Bullet Gal: A New Novel by Andrez Bergen

A new novel by Andrez Bergen has just been published. Titled Bullet Gal, it is a narrative reimagining of Bergen's 12-issue comic book series of the same name that came out in 2015. Roundfire Books describes the novel this way:

Teenage gunsel-cum-aspiring-hero Mitzi (last name unknown) breezes into Heropa with twin 9 mm pistols blazing - only to be targeted for recruitment, betrayal and assassination. French femmes fatale, an out-of-touch super-powered elite, and one hell of an underlying mystery, figure heavily in this fusion neo-noir, science-fiction dystopia. Interweaving the scrappy one-liners is a story much more than the sum of its parts, concerning questions about grand creative process.

I reviewed the comics for bare•bones last year:

Bergen is onto something new here, yet it's something old at the same time. This novel is a prequel of sorts to his 2013 novel, Who Is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?, but... another influence that goes unmentioned is T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, in that Bergen is taking scraps of popular culture from decades past and juxtaposing them to help tell a story. The story concerns a young woman who becomes a noir-like hero in the city of Heropa. I won't give anything away, yet Bergen is definitely inventive and the book looks great. You don't need to have read any other Bergen books to enjoy Bullet Gal, but if you pick it up you many want to find out more about the worlds Bergen has been developing. My favorite book of his so far was One Hundred Years of Vicissitude (2012), followed by Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat (2011). He also does other comics from his home in Tokyo, though with the flavor of his native land of Australia. Give Bullet Gal a try. It's not like much else you'll see these days! 

For more information on the novel, visit the Roundfire Books website here. The paperback is listed at $15.95 and the e-book costs $6.99, though Amazon lists it at $5.38 as of this writing.

--Jack Seabrook

Black Sails, Disco Inferno by Andrez Bergen

On June 30, 2016, a new novel by our friend Andrez Bergen will be published! Here's the press release. Watch this spot for a review!

BLACK SAILS, DISCO INFERNO

by Andrez Bergen with Renee Asher Pickup

RELEASE DATE:JUNE 30, 2016

LIST UNDER:CRIME/NOIR/PULP

PUBLISHER: OPEN BOOKS

An unnamed city, in which crime families flourish and police pinch pennies from those with most power...

Black Sails, Disco Inferno retells the classic medieval romance of Tristan and Iseult by turning things on their head, reversing the sex of our chief protagonists, and then placing them in a '70s pulp/noir world.

Andrez Bergen's latest novel (with Renee Asher Pickup) exposes Trista and Issy to a sensual, disco-infused narrative — one overflowing with double-dealings, violent brutality, and a spellbinding mystery.

Black Sails, Disco Inferno is also the novelization of critically-lauded 2015-16 comic book series Trista & Holt that Bergen wrote and illustrated (Pickup scripted #7). Feedback to the comic is included in these lovely bytes:

Captures the spirit of noir so perfectly it hurts.
GRAPHIC POLICY

The dark, brooding world of Trista and Issy is compelling.
SCI-FI JUBILEE

Trista is a breath of fresh air.
MARA WOOD

A crime story, albeit with a hell of a lot of references to medieval literature.
FLICKERING MYTH

Slow-burning, hard-boiled noir.
COMING UP COMICS

Bergen shows once again he has a firm grasp on the concepts of noir literature – perhaps due in part to his readings of Chandler and Hammett (two of the genre’s best), and his consistent great work on Bullet Gal.
ALL-COMIC

The 280-page novel is now ready for pre-order, and both writers involved are available for comment or interviews.
.
OPEN BOOKS: http://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/black-sails-disco-inferno/about-book.html.

Andrez Bergen is an expat Australian writer, journalist, DJ, artist and ad hoc saké connoisseur who's been entrenched in Tokyo, Japan, for the past 15 years.

He makes music as Little Nobody and Funk Gadget, and ran groundbreaking Melbourne record label IF? for over a decade from 1995.

Bergen has also written articles for papers and magazines such as Mixmag, The Age, Anime Insider, Australian Style, Impact, Remix, Yomiuri Shinbun, VICE, and Geek Magazine.

He published noir/sci-fi novel Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat in 2011, the surreal fantasy One Hundred Years of Vicissitude through Perfect Edge Books in 2012, comicbook/noir/pulp tome Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa? (2013), a collection of short stories and archival articles called The Condimental Op (2013), a surreal coming-of-age tale with crime/noir undertones titled Depth Charging Ice Planet Goth (2014), and the horror/noir comedy Small Change (2015).

He additionally makes comics, as writer and occasionally artist, with Tales to Admonish, Bullet Gal, Trista & Holt, Magpie, and a graphic novel version of Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat under the belt.

Bergen has published stories through Crime Factory, Shotgun Honey, Snubnose Press, All Due Respect, Solarcide, Weird Noir, Roundfire Fiction, 8th Wonder Press, Project-Nerd Publishing, Under Belly Comics, Another Sky Press, and IF? Commix, and works occasionally on translating and adapting the scripts for feature films by the likes of Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell), Kazuchika Kise and Naoyoshi Shiotani, for Production I.G in Japan.

Renee Asher Pickup is a mellowed-out punk rocker living in Southern California.

She is senior editor at Dirge Magazine, class facilitator at LitReactor, and is one of the hosts of the Unprintable Podcast.

Renee writes fiction about bad things happening to flawed people — and stands by the statement that From Dusk Till Dawn changed her life.

Trista & Holt: New Graphic Novel By Andrez Bergen

Way across the pond in Australia today (tomorrow? yesterday? well, August 29th, anyway), the kangaroos are jumping with excitement at the release of a new graphic novel by Andrez Bergen called Trista & Holt, volume one.

Very loosely based on the legend of Tristan & Isolde, this is a follow-up of sorts to Bergen's Bullet Gal in that the author again uses a collage of found art to tell a story of murder and mayhem in a noir-soaked, sleazy, neon-lit city of the 1970s.

When a man is blown to bits, Trista visits crime boss Queenie and suspicion falls on Holt. Did Holt's father orchestrate the hit? Murders pile up and a gang war may be in the offing between the Holt family and the Cornwall family. When Trista & Holt meet at a funeral, will sparks fly between the representatives of warring clans?

Trista & Holt has been appearing as a monthly comic book and this paperback collects the first five issues. The saga is planned to span 15 issues in all and is published by IF? Commix.

If you enjoyed Bullet Gal or any of Bergen's previous books, give Trista & Holt a try. Follow this link to order a paper copy for $10 or a digital copy for only $2!

--Jack Seabrook


According to the press release:

Here's a cool sample page!

The 126-page trade paperback edition, comprising issues 1 to 5 — previously published monthly as individual issues in 2015 via indie publisher IF? Commix in Melbourne, Australia.

  

A retelling of the classic legend of Tristan and Isolde, Trista & Holt reverses sexes and places our heroes in a hardboiled, phonto-montaged '70s pulp world.

Queenie rules with an iron fist, and when two of her best men are killed, it is up to her niece Trista to find out what happened.

Love, betrayal, guns, violence and an underlying thread of humor ensues, undercut by the odd pair of flares and a mirror ball or two.

''A riveting narrative... capturing the spirit of noir so perfectly it hurts.''

GRAPHIC POLICY

Bullet Gal, a new graphic novel by Andrez Bergen

Andrez Bergen is back with a new graphic novel that collects all 12 issues of his Australian comic book, Bullet Gal!

Bergen is onto something new here, yet it's something old at the same time. This graphic novel is a prequel of sorts to his 2013 novel, Who Is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa?, but this time it's told more in pictures than in prose. Bergen writes that one of his influences was the Dada movement of a century ago, and he uses photos, drawings, comic art, and more to make pages that are like a collage of images, some that you will recognize and some that may tickle at the edges of your mind and make you wonder if you've seen them somewhere before. But another influence that goes unmentioned is T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, in that Bergen is taking scraps of popular culture from decades past and juxtaposing them to help tell a story.

The story concerns a young woman who becomes a noir-like hero in the city of Heropa. I won't give anything away, partly because I had a bit of trouble following what was going on at some points. Yet Bergen is definitely inventive and the book looks great. Especially nice are the various artistic interpretations of the title character provided by comic artists from all over the globe.

You don't need to have read any other Bergen books to enjoy Bullet Gal, but if you pick it up you many want to find out more about the worlds Bergen has been developing. My favorite book of his so far was One Hundred Years of Vicissitude (2012), followed by Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat (2011). He also does other comics from his home in Tokyo, though with the flavor of his native land of Australia.

Give Bullet Gal a try. It's not like much else you'll see in comics these days! Click here to get a copy of the book, or here to order individual issues of the comic.

--Jack Seabrook