PROFESSIONAL LIAR gets money for nothing, as the first COPPERHEAD KID adventure returns to comics shops

Your friendly neighborhood blogger and professional liar returns to comic book stores next Wednesday, April 15th, when AHOY Comics offers an encore presentation of my 2019 short story "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" in the pages of the latest AHOY funnybook, Toxic Crusaders # 5.

"The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" is a Western. It was the third story I sold to AHOY, and the first one published (in the pages of Second Coming # 5). The good folks at AHOY paid me on acceptance, and they just paid me a reprint fee for its use in the new issue of Toxic Crusaders. And yeah, that means I get paid for, y'know, doing nothing. And I'm GOOD at that!

The Skeletons

Since my first freelance (nonfiction) writing sales in 1984, this is only the second time I've been paid twice for the same work, and that first time was not a reprint fee nor a royalty payment. In (I think) the early 2000s, I wrote an article about the great Springfield, Missouri band the Skeletons; I sold it to DISCoveries magazine, where it sat in inventory for many months before that magazine's editor John Koenig decided it had sat too long, so he paid me a kill fee and returned its rights to me. I then sold it to Goldmine. I'm pretty sure I had to update it a little bit, so I guess I can't call the Goldmine payment as money for nothing. Money for almost nothing!

(There was one point during my twenty years as a Goldmine freelancer when then-editor Jeff Tamarkin almost reprinted one of my articles in a GM special edition, which would have netted me an additional fee, but plans changed and the reprint didn't happen. And there was one time when GM accidentally used my review of a Suzi Quatro compilation in two different issues, but I was only paid once.)

"The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" was written as a stand-alone tale, but its warm reception prompted me to write a series of additional stories about the hard-riding Kid's heroic descendants: A hard-boiled private eye, a masked vigilante, a secret agent, a punk chick, and a reluctant superhero. I intend to write more entries in this series, and to eventually pull them all together to serve as a novel about the Copperhead Kid's legacy. Meanwhile, "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" will also appear in my short story collection Guitars Vs. Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies, which I hope to transmogrify into book form by the end of May.

But right now, you can read the story that started the Copperhead chronicles by heading to your local comic book retailer and snagging your very own copy of Toxic Crusaders # 5. RIDE! The Copperhead Kid would have wanted it that way.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

GUITARS VS. RAYGUNS! LAST STAND ON URANUS: My latest short story hits comic book shops on Wednesday

Illustration by Joe Orsak

My latest short story "Guitars Vs. Rayguns! Last Stand On Uranus" will hit comic book stores nationwide this Wednesday, September 10th. It's a foul-mouthed rock 'n' roll science-fiction comedy, a sequel to my first-ever fiction sale (2019's "Guitars Vs Rayguns"), and the new story appears as a prose piece in the AHOY Comics funnybook Toxic Crusaders # 1.

 

You can use Comic Shop Locator to find a comic book retailer near you. AHOY titles are distributed nationally, but I strongly recommend checking stock on Toxic Crusaders # 1 with any individual store before you hop in the ol' Batmobile and head in.. Forewarned is forearmed, old chum.

This is my tenth fiction sale to the good folks at AHOY. More to come, as soon as I make some more stuff up.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here. My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

Professional Liar makes his tenth short story sale

The enlightened patrons 'n' producers o' the arts at AHOY Comics have purchased my short story "Guitars Vs. Rayguns! Last Stand On Uranus." It's my tenth fiction sale to AHOY, and a direct sequel to 2019's potty-mouthed rock 'n' roll space romp "Guitars Vs. Rayguns," which was the first short story I ever sold. Ten fiction sales (all to AHOY) in six and a half years may not seem like a stellar track record, but it's WAY better than my preceding record of zero fiction sales over something like 45 years of attempts. Go ME!

Usually when I sell a short story, I have to get back to you some months later to tell you where and when it will be available for you to buy for your own funnybook library. This time, however, the story is already scheduled. Barring a shift in the cosmic balance, "Guitars Vs. Rayguns! Last Stand On Uranus" will appear as a prose piece in AHOY's Toxic Crusaders # 1, which is due to hit comics shop nationwide on September 10th.

