book on Dirk Pitt is beyond me, but go ahead.” So I pitched both ideas to McFarland because more can be better, and McFarland told me they already had a Cussler book in the pipeline and asked me to submit the Indy comic book instead.
Like I said, I really wanted to write the Cussler review book. I might not have gotten the chance to write the graphic novels or the companion book, but I damn well was going to write this book!
And not that it mattered, but in a stroke of serendipity most of the writers that I needed to interview for the Independent comics book suddenly stopped corresponding with me, or told me they had no interest in talking with me, or never replied to my request for an interview. Since these interviews were essential to providing behind-the-scenes insights that would be unavailable elsewhere, I told McFarland I could not proceed and they agreed I should move on to the Cussler review book.
This was 2006.
I finished writing the book in 2014.
So what took so long?
“DRAWING THE LINE” or “ENDING ON A GOOD NOTE”
If I had had my way Christopher Jones would have drawn the cover for The Cussler Book. Here is Chris’s cover rough that we submitted to McFarland incorporating my (preferred) working title.
For one thing, this was about the time that the Cussler Universe exploded, and the first thing I needed to do was reread Cussler’s novels and make notes.
The problem was, I am a s-l-o-w reader.
Sincerely.
In college my reading speed was measured in the bottom twenty percentile, but when I started out there were a manageable 19 Pitt novels, 6 NUMA Files novels, 4 Oregon Files novels, 2 children’s books, and 2 nonfiction books for me to read. By 2009, however, Cussler had an average of at least 3 new books a year coming out and I felt like I was in a leaking lifeboat. Things got so hectic that eventually my wife wisely counseled me, “You are going to have to draw a line. Review no more books beyond this point.”
Meanwhile as this was going on, my life… well… to paraphrase Charles Dickens, those eight years were the best of times and the worst of times, and no matter how good the best times were, there were times that life got so bad that the only thing that kept me going besides faith, family, friends and the occasional side freelance project was escaping into what people had come to call “The Cussler Book.” This was particularly true with people I saw only once or twice a year.
“How’s it going, Steve? Finish The Cussler Book yet?”
McFarland would also email once a year to ask how things were progressing and I can’t thank them enough for not losing faith in me.
I finally finished the manuscript on my daughter’s birthday in 2014. To make my deadline I spent every spare moment I had over the previous four weeks assembling the book’s extensive index and reading through the proofreader’s changes to my manuscript. I finished late that afternoon, just in time to shower and get ready for her birthday dinner, but after working at a fevered pitch for so long, the relief of finishing the book overwhelmed me and I nearly fell asleep in the shower, then on the ride to the restaurant and then during our meal.
“A COUPLE OF BEHIND-THE-SCENES INFO ON WHAT HAPPENED NEXT” or “COMING FULL CIRCLE”
The final product.
My biggest local supporter while working on The Cussler Book was Todd Meyer, co-owner with his wife Ruth of the late lamented Mystery Cat Books. (I’m sad to say that I found out while writing this post that Todd passed away earlier this year.) McFarland provided me with ten author copies and I brought one to Todd in gratitude. Now Mystery Cat Books sold collector and signed editions, so Todd asked if I would be willing to ask Cussler to sign some books (including Todd’s) that he could sell in his store at a commission.
The commission part sounded okay to me, but authors generally do not like being asked to receive copies of their books in the mail to autograph and return, but, like I said, Todd was a big supporter, so I called Cussler. Now bear in mind, Cussler was 82 years old at the time and may not have been in the best of health, but he didn’t seem to remember me and sounded more than a little upset by my request.
“Great,” I thought, “now this writer I admire thinks I’m a jerk.”
When I told Todd what happened he expressed his appreciation that I tried, then told me how he knew a collector near Scottsdale, Arizona, where Cussler lived. I already knew that Cussler did a couple of signings at The Poison Pen Bookstore each year, and Todd asked if I would be willing to mail some of my author copies to this collector, who could take them to Cussler’s next appearance in exchange for being able to keep one of the signed copies.
“I don’t know if Cussler will do it after what just happened, but okay.”
I mailed nine copies to this collector, who took them to Cussler’s next signing, and later he told Todd that Cussler seemed put off at first by the word “critical” in the title. The collector explained that the book was not critical of his novels, but a serious and positive review of them, so Cussler and his wife flipped through my book, seemed to like it, and signed all seven copies as well as kept one for himself.
“Great,” I thought, “hopefully he doesn’t think I’m a jerk anymore.”
Some time went by after that with none of my books being returned. I called the collector but all I ever got was his answering machine. Todd called him, too, but he also only got the answering machine. Todd was flummoxed. The collector had never behaved like this before. But we kept calling until one day a package arrived with only three signed copies in it. There was no letter of explanation regarding this delay, his silence, or what happened with the other four copies. (Remember, the collector was supposed to keep one for his troubles, and one copy went to Cussler.)
So I kept one copy for myself, gave one to Todd, and gave the last one to Mike Grell for writing the book’s introduction. Mike, one of the nicest people you will meet, had refused to take any payment for writing the introduction, but I sorta kinda got the last laugh when I delivered his copy to him. Mike was attending a comics convention near my town, and while I waited in line at his table to speak with him, a young lady assisting Mike asked, “Are you here for a sketch or an autograph?”
