Saturday, September 13, 2014

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

The Empty Badge (Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles Book 8) - Kindle edition by Wayne D. Dundee. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.  It's been weeks since Cash Laramie, the famed "Outlaw Marshal," has been heard from. Meanwhile, at the Federal Marshal headquarters in Cheyenne, Wyoming, some disturbing reports are starting to filter in about the notorious Driscoll Gang rapidly hitting a series of banks, allegedly with the aid of a badge-wearing accomplice claiming to be Laramie. Can it be true? Can it be that the lawman with the hair-trigger temper and the mile-wide independent streak has finally gone completely rogue? 

The truth is seldom easy to find. And on the lonely, twisting trails of northwestern Wyoming in the 1880s, it was often lost forever. But every now and then, when those dusty trails converged in certain unexpected ways, answers were revealed and justice was delivered in a blaze of gunfire. 

This novella first appeared in the short story collection Trails of the Wild: Seven Tales of the Old West, published by BEAT to a PULP in 2013.

Otherwise

Otherwise:  Lou Antonelli has begun a new blog where he'll be reprinting his previously published alternate history stories.  The blog is Otherwise, and it "kicks off with a reprint of Lou Antonelli's "A Rocket for the Republic", originally published in the Sept. 2005 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction."  You can find it at the link.

It was 40 years ago tonight. . .

The Rap Sheet: Get Ready to “Rockford”

Why Not?

Why would people hang their babies out the windows in cages?

Song of the Day

Eggplant That Ate Chicago - Dr West's Medicine Show & ... - YouTube:

Just Looking for Fresh Veggies, I'm Sure

Alligator Found Roaming Produce Section Inside Pennsylvania Supermarket 

Today's Vintage Ad


Yes, Zardoz Is Included

Weirdest Movies Ever Made

Forgotten Hits: The Saturday Surveys (09-13)

Forgotten Hits: The Saturday Surveys (09-13)

PaperBack



John Dexter (Robert Silverberg), Stripper!, Nightstand, 1962

I Found a Penny Last Week

10 Spectacular Discoveries of Treasures 

Great Story about Armed Services Editions

Publishers Gave Away 122,951,031 Books During World War II

I Want to Believe!

Did The Loch Ness Monster Move? New Photo Captures 'Creature' 300 Miles Away

Cosimo Matassa, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Cosimo Matassa, whose used-record business in New Orleans led him to sell new records, which led him to open a tiny studio that helped jump-start rock ’n’ roll by recording early hits by the likes of Fats Domino and Little Richard, died on Thursday in New Orleans. He was 88.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The Great Authorial Hook-Up Chart

The Great Authorial Hook-Up Chart 

Friday, September 12, 2014

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Amazon.com: Chasing the Queen of Sassi eBook: Paul Di Filippo: Kindle Store: A science fiction story set in one of the oldest cities in the world. 

After his wife's death, Rupert decides to change his life and start your journey: he wants to see Matera again, and ends up loving it so much that he decides to move there. But the city is mysterious: who is the beautiful Daeria Bruno that appears and disappears without a trace? And how will the cucibocca's curse affect his life? In a dizzying series of time travels, Rupert will reveal legendary secrets, being at the center of a timeless story.

Free for Kindle for a Limited Time


Highly recommended!

The Bone Orchard (The Gin Palace Trilogy Book 2) - Kindle edition by Daniel Judson. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Caught up in a blood feud with Southampton’s chief of police, one-time PI Declan “Mac” MacManus must these days tread lightly. Working for minimum wage as a dishwasher, Mac is too busy making ends meet to find trouble—that is until a power-player named Frank Gannon approaches him with a job his conscience won’t let him refuse. And when that job sets him up to witness a back-road car crash—a crash that was clearly no accident—Mac must once again choose between taking action or letting the innocent suffer. As he follows a trail of clues, dodging enemies, old and new, Mac struggles to uncover a truth that could very well bring an end to all his troubles—and may also hold the shocking answer to a haunting question about his own tragic past.

Cover & Synopsis: MASTER SERGEANT by Mel Odom - SF Signal

Cover & Synopsis: MASTER SERGEANT by Mel Odom - SF Signal

Uh-Oh

Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Shooter’ Is Going to Be a TV Show 

Keep Off Her Lawn!

News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK: TUTTLE, Oklahoma - A Tuttle woman is charged with assault and battery after attacking her husband with a metal pipe and then running over a family dog.

Sophie Hannah: How I Wrote a New Agatha Christie Mystery

Sophie Hannah:  How I Wrote a New Agatha Christie Mystery

Stonehenge Update

Scans reveal vast complex of monuments surrounding Stonehenge

Song of the Day

Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now - YouTube:

My Graduating Class Had 60 People in It

Top 100 Largest High Schools in America

Today's Vintage Ad


First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Colorado woman pointed rifle at kids over boy practicing the clarinet in yard

Forgotten Hits: 50 Years Ago This Weekend

Forgotten Hits: 50 Years Ago This Weekend

PaperBack



Don Elliott (Robert Silverberg), Convention Girl, Nightstand, 1961.

Gator Update (Once Again Texas Leads the Way Edition)

Note: I'm not responsible for sentence structure in headlines.

Caught on camera: Thief steals alligators in his pants

Fascinating Rare Book Sales in August 2014

Fascinating Rare Book Sales in August 2014: August's 10 Most Expensive Sales

Lip-Syncs in Film and Television: An Essential List

Lip-Syncs in Film and Television: An Essential List 

This "banned" clip wasn't included, possibly for good reason.  (Lip-synch begins at about 2:35.)

Ever Heard a Song a Song Written by Jim Thompson?

Here's one: Knees Calhoon's Midnight Ramble: Maybe It's the Wind

Bob Crewe, R. I. P.

Examiner.com: Bob Crewe, who was the songwriter and record producer responsible for many of the 1960s hits by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, died on Tuesday at the age of 83, according to WFJA radio station’s web site on Thursday. Confirmed by Crewe’s brother, Danny, he passed away peacefully in Scarborough, Maine. Crewe became well-known again in recent years as a real-life character in the Broadway hit “Jersey Boys” which was the story about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons which was turned into a motion picture.

Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1952: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1952: A Retro-Review

Another Forgotten Book

TMF Review by Bill Crider: DAVID ANTHONY – The Organization.

FFB: Australian Vintage Paperback Guide -- Graeme Flanagan

Being interested in paperbacks, I naturally had to have a copy of this book.  My primary collecting (or accumulating) interest is in U.S. paperbacks, but I do have some from Australia, mainly because the Original Novels Foundation reprinted some of my favorite writers  in digest form under several imprints, primarily Phantom Books and Original Novels.  Sometimes covers similar to the U. S. editions were used.  Sometimes covers from U.S editions got put on different titles.  Anyway, I like to have the variant printings if they're not too expensive.  Unfortunately collectors have driven up the prices on the Australian digests, so I don't often buy them now.  And if they have to be shipped from Australia, the postage costs are sometimes staggering.

So instead of having most of the books, I have this nice reference volume, which is illustrated with many B&W cover scans and two pages of color scans.  Some of the more intriguing covers are from books I've never seen, or in some cases never heard of.  That just adds to the fun.

The book was originally published by Gary Lovisi under his Gryphon Books imprint, and it's hard to come by now.  If you run across a cheap copy, grab it.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Joe R. Lansdale 30-Minute Video Interview

Video: Joe R. Lansdale | Watch Report From Santa Fe

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Gravetapping: A MAMMOTH MURDER by Bill Crider

In Case You Missed It

The Story Behind "Outrage at Blanco"

Dino Update

BBC News - Spinosaurus fossil: 'Giant swimming dinosaur' unearthed: A giant fossil, unearthed in the Sahara desert, has given scientists an unprecedented look at the largest-known carnivorous dinosaur: Spinosaurus.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Aspirin Stirs Headache for United Passengers at Bush Airpor: The powder was later identified as powdered aspirin, the Houston Airport System said.

The Most Painful Torture Devices Of The Middle Ages

The Most Painful Torture Devices Of The Middle Ages

Song of the Day

Jerry Lee Lewis "You Win Again" - YouTube:

Eight Cat Paradises

Eight Cat Paradises, Where the Felines Come First  

Link via mental_floss.

Today's Vintage Ad


10 Wacky Vintage Cures Con Artists Sold To The Masses

10 Wacky Vintage Cures Con Artists Sold To The Masses 

A Public Ransom

Pablo d'Stair's A Public Ransom is part of the Viewster On-Line Film Fest.  You can watch the film at this link.  You can read about it here.  Check it out.

PaperBack



Orrie Hitt, Affairs of a Beauty Queen, Beacon, 1958

6 Classic Songs That Were Written By Mistake

6 Classic Songs That Were Written By Mistake 

The top 25 underappreciated straight-to-DVD films

The top 25 underappreciated straight-to-DVD films

14 Stunning Pictures Of The 9/11 Tribute In Light

14 Stunning Pictures Of The 9/11 Tribute In Light

Archaeology Update

Squirrel-like Jurassic critter fossils discovered in China shed light on mammals’ origins

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Richard Kiel, R. I. P.

Variety: Richard Kiel, who most famously played Jaws in two James Bond films starring Roger Moore, “The Spy Who Loved Me” and “Moonraker,” and also appeared in Adam Sandler comedy “Happy Gilmore,” died Wednesday afternoon in a hospital in Fresno, Calif., three days shy of his 75th birthday.

New Story at Beat to a Pulp

TheJulyRebellion: Kate Lincoln

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Joe Barone's Blog: CURSED TO DEATH by Bill Crider

I Wanted to Believe!

How the Voyage of the Kon-Tiki Misled the World About Navigating the Pacific 

Song of the Day

Theme from the Magnificent Seven- Al Caiola - YouTube:

Stephen King's 10 Greatest Human Villains

Stephen King's 10 Greatest Human Villains

Today's Vintage Ad


First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

And once again Texas leads the way.

Texas man shoots at Frisbee golfer, barricades himself in home because disc lands in his yard

Wired!

Photos from the Days When Thousands of Cables Crowded the Skies

PaperBack



John B. Thompson & Jack Woodford, Hitch-Hike Hussy, Beacon, 1953

Yet Another List I'm Not On

Forbes’s Top-Earning Authors of 2014

Cartoon of the Day


Handguns decorated by Tiffany

Handguns decorated by Tiffany

I Miss the Old Days

The Launch Of A Newfangled, High-Tech Watch — In 1973

Marvin Barnes, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Marvin Barnes, one of basketball’s most talented and defiantly self-indulgent players, whose career dissolved in a haze of drugs and alcohol, died on Monday in Providence, R.I. He was 62.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Man charged with biting 2 in restaurant fracas arrested

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

How Stephen King Teaches Writing

How Stephen King Teaches Writing 

A Review of Interest (To Me, Anyway)

Book 'em Benj-O: Half in Love with Artful Death – Bill Crider

Graham Joyce, R. I. P.

 Graham Joyce (1954-2014): Author Graham Joyce, 59, died September 9, 2014. He was diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma in 2013 and had been undergoing treatment. Joyce is best known for his acclaimed award-winning novels, which cross the borderlines of fantasy, horror, dark fantasy, and the paranormal.

Lunch Hour Reading

How Hot Dogs Are Made and What's Actually Inside

Song of the Day

George Jones - A Girl I Used To Know - YouTube:

Behind the Scenes at AHMM & EQMM

Behind the Scenes at 267 Broadway: Jackie Sherbow | Trace Evidence

Today's Vintage Ad


Yet Another List I'm Not On

2014 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Announced (And Includes Americans) 

PaperBack



Orrie Hitt, Wild Oats, Beacon 1958

A Well-Deserved Award

Ursula K. Le Guin to be Presented with Lifetime Achievement Award by National Book Foundation

The Inspiring Stories Behind 15 Classic Novels

The Inspiring Stories Behind 15 Classic Novels

Nom Nom Nom Nom

New York Public Library Menu Collection,1850-Present

Harvest Moon, Alvin, TX


The Forgotten TV Roles of 15 Hollywood Legends

Flavorwire: The Forgotten TV Roles of 15 Hollywood Legends

Overlooked Movies: Hardcore

You've heard this story before: "It was a wandering daughter job."  This is an excellent version of that story.  This time the wandering daughter is Kristin VanDorn (Ilah Davis, in what might have been her only movie role), who's been brought up n the rigid Calvinst home of her father, Jake (George C. Scott).  When she goes missing on a church-sponsored trip to California, Jake hires a sleazy P.I. named Mast (Peter Doyle) to find her.

What Mast finds is a hardcore porn film starring Kristen.  Was there ever anybody better at playing a tightly wound guy than Scott?  The scene where Mast shows Jake the film is just one of several in the movie that prove Scott was a masterful actor.  The scene is so famous that it's become part of an Internet meme, as in George C. Scott watches Star Wars on Blu-Ray or George C. Scott watches the Modern Warfare 3 trailer.

Naturally Jake doesn't consider that his daughter might be appearing in a hardcore film of her own volition.  He believes she's been kidnapped and forced into the role, so he goes to Calfifornia to find her.  He travels through the belly of the beast in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.  Along the way he enlists the help of a woman named Niki (Season Hubley), who's in the porn game herself.  There are some fine scenes between the two of them, complete opposites that they are, that really bring out their characters.  

The rest of the plot and its unfolding, I'll leave it to you to find out.  This movie was a real shocker to me when I saw it long ago, 1979 or '80.  I'm sure it's lost a lot of the shock value by now, but parts of it would still be tough to watch.  Scott is really good.  So are Boyle and Hubley. 

The movie was written and directed by Paul Schrader, whose brother, Leonard, wrote the novelization.  I read that one when it came out, and I'm sure I still have a copy of it somewhere.  If I ever run across it, I'm going to read it again.

Hardcore

Hardcore 1979 TV trailer - YouTube:

Monday, September 08, 2014

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Maryland man stabbed colleague who stole meatball from his lunch

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

2 Oklahoma men arrested for spraying Walmart merchandise with doe urine 

Riders on the Storm -- Ed Gorman

If you want to read about what life was like in the late 1950s to the early '70s, you could go to books written during that time (you need search no further than John D. MacDonald).  Or you could read Ed Gorman's Sam McCain series.  Gorman has something that that MacDonald didn't: perspective.  Gorman's had time to think about what happened and to reflect on it for a good many  years.  And that's just one thing that makes this series so interesting.   There are plenty of other things, too.

Riders on the Storm (all the books except the first in the series take their titles from songs popular at the time) is set in 1971.  At the end of the previous book (Bad Moon Rising), McCain has been drafted and appears likely to be shipped off to Vietnam.  That doesn't happen.  He's in a terrible car crash in boot camp and then is hospitalized for a long time.  He's mostly recovered now, and sure enough, he gets involved in another murder investigation.  His friend Will Cullen, a returned vet, is accused of the murder of a political candidate, Steve Donovan, another vet.   Donovan's a war hawk; Cullen's a member of an anti-war veteran's group and has been severely beaten by Donovan for that reason.  It's no surprise that Cullen is the primary suspect.  He's just about catatonic, however, and isn't any help in the investigation that McCain undertakes.

Pretty much the whole city of Black River Falls believes that Cullen is guilty.  The police chief surely seems to.  Not many people want McCain to find out if Cullen is innocent.  They'd be happy to see him convicted.

As usual in Gorman's books, the characters are a lot more complex than they first appear.  As soon as you think you know them, you find out that you don't.  People are never simple black-or-white creations.  They're complex mixtures who will leave you thinking about them when you lay the book aside.  Also as usual, the writing is clear and clean and sharp with astute observations about the times, the politics of the era, and human nature.  It's enough to make you envious if you're a writer and prone to that sort of thing.  Not that I am, of course.

When I read Bad Moon Rising, I thought it would be the last book in the series.  I was really glad to discover that it wasn't, and I hope there will be many more to come.  This as an excellent series, and I highly recommend all the books in it, including this one.

11 Old War Photos You Won't Believe Aren't Fake

11 Old War Photos You Won't Believe Aren't Fake

Song of the Day

Ronnie Love - Chills and fever - YouTube:

Brooklyn Leads the Way

New York Post: An elderly church deacon driving to Sunday Mass with a plaque on her windshield that says, “God is my co-pilot,” fatally struck a homeless man in Brooklyn, witnesses and officials said.

14 Children's Books That Never Get Old

14 Children's Books That Never Get Old

Today's Vintage Ad


Leonard Cohen on Creativity, Hard Work, and Why You Should Never Quit Before You Know What It Is You’re Quitting | Brain Picking

Leonard Cohen on Creativity, Hard Work, and Why You Should Never Quit Before You Know What It Is You’re Quitting 

PaperBack



Scott O'Neill, Martian Sexpot, Jade, 1963

I Miss the Old Days

1930s-40s in Color - an album on Flickr

50 Fantastical Film Interiors

50 Fantastical Film Interiors 

Nostalgic Photos of America’s Rapidly Vanishing Drive-In Theater Culture

Nostalgic Photos of America’s Rapidly Vanishing Drive-In Theater Culture

WINNERS: 2014 British Fantasy Awards

WINNERS: 2014 British Fantasy Awards

New Poem at the Five-Two

The Five-Two: Charles Rammelkamp "911"

Croc Update (Cry Havoc! Edition)

A Baby Croc Has Caused Havoc By Leaping Into A Crowd Of Children

Yet Another List I'm Not On

10 Of The Most Mysteriously Talented People In The World

Sunday, September 07, 2014

Sunday Crocodilian - Crocodylus moreletii Edition

Sunday Crocodilian - Crocodylus moreletii Edition

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

TBO.com, The Tampa Tribune and The Tampa Times: CLEARWATER — A 52-year-old woman faces a slew of charges, including one for attempted murder, after she sprayed her estranged husband in the face with hair spray, and attacked him with a hammer, knives and a screwdriver, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.

Hat tip to Walter Satterthwait.

10 Great Sea Stories

10 Great Sea Stories

Song of the Day

Clyde McPhatter- Without Love (There Is Nothing) - YouTube:

Margaret Atwood's new work will remain unseen for a century

Margaret Atwood's new work will remain unseen for a century: Novelist says it is 'delicious' to be first contributor to the Future Library, which will compile 100 texts for publication in 2114

Today's Vintage Ad


Ken Follett Interview

Ken Follett: By the Book 

PaperBack



Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Fighting Man of Mars, New English Library, 1973

Free Chopper! (Update)

Children Protest Removal of Alligator From Rancho Cucamonga Home

Archaeology Update

Viking 'ring fortress' discovered in Denmark 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Clermont man, 58, egging neighbors' vehicles over street parking

Yet Another List I'm Not On

14 Famous Authors and Their Favorite Drinks   

Link via mental_floss.

Nicolas Cage Update

‘Duck Dynasty’ star urges Christians to convert atheist friends with Nicolas Cage movie