short story anthology

by

‘The Deli Counter of Justice’ Is Now Available

'The Deli Counter of Justice' cover. Art by Blair J. Campbell. Logo/font design by Karen Wellenkamp.

‘The Deli Counter of Justice’ cover. Art by Blair J. Campbell. Logo/font design by Karen Wellenkamp.

The superhero short story anthology The Deli Counter of Justice is now available on Amazon in both physical and digital formats. The paperback is listing for $13.99, while the Kindle version runs $6.99. If you’re not familiar with the collection (you can check out all of our author interviews and posts here), here’s what it’s about:

For decades, Carl Cook fought crime in the city of New Caliburn as the superhero Piecemaker. With the power to disassemble most everything around him, Carl was very good at taking things apart; less so at putting them back together. One divorce and an alienated daughter later, he realized the toll heroing had taken. In an attempt to move on and take charge of his life, Carl hung up the cape and opened Cook’s Deli.

But things are never that simple in the superhero capital of the world. Cook’s Deli has a front-row seat to the city’s superpowered exploits, from the exciting to the bizarre. A former sidekick discovers just how hard life is without a hero, a psychic rat goes on the warpath for another slice of rye, a D-list villain plots his revenge…these are just some of the adventures going on right in front of the deli counter. Carl may change the world, even more than he did in costume. Only now he does it one cold cut at a time.

In THE DELI COUNTER OF JUSTICE, you’ll explore the world in and around Cook’s Deli with nine stories and poems written by Kitty Chandler, Thomas Dorton, Rahne Ehtar, Alyssa Herron, Amorak Huey, C. Gayle Seaman, Eric Sipple, Paul Smith, and Arlo J. Wiley. Featuring an introduction by Mere Smith (Angel, Rome).

The book was edited by our very own Gobbledygeek co-host Arlo J. (AJ) Wiley, alongside Paul Smith and Eric Sipple. We are very excited to finally bring it to the public. We hope you enjoy it.

For an alternative to Amazon, please feel free to purchase the book via Smashwords.

Continue after the jump for a new installment of The Deli Podcast of Justice.

Continue reading →

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with Paul Smith (Plus Meet His Character!)

crashtest

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with Paul Smith is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

The Deli Counter of Justice drops in less than a week, on Wednesday, November 5, and thus we have reached our final author interview. Paul Smith, part of the collection’s braintrust alongside AJ and Eric, talks about his story “…A Hero Only One,” which concerns Piecemaker’s former sidekick Crashtest. Paul discusses the fact that this is the first piece of writing he’s finished, which he claims led to plenty of self-flagellation, banging his head into hard surfaces, and lots of alcohol; the decades he’s spent reading comics, superheroic and otherwise; and his storytelling start as an RPG game master.

Next: no more interviews, but there will be one more podcast before the book’s release!

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #11.)

Continue after the jump for an introduction to the main character from Paul’s story, which Eric challenged him to.

Continue reading →

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with Alyssa Herron

bluehearts

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with Alyssa Herron is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

Alyssa Herron doesn’t have a lot of experience with superheroes, which is exactly why The Deli Counter of Justice crew tapped her to contribute to the anthology. Paul and Eric talk to Alyssa about her story “Delilah by Proxy,” which she describes as a superhero story for people who would never read superhero stories. They discuss how Alyssa’s love affair with writing started with a poetry contest, her outline-heavy approach to this story, and how her acting experience informs her ability to take notes.

Next: for our final author interview, AJ and Eric turn to one of their own, Paul Smith, on Thursday, October 30.

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with Arlo J. Wiley (Plus Meet His Character!)

docbattery

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with Arlo J. Wiley is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

As our author interviews for The Deli Counter of Justice continue, editor-in-chief Arlo J. Wiley (or AJ when he’s not being pretentious) finds himself in the hot seat. AJ discusses his short story “Innovation,” about a D-list supervillain who starts frequenting the deli he doesn’t realize is owned by his former archnemesis. Other points of discussion are AJ’s history with screenwriting, how he learned to read in part from ’70s and ’80s superhero comics, and about his desire to take superheroes in a new direction.

Next: Paul and Eric chat with “Delilah by Proxy” author Alyssa Herron on Tuesday, October 28.

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #9.)

Continue after the jump for an introduction to the main character from AJ’s story, which Eric challenged him to.

Continue reading →

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with C. Gayle Seaman

spring

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with C. Gayle Seaman is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

Superheroes aren’t all fisticuffs and laser vision. They’re also poetry in motion, something C. Gayle Seaman hits upon with her contribution to The Deli Counter of Justice, the poem “Spring Memories,” in which a young man reflects on a childhood encounter with his idol Piecemaker. Paul and AJ talk to Gayle about her family’s history in the newspaper business, the romance novel she wrote a few years back, and how the fairy tale characters of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm were her first superheroes.

Next: on Thursday, October 23, Paul and Eric turn the tables on AJ to discuss his story “Innovation.”

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #8.)

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with Kitty Chandler

hacker

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with Kitty Chandler is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

Superheroes don’t always slap on shiny spandex to soar the friendly skies. They also “lurk in the shadows and skulk in darkness,” as Kitty Chandler puts it. Rashida, the young woman at the center of Kitty’s The Deli Counter of Justice story “Calculated Risk,” is one of those. She spends hours in her basement doing off-the-grid surveillance, dispatching nearby heroes to deal with crimes no one else is paying attention to…until one day, when things don’t go quite as planned. AJ and Eric talk with Kitty about her previous experience with anthologies (including her own, Black Ice), her devotion to any and all X-Men comics, and how guidance from her “editrix” improves her writing.

Next: Paul and AJ interview C. Gayle Seaman, one of two poets whose work appears in the book, on Tuesday, October 21.

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #7.)

Unveiling ‘The Deli Counter of Justice’ Cover

'The Deli Counter of Justice' cover. Art by Blair J. Campbell. Logo/font design by Karen Wellenkamp.

‘The Deli Counter of Justice’ cover. Art by Blair J. Campbell. Logo/font design by Karen Wellenkamp.

As you might imagine from everything we’ve said about the book, one of our aims in putting together The Deli Counter of Justice was to make the superheroic mundane and the mundane superheroic. What better image to summarize this mission statement than a superhero, clad in head-to-toe spandex, standing before a deli counter with a shopping basket? For the cover art, we have to thank the terrific Blair J. Campbell, who brought our ideas to life with his wonderful comic book-y art. Meanwhile, on the font front, credit goes to Karen Wellenkamp (@QuoterGal), who designed all the words on the front and back covers, deciding where they should go and what they should look like.

As a reminder, you’ll be able to hold this shiny cover in your hands on Wednesday, November 5.

If you want to hear more about what goes into graphic design, AJ and Eric sat down with Karen to talk about her decades-long career as a designer, her preference for detective novels over superheroes, the great deal of research that goes into her process, and even an unused Gobbledygeek logo she created. You can listen to or download the interview right here, or on iTunes here.

Next: AJ and Eric return to chat with “Calculated Risk” author Kitty Chandler on Thursday, October 16.

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #6.)

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with Thomas Dorton

rat

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with Thomas Dorton is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

What happens when a stoner working at a deli comes face-to-face with a psychic rat hungering for irradiated sandwiches? The answer can be found in “Rat King,” Thomas Dorton’s contribution to The Deli Counter of Justice. AJ and Eric talk with Thomas about how the superhero cartoons he grew up on were surprisingly decent, how his 9th grade English teacher encouraged him to write, and how his (really quite impeccable) taste in music influences his writing.

Next: on Tuesday, October 14,  AJ and Eric rap with our cover designer, Karen Wellenkamp (@QuoterGal). That’s also when you’ll get to see the cover she and Blair J. Campbell worked so hard putting together!

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #5.)

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with Rahne Ehtar

mask

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with Rahne Ehtar is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

Rahne Ehtar has been writing since she first got her hands on a pack of Crayolas. That long and winding road has led her here, to The Deli Counter of Justice, wherein she’s written the story “Without Masks,” concerning a young superhero who would love it if her life would allow her just one normal night out. Paul and AJ chat with Rahne about her history writing fan fiction; her “long and laborious” writing process, which involves writing the first draft out longhand; and how she submitted eight different ideas to the boys, so of course the one they picked was the one she didn’t really want to write.

Next: AJ and Eric sit down with “Rat King” author Thomas Dorton on Thursday, October 9.

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #4.)

by

Listen to ‘The Deli Podcast of Justice’ Interview with Eric Sipple

The Deli Podcast of Justice interview with Eric Sipple is available for listening or download right here, and on iTunes here.

For their first interview with authors from The Deli Counter of Justice, Paul and AJ talk to the other man who makes up the Deli braintrust: Eric Sipple. Eric discusses his start writing SeaQuest fan fiction, his introduction to the world of superheroes via Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film, how he created Carl Cook’s daughter Tabitha for his story “Pixelated” (who may wind up becoming the anthology’s Wolverine), and much more.

Next: Paul and AJ sit down with Rahne Ehtar, the author of “Without Masks.”

(Show notes for The Deli Podcast of Justice #3.)