FLIGHT OF THE COPPERHEAD: The latest chapter in my Copperhead short story series hits comics shop next Wednesday, 7/20

Illustration by Ed Catto

My latest published short story "Flight Of The Copperhead" will be available next Wednesday, July 20th, when the AHOY Comics title G.I.L.T. # 4 hits comic book stores across the country. The story sports a very spiffy illustration by artist Ed Catto, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

"Flight Of The Copperhead" is another entry in my ongoing series of short stories about the Copperhead Kid and his descendants. The series began with the Old West tale "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid," and has continued through the 1939-set masked vigilante adventure "The Copperhead Strikes!," the 1965 spy caper "The Copperhead Affair," and "Chaos At The Copperhead Club," the latter starring a 17-year-old punk rock bassist named Copper in 1983. "Flight Of The Copperhead" is the first Copperhead chronicle to take place in the present day.

I have begun work on "The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure," which takes place in 1920, and which co-stars the Kid's daughter Hedda (whom we met as an adult in "The Copperhead Strikes!"), and makes my first-ever mention of the Kid's son, Hedda's older brother. "Flight Of The Copperhead" makes passing reference to its contemporary protagonist's brother, whom we'll eventually meet in a story tentatively titled "And Starring As The Copperhead Kid...." Going back in the timeline, we'll see Hedda's brother in a pulp noir story yet to be titled--"Fists Of The Copperhead Detective?" "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective?" "I, The Copperhead Jury?"--and their Mom will debut at some point in "The Bride Of The Copperhead Kid." Minor spoiler: the whip that the grown-up Hedda uses in "The Copperhead Strikes!" was inherited from her mother, who taught young Hedda how to use it.

(Where did Hedda's mother get the whip to begin with? THAT would be telling.)

Each of these has been designed to stand alone as its own story, not requiring the reader's knowledge of any other Copperhead chronicles. I still hope to collect them all in a book some day, the previously independent stories becoming chapters in a longer-form narrative. There may still be a few more Copperheads to introduce; I have some ideas. These are enormous fun to write, and I'm delighted that AHOY has been interested in buying them and publishing them. This is my seventh fiction sale, commencing with "Guitars Vs. Rayguns" in 2019. Given that I started trying to sell fiction in the mid '70s, I guess I'm the embodiment of if at first you don't succeed...! (Per freelance terms with AHOY, "The Picture Of Amontillado" is not yet cleared to share on this blog.)

"Flight Of The Copperhead" appears as a prose back-up feature in G.I.L.T. # 4. You can use Comic Shop Locator to find a comic book vendor near you. Please note that not all comic book stores carry AHOY titles--though they really oughtta--so my advice to anyone interested in picking this up is to contact their local resource before this weekend and reserve a copy. Most comics shops will order the book for you.

The Copperhead Kid. The Copperhead. Codename: Copperhead. Copper. And now, we meet another member of this extraordinary family in "Flight Of The Copperhead," a new short thriller in the pages of G.I.L.T. # 4. Hope you dig it! And there will be more Copperhead chronicles to come.

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