I held up the two books and told her autograph.
“The first autograph is free, but each one after that is one dollar.”
I suppose I could have explained the situation, but I handed over one buck and thought, “I finally paid you something for that introduction.”
Hee-hee-hee.
And if a dollar doesn’t seem like much… well… Mike and I do have the only copies of THE CLIVE CUSSLER ADVENTURES that are signed by Clive Cussler, Mike Grell and myself.
Which brings us more or less full circle.
Remember how Cussler called me out of the blue the first time I spoke with him? Well, not long after the Poison Pen signing, I was writing one Saturday evening when my cell phone rang. I was in a groove so I let it go to voicemail, and when I listened to the message a few minutes later I was dumbfounded to hear that familiar lackadaisical, somewhat nasally voice say:
“Hi, Steven, I especially enjoyed Clive Cussler’s Adventures. That’s only because I’m Clive Cussler.”
He laughed and asked me to call him back, which I did straight away, and we talked for about eight minutes, one minute for every year I spent writing the book.
That may not sound like a good return in my investment of time and effort, but it more than satisfied me.
Cussler told me he liked the book and showed it to friends. (I am not sure how much later, but Robin Burcell mentioned in a post on the Clive Cussler’s Collector Society’s Facebook page that Cussler had given her his copy to use as reference when she took over the Fargo series.) Cussler admitted he had forgotten a lot of the things from the Pitt series until he read about them in my book and seemed very appreciative of what I had written about THE CHASE. This was the last book Cussler wrote without a collaborator and had put a lot of effort into it, which may be why he really seemed to appreciate it when I told him the Isaac Bell series was my wife’s favorite Cussler series.
This was the last time I spoke with Cussler, although he did provide me with a blurb for my retrospective comics anthology HEROES AND HORRORS in 2019. Cussler died the following year.
We had parted on good terms and that means the world to me.
END THOUGHTS
So that’s it. At least as much as I remember that merits mention.
I have to admit, writing down these memories has eased some of the frustration I mentioned at the outset, but it still ranks #1 in my disappointment parade. Nothing else in my tin dispatch-box of could-have-beens matches it.
Not the TALISMEN novel/graphic novel series. (Now THAT was an idea.)
Not… oh, enough. There are plenty more I could list, but enough already. I’m starting to wonder what kind of career I have had if I spend more time writing about my misses than I do working on what could be successes.
“Get used to disappointment.”
I have given this advice from the Dread Pirates Roberts to young writers a lot of times over the years. I do it because disappointment is something a writer should be prepared for, but I think I need to also start passing along this advice from the film ROCKY BALBOA (2006) as counterbalance:
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But you got to be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! … But until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t going to have a life.”
Some hits land harder than others. Some land so hard that the memory stays with you for as long as you live. You might think I’m talking about regrets, but I don’t regret anything in my writing career. Not even missing out on writing Pitt graphic novels or the Cussler Companion. But these are could-have-beens, which can be frustrating, but I don’t regret one of them. And you know, tomorrow is another day… so maybe something like a Kickstarter campaign for an RTT! graphic novel could be in the future.
I wouldn’t be opposed, just saying.
Mel Gibson once said, “He who tries, gets. If you try, you get somewhere.”
Yes, I have frustrations, but I wouldn’t have those or my successes or the life I have today if I hadn’t tried.
The Escapist is the newest series created by IT’s incomparable head writer and all around good guy Matthew J. Elliott. And The Escapist is Barnaby Wilde, a (semi-)retired operative from some furtive agency or other who still gets called in on occasion to look into strange and sometimes bloody… uh… stuff. Joining Wilde on these adventures is Ms. Ampersand, his driver, bodyguard, and two-legged font of information.
The second episode had our pair searching for the connection between attempts on a politician’s life and a series of science fiction novels.
Now comes episode three: “The Two-in-the-Bush Venture”! This time our pair head to Singapore to stop a secret society from trying to resurrect the legendary lost Kingdom of Singapura. Oh, and investigate the disappearance of a missing linguist who was translating the legendary Singapore Stone. And, oh, deal with an assassin named Schott Miller who Wilde is really, really, really sure he erased nine years ago.
So… you know… they’re going to be busy.
And if you haven’t picked up on it already, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that The Escapist harkens back to such classic and eccentric TV adventure series as The Protectors and most notably The Avengers. In fact, if you didn’t get enough of John Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel or Dr. Cathy Gale or Tara King in the sixties and seventies or more recently on retro TV stations, then I cannot recommend The Escapist enough.
The Escapist would have fit right in with Sixties and Seventies adventure series like The Avengers (right) and The Protectors (left).
“The Two-in-the-Bush Venture” debuts May 9 on IT’s flagship station KIXI 880 in Seattle at 10:30 Pacific Time. If you don’t happen to live in Seattle, just click here for a list of all the radio stations that IT is syndicated on. If terrestrial radio isn’t your bag, you can listen to “The Two-in-the-Bush Venture” for a limited time on the Imagination Theater YouTube Channel starting around Saturday May 23. You can also download it or purchase it on a USB flash drive, both of which will be for sale at the Imagination Theater website starting May 16.
