The World of The Exceptionals

The Exceptionals is a high action saga set in the near tomorrow of 2030. It follows the adventures of a group of scientifically augmented, bio-enhanced government agents as they confront and come to question their own humanity and become aware of a vast conspiracy that threatens the downfall of the United States.

In this violent future the rise of narco terrorists and extra territorial criminals has lead the U.N. to create a new class of lawmen, The Exceptionals, --bio enhanced bounty hunters who can go almost any where in pursuit of these extraordinary criminals.

The world was originally conceived as a T.V. Series in 1999 and my partner Jerry Kokich and I wrote a number of episodes. We even shot a short pilot. Then I took the stories and novelized them as the first book, I went on to write additional novels and plan many more…
Here’s what some critics have to say…

• The Exceptionals #1: Measure Of A Man
  "The Exceptionals is a great book and the start of what I hope to be a long series in the science fiction/thriller suspense genre. The authors' fictional world set in the mid 21st century is so vivid and compelling you find yourself believing that this reality of the world actually exists. Teel James Glenn and Jerry Kokich have created a great fictional world for their Exceptionals and I for one can't wait to return. If you like your suspenseful thrillers with a healthy dose of science fiction thrown in, The Exceptionals is the one for you."--A Simply Romance Reviews Outstanding Read!
  Reviewed by Whitney, Simply Romance Reviews

• 
  Across the Wasteland
  Reviewed for MilSciFi.com by William Kriegherren
  Four out of Five Stars
  In this near-future adventure, we find The Exceptionals (government sponsored, bio-enhanced bounty hunters) Lastshot and Skorpion stranded in the hellish nuclear-wasteland which was once Chechnya--now populated by criminals, monsters, and cannibalistic natives--onboard their downed shuttlecraft is a group of "innocents," and the prisoner Rokk, a rogue Exceptional. Now the name of the game is survival.
  Having grown up reading the likes of Mack Bolan, I found the author's descriptions of both his characters and graphic combat scenes to be compelling and extremely visceral in nature. I always love such narratives as "…the body hit the floor with a sound like a wet towel smacking against a countertop." This was in turn mated with expertly choreographed fight scenes and some of the most accurate weapons play I've seen in a long time.
  The modern and sci-fi tech is there, but is general used to enhance the moment, rather than just being the moment. Yes there are some bits that play up the tech, such as someone crushing an opponent with their exoskeletons; and a character that had lost her limbs and now has see-through bionics, but in the context of the scenes it works, and in many ways adds to the fun.
  Overall I enjoyed both the story and the writing style. If you’re a fan of the gritty action-adventure genre, then this is definitely the one for you. I give it a four out of five.? 

• Review from Chrischatreviews
  Three out of four elephants.
  Is it our future to take a step back to tribal times?
  Across the Wasteland” is a strong and involving read. The Exceptionals
  characters, mostly Lastshot and Skorpion…are the new heroes of a very disturbing future.
  “Across the Wasteland” travels with us to a part of our world turned into a wasteland due to a massive hole in the ozone layer that we caused. This area “the zone” is a virtual dead man’s land. Nothing electrical works within its ozone free boundaries. The solar radiation can and does kill. Even Lastshot and Skorpion well this areas weakening powers.
  However, as renegade Exceptional, Rokk, knows, life is always hidden in Mother Earth. Rokk is “a full blood Seneca, a citizen of the Original Nation Confederacy” as well as an Exceptional. Mr. Glenn introduces an interesting future for North American and her Native Peoples.
  Rokk knows that law and justice are sometimes opposites and, sadly, he had taken the law into his own hands to deliver Justice. You will need to judge him for yourself.
  The base story of “Across the Wasteland” is the survival of Lastshot and Skorpion as they strive to deliver Rokk to the proper authorities while keeping the civilians, whose plane was commandeered for Rokk’s transportation, alive. Within the Wastelands, our group encounters the locals, who were forced to band together into warring tribes, packs of radioactively mutant wolves, and their own internal battles.
  I like Lastshot here more than in Book 1 of the Exceptionals. Here he is faced with someone, Rokk, who is very much like Lastshot but has crossed the very narrow line dividing the legal fro the illegal. How Lastshot accepts or doesn’t accept Rokk made for a deeper reading of what is an adventure series.
  This time around Mr. Glenn has produced one storyline and has run with it to my satisfaction. So, what is so great about it being to my satisfaction? I’m no longer going to read book three because I’m curious or because I’ve accepted the review request. I’m reading book three because I want to revisit this series.
  Well done, Mr. Glenn.

• 
  THE EXCEPTIONALS BOOK 3: ON THE GOOD SHIP CALIGULA
  
  Three Elephants our of Five

This is not the Good Ship Lollypop, but their God Emperor Maximus Caligula the Second is a little lolly--as in gone around the bend a few times. Can The Bodyguard save two of their own from Maximus’ gladiator games?

I’m enjoying the escapism Mr. Glenn’s world offers and I’m a little surprised that I am. Mr. Glenn has created over-the-top super human heroes meshing natural abilities with technologies from some modern Six Million Man world and it WORKS. Not my normal reading choices, but I’m now looking forward to each new story.

In this book three of The Exceptionals, a tsunami of ‘27 sent the aircraft carrier, the California, crashing into a small village just north of Columbia. Now called the Republic of Nova Roma and ruled by said Maximus Caligula, who has brought back the life and death (mostly death) games of ancient Rome. Very lucrative games.

Exceptional Temper, Tori Yagyu, was tracking black market nuclear arming triggers when she ran into the games. What connection is there between the games and nuclear missiles?

Undercover, Exceptional Lastshot, Connor Le’Schott, goes in to bring Tori home. Is this the final face off between him and…like I’m going to tell you.

The Exeptionals is pure entertaining escapism. It’s the good guys against the bad guys and let the bodies fall where they will. It’s fantastical over the top situations that could just be a teeniest bit futuristically real.

Yes, I want more.

The World of Maxie & Moxie

The so-called weird menace pulps began with the first weird menace title which was Dime Mystery. It started out as a straight crime fiction magazine but in 1933 began the slide to the new sub-genre of the actual horror fiction that was popular in the other magazines decorating the stands.

The "mystery" in the title of many of these magazines was often a misnomer as these pulps went far afield from the mystery genre, often with supernatural threats and mad scientist villains.The fighting Donovans, Maxi and Moxie are my answer to these investigators of the unusual, where the crimes are just a little off center and the villains might just as easily be bent on world domination, or making mystical power grabs as just bumping off an old spouse.

Maxi and Moxie Donovan are people of their time, grounded in the day to day yet encountering all the weird and evil the world has to offer. Regardless of what they face, they know they have each other to depend on, and after all, what more can anyone want?
Here’s what a critics say:

• HANCOCK TIPS HIS HAT TO
  DEADLINE ZOMBIES-The Adventures of Maxi and Moxie
  
  Good thing that Teel James Glenn knows what makes a good Pulp story.

'DEADLINE ZOMBIES' is a collection of New Pulp stories by Glenn that center on the adventures of newspaperman Moxie Dononvan and his actress girlfriend, later wife, Maxi. The title is slightly misleading due to the fact that although zombies do make an appearance within the book, all five stories do not relate to the undead. Oh, no, Glenn sprinkles all sorts of oddity throughout the book, including living puppets, little people of the Irish variety, mad alchemists, beastly beings, and even fantastic starring appearances by historical figures, most notably an excellent portrayal of Bela Lugosi. Themes of all sorts abound throughout the stories as well, including magic versus modernity and transformations and metamorphosis
The latter point is clear not only in what happens to characters in the stories, but in the central pair of heroes as well. Moxie is a beat reporter and Maxi a B actress as the first story opens, but by the end of the book both of them have gone through job changes and personal development as well, primarily by marrying one another. ..
Another strong point of the collection is the canvas which Glenn creates. As fully formed as his characters are, his settings and details of action within the stories is ten times as strong. Many times I lost myself while reading, feeling as I could be standing on Governor's Island or that I could hear Moxie's wooden leg (This is a great concept handled well by Glenn!) clomping just behind me. The entire collection of stories open up like a wide door and welcome the reader in, refusing to let same reader out until the ride is over.

DEADLINE ZOMBIES is an excellent set of stories written with the sensibility of classic Pulp and Noir while balancing well the layers of description and characterization that constitute what many New Pulp writers are doing today.

FOUR OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-I'll go to the newsstands again and again for more Moxie and Maxi. Guaranteed. Copyboy!

• 
  Review of Deadline Zombies by Tony-Paul

…Just like a Saturday morning at the movies! Complete with cliffhanger, a hero who cracks wise, a beautiful and equally verbal heroine, and more weird villains than you can throw popcorn at. Falling back on his cinematic background, Mr. Glenn has peppered his stories with movie facts and fiction, dropping names like a gossip columnist. Many of the movies stars mentioned may not be recognized by younger readers, but to this ol’ diehard, it was sheer nostalgia, Although I do wonder at Moxie’s unfortunate habit of getting himself transformed into certain animals of the equine persuasion, it’s still all great fun; even the preface “The Reporter Hero” is an entertaining as well as interesting read. If I had to make a comparison, I’d say this volume of novellas could be called “The Front Page meets The Bowery Boys.” Witty, sharp, and above all, great fun!

(http://www.tony-paul.com/)
January 7, 2011
RATED: Four Stars

• 
  5.0 out of 5 stars Pure delight, November 20, 2010
  By plaice (Cape Cod) -

This review is from: Deadline Zombies: The Adventures of Maxi and Moxie (Paperback)
"Deadline Zombies" is a delightful read. The book is Glenn's homage to the original genre, with surprising historical references and the occasional contemporary twist. His dialogue is totally engaging. "Deadline Zombies" is easy, fun escapism at its best.

 

• - 4.0 out of 5 stars Faux pulp whimsy, August 10, 2010

Here's the scoop, straight from the horse's mouth. Deadline Zombies is about an inkslinger called Moxie Donovan, and his movie-star dame, Maxine Keller.

Wait a minute, I'm not going to keep that up for the whole review. I could, but I won't.

This is a faux pulp, written to evoke the style of the 1930s and 1940s. As somebody who has read all 181 Doc Savage adventures, I have some familiarity with the period.
When he does bring in a reference from the 1940s, it made me smile. A movie director introduces himself as Ed Ulmer...and he actually is Edgar G. Ulmer (the Black Cat, but I associate him with The Man from Planet X). Bela Lugosi is a character. There's also a suggestion that Moxie covered the events in the Doc Savage adventure, Death in Silver...nice touch. My favorite thing may have been the line, "I felt like the Nicholas Brothers were doing a duet on my head." The Nicholas Brothers were a famous acrobatic tap team, and that seemed like a genuine reference.
It's all told in first person by Moxie, which gives it a bit of a noir flavor. It's not really dark like noir, though.
Bottom line, though, I had fun reading them. The first story, which is an origin story, was my least favorite, but I found myself really wanting to keep reading a couple of the others. I'd read more adventures of Moxie and Maxi.

By Bufo Calvin "Bufo Calvin"

• Review of
  Headline Ghouls: the further adventures of Maxi & Moxie

Four Stars Reviewed 3/16/12
Reporter Moxie Donnovan has followed his actor-wife to Hollywood and taken a job as a studio flack, but he hasn't lost his eye for a story... and Hollywood is full of stories. It's 1938, Hitler rules Germany and is supporting U.S. Nazi groups, the studio system is in full force, America still suffers from the Great Depression, and hard-boiled reporter heroes are the order of the day.
HEADLINE GHOULS follows Moxie, along with his hard-dancing, hard-drinking wife Maxi, as they confront Hollywood blackmailers, Nazi cells, occult Nazi gangs who use human sacrifice, New Orleans voodoo, and Germany's attempts to infiltrate Hollywood. Moxie and Maxi play off against each other with quick dialogue, an assembly of interesting friends, and the glamour of the studio system in its heyday.
Author Teel James recreates the "pulp" style with over-the-top characters, bizarre situations that combine mystery, nazis and the occult, the hard-charging reporter hero, and plenty of fists, guns and drinking. I especially like the way Glenn pairs the fact-hungry reporter Moxie with his charming wife Maxi. Maxi, a Broadway dancer turned Hollywood actor, is nobody's idea of a damsel in distress. She can throw back drinks with the best of them and she's as likely to rescue Moxie as he is to save her.
Teel writes about an America that's now in our past... an America still struggling its way out of the Great Depression, still shackled with the legacy of Jim Crow, yet also hopeful about the future. Teel immerses himself deep in this past, throws out cultural references and Hollywood trivia that will delight fans of old-time pulps, without ever forgetting that we're reading for the story. If you read DEADLINE ZOMBIES the first book in the Moxie/Maxi series, you'll definitely want to grab HEADLINE GHOULS. If you're not yet a fan you owe yourself the treat.

 

The World of Dr. Shadows

For many years I enjoyed the adventures of the pulp heroes of the 1930s; The Shadow, the Green Lama, Doc Savage, the Avenger, the Wraith, and their hardboiled companions: Nick Carter, the Continental Op, Secret Agent X, Dan Fowler, Perry Mason etc They were time capsules of attitudes and action.
I made up my mind then to visit that time through characters that lived there. I felt an original pulp hero was needed, but not one who was a ghost of someone else, no pastiche of Bronze or a Shadow’s shadow. I sought to create a character that could have graced the newsstand in the golden decade of the ‘30s and would have fit in as ‘just one of the guys.’
I searched for a bit to find the elements of the pulp greats that appealed to me the strongest: Doc Savage’s self discipline, logical mind, secret gold horde (Mayan) and companions, the Avenger’s ashen skin, his distinctly none racist world view (he has an African American couple as assistants and treats them as valued team members) and personal stake in fighting crime (his wife and child were killed by gangsters in the incident that cause his unusual physical condition), the Shadow’s mysterious eastern connections and hidden gold horde ( Aztec), the Green Lama’s gentle humor and spirituality( he was the only bona-fide Buddhist Lama in all of pulp action), the Green Ghost’s use of stage magic and illusion to foil the badguys and put it all into a pot to stew.
What bubbled to the surface was Anton Chadeaux PhD who, the world would come to know—as Dr. Shadows!

The world of Dr. Shadows is the lynchpin of the Pulpverse I’ve created which includes The fighting Donovans-Maxi & Moxie, The Skullmask and later, the Jon Shadows tales. He is a world-traveling adventurer in the heroic pulp tradition with a little noir edge to some of the tales.

• Shadows of New York
  Reviewed by TV Sweeny

  RATING: 4 Stars
  It’s 1937…a time of transition…when America still has to be vigilant and its gotham metropolises are protected by various un-super-empowered heroes…China is being menaced by Japanese aggression and the clock’s ticking toward a countdown at Pearl Harbor…
  Anton Chadreaux was a passenger in his parents’ plane when it was sabotaged by Chinese warlords in the pay of Japanese agents, causing it to crash-land in the mountains of North Korea. He survived, they didn’t. Healed by the monks of the Wei Monastery, Anton was resurrected into the ancient knowledge of the Sulsa Do arts and emerged a changed man. The herbs used to bring the youngster back to health turns his skin—even his hair—gray. Now he’s known as the Granite Man, Dr. Shadows, and the Ghost Healer. A graduate of Columbia University, he heads the Shadows Foundation for Justice.

  
  In these seven stories, Dr. Shadows, alongside his associates “Slugger” Harris, a dimintive but spunky Brooklynite, Dr. Hoon, a Korean healer, Chelsea Forrest, and eye-patch wearing Han Ku (Hank) Lee, fights espionage agents, ninjas, the Tong, and all other menaces Oriental.

  
  MY OPINION: This novel reads like a Republic serial…it’s all there, just as we used to see it on Saturdays at the local movie house. Or one of the radio adventures listened to on Saturday night. One could almost expect a banner at the end of each chapter: Turn in next week!

  More talk than in Mr. Glenn’s tales of sorcery, swords, and derring-do (and I still wonder how you do a derring!) but it’s fun and it’s exciting and full of nostalgia. It’s the 30’s, after all.

  There’s even a cameo byline by Moxie Donovan!

  Having a box of popcorn handy as you red these stories will enhance the nosatalgic air.

• 
  Four Stars

  Shadows of New York by Teel James Glenn In the 1930s, the world stands at the brink of war, Japan is intent on its conquest of China, and criminal masterminds are using the confusion to carve out their own empires. Into this world strides Dr. Shadows.

  Author Teel James Glenn creates a pulp-fiction hero who would have been at home with the pulp action characters of the 1930s--Doc Savage, Batman, the Shadow, and Secret Agent X, and who would have battled arch-fiends like Fu Manchu. Glenn's New York is not the glamorous stage for theater and the super-rich, but bars, Chinatown, and secret societies.

  Fans of pulp fiction will chuckle over Glenn's name-dropping of mostly-forgotten characters, and his careful reconstruction of an era that is now in the past and perhaps never fully existed. As for his characters, Glenn gives Dr. Shadows just a bit of angst, and gives us a full range of villains, from classic arch-fiends to surprisingly complex and honorable enemies.

  FYI: Jonathon Shadows is the son of Dr. Shadows and his detective/adventure tales take place in the world of today!

• 
  Review of Secret of Wolf Island

Gypsy Shadow Publishing at Rainbowreviews.com
RATING: Five Stars out of Five

Review by PermaFrost

"Secret of Wolf Island" is a fast-paced mystery in which the author skillfully escalates the suspense while simultaneously building character delineation. An exciting opening weaves seamlessly into the unraveling of the story tapestry, keeping the reader's attention and eliciting interest in the characters' progress. Settings are particularly detailed in descriptive imagery, as much of the novel occurs on a billionaire's private island, designed much like a medieval role-playing game or Renaissance Faire. Clearly the author has done historical research and is also knowledgeable about computer programming and video game design, as these details lend credibility to the novel's backdrop.

Although "Secret of Wolf Island" is categorized as a lesbian contemporary mystery and there is a lesbian partnership more or less in the backdrop, the protagonist, investigator Johnathon Shadows, is straight. However, this is a fascinating novel and well worth the reading for its plotting, action-filled pace, characterizations, and seamless interweaving of Renaissance, medieval, and contemporary science.