Saturday, November 19, 2011
Return to Perdition -- Max Allan Collins
Max Allan Collins has teamed up with Terry Beatty, and they've come to the end of the road to Perdition in this dandy conclusion to the long-running saga. Don't worry if you haven't read all the other books and graphic novels in the series. There's enough in the story here to catch you up.It's the '70s. Michael Satriano, Jr., is in a Vietnamese prison camp when he and his fellow prisoners are rescued. After his recovery back in the U. S., he's told by a high-ranking member of the Justice Department that his father and sister have been killed by the mob. He's offered a job as a hit man for the Justice Department. He'll be taking out mob figures who've been killing important witnesses. It's a job he turns out to be very good at. Then, on one assignment, he meets the daughter of a target and falls for her. Things get complicated. They get even more complicated when he's asked to kill a priest.
Collins moves the story along at a ripping pace, with some good surprises along the way, and Beatty's drawings are just right for the '70s setting. If you didn't know better, you might think you were watching an exploitation movie from that era, with plenty of nudity, sex, and violence. The ending works very well as it brings the long road trip to a conclusion, and the last panel is perfect.
The fact that things have come to a definitely conclusion doesn't mean that the story is all over, exactly. Collins says in an afterword that prequels can't be ruled out or that he can't take a side trip. So there are still some stories to be told if the opportunity arises. Bring 'em on.
Gator Update (Sauce Picon Edition)
Thanksgiving Turducken: Chicken, Duck, Turkey, Sausage, and Pig With Alligator Sauce Picon: For Thanksgiving, try this meat-tastic dish. The fowl de cochon is one massive meal made from a small pig stuffed with a turkey that's stuffed with a duck that's stuffed with a chicken! And between each animal layer are tons of sausage. Is that enough meat for ya? We thought it would be.
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
khou.com Houston: Several Cleveland [Texas] ISD students were suspended last week after they allegedly took Jello shots on the way to school.
District officials said seven Cleveland Middle School students appeared to be under the influence when they arrived to school on November 10.
District officials said seven Cleveland Middle School students appeared to be under the influence when they arrived to school on November 10.
Friday, November 18, 2011
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
The Brooklyn Paper: “This old lady was trashing the place,” said Noreen Monier, who owns Tops Restaurant & Bar Supply on Third Avenue between 80th and 81st streets. “I told her to stop and she threw a watermelon at me. She had superhuman strength. She said, ‘I’ll stop when I’m good and ready.’ ”
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Mark Hall, R. I. P.
Danger Mouse Co-Creator Mark Hall Dies Aged 74: The co-creater of Danger Mouse, animator Mark Hall, has died of cancer aged 74.
Hall, who co-founded Cosgrove Hall - responsible for hit cartoons such as The Wind in the Willows and Chorlton and the Wheelies - passed away in the early hours of Friday at his home in Manchester.
Hall, who co-founded Cosgrove Hall - responsible for hit cartoons such as The Wind in the Willows and Chorlton and the Wheelies - passed away in the early hours of Friday at his home in Manchester.
Woody Woodpecker Update
Hollywood Reporter: Woody Woodpecker could be heading to the big screen for the first time in decades.
Illumination Entertainment, the Universal-based animation house behind Despicable Me and next year’s Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, is working on a feature project centering on the crimson-coifed cartoon character.
Illumination Entertainment, the Universal-based animation house behind Despicable Me and next year’s Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, is working on a feature project centering on the crimson-coifed cartoon character.
Hat tip to John Hall.
Dulcie Gray, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Dulcie Gray, a stalwart of British stage, screen, radio and television who won enthusiastic reviews when she made her Broadway debut at age 80 with her husband and frequent acting partner, Michael Denison, died on Tuesday at Denville Hall, a home for elderly actors in Middlesex, England. She was 95.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Lone Star Adventure: Michael Bohdan spends his mornings slaying cockroaches, but each afternoon he puts away his pest control equipment puts the cockroaches on display. A strip mall in Plano, Texas is home to the Cockroach Hall of Fame. The facility features elaborately costumed insects and one of the oddest museums in the world.
Hard Case Crime Update from Charles Ardai
We just added a new book to the Hard Case Crime Web site (www.hardcasecrime.com), a first novel by a young Baltimore-based writer named Ariel S. Winter that we’ll be publishing next summer. It’s not the sort of book that generally attracts a lot of coverage merely as a result of being announced – obviously no one knows the author’s name yet, since he hasn’t published any books before. The main thing it does have going for it is that it’s an amazing, amazing book – one that really knocked my socks off – but that’s something no one else will appreciate until they actually get to read it, which is months away.
However –
There is another story here, which is the book’s very unusual structure. The book is called THE TWENTY-YEAR DEATH, and it’s the story of a husband and wife whose lives collapse as violence intrudes – not an unusual premise for a noir novel. But the form Winter chose for it is very unusual: he decided to tell the story of these two doomed characters in the form of three separate old-fashioned crime novels, each set in a different decade and written in the style of one of the iconic mystery writers of that time. It feels a little like opening a Christmas package and finding new novels by three of your favorite pulp-era crime writers. The first is set in 1931 and features a French police inspector investigating the death of a convict in a rain gutter 20 miles away from the prison where he was supposed to be serving a 40-year jail sentence. The second is set in 1941 and features a hardboiled private eye in Hollywood who is hired by one of the big movie studios to watch over one of their leading ladies, who either is showing signs of paranoid dementia or is actually being stalked by a mysterious man on the set of her new picture. And the third is set in 1951 and puts us deep inside the dark and troubled mind of a desperate man, a drunken writer who has lost almost everything he had and is about to tip over the edge separating ‘troubled’ from ‘dangerous.’
What’s more, these aren’t just pastiches – what's wonderful is that each book works not only as a tribute to a great mystery writer of the past but also as a standalone novel with substance and emotional heft, and as part of the combined larger whole. It’s fascinating, for instance, to watch a background character in the first book become a more central figure in the second and then the first-person narrator in the third. I don’t know any other book that’s ever done anything like it.
In any event…I fell in love with the book, and bought it even though it’s three times the length of our usual books (by far the longest book we’ve ever published – 180,000 words), and even though you’re always told, as a publisher, that first novels don’t sell. I did it because it’s a stunning performance and just left me grinning the widest grin I’ve had on my face for a long, long time.
I don't know if you'll want to run anything about it this early, but if you do, let me know and I can get you a high-res image of the cover art. (Painted by Chuck Pyle, it features the Hollywood star from the 1941 novel…and actual Hollywood star Rose McGowan posed for the painting!) If not, I'm glad to at least plant a seed in the back of your mind now, which will hopefully ripen into full-blown curiosity when we get closer to the book's publication date...
Forgotten Books: Hopscotch -- Brian Garfield
Some picky folks have quibbled that the books I mention here aren't really forgotten. Well, sure, not by them. What I mean by "forgotten" is that they're forgotten by most casual readers. I suspect that there are a lot of people who read crime fiction these days who don't even know who Brian Garfield is, and they certainly haven't read his novels. Maybe some of them have seen the movie based on this book, but as is often the case, the movie is very different from the book.Kendig is a CIA agent (the best who ever did it) who's retired after being forced into taking a desk job. He soon discovers that life has no meaning for him without the game of espionage, so he decides to play again. How? By making the CIA come after him to retire him permanently. That is, if they can catch him. So he writes a tell-all book about the CIA and sends chapters to all the major publishers, worldwide. However, he withholds all the corroborating evidence, with assurances that he'll send it along to the highest bidder. He also sends the chapters to the CIA.
Naturally the agency can't allow the book to be published, so the hopscotch game begins. The agency puts the current best man on the case, with Kendig hopping around the globe, leaving clues so that the game stays interesting for him.
Hopscotch is fine lightweight entertainment. Kendig's schemes work perfectly, and he manages to stay one step ahead of the agency, up until the last 1/3 of the book, when things begin to get a little dicey for him just as he'd decided that he wants to go on living, after all. Along the way there are some amusing comments on publishing, the CIA, the FBI, and other things. Lots of fun.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Legislature's mistake jeopardizes license plate law: A Texas law passed on the frantic final day of the legislative session mistakenly omitted the $200 fine for driving a vehicle without license plates, possibly jeopardizing the enforcement of related laws including a ban on false, altered or obscured license plates.
And Keep Off Her Lawn!
Brave Grandma Arrests Robber With His Penis A Ghanaian grandmother has arrested a Nigerian armed robbery suspect by grabbing his ball.
He Should Have Kept Off His Lawn!
Youth shot after being mistaken for monkey: A YOUTH has been hospitalised after he was shot by a senior citizen who mistook him for a monkey.
Lee Pockriss, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Lee Pockriss, who wrote the music for midcentury pop hits like “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” “Catch a Falling Star” and “Johnny Angel,” died on Monday at his home in Bridgewater, Conn. He was 87.
Quote of the Day for November 17, 2011
Quote of the Day for November 17, 2011: “A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.”
― Shelby Foote
― Shelby Foote
Another List I'm Not On
NYTimes.com: Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award for fiction on Wednesday night for “Salvage the Bones,” a haunting tale of the struggles of a 15-year-old pregnant girl as a hurricane bears down on her fictional Gulf Coast town of Bois Sauvage, Miss.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Criminal Genius of the Day
mcall.com: Philome Cesar, representing himself in a case in which he's charged with robbing 25 area hotels, convenience stores and other businesses in a three-month period last year, asked Daryl Evans to describe what the robber sounded like.
"He sounded like you," said Evans, . . . .
"He sounded like you," said Evans, . . . .
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Courthouse News Service: A Texas appeals court ruled that the owners of a mistakenly euthanized dog can sue to recover the sentimental value of their lost pet, reversing and remanding the ruling of a trial court. The closely reasoned opinion cites more than a century of Texas courts rulings on dogs.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
NY Daily News: A mob rat convicted of beating two pizzeria customers in a “calzone rage” attack will face the same Brooklyn judge Thursday he had previously promised to stay out of trouble, the Daily News has learned.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
No Comment Department
Mail Online: An episode of the BBC's Frozen Planet documentary series that looks at climate change has been scrapped in the U.S., where many are hostile to the idea of global warming.
British viewers will see all seven episodes of the multi-million-pound nature series throughout the Autumn.
But U.S. audiences will not be shown the last episode, which looks at the threat posed by man to the natural world.
It is feared a show that preaches global warming could upset viewers in the U.S., where around half of people do not believe in climate change.
British viewers will see all seven episodes of the multi-million-pound nature series throughout the Autumn.
But U.S. audiences will not be shown the last episode, which looks at the threat posed by man to the natural world.
It is feared a show that preaches global warming could upset viewers in the U.S., where around half of people do not believe in climate change.
Feeling Safer Now?
USATODAY.com: A bloated bureaucracy with 65,000 workers.
An ineffective agency with 25,000 security breaches in the last decade.
A buyer of inadequate technology, including 500 advanced-imaging technology machines that are "easily thwarted."
An ineffective agency with 25,000 security breaches in the last decade.
A buyer of inadequate technology, including 500 advanced-imaging technology machines that are "easily thwarted."
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Fox News: The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is weeks away from launching an unmanned aerial asset to help deputies fight crime. The ShadowHawk helicopter is six-feet long, weighs fifty pounds and fits in the back of an SUV.
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention
Amazon.com: Gallows Pole eBook: J.D. Rhoades: Kindle Store: Someone is killing entire families, forcing fathers to hang their wives and children before taking their own lives. How does the killer do it? And what is the meaning of the small iron horse the killer leaves at every murder scene? FBI agent Melissa Saxon and her handpicked team are racing against time to solve the mystery before more families die.Former anti-terrorist operative Colonel Mark Bishop and the survivors of his command think they know. One of their own, a stone killer who calls himself the Hangman, has come out to play, and he's trying to draw out not only Bishop, but his former comrades—the elite anti-terrorist team known as Iron Horse.
Only the Horsemen can stop one of their own. But the team is disbanded, the survivors scattered. Bishop himself is tormented by guilt for the things he had to do to keep one of his men from suffering an agonizing death. Their adversary is not only a skilled assassin, but a master at creating fear. Behind the scenes, shadowy and powerful figures pursue their own plans for Bishop and the Hangman.
Mark Bishop, Melissa Saxon, and the last of the Iron Horsemen will have to use all their courage and every resource, including an array of high-tech weapons, to stop the Hangman. What they have to do will put everything they ever believed in to the ultimate test and push Bishop to the edge of sanity.
What if He Hadn't Skinned It?
Inside Bay Area: A 38-year-old Morgan Hill man has been charged with being high on methamphetamine, owning a stash of sharp cockfighting ankle spikes, and skinning a bobcat before he ate it.
Hat tip to Art Scott.
Karl Slover, R. I. P.
accessAtlanta: Karl Slover, one of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 classic film, "The Wizard of Oz," has died. He was 93.
Facsimile Editions
AbeBooks: Facsimile Editions: Have you ever really wanted a rare book for your collection but the price is too high? Why not go for a facsimile edition? A facsimile edition is when a publisher recreates, with perfect detail, a particular publication. These editions are usually published in limited quantity and can be a fantastic option for collectors who wish to own memorable and beautiful books but cannot stretch to the original edition.
Everybody Needs a Hobby
CNN.com: A historian has been arrested in central Russia after police found the corpses of 29 women, dressed as dolls, in his apartment, authorities said this week.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Was There Ever any Doubt?
Telegraph: The discovery in Siberia of tree branches twisted together could be proof that Bigfoot really does exist, according to biologists.Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Les Daniels, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Les Daniels, one of the earliest historians of comic books — from the launching (off the doomed planet Krypton) of Superman in 1938 through the countercultural comix movement of the ’60s — and an author of horror novels, died on Nov. 5 at his home in Providence, R.I. He was 68.
I met Daniels at the first World Fantasy Con I attended. I saw him in a restaurant and told him how much I'd enjoyed one of his novels, and we had breakfast together. Nice guy, and I'm sorry he's gone.
The Cutman -- Jack Tunney (Mel Odom)
I read this one last night. The setting is great, and the first-person narration is right on the money. The final bout between Flynn and Simbari is classic stuff. The fate of the Wide Bertha is riding on the outcome. Great stuff in the pulp tradition.Amazon.com: THE CUTMAN (FIGHT CARD) eBook: Jack Tunney, Mel Odom, Paul Bishop: Kindle Store: Havana, Cuba. 1954.
Mickey Flynn is an ex-Korean War vet turned merchant marine. He was born in the ghettos of Chicago and raised in an orphanage with his younger brother, Patrick. He was one of several young men who received an education from the nuns at St. Vincent's.
But he was also taught the "sweet science" by Father Tim, a Golden Gloves boxer and retired police officer who only knew one way to bring a troubled boy to manhood. Father Tim worked with his young charges, taught them how to jab and punch and throw a hook that seemed to come out of nowhere. When the young men left St. Vincent's (Our Lady of the Glass Jaw), they were changed, fit and ready to take on the troubles the encountered around the world, no matter where they found them.
Now Mick's in Havana, working on WIDE BERTHA, his ship. After surviving a fierce storm at sea, the last thing Mick and the crew need to do is get crossways with the Italian organized crime flooding Havana, but it doesn't take much to put him in the cross hairs of a vengeful mob boss working for Lucky Luciano.
Unable to get free of bad luck and unfortunate circumstance, Mick ends up in the ring in an illegal boxing match fighting a human killing machine.
The Cat's Table -- Michael Ondaatje
In his "Afterword," Michael Ondaatje says that The Cat's Table isn't a memoir. Since he's the author, he should know. Any writer who mentions The Maltese Falcon and Warren Zevon in an afterword is okay in my book.The Cat's Table is the story of an 11-year-old boy named Michael, who's telling it from the point of view of the adult he's become. Michael sails from Colombo, Ceylon (the setting is 1954) to England to rejoin his mother, whom he hasn't seen for several years. The trip takes 21 days, and what Michael sees, hears, and experiences will influence him for much longer. He and his two friends, Cassius and Ramadhin, are, because of their youth and social status, practically invisible to the other passengers except for those who sit with them at the Cat's Table, the one as far as it's possible to get from the Captain's Table.
The boys have the free run of the ship, as long as they don't get caught. The see the mysterious prisoner, who's brought on deck in chains only in the middle of the night. They smuggle a dog on board. Michael assists a thief. They dine in a strange garden in the bowels of the ship.
Toward the end of the novel there are a couple of flash-forwards to the near present, as well as a long letter from one of the passengers. The last third has a good deal of melodrama. I like melodrama.
The Cat's Table is an Amazon bestseller, though not on the NYT list as yet. It has an odd, almost dreamlike quality that's probably not for everyone, but it's a nice change of pace from my usual reading.
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
NBC Dallas-Fort Worth: A Texas state trooper on Monday captured a rattlesnake at an Eastland elementary school -- four days after it bit a second-grader.
Croc Update (Insurance Edition)
AFP: President Barack Obama is expected to receive a warm welcome in Australia Wednesday, but just in case the reception is wilder than expected a firm has offered him insurance against crocodiles.
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
Houston Press: Okay, this is a weird one. A really weird one, involving accusations of parents smoking weed with children, divorce and remarriage, divided families, indestructible young women, hand grenades, garden hoes, machetes, other assorted weaponry, a Pakistani immigrant and vengeance. Got all that? No? Read on and we will attempt to explain.
Overlooked Movies -- The High and the Mighty
Here's one a lot of people remember, I'm sure, and it was the inspiration for many that came it. When I was a youth, everybody was talking about it and whistling the theme song. It's one of those big Hollywood movies with a big cast, including Robert Stack, who went on to star in Airplane!. In this one, Stack is the pilot who loses it, and Wayne is the First Officer who has to talk him through the crisis (blown engine).It all probably seems hokey now, and it's too bad that a lot of people who have see Airplane! didn't see this one first, because it's kind of impossible to see this one the same way.
Some of us, though, having seen it on the big screen back in 1954 will never forget those final shots and John Wayne whistling the theme song.
I Thought Sea Monsters Got Her
guardian.co.uk: Jane Austen 'died from arsenic poisoning'
Crime writer Lindsay Ashford bases claim on reading of author's letters and claims murder cannot be ruled out
Crime writer Lindsay Ashford bases claim on reading of author's letters and claims murder cannot be ruled out
Hat tip to David Cranmer.
Monday, November 14, 2011
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
WLS 890AM: A west suburban woman sprayed a Metra conductor with Mace after refusing to show her train ticket, forcing the train to remain stalled for about 25 minutes during the morning rush Monday, according to police.
Dick Adler, R. I. P.
The Rap Sheet: Dick Adler Passes Away: This is very sad news, indeed. Dick Adler, a former crime-fiction critic for the Chicago Tribune, and a regular contributor to The Rap Sheet, passed away this last weekend at age 74.
This Explains a Lot
Beautiful people more productive: study: Daniel S Hamermesh has studied the economics of beauty for about 20 years. In Beauty Pays, which was published recently by Princeton University Press, he concludes that attractive people enjoy many advantages while those who are less attractive often face discrimination.
Using his research and worldwide studies he's collected, Hamermesh notes that beautiful people are likely to be happier, earn more money, get a bank loan with a lower interest rate and marry a good-looking and highly educated spouse.
Using his research and worldwide studies he's collected, Hamermesh notes that beautiful people are likely to be happier, earn more money, get a bank loan with a lower interest rate and marry a good-looking and highly educated spouse.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
McDonald's Menu Meltdown -The Smoking Gun: The 22-year-old--for some unexplained reason--turned on her boyfriend, biting him on the lip and tearing off his shirt. At some point during her meltdown, Edgell climbed atop the roof of her 40-year-old beau’s car and launched into a loud diatribe about McDonald’s.
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention
This is a terrific new series, with books to come from a lot of your favorite writers. This one's by Paul Bishop, writing as all the others will be, as Jack Tunney. I'll be reviewing Mel Odom's contribution soon, and you can read James Reasoner's review of this one if you click here.Amazon.com: Felony Fists (Fight Card) eBook: Jack Tunney, Mel Odom, Paul Bishop: Kindle Store: Los Angeles 1954
Patrick “Felony” Flynn has been fighting all his life. Learning the “sweet science” from Father Tim the fighting priest at St. Vincent’s, the Chicago orphanage where Pat and his older brother Mickey were raised, Pat has battled his way around the world – first with the Navy and now with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Legendary LAPD chief William Parker is on a rampage to clean up both the department and the city. His elite crew of detectives known as The Hat Squad is his blunt instrument – dedicated, honest, and fearless. Promotion from patrol to detective is Pat’s goal, but he also yearns to be one of the elite.
And his fists are going to give him the chance.
Gangster Mickey Cohen runs LA’s rackets, and murderous heavyweight Solomon King is Cohen’s key to taking over the fight game. Chief Parker wants wants Patrick “Felony” Flynn to stop him – a tall order for middleweight ship’s champion with no professional record.
Leading with his chin, and with his partner, LA’s first black detective Tombstone Jones, covering his back, Patrick Flynn and his Felony Fists are about to fight for his future, the future of the department, and the future of Los Angeles.
Once Again, Texas Leads the Way
'Hyde Park Tire Slasher' sentenced to 10 years: When asked about it on the stand, Kelly said, "Ok, I'm going to tell you the truth on this one. It doesn't sound right, but it is. I have had hemorrhoids at that time, super duper bad."
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Today's Experiment
In an effort to push some books on Amazon, I'm going to ask a favor of everybody who has a few seconds to spare. Please click this link to the Amazon page for A Vampire Named Fred. Right under the title you'll see a "Like" button. Click on it. That's all there is to it. I'm hoping to get a bunch of "Likes" and see if that will help. Thanks.
How True
Quote of the Day for November 13, 2011: “Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?”
― Henry Ward Beecher
― Henry Ward Beecher
Sunday, November 13, 2011
PaperBack
Brad Lang, Crockett on the Loose, Leisure Books, 1975
Lang's website is here, and it has links to several other great sites of his, including Hardboiled Heaven. Highly recommended.
Gator Update (Vet Trip Edition)
Pocono alligators dress up for plane trip to Wisconsin veterinarian
Photo at the link. Any resemblance to Bill Belichick is purely coincidental.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)