Tim Powers On William Rotsler!

(From the official William Charles Rotsler site)

We are very pleased to be able to bring you this wonderful interview with the celebrated author Tim Powers ... featuring some touching reminiscences about his experiences with William Rotsler:

Tim Powers is the author of numerous novels, including Last Call, Declare, Three Days to Never, and On Stranger Tides, the inspiration for the blockbuster film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, starring Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz. 



Tim Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels Last Call and Declare.

1.  How did you first meet William Rotsler?

It was at a Westercon in San Francisco in 1971, when I was nineteen. I had gone there with the rare book dealer Roy Squires, and he introduced me to Rotsler and Paul Turner, and they asked me if I'd be interested in working for them when we were all back home in the L.A. area. The work sounded informal and irregular and paid in cash, so I said sure. I was of course already aware of Rotsler's drawings in fanzines.

2. What was your first impression of Bill?

He seemed big and confident and worldly and humorous -- the sort of guy you're flattered (especially if you're nineteen) will pay attention to you.

3. Can you share some fun anecdotes about Bill?  We know that he was (ahem) quite the character....

I remember one time we went to a Mexican bar to hire guys to dress up as Arabs and be extras in "The Street of a Thousand Pleasures" - the offer was five bucks a day and the opportunity to see naked women dance, and there were lots of takers. On the way back to the van, while we were crossing a bridge over a culvert, Bill felt a hand lifting his wallet out of his back pocket; Bill spun around and rolled the guy right over the rail. I don't know how the would-be pickpocket fared, but Bill kept his wallet. I was enormously impressed.

4.  Our mutual great friend, Paul Turner, and fantastic pal to Bill Rotsler, asked us to ask you about Bill's (ahem) 'adult' film Street Of A Thousand Pleasures ...?

I carried equipment around and helped build lots of sets for it - cutting walls and turrets out of plywood and painting them with a mix of paint and sand - but I wasn't there when they were filming. I think that was out of consideration for my impressionable youth. But I got to spend a number of nights at their house up on Ridpath in Laurel Canyon, and I vividly remember swimming in the pool, and hanging out with Norman Spinrad and George Clayton Johnson, and drinking beer and eating spaghetti with chili while Cat Stevens' "Tea For the Tillerman" played on the stereo.

5.  Can you please share with us some thoughts about Bill's amazing creativity?  His work as an author, cartoonist, photographer, filmmaker, etc?

Well, the guy was the complete artist, in every form I can think of except maybe needlepoint. Actually, I think he'd have been more successful if his skills had been limited to one or two areas! But they were all things he was very good at, and he wanted to play with them all.

6.  Last, but not least, could you share with us how William Rotsler affected your life ... personally as well as professionally?

He, along with Philip K. Dick, impressed me with the chaotic life of a freelancer - stretches of wonderful idle time interspersed with periods of intense work, and how you have to be able to fully enjoy both. Financial reverses pass, and recur, and pass again. Roll with the punches and don't give up.

Read 5 Time Hugo Winner William Rotsler's Patron Of The Arts ($2.99 - Free on Amazon Unlimited) and The Far Frontier ($2.99)

DIGITAL PARCHMENT SERVICES ANNOUNCES The Republication of Ernest Hogan's Controversial Science Fiction Romp CORTEZ ON JUPITER

DIGITAL PARCHMENT SERVICES ANNOUNCES

The Republication of Ernest Hogan's Controversial Science Fiction Romp

Cortez On Jupiter

"Ernest Hogan is the creator of a Xicano science fiction genre with a crossover readership. …raw creativity." 

–Frank S Lechuga 

Digital Parchment Services through its Strange Particle Press science fiction imprint, and Ernest Hogan, are extremely proud to announce the publication of a brand new trade paperback edition of Hogan's Locus Award finalist science fiction novel, Cortez On Jupiter.  

The enhanced ebook version of Cortez On Jupiter, which contains a new introduction about the writing of this highly controversial novel which introduced Chicano tropes to science fiction, is available now – and a premier trade paperback edition will be coming out in January, 2015.

Hogan, who describes himself as "–a recombocultural Chicano mutant, known for committing outrageous acts of science fiction and other questionable pursuits" has had stories published with great acclaim in publications such as Amazing Stories, Analog, Science Fiction Age, Semiotext(e)SF, and many others.

Cortez On Jupiter will be followed by Ernest Hogan's High Aztech, Tezcatlipoca Blues, and a collection of Ernest Hogan's short stories: Pancho Villa's Flying Circus.

Cortez On Jupiter is the story of a wild young Chicano artist who covers Greater Los Angeles with fantastic graffiti and a beautiful African telepath who opens the door to communications with the deadly Sirens of Jupiter. 

Not since Ayn Rand's Howard Roarke has there been an artist as iconoclastic, as idealistic, and as splendidly spectacular as Pablo Cortez. And look out, he's twice as radical! 

Combining hard science fiction with pyrotechnics worthy of The Stars, My Destination, Ernest Hogan tells the story of the painter who founds the Guerrilla Muralists Of Los Angeles, goes on to make Mankind's first contact with the sentient life-forms of Jupiter. 

It's a roller-coaster ride from vulgarity to the transcendent, as the unforgettable Pablo Cortez struggles, selfishly and selflessly, to expand humanity's consciousness on a journey from the barrio to the stars. 

"Hard SF, satire, adventure, and some very strange humor combine in this intriguing, inventive, and sometimes disconcerting SF story." 

–Science Fiction Chronicle

"An alien first contact story featuring a hyperactive, irreverent, and self-absorbed Chicano artist from East LA. Cortez is recruited to make contact with creatures discovered on Jupiter who "speak" in projected images. It's a dangerous assignment; previous attempts to communicate have ended in insanity and death, but Pablo is always up for a little bit of craziness." 

–Michael Lichter, Amazon 

"It grabs you and won't let you go. The best [first novel] I've read in science fiction since Neuromancer."

–Tom Witmore, Locus

"Energetic, fast-paced, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable." 

–Analog

"If Hunter S Thompson and Alfred Bester had a Chicano child, it would be this." 

–Dave Hutchinson 

On Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00NMQFUJK

Prepublication price $3.99 - regularly $5.99
ISBN: 9781615085804

Review copies: M.Christian, Digital Parchment Services Publisher m.christian@digitalparchmentservices.com

Digital Parchment Services is a complete ebook and print service for literary estates and literary agents. The founders of Digital Parchment Services are pioneers in digital publishing who have collectively published over 2,500 ebooks and PoD paperbacks since 1998.

DPS clients include the estates of multiple Hugo winning author William Rotsler, and science fiction legend Jody Scott; authors such as Locus Award finalist Ernest Hogan, Hugo and Nebula nominee Arthur Byron Cover, prize winning mystery author Jerry Oster, psychologist John Tamiazzo, Ph.D., award winning nutritionist Ann Tyndall; and Best of Collections from Fate Magazine and Amazing Stories.

Out Now: The NEW Edition Of William Rotsler's PATRON OF THE ARTS!

Digital Parchment Services (distributed by Futures-PastEditions), through it's Strange Particle Press science fiction imprint, and the estate of William Charles Rotsler is extremely pleased to announce the publication of a brand new edition of William Rotsler's Nebula and Hugo finalist novel, Patron Of The Arts. 

This new edition features never before seen content – including a forward by the Nebula winning Dr. Gregory Benford.  The enhanced ebook version is available now – and a premier trade paperback edition will be coming out in January, 2015.

Coming soon, also from the author's estate and Digital Parchment Services, will be William Rotsler's To The Land Of The Electric Angel, Far Frontier, a collection of his short stories, and a book of interviews by and about William Rotsler.

