Multimedia genre of stories set primarily in the American Old West
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Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonGunsmoke: Uncle Oliver| July 9, 1955| Cowboy Classics Old Time Radio WesternsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
John Carpenter, Escape from New York, Escape from LA, Debra Hill and her overlooked legacy, Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi, New York City and its circumstances when Escape was being conceived, 1977 NYC blackouts, Watergate and its influence on Escape, the 1970s burnout the Left felt, Escape as closer to a 1970s parapolitical thriller than an 80s action film, Donald Pleasance's president, the president vs the Duke of New York, where does Snake Plissken rank among iconic action heroes?, Snake as a deconstruction of action heroes, Snake vs. Jack Burton, Escape's stellar cast, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef, Clint Eastwood and the Dollars trilogy, the Escape films as Westerns, the iconic landmarks used by Carpenter, Escape's emphasis on landmarks related to finance, why B movies work better for social commentary, John Carpenter as one of the most politically subversive filmmakers of his era.Music by: Keith Allen Dennishttps://keithallendennis.bandcamp.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, Maverick and Andrew delve into the classic 1966 film 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.' They discuss their initial impressions, character development, and the film's themes of morality and survival in a harsh world. The conversation highlights the iconic scenes and the film's impact on the Western genre, while also critiquing the character arcs and emotional depth of the protagonists.----------Highlights:0:00 'The Good, the Bad & the Ugly' Introduction9:00 Overall Strengths & Themes19:32 Issues with the Film31:23 The Climax33:51 Final Thoughts#western #thegoodthebadtheugly #alostplot #mexicanstandoff #clinteastwood
Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonGunsmoke: Jayhawkers| April 4, 1953 | Cowboy Classics Old Time Radio WesternsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonGunsmoke: Cold Fire |February 3, 1957 | Cowboy Classics Old Time Radio WesternsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Elisha Cook Jr. had one of the most fascinating careers in Hollywood. From film noir classics to horror movies, Westerns, television, and cult cinema, Cook became one of the most recognizable character actors of the 20th century. In this episode we take a look at the life and career of Elisha Cook Jr., from his early days in Hollywood to some of his most memorable performances. We'll revisit his unforgettable role as Wilmer Cook in The Maltese Falcon, his appearances in films such as The Big Sleep, The Killing, Rosemary's Baby, and House on Haunted Hill, and his extensive television career. Cook often played nervous, frightened, unlucky, or dangerous characters, but there was much more to his career than his trademark screen persona. His performances helped make him one of classic Hollywood's great character actors. If you love classic movies, film noir, vintage horror, Westerns, and the fascinating actors who populated Hollywood's golden age, this is one career you won't want to miss.
Comedy and Westerns on a WednesdayFirst, a look at this day in History.Then, George Burns and Gracie Allen, originally broadcast August 12, 1940, 86 years ago, Gold Rush Gracie. George remembers his career in vaudeville and how he met Gracie. Followed by The Great Gildersleeve starring Willard Waterman, originally broadcast August 12, 1953, 73 years ago, Deciding on a Lake Cabin. Gildersleeve and Leroy are planning a week at a cabin by the lake...but which cabin by what lake?Then, Fort Laramie starring Raymond Burr, originally broadcast August 12, 1956, 70 years ago, Assembly Line. Indian Agent Lack is expecting an uprising...and for a very good reason.Followed by Gunsmoke starring William Conrad, originally broadcast August 12, 1956, 70 years ago, Snakebite. Gorman and Hicks arrive in Dodge and promptly kill Pony Thompson's dog. Gorman is then found knifed in the back.Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast August 12, 1948, 78 years ago, Claudia Cleans the Closet. Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star.Thanks to Brian for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.stream
Brian Talks Imprint Boxsets for this round. Imprint Films here This week's episode is also brought to you by the fine folks at DiabolikDVD - a great place to buy your discs from! https://www.diabolikdvd.com/ Just the Discs Now has a YouTube Channel! Check it out here and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCffVK8TcUyjCpr0F9SpV53g Follow the Show on Twitter here for Episode previews and new Blu-ray News! https://bsky.app/profile/justthediscs.bsky.social Brian's Directed By shirts can be found here: https://www.teepublic.com/user/filmmakershirts We're also on Instagram! instagram.com/justthediscspod/
I talk to filmmakers all the time who say things like, I'm reviving the romcom. Or my film is a homage to 1950s Westerns. The statements encompass so many genres but the truth is, most of the time they don't work. It ends up being a facsimile of something great, which isn't good at all.This is a long way at getting to the point that NIMRODS, opening in theaters on August 14th, is the absolute real deal: a film that will remind you of the GOONIES, as my guest, director Lee Kirk hints at, without trying to remake it. It tells the story of three kids driving cross country to open for Green Day on New Year's Eve, and as you might imagine, complications ensue.I'm so excited to celebrate original art with a director who knows his classics.Lee and I talk about:how he was able to successfully bring back the feelings of 1990s/2000s road trip films;if non-Green Day fans will enjoy the film;how he got started in filmmaking;actors writing parts for themselves and if that's a way in;how new filmmakers can find their voice;what he's learned since his previous features;whether this ever was going to be a biopic and how he feels about the genre;the amazing casting in this film;how he ended up casting himself in the film;the festival strategy for the film and the decision to go theatrical;the luxury of avoiding social media;if being a playwright bleeds over to screenwriting.Memorable Quotes:"We started talking about the movies that we wanted it to feel like, right? So one of the big ones was "Goonies." We talked about "Goonies," but also movies like "Footloose" and "Vacation""It's a film about being a teenager and the struggles that go along with not having all the agency over your life, having these hopes and dreams and beliefs in yourself, and wanting to find something, wanting to build a life, but frustrated with what you got.""Every actor should be [writing their own scripts."" If you like Quentin Tarantino, make your version of "Pulp Fiction," and you're gonna find something in there about what you have to say.""Theatrical was always the goal."Links:Follow NIMRODS On Instagram
Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonGunsmoke: Thick 'n' Thin | September 16, 1956 | Cowboy Classics Old Time Radio WesternsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonGunsmoke: The Executioner| April 15, 1956 | Cowboy Classics Old Time Radio Westerns Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Pastor Josh McPherson sits down with his sons, Levi and Gideon, to compare their favorite books and build the ultimate summer reading list. Through war stories, Christian classics, historical adventures, biographies, Westerns, and fantasy, they discuss the books that have shaped their faith, leadership, courage, imagination, and understanding of manhood—all while competing to see who brought the most original picks. Support the showThanks for listening! Go to www.StrongerManNation.com for more resources.
Sorry for the inconvenience, but the original media file for this episode has been removed. Use the following link which connects you to my affiliated Amazon account to purchase the…
Jack brags to Don about his latest film appearance and the brilliant performance he gave in The Big Broadcast of 1937. However, Mary quickly chimes in with her own opinion,…
A young married couple arrives in their new apartment in the high-rent district. They are a little early, and management isn't quite ready for them. Though it's just the right…
Here is a review of your draft for Green Hornet – Charity Takes It On The Chin. 420221: ________________________________________ 💡 Spelling & Grammar Fixes dispencing → dispensing (“…worry over the…
A would-be hitman with an honest streak brings his story to the cops. Though he turned down a $5,000 contract, he knows his mark is doomed to die whether he…
Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonGunsmoke: The Coward (Vic Perrin) | October 9, 1955 | Cowboy Classics Old Time Radio WesternsThe Coward" is an episode of the classic CBS radio drama Gunsmoke that originally aired on October 9, 1955. It features prominent voice actor Vic Perrin as a guest star, alongside regular cast members William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, Parley Baer as Chester, Georgia Ellis as Kitty, and Howard McNear as Doc.Episode Overview· Broadcast Date: October 9, 1955· Series: Gunsmoke (CBS Radio, 1952–1961)· Starring/Guest Cast: Vic Perrin (guest role), William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester Proudfoot), Georgia Ellis (Kitty Russell), and Howard McNear (Doc Adams).· Production Company/Producer: Norman MacdonnellAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
George gets a letter from a woman who feels paranoid about a man who seems to be everywhere. Is there really a stalker? George and Brooksie go to find out.…
Archie introduces the shows guest stars, and day dreams about the benefits of getting away from it all to enjoy the great outdoors. Guests are to be movie actress, Rita…
Jack Elam was one of Hollywood's most recognizable character actors, famous for his distinctive eyes, unforgettable screen presence, and a career that stretched from classic film noir to some of the greatest Westerns ever made. In this episode, we take a look at the life and career of Jack Elam, from his early days in Hollywood to his rise as one of the movies' most memorable villains. We explore his appearance in classic Westerns, crime films, television shows, and comedies, including memorable roles in films such as High Noon, Rawhide, Once Upon Time in the West, Support Your Local Sheriff!, and Cannonball Run. But there was much more to Jack Elam than playing the bad guy. We'll look at the man behind the unforgettable face, his journey through Hollywood, his work with some of the biggest stars and directors of his era, and why Jack Elam remains one of the most beloved character actors of classic American Cinema. If you love classic Hollywood, Westerns, character actors, vintage television, and movie history, this is one career you won't want to miss. If you enjoy classic movie and television history, be sure to subscribe to Professor Frenzy and check out more videos celebrating the fascinating stars, films and shows of the past.
Comedy and Westerns on a WednesdayFirst, a look at the events of the day.Then, The Milton Berle Show, originally broadcast August 5, 1947, 79 years ago, A Salute to the Great Outdoors. Milton rents a cabin in the mountains to get away from it all and de stress. Followed by The Great Gildersleeve starring Willard Waterman, originally broadcast August 5, 1953, 73 years ago, The Water Commissioner is Fired. Gildersleeve is fired as water commissioner!Then, Gunsmoke starring William Conrad, originally broadcast August 5, 1956, 70 years ago, Sweet and Sour. Rena Decker comes to town, and soon men start fighting over her. Followed by Fort Laramie starring Raymond Burr, originally broadcast August 5, 1956, 70 years ago, The Massacre. The peaceful Shoshone Indians are attacked by a fanatical army major. Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast August 5, 1948, 78 years ago, Making the Beds. Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star. Thanks to Debbie B. for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamIf you like what we do here, visit our friend Jay at http://radio.macinmind.com for great old-time radio shows 24 hours a day
A modern hardboiled adventure written by Ray Bradbury, the tale of a killer who suffers from delusions of grandeur. Guns blaze, but thanks to a getaway car driven by a…
Horlicks: To lose weight, just substitute your normal lunch with a glass of Horlicks. Try it hot or cold. Down in Pine Ridge Squire has planned to preempt the grand…
Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonGunsmoke: Kick Me | October 19, 1958 Cowboy Classics Old Time Radio WesternsGunsmoke. Written by John Meston, the original episode first aired on November 28, 1953, and was later re-recorded and broadcast as a reused/adapted script on October 19, 1958.Episode OverviewMarshal Matt Dillon: William ConradChester Proudfoot: Parley BaerKittyRussell: Georgia EllisDoc Adams: Howard McNearWriter: John MestonDirectorProducer: Norman MacdonnellAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Late at night, in a large suburban home, a man is gunned down. The very next day in Mr. Keen's office a man tells his story of how he was…
guest star: Victor Moore. Continuing the story from last week, Kingfish continues to fake his injuries, and convince his insurance company to pay him. His wife isn't so convinced over…
The railroad crew sings as they work at laying track for the Union Pacific. Voiceover offers more background on the famous completion of the railroad line, and it's importance in…
Horlicks: A good source of vitamins, minerals, and proteins. Enjoy it in natural or chocolate flavors. In Pine Ridge, Lum announced their grand opening for the theater as Saturday. At…
Westerns and Crime on a SundayFirst, a look at this day in History.Then, Dangerous Assignment starring Brian Donlevy, originally broadcast August 2, 1950, 76 years ago, Vienna Mystery. Steve Mitchell is sent to the U.S. consulate in Vienna to recover documents that have been stolen.Followed by Confession, originally broadcast August 2, 1953, 73 years ago, Esther Phillips. A bored housewife goes to the racetrack and gets a little too interested in another better. Then, Gunsmoke starring William Conrad, originally broadcast August 2, 1954, 72 years ago, No Indians. Matt commits cold-blooded murder four times to kill off members of a gang scalping settlers and blaming the Pawnees. Followed by Have Gun Will Travel starring John Dehner, originally broadcast August 2, 1959, 67 years ago, High Wire. Paladin goes to Salamander Springs to persuade a girl to leave her acrobatic boyfriend. Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast August 2, 1948, 78 years ago, Gertrude Departs. Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star.Thanks to Brian for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamFind the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.html
Herbert Marshal is host, and introduces Marilyn Maxwell, who then sings, Kiss Goodnight. Jack Haley enters to joke around with the cast. Learn a little about the theatrical training of…
It's time to hear from the man the whole world has been waiting for: Jack Benny! Spirits run high as Don Wilson and Jack joke about their recent vacations. Mary…
Today's show features three mini-plays centered around the theme of love: The Actress: A beautiful leading lady whose acting talent is questionable stays afloat by surrounding herself with exceptional…
At Sonny's house, Jack, Doc, and Reggie meet a few members of the Richards family. Phil, the injured fiancé, has a younger brother named Arthur who quickly gets on Doc's…
Westerns and Crime on a FridayFirst, a look at this day in History.Then, Gunsmoke starring William Conrad, originally broadcast July 31, 1960, 66 years ago, Stage Smash. After Marshal Dillon arrests Cleary Small, his brother Nort wrecks the stage and kidnaps Kitty to exchange for her brother.Followed by Have Gun Will Travel starring John Dehner, originally broadcast July 31, 1960, 66 years ago, My Son Must Die. Paladin and Hey Boy go fishing and catch a damsel in distress. Then, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar starring Bob Bailey, originally broadcast July 31, 1960, 66 years ago, The Rhymer Collection Matter. Years after a fabulous collection of porcelain miniatures has been stolen, one of them appears in the mail slot of the former owner!Followed by Frontier Town starring Reed Hadley, originally broadcast July 31, 1953, 73 years ago, Boom Town. Chad and Cherokee (Wade Crosby) visit the town of Bonanza City for a large party given for lawmen.Finally, Lum and Abner, originally broadcast July 31, 1935, 91 years ago, Selling the Jot-Em-Down store. Squire Skimp and Snake Hogan are very unhappy that Abner has refused to invest his $2000 in the silver mine. In fact, they force Abner into a car and drive away with him!Thanks to Brian for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamFind the Family Fallout Shelter Booklet Here: https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_family_fallout_shelter_1959.pdfhttps://wardomatic.blogspot.com/2006/11/fallout-shelter-handbook-1962.html
Audio quality is excellent. The king of the black market doesn't take no for an answer, so Archie Goodwin isn't taking any chances when he's invited to go for a…
Horlicks: The continues success is proved out by the host of new users who buy Horlicks each day. Look for it at your local druggist. Down in Pine Ridge, the…
Cahill U.S. Marshal is one of the lesser-known late-career John Wayne westerns, and for good reason. Released during a period when the Western genre was rapidly evolving, Cahill feels caught between old-school Wayne heroics and the grittier, morally complex revisionist Westerns audiences were beginning to prefer. Why didn't it leave more of an impact? Why has it largely faded into obscurity among Wayne's filmography?____Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibofficialYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whywasntitbetterLetterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/wwibpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/wwib_officialX: https://x.com/WWIBpodcastSubscribe! Rate! Review! Tell a friend!
This week Vee and John dive into the modern-day Wild West, with two brutal, contemporary movies. This is: Sicario, and No Country for Old MenSend us Fan Mail
The introduction of autonomous vehicles on Valley roadways has led to debates about their safety. We'll find out what a new study can and cannot tell us about that. Plus, an exhibit at a Valley museum explores the history of Westerns.
Steve Stockton's STRANGE Westerns - Full Audiobook - When the West Was WEIRDBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/missing-persons-mysteries--5624803/support.
Highlights include: Alan getting fitted for his tuxedo. The hilarious moment when the groom meets Alan without either realizing who the other is. The chaotic wedding scene as the show reaches its grand finale.
Out on the streets, our hardboiled detective suffers a broken leg bad enough to land him in a hospital bed. While flat on his back, a dame comes to him…
Westerns and Drama on a WednesdayFirst, a look at this day in History.Then, Fort Laramie starring Raymond Burr, originally broadcast July 29, 1956, 70 years ago, Nature Boy. The Quiring family has come to the fort. The strangest trio ever to arrive on the western plains. Followed by Gunsmoke starring William Conrad, originally broadcast July 29, 1956, 70 years ago, Lost Rifle. A young boy is found at the scene of a murder. It seems obvious that Ben Tipper, who hated the dead man, is the killer.Then, Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCrea, originally broadcast July 29, 1950, 76 years ago, The Trigger Man. A dead man found in a burned out house, a broken spur and a fat man with small feet! The story is based on the events of June 5, 1948. Followed by Suspense, originally broadcast July 29, 1948, 78 years ago, The Yellow Wallpaper starring Agnes Moorehead. A madwoman suspects that things are coming out of the wallpaper to get her. Maybe she's not mad? Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast July 29, 1948, 78 years ago, Packing for the Return Trip. Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star. Thanks to Brian for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.stream
Sam gets hired by Champion to be a bodyguard. The blustery man claims to be dangerous, and not play games, but soon there are slugs flying through his office window. The chase is on to track down the shooter, and discover who he is working for.
Find More...Our Other Shows:Cowboy Classics: Old Time Radio Westerns & Frontier StoriesComedy Classics: Old Time Radio Vintage Comedy & LaughsMystery Theater Old Time Radio: Classic Detective, Horror & SuspenseJoin our Community - Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mysterytheaterChristian Basics Foundation in Faith: Available on AmazonHopalong Cassidy — "Hoppy Elects a Sheriff"Saddle up and ride back to the golden age of radio for a high-stakes tale of small-town justice and frontier politics!
What makes a story timeless? Why are millions of people consuming 90-second "micro dramas" while classic films continue to inspire generation after generation?In this conversation, Jon Harris sits down with Wade Stotts of The Wade Show to discuss everything from rescoring Buster Keaton silent films to the collapse of modern entertainment. Together they examine why short-form content is reshaping attention spans, how Hollywood abandoned moral storytelling, and what families can do to cultivate a love for great art.The discussion also explores classic television, Westerns, Buster Keaton, the rise of Chinese-produced micro dramas, and whether our culture can recover an appreciation for beauty, craftsmanship, and stories that endure.Topics include:- Why Buster Keaton remains one of cinema's greatest artists- The explosion of Chinese micro dramas- How technology is changing the way we consume entertainment- Why classic Westerns communicated timeless moral truths- The rise of the anti-hero in modern storytelling- Raising children to appreciate great films and television- Can Hollywood recover, or is a new cultural renaissance needed?If you enjoy conversations about Christianity, culture, history, and the arts, subscribe for more episodes of Conversations That Matter.00:00 Introduction and meeting Wade Stotts01:08 Rescoring Buster Keaton films for a modern audience05:01 Hollywood family history and classic cinema06:59 The rise of Chinese micro dramas and "brain rot" entertainment10:44 Why attention spans are collapsing13:56 Politics, podcasts, and the culture of sensationalism15:21 Raising children on timeless films and television18:53 Why classic Westerns taught moral lessons20:20 The hero, the anti-hero, and the decline of the Western22:00 Can timeless storytelling make a comeback?Jon's Music: jonharristunes.comTo Support the Podcast: https://www.jonharrismedia.com/support/Become a Patronhttps://www.patreon.com/jonharrispodcastSubstack: https://substack.com/@jonharris Follow Jon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonharris1989Follow Jon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonharris1989/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/conversations-that-matter8971/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Rex Linn on Unsolved Mysteries, Westerns, Stallone, Cusack & His Dream Role In this funny, loose, and unexpectedly heartfelt episode of Reza Rifts, Keith Reza sits down with legendary character actor Rex Linn for a conversation packed with old-school Hollywood stories, career turning points, and the kind of behind-the-scenes chaos that only comes from decades in the business. Rex opens up about his earliest acting job recreating a real-life bank robber for Unsolved Mysteries, the surreal audition journey that landed him Cliffhanger with Sylvester Stallone, and why that movie changed his life in more ways than one. The episode also dives into Rex's love of Westerns, his admiration for The Jack Bull, his memories of John Cusack, Mark Rolston, Kurt Russell, John Lithgow, Adam West, and Bob Dylan, plus hilarious stories from Rush Hour, Zodiac, Wyatt Earp, Lethal Weapon, and the gloriously absurd Zombeavers. Along the way, Rex reflects on heartbreak, emotional recall, friendship in the film business, and his lifelong dream of somehow, some way, getting to play the Wolfman. Guest Info Rex Linn is an American film and television actor best known for a long-running career filled with standout supporting and character roles. He is widely recognized for projects including CSI: Miami, Cliffhanger, Rush Hour, Better Call Saul, and more recently Happy's Place. In this episode, he shares stories from across his career, from his first screen work and breakthrough film roles to the actors, directors, and friendships that shaped his path. Guest Social Links Instagram: @rexlinn13 … https://www.instagram.com/rexlinn13/?hl=en Chapters 00:00:00 Intro & Welcome 00:00:55 Keith Introduces Rex Linn 00:04:24 Rex's First Gig: Unsolved Mysteries 00:11:53 The Wild $50-a-Day Bank Robbery Story 00:17:11 From Banking to Acting 00:17:51 Auditioning for Cliffhanger 00:21:28 Meeting Sylvester Stallone 00:29:32 Behind the Scenes of The Jack Bull 00:33:28 Meeting Bob Dylan on Set 00:38:34 Memories from Rush Hour 00:43:18 Why Rex Loves Westerns 00:47:58 Tombstone vs. Wyatt Earp 00:50:18 How Zombeavers Happened 00:54:51 John Mayer, Bill Burr & Random Cameos 00:57:33 Meeting Childhood Hero Adam West 01:05:36 Transforming for Lethal Weapon 01:10:20 Recommending Melissa Peterman 01:11:50 Rex's Dream Role: The Wolfman Call to Action If you enjoyed this episode of Reza Rifts, make sure to: Subscribe Rate and review Share this episode with fans of Cliffhanger, Rush Hour, CSI: Miami, Westerns, and behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories Follow Rex Linn and Keith Reza for more interviews, clips, and updates Host Links Support the show on https://patreon.com/rezarifts61 Follow Keith on all social media platforms: FB: https://www.facebook.com/realkeithreza IG:https://www.instagram.com/keithreza ALT IG:https://www.instagram.com/duhkeithreza X:https://www.twitter.com/keithreza TT:https://www.tiktok.com/keithreza Book Keith on cameo at www.cameo.com/keithreza Check out my website for dates at https://www.keithreza.com/ Subscribe - Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts - Tell a friend :) Be a Rifter! #RezaRifts #KeithReza #RexLinn #Cliffhanger #RushHour #TheJackBull #WyattEarp #Zombeavers #BetterCallSaul #CSIMiami #HappyPlace #SylvesterStallone #JohnCusack #KurtRussell #HollywoodStories #ActorInterview #MoviePodcast #BehindTheScenes #Westerns #CharacterActor
What's the difference between a bundle, a box set, an anthology, and a collection? How can being part of an anthology be creatively interesting and useful for marketing? With Jamie Ferguson In the intro, Amazon Kindle increases the 70% royalty share; audiobook marketing tips (Voices by InAudio); The Builder's Creed [Seth Godin]; Future Vision XPrize; Researching the dark side of travel [Anna Sayburn Lane]; Photos from Bruges @jfpennauthor; Bones of the Deep: A Thriller – J.F. Penn. Today's show is sponsored by Bookfunnel, the essential tool for your author business. Whether it's delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all. Check it out at bookfunnel.com/thecreativepenn This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Jamie Ferguson is a fiction and short story author, editor, and publisher, with over 20 anthologies and multiple ebook bundles through her own press. Her latest book for authors is Bundle Up! A Practical Guide to Anthologies and Box Sets That Sell. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes The difference between bundles, box sets, anthologies, and collections Why a multi-author project means lots of people promoting the same book, not just you How to find and pitch for anthology opportunities, and what editors look for in a contributor Contracts, rights, and royalty splits explained for short fiction Why Kickstarter and special print editions are changing the anthology game Inkwren, the publishing management tool Jamie built for backlists and anthologies You can find Jamie at JamieFerguson.com. Transcript of the interview ith Jamie Ferguson Jo: Jamie Ferguson is a fiction and short story author, editor, and publisher, with over 20 anthologies and multiple ebook bundles through her own press. Her latest book for authors is Bundle Up! A Practical Guide to Anthologies and Box Sets That Sell. Just for context too, one of my short stories, “The Dark Queen”, is in the Amazing Monster Tales: Into the Briny Deep anthology. So I'm excited to talk about this today. Welcome to the show, Jamie. Jamie: Thanks for having me, Jo. Jo: Lots to talk about. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and self-publishing. Jamie: Well, I wanted to be a writer since I was at least six, maybe before then. So it was just something I always wanted to do, but I always did it on the side. I had a year, many years ago, where I was really busy with work, and I just felt like I didn't write anything the entire year, and I thought, “I'm going to give it up.” Then the next year—that was 2011—I started seeing more about self-publishing, and that really invigorated me and made me feel like, “No, why am I giving up something I've wanted to do since before I went to school?” So I got back into a novel I had worked on years before. I went to a writing workshop with Dean Wesley Smith up in Oregon, back in the day, and then I had my energy back. I've been writing ever since. Still on the side, unfortunately, but someday. Jo: Hopefully! Tell us a bit more about what kind of genres you write. Because balancing your own books with also doing these anthologies and things is quite difficult. Jamie: Yes, it definitely is. I'd say I primarily write contemporary fantasy, but I'll write anything in any genre if I'm really excited about it. I also have a soft spot for Westerns. They take a little more time because I like to research all the facts, but those are really fun to write. Creating anthologies on your own is actually quite a bit of work. One of the things I also do is work with two other authors, DeAnna Knippling and Tami Veldura, and create more anthologies with them. That's really fun because then we can each take a different piece. There's also always somebody to talk to, as opposed to doing it on your own. Jo: Let's start with the terminology, because I definitely struggled with this, and I think people still do. We've got bundles, we've got box sets, we've got anthologies, we've got collections—and are these in ebook, audiobook, or print? Can you start by explaining what all of these words actually mean? Jamie: Yes. In my book I actually use the term “multi-author collection” or “multi-author project”, because there are so many different permutations and it does get confusing. From my perspective, I think of a bundle as a collection. It could be a collection of ebooks. Technically it could be a collection of print books, although people generally use “box set” for that—but then a box set can also be a box set that's all ebooks. An anthology, I usually use for something that's a collection of short stories where there's an editor who's actually edited all the stories. I have had stories in anthologies where somebody didn't edit them, and they would technically be called a curator. So it is definitely confusing. I have not done anything with audio collections, but that certainly is another area that I actually think is pretty interesting. Jo: I also think that a single author… so I've done a short story collection, but an anthology is multiple authors. Is that right? Jamie: Yes. Jo: I think when I came into the indie space, there were a lot more multi-author… we all called them box sets back in the day, when it was just ebooks, right? And now we can actually do boxed sets with boxes through things like BookVault. So it feels like the term “box set” has also gone out of fashion. So if people listening are thinking of doing any of this, you do have to figure out what is the thing you might be signing up for. So let's talk about the multi-author projects, as that's where you specialise. What are the benefits for an author to be involved in a multi-author anthology project? Jamie: The biggest benefit is that you are one of multiple people promoting the same project, whether it's print or ebook or whatever. If I put out a short story collection on my own, I'm the one promoting it, and maybe I can get a couple of other people to write about it, but it's really just me. If I'm part of an anthology with 15 other authors, that's 15 other people who are promoting the same project. That's more newsletters, more Facebook posts, maybe something on their Patreons, whatever it is. You get more synergy, and you get more touch points with potential readers. Then hopefully that translates into sales as well. So that's definitely the biggest part of it—the promotion. Then I also personally really enjoy these types of collections because it's just fun to work with other people. There's a nice energy when everybody's like, “Oh, I put this in my newsletter, and I put this here, and I put this here,” and you feel like you're part of something bigger than just your own piece. Jo: What about the creative benefits? Especially with short stories, often people will write them for a collection or for an anthology project. Jamie: Yes. I've definitely written some stories that I never would have thought I'd write, because somebody I knew asked if I would be interested in being in their collection—whether it's an ebook bundle or a print anthology. So at least for me, that's been really fun. One of the ones that stands out is that I was asked to be in a dinosaur collection once, and I was like, “I don't write dinosaur stories.” And then I did. I set a dinosaur story in London, and it was really fun to write, and I never would have come up with that in a million years. Jo: Let's say we've got 12 authors. They've all written short stories, and now it's in this anthology. But what is the market for these kinds of things? Have you found that there is a readership for short story anthologies that carries over to the author's longer work? Jamie: There is. I like to think of it as: if I have a story in a collection or an anthology—whether it's one I'm editing or somebody else is editing—that's one more place for people to find me. A lot of times anthologies will take reprints as well, like your story. “The Dark Queen”—that was a reprint. We asked if you'd be interested in participating in the Amazing Monster Tales series. And I actually really like printing stories again that have already been published, because there are a lot of stories out there that can be hard to find. Or if it's an older book. I have one author I've known for, like, 30 years. I reprinted one of her stories that was originally published in, I think, 1999, and the anthology it was in was out of print. You couldn't find it, and it was a fantastic story. So it's fun to be able to give new life to those stories and give them more opportunities, and also just have more ways for people to find you. Jo: Yes, I definitely think it's a long game. I don't think appearing in a short story anthology in one particular month is going to mean that your whole back collection just sells, right? Jamie: No, definitely not. It's more about avenues to be found. I know there have been some anthologies that have made quite a bit of money, but in general you're probably not going to make as much money, but you will have those extra places for people to find you. Jo: I always feel like yes, there is maybe a small amount of money, but it is more about almost a marketing thing in itself. So let's say an author is listening and they're like, “Do you know, this sounds like a great idea.” How can they pitch for things like this? How do they find out about opportunities, or get noticed to be asked? And what are the expectations for them? Jamie: The biggest thing is networking. There used to be a couple of opportunities where you could make people aware that you had stories that you were interested in potentially having picked up for something. I'm not aware of anything like that now. When I create a collection, I have a mailing list that I send out, and it includes authors I've published before. It includes a couple of extra people who somehow found my mailing list. And I'll publish, like, “Here's what I'm doing.” There are also authors I've met at writing workshops. I've been able to read some of their work, I'll approach them and say, “Hey, I really liked such and such a story. Would you be interested in writing for this?” Then there are a couple of other websites, like Duotrope, and places that advertise markets and calls for submissions. Jo: Yes, I've found them also on small presses that do these kinds of projects. They often put up one call for submission a month or something, and you can write for their particular thing. In general, the short story markets are the places to keep an eye on. Jamie: Yes, definitely. Jo: If an author wants to pitch to have their story as part of an anthology, do you want to know things like platform, or is it just the story itself? Jamie: I personally look at the author's platform. I do make exceptions—there are actually two authors I've worked with a couple of times who don't have websites. They are people I know personally and they are very, very good writers, so I'll make an exception for things like that. But otherwise, if somebody submitted a story to me and I didn't know that person, I would check out their website, I would check out their social media, I would see what else they had done. Part of what you're doing when you're creating a collection is thinking not just about how you, as the person organising this, will promote the collection, but how the authors who are participating will help promote it as well. If it's somebody who has a lot of fans, even if they're not very active on social media, that can help a lot too. There are a lot of different factors, though. Jo: So then talk us through the project timeline. How long do things take, and what sort of involvement do the authors have along the way? Because it's a lot to juggle. Jamie: Yes, it is a lot to juggle. I can give you an example with the Monster Tales series. We'll come up with an idea, and we also like to try to get the artwork done early on in the process. We don't need it that soon, but it's really great to have that taken care of. We'll contact authors. I think for this one we used my mailing list, but we've also contacted a number of people individually that we know who write the style of stories we like. Then, as the submissions come in, we usually wait until we have a nice chunk of them to start going through, and then we'll pick some right away. Sometimes it'll be like, “Oh my gosh, of course we want this story,” and we'll wait to fill out the other slots. Then we'll negotiate sometimes. Sometimes it's like, “I want this story.” “Well, I want this other story.” And we have to figure out how the word count works. Once we finalise the stories, then usually what happens with that anthology is that DeAnna—who is a very, very good editor—will make the first editing pass, and then I'll make the second. And now Tami's involved, so Tami will make the third, and then we'll iterate. Once all three of us have gone through the first time, then we'll send the story back to the author for edits. So the most the author has to do for most of the process is just wait for us to edit their story, and then work on their edits and get them back. Then, once we get closer to launch, we'll give them information about what we're going to do. For example, we're going to launch the next issue with a Kickstarter. So our authors know that we have a Kickstarter coming, and we'll give them more information as we get closer to the actual launch date. Jo: So how long might an author expect before their work is out there? Jamie: It really varies. I've had some collections published very quickly—let's say a couple of months. Some have taken longer just because somebody ends up having some life issue and things get delayed. So I'd say ideally it would be more like three to nine months. Jo: Yes, I think… depending on the— Jamie: —collection and the complexity. Jo: Yes, exactly. Jo: And you did mention word count there. Just give us a range of what word count you like to get. Jamie: So these days I'm shooting for between 75,000 and 80,000 for the total word count for a collection. That includes the stories, but it also includes the opening, the introduction. For one we're working on now, we're going to have some interstitials, where we have little bits of things we're going to write in between each story. So that's the overall size of the collection. I'll keep track of the word count as the stories come in, and then as we edit the stories, sometimes they grow, sometimes they shrink. Sometimes that's a big enough difference where we're like, “Okay, we need one more story to fill it in.” But that's the target. Jo: And how much for each individual story? Jamie: That varies. I've done a bunch of different things. These days, what I'm advertising is between 3,000 and 8,000 words. I also always tell people: if you're outside this range on either side, just check with me, and if it's something that's really an excellent fit for the book, I'll make an exception. The one that's coming out, I think we have a 1,500- or 2,000-word story that was just amazingly perfect for what we wanted. There was another story, actually I think it was the issue that you were in, that was at least 12,000 words, but it also was a perfect fit for the theme. So I will make exceptions, but within reason. I wouldn't put a novella inside an anthology, because then you'd have a 22,000-word story next to a 3,000-word story, and I personally feel like that's really jarring for the reader. You don't want to go from something super short to something super long. It just doesn't feel like it flows well to me. Jo: No, absolutely. Jo: We'll come back to the making of it because you mentioned some really interesting things there. But just on the contractual side—a lot of indie authors don't necessarily do any publishing contracts for their work, unless it's signing the terms and conditions when uploading on Amazon or Kobo. So tell us a bit about the contract side. What rights are we talking about here? Any red lines in contracts around this kind of thing? Jamie: For contracts, I would recommend people read Kristine Kathryn Rusch's posts on this. She is way more informed about this than I ever will be, so when I have questions, I'll look at her posts. I've asked her a couple of questions. What we're doing for the Amazing Monster Tales… this is the first time that I've actually had authors sign contracts. Prior to this, I've used PubShare, which handles royalty splits and all of that, and that was really great. We want to do direct sales and Kickstarters and have lots of other options. So we did put together a contract this time. I'd have to pull it up, but I think we asked for first worldwide rights in English—I'm getting the terminology wrong here—but that was basically it. Jo: Or, I guess, reprint rights if the story's already been licensed. Jamie: Correct. We have two contract templates, one for original stories and one for reprints. We made sure to make that distinction, because it is definitely a distinction. In the book by Kristine Kathryn Rusch—it's called Closing the Deal… on Your Terms—I highly recommend that for anybody interested in learning more about contracts. Jo: Yes, that's great. And just for people listening: when you said you didn't have contracts before, you just used PubShare. So in that way, the author still retained the rights and you just split the royalties—it was more of a co-writing thing. Jamie: Correct. When you publish stories through PubShare, the author signs an agreement with PubShare, and then I, as the editor or organiser, would also sign a separate agreement. So each of us has an agreement with PubShare. We don't have agreements with each other, if that makes sense. Jo: Yes, so it's very different to move into Kickstarter. So tell us about what you're now moving into. Jamie: Well, Kickstarters are a new world for me personally. I have many friends who have had Kickstarters. I've supported Kickstarters. I watch them. But it's something where I'm very happy to have two partners who have done Kickstarters before. I'm not sure how many Tami's done—I think Tami's done the most at this point. So this is all new to me. But it's very exciting. At this point we have a backlist, so part of the plan, for the Monster series, is to offer issues one through four as part of the rewards when we launch issue number five. That's really exciting, because I never had a backlist like that before. Jo: Yes, and in fact the money is in the backlist, as ever, and those add-ons or bundles as part of Kickstarter are great. So are you going to do special print editions, or is it digital only? Jamie: We are talking about special print editions. You mentioned BookVault earlier—we've been looking at BookVault. Our other anthology series that hasn't come out yet will also launch with a Kickstarter. It's dragon-themed, and Tami actually did the cover work, which is beautiful. BookVault just gives you so many options that we never had before, so I'm very excited about that. Jo: Yes, I think it's a really good idea. I did gorgeous hardbacks for my solo author collection, so I think it's a great idea. So from the publisher side, let's come back to that. You've mentioned you have to write things like an introduction and interstitials, and you're trying to balance the stories. What are some of the other things that people might think about if they want to organise their own anthologies? Jamie: Oh gosh, where to start? There's the basic setting up of the anthology, so you have to define the table of contents. You might get a bunch of stories that are really awesome, and you might have to tell somebody who has a wonderful story—and maybe even who's a good friend of yours—that you're going to pass on it because their story doesn't fit with all the other stories. Every time I have to do that, I feel kind of bad. But being on this side, it's really interesting to see how you can tell which stories fit together and which don't. There's also the editing process, which can be a lot of work. Part of what I like about working with Tami and DeAnna is that DeAnna really loves editing. I feel like I'm a good editor, and I can do it, but for me it's more of a job. For DeAnna, she loves it, so she does the bulk of the editing, which is great. When I do it on my own, I feel like it's a task I have to do. There's lots of cat-herding. Sometimes people take a while to get their edits back. Sometimes they have life events, and you have to delay things because you're waiting on them. There are all the little tiny pieces of organising things—like, if you're reprinting stories, you need to make sure you get the copyright attribution correct. A lot of times I'll have to go and look up where something was originally published. An author might say, “Oh, it was published in this year,” and I'm like, “Okay, actually it was published in this other year, by this other publication first.” So I'm trying to be organised there. henT one of the things that very infrequently—I think it's only happened to me twice—every once in a while, you're in the middle of editing a story and you have to pass on it, even though you've already accepted it, because the editorial vision and the author vision for the story are not the same, and you can't reconcile that. Jo: I think that's really interesting, because so much of what you're talking about there—you mentioned vision—it's almost taste. You're saying which stories fit. It's not just a case of, I don't know, a pirate anthology and then picking 10 stories about pirates, right? You seem to be thinking about this in a more artistic way. So can you talk a bit more about that? How do you decide on a theme, and then how do you know that a story doesn't fit? Jamie: In the beginning, I was not this selective. In the beginning I'd say, for example, “Hey, I'm putting out a collection about fairies. Give me a fairy story,” and that was it. As I've edited the stories, it's become easier to see how things fit. So, for example, if I have 10 stories in an anthology and I have an 11th story, and they have different tones—let's say the 11th story is really funny and all the other stories are very serious—then that would be a fit thing. That's not necessarily taste; it's just that you don't want one funny story if everything else is really dark and scary or serious. As far as picking a theme, the theme could be very broad. With this dragon anthology we're working on, we decided we wanted it to be called A Hoard of Books. So the theme was: has to have dragons, has to have books, and that's pretty much it. And then we were like, “Let's just see what we get.” We were very surprised at what we got. We thought we'd have more serious stories, and it turned out most of them were very light-hearted and really fun. And we're like, “You know what? That actually changes the way we're looking at the whole series,” because we did not expect that. With the monster series, we'll pick a theme. So, for example, the next issue is Monsters in Love, and for those it's more like, let's just see what happens. Sometimes I'll have a more specific theme. The next anthology I'm publishing on my own is called Fairy Bargains, and I wanted people to obviously have fairies, but I wanted there to be something related to the mythology and lore of having a bargain with a fairy—and there's a lot of stuff about that. So for some things like that, when I put out a call, I'll provide information. I might say, “Here's a link to a Wikipedia article. Here's some mythology that might be helpful for you,” just because I want things to stick a little bit more to the theme itself. Whereas with Monsters in Love, there's a very wide range of stories, and that was very fun to work through. Jo: Oh, yes. There's a lot of monster, on the spicy side as well. But were you doing a clean Monsters in Love, as opposed to in lust? Jamie: Yes, this is a clean one. That's pretty funny. But boy, when you give authors the room for these types of things, you get all kinds of stories, and it is super fun to work with those collections. Jo: As you're talking, I definitely want to do more short stories. It's really interesting, because you can actually generally get paid more for a first print—first print rights on a short story—but I often want to just publish it myself. Then I was really happy to be in yours, because it was a reprint anyway. So I was like, well, there's absolutely nothing to lose if it goes in as a reprint. So these things can be really interesting. Talking of the finance from your side of things: you have a small press and you're doing this publishing yourself, but you're paying all these authors and doing a lot of work. So how does it work as the publisher, in terms of these anthologies, financially? Jamie: With the ones we've published so far, because we've gone through PubShare, it's been a royalty split. As the editors, we would take a percentage, and then we pay for the artwork, and of course all of our time. I think what we were doing there was saying 70% of the royalties would be split equally between all of the authors and the stories. So, for example, if I had a story as well, I would get part of the author split—the same percentage as everybody else in the collection—in addition to the editor split. For what we're doing now, we've changed this a little bit, and I believe we said 60% goes to the authors, and then we're going to keep a share of the proceeds for the business because we want to be able to pay for the artwork out of the business account. We want to pay for advertising, whatever we need to do—like setting up our store, or if we wanted to invest in anything, we want to be able to do that as the business, as opposed to it just being us doing this on our own. We're just trying to treat it a little bit differently. Jo: And I know it's so much work—a crazy amount of work. How many anthologies and books do you have to do in a year to make it worthwhile financially? Jamie: Oh, I don't know. I would say, unless you get an opportunity—like, for example, to have an anthology in a story bundle or something like that—you may not break even. But if you're going to do this, do it more for the marketing, do it more because you enjoy it. Now, going forward, I think that will change, because we are looking at Kickstarters, we are looking at direct sales. We're very motivated to try to make this more of a business thing than a fun side project. So, ask me in a year. Jo: Yes, hopefully more. I do think Kickstarter is great for short stories. I actually buy quite a few collections on Kickstarter. I think they're actually really hard to discover through, say, Amazon—it's a place that is quite hard to identify short stories. Whereas I've found I've bought collections on Kickstarter because there's so much more of a sales page—there's so much more rich media that tells me how I'm going to feel about the stuff. I've bought short story anthologies and collections from people I don't know. So I think it's a really good thing to do. There is an audience there. Jamie: Yes, definitely. And it does feel like the anthologies on Amazon don't sell as well—you don't make as much as you used to. I've been doing this for, well, gosh, 10 years now, and I feel like the sales numbers on Amazon in the past year were noticeably lower than they would have been six or eight years ago. So I am very excited about Kickstarter. Plus, Kickstarter just feels really fun. You're not just throwing your book up; you also have all the extra stuff with the page, you have the rewards, and it just feels really exciting. Jo: No, I agree. I really love it. I didn't do it for a long time, and now I just love it. Jo: So, staying with the publisher side of things— Any practical formatting and production tips? Because in these types of projects, all kinds of people just send you different stuff. Jamie: I have a style guide. So whether it's me or it's the group project, once all the edits are complete, I'll do a formatting pass, and I'll make sure I use curly quotes and the same em dash format and everything, just so everything in the book is formatted the same way. Every once in a while there's an author who has something particular that they want, and I can work around that, and that's fine. I also work with a lot of Canadian authors, and I'll let them keep their Canadian spellings. I don't think everybody does that, but I feel like that's their voice in a way, so I don't correct those. I might check some things there. I think the formatting is important—it makes things look better if everything has the same style. Then I use Vellum, which makes things really easy. I love Vellum. Because I publish so many authors at this point, I have a Vellum file where I store their biographies and their links, so when I publish a new anthology I'll just go grab, say, Jo's “about the author” page from that collection and put it into the new file. Then I also track when the last time was that I checked with the author about their biography. If it's been more than a year, I'll check in with them and say, “Hey, do you have an updated biography you want me to use? Here are your links—do you have any different links now?” So that makes it a lot easier from the formatting standpoint. Jo: And you mentioned Vellum—having done box sets on Vellum, you can just drag a whole book in there if you want to do a three-book box set, or three short stories, whatever. It's much easier to just drag things in, and it makes it easier to format. So I would say to people: you don't need to worry too much about that. There are lots of things that can help you. But even with doing the print stuff for the Kickstarter—people have opinions, don't they? So in terms of authors' opinions and managing—you mentioned herding cats—how do you manage all of that side of things? Jamie: I haven't actually had a lot of trouble with that. The authors I've worked with seem to feel like they gave me their story, and then once the edits are out of the way… I haven't had anybody have any issues with the covers. Usually they love the covers, especially for the Monster series. So, no problems there. Jo: Oh, that's good. Well, I would say a tip would be to make sure you're communicating, if you're somebody who's organising. So talk a bit about communication. Jamie: Communication is very important. What I try to do is send regular updates, especially if I'm in the middle of edits or working on something and I'm not ready to launch. I'll send an update email out to the authors and just say, “Here's what's going on, here's what the plan is.” Or if the plan has to change, if the launch date has to change for some reason, I'll let the authors know about that. Actually, with the upcoming Monsters in Love issue, we were originally not going to do a Kickstarter. That was a late decision, so I contacted all the authors and said, “We've changed our plans. We're going to launch this with a Kickstarter. Please confirm that you're okay with this.” One author was not comfortable with the Kickstarter idea, so he pulled his story, and then we found a replacement story for that. But I just feel like the communication piece is really essential. It's really important for the authors to know what's going on. Jo: Yes, absolutely. So, we've talked about how marketing is a good thing, in terms of there being lots of people marketing. How are you effectively marketing these kinds of books, as the premise is quite different to a single author project? Jamie: Right. There's the usual—write a release post, write posts on social. I do additional things, so I'll publish what I call a story spotlight for each story in the anthology. That's just where I talk a little bit about the story, I provide an excerpt, and then I provide the author's bio and links to find them. Those are really great, because they're very quick to put together. The hardest part is getting a short excerpt that shows enough about the story to be engaging. But that really isn't that much time, either. Then those are also nicely evergreen. I've actually searched for authors before, when I'm trying to research them for an interview, and I've found my own spotlight posts and my own interview posts with authors come up at the top of the list, which is kind of funny. I also do interviews with as many of the authors in a collection as are willing to participate. Sometimes people just don't have the time—I don't make this required—but I usually get 80 to 90% of the authors participating. So, for example, this year I'm in a couple of bundles on StoryBundle, and I'm doing interviews for people there. It's also really fun, and you're not paying for advertising—you're just creating something that the authors are excited about and they want to share. So it promotes the collection, but it also promotes the author, which I find really nice. It's a nice networking thing too, and I'm happy if someone wants to interview me. It's like free publicity for each person, in addition to the collection. Jo: I love that you've used the word “fun” quite a lot, which I find amazing. You're obviously a super collaborative person. I've co-written a number of books— I've been part of some collections, and I really think that there are two personalities. One is like me, where we really love the creation stuff and the publishing stuff, but we're hyper-controlling. And then someone like you—you're very collaborative, and you're doing such a great job. To people listening, I would say: if you're more like me, don't organise an anthology. What you want is Jamie, or somebody who actually finds it fun to organise a big group of authors. Jamie: Yes. It is definitely interesting working with other partners in this, because when I publish an anthology on my own, I make all the decisions. I pick the artwork, I pick the theme, I do everything, I decide the table of contents. But when you're working with other people, you do need to negotiate. So we've had a couple of times where it's like, “I want this story.” “Well, I want this other story, I don't like the story that you want.” And so we have to barter, in a way. Aside from that, it is nice, because you get to split up the tasks. I could focus on things like the organising—I do the Vellum files, I do the final cover and everything. For the Kickstarters, actually, Tami's got more expertise, so Tami's going to be working on the Kickstarters for our collections together. If I had to do all this on my own, it's a ton of work. It's a ton of work. So it is nice to split it up. Jo: And of course, one of the things is managing so many moving parts—and you've actually built a tool to manage all this. So tell us a bit about that tool, and how it might be useful for people with big backlists as well as anthologies. Jamie: I built what I think of as a publishing management application. The original idea is that, for years and years, I wanted a software tool that would do catalogue management, because I was managing my own catalogue, and I was also managing—at this point I've published at least 20 anthologies, so that's a lot of authors. Then last summer, I had an author who I'd published a number of times, who was going to, I think, WorldCon, and she asked if I could give her covers for five anthologies she'd been in, so that she could make some promotional material. I was like, “Oh, sure, I can do that.” And then I was like, “Well, wait a second—is this in Notion?”—because I started trying to use Notion last year—”or is it in a spreadsheet?” It turned out her information was in, like, three different places, and I had to work to pull it together. And then I was like, “You know what? That's it. I'm just going to finally write this application.” So Inkwren manages your stories. As an author, I can manage my stories—I can track which are published, which are drafts, which are just ideas. I can track my publications. From the publisher standpoint, it's really helpful, because I can track each anthology I've published and what I'm working on. I can track the edits, I can track the contracts. I can upload contract templates—so we talked earlier about the original and reprint contract templates that I use. I upload those, and they have placeholders in them. When I generate the actual contract, the author's name will replace the placeholder—I'll have the text “author name” in the contract template, and it'll get replaced by, like, “Joanna Penn” or whatever. So that saves a lot of time. Then I also added in task tracking, because I started to feel like, well, now all my stuff is in one place, but my tasks are somewhere else. So now I can associate tasks with a publication. For example, for the book I'm working on right now, I know which tasks I need to do for the cover, and which for the interior, and everything. I have a template of tasks. Then I can also track tasks related to promotions. For example, the story bundle I'm promoting right now, I have a task for each interview I'm doing with the authors, and I have a calendar view. I can see when I'm going to publish them and know that they're all spread out. It saves me so much time, and it's so much easier. Jo: I do think building tools when you actually need the tool yourself is very useful. Just say the name again, and spell it out for people. Jamie: It's Inkwren. My own personal publishing company is Blackbird Publishing, and I wanted something related to birds and writing. So I came up with Inkwren, which is I-N-K-W-R-E-N, and it's just inkwren.com. Jo: And it is available for other people to potentially buy and use? Jamie: Yes, it is. Jo: Well, I think that's super useful, because it's very hard when people are starting out and they think, “Oh, I've only got one book—why would I need any kind of tool to manage it?” But over the years, your backlist grows, especially with short stories. So I love that you've built this, and there's probably more that you can add over time as you expand the business yourself. So much potential. So we are at the end. Where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Jamie: My author website is JamieFerguson.com. And then, obviously, I mentioned Inkwren earlier. My publishing company is BlackbirdPublishing.com. And then the projects I'm doing with Tami and DeAnna—we have a couple of websites, but the easiest way to find us is our press, which is BorogrovePress.com. Jo: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Jamie. That was great. Jamie: Thanks, Joanna.The post Bundles, Box Sets and Anthologies With Jamie Ferguson first appeared on The Creative Penn.
A Note from James:This is a very special episode for me.There have only been a few times in the history of this podcast when I've had the chance to sit down with one of my heroes. This is one of those times.Frank Miller is one of the most important storytellers of my life. When I first picked up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986, it completely changed what I thought comics could be. This wasn't just another Batman story. It was a revolution. Frank took Batman out of the colorful, campy world I grew up with and turned him into something darker, mythic, terrifying, and psychologically real.There is a comic book industry before The Dark Knight Returns, and there is a comic book industry after The Dark Knight Returns. Every Batman movie since then carries Frank's fingerprints in some way. But it wasn't just Batman. Frank changed Daredevil. He created Ronin. He created Sin City. He showed that comics could handle adult stories, painful arcs, crime, tragedy, mythology, obsession, and moral ambiguity.But what matters most to me is that Frank is a master storyteller. And I love storytelling. Whether it's books, podcasts, articles, comics, or just how we make sense of our lives, story is everything.So getting to sit down with Frank Miller and talk about Batman, myth, creativity, mentorship, discipline, and his new book, Push the Wall: My Life, Writing, Drawing, and the Art of Storytelling, was a dream come true.This was my first in-person podcast in years. Jay drove up from Atlanta. I flew into the city. And yes, I brought my copy of The Dark Knight Returns for Frank to sign.Episode Description:Frank Miller didn't just write and draw some of the most influential comics of the modern era. He changed the grammar of comics.In this conversation, James sits down with Miller to talk about Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, Ronin, Sin City, and Miller's new book, Push the Wall. The conversation begins with Batman, but quickly becomes a larger discussion about how characters become myths.For Miller, Batman was never just a rich detective in a costume. The material was already there from the beginning: a child witnessing the murder of his parents, growing up without powers, building himself into a force through discipline, intelligence, and obsession. Miller's goal was to pull that core truth out and make Batman stand beside older pulp and mythic figures like Zorro, The Shadow, and the hard-edged heroes of crime cinema.James and Frank also talk about how myths are built around simple central values. Superman is hope. Batman is justice, vengeance, effort, and fear. The art is not in making those ideas complicated. The art is in placing them inside a human context so they feel emotionally true.The discussion moves into the craft of comics itself: page layouts, panel borders, visual rhythm, and how the pictures carry most of the story. Miller reflects on the influence of Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Denny O'Neil, Japanese samurai films, martial arts movies, Greek tragedy, Jean Giraud/Moebius, Lone Wolf and Cub, and the creative power of combining worlds that do not obviously belong together.They also talk about mentorship. Miller describes calling Neal Adams from the phone book, bringing him drawings, and enduring brutally honest criticism. That toughness, he says, was part of the training. To survive as an artist, you need egoism without egotism: enough belief to keep coming back, but enough humility to keep learning.The episode closes with practical advice for young artists today: go to conventions, build the strongest portfolio you can, seek out hard criticism, don't chase only the biggest titles, protect your original ideas, and look for “losers” you can make great.What You'll Learn:Why Frank Miller wanted Batman to become a myth, not just another superhero.How The Dark Knight Returns helped move comics toward darker, more adult storytelling.Why Batman's lack of superpowers is exactly what makes him compelling.How mythic characters are built around simple core themes like hope, vengeance, justice, or discipline.Why comics are not just written stories with pictures, but a visual storytelling machine.How Miller learned from Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Denny O'Neil, samurai films, noir, Greek tragedy, and European comics.Why creativity often comes from combining unrelated influences.What Miller means by “egoism, but not egotism.”Why young artists should seek out hard lessons instead of easy praise.How to enter comics today without giving away original work too early.Why determination, stamina, and a lack of Plan B shaped Miller's career.What Miller is working on next, including a new Western-style Sin City story.Timestamped Chapters:[03:41] Meeting Frank MillerJames begins by holding up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and asking what it means to be known through one defining work.[04:00] Before and After The Dark Knight ReturnsWhy James sees Miller's Batman as a dividing line in comic book history.[05:07] Turning Batman Into a Psychological ConditionJames asks how Miller transformed Batman from a campy hero into something darker, mythic, and terrifying.[05:49] Batman as MythFrank explains that his first impulse was to make Batman stand with figures like The Shadow, Zorro, and the hard-edged heroes of crime cinema.[06:37] Pulling Comics Out of ChildhoodMiller describes his desire to push comics into adolescence and beyond the conventions of disposable monthly stories.[06:59] The Origin Was Always ThereWhy Batman's trauma, lack of powers, and self-made discipline were already embedded in the character from the beginning.[07:50] Superman Descends, Batman RisesFrank contrasts Superman as a figure of light with Batman as something that comes up from the darkness.[08:44] What Makes a Character Mythic?Miller explains that great characters usually have a simple central theme: hope, justice, vengeance, effort, or fear.[10:30] King Arthur, Luke Skywalker, and the Power of ObjectsThe conversation turns to swords, lightsabers, utility belts, and how mythic symbols carry stories across generations.[11:54] Breaking the PageJames and Frank discuss how Kirby, Neal Adams, and others shattered conventional panel layouts before Miller pushed those techniques further.[12:35] A Tradition of RevolutionFrank explains why creativity means breaking a few eggs while still working inside a lineage.[13:00] When the Page Tells the StoryHow panel size, shape, and visual composition can carry emotional meaning without words.[14:10] What Would Frank Do With Batman Now?Miller says the point is not to reinvent Batman for novelty's sake, but to find a good story.[15:00] Moving Daredevil Into Hell's KitchenJames asks how Miller brought his own New York experience into Daredevil's world.[15:45] Fear, Editors, and Media ConglomeratesFrank reflects on how creative fear moves through artists, editors, bosses, and corporate structures.[16:17] Are New Comic Stories Still Possible?Miller argues that the talent and creative energy are still there, even if it does not always come from predictable places.[17:40] How Comics Survived Their Own DeathsFrank traces comic books from the attacks of the 1950s to Marvel, underground comics, and the direct market.[19:30] What Young Artists Need TodayWhen James asks what skill matters beyond drawing and storytelling, Miller answers: determination.[20:01] No Plan BFrank explains that he never had a concept of failure because comics were what he had wanted to do since his earliest memories.[20:47] Writing vs. StorytellingWhy, in comics, most of the storytelling happens in the pictures.[21:00] Neal Adams and the Hard LessonsMiller remembers calling Neal Adams from the phone book and receiving tough critiques that tested his character.[22:34] Egoism, Not EgotismFrank explains the balance an artist needs: enough ego to return after criticism, but not so much that they stop learning.[22:51] Stealing From the GreatsWhy artists must study and learn from earlier practitioners rather than pretending genius arrives fully formed.[23:47] Batman Is Possessed, Not ObsessedFrank corrects James's description of Batman and explains that Batman is filled with an eternal force.[24:50] Daredevil, Samurai, Crime, and Greek TragedyHow Miller fused martial arts films, ninja stories, crime movies, and Greek tragedy into his Daredevil run.[27:01] Stick, Elektra, and the Sensei ArchetypeJames and Frank trace the mentor-student relationship through Daredevil, samurai stories, and mythic training narratives.[27:47] Lone Wolf and Cub, Moebius, and RoninHow Forbidden Planet exposed Miller to Japanese and European comics, leading to the hybrid world of Ronin.[28:35] The Power of IntersectionsWhy combining Westerns, samurai stories, science fiction, noir, and mythology can create something new.[30:08] Discipline vs. ChaosJames identifies a recurring theme in Miller's work: taking chaos and molding it into purpose.[30:40] Batman Becomes the FatherFrank explains the final image of The Dark Knight Returns: the orphan becoming the father.[31:24] Why So Many Heroes Are OrphansMiller says the lone child against the elements is at the heart of heroic storytelling.[32:36] Guilt, Control, and Batman's Unhealed WoundJames and Frank discuss whether Batman is driven by guilt or by the need to take control after childhood trauma.[33:43] Pushing Batman to the ExtremeWhy Miller made the Batmobile a tank and amplified the character's core qualities.[33:50] How Frank Would Start TodayMiller advises young artists to attend conventions, show their work, use the internet, and seek honest feedback.[34:36] Seek Hard CriticismWhy young creators should avoid people who only make them feel good.[34:59] Don't Chase the Biggest TitlesMiller advises artists to look for overlooked characters—or better yet, create something themselves.[35:21] Find a Loser and Do It RightA practical creative strategy: identify something bad, understand why it fails, and build the better version.[35:41] Gatekeepers and New AvenuesFrank weighs the traditional obstacles against new channels for artists to get discovered.[36:27] Protect Your Original IdeasWhy young artists should be careful about handing over original material too early.[37:00] Humility, Listening, and Surviving the BusinessMiller adds that determination must be paired with humility and a willingness to learn how the industry works.[37:58] Batman at 55—and What Comes NextJames reflects on Batman's age in The Dark Knight Returns, and Frank jokes that next time Batman may be 80.[38:36] A New Western Sin CityFrank talks about working on a new Sin City story with a Western angle.[38:52] Push the Wall and the Art of CreativityJames closes by describing Miller's new book as a guide to creativity and inspiration.[39:20] A Dream Interview Comes Full CircleJames thanks Frank, explains the personal significance of the episode, and asks him to sign The Dark Knight Returns.Additional Resources:Push the Wall by Frank Miller — Miller's memoir and guide to writing, drawing, and storytelling.Batman: The Dark Knight Returns — Miller's landmark Batman story.Batman: Year One — Written by Frank Miller with art by David Mazzucchelli.Frank Miller's Sin City Deluxe Editions — Dark Horse's deluxe editions of the noir series.Lone Wolf and Cub — The samurai manga series Miller discusses as a major influence.Moebius / Jean Giraud — The European comics artist whose visual world influenced Ronin and modern science-fiction imagery.Joseph Campbell Foundation — Background on the mythic storytelling ideas referenced in the conversation.Neal Adams — DC's remembrance of the artist and mentor Miller discusses.Jack Kirby Museum — Archive and background on one of Miller's central comics influences.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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