Oh, and I popped my head up long enough to actually attend a comic book convention late last year, the Wasatch Comic Con. So that happened.
So there were a couple of things going on in 2025 but not much, though not because I haven’t been writing. I’ve been writing. Just nothing much has been accepted or published or produced.
This year I am writing a second play-by-mail mystery that I hope “Dear Holmes” will accept, but that piece isn’t a priority. It’s really a backburner project, which means it may not be finished or submitted before the end of the year. These mysteries are not the easiest things to write, although they sure are fun.
I also wrote a Dracula pastiche in January that I have been aching to get around to since I finished the Dracula comics I wrote in the ‘90s. Unfortunately the magazine I tailored it to rejected it and there really is no other publisher I know of who might be interested in it. I knew that was the risk I was taking when I wrote it, so I’m not complaining. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I honestly am glad to finally have that story off my bucket list. If nothing happens with it, I’ll probably post it here sometime in the future.
The truth is I haven’t been submitting as much as usual because I have been dedicating myself to writing that long-term novel project I mentioned in last year’s Review/Preview. I always try to give whatever I am write my best effort, but this novel isn’t just getting 100% from me, it’s getting 120%. That is how much it means to me, and after more than a couple of years chiseling away at the manuscript, there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel.
I also mentioned last year that there had been a definite development in that “really cool and very big” project I have been teasing here over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, the “definite” deflated. All I can tell you… all I honestly know… is this has been a sort-of-on-again-off-again project that I would really Really REALLY like to also get off my bucket list. This is a dream project… one I am sure you would all really enjoy… so if anything ever becomes definite with it again, trust me, I will shout it from the rooftops and post about it like crazy here.
I mentioned in last year’s Review/Preview that I had submitted an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS to Imagination Theatre. I had high hopes that it would become the third script of mine to be produced by IT in one season, which would have been a milestone. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and as best as I can tell JEWEL OF SEVEN STARS won’t be produced this year, either. Hopefully it may in a future season, and if it is I will announce that here.
That said, I did submit a couple of other scripts to IT last year that look like they might be produced this season. One of them is a script for a new series created by the uber-talented Matthew Elliott called THE ESCAPIST which is described as follows on the IT website:
“Meet Barnaby Wilde and Ms. Ampersand, driver, bodyguard, and fount of a great deal of knowledge. Mr. Wilde is retired from some agency or other, no one is sure of which one. However, he does get called in sometimes to look into … strange and sometime bloody… uh… stuff.”
I honestly don’t know why the series is called THE ESCAPIST, but I can tell you that it is one heck of a lot of fun in the best John-Steed-&-Mrs.-Peel tradition. Which means… hey, bucket list! I finally got to write a spy story! Score!
Another IT script that I hope will debut this season is my adaptation of the short-short story “From the Dark” from the HERBERT WEST—REANIMATOR pulp-horror series by H. P. Lovecraft. I wrote this script in 2015 to be included as part of the H. P. LOVECRAFT’S REANIMATOR TALES anthology I edited for Caliber Comics, so the fact it is about to hit the airwaves eleven years later is pretty dang neat.
And not to jinx anything, but there might be at least one more HERBERT WEST adaptation to come from IT. Keep those fingers crossed. Maybe me and Herbert aren’t done with each other yet!
And that’s everything, at least for now. Time keeps passing, life goes on, and we all get older, but I hope and pray life is treating you well and we’ll meet again here soon.
Until then, as the great Chuck Acri used to say, “God bless you all.”
But who is this wrong gentleman? And what does he have to do with a pair of Scotland Yard detectives who vanished while investigating a smuggling operation run by a remnant of Professor Moriarty‘s gang? Or with Sherlock Holmes‘ attempts in India to prevent a multi-national conflict as he chases the steamship Matilda Briggsthrough the perilous Padma tributary?
HINT: On board the Matilda Briggs is one of the smugglers and a particular Indonesian-style statue of a large rodent.
How’s that for a teaser?
The good news is all these questions will be answered in my new radio pastiche and second Great Hiatus Mystery “The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman,” brought to you by those oh-so talented and wonderful folks at Jim French’s Imagination Theatre!
It is June 1893, two years since the events of “A Case of Unfinished Business,” and while Watson and Lestrade search for the missing detectives, Mycroft Holmes has sent his right hand man Walter Simonson to Nepal to find Sherlock Holmes and prevent The Moriarties from starting a world war.
Oh, and if you don’t mind, a quick aside I’d like to share.
“That’s right, Mr. Melas, I killed your dog in the night. What are you going to do about it?”
You might think this pastiche was inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s story “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire” and The Giant Rat of Sumatra, but while they obviously had an influence, the inspiration came while I was listening to IT’s adaptation of “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter” (written by the incomparable Matthew J. Elliott). In the story a neighbor of Mycroft’s, Mr. Melas, finds himself being absconded in a cab with Harold Latimer, a most unscrupulous fellow, who threatens Melas if he does not assist Latimer with some very shady business. Later in the story, Holmes comments:
“He is a man of no physical courage, as they are well aware from their experience the other night. This villain was able to terrorize him the instant that he got into his presence.”
I had read Doyle’s story and had seen or listened to other adaptations of “Greek Interpreter” before, but for some reason this time I got to thinking about a couple of old precautionary sayings I grew up with. One is: “No matter how big and tough you are, there’s always somebody bigger and tougher.” The other is: “Some day he is going to mess with the wrong guy.”
So, I wondered, what if Melas not only possessed physical courage, but goes John Wick on Latimer?
C’mon, you’ve got to admit, that sounds like it could be fun.
“The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman” debuts November 15 on Imagination Theater’s flagship station, KIXI 880 in Seattle at 10:30 Pacific Time. If you don’t happen to live in Seattle there are plenty of other radio stations that you can catch it on. Just click here for a list of all the radio stations that Imagination Theater is syndicated on.
But if terrestrial radio isn’t your bag there is more good news! You can listen to “The Adventure of the Wrong Gentleman” for a limited time on the Imagination Theater YouTube Channel starting around Saturday November 29. You can also download it or purchase it on a USB flash drive, both of which will be for sale at the Imagination Theater website starting November 22.
Tuesday November 11 is Veterans Day 2025. Keep it in your hearts and minds, and to help you do so, I want to repeat these 7 facts and a heartfelt plea from the UAP (United American Patriots) website that I posted last year:
1. Veterans Day is Not Memorial Day
Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.
Veterans Day is a federal holiday recognized each November to celebrate and honor all U.S. veterans — deceased or living. Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day, a day to remember those service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. Memorial Day is in May of each year.
2. November 11 is Always Veterans Day
Photo by Maddi Bazzocco via Unsplash
No matter the day of the week, Veterans Day always falls on November 11 each year. It’s also a federal holiday recognized nationwide. With 18.2 million vets living in the United States, it’s a holiday most communities celebrate with festivals, parades, and recognition of local vets.
3. President Eisenhower Changed the Holiday Name
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs HR7786, June 1, 1954. This ceremony changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day.
Originally called Armistice Day, that name changed in 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially switched it to Veterans Day.
4. Other Countries Celebrate It Too
Because World War I was a multi-country effort with thousands of lives lost, other countries involved in the war honor their veterans around this time of year, too. On or near November 11, France, Australia, Canada, and Great Britain pay respects to their vets. The UK and Canada call the day of honor Remembrance Day.
5. Arlington National Cemetery Hosts an Annual Event
Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Tamargo
Each year on November 11 at exactly 11 am, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia holds a Veterans Day event. It starts with a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The public is always invited to attend.
6. There’s No Apostrophe in Veterans Day
You’ve probably seen it spelled different ways — including veteran’s or veterans’— but the Department of Defense firmly states it’s simply “Veterans Day”.
7. All Veterans are Honored
Photo by Sgt. Kirstin Spanu
The holiday was formerly called Armistice Day to commemorate the end of World War I. While it may have been founded in honor of the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”, Veterans Day is to honor all veterans from all wars.
Take Care of a Veteran This Veterans Day
If you have the chance, go into a military community during Veterans Day to experience the true spirit of this observed holiday. Even if you don’t live near a military base, your community likely has special events or festivals to honor your local military members.
Well, hi, everybody! I wanted to let you know that I’ll be a guest at the Wasatch Comic Con on Saturday November 8!
It’s been a while since I was able to attend a con, so I am really looking forward to getting back out there and meeting fans. And even though I am only able to attend on Saturday, the WCC is a terrific two-day event that will be held at Valley Fair Mall in West Valley City, Utah. Con dates and hours are:
November 7 – 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm
November 8 – 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
The WCC is free and accessible comic convention created by the owners of The Nerd Store. Their mission is simple: to provide a creator-focused event that will contribute to Utah’s comic community.
In 1994 and 1995 I wrote two SpawnMiddle Grade book manuscripts for McFarlane Productions. Number One adapted Spawn’s origin story (issues 1-4) and Number Two adapted Spawn’s initial encounter with Overt-Kill (issues 6-7). Neither manuscript was published nor ever will be, but, like Remo Williams says, “That’s the biz, sweetheart.”
I have discussed writing these manuscripts with friends and fans over the years, but I am bringing it up now on my website because this October 3 will mark nine years since the death of Gary Reed, founder and publisher of Caliber Comics and the man who came up with the idea for Spawn MG books. Gary was a friend and mentor to many people, and his unexpected death not only affected us but the comics industry. So much so that I thought it appropriate to mark this sad anniversary with this obscure tidbit of Gary Reed history. Gary loved history, so I think he would have appreciated this.
A sampling of comic book action figures from around the early 1990s.
In 1994, Gary was not only Caliber’s publisher but president of Stabur Corporation and executive vice-president of Todd Toys, later McFarlane Toys. The latter came about the year before because McFarlane was being approached by different toy companies that wanted to license his Spawn characters. The problem was that McFarlane wanted any Spawn toys to be cool and most comic-book-licensed toys at the time were… well… not. McFarlane was also concerned how his devil-spawned character would be treated by these companies, so he contacted Stabur’s owner Paul Burkesince the two had worked on some successful projects together, including a line of limited Spawn jewelry. The two discussed the situation and in the end McFarlane decided to produce his own line of toys with Burke/Stabur overseeing the nitty-gritty of set up and production.
The result: Todd Toys earned $10 million in revenue during its first year and enjoyed exponential growth over the next few years.
The quality of comic book action figures changed in 1994 with the first Spawn action figure.
The rest, as they say, is l’histoire, but if you would like more details you can check out Gary’s recollection of events at his blog site:
It was during the early days of Todd Toys that Gary got the idea for the Spawn MG books. He had been wanting to branch Caliber into MG and Young Adult books for awhile and had discussed this goal with me from time to time because he knew I wanted to break into the MG and YA market. In fact, in 1994 I completed my first YA manuscript, Muties, based on a comic book series I co-created a few years earlier with my brother-from-another-mother and favorite collaborator Christopher Jones. Gary was interested in publishing the Muties series; so much so that he and Burke tried to trademark the word “muties” for Stabur. So it is not surprising that Gary would have been inspired to finally launch a line of MG and YA books by using Spawn as its flagship series.
Stabur’s attempts to trademark “muties,” like the Spawn MG books, unfortunately turned into another notch in the what-might-have-been belt of my writing career.
The idea, however, did not excite McFarlane. Juvenile books were not his cup of tea. He may have also been concerned with how his devil-spawned character would be treated in a book aimed at children. Nevertheless McFarlane agreed to read a pilot manuscript based on his first Spawn story and Gary asked me to write it, with the understanding that I would have first crack at writing the MG series if it got the green light.
Spawn looks mighty Gothic in this Malibu Graphics house ad, my first glimpse of the series and the changes that were coming to Malibu and the comics industry.
I was delighted by the trust and respect Gary was showing me and by the opportunity to work with one of the comics industry’s hottest properties. I was neither a Spawn fan nor a McFarlane fan, but I did read the comics, so I knew going in that I would need to adapt a violent story with an infernal anti-hero into something suitable for eight-to twelve-year-olds. I also knew McFarlane’s story was sparse enough that it would require a little padding to meet the necessary word count for an MG novel. The good news, though, was that Spawn’s origin was a Gothic horror story somewhat in the Manfred tradition and I love Gothic horror story.
Al Simmons under the Spawn mask.
If you are unfamiliar with his origin, Spawn is Al Simmons, a special agent with a secret American task force. Or he was Al Simmons before he was killed in action under suspicious circumstances, after which a demon-lord named Malebolgia offered Simmons the chance to see his beloved wife Wanda one last time. Simmons accepted, but is resurrected five years later with only scattered fragments of memories about his life and death. As Simmons’ memories gradually return in a piecemeal fashion, he discovers that Wanda has remarried, to his best friend Terry Fitzgerald, and that the couple have a daughter, Cyan. Simmons’ body is also the worse for wear. Malebolgia not only failed to preserve it, the demon-lord added a few monstrous grotesqueries such as claws for hands and green eldritch energy for eyes. Malebolgia also provided Simmons with the uniform of a hellspawn (or “Spawn”) and imbued him with tremendous powers, but only a limited amount. Once Simmons depletes that allotment he will return to the Malebolge and become a general in the demon-lord’s army that will attack Heaven on Armageddon Day.
To get things started, Gary asked me to write a few chapters (around 25 pages) in a similar tone to the comic book to give us a baseline to find the right approach for the MG series. If you would like to read that sample, click on SPAWN_FIRST_ATTEMPT, and please ignore the editorial markings.
The first attempt was wildly inappropriate, but it did provide that baseline, plus it served me in good stead with my peers at Caliber. A couple of years earlier Gary had confided to me that many of Caliber’s other creators thought my writing was pedestrian. Not bad, but not exceptional. I did not say anything to Gary, but I thought this opinion was due to my being a popular genre writer, whereas Caliber’s other creators tended to write (to borrow a phrase from Gary) Veritgo-y stories. My hypothesis was bared out after I submitted this first attempt, which was very Veritgo-y, and Gary passed it around the Caliber office to solicit opinions. Gary later informed me, “Everyone thinks it’s great. There’s no way in hell we can use it in a kid’s book, but they love it.”
If nothing else, I got that out this project.
Anyway, Gary and I discussed how we should tone things down and I wrote a second set of sample chapters, which you can read by clicking on SPAWN_MS_01_Short. Gary approved this attempt and I finished the manuscript and sent it to him in January 1995. After Gary sent it off to McFarlane, he told me that if McFarlane approved what he read that I would be asked to write a second pilot manuscript. All I told Gary was that this sounded fine, but knowing how McFarlane felt about this project, I felt sure that I would never be asked to write that next pilot.
Turns out, I was wrong.
Mafia hit man Overt-Kill got the MG book treatment in my second Spawn MG manuscript.
Six months later Gary called to tell me to get writing as well as start thinking up original pitches for subsequent Spawn MG books.
Things were looking up!
Or so I thought when I submitted that second manuscript in August and then waited… and waited… and waited. (And if you would like to read a few chapters from that second pilot manuscript you can click on SPAWN_MS_02_Short.)
I cannot tell you if the Spawn MG books ever officially got nixed or if the project got lost in the shuffle when Gary left McFarlane Productions in May 1996 to concentrate on Caliber Comics. I am a pat rack but I have been unable to find any letters or emails from this period, most likely because my computer at the time used 3.5″ floppies, making any files on them impossible to retrieve, but I was able to find one reference to the Spawn MG books in a 2004 email Gary sent me:
“Without sounding sappy, I appreciate everything you did for Caliber…I know it wasn’t a lot of success (in terms of sales) but I could always count on you to put together something in a rush and it would come out very professional. Too bad none of it panned out…I’m just glad I insisted that you got paid upon turning in the Spawn novels….at least you got some decent money for that and it sounds good on the resume (who has to know they never came out?)”
I appreciate those comments, just as I appreciate something else Gary told me approximately 10 years later.
This would have been around the time he was relaunching Caliber, which closed its doors around 2000 in part due to the speculator boom of the early nineties going bust in the later nineties. In 1994, however, Gary was so busy with Caliber, Stabur and McFarlane that he needed an editor to assist him with Caliber and at one point offered me the job. As he recollected on his blog some years later, “I do remember flying in Steve Jones who at the time had done a lot of work with Malibu. His wife accompanied him and they stayed for a few days and the plan was to bring him in for Caliber and his wife would work for McFarlane as she had experience with accounting which we always needed.” Working as an editor for Gary would have been a great opportunity and a tremendous learning experience, but it would not have been a good move for my family. I figured Gary never gave the matter another thought after that, but when he contacted me about the return of Caliber, he mentioned that he sometimes wondered what would have happened in the nineties if I had been accepted that job offer. Specifically, he wondered if I would have pushed Caliber towards pursuing more popular markets, which, if successful, might have permitted Caliber to keep its doors open. Now I can tell you that nobody pushed Gary Reed in a direction he did not want to go, but I understood what he was saying and am pleased he thought I might have been able to make such a positive contribution to Caliber.
As for myself, I wonder from time to time what would have happened with Caliber if Gary was still with us. He was an entrepreneur and a student of the comic book market, so I wonder how he might taken advantage of crowdfunding, which was becoming popular at the time of his death. I also wonder how might have adapted to the constantly changing landscape of direct-market comics retailers and comic book distribution? I will never know, of course, but I can thank Gary here and now for asking me to be a part of Caliber and for involving me in Caliber’s attempts to break into the MG and YA market. My thanks may mean a lot in the overall scheme of things, but being a part of this project meant a lot to me and always will.
Several months ago I posted a tribute to Sanho Kim, my first comic book influence. Now I’d like to pay tribute to another comic book artist who had a tremendous early influence on me as a creator and a person: Marshall Rogers.
Rogers was a wonder when it came to the mechanics of comics storytelling, executing them with elegance, craftsmanship, respect and boundless imagination. He influenced many other people, too, as the description to the new TwoMorrows retrospective Brightest Days and Darkest Knights proclaims:
“From underdog to icon, Marshall Rogers helped redefine Batman for generations, inspiring readers and up-and-coming artists alike. Initially savaged by editors at DC Comics, his style was uniquely complex with vast and angular architectural design anchoring his storytelling[.]”
“…vast and angular architectural design…”
There were other comics artists in the seventies with complex art styles, though not many. Artists like Walt Simonson (Manhunter), Howard Chaykin (The Scorpion) and Bernie Wrightson (Swamp Thing), grandmasters all. And like his peers, Rogers not only incorporated design concepts into his page and panel layouts to enhance his story communication, he was adept at staging a scene, differentiating characters and underscoring their thoughts and moods through expressions and body language, and (perhaps better than anyone except Wrightson) creating atmosphere through shadow and light. But best of all, when Rogers got the chance to draw Batman, he didn’t just return the hero to his Dark Knight roots, he transported the character back to his artistic beginnings. Panels in Rogers’ Batman stories often harken to those in Batman’s initial adventures, right down to the lettering.
To get a true appreciation of Rogers’ talents as a comic book artist, however, you will find nothing better than cartoon theorist R.C. Harvey’s “The Reticulated Rainbow: A Lingering Look at the Comics Art of Marshall Rogers” in The Comics Journal #54 (March 1980).
Getting back to Brightest Days and Darkest Knights for a moment, it is written by Jeff Messer and Dewey Cassell, the team behind Mike Grell: Life is Drawing Without an Eraser, and when Messer first posted on Facebook that he was going to be working on the retrospective, he requested that anyone who had a rare or unusual sample of Rogers’ work contact him to see about including it in the book.
I was already excited to find out there was finally going to be a Rogers retrospective, but the thought of being even an infinitesimal part of it sounded super-fan-tab-u-listic, so I sent Messer a scan of the cover Rogers drew for Quazar. (“What’s Quazar you ask?” Bear with me one minute.) In reply Messer asked if I could write a few words about how the cover came about.
Even better!
I sent him the following, which, unlike the cover, didn’t make it into the retrospective, so I thought I’d share it here:
Marshall Rogers’ cover art as it appears on Quazar (1980).
“I will always be grateful to Marshall Rogers for drawing the cover to Quazar, an anthology comic book produced by my friend Dave Arnold and me in 1980.
“Quazar was an independent small-press production. Sort of the comic book equivalent of a student-made film. Dave and I were in our early twenties and had little money much less experience, but we did the best with what we had. To pull off Quazar we printed it at our local Penny Saver on newsprint. That included the cover, which featured hand-cut red and yellow coloring, spurring one reviewer to compare us to a ditto-zine.
“Fair enough.
“We gave you 64 pages for a buck, though, and showcased the first published comics work of Dan Jurgens—who contributed his own sci-fi/gladiator tale as well as the breakdowns and artwork for my superhero story Vanguard—and that Marshall Rogers cover.
“Since 1977 Rogers had been amazing me with his design-y neo-noirish art for DC Comics and the Eclipse Comics graphic novel Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green. Rogers’ artwork had strongly guided my vision for Vanguard, so when I heard he was attending the Chicago ComiCon, I purchased some Bristol board and scraped together what money I could on the chance he would agree to draw a convention sketch of my Vanguard character that Dave and I could use for the cover of Quazar.
“Audacious?
“Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“Does this guy look familiar?” Marshall Rogers’ untampered cover art.
“Keep in mind, the Chicago Comicon was one of America’s largest comic book conventions at the time, although it was much smaller in 1980 than its current media-focused incarnation. That included its Artist Alley, where I found Rogers sitting in a corner with just a few fans waiting at his table. When my turn came I held up my Bristol board like Oliver Twist holding his gruel bowl and stammered my request.
“And what do you know?
“I think Rogers quoted a price of $150, but I will never forget his polite patience as I sat starry-eyed across the table watching MARSHALL ROGERS draw my superhero which he had influenced.
“About an hour later someone from the con reminded Rogers that he had a panel coming up. Rogers finished inking the figure of Vanguard and then quickly drew a flare effect around the character. “I wanted to give you a better background than this, so how about you just pay me one hundred dollars?”
“Wow.
“As cool as that was, the next day Dave and I were driving home from the con and ogling our cover when Dave peered closer and said, “Hey, is that you?”
“’What?’ I looked even closer than I had been.
“At the time I was spindly and had a mustache, but, yep, Vanguard had my face and mane. Rogers may not have drawn the background he wanted, but he did take the time to make one starry-eyed fan’s day.
“And for that, like I said, I will always be grateful.”
Feril Nightlinger by Marshall Rogers
More than twenty years later, I was a minor guest at a comic book show in Minneapolis where Rogers was a guest of honor. The con put on a private get-together that Saturday night, and, although I normally avoid these things, I went hoping Rogers would be there so I could shake his hand and tell him I was a huge fan. When I got there, though, I found Rogers debating the state of the imploding comic book industry with some other guest as more creators looked on. I should have taken notes, because I can no longer recall the specifics of that debate. All I remember is that Rogers wasn’t happy with how things were going with the industry, so I decided to wait on that handshake.
The next day I visited Rogers’ table, paid my respects, and asked for a sketch of my character Nightlinger. At this point in his career Rogers was limiting his convention sketches to headshots, but that was fine by me. So, once again, I found myself across a table from this incredible artist and one of my greatest influences as he drew a character of mine, and as he sketched Rogers said, “Sorry about last night. I get passionate when it comes to comics.”
“No reason to apologize,” I told him. “I honestly would have paid money to listen to what you had to say.”
I don’t recall Rogers reacting in any way, except to continue sketching.
Two years later Rogers passed away from heart failure at the age of 57.
In the summer of 2016, I was putting together my Heroes and Horrors anthology for Caliber Comics. I did it at the request of Gary Reed, the publisher, who had been encouraging me to collect some of my early and unpublished stuff for a few years, and as the project neared the end, I asked Gary if it would all right if I reused the Rogers Quazar art for my anthology’s cover. I had the cover recolored and laid out, and after a couple of changes suggested by Gary, he approved it.
On Saturday, October 2, I sent Heroes and Horrors off to Caliber.
On Monday, October 4, I found out that Gary had died the day before of a heart attack.
Since then Caliber has continued on with Eric Reichart of Eagle One Media at the helm. He and Gary had gone into partnership in 2014, but I had never worked with him before, and I certainly didn’t want to make things more difficult for him during the transition period after Gary’s passing, so when Eric asked to use a different cover for Heroes and Horrors that wasn’t so retro, I agreed. And, based on the two times I met Marshall Rogers, I’m sure he would have been fine with my decision.
That said, I still think the reworked cover turned out pretty dang well. And it would have been nice to have that piece as the cover of my own little retrospection, considering its history and the influence Rogers had on the stories in the anthology.
In any event, I’d like to say, “Thank you, Mr. Rogers. I am and always shall be a huge fan.”
“The Friendly Hand of Death” consists of three clue letters and a fourth letter from Sherlock Holmes where The Great Detective solves the mystery and reveals the steps he followed to reach his resolution.
Now I’m delighted and proud to announce that all four episodes are now available!
Co-Op For Two is hosted by computer programmer and all-around good guy Jesse Reichler, who invites viewers to (according to the site’s description) “Join us for narrative mystery, detective and escape room games, and other cooperative boardgames. Full playthroughs, comprehensive reviews, and long sidebar discussions, with an eye towards game design.”
This has been a unique and insightful experience. It’s one thing to get feedback from readers and critics, or to listen to comments in a writing class from students, but it’s a way different ballgame to watch strangers from around the world reading and trying to solve a mystery I wrote in real time. Humbling is an understatement, especially when two typos made by the Dear Holmes editors and one error made by me, myself, and I reared their ugly heads. Fortunately none of these prevent the solving of the mystery, as I took the liberty of explaining in the comments section for the Letter Three episode.
I learned a great deal watching these episodes, and I would like to extend my thanks to Reichler and his viewers. And if you would like to see what I’m talking about, or would just like to listen to “The Friendly Hand of Death,” just click on the links below:
Letter One (broadcast 6/8/25) in which the writer confronts the horror of the typos:
Letter Two (broadcast 6/15/25) in which the writer confronts the horror of his own boneheaded mistake:
Letter Three (broadcast 6/22/25) in which the writer becomes impressed with the viewers’ efforts to solve his mystery and enjoys the various hypotheses:
Letter Four, Solution (broadcast 6/29/25) in which the writer can relax and breathe again:
This was my first experience writing a play-by-mail story, and it was challenging and intimidating. It had to be a play fair mystery that revealed its clues in a logically gradual progression each week while also being able to stand on its own two feet as a piece of entertainment. As I cast about for a concept to build upon, I chanced upon a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams near the end of their lives: “I forget for a while the hoary winter of age, when we can think of nothing but how to keep ourselves warm, & how to get rid of our heavy hours until the friendly hand of death shall rid us of all at once (12 October 1823).”
I’m old so that phrase stuck in my head, but in a sing-song way it also recalled the phrase “a friendly hand of poker,” which put me in mind of my recent Holmes fantasy “My Tombstone Days by John H. Watson, M.D.” In that alternate-universe adventure, I indulged in my admiration for John Henry “Doc” Holliday by having Holmes and Dr. Watson participate in events leading up to and including the Gunfight at the OK Corral. One of those events has also stuck in my mind for many years:
My fondness for “Doc” Holliday came into play in an indirect way in “The Friendly Hand of Death.”
“…in perhaps the most famous and certainly the strangest game in the history of poker, several of the leading characters of the following day’s gunfight were gathered at the Occidental Saloon for an all-night session. One wonders what the new governor, John Gosper, might have thought. His report had stressed that the county sheriff and the town and deputy U.S. marshals couldn’t get together; now [Sheriff] John Behan, [Deputy U.S. Marshal] Virgil Earp, Ike Clanton, Tom McLaury, Wyatt [Earp], and Doc Holliday sat in the Occidental for nearly five hours playing poker and watching each other. What was discussed? No one knows. In later testimony the game wasn’t even mentioned. That Ike Clanton and Doc Holliday could have spent nearly five hours together drinking and playing poker without trying to kill each other is practically impossible to believe [Inventing Wyatt Earp, pp. 166-7].”
I asked myself, “How about a mystery that involves an unfriendly hand of poker like the one at the Occidental? A friendly hand of death?”
But what mystery?
I wanted both one hell of a hook and a unique plot, and eventually I remembered a peculiar event of my own in which I apparently dodged a bullet.
Long story short, in 1983 I moved back to my childhood home of Cedar Rapids after working in Des Moines for about a year. A few months after moving into my new apartment, a nondescript young man knocked on my door late one night claiming that his car had broke down and asked if he could borrow my phone to call for help. He made his call, thanked me, but before departing he looked around my apartment and asked what I did for a living. I wasn’t in the mood to tell him anything about myself, so I said I wrote comic books. I certainly wanted to write comics for a living, and my apartment certainly looked like I could write comics for a living, but he said, “No, you don’t.”
Yeah, I was lying, but I didn’t like being called a liar, so I told him, “Yes, I do.”
He still didn’t seem to believe me, but he left and I forgot about the incident… until about a year later when the town newspaper ran a story about a Cedar Rapidian named Steven P. Jones. This Steven P. Jones somehow got confused for a second Steven P. Jones who worked as an accountant whose clients included some very bad guys. An accountant who had done something stupid and naughty, like embezzling money from the bad guys. For several months the first Steven P. Jones was put through the wringer as he was threatened by the bad guys, but all the police could do to help was suggest he move to another town, since no crime had been committed.
In time the bad guys eventually figured out their mistake and the threats stopped, but suddenly that late-night visitor’s accusation regarding my occupation made sense.
Now, if you’d like to see just how I reworked that Tombstone poker game and the peculiar incident of the Steven P. Joneses into a mystery, you’ll have to check out “The Friendly Hand of Death.”
General Orders No. 11: “The 30th day of May, 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
“If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remains in us.