There will be more stories yet to come in the "Guitars Vs. Rays" universe, with work already (sort of) begun on "Guitars Vs. Rayguns! Battle Of The Band," and vague plans to follow with "Guitars Vs. Rayguns! Saturday Night At The Shootout" and "Guitars Vs. Rayguns! At BudoKHAAAAAAAN!" These are fun to write, full of energy and profane humor. Eventually, they will be included in my never-say-never (but don't say NOW) short story anthology GUITARS VS RAYGUNS!! Short Stories And Other White Lies

For now, though, one story at a time! As September 10th draws near, I'll post a reminder for you to find your local comic book peddler and order your copy of AHOY'sToxic Crusaders # 1. Keep watching the skies! And turn it up, man. The name of this band is Guitars Vs. Rayguns.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

Professional Liar Storms His Way Back Into Comic Book Stores

Illustration by Ed Catto

This Wednesday, my short story "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective" will hit comic book stores nationwide as a prose bonus feature in the AHOY Comics funnybook The Toxic Avenger Comics # 1. Thanks once again to artist Ed Catto for bringing another one of the imaginary characters in my head to vivid visual life, and thanks as always to everyone at AHOY.

This is the sixth published story in my cross-generational series The Copperhead Kid. It's set in the 1920s, and it stars a hardboiled private eye who is the son of the Old West gunslinger introduced in "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid," the older brother of the 1930s masked vigilante seen in "The Copperhead Strikes!," uncle to the 1960s secret agent starring in "The Copperhead Affair," great uncle to the bass-playing '80s punk chick kickin' ass in "Chaos At The Copperhead Club," and great, great uncle to the reluctant present-day costumed adventurer taking on one last intrepid challenge in "Flight Of The Copperhead."

The stories have been sold and published in the order I wrote them, and this new one is the first to return to an earlier point in the timeline; chronologically, "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective" takes place in between the events of "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" and "The Copperhead Strikes!," but each story stands on its own and does not require any familiarity with other parts of the Copperhead Kid saga.

Eventually, "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective" will take its place in the Copperhead chronology in between (presumed) future stories "The Bride Of The Copperhead Kid" and "The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure," with a few more to follow down the line. 

If memory serves, this is my ninth fiction sale to AHOY. The AHOY editors are currently mulling the relative merit of a tenth story, "Guitars Vs Rayguns! Last Stand On Uranus." It's a sequel to my first fiction sale "Guitars Vs. Rayguns," and it will eventually find its way into a book collecting my (non-Copperhead) short stories.

Wanna read the new comic-book adventures of Troma Entertainment's celluloid superstar the Toxic Avenger AND check out my two-fisted Roarin' 20s gumshoe the Copperhead Detective? Use Comic Shop Locator to find a comics retailer near you. Be sure to call ahead to see if the store has a copy of The Toxic Avenger Comics # 1 available; most stores that don't have it in stock can order it for you. And now, new intrigue awaits you on a mountain in Tibet in the first tense moments of 1925. Don't worry about stray bullets; the Copperhead Detective's aim is true.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. You can also become a Boppin' booster on my Patreon page.

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. You can read about our history here.

Professional Liar RETURNS! BWA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAA!

Hey, I sold another short story. The good folks at AHOY Comics have purchased my li'l white lie "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective," and it will appear as a pulp prose piece in a future issue from the AHOY Comics line of superstars.

This is the ninth story I've sold to AHOY. My first was "Guitars Vs. Rayguns" in 2019, though the first one to see print was my Western "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid," also sold in 2019. The reaction to the Copperhead Kid led me to write (and sell) some stories about the Kid's descendants, which have included a masked vigilante in the 1930s ("The Copperhead Strikes!"), a secret agent in the '60s ("The Copperhead Affair"), a bass-playin', ass-kickin' punk chick in the '80s ("Chaos At The Copperhead Club"), a present-day costumed heroine who decides to leave adventure behind her ("Flight Of The Copperhead"), and now going back to the 1920s for "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective," the tale of a Harlem-based private gumshoe whose latest case takes him to a confrontation in Tibet. There will be bullets.

(Incidentally, I've had this "Bullets From..." title in my head for a very, very long time. When I was a square-peg teen in the early to mid 1970s, I envisioned a sequel to the 1944 Captain America movie serial, and I called my never-in-a-million-years serial sequel Bullets From Captain America. Yeah, a '70s kid imagining a new 1940s movie serial. As I've said before and will say again: No, YOU get a life.)