"Patron of the Arts gives us a future where art is a major driver in the culture. He envisions new technologies that deepen our arts and alter how we see our world. Rotsler at the top of his form." –Gregory Benford

Brian Thorne was a billionaire. There were only two things he cared about: women and art. And because he could afford it, he paid the world's finest artist to combine the two, to make a work of art of the unforgettable, incomparable Madelon in the new and extraordinary artform: the sensatron. Then Madelon and the artist disappeared – through the sensatron. And all the money in the world could not help Brian Thorne. To solve the secret of the sensatron, he was strictly on his own...

That is how Brian Thorne, billionaire, found himself helpless—caught in a magnificent crystal creation that grew on Mars, and without any resources even if he could get away from the killers who trapped him there. For although they knew he was Brian Thorne, he couldn't prove it. To find Madelon and the sensatron, he had gone to considerable trouble to cover his tracks. Now he wished he had not been so thorough in turning his back on the luxury-lined and very well-guarded life he lived back on Earth. Now, when it was too late! 

"A fine novel!" –Harlan Ellison

Special introductory price $2.99 (regularly $4.99)

ISBN: 9781615085828

Please Help Elvis!

(from Arthur Byron Cover's site)

Arthur Byron Cover's partner Lydia Marano has posted a call on Facebook to help their beloved dog Elvis:

Elvis needs your help. As you may know, Art and I literally picked him up off the side of the road, in March, where he'd been hit by a car. Our vet gave him a 25% chance of walking again. We worked hard, everyday, to rehabilitate him and Elvis beat the odds. He can run now but as winter approaches it becomes more and more obvious that he still needs ACL surgery. The cost: at least $1500. That's half of what we already spent and, frankly, we're tapped out. Saving up on a fixed income is hard, but we’re trying.By sheer chance, we noticed that Elvis has a tumor in his mouth which is growing over his side teeth. The vet said it had to go ... duh. In one week it’s extended to his lower, right canine. The vet estimated it will cost about $700. We put down what we had — $100 — but he needs more. To date, we've raised an additional $364 -- more than half of what we need for his oral surgery! If you can donate any amount it would be greatly appreciated. 

I’ve added new designs to my Red Bubble page.  

http://www.redbubble.com/people/Telzey. Elvis will get $4-6 per item sold. You can send funds to lcmarano@gmail.com at PayPal. Or, better yet, send money directly to my vet: Rim Forest Animal Hospital at 909-337-8589. 

To those of you who have already donated, you have our eternal thanks. Everyone else -- thank you for listening. Asking for help is the hardest thing I've ever done, but Elvis is worth it.

Please help any way you can!  As Lydia has said, Elvis is more than worth it!

FATE Magazine and Digital Parchment Services are proud to present...

 True reports from the pages of the world's foremost publication focusing on the paranormal and the unexplained.

Out Now!

Coming soon...

Psychic Healing and Spiritual Healing

UFOs and Extraterrestrial Encounters

Angels and Heavenly Visitations

    Increasingly, when police are baffled by unsolvable crimes, they turn to psychics of proven ability for assistance. Working with clues provided by those with extraordinary paranormal gifts, officers have gone on to apprehend the guilty and, in many cases, free the wrongly accused. Sometimes a crime was committed by psychic or paranormal means, baffling the most seasoned detectives—in which case paranormal means may be the only way of bringing the criminal to justice. FATE is the longest-running and most widely-respected magazine devoted to the paranormal. During its 66 years as the leading publication in its field, FATE has published expert opinions and personal experiences relating to UFOs, psychic abilities, ghosts and hauntings, cryptozoology, alternative medicine, divination methods, belief in the survival of personality after death, predictive dreams, telepathic communication, and other paranormal topics. Many of these challenge our very concept of reality, suggesting at the very least that this world is a far stranger place than most of us suspect. For this volume of our Best of FATE series, the editors of the magazine open their files to examine true accounts of crimes—often acts of murderous violence—both perpetrated and solved by paranormal means. Here, gathered from the over seven hundred issues of Fate, are some of the most impressive instances of psychic crime-solving and psychic crimes, offering hours of fascinating reading for anyone interested in the strange, the paranormal or the occult.

Purchase Psychic Detectives and Psychic Crimes at Amazon.

$2.99 for Kindle.

$8.99 in paperback.

Get Better Soon, Harlan

We just heard from Josh Olsen that the legendary Harlan Ellison has suffered a stroke:

My dearest of dear friends Harlan Ellison had a stroke last week. A lot of people are asking, so here’s the deal - He’s comfortable, and resting in hospital. If one was going to have a stroke, this was the one to have.

I was with him the day before yesterday when the specialist who checks verbal and memory impact was there, and it was like an SNL skit. She’s checking for slurring and loss of memory, and he’s being quintessential Harlan - talking a mile a minute, and throwing out more obscure references per minute than anyone can possibly keep up with. (He did, at one point, forget the name of an actor with a wooden leg who played a supporting part on one of his favorite radio shows back in the forties, but last time I talked to him, he couldn’t remember the name of the key grip on Passage To Marseilles, so it's probably safe to say that’s nothing to worry about. )

I can’t say he’s fine, because he’s had a stroke... but he’s as well as well can be under the circumstances, and had all of the nurses laughing. And he complained a lot. So, you know... Harlan.

If you’re the type who prays, it’s probably not worth it, because he doesn’t believe in that shit. That said, it will annoy him, so go ahead. He’s resting and cantankerous, and completely Harlan.

We wish Harlan the absolute best and a very speedy recovery - and huge thanks for allowing us to use his wonderful introduction to our new edition of Arthur Byron Cover's Autumn Angels.

Debuting Amazing Stories Classics With Legendary "Giant 35th Anniversary" Issue Reprint

FuturesPast Editions is proud to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Steve Davidson, new owner of Amazing Stories—the first science fiction magazine, founded in 1926 by Hugo Gernsback - and with DPS digital book production - to distribute a new line of classic reprints from the magazine's early years. (Check out Amazing Stories' new website at amazingstoriesmag.com.) This new series will be published under the imprint "Amazing Stories Classics."

First off the drawing board is Amazing Stories: The Giant 35th Anniversary Issue, a reprint of the double-sized 1961 issue rounding up some of the best stories the magazine had published up to that point. A rare collectible, this special issue is available now in ebook for $3.99 and paperback for $9.99 at Amazon and other outlets. It features all the original illustrations by the legendary Frank R. Paul for each story. The authors comprise a Who's Who of early science fiction: SFWA Grandmaster Ray Bradbury, Jules Verne Prize recipient Edmond Hamilton, Buck Rogers creator Philip Francis Nowland, David H. Keller who John Clute hailed as "the ideal" Gernsback writer, Science Fiction Hall of Fame honoree Edgar Rice Burroughs, Eisner Hall of Fame inductee Eando Binder, and R. F. Starzl, dubbed a "master" of space opera by E. E. Smith. The table of contents presents a stellar lineup of such notable stories as "I, Robot," "Armageddon: 2419" (introducing Buck Rogers), "John Carter and the Giant of Mars," and "Devolution." It is a volume that belongs on every fan's bookshelf, be it wood or digital!

Then, due out soon is The Best of Amazing Stories: 1926, the first of a year-by-year showcase of the best stories selected from each year of the publication's storied history.

AMAZING STORIES GIANT 35TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE – REPRINT eBOOK

Special introductory sale price $3.99 - regular retail price $5.99
ISBN: 9781615085606
PAPERBACK
Special introductory sale price $9.99 -regular retail price $12.99 -
ISBN-13: 978-1499772937
Pages: 236

For electronic review copies contact: M.Christian
http://FuturesPastEditions.com