Tex Rickard, boxing promoter

George Lewis Rickard, known as Tex, died January 6, 1959—four days after his 59th birthday.
He was a true entrepreneur. He launched the New York Rangers franchise of the National Hockey League in 1926. He owned the team until his death.

Tex was the primary force behind building the third incarnation of Madison Square Garden in 1925. It was located at Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan.

Rickard was an innovator. Between 1921 and 1927, Tex raised the popularity of boxing by promoting a number of fights for “The Manassa Mauler,” world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey. For the Dempsey-Charles Carpentier bout in 1921, Tex was responsible for the first live radio broadcast of a title fight and the first million-dollar fight.

Tex promoted the July 4, 1910 Fight Of The Century in Reno, Nevada, between former heavyweight champion and “Great White Hope” Jim Jeffries and reigning heavyweight Jack Johnson. 15,760 fans paid $270,775 to watch the bout. Tex sold the film rights to the match for $101,000.
In 1906, while running a saloon in Goldfield, Nevada, Tex organized the first boxing matches in that state.

After moving to Alaska in 1895 during the Gold Rush, Tex earned and lost several fortunes. As owner of The Northern Saloon in Nome, he befriended famous lawman and gunman Wyatt Earp. And in 1900, he met down-on-his-luck bareknuckle boxer Jean St. Vrain—an encounter that would lead to a very different sort of fight.

You can read about the results of their meeting in FIGHTING ALASKA, a Fight Card book, now in paperback, by clicking here.

Pre-publication review for AIRSHIP HUNTERS

Writing partner Jim Beard and I are very pleased to let you know AIRSHIP HUNTERS has received a very nice pre-publication review from Dave Brzeski. You can visit Dave's British Fantasy Society site and read his review by clicking here or by using the following URL:

http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/reviews/airship-hunters-by-jim-beard-and-duane-spurlock-book-review/

Meanwhile, Meteor House reports that the deadline for pre-orders has been extended to July 13! Check out the details by clicking here.

Interview on PulpCrazy blog

Jason Aiken is the brain behind a blog-and-podcast combo, PulpCrazy. He posts reviews, interviews, and all sorts of pulp-related items sure to interest fans of fun, exciting speculative fiction.

Jason recently posted an interview he conducted with Jim Beard and me about our soon-to-be-published novel, Airship Hunters. He did a nice job of asking the right questions. The book will be released at PulpFest in Columbus, Ohio. Here's the promotional copy for the book:

<<
A thrilling novel of turn-of-the-century intrigue and mystery!
It is 1897 and the skies are haunted by mysterious airships and unfathomable secrets.

Tasked with hunting down these strange vehicles of the air and determining their origin and intent, two U.S. government agents toil under unusual conditions to supply their shadowy superiors with information. But that information proves to be as elusive as the airships themselves.

Ride with Agents Valiantine and Cabot across the Midwest as they encounter reports of strange lights, phantom soldiers, unreliable witnesses, and the ultimate source of their airborne prey.

They are the Airship Hunters, and they cannot be waylaid from their path to uncover the greatest mystery of them all.
>>

 PulpFest is scheduled for August 13-16. It is a very enjoyable convention focused on pop culture--particularly the pulp magazines that thrived as the primary form of mass entertainment from the end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, and served as the birthplace of some remarkable characters: Tarzan and John Carter, Sam Spade and the Continental Op, Elmore Leonard's western heroes, Mickey Spillane's tough guys, Louis L'Amour's western characters, Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, A.E. van Vogt's Black Destroyer (the inspiration for Ridley Scott's Alien), John W. Campbell Jr.'s Thing From Another World (the basis for John Carpenter's Thing), and more.

Remember, Airship Hunters will be released as a limited edition! By pre-ordering by July 1, you will receive a signed copy and your name will appear in the Acknowledgments. Please note: The number of copies printed of Airship Hunters will be determined by the number of pre-orders. The book will be published this summer. Only a small number of copies will be printed beyond the number pre-ordered. What this means: the only way to guarantee you'll get a copy of this book is to pre-order it. You can do that at the Meteor House Press site by clicking here.

Thanks for your patronage! Enjoy Jason Aiken's interview with Jim and I by clicking here.

Essay on Fighting Alaska at Venture Galleries

Paul Bishop, number one gym rat and fitness trainer at the Fight Card series of books and a talented author, has graciously posted my essay on writing my Fight Card entry, Fighting Alaska, "Fighting Alaska with Gold, Greed, and Gamblers," at the Venture Galleries. Venture Galleries is a "marketing and publishing house that showcases, promotes, and markets the works of talented Indie authors and artists who are building a niche in the marketplace." You can find the essay by clicking here. And many thanks to Paul.

The eBook edition of Fighting Alaska is available at Amazon. I anticipate the print edition to swing into existence in the coming weeks. I'll post here when the print edition is also available.

Many thanks for your patronage!

Now available: FIGHTING ALASKA, the eBook version

My entry in the Fight Card series, Fighting Alaska, is now available as an eBook at Amazon. You can find it by clicking here.

You can also find my article on writing Fighting Alaska, "A Fighter's Trail to the Alaskan Gold Rush," at the Fight Card site. Read the article to find out why Charles Bronson's photo is included with this post. Click here to visit the site and see the article.

For those who prefer paper and ink over Kindle pages, the print version should be available soon.

Coming this week: Fighting Alaska

I join the ranks of the Fight Card writing stable with the upcoming publication of Fight Card: Fighting Alaska. I'm looking forward to this release. It will appear first as an eBook, and the print version will follow soon after. The cover is by Carl Yonder.

The Fight Card series of books works this way: the eBooks are published under the house name, Jack Tunney. The subsequent print versions appear with the authors' actual names.

The Fight Card series was launched by authors Paul Bishop and Mel Odom and was "inspired by the fight pulps of the ’30s and ’40s – such as Fight Stories Magazine – and Robert E. Howard’s two-fisted boxing tales featuring Sailor Steve Costigan."

Many of the stories are set in the boxing milieu of the 1930s and '40s. However, there are stories set outside those confines. For example, one series of tales within the Fight Card ring feature Sherlock Holmes in boxing-related mysteries. My entry, Fighting Alaska, occurs during the turn of the 19th Century to the 20th. Here's the promotional blurb:

1900 Alaska … Gold, greed, and gamblers – a dangerous combination in a gold rush boomtown. Itinerant boxer Jean St. Vrain has a lifetime of rootless wandering behind him and ten years of knuckle-busting boxing, bar bouncing, and disillusionment. He wants to call quits to the fight game, but he needs a way out. Joining a mob of desperate men heading for the Alaskan gold fields, Jean is caught between crooked judges, crooked businessmen, a soiled dove, and infamous gunman Wyatt Earp and his cronies. With his future looking as harsh as the Alaskan landscape, Jean has one chance left – fight again.