One cool thing about the new story is that it was written very fast. I'd composed its opening paragraphs months ago, but earlier this year I took out my spiral notebook and started scribbling, continuing the story from memory of where it left off. I finished it that morning while sitting on my couch.

I will eventually collect all of the Copperhead Kid family of short stories together as a de facto novel, and I've been working on another entry called "The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure," set in the early years of the 20th century. That novel is waaaaay down on my current to-do list, but I'm going to continue working on new chapters, and continue giving AHOY first right of refusal.

Meanwhile, watch this space for an announcement of when and where "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective" will hit comic book shop nationwide. The professional liar is back with a bullet.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

Rain-Hat Sam

This short story appeared in Project Cryptid # 11, published by AHOY Comics in July 2024. It will eventually be included in my planned short story collection Guitars Vs. Rayguns!!

Illustration by Ed Catto

The original post has been unpublished for bookkeeping purposes. It can be seen as a chapter in my book Guitars Vs Rayguns!! Short Stories And Other White Lies.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

PROFESSIONAL LIAR RETURNS! My short story RAIN-HAT SAM storms into comic book shops this week

Art by Ed Catto

My latest short story will hit comic book stores this Wednesday, July 24, a prose adventure in the back pages of the AHOY Comics book Project Cryptid # 11.

"Rain-Hat Sam" stars a preposterous superhero I created when I was a kid. Our Sam is a (presumably) heroic figure whose magic hat makes it rain, but the magic hat only makes it rain on Rain-Hat Sam. A silly idea, even for a (presumably) creative adolescent.

But damned if I didn't make it work, here in my current capacity as a (presumably) grown-up storyteller. The resulting short story is a love letter to DC Comics superhero books of the 1960s, specifically to the filler strips like Super Turtle and Cap's Hobby Hints that appeared amidst advertising pages placed in between the (presumably) more-important pages of the funnybook's actual story. The events of my little tale are kinda like what might happen if Super Turtle had been called forth to participate in Crisis On Infinite Earths. Ol' Super Turtle wasn't available; the task fell instead to Rain-Hat Sam.

Rain-Hat Sam THEN...

...Rain-Hat Sam NOW!!

And super kudos to artist Ed Catto, who perfectly recreated my long-ago notion of what Rain-Hat Sam looks like, albeit in a considerably better-drawn rendition. Ed did this with no reference materials other than the text itself, yet it precisely matches my vision of Rain-Hat Sam. Thanks, Ed!

If you don't already have a preferred local resource for new comic books, you can use Comic Shop Locator to find a comics retailer near you. I recommend calling ahead to see if the store stocks AHOY's titles; if they don't have Project Cryptid # 11 in stock, most stores can order it for you.

And so we direct you to the adventures of an unlikely superhero called Rain-Hat Sam. My inner child is thrilled. Hell, my outer child is pretty enthused, too. Let justice rain.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available for order; you can see details here. My 2023 book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is also still available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. 

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

 

The Copperhead's Kids: tentative blueprint for a novel

Illustration by Ed Catto

The Copperhead Kid is a loosely-connected series of short stories I began writing (and SELLING!!) in 2019. The initial entry "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" was my third-ever fiction sale, and the first one to be published. 

The short story was originally intended as a one-off, satisfying a sudden urge I had to try my hand at writing a Western. After it was published, I had a notion of writing a pulp adventure starring a masked vigilante in the 1930s. I figured I would make my vigilante hero the daughter of the Copperhead Kid, and my own little Copperhead universe had begun.

I wrote and sold a total of five stories in the series--tales of a gunslinger in the Old West, a vigilante in the '30s, a secret agent in the '60s, a bass-playin'/ass-kickin' punk chick in the '80s, and a reluctant super-hero in the present day--all of them published by the good folks at AHOY Comics. I started writing two more: "The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure" (set in 1920) and "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective" (taking place as 1924 becomes 1925). I made notes for a bunch of other potential entries, all with an eye toward pulling them all together as a de facto novel about the Copperhead dynasty.

My Mom passed at the end of 2021. She seemed to think that the chronicles of the Copperhead kin would be my fast-track ticket to fame and acclaim. That was more a measure of her belief in me than it was any sort of real-world assessment of the pop culture market, but I owe it to her to at least give it a shot.

Below is a current rough blueprint for a still-untitled Copperhead novel:

The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid

Freedom's Whip

The Copperhead Kid Takes A Bride

The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure

The Deputy's Story

Copperhead Ace And The Bloody Skies Over Germany

Bullets From The Copperhead Detective

The Copperhead Strikes!

The Mighty Mushroom Roar

I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been

The Copperhead Affair

A Serpent's Pride

Rocket To Russia

Chaos At The Copperhead Club

Night Of The Living Copperheads

The Casebook Of Dr. Copperhead

And Starring As The Copperhead Kid...

Copper Crusaders

Flight Of The Copperhead

Ghost Of The Copperhead Ace

Copperhead, LLC

Gather The Copperheads

A Planet Of Vipers

Beware The Copperheads!

Return To Copperhead Ridge

This suggests the very general flow of a narrative that, so far, only exists in my mind, and in sketch form at that. I have a number of other projects at various levels of immediacy and maybe-someday, but the Copperhead Kid and his adventurous progeny are never far from my wild-roaming imagination.

The Copperheads' time will come. Ride, Kids. Ride.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit to CC's Tip Jar. 

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

THE COPPERHEAD KID: Threads of a longer narrative

The Copperhead Kid is the informal title for a series of interconnected short stories I've been writing. I began writing the series in 2019, and so far five stories have been completed and published as prose pieces in comic books published by AHOY Comics. Each of these five stories was subsequently shared on this blog:

"The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" (a Western)

"The Copperhead Strikes!" (a 1930s masked vigilante)

"The Copperhead Affair" (a secret agent in the 1960s)

"Chaos At The Copperhead Club" (a bass-playin, ass-kickin' teen punk chick in the '80s)

"Flight Of The Copperhead" (a reluctant present-day superhero retires)

"The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" grew out of a sudden urge I had to write a Western. At first, I wasn't even going to try to sell it, figuring it was too straight for a modern professional market. I certainly didn't have any intention of continuing it as any kind of series.

Illustration by Ed Catto

But I wound up offering it to AHOY. Surprise! The AHOY folks loved it, bought it, and published it. AHOY's Tom Peyer even told me he wished more writers would try pure genre pieces. That wish may have been subject to change over time, but in 2019, it inspired me to start thinking about attempting more genre fiction.

I wasn't thinking of any sort of Copperhead Kid sequel. But I had a Batman fanfic piece called "The Undersea World Of Mr. Freeze," a story I quite liked but which had no plausible path forward. Why not repurpose one of its scenes--a fight scene!--into something else? How about a 1930s pulp hero story? And, what the hell, why not connect it to the Copperhead Kid's continuity, but with different characters, decades after the events of my Western story?

Hijinks ensued.

Illustration by Shane White

That was the real start of the idea for a Copperhead Kid series, individual tales loosely connected across generations. We met the Kid's daughter. We met the Kid's grandson. We met his great granddaughter, and his great-great granddaughter. As the stories were written, I began to think more and more of bringing them all together as a longer narrative. 

I haven't gotten very far with that idea, but I have been pulling at its threads. Here's a list of some of the potential future entries:

And Starring As The Copperhead Kid....

Bride Of The Copperhead Kid (or: The Copperhead Kid Takes A Bride)

The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure

Copperhead Ace And The Sky Over Germany

Bullets From The Copperhead Detective

The Casebook Of Dr. Copperhead

A Planet Of Serpents

The Maltese Viper

Copperhead, LLC

Night Of The Living Copperheads

Gather The Copperheads

Return To Copperhead Ridge

Beware The Copperheads!

Illustration by Ed Catto

All very much a work in progress. I've started "The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure" and "Bullets From The Copperhead Detective," but nothing's quite set yet.

The idea remains. The Copperhead Kid will return. The Kid claimed that he ain't no hero. But the Kid and his successors could never stand bullies. My mom always wanted me to finish writing The Copperhead Kid. I should do that. I should do that soon.

Justice strikes. It will strike yet again. Beware the Copperheads. If you're a bully, man, you won't even know what hit you.

Illustration by Ed Catto

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/

If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl