Saturday, April 11, 2015

It May Not Be What You Think

The Victorian craze that sparked a mini-sexual revolution 

Song of the Day

BURN LIKE A ROCKET - YouTube:

It Might Be Different in Alvin, Texas

Buying a hoarder house not a turnoff for most investors   

Hat tip to Art Scott.

6 Stories from Mystery In Space

The Golden Age: Murphy Anderson ~ 6 Stories from Mystery In Space 1960-61 ~ Written by Gardner Fox, John Broome & Otto Binder

Today's Vintage Ad


It's Barbershop Quartet Day!

Celebrate Barbershop Quartet Day with these tuneful groups

Or this almost tuneful one.

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review 

PaperBack



Eric Williams, Complete and Free, Pan, 1959

9 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

9 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

Uh-Oh

There’s a ‘Rocky Horror’ TV Remake in the Works

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Fla. man arrested for throwing Snickers bar at bus driver   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

You Know You Can't Wait

Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre: When a fracking mishap accidentally rips apart the earth’s crust, the resulting hole opens up a gaping underground water way to a vast and mysterious ocean somewhere deep below. Instantly, giant prehistoric sharks begin wending their way upward toward a murky bog in the heart of the Arkansas Bayou. Unfortunately, for a group of female prisoners on a work detail in the swamp, the deadly sharks attack without warning – pinning a hapless group of intended victims in a small deserted cabin in the heart of the wetlands. Death may be the only means of escape!  

Trailer at the link.

There Will be Blood Books

There Will be Blood Books

Friday, April 10, 2015

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Teen girls give Pa. woman black eye for 'shushing' them in movie theater

Paging Cap'n Bob

Are You Celebrating International Louie Louie Day?   

Link via Boing Boing.

Settling for Second Best

Yahoo News: DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police say someone who attempted to steal a truck parked outside a Des Moines home instead took a bag of dog poop.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

WL Ripley on Creating Series Characters

Working up a Storme: WL Ripley on Creating Series Characters - Lee Goldberg

13 Charming Places In Texas All Movie Lovers Should Visit

13 Charming Places In Texas All Movie Lovers Should Visit

Song of the Day

Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes - Sweet Revenge (HQ) - YouTube:

10 Tales About Incredibly Odd Writers

10 Tales About Incredibly Odd Writers

Today's Vintage Ad


Baseball's First Rules

Baseball's First Rules

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George MacDonald Fraser, Flash for Freedom, Pan, 1983

10 Authors Who Wrote Gritty, Realistic Fantasy Before George R.R. Martin

10 Authors Who Wrote Gritty, Realistic Fantasy Before George R.R. Martin

6 Reasons the Past was a Really Smelly Place

6 Reasons the Past was a Really Smelly Place

Phoenix Press: Depression Era Pulp

A Girl in Every Port by William McClellanPhoenix Press: Depression Era Pulp on AbeBooks: New York’s Phoenix Press was a publisher of mysteries, westerns, and other light fiction in the 1930s and 1940s. We were alerted to this company’s literary history by a loyal AbeBooks customer called Paul Rollinson, who encouraged us to feature Phoenix’s fantastic Depression-era pulp, if only for the amazing dust jackets. Phoenix was one of many lending-library publishers of the era, and fought to rise above the others of its ilk to make a name for itself in the tough economic climate.

A Forgotten Book

Return of the Master Cheeser: The Disappearing Dwarf by James P. Blaylock

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: Dragons, Elves, and Heroes

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: Dragons, Elves, and Heroes edited by Lin Carter

FFB: I'm Owen Harrison Harding -- James Whitfield Ellison

Now and then I read a book that I think is truly forgotten.  I think that while I'm reading it, that I'm the only person in the world who's reading it.  Such a book is I'm Owen Harrison Harding by James Whitfield Ellison.  It was published in 1957, and as the cover makes it clear, the publisher was hoping to get some of the audience that The Catcher in the Rye appealed to.  I don't know if the ploy worked, but the two books do have certain similarities.  Owen is 16 and trying to figure out life.  His first person narration is a little like Holden Caulfield's.  That's about it, though.

The setting of the novel is a long way from Pencey Prep and New York city.  The whole book takes place in Fleming (standing in for Lansing), Michigan, and it covers a lot more time than Catcher, a full school year and most of a summer.  The situations that Owen finds himself in are different from those Holden has to deal with.  Owen's mother is dying, and his father has a serious drinking problem.  His brother's in the army, serving in the Pacific Theater.  (The time period covers the last year or so of WWII.)  Owen has several friends, and he hangs out with them a lot.  He develops an interest in a girl who's two years older than he is.

I found a lot to like in this book, but then I'm a sucker for a coming-of-age story.  Owen's father owns a bookstore, but there's only one extended scene there.  It's so well done that I wished for more.  My favorite part of it is that one of Owen's pals always slips into the back of the store to read Jack Woodford books.  Some of you can appreciate the joke.  And the concluding chapter of the novel, set on the day and the night when the end of the war is announced was great.  I liked it so much that I'm going to read it again.  It's a great picture of a long-lost time when feelings were very different.  But then it was a very different world.

The author, James Whitfield Ellison, might be unknown to most of us, but he had a long career in both fiction and nonfiction.  He was still active, or at least was until recently, doing novelizations of movies like Akeela and the Bee and The Panic Room.

Thursday, April 09, 2015

Ivan Doig, R. I. P.

Acclaimed author Ivan Doig dies: Ivan Doig, the award-winning author of 16 books who wrote so passionately about his native Montana, has died. He was 75.

The Decline of Western Civilization Continues Apace

‘Mamma Mia!’ announces closing date  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Richard Dysart, R. I. P.

NY Daily News: LOS ANGELES -- Richard Dysart, a veteran stage and screen actor who played senior partner Leland McKenzie in the long-running TV courtroom drama "L.A. Law," has died after a long illness. He was 86.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Soon We'll Have No Personal Freedoms Left

And naturally Texas leads the way.

Texas man’s custom license plate revoked by DMV   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

A Very Nice Post on Sheriff Dan Rhodes

Not to mention a chance to win a signed book.  Please leave a comment on the post so I won't be embarrassed by a lack of interest.

Book 1 with Sheriff Dan Rhodes: Too Late to Die by Bill Crider by Edward A. Grainger

25 Vertigo-Inducing Snapshots of the Empire State Building Under Construction

25 Vertigo-Inducing Snapshots of the Empire State Building Under Construction  

Link via mental_floss.

Song of the Day

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross - YouTube:

Salman Rushdie Accidentally Reveals What He Thinks Of Classic Books

Salman Rushdie Accidentally Reveals What He Thinks Of Classic Books: The author didn’t really love To Kill A Mockingbird.

Today's Vintage Ad


If At First You Don't Succeed, . . . .

Garfield Heights man accused of robbing same Richmond Heights bank that he robbed in 1999

PaperBack


John P. Carmichael, editor, Who's Who in the Major Leagues, 18th edition, Callahan, 1950

The 50 Best Genre-Bending Books

The 50 Best Genre-Bending Books

I Found a Penny Last Week

4-Year-Old Boy Finds Rare 100-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones In Texas

I Miss the Old Days

20 Beautiful Portraits of Stevie Nicks in the 1970s

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

MTA bus driver chokes Brooklyn man over dog  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Will the Persecution Never End?

Paris Hilton - Celebrity makeup blunders   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Vintage Treasures: Sturgeon is Alive and Well

Vintage Treasures: Sturgeon is Alive and Well… by Theodore Sturgeon

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

In that case, sir, you are free to go

S.F. man’s winning robbery defense: Entered home to board spacecraft  

Hat tip to Art Scott.

The American West as you've never seen it before

The American West as you've never seen it before: Amazing 19th century pictures show the landscape as it was chartered for the first time

I Want to Believe!

NASA Chief Scientist Is Sure We'll Find Alien Life Within 20 Years

Song of the Day

CHI COLTRANE - Thunder And Lightning - YouTube:

So How Many of Them Do You Own?

The 20 Best-Selling Albums in History

Today's Vintage Ad


Bargain of the Century: 20 Mystery Novels for Kindle $2.99

A Murder of Mysteries: A Twenty-Novel eBook Bundle of Mystery and Suspense - Kindle edition by Bill Crider, Ed Gorman, William Bayer, Robert J. Randisi, T.J. MacGregor, Bill Pronzini, Dave Pedneau, David Niall Wilson, Patricia Lee Macomber, Raymond Benson. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Too Late to Die - by Bill Crider - Book 1 of the Dan Rhodes Mysteries Death is a Cabaret - by Deborah Morgan - Book 1 of the Antique Lover's Mysteries A. P. B. - by Dave Pedneau - Book 1 of the Whit Pynchon Mysteries Switch - by William Bayer - Book 1 of the Janek Series Blood Moon - by Ed Gorman - Book 1 of the Robert Payne Mystery Series The Turner Journals - by Robert J. Randisi - Book 1 of the Detective McQueen Series The Hanged Man - by T.J. MacGregor - Book 1 of the Mira Morales Series Pink Vodka Blues - by Neal Barrett, Jr. - Book 1 of the Blues Series Dead on the Island - by Bill Crider - Book 1 of the Truman Smith Mysteries A Hard Day's Death - by Raymond Benson - Book 1 of the Spike Berenger Rock 'N' Roll Mysteries Prophecy Rock - by Rob MacGregor - Book 1 of the Will Lansa Mysteries The Changing - by T.M. Wright - Book 1 of the Biergarten Series A Minor Case of Murder - by Jeff Markowitz - Book 1 of the Cassie O'Malley Mysteries Sins of the Flash - by David Niall Wilson Case File - by Bill Pronzini - part of the Bill Pronzini Mystery Collection Rough Cut - by Ed Gorman - Book 1 of the Jack Dwyer Mystery Series Murder, Sometimes - by Patricia Lee Macomber - Book 1 of the Jason Callahan Mysteries Tango Key - by T.J. MacGregor - Book 1 of the Tango Key Mysteries One Dead Dean - by Bill Crider - Book 1 of the Carl Burns Mysteries Tangier - by William Bayer - Book 1 of the Foreign Detective Series

Ray Charles, R. I. P.

Ray Charles, leader of singing group who backed Perry Como, dies at 96: Ray Charles, an American musician, songwriter, composer, conductor, arranger and leader of the Ray Charles Singers, died Monday at home in Beverly Hills. He was 96 (and was not the soul singer of the same name, who died in 2004).

48 Of The Most Beautiful Lines Of Poetry

48 Of The Most Beautiful Lines Of Poetry

PaperBack



Alan Villiers, The Cutty Sark, Corgi, 1955

The Mystery in Mystery Fiction” (by Tim L. Williams)

“And Then There Was Why: The Mystery in Mystery Fiction” (by Tim L. Williams) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

I Want to Believe!

Brontosaurus May Be A Real Dinosaur After All

I Want to Believe!

Do pilots believe in UFOs? Yes and here's my story   

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Yet Another List I'm Not On

10 Real Life Adventurers Who Make Indiana Jones Look Boring

Geoffrey Lewis, R. I. P.

Variety: Actor Geoffrey Lewis, who appeared in several Clint Eastwood movies and made guest appearances on dozens of TV shows in the ’60s through ’80s, died Tuesday in Woodland Hills, Calif. of natural causes, according to a family friend. He was 79. The character actor, who often appeared in Westerns, was the father of actress Juliette Lewis.

Honest Abe’s Secret Passion

Honest Abe’s Secret Passion

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Croc Update (Gift for Mom Edition)

The Local: Customs officers at Dusseldorf airport found a stuffed Nile crocodile in a suitcase on Tuesday, after stopping a man passing through the 'nothing to declare' section.

Stan Freberg, R. I. P.

Hollywood Reporter: Stan Freberg, whose freewheeling comic career in advertising garnered him worldwide acclaim and whose satirical entertainments abounded on TV, the radio and on records, has died. He was 88.

Stephen King On How To Write

Stephen King On How To Write 

Song of the Day

PEPPERMINT HARRIS - THERE'S A DEAD CAT ON THE LINE - ALADDIN - YouTube:

30 Copy Editors Tell Us Their Pet Peeves

30 Copy Editors Tell Us Their Pet Peeves

Today's Vintage Ad


Nero Wolfe on the Air

Radio Spirits:  “…the bulkiest, balkiest, smartest, most unpredictable detective in the world…”

PaperBack



Rae Michaels, Libby, Domino Books, 1965

The Chronology of the Travis McGee Novels

The Trap of Solid Gold: The Chronology of the Travis McGee Novels

The Origins of All 30 MLB Team Names

What's in a Nickname? The Origins of All 30 MLB Team Names

5 Miles Uphill, Barefoot, Through the Snow Would Be a Snap by Comparison

25 Of The Most Dangerous And Unusual Journeys To School In The World  

Link via mental_floss.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

And soon we'll have no personal freedoms left.

Overgrown lawn gets Texas man thrown in jail

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Julie Wilson, R. I. P.

NYTimes.com: Julie Wilson, the revered nightclub performer and actress widely regarded as the queen of cabaret, died on Sunday in Manhattan. She was 90.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

James Best, R. I. P.

The Charlotte Observer The Charlotte Observer: James Best, whose prolific career included 83 movies and 600 TV shows but is best remembered for his role as Rosco P. Coltrane, the bumbling sheriff of Hazzard, died Monday night in Hickory.

Overlooked Movies -- Nadine

How could a movie miss if it starred Kim Basinger, Jeff Bridges, and Rip Torn,  and was written and directed by Robert Benton?  I don't know, but it did.  At least with the critics.  
Not with me, though.  After all, I've already mentioned how much I enjoyed Kim Basinger in Blind Date, and she's just as much fun in this one, in a completely different kind of role. She's Nadine, estranged wife of Vernon (Jeff Bridges) and she's slightly pregnant with his child.  She's also made some photos for photographer Raymond Escobar (Jerry Stiller), who assures her that he knows Hugh Hefner.

Nadine, a little sorry she ever listened to Escobar, goes to his studio to get the photos back.  While she's there, Escobar gets a knife in the back, and Nadine gets a packet of papers.  Not her photos, however.  They're plans for a big highway development, and they're what got Escobar killed.  Complications ensue.  

This movie might not be great, but I laughed a lot.  Besides another fine comedy turn by Basinger, Bridges and Rip Torn are super, and Gwen Verdon matches them.  Luckily Jerry Stiller dies early (I'm not a fan).  If this one ever shows up on your cable channels, check it out.

Nadine

Nadine 1987 Movie - YouTube:

Monday, April 06, 2015

14 Books for $2.99. You Cannot Go Wrong

A Stampede of Westerns: Fourteen Novels, Novellas & Story Collections of the West & Weird West - Kindle edition by Bill Crider, Bill Pronzini, Jack Ketchum, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Champlin, Steven Savile. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.  
A Time for Hanging - Bill Crider 
Border Fever - Bill Pronzini 
Grave Secrets - Tom Piccirilli 
Hallowed Ground - Steven Savile & David Niall Wilson 
I, Joauqin - Melvin Litton 
Kitt Peak (A Thomas Mullis Mystery) - Al Sarrantonio 
Long Horn, Big Shaggy - Steve Vernon 
Mr. St. John - Loren D. Estleman 
Mugs Birdsong's Crime Academy - Richard Wheeler 
Summer of the Sioux - Tim Champlin 
The Crossings - Jack Ketchum 
The Magic Wagon - Joe R. Lansdale 
The Accomplice - Marcus Pelegrimas 
Twisted Tumbleweed Tales - Paul Wargelin

Ralph Sharon, R. I. P.

The Washington Post: Ralph Sharon, a British-born jazz pianist who spent four decades as Tony Bennett’s accompanist and who discovered the singer’s signature tune, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” died March 31 at his home in Boulder, Colo. He was 91.

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Man accused of attacking ex-girlfriend with fire extinguisher

8 of the Most Ridiculous Foods to Eat on Baseball’s Opening Day

8 of the Most Ridiculous Foods to Eat on Baseball’s Opening Day  

Link via mental_floss.

28 Things You Miss About Texas When You Leave

28 Things You Miss About Texas When You Leave

Song of the Day

Burma Shave - YouTube:

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

And once again Texas leads the way.

Man pepper sprayed after stabbing woman in buttocks with pitchfork

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback: April 6th, 1965

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback: April 6th, 1965

Soon We'll Have No Personal Freedoms Left

Naples man arrested after gator found in son's bedroom

Today's Vintage Ad


I Found a Penny Last Week

Man digs under house and finds 5,000-year-old underground city

PaperBack



George Milburn, All Over Town, Zenith, 1958


Yes. Yes, I Can.

Can You Pass A Fifth-Grade Spelling Test

I Thought It Died about 50 Years Ago

Penmanship is a dying art, study says

Jenny Wallenda, R. I. P.

AOL.com: Jenny Wallenda, 87, the matriarch of the famous family of high-flying circus performers, died late Saturday at her home in Sarasota, Florida, according to family members.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Tom Towles, R. I. P.

NY Daily News: The Chicago-born actor's most memorable roles included Otis in "Henry: Portraits of a Serial Killer" and Harry Cooper in the remake of "Night of the Living Dead."  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

I Wanted to Believe!

Claw machines are rigged — here's why it's so hard to grab that stuffed animal 

New Poem at the Five-Two

The Five-Two: Dennis Weiser: Entrepreneur's Primer

Uh-Oh

U.S. Military Forces Will Take Over Texas This Summer and Put Enemies in FEMA Death Domes.

Sunday, April 05, 2015

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

KXAN.com: AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new Guinness World Record was established at Saturday’s Mighty Texas Dog Walk. At 307 lbs., the largest furball on record was created in a giant “fur-o-sphere” at the 17th annual event on Auditorium Shores. Dog walkers, groomers and even passersby contributed enough dog hair to shatter the previous record of 201 lbs. The previous record was established in 2012 at the same event.

I Miss the Old Days

The Best Eye-Popping Office Designs of the 1970s 

Song of the Day

1950 HITS ARCHIVE: Peter Cottontail - Gene Autry - YouTube:

I Want to Believe!

This Scientist Says He Keeps Finding Aliens in the Stratosphere: ​It's not easy convincing the world you've found aliens. But that's what one British professor says he's done, over and over again. His latest proof, he tells me, is his strongest yet. Should we take him seriously?

Today's Vintage Ad


PaperBack



Helga Moray, Untamed, Dell, 1950

In that case, ma'am, you are free to go

Woman slits husband's throat, claims she was dreaming of filleting a fish

10 Facts About Easter More Interesting Than the Chocolate

10 Facts About Easter More Interesting Than the Chocolate

6 Easter Traditions You Might Not Know

6 Easter Traditions You Might Not Know 

5 Theories About Why We Dye Eggs for Easter

5 Theories About Why We Dye Eggs for Easter 

Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday in United States