Spy Vibe talks with writer Win Scott Eckert today about working with classic characters from the world of pulp fiction and 1960s cult TV. His publications include Green Hornet, The Avenger, Captain Midnight, The Phantom, Sherlock Holmes, Tales of the Shadowmen, and work with Philip Jose Farmer. His new book is a crossover adventure starring Honey West and T.H.E. Cat. After sharing our interests on-line, Eckert and I finally had a chance to hang out in person last summer at PulpFest. A group of us spent the weekend going to bookstores together, shopping for vintage toys and games (I found him a copy of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. game), attending panels and signings, and staying up late discussing cool stories. We had a blast at PulpFest, and I recommend Spy Vibers check out the event. Columbus is a nice location and you'll meet great people (and see amazing collections of vintage books and magazines!). Now, let's dive into our interview with Win Scott Eckert.
When did you first
discover the world of pulps? Were there specific characters or images that drew
your attention?
I learned about the pulps, and my favorite pulp hero, Doc
Savage, when I first read Philip Jose Farmer’s “pseudo-biography” Doc Savage:
His Apocalyptic Life, at age eight. A family friend gave me the book, along
with ten or fifteen Doc Savage paperbacks. I read several of the books on a
cross-country trip back home and was instantly hooked.
I was also tantalized by the addendum to Farmer’s book, in
which he linked Doc Savage to many other pulp heroes and literary characters in
a genealogy he called the Wold Newton Family.
I already knew of some of the characters through film and television--particularly
Sherlock Holmes and James Bond (of course I did not see the uncut Bond films in
theaters until I was a bit older)--but because of Farmer’s influence, I was
inspired to seek out the books, and I learned of many new (to me) characters:
The Shadow, Travis McGee, The Spider, Dr. Fu-Manchu, G-8, Nero Wolfe, The
Scarlet Pimpernel, Sam Spade, Professor Challenger, Philip Marlowe, and so many
more. Near the same time, I discovered the pulp tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs,
starting with At the Earth’s Core. I devoured the remaining books in the Pellucidar
series, and then the Barsoom novels (John Carter of Mars), followed by Tarzan,
and finally the Venus series.
I recently had the privilege of editing an updated and
definitive edition of Farmer’s Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, which also
happens to be companion to his biography Tarzan Alive. This definitive,
hardcover reissue of Doc Savage is now available from Meteor House.
Were you also a fan of
comic books, cliffhanger serials, or old-time radio shows growing up? What were
some of your faves?
Absolutely, I was already reading superhero comics when I
was introduced to Doc Savage. It’s fair to say I wasn’t collecting in any
coordinated fashion, just picking up whatever caught my eye on the spinner rack
at 7-Eleven. At that age, I leaned more toward DC titles than Marvel, although
I had my fair share of issues of Spider-Man and Captain America. But what
really captivated my attention was the DC 80-Page Giants, which I was drawn to
due to the reprints of DC’s Golden Age material. The GA Batman was my favorite
hero, and I absolutely loved the Justice Society of America. I did everything I
could to collect the annual JSA team-ups with the Justice League of America,
and became an Earth-2 fanatic.
I didn’t really have much exposure of old-time radio as a
kid, but I loved old movies from the ’30s and ’40s, particularly Bogie flicks.
Did you collect as a
kid? What were some of your treasures? What was it about the designs or stories
that fired your imagination?
I collected books, of course--in fact I still have just
about every book I acquired as a small kid and a teenager--as well as comics,
and Mego superhero figures. I also got deeply into Star Trek in the mid-’70s,
and collected countless Trek action figures. I also have some Star Wars figures
and toys from the time of the very first movie.
Over the years I hunted in used bookstores all over
Colorado, trying to complete my collection of Doc Savage novels. I had 180 out
of 182, and finally got the last two (a double-novel published in one volume)
after getting on the Internet in 1996. I also collected other paperback
reprints of pulps, particularly The Shadow, as well as G-8 and The Spider.
Many of us collected
paperback editions of Ian Fleming, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, etc.
You have mentioned your love of the U.N.C.L.E. books. Tell us more about how
you discovered this genre and about your favorite stories and memorabilia.
As much as I love the pulps of the ’30s and ’40s, I’m also hugely into the ’60s spy craze. I came to it from James Bond, as I
mentioned--both the Connery films and also the books. I prefer the
characterization of Bond from the original books (and it’s the book Bond who is
a member of the Wold Newton Family), but of course the films are also great
fun. So it was natural to me to gravitate toward U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, Danger
Man/Secret Agent, The Prisoner, and The Wild Wild West. Given my focus on book
collecting, I have full runs of all the tie-in novels for all those series (but
not quite all of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Girl from U.N.C.L.E. digest
magazines--the ’60s versions of the pulps).
Are there pieces in
your collection that you treasure most? Are you still hunting for cool
artifacts?
Well, I do have this super-cool Doc Savage puzzle that was
put out at the time of the 1975 Ron Ely film…
It’s hard to narrow it down to a few I treasure most. I have
many, many books signed by Philip José Farmer, and a few books from his Estate
are irreplaceable, such as his personal copy of the hardcover of the first Doc
Savage novel, The Man of Bronze. I’ve been focusing lately on original artwork,
and have a couple small pieces from Phil’s Estate, as well as some cover
paintings for my own books. I’ve got the Enterprise Bridge Set by Mego, from
the ’70s, as well as many of the original 8-inch Mego Star Trek figures.
Probably a full run of the Playmates Star Trek action figures from the ’90s. A Man
from U.N.C.L.E. lunchbox and board game (as you well know, J). I have the Captain
Action Green Hornet and Kato put out by Preying Mantis in the ‘90s, as well as
the one Green Hornet novel from the ’60s and the Whitman book--as well as some
Big Little Books. And of course the Tarzan action figures that were put out in
the ’90s to accompany the TV series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures.
I could go on, my interests are so varied. A large comic
book collection, some original pulp magazines, tons of paperbacks and books of
characters I love: Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage, Tarzan, James Bond, Nero Wolfe,
Dr. Fu-Manchu, Shell Scott, etc.
How much do you
collect or research these days as a way to prepare for an assignment?
I don’t really collect anything for that purpose, but when
tackling a new character, I immerse myself in anything and everything written I
can get my hands on. For the Honey West / T.H.E. Cat novel, I read the eleven
Honey West novels by G. G. Fickling,
and watched the entire TV series for each character (both ran one season each).
Then I read the first three Honey novels again.
What was your journey
from fan and collector to published writer?
My first book was Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José
Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe (MonkeyBrain Books, 2005), a collection of
“non-fiction” creative mythography essays of Philip José Farmer and others,
adding to and expanding upon his Wold Newton Family, which he had established in
the biographies Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. These
biographies follow in the footsteps of William S. Baring-Gould’s biography Sherlock
Holmes of Baker Street in treating their subjects as real people who actually
lived. That’s the conceit of the Wold Newton Family and Universe. Many
characters from “fiction” actually lived and some were actually related, being
descended from a group of people exposed to the ionization of the Wold Newton
meteorite as it fell to the ground on December 13, 1795.
I was lucky enough to graduate to fiction with mashup
stories in the Wold Newton vein for the annual anthology series Tales of the Shadowmen.
Can you recall some of
the lessons you had to learn when you first began to write?
(Laughing) Oh, I’m still learning, always learning. Self-editing
is so important; I was very wordy. Point of view matters. Don’t be boring. Give
characters a distinctive voice. You know, the usual.
Did you ever imagine
that you would be able to write for many iconic characters? What have been some
of your favorite projects so far?
I never did imagine it, really. But looking back on it, I
had done research on so many characters--chronologies, articles, and so
forth--it was a natural fit. For instance, I’ve put out two 400+ page books
detailing crossover stories and collating them into a continuity – the Crossover
Universe – that actually makes sense – at least to me and a few other twisted
fanatics. Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World,
Volumes 1 and 2 are the result of twelve-plus years of intensive research.
In terms of fiction, I’ve been privileged to finish Philip José
Farmer’s novel about Patricia Wildman, the daughter of the man who was called
“Doc Savage” in the pulps (The Evil in Pemberley House, Subterranean Press,
2009) and to continue her adventures (The Scarlet Jaguar, Meteor House, 2013). A high point was coediting
three Green Hornet anthologies for Moonstone,
in which I also had three tales. I contributed three stories about the pulp
hero The Avenger, and had a blast tying them together into a trilogy. In general, I just get an amusement park sort
of thrill out of writing authorized adventures of characters I’ve known and
loved such as the Hornet, the Avenger, Zorro, and the Phantom!
I appreciate your commitment to stay true to original
characters and to write for continuity. That said, are there challenges you
face as a writer to make the characters accessible or to deal with dated
attitudes about gender, race, etc.?
Sure, it’s always something to keep in mind. I’m a great fan
of the character Fu-Manchu and have used a pastiche version of the “Devil
Doctor” in quite a few of my stories. His motives are, more often than not,
blurred by shades of gray. He definitely has his own code of honor and conduct,
which transforms him from a character who could be simplistically seen as
unambiguously “evil,” in the manner of Snidely Whiplash, into someone much more
complex and interesting.
Similarly, I’ve started to carve out a bit of a niche in
writing strong female characters: Violet Holmes, Adelaide Lupin, Pat Wildman, Helen
Benson, and Honey West. These are great characters, heroes who happen to be
women, fully capable of saving themselves or solving the mystery.
You have a new book coming
out with Honey West and T.H.E. Cat. When that kind of project is launched, what
is the process of mining the source materials and making decisions about story
and character parameters?
Moonstone decided they wanted their version to be a mixture
of the eleven novels and the television series with Anne Francis, which ran for
one season. These both have different supporting characters, and the Moonstone
bible takes the best of both versions. But since I always try to approach
projects with a Wold-Newtonish “it’s really real, Honey was a real person”
perspective, I wanted to take it one step further. To guide writing the novella
A Girl and Her Cat (co-written
with Matthew Baugh), I worked up a Honey West timeline. This type of thing
helps me get centered for the writing process. Fortunately, the television series
(and the Moonstone comic and stories) can be neatly placed in a gap between the
ninth novel, Bombshell, which came out in 1964, and the tenth novel, which
came out in 1971. Creating a timeline usually reveals gaps which can be filled
in. For instance, in 1971’s Honey on Her Tail, it’s revealed that Honey
and Lt. Mark Storm have not seen each other in several years. So we wrote their
“goodbye” scene into A Girl and Her Cat. In the 1971 book, Honey has given
up her private eye practice and is now a secret agent. While we don’t show that
career change in A Girl and Her Cat (Moonstone is not a fan of
Honey’s secret agent phase), we do take Honey along the path of that
transition.
You have mentioned
that this new book will include some crossovers and will appeal to U.N.C.L.E.
fans. Can you tell us more?
I do enjoy creating pastiche versions of characters, but of
course, respecting copyright, no characters can be named without authorization.
It would be pretty cool if Honey West and Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat ran into an U.N.C.L.E.
agent or two, though, wouldn’t it?
Interestingly, David McDaniel, who wrote the best of the Man
from U.N.C.L.E. tie-in novels, had Napoleon and Illya appearing at T.H.E. Cat’s
Casa del Gato club in San Francisco. This was in the unfortunately
never-published twenty-fourth U.N.C.L.E. novel, The Final Affair. Of course,
Cat was not named in the book, but with hints, we readers could tell who it
was. McDaniel’s The Rainbow Affair (novel #13) had a subplot about THRUSH
attempting to recruit Dr. Fu-Manchu, who, again, was not named. I always
wondered how that plot thread was resolved.
You have written for
many well-known characters. Are there other properties that you would
love to work on in the future?
I’d love to write
an authorized Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel. Likewise The Wild Wild West. Philip
José Farmer’s Doc Caliban and Lord Grandrith--now there’s a property I’m dying
to have a crack at, and perhaps his World of Tiers, someday. There are others,
of course, such as Doc Savage, Tarzan, Fu-Manchu, and James Bond, but other
writers have these well in hand.
Pulp stories that take
place in the past seem to offer a satisfying cocktail of inventiveness,
innocence, empathy, and mystery. Do you think pulps endure because our modern
culture lacks some of these qualities?
Yes, the world was much larger then. You could believe in
hidden cities in as-yet unexplored parts of Africa. A hero had to survive on
his or her wits, and perhaps a few neat gadgets which don’t seem quite so
impressive in our modern world.
Many pulps and classic
genre work has been reissued or released. Do you have beloved characters,
stories, or shows that still wait for official release?
It makes me crazy that we don’t have authorized DVD releases
of the 1960s Green Hornet series, and of T.H.E Cat. As far as books and pulps
go… I can remember hunting, without success, week after week and month after
month, for the next Bantam reprint of Doc Savage, or trying to find the Warner
reprints of the Avenger novels. So much pulp material is being reprinted now,
and much of it digitally (The Spider, G-8, Operator #5, etc.), we are truly in
a golden age of access right now.
Thanks, Win! It's fun to hear about your work and to chat about some of our favorite classics.
Thank you, Jason, it’s been a pleasure!
Spy Vibers can now pick up A Girl and Her Cat from Moonstone here. Amazon page for release here. You can learn more about Win Scott Eckert at his website and Amazon author page. Above photo: with Win Scott Eckert at PulpFest, courtesy of Chris Carey. Related posts: Win Scott Eckert Fu Manchu panel, William Patrick Maynard (Fu Manchu), Richard Sala, Katharine Boyd. For Your Shelf Only interviews: Jon Gilbert, Raymond Benson, Jeremy Duns, Peter Lorenz, David Foster, Rob Mallows, Roger Langley, Craig Arthur, Fleming Short, Matt Sherman, and Alan Stephenson.
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