National Bacon Day

Wow! All these great holidays in the USA, so near to one another!  Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and National Bacon Day!   Founded in 1997 by Danya “D” Goodman and Meff “Human Cannonball” Leonard, National Bacon Day is celebrated every December 30.  Bacon is one of my favorite foods and is also a favorite of Vic Challenger, the action-adventure heroess in my novels so I must pay homage.  Are you a baconeer, too?  Here are a few fun bacon facts and suggestions for celebrating that wonderful food.
> Eat bacon, obviously
> Use #baconday in your social media posts
        > Watch a Kevin Bacon movie (personally I really like the first “Tremors”)
> Read about Francis Bacon (1561–1626) He was a natural philosopher and leader in scientific research methodology.
> Make your own bacon (see below)
> Cook up some bacon to take to work and share with co-workers
> Enjoy this bacon song/video by Tessa Violet (she has a lot of other great music, too! Check it out while you're there.) Watch below or on Youtube
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3DAjQhChRs
> Customize yourself some fashion bacon (see below)
> Attend a celebration if one is near you.

OK, how do you make bacon?  Actually, it is pretty simple but several steps.  Overview: trim pork belly to size, pack with salt and spice mix or soak in brine, let set, smoke, cut, cook, eat.  Tip: you can use any spice you like.    Here are two video links where you can watch the details to the process.
Making Bacon From Pork Belly - How To Cure and Smoke Your Own Bacon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJv6x6TN1bw
How to Make Homemade Bacon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEki-wnrVCU

Here’s a bacon laugh:
Blind Bacon Taste Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NfIG57hbno >

Want a unique bacon?  Here are some ideas for tastes to add to your salt pack or brine when you make your own bacon or when cooking store bought.
Nutmeg    red pepper    black pepper    powdered mustard     pineapple juice
        Licorice flavoring     maple syrup     brown sugar      honey     orange (flavoring or juice)

Two ideas I didn’t see or try personally (yet) but they sure work with steak as a marinade: whiskey or beer.

Another idea popped into my mind.  I love cilantro with almost anything but as far as I know, you need the fresh herb for that flavor.  Wonder if that would work in the pack salt?  If that piques your curiosity and you try it, let me know how it turns out.
Formal celebrations happen, too.  I won’t try to list what’s available.  It a big world.  What is important for bacon lovers is that celebrations occur all year.  It seems like there are Bacon Festivals every month. Again, way too many to list, so here is my advice.  Search the internet but be specific.  If you just type “bacon fest” you will get them from everywhere and for past years.  Search for “bacon fest” (year, or month and year) (city or state).  Don't just think National Bacon Day.  Bacon themed festivals occur year-round, all over and many are paired with another food, like a bacon and beer day, or bacon and barbeque.
Here’s a parting gift before you rush to celebrate National Bacon Day - a recipe from Vic Challenger's Incredibly Delicious Recipes for Bacon Lovers.

 Bacon-Apple Pie
Ingredients
1 refrigerated pie crust
¾  cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tbs cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½  tsp ground cardamom
½  tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½  tsp ground cloves
6 cups (½ inch thick) sliced peeled apple (5 apples)
12+  bacon slices
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350° F (176 C). - Stir together brown sugar, cornstarch & spices. Add apple slices, toss to coat. Pour apple slices & juices into crust.
- Arrange bacon slices in a lattice design over filling.
- Cover pie with aluminum foil. Place pie on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 1 hour. Remove foil. Bake for 40 more minutes or until crust is golden brown & bacon crisp.
- Remove pie from baking sheet, let cool for at least 1 hour before cutting into wedges.

This is one of 50 mouth-watering recipes in Vic's Bacon Book, available on Amazon in print or digital.    http://amzn.to/2pQQzsY

Don't forget! Celebrate!  Happy Bacon Day!  Until next time, don't be afraid, just do what needs done.

Best Writing in the World

Take a Stroll Down Memory Lane

There is no way for me to prove it, but I am comfortable saying it is the source that encouraged millions of kids to read, write, draw, and imagine and when they grew up, they kept at it.  I have no doubt it gave to untold numbers hope and respite  from lives that were brutal, impoverished, and lackluster.  It could rightly be labeled the original material for reluctant readers and it came in a multitude of guises. Who is this ink-heavy paper super hero?

Pulp fiction.  Don’t agree?  Shame on you!  Keep reading.

Who wouldn't want to read what is behind covers like these?

I know for a fact, from experience, that there are many, many lost souls and unfortunates who don’t know what I’m talking about.  To those lamentables Pulp Fiction is a movie.   If that describes you (and even if it doesn’t), the  following will imbue your brain with a mental giant glow, make your muscles more firm and steel you to take on bad guys and monsters!  (Ps: it was a terrific movie!)

Technically, pulp fiction was fiction printed on cheap “pulp” paper.   Two other factors contributed to what has come to be called “the pulps”.  The steam powered printing press (steam = early electricity😋) was one and the other was publishing cheap, I mean unknown, authors.  When these three factors were combined it provided inexpensive entertainment for the masses.  Pulp is not a genre but included many.  Some popular genres/themes associated with pulp are:

Science fiction Westerns War     Detective/Mystery
Gangster Romance Fantasy Adventure
Aviation Sports Railroad Spicy

“The pulps” usually refers to magazines.  The one which sort of started the ball rolling was Argosy Magazine, published by Jack Munsey beginning in 1896.  By the 1930’s there were around 150 titles.  Some of the titles will ring a bell for some:  Amazing Stories, Black Mask, Dime Detective, Flying Aces, Love Story Magazine, Marvel Tales, Spicy Detective, Startling Stories, Unknown, Weird Tales and Western Story Magazine.

In the early days the term pulp fiction came to include  paperback books, ‘dime novels’.  Mass market paperbacks published from 1950 can also be referred to as pulp fiction but they are not pulps.

Because of the inexpensive nature of the pulps and some of the favorite themes, pulps were often looked down on by self-labeled sophisticates (aka highbrows).  Boy did they miss out.  The writers who penned early pulp is like a who’s who of awesome authors.

Mickey Spillane Mark Twain Robert Silverberg Poul Anderson

Isaac Asimov Zane Grey Jack London H. Rider Haggard

Agatha Christie Ray Bradbury Dashiell Hammett Edgar Rice Burroughs

Ellery Queen H. G. Wells Rudyard Kipling Stephen Crane

This tiny lists doesn’t scratch the surface.  For a list of about a hundred pulp authors go here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine#Notable_original_characters

Vic Challenger is billed as the Queen of New Pulp Action Adventure.
In spite of the negative connotation given the term “pulp” in early days, and by some yet today, I have no qualms whatsoever about being associated with pulp and the awesome authors represented.  If I can light a candle beside their bonfires I will be a happy camper!

Mention must be given to house names since three of my obvious influences were written under house names.  A house writer was an author who was an employee of a publisher and wrote under a pen name with no rights to what they wrote.  Many series were written by several writers under the single pseudonym.

The Nancy Drew series was created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and began in 1930 with The Secret of the Old Clock.  Listed author was house name Carolyn Keene and many authors wrote under that pseudonym, but the original writer and the one considered primary Nancy Drew author was Mildred Wirt Benson.  Next in order of involvement was probably Harriet Adams (Stratemeyer's daughter) who began to update the novels in 1959.  Nancy was a normal girl who studied hard, took responsibility seriously, and loved learning.  She enjoyed solving mysteries and never hesitated to help someone.  Sound a little like Vic Challenger?

Kenneth Robeson was a pseudonym used by authors for two awesome heroes - Doc Savage and The Avenger.  Of 181 Doc Savage novels all but 20 were written by Lester Dent.   All 24 Avenger novels were written by Paul Ernst.  Neither of these heroes had super powers.  They were extraordinary because they exercised, studied and trained.  Sounds like Vic. You and I can aspire to what they did - if we are ready to do a LOT of the aforementioned exercise, study and training.

Know something about pulp?  Let me leave you with a quiz.  Match column a with column b.  Answers below.   Use each number with only one letter.
1  Edgar Rice Burroughs A  Charlie Chan
2  Robert E Howard B  Nellie Gray
3  H. Rider Haggard C  The Domino Lady
4  Earl Stanley Gardner    D  Conan
5  Earl derr Biggers E  Dune
6  The Avenger F   Cthulhu
7  Jane Porter     G  Alan Quatermain
8  Wilma Deering H  Land of Hidden Men
9  H. P. Lovecraft I  The Curse of Capistrano
10 Frank Herbert J  Buck Rogers
11 Ellen Patrick K  Tarzan
12 Don Diego de la Vega L  Perry Mason

Good news.  Pulp is alive and well, though more difficult to find than it once was.  Here are a few pulp sites you will enjoy.

http://www.shadowsanctum.net/links/links_pulp.html
http://www.pulpmags.org/
http://www.thepulp.net/the-hunt/pulp-sources/
http://www.thepulp.net/the-hunt/new-pulp/
http://robmdavis.com/Airship27Hangar/airship27hangar.html
http://artsreviews.libsyn.com/       Great podcast of all things pulp.

Answers to Quiz
1  Edgar Rice Burroughs author of             H  Land of Hidden Men
2  Robert E Howard author of                    D  Conan
3  H. Rider Haggard creator of character     G  Alan Quatermain
4  Earl Stanley Gardner author of                L  Perry Mason novels
5  Earl derr Biggers author of                      A  Charlie Chan novels
6  The Avenger  one of his assistants is       B  Nellie Gray    
7   Jane Porter   wife of                                K  Tarzan
8  Wilma Deering female protagonist in      J  Buck Rogers
9  H. P. Lovecraft creator of                        F   Cthulhu  
10 Frank Herbert author of                         E  Dune
11 Ellen Patrick  name of the avenging       C  The Domino Lady
12 Don Diego de la Vega  aka Zorro           I  The Curse of Capistrano

I hope you enjoyed this fast excursion to yesteryear.  Were you a pulp fan?  What was your favorite?
If your appetite for pulp was awakened, try some Vic Challenger.  http://www.vicplanet.com

Thanks for reading.  

Book 2 in the Vic Challenger series