August-Newsletter

The New Repairman Jack novel The Last Christmas is due next month and the limited edition is almost sold out. The last limited to sell out pre-pub was The Haunted Air and look what that's going for now in merely "good" condition (Abe Books) Gauntlet Press is still taking pre-orders for the signed limited first edition. Trade and ebook editions will follow in November, but this first edition will be, well, first.
I've finished the script for the firstRepairman Jack comic-book / graphic-novel for Dynamite Comics - a new story titled "Scar-lip Redux." Antonio Fuso is doing the art. Originally I agreed just to write new stories and have someone else script them, but anal me couldn’t give up the reins. So I’m doing the whole deal, story and script. Jack’s fans can expect to see a lot of familiar faces, while new readers will come away with a damn good idea of who this urban mercenary is, what he does, and how he gets it done.
THE VOID PROTOCOL SIGNED LIMITED EDITION - is ready to go to press and will be shipping soon. Preorder your copy NOW!

Don’t forget my audiobooks

Nathan Knapp continues doing discussion videos about the Repairman Jack series. So far:
The Tomb - Legacies - Conspiracies - All the Rage - Hosts - The Haunted Air - Crisscross - Gateways - Infernal
THE COMPLETE LaNAGUE - people forget that I started out writing SF. Here's the omnibus of my future history - 5 novels and 6 short stories rolled together with commentary. Such a deal!
SECRET STORIES – For your convenience I've gathered eight of the scattered stories from the Secret History between one set of covers (see the ToC for titles) with commentary as to why they are there.
THE VOID PROTOCOL ties up the ICE Trilogy with a big bang. Synopsis, excerpt, signed copies and buy links all here
ATTENTION OVERSEAS READERS: ebook editions of the entire ICE TRILOGY are now available worldwide:
PANACEA
THE GOD GENE
THE VOID PROTOCOL
WARDENCLYFFE - If you've read the Secret History of the World, you know that Nikola Tesla achieved his dream ofbroadcast power but then abandoned his iconic tower at Wardenclyffe, declaring it a failure. Why? What happened during that last test run to scare him off? (Order the paperback and you get the ebook free.)
THE GOD GENE - signed limited edition - order here
THE SILENT ONES - The 3rd and final novel in the Nocturnia Chronicles is pubbed.
THE GOD GENE - excerpts, interviews, buy links - all in one spot -- signed copies can be had at: VJ Books and The Poisoned Pen
ORDER REGULAR COPIES AT: AMAZON - BARNES&NOBLE -KOBO - INDEPENDENT STORE
UPDATED! EPHEMERATA V3.0: The Odds and Ends of a Writing Life. 165k words of ephemera I've written and published (or not) over the decades. This revised edition has an extra pieces added. If you bought the 2nd iteration, just reload it onto your device and the new version appears. Magic! I’m publishing Ephemerata exclusively in ebook form because it’s a work in progress. As time goes by I’ll update it (as I did in February) with orphaned pieces that surface from the past or ones that are too new at the moment and must remain exclusive to their original venue for a while.
After a commercial break we'll get to the usual tedious tidbits, trivialities, and miscellanies since last we met:
PANACEA signed limited edition
PANACEA paperback!http://www.repairmanjack.com/s…RR892DrKD4HtEY1c892NrkvXwIt's here! It's cheap! Get it!
BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR IT: a paper edition of Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong
FAMILY SECRETS (sequel to DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS) is an ebook at last: http://tinyurl.com/jjlv7gm
FREEBIES!!! (new free story added)
SCENES FROM THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD
“Demonsong” – Glaeken and Rasalom’s first meeting
"Lipidleggin'" – started off as an SF story, now it's non-fiction.
OTHER STUFF
****THE ISHER BOOK SHOP IS OPEN:http://www.repairmanjack.com/store/
*****E-BOOK BONANZA!!! GET THEM WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!!
(Oh, wait . . . you never run out of ebooks, do you. Ignore that last part)
Browse a ton o' titles - some free, many just $3.99:http://tinyurl.com/jjygskx
*********************************************************
THE REPAIRMAN JACK NOVELS
"Jack's saga has become the most entertaining and dependable modern horror-thriller series." (Publishers Weekly)
"One of the most consistently entertaining series in modern fantastic fiction." (Publishers Weekly)
*********************************************************
I'm on Twitter (@fpaulwilson) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/RealFPaulWilson)
*********************************************************
1) OCCURRENCES
2) THE LATEST FICTION
3) IN THE PIPELINE
4) PUBLISHING SCHEDULE 2018
5) FOR COLLECTORS
6) "REPAIRMAN JACK" - THE MOVIE
7) WHERE I'LL BE
8 ) REPAIRMAN JACK STORE
9) FF MOVIE REVIEWS
1) OCCURRENCES
Again, I don't have much for you here. Thrillerfest and the annual family vacation on Nantucket took up most of my time. However, a few things...
NEW INTERVIEW: I reveal a connection between THE VOID PROTOCOL and THE LAST CHRISTMAS.
I'm catching up on noir/crime films I've missed. Just watched 2 Richard Conte titles back to back: THIEVES' HIGHWAY and THE BROTHERS RICO. Can't rec either. Both flaccid, unfocused, and boring. No engagement in story or character. Nice transfers, though.
In the past few weeks I've seen:
In a Lonely Place **
A Bullet for Joey **
The Asphalt Jungle **
Illegal ***
The Big Steal **
Where the Sidewalk Ends **
To Have and Have Not ** (see FF Reviews below)
Dark Passage ***
Double Indemnity ****
Lady in the Lake **
The 39 Steps *
The Big Sleep *****
The Maltese Falcon (1941) *****
Satan Met a Lady **
The Maltese Falcon (1931) ****
The state of modern journalism: "A few days before the historic walk on the moon, Apollo 11 took off from the earth—50 years ago on July 16. Four days later John Glenn would step onto the only other planet we have ever walked on, and uttered the famous words ‘on [sic] small step for a man, one giant step for mankind.'" NY Daily News (And I'm not concerned about the typo)
***************************************************
2) THE LATEST FICTION:
WARDENCLYFFE - my new novella is on Amazon and B&N, but if you buy the trade paperback from the publisher, you get the ebook edition free. Journalstone Amazon B&N
THE SILENT ONES - The 3rd book in the Nocturnia Trilogy is available in a signed/limited signed 1^st edition.
EPHEMERATA V3.0 (see above) has bits of fiction in it, but is mostly non-fiction. Over 100 short pieces of this and that.
PANACEA is the prequel to THE GOD GENE – about a hunt for the legendary cure-all. No, it's not Repairman Jack, but if you liked the Jack novels, you'll like this. There's a little bit of Jack in Rick Hayden (I couldn't help it) and Panacea fits into the Secret History. I mean, what's not to like? Now in paperbackand signed limited edition
FAMILY SECRETS, the 2<sup>nd Nocturnia novel (sequel to DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS), is available in a signed, limited edition and in ebook form
DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS
ebook: Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/odcge7x
Nook: http://tinyurl.com/myvoolr
Trade paperback: http://tinyurl.com/nmavxma (NB: purchase of the tpb nets you a free copy of the ebook)
SIGNED COPIES: http://tinyurl.com/kvzrpk9
the signed limited collector’s edition of DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS is just about sold out - http://tinyurl.com/l4p4zfr
REPAIRMAN JACK: "Interlude at Duane's" (from THRILLER) is now a Kindle Single - 99¢ (included in QUICK FIXES, btw)
THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES - I coedited this collection of Henry Kuttner's wonderful stories about a mutant hillbilly family - first time together in the same volume. SIGNED by Neil Gaiman (who did the intro) and yrs trly.http://tinyurl.com/nf2kmgs
HOGBEN EBOOK – finally THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES (wonderful stories by Henry Kuttner, illos and all) is available as an ebook for $2.99: http://tinyurl.com/lg936xo
"FIX" - a novella-length Repairman Jack mashup with Codename Chandler: Fix
"The Widow Lindley," my Wayward Pines story, is temporarily unavailable due to the closing of Kindle Worlds. But it shall return.
A stand-alone edition of “Infernal Night” co-starring Jack (written with Heather Graham) http://tinyurl.com/k8yuush
"The Dead World" - my Burroughs pastiche set in Pellucidar with a fabulous Bradley W. Schenck cover - is available as a single.
"The Compendium of Srem" ebook: http://tinyurl.com/pqvxn2b
***************************************************
3) IN THE PIPELINE
"Signalz"
***************************************************
4) PUBLISHING SCHEDULE - 2019
January - The Void Protocol
February - Ephemerata 3.0
Autumn - The Last Christmas
***************************************************
5) FOR COLLECTORS:
THE NOCTURNIA CHRONICLES - All 3 volumes in signed hardcover 1st editions
>>>>>>DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS
>>>>>>FAMILY SECRETS
>>>>>THE SILENT ONES
THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES (editor)
The Borderlands Press ADVERSARY CYCLE:
THE KEEP, THE TOUCH, RAKOSHI (formerly THE TOMB), REBORN, REPRISAL, and NIGHTWORLD are all available in signed limited editions. This is a unique and beautiful set, and will be even more so when inserted into the über slipcase with its wraparound art. Check out the spine art at:http://www.borderlandspress.com/adversary.html
***************************************************
6) "REPAIRMAN JACK" - THE MOVIE . . . wait - THE TV SHOW . . . wait . . .
[Historical note: Years ago I sold film/TV rights to THE TOMB to Beacon Films. The idea has been to title the film "Repairman Jack" and turn our guy into a franchise character. The project has spent 20 years in development hell, chewing up 6 or 7 writers who've churned out reams of scripts.
We're looking toward TV now. Can't say any more because I don't know any more.
***************************************************
7) WHERE I'LL BE AT IN 2019 (yeah, I rite good)
TBA
***************************************************
8 ) REPAIRMAN JACK STORE
It has stuff with a neato-cool RJ logo on everything from T-shirts to caps to coffee cups to a wonderful poster by Susan Lee. (Even thongs!)
For you SF nuts and fans of my LaNague Federation series, Susan and Lisa have added a new line at the Repairman Jack store: the LaNague Federation logo on front and "KYFHO" on the back. [For those unfamiliar with the term, I invented the acronym way back when for AN ENEMY OF THE STATE and now it pops up everywhere. Google it if you can't guess the meaning.]
And now, by popular demand from you gun nuts and fans of Abe Grossman, ISHER SPORTS SHOP shirts and stuff are available. A design by the inimitable Susan Lee with a clever logo created by members of the website's Forum. Check it out.http://www.cafepress.com/repairmanjack/
***************************************************
9) FF MOVIE REVIEWS
The FF Rating system is gauged by use of the FF button in increments of 10% of running time. If I FF through a tenth of the film (i.e., 9 minutes of a 90-min film), its FF Rating is 1. Thus, the lower the FF Rating, the higher my level of engagement. (Note, I didn't say the better the film. Crap can - and often does - engage me.) FF = 5 is the threshold of unwatchable.
Bail Factor: If you turn off a film at the halfway point, that's an automatic 5. If you bail after only a quarter or so, that's an automatic 7.5. Then you add how much FFing you did before shutdown.
Why should you care what I think of a film? Beats me.
Movie plot summaries abound on the web, so you don't need me for that.
NB: I've now collected all my FF reviews (I was shocked at the hundreds of reviews I've done) in one spot:http://fpaul.wordpress.com/about/ See "Occurences" above for recent films.

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)
Billed as "Ernest Hemingway's..." but it's really a remake ofCasablanca, debuting a 19-year-old actress named Lauren Bacall (who thinks she can sing). She's no Ingrid Bergman, Dan Seymour is no Sidney Greenstreet or Conrad Veidt, Marcel Dalio is no Peter Lorre, and Claude Rains is sorely missed. Walter Brennan is just annoying. As much as I like Howard Hawks's work (and as much as I think he's winking at the audience here), this is a stinker.
FF=2.


Well, that's it for now. I've taken up enough of your time. More next month. Back to work.
F. Paul Wilson</sup>

Newsletter September:

The F Files - Labor Day 2019
[Blockierte Grafik: https://ci3.googleusercontent.…dy/uploads/1567444035.jpg]
Why the Venn diagram? Because word has come that the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer gets renamed The Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Another triumph of the Newspeak police who have taken over publishing. First HPL, and now Campbell has been banished for thoughtcrime.
The New Repairman Jack novel The Last Christmas limited edition is is shipping now. The lettered state is sold out and the 500 numbered copies are just about gone.
THE VOID PROTOCOL SIGNED LIMITED EDITION - is off to the printer and will be shipping soon. Preorder your copy NOW!

Don’t forget my audiobooks

Nathan Knapp continues doing discussion videos about the Repairman Jack series. So far:
The Tomb - Legacies - Conspiracies - All the Rage - Hosts - The Haunted Air - Crisscross - Gateways - Infernal
THE COMPLETE LaNAGUE - people forget that I started out writing SF. Here's the omnibus of my future history - 5 novels and 6 short stories rolled together with commentary. Such a deal!
SECRET STORIES – For your convenience I've gathered eight of the scattered stories from the Secret History between one set of covers (see the ToC for titles) with commentary as to why they are there.
THE VOID PROTOCOL ties up the ICE Trilogy with a big bang. Synopsis, excerpt, signed copies and buy links all here
ATTENTION OVERSEAS READERS: ebook editions of the entire ICE TRILOGY are now available worldwide:
PANACEA
THE GOD GENE
THE VOID PROTOCOL
WARDENCLYFFE - If you've read the Secret History of the World, you know that Nikola Tesla achieved his dream of broadcast power but then abandoned his iconic tower at Wardenclyffe, declaring it a failure. Why? What happened during that last test run to scare him off? (Order the paperback and you get the ebook free.)
THE GOD GENE - signed limited edition - order here
THE SILENT ONES - The 3rd and final novel in the Nocturnia Chronicles is pubbed.
THE GOD GENE - excerpts, interviews, buy links - all in one spot -- signed copies can be had at: VJ Books and The Poisoned Pen
ORDER REGULAR COPIES AT: AMAZON - BARNES&NOBLE - KOBO - INDEPENDENT STORE
UPDATED! EPHEMERATA V3.0: The Odds and Ends of a Writing Life. 165k words of ephemera I've written and published (or not) over the decades. This revised edition has an extra pieces added. If you bought the 2nd iteration, just reload it onto your device and the new version appears. Magic! I’m publishing Ephemerata exclusively in ebook form because it’s a work in progress. As time goes by I’ll update it (as I did in February) with orphaned pieces that surface from the past or ones that are too new at the moment and must remain exclusive to their original venue for a while.
After a commercial break we'll get to the usual tedious tidbits, trivialities, and miscellanies since last we met:
PANACEA signed limited edition
PANACEA paperback!http://www.repairmanjack.com/s…BA/QpwBHtEkF6DQcTpxatkx3gIt's here! It's cheap! Get it!
BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR IT: a paper edition of Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong
FAMILY SECRETS (sequel to DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS) is an ebook at last: http://tinyurl.com/jjlv7gm
FREEBIES!!! (new free story added)
SCENES FROM THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD
“Demonsong” – Glaeken and Rasalom’s first meeting
"Lipidleggin'" – started off as an SF story, now it's non-fiction.
OTHER STUFF
****THE ISHER BOOK SHOP IS OPEN: http://www.repairmanjack.com/store/
*****E-BOOK BONANZA!!! GET THEM WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!!
(Oh, wait . . . you never run out of ebooks, do you. Ignore that last part)
Browse a ton o' titles - some free, many just $3.99: http://tinyurl.com/jjygskx
*********************************************************
THE REPAIRMAN JACK NOVELS
"Jack's saga has become the most entertaining and dependable modern horror-thriller series." (Publishers Weekly)
"One of the most consistently entertaining series in modern fantastic fiction." (Publishers Weekly)
*********************************************************
I'm on Twitter (@fpaulwilson) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/RealFPaulWilson)
*********************************************************
1) OCCURRENCES
2) THE LATEST FICTION
3) IN THE PIPELINE
4) PUBLISHING SCHEDULE 2018
5) FOR COLLECTORS
6) "REPAIRMAN JACK" - THE MOVIE
7) WHERE I'LL BE
8 ) REPAIRMAN JACK STORE
9) FF MOVIE REVIEWS
1) OCCURRENCES
I spent much of August revising a new novel, then assembling a collection of my pastiches for next year that I'm titling Other Sandboxes. Also working on the interstitial material for a massive 50-year retrospective on my work for 2021. Also watched a lot of movies – in the theater and at home.
Captain Marvel - had low hopes for this. I have a soft place in my head and heart for CCBeck's Captain Marvel and was ready to hate this. But it's extremely well done and has tons of heart. I was totally taken.
Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood - saw this today and think it's the best thing Tarantino has ever done. Better than "Pulp Fiction." The ending is a stroke of genius. LOVED IT.
The Importance of Being Earnest – no one does dialogue like Wilde. No one. My favorite lines:
>>>Earnest Worthing: I lost both my parents at a young age.
>>>Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.
From a reader: "Reading Reborn. The Rambler's name is J. Carroll??? Sometimes I love you. And the best is you don't explain!!!!" (Well, that would take the fun out of it.)
8/31 – Naomi Osaka – okay, I'm officially a fan. Amazing backhand, her serve flirts with 120 mph and she's got real class, e.g., her graciousness toward Coco after demolishing her in tonight's match.
***************************************************
2) THE LATEST FICTION:
WARDENCLYFFE - my new novella is on Amazon and B&N, but if you buy the trade paperback from the publisher, you get the ebook edition free. Journalstone Amazon B&N
THE SILENT ONES - The 3rd book in the Nocturnia Trilogy is available in a signed/limited signed 1^st edition.
EPHEMERATA V3.0 (see above) has bits of fiction in it, but is mostly non-fiction. Over 100 short pieces of this and that.
PANACEA is the prequel to THE GOD GENE – about a hunt for the legendary cure-all. No, it's not Repairman Jack, but if you liked the Jack novels, you'll like this. There's a little bit of Jack in Rick Hayden (I couldn't help it) and Panacea fits into the Secret History. I mean, what's not to like? Now in paperback and signed limited edition
FAMILY SECRETS, the 2^{nd Nocturnia novel (sequel to DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS), is available in a signed, limited edition and in ebook form
DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS
ebook: Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/odcge7x
Nook: http://tinyurl.com/myvoolr
Trade paperback: http://tinyurl.com/nmavxma (NB: purchase of the tpb nets you a free copy of the ebook)
SIGNED COPIES: http://tinyurl.com/kvzrpk9
the signed limited collector’s edition of DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS is just about sold out - http://tinyurl.com/l4p4zfr
REPAIRMAN JACK: "Interlude at Duane's" (from THRILLER) is now a Kindle Single - 99¢ (included in QUICK FIXES, btw)
THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES - I coedited this collection of Henry Kuttner's wonderful stories about a mutant hillbilly family - first time together in the same volume. SIGNED by Neil Gaiman (who did the intro) and yrs trly. http://tinyurl.com/nf2kmgs
HOGBEN EBOOK – finally THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES (wonderful stories by Henry Kuttner, illos and all) is available as an ebook for $2.99: http://tinyurl.com/lg936xo
"FIX" - a novella-length Repairman Jack mashup with Codename Chandler: Fix
"The Widow Lindley," my Wayward Pines story, is temporarily unavailable due to the closing of Kindle Worlds. But it shall return.
A stand-alone edition of “Infernal Night” co-starring Jack (written with Heather Graham) http://tinyurl.com/k8yuush
"The Dead World" - my Burroughs pastiche set in Pellucidar with a fabulous Bradley W. Schenck cover - is available as a single.
"The Compendium of Srem" ebook: http://tinyurl.com/pqvxn2b
***************************************************
3) IN THE PIPELINE
"Signalz"
***************************************************
4) PUBLISHING SCHEDULE - 2019
January - The Void Protocol
February - Ephemerata 3.0
Autumn - The Last Christmas
***************************************************
5) FOR COLLECTORS:
THE NOCTURNIA CHRONICLES - All 3 volumes in signed hardcover 1st editions
>>>>>>DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS
>>>>>>FAMILY SECRETS
>>>>>THE SILENT ONES
THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES (editor)
The Borderlands Press ADVERSARY CYCLE:
THE KEEP, THE TOUCH, RAKOSHI (formerly THE TOMB), REBORN, REPRISAL, and NIGHTWORLD are all available in signed limited editions. This is a unique and beautiful set, and will be even more so when inserted into the über slipcase with its wraparound art. Check out the spine art at: http://www.borderlandspress.com/adversary.html
***************************************************
6) "REPAIRMAN JACK" - THE MOVIE . . . wait - THE TV SHOW . . . wait . . .
[Historical note: Years ago I sold film/TV rights to THE TOMB to Beacon Films. The idea has been to title the film "Repairman Jack" and turn our guy into a franchise character. The project has spent 20 years in development hell, chewing up 6 or 7 writers who've churned out reams of scripts.
We're looking toward TV now. Can't say any more because I don't know any more.
***************************************************
7) WHERE I'LL BE AT IN 2019 (yeah, I rite good)
TBA
***************************************************
8 ) REPAIRMAN JACK STORE
It has stuff with a neato-cool RJ logo on everything from T-shirts to caps to coffee cups to a wonderful poster by Susan Lee. (Even thongs!)
For you SF nuts and fans of my LaNague Federation series, Susan and Lisa have added a new line at the Repairman Jack store: the LaNague Federation logo on front and "KYFHO" on the back. [For those unfamiliar with the term, I invented the acronym way back when for AN ENEMY OF THE STATE and now it pops up everywhere. Google it if you can't guess the meaning.]
And now, by popular demand from you gun nuts and fans of Abe Grossman, ISHER SPORTS SHOP shirts and stuff are available. A design by the inimitable Susan Lee with a clever logo created by members of the website's Forum. Check it out. http://www.cafepress.com/repairmanjack/
***************************************************
9) FF MOVIE REVIEWS
The FF Rating system is gauged by use of the FF button in increments of 10% of running time. If I FF through a tenth of the film (i.e., 9 minutes of a 90-min film), its FF Rating is 1. Thus, the lower the FF Rating, the higher my level of engagement. (Note, I didn't say the better the film. Crap can - and often does - engage me.) FF = 5 is the threshold of unwatchable.
Bail Factor: If you turn off a film at the halfway point, that's an automatic 5. If you bail after only a quarter or so, that's an automatic 7.5. Then you add how much FFing you did before shutdown.
Why should you care what I think of a film? Beats me.
Movie plot summaries abound on the web, so you don't need me for that.
NB: I've now collected all my FF reviews (I was shocked at the hundreds of reviews I've done) in one spot: http://fpaul.wordpress.com/about/}

Too Late for Tears (Killer Bait)
Watched this 1949 noir without knowing its tangled history. Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea, and Don Defore (eventually of "Hazel" fame) star in a screenplay that's a lot busier than most noirs of the period (i.e., the plot keeps accelerating instead of plodding). Typical noir situation of one bad decision leading to another and another until someone is murdered. Lizabeth Scott isn't the most expressive actress, but love that voice! I won't go into the copyright travails here. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Late_for_Tears)
The Boys
I found this Amazon Prime adaptation so much better than the comic books. The casting is superb. I mean, who knew Karl Urban (Bones on the Trek reboot) could command the screen like he does as Butcher. And Erin Moriarty as Starlight is the picture of innocence. I've read a dozen-plus issues of the comic and it's sleazy and prurient in its pandering to fanboys. Showrunner Eric Kripke has given extra attention to the supes and made it all more character based (without backing off on the violence). I'm feeling vibes from Alan Moore's Miracleman and will def be back for season 2.
FF=1
Pickup on South Street
First time I've seen this 1953 film and I like it a lot. Never been much of a Widmark fan but he's fine as the anti-hero pickpocket. Thelma Ritter steals every scene she's in, and Jean Peters makes the most of a poorly developed role. A good remark about Widmark's character: "He's got something decent trying to crawl out of him." The maguffin is a strip of microfilm with industrial secrets that the "commies" have stolen. Widmark picks the wrong pocket and off we go.
FF=1
The Big Clock
Quite the cast with Laughton, Milland, O'Sullivan, Elsa Lanchester (in a comedic turn), Harry Morgan (I don't think he says a word) and an uncredited cameo by Noelle Neill. The strange thing is the shifting tone, from dark to comedic and back, as if the director was never sure what kind of film he wanted to make. Lots of good supporting performances. Worth a watch simply for all the familiar faces.
FF=2
Well, that's it for now. I've taken up enough of your time. More next month. Back to work.
F. Paul Wilson

Januar-Newsletter

REPAIRMAN JACK GRAPHIC NOVEL COMING IN MARCH!
Press release and sample pages HERE
Pre-order unsigned HERE
Pre-order SIGNED copies HERE
Originally I agreed just to write new stories for the Repairman Jack graphic novels and have someone else script them, but anal me couldn’t give up the reins. So I’m doing the whole deal, story and script. Jack’s fans can expect to see a lot of familiar faces, while new readers will come away with a damn good idea of who this urban mercenary is, what he does, and how he gets it done. I’ve scripted comics off and on since Creepy and Eerie back in the 70’s and I love to put the visual aspect of the medium to work. With the Jack GNs, I’ll allow myself to indulge in stories that are a little more bizarre and off-center than I’d attempt in print. Jack is part of my Secret History of the World which has a definite timeline. I’ll let the GNs fall where they will and leave it up to the readers to figure out where they fit in the Secret History.
The Last Christmas - If you bought a copy of the limited edition, check to see if you have the Afterword (for a total of 369 numbered pages). Some copies go straight to the Secret History list (for a total of 347 numbered pages). Very strange. Gauntlet Press is checking with the printer as to how this could happen. If you have a no-Afterword copy you may have a rare variant. Watch this space for further info.
The regular hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook are available. Links to all shapes and sizes at the various online retailers are here.

THE GREAT HACK:So, my AOL account was hacked on December 21. I’ve often heard only old farts still have AOL accounts. Truth is, a lot of us early adopters still have AOL accounts. I’ve been online since the early 1990s when I joined Genie’s SFRT (Science Fiction Round Tables). Everything was ACHII-text based via 28K modem back then. Genie faded when the World Wide Web allowed graphics-based interfaces. AOL had the most widespread access, so I switched over sometime after I adopted Windows 95.
I was hacked by a pro, and chosen, no doubt, for my large address book (literally thousands of addresses auto-added over two decades of sending and receiving emails). I had a longish password with numbers, special characters, upper- and lower-case letters, but he got past it.
WHAT HE DID:
He sent a simple email to everyone in my contacts list:
Can I ask you a favor?
Paul
If you replied, it did not go back to me but to his bogus email at Outlook (I’ve never used Outlook) and you received this:
Good to hear from you, Hope all is well with you? I need to get $500 Amazon gift card for my niece, It’s her birthday but I can't do this now because I'm currently traveling. Can you get it for me from any store around you? I'll pay back on Tuesday when I get back home. You can send me the picture of the card showing the sixteen digits pin at the back of the card as soon as you open and scratch the card.
Thanks
Paul
Now, in case you spotted the scam (as most of you did) and sent an email to warn me, he had that covered. He set up fully two dozen email filters that would send any incoming emails with his own subject line, any subject line with “hacked” or “scam” or “mailer daemon” etc. straight to trash so that I’d never see them. He changed my backup Gmail address to his own bogus Outlook address. He erased my Sent Mail file so I wouldn’t see the bogus emails he sent out from my account.
As I said, this guy’s a pro who’s obviously had a lot of experience doing this. My first inkling was when a fellow author messaged me via Twitter asking about the email. I immediately switched my password and restored my legit backup email, but not before all of my thousands of contacts had been exposed to a scam. (My apologies if you were among them.) I deleted the filters and found hundreds of emails hidden in my trash. Also, he erased my address book so I couldn't send out a warning once I learned of the hack. In plain English, it sucks to get hacked..
AUDIOBOOK NEWS: Late last year I signed a 12-book deal with Blackstone Audio: BLACK WIND, SIBS, MIDNIGHT MASS, VIRGIN, SIMS, IMPLANT, DEEP AS THE MARROW plus all 5 LaNague novels (HEALER, AN ENEMY OF THE STATE, WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS, THE TERY, and DYDEETOWN WORLD). Only AEOTS has been in audio before and that was back in the early 80s.
THE VOID PROTOCOL SIGNED LIMITED EDITION - is shipping NOW. Get your copy NOW!

Don’t forget my audiobooks

Nathan Knapp continues doing discussion videos about the Repairman Jack series. So far:
The Tomb - Legacies - Conspiracies - All the Rage - Hosts - The Haunted Air - Crisscross - Gateways - Infernal
THE COMPLETE LaNAGUE - people forget that I started out writing SF. Here's the omnibus of my future history - 5 novels and 6 short stories rolled together with commentary. Such a deal!
SECRET STORIES – For your convenience I've gathered eight of the scattered stories from the Secret History between one set of covers (see the ToC for titles) with commentary as to why they are there.
THE VOID PROTOCOL ties up the ICE Trilogy with a big bang. Synopsis, excerpt, signed copies and buy links all here
ATTENTION OVERSEAS READERS: ebook editions of the entire ICE TRILOGY are now available worldwide:
PANACEA
THE GOD GENE
THE VOID PROTOCOL
WARDENCLYFFE - If you've read the Secret History of the World, you know that Nikola Tesla achieved his dream of broadcast power but then abandoned his iconic tower at Wardenclyffe, declaring it a failure. Why? What happened during that last test run to scare him off? (Order the paperback and you get the ebook free.)
THE GOD GENE - signed limited edition - order here
THE SILENT ONES - The 3rd and final novel in the Nocturnia Chronicles is pubbed.
THE GOD GENE - excerpts, interviews, buy links - all in one spot -- signed copies can be had at: VJ Books and The Poisoned Pen
ORDER REGULAR COPIES AT: AMAZON - BARNES&NOBLE - KOBO - INDEPENDENT STORE
UPDATED! EPHEMERATA V3.0: The Odds and Ends of a Writing Life. 165k words of ephemera I've written and published (or not) over the decades. This revised edition has an extra pieces added. If you bought the 2nd iteration, just reload it onto your device and the new version appears. Magic! I’m publishing Ephemerata exclusively in ebook form because it’s a work in progress. As time goes by I’ll update it (as I did in February) with orphaned pieces that surface from the past or ones that are too new at the moment and must remain exclusive to their original venue for a while.
After a commercial break we'll get to the usual tedious tidbits, trivialities, and miscellanies since last we met:
PANACEA signed limited edition
PANACEA paperback!http://www.repairmanjack.com/s…J8928924j7633hpAZ8abR1n1QIt's here! It's cheap! Get it!
BECAUSE YOU ASKED FOR IT: a paper edition of Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong
FAMILY SECRETS (sequel to DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS) is an ebook at last: http://tinyurl.com/jjlv7gm
FREEBIES!!! (new free story added)
SCENES FROM THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD
“Demonsong” – Glaeken and Rasalom’s first meeting
"Lipidleggin'" – started off as an SF story, now it's non-fiction.
OTHER STUFF
****THE ISHER BOOK SHOP IS OPEN: http://www.repairmanjack.com/store/
*****E-BOOK BONANZA!!! GET THEM WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!!
(Oh, wait . . . you never run out of ebooks, do you. Ignore that last part)
Browse a ton o' titles - some free, many just $3.99: http://tinyurl.com/jjygskx
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THE REPAIRMAN JACK NOVELS
"Jack's saga has become the most entertaining and dependable modern horror-thriller series." (Publishers Weekly)
"One of the most consistently entertaining series in modern fantastic fiction." (Publishers Weekly)
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I'm on Twitter (@fpaulwilson) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/RealFPaulWilson)
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1) OCCURRENCES
2) THE LATEST FICTION
3) IN THE PIPELINE
4) PUBLISHING SCHEDULE 2018
5) FOR COLLECTORS
6) "REPAIRMAN JACK" - THE MOVIE
7) WHERE I'LL BE
8 ) REPAIRMAN JACK STORE
9) FF MOVIE REVIEWS
1) OCCURRENCES
12/6 – a nice review of The Last Christmas
12/7 – Watching "Mrs. Maisel" and saw Liza Weil as a bass player in the band named Carole Keen who looks a =lot= like the Wrecking Crew's bassist, Carole Kaye. Coincidence? I think not.
12/8 – I’m on this podcast for about half an hour.
12/9 – Barnes & Noble named The Last Christmas a Top Indie Favorite for December and January.
12/13 - JOISEY BOYS: Yrs Trly and fellow thriller writers Harlan Coben and Brad Parks made a NJ 10-best list.
12/16 – my story "Lipidleggin'" is a finalist for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. It started out in 1978 as a tongue-in-cheek SF cautionary tale and now it's a documentary.
Read it here for free.
Watch a short film adaptation (with nice slide guitar soundtrack)
12/20 – I found the Ricky Gervais Netflix special "Humanity" laugh-aloud funny. He gores every sacred cow in sight.
12/21 - ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD - just watched it again (on DVD this time). Gaw-dam that's a great feel-good film. Deserves an Oscar.
12/29 – Saw STAR WARS IX - yes, big plot holes; yes, Wallenda-worthy leaps of logic; yes, a little forced at times (no pun intended), but engaging and provides a nice symmetry to the ennealogy.
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2) THE LATEST FICTION:
WARDENCLYFFE - my new novella is on Amazon and B&N, but if you buy the trade paperback from the publisher, you get the ebook edition free. Journalstone Amazon B&N
THE SILENT ONES - The 3rd book in the Nocturnia Trilogy is available in a signed/limited signed 1^st edition.
EPHEMERATA V3.0 (see above) has bits of fiction in it, but is mostly non-fiction. Over 100 short pieces of this and that.
PANACEA is the prequel to THE GOD GENE – about a hunt for the legendary cure-all. No, it's not Repairman Jack, but if you liked the Jack novels, you'll like this. There's a little bit of Jack in Rick Hayden (I couldn't help it) and Panacea fits into the Secret History. I mean, what's not to like? Now in paperback and signed limited edition
FAMILY SECRETS, the 2^{nd Nocturnia novel (sequel to DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS), is available in a signed, limited edition and in ebook form
DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS
ebook: Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/odcge7x
Nook: http://tinyurl.com/myvoolr
Trade paperback: http://tinyurl.com/nmavxma (NB: purchase of the tpb nets you a free copy of the ebook)
SIGNED COPIES: http://tinyurl.com/kvzrpk9
the signed limited collector’s edition of DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS is just about sold out - http://tinyurl.com/l4p4zfr
REPAIRMAN JACK: "Interlude at Duane's" (from THRILLER) is now a Kindle Single - 99¢ (included in QUICK FIXES, btw)
THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES - I coedited this collection of Henry Kuttner's wonderful stories about a mutant hillbilly family - first time together in the same volume. SIGNED by Neil Gaiman (who did the intro) and yrs trly. http://tinyurl.com/nf2kmgs
HOGBEN EBOOK – finally THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES (wonderful stories by Henry Kuttner, illos and all) is available as an ebook for $2.99: http://tinyurl.com/lg936xo
"FIX" - a novella-length Repairman Jack mashup with Codename Chandler: Fix
"The Widow Lindley," my Wayward Pines story, is temporarily unavailable due to the closing of Kindle Worlds. But it shall return.
A stand-alone edition of “Infernal Night” co-starring Jack (written with Heather Graham) http://tinyurl.com/k8yuush
"The Dead World" - my Burroughs pastiche set in Pellucidar with a fabulous Bradley W. Schenck cover - is available as a single.
"The Compendium of Srem" ebook: http://tinyurl.com/pqvxn2b
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3) IN THE PIPELINE
"Signalz"
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4) PUBLISHING SCHEDULE - 2019
January - The Void Protocol
February - Ephemerata 3.0
Autumn - The Last Christmas
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5) FOR COLLECTORS:
THE NOCTURNIA CHRONICLES - All 3 volumes in signed hardcover 1st editions
>>>>>>DEFINITELY NOT KANSAS
>>>>>>FAMILY SECRETS
>>>>>THE SILENT ONES
THE HOGBEN CHRONICLES (editor)
The Borderlands Press ADVERSARY CYCLE:
THE KEEP, THE TOUCH, RAKOSHI (formerly THE TOMB), REBORN, REPRISAL, and NIGHTWORLD are all available in signed limited editions. This is a unique and beautiful set, and will be even more so when inserted into the über slipcase with its wraparound art. Check out the spine art at: http://www.borderlandspress.com/adversary.html
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6) "REPAIRMAN JACK" - THE MOVIE . . . wait - THE TV SHOW . . . wait . . .
[Historical note: Years ago I sold film/TV rights to THE TOMB to Beacon Films. The idea has been to title the film "Repairman Jack" and turn our guy into a franchise character. The project has spent 20 years in development hell, chewing up 6 or 7 writers who've churned out reams of scripts.
We're looking toward TV now. Can't say any more because I don't know any more.
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7) WHERE I'LL BE AT IN 2019 (yeah, I rite good)
TBA
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8 ) REPAIRMAN JACK STORE
It has stuff with a neato-cool RJ logo on everything from T-shirts to caps to coffee cups to a wonderful poster by Susan Lee. (Even thongs!)
For you SF nuts and fans of my LaNague Federation series, Susan and Lisa have added a new line at the Repairman Jack store: the LaNague Federation logo on front and "KYFHO" on the back. [For those unfamiliar with the term, I invented the acronym way back when for AN ENEMY OF THE STATE and now it pops up everywhere. Google it if you can't guess the meaning.]
And now, by popular demand from you gun nuts and fans of Abe Grossman, ISHER SPORTS SHOP shirts and stuff are available. A design by the inimitable Susan Lee with a clever logo created by members of the website's Forum. Check it out. http://www.cafepress.com/repairmanjack/
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9) FF MOVIE REVIEWS
The FF Rating system is gauged by use of the FF button in increments of 10% of running time. If I FF through a tenth of the film (i.e., 9 minutes of a 90-min film), its FF Rating is 1. Thus, the lower the FF Rating, the higher my level of engagement. (Note, I didn't say the better the film. Crap can - and often does - engage me.) FF = 5 is the threshold of unwatchable.
Bail Factor: If you turn off a film at the halfway point, that's an automatic 5. If you bail after only a quarter or so, that's an automatic 7.5. Then you add how much FFing you did before shutdown.
Why should you care what I think of a film? Beats me.
Movie plot summaries abound on the web, so you don't need me for that.
NB: I've now collected all my FF reviews (I was shocked at the hundreds of reviews I've done) in one spot: http://fpaul.wordpress.com/about/}

READY OR NOT
I knew going in this was a black comedy, but I was expecting something a little more inventive, maybe along the lines of "You're Next." It does have a few funny moments but, unlike "You're Next," the female lead survives via a hokey family curse and the incompetence of her pursuers rather than her own agency.
FF=3

Well, that's it for now. I've taken up enough of your time. More next month. Back to work.
F. Paul Wilson