ONGOING PROJECTS
The Adventures of Billy Space Boy & His Astro Dog, Zap!
Ran tells us that The Adventures of Billy Space Boy and His Astro Dog, Zap! was originally developed in the early 1980s while he was living and working in England. Billy Space Boy was a small part of a larger concept that Ran and co-workers referred to as "The Revolving Nuclear Zoo" � a collection of jokes and humorous ideas developed for the "fun" of it.
In time The Revolving Nuclear Zoo expanded into Uncle Dave�s Revolving Nuclear Zoo Machine which was viewed as a humorous and offbeat Saturday Morning children�s television show. Since then, Billy Space Boy and other elements of The Revolving Nuclear Zoo have taken on a variety of different forms - a comedy television series (Ran wrote the first 24 page episode, including the hand drawn title page shown at left before Ran came to understand that hand drawn title pages were unacceptable), a planned collection of short stories, and a feature length motion picture screenplay.
Ran tells us that a little over a year ago he began plans to write a novelization of the Billy Space Boy screenplay. But Billy Space Boy would wait. Ran was in the middle of writing and rewriting Gretchen�s Wood. Now that Gretchen�s Wood is finished and in the hands of Publish America, The Adventures of Billy Space Boy and His Astro Dog, Zap! is again Ran�s # 1 priority. It�s been just over twenty years since Billy and The Revolving Nuclear Zoo were born. Perhaps soon they�ll explode upon the world stage in �a blazing glow of lethal radiation� (as Ran says).
Ran has provided us with three short sample chapters to include here and has emphasized that we understand these chapters are rough drafts and by no means the final versions.
Of Gods & Aliens
Ran tells us this collection is the intended companion volume to Gretchen�s Wood & Others. The stories contained in Of Gods & Aliens are Lovecraftian Horror, but none are set in Columbiana County. Two of the stories in this volume, �De Marigny�s Clock� and �Azathoth Awakening,� received Horror Writer�s Association (HWA) Bram Stoker Award recommendations.
Two thirds of the stories for this volume have been written. A few of them are rewritten versions of older stories that have previously been published online and/or in fan magazines. Some are newly written stories yet to be published, and a few are partially completed stories still to be finished.
The artwork at right was commissioned by Ran. It's entitled "Innsmouth Harvest" from the story of the same title, and was painted by Anita S Moore. The framed full size portrait measures 16x22 inches.
Here is one of them...
CHAPTER 1 - A Dastardly Kidnap Plot
CHAPTER 2 - Uncle Dave's Revolving Nuclear Zoo Machine
CHAPTER 4 - The Coolest Mutt in the Universe
Ran has planned 13 stories for this volume. They are:
The Dark One Comes
Azathoth Awakening
Arkham Shadows
A Fisherman�s Tale
Innsmouth Harvest
Y'ha-nthlei Rising
De Marigny�s Clock
The Scuttler in the Dark
Return to the Mountains of Madness
Inheritance
A Festival of Winds
The High Priest
Of Gods & Aliens
AZATHOTH AWAKENING
