Saturday, