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Beat to a Pulp: Superhero
What makes a superhero? Someone with special powers ... Ordinary people doing good deeds ... Anyone with sophisticated technological gadgets and incredible agility? Superheroes can spring up from the most unexpected people in the most unusual places, and BEAT to a PULP: Superhero has gathered some of the best hardboiled and noir crime stories with a superhero bend. Billy Mitchell, the six-year-old "Red Avenger" in Kevin Burton Smith's tale, has an innocence and a special something that draws us to want to don a mask and tie a towel around our necks. Steve Weddle dissects the reality of a world in which super-powered "others" walk in the midst of normal people who tend to quote only parts of the Bible. And James Reasoner's story is set in a time not usually associated with superheroes -- the American Revolution -- yet Patrick Mainwaring finds the classic essence of a superhero. Other top contributors include Jake Hinkson, Garnett Elliott, Liam Jose, Sandra Seamans, Jerry Bloomfield, Thomas Pluck, Keith Rawson, Court Merrigan, Benoit Lelievre, and Chad Eagleton. If you like the work of Frank Miller or the recent Dark Knight films directed by Christopher Nolan, then you'll enjoy the grit of these thirteen tales in BEAT to a PULP: Superhero.
- GenresShort StoriesAnthologies
165 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 7, 2012
3 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
David Cranmer
23 books23 followersDavid Cranmer aka as Edward A. Grainger is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared at Macmillan’s TOR.COM and Criminal Element sites. Follow him on Twitter @BEATtoaPULP.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 15, 2012
Editors David Cranmer and Scott D. Parker have given us another fine set of stories. The Use of superhero doesn't mean the what one normally associates with the word. To be sure, there are people with powers in some of these. But the majority are regular folks doing what needs to be done to help someone, save a life, or vice versa. People of all ages playing at being superhero and finding a core that makes those heroes in their own frail bodies.
All sorts of stories, some in the future, most present day, and James Reasoner has one set in the Revolutionary war.
Here's the line-up:
THE LONG DROP - Jake Hinson
THE REVENGE OF THE RED AVENGER - Kevin Burton Smith
PHANTOM BLACK AND THE BIG WIDE OPEN - Garnett Elliott
DRUMS - James reasoner
DARK GUT in ...Terror On The Digger! -Liam Jose
MOON MAD - Sandra Seamons
PUSHED TOO FAR - Jerry Bloomfield
SPOILED - Keith Rawson
GARBAGE MAN - Thomas Pluck
WHITE TIGER - Court Merrigan
DOBERMAN: THIRD PARTY LAW ENFORCEMENT - Benoit Lelievre
SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE PAVEMENT - Chad Eagleton
THE LAST HERO - Steve Weddle
As always in story collections, I liked some better than others. Doesn't mean any of them are bad, they're not, just that they touched something in me. The next fellow will likely have a whole different set of favorites.
Recommended.
All sorts of stories, some in the future, most present day, and James Reasoner has one set in the Revolutionary war.
Here's the line-up:
THE LONG DROP - Jake Hinson
THE REVENGE OF THE RED AVENGER - Kevin Burton Smith
PHANTOM BLACK AND THE BIG WIDE OPEN - Garnett Elliott
DRUMS - James reasoner
DARK GUT in ...Terror On The Digger! -Liam Jose
MOON MAD - Sandra Seamons
PUSHED TOO FAR - Jerry Bloomfield
SPOILED - Keith Rawson
GARBAGE MAN - Thomas Pluck
WHITE TIGER - Court Merrigan
DOBERMAN: THIRD PARTY LAW ENFORCEMENT - Benoit Lelievre
SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE PAVEMENT - Chad Eagleton
THE LAST HERO - Steve Weddle
As always in story collections, I liked some better than others. Doesn't mean any of them are bad, they're not, just that they touched something in me. The next fellow will likely have a whole different set of favorites.
Recommended.
January 30, 2014
I’ve read Beat to a Pulp’s site for a while now, never disappointed at the weekly short stories they put up. This is the first anthology of their’s I’ve ever read, but now I have, the Hardboiled series is on the list, for this is a brilliant collection. I was a little reluctant to buy it, because I’m sick of all the superhero films, and still shaking my head at the Spiderman reboot. I didn’t want to read about po-faced men of steel smacking skyscrapers from their foundations, thanks. However, as I said, I’ve not yet seen Beat to a Pulp publish a stinker.
I enjoyed all the stories here, but Kevin Burton Smith’s The Revenge of the Red Avenger grabbed my shirt collars and pulled me right in, making me realise (though the fabulous introduction by Scott D. Parker should have clued me in) that this collection isn’t about indestructible men and women boring us with daddy issues and teenage angst, which has paid off so well. Smith’s story is about two kids just playing in the woods, making up superhero identities, fighting pretend crime, and loving each other in their innocent way. Parker calls it “nostalgic”, but it’s so much more than that. The loss is tangible, and it hurt. Beautiful story.
Then you have Liam Jose’s Dark Guy in … Terror on the Digger!, about the darker side of a child’s psyche. Harry pushes Anthony off the digger toy in the school playground so he can play on it longer, triggering Anthony’s descent into Dark Guy mode (a superhero only in the boy’s mind). And Dark Guy wants revenge. The revenge is horrible. You get used to reading dark stuff like this at sites like Shotgun Honey and Flash Fiction Offensive, and it’s all about adults doing terrible things to other adults. When a kid does something to another, it’s even worse, more so when the kid has no real idea what he’s done, or fantasises his actions. Great story, and really horrible.
Children are at most of the stories’ hearts. Sandra Seamans’ Moon Mad also has kids in danger, three girls kidnapped for sex slavery, until an old woman with a similarly heartbreaking past and a fading grasp on reality, takes matters into her own hands with the help of a shopping cart. It’s exciting, full of depth, and glorious.
So, you have kids in peril, a couple of historical superheros featuring a great man vs tiger battle in an Asian forest, and another in Revolutionary America (those bloody Brits, those poor overtaxed Americans), and a supervillain intent on ruling a metropolis. Many of the characters wonder what Batman would do in their situation. I got about halfway through and I started wondering if any of the tales would wrestle with the idea many recent articles have explored, about superheros being a bunch of fascists. Step up, Keith Rawson, with Spoiled, about a young man who follows his adopted father’s steps into the superhero mould, only he ends up fighting said adopted father because he’s a fascist who sees himself above the population. The old man sees everything in absolute terms to the extent that he will blow up a building containing a couple of drug dealers, and not mind about the collateral damage (killing everybody in the building), because they’re all complicit in the dealers’ crimes – guilty of doing nothing about the criminals in their midst.
The Revenge of the Red Avenger is my favourite, but Thomas Pluck’s Garbage Man tussles and gives it a good pounding to level in rank. Denny the Dent is a big man with a dent in his head, teased by everybody when he was growing up, now teased as an adult by children and grown-ups alike. Soft as a badger’s tail with those kids, he still smarts at what they tell him their parents say about him. But when they’re endangered, he will step in and take action to try to protect them. I’d heard about Pluck’s books over the internet. With a name like Blade of Dishonor, I didn’t think it’d be my cup of tea, and so I also thought I wouldn’t like this. But what a great story it is. It slow burns to a dramatic ending, and has you thinking about it for days afterwards, like Stephen King’s Stand By Me. Blade of Dishonor on the TBR list, then.
I’ve hardly scratched the surface, mentioning the ones I liked best, but there’s not a single dud in the anthology. Well worth putting a hand in your pocket for.
I enjoyed all the stories here, but Kevin Burton Smith’s The Revenge of the Red Avenger grabbed my shirt collars and pulled me right in, making me realise (though the fabulous introduction by Scott D. Parker should have clued me in) that this collection isn’t about indestructible men and women boring us with daddy issues and teenage angst, which has paid off so well. Smith’s story is about two kids just playing in the woods, making up superhero identities, fighting pretend crime, and loving each other in their innocent way. Parker calls it “nostalgic”, but it’s so much more than that. The loss is tangible, and it hurt. Beautiful story.
Then you have Liam Jose’s Dark Guy in … Terror on the Digger!, about the darker side of a child’s psyche. Harry pushes Anthony off the digger toy in the school playground so he can play on it longer, triggering Anthony’s descent into Dark Guy mode (a superhero only in the boy’s mind). And Dark Guy wants revenge. The revenge is horrible. You get used to reading dark stuff like this at sites like Shotgun Honey and Flash Fiction Offensive, and it’s all about adults doing terrible things to other adults. When a kid does something to another, it’s even worse, more so when the kid has no real idea what he’s done, or fantasises his actions. Great story, and really horrible.
Children are at most of the stories’ hearts. Sandra Seamans’ Moon Mad also has kids in danger, three girls kidnapped for sex slavery, until an old woman with a similarly heartbreaking past and a fading grasp on reality, takes matters into her own hands with the help of a shopping cart. It’s exciting, full of depth, and glorious.
So, you have kids in peril, a couple of historical superheros featuring a great man vs tiger battle in an Asian forest, and another in Revolutionary America (those bloody Brits, those poor overtaxed Americans), and a supervillain intent on ruling a metropolis. Many of the characters wonder what Batman would do in their situation. I got about halfway through and I started wondering if any of the tales would wrestle with the idea many recent articles have explored, about superheros being a bunch of fascists. Step up, Keith Rawson, with Spoiled, about a young man who follows his adopted father’s steps into the superhero mould, only he ends up fighting said adopted father because he’s a fascist who sees himself above the population. The old man sees everything in absolute terms to the extent that he will blow up a building containing a couple of drug dealers, and not mind about the collateral damage (killing everybody in the building), because they’re all complicit in the dealers’ crimes – guilty of doing nothing about the criminals in their midst.
The Revenge of the Red Avenger is my favourite, but Thomas Pluck’s Garbage Man tussles and gives it a good pounding to level in rank. Denny the Dent is a big man with a dent in his head, teased by everybody when he was growing up, now teased as an adult by children and grown-ups alike. Soft as a badger’s tail with those kids, he still smarts at what they tell him their parents say about him. But when they’re endangered, he will step in and take action to try to protect them. I’d heard about Pluck’s books over the internet. With a name like Blade of Dishonor, I didn’t think it’d be my cup of tea, and so I also thought I wouldn’t like this. But what a great story it is. It slow burns to a dramatic ending, and has you thinking about it for days afterwards, like Stephen King’s Stand By Me. Blade of Dishonor on the TBR list, then.
I’ve hardly scratched the surface, mentioning the ones I liked best, but there’s not a single dud in the anthology. Well worth putting a hand in your pocket for.
Read
January 24, 2016Contains "The Revenge of the Red Avenger" by Kevin Burton-Smith, packed quite a wallop in the end when it had started out so innocent.
October 15, 2012
This was my first foray into the BEAT TO A PULP (BTAP) series, edited by David Cranmer. He initially created the BTAP e-zine as a way to present well written stories that recalled the old traditional pulp adventures and now there is also a series of books that compile even more of these same great stories. I came across the series while exploring more pulp and noir reading, after finishing 8 Pounds by Chris Holm and I'm very glad I took the chance and got myself a copy of Beat to a Pulp: Superhero.
This volume, edited by Cranmer and Scott D.Parker doesn't just deal with the traditional "superhero"; as a matter of fact, most of the stories deal with ordinary people rising to the occasion and doing heroic things. So while not exactly what I was expecting, given the title, the excellence of the stories was very much what I was expecting and I found myself enjoying this anthology very much.
There are thirteen tales in this volume; I will highlight my favorites:
The collection kicks off with a firecracker of an introduction by Parker that really sets up the tone and theme of the book; you can also read it here as a teaser!
Jake Hinkson's The Long Drop places superheroes squarely inside the New York City police department. Cooper, a NYPD officer, wakes up in a hotel room, with no memory of how he got there or why there is a severed head in the shower. Hinson introduces a gritty, alternate reality that I'd like to see him explore further, where people with super powers have been accepted in society and builds the tension nicely as Cooper tries to unravel the mystery of who has set him up and why...
The Revenge of the Red Avenger called to mind the innocent kids from Stand By Me and The Sandlot; Billy and Carole are just a young boy and girl who are best friends and share a love of comic books. They decide to become heroes, like the ones in their comics, so they can find and fight crime in their neighborhood. Kevin Burton Smith packs an emotional wallop with this story, turning a tale of carefree innocence into one of tragedy with a powerful climax.
The femme fatale of the group, Sandra Seamans, also presents an emotional story with Moon Mad. Molly hides from the moon at night, safely amongst the nooks and crannies of the city, because the moon brings her bad "dreams". Then one night, Molly's memories won't be denied and she has to relive a terrible past in order to save a group of innocent girls. Seamans made me care very much about Molly and while I guessed the ending, it was no less sad for me when the story was over.
Benoit Lelievre gives us Doberman: Third Party Law Enforcement and introduces us to a mercenary called upon by a politician to save his twin sons from a madman. The story is just the right amount of violent and the protagonist reminded me of in some ways of Frank Castle, the Punisher. Lelievre writes a dark story and I hope he chronicles more of the Doberman's adventures.
And finally, to round out my list of favorites, is Chad Eagleton's Somewhere Beyond the Pavement. It is another tale of young kids finding themselves in dire circumstances and having to find the inner strength to fight. To live. The way Eagleton writes the story, switching from the children, to their father, to the villains and back again really creates a thrilling edge-of-your-seat story and a made it my favorite entry in the collection.
I enjoyed this collection very much and will definitely be seeking out more from the BTAP series, as well as other works from the individual authors. It is a great collection, and each story is was highly readable; there wasn't a clunker in the bunch. You can get Beat To A Pulp: Superhero here and when you do, plan on reading this action packed volume in just one sitting, it's that good!
Happy reading!
This volume, edited by Cranmer and Scott D.Parker doesn't just deal with the traditional "superhero"; as a matter of fact, most of the stories deal with ordinary people rising to the occasion and doing heroic things. So while not exactly what I was expecting, given the title, the excellence of the stories was very much what I was expecting and I found myself enjoying this anthology very much.
There are thirteen tales in this volume; I will highlight my favorites:
The collection kicks off with a firecracker of an introduction by Parker that really sets up the tone and theme of the book; you can also read it here as a teaser!
Jake Hinkson's The Long Drop places superheroes squarely inside the New York City police department. Cooper, a NYPD officer, wakes up in a hotel room, with no memory of how he got there or why there is a severed head in the shower. Hinson introduces a gritty, alternate reality that I'd like to see him explore further, where people with super powers have been accepted in society and builds the tension nicely as Cooper tries to unravel the mystery of who has set him up and why...
The Revenge of the Red Avenger called to mind the innocent kids from Stand By Me and The Sandlot; Billy and Carole are just a young boy and girl who are best friends and share a love of comic books. They decide to become heroes, like the ones in their comics, so they can find and fight crime in their neighborhood. Kevin Burton Smith packs an emotional wallop with this story, turning a tale of carefree innocence into one of tragedy with a powerful climax.
The femme fatale of the group, Sandra Seamans, also presents an emotional story with Moon Mad. Molly hides from the moon at night, safely amongst the nooks and crannies of the city, because the moon brings her bad "dreams". Then one night, Molly's memories won't be denied and she has to relive a terrible past in order to save a group of innocent girls. Seamans made me care very much about Molly and while I guessed the ending, it was no less sad for me when the story was over.
Benoit Lelievre gives us Doberman: Third Party Law Enforcement and introduces us to a mercenary called upon by a politician to save his twin sons from a madman. The story is just the right amount of violent and the protagonist reminded me of in some ways of Frank Castle, the Punisher. Lelievre writes a dark story and I hope he chronicles more of the Doberman's adventures.
And finally, to round out my list of favorites, is Chad Eagleton's Somewhere Beyond the Pavement. It is another tale of young kids finding themselves in dire circumstances and having to find the inner strength to fight. To live. The way Eagleton writes the story, switching from the children, to their father, to the villains and back again really creates a thrilling edge-of-your-seat story and a made it my favorite entry in the collection.
I enjoyed this collection very much and will definitely be seeking out more from the BTAP series, as well as other works from the individual authors. It is a great collection, and each story is was highly readable; there wasn't a clunker in the bunch. You can get Beat To A Pulp: Superhero here and when you do, plan on reading this action packed volume in just one sitting, it's that good!
Happy reading!
October 17, 2012
You cannot go wrong with this wonderful anthology at the rock bottom price of .99 cents. All the contributors did a fine job and are worth mentioning; however, Kevin Burton Smith's "The Revenge of the Red Avenger" really stood out for me. What a gem of a story! Kevin Burton Smith did an exceptional job of capturing the character’s voice. I was transported back to my own childhood when wrapping a towel around your neck magically made you a superhero. The other component of this story that worked well for me is when the main character Billy is in an exhaust fume filled garage watching his neighbor – no, Billy, no – you gotta get outta there! Good stuff! Mr. Burton-Smith definitely has a real gift for short story.
January 19, 2015
A bit of a mixed bag, but worth reading. The best ones for me are the ones that aren't really about superheroes at all.
December 18, 2013
Like with all anthologies, some stories are better than others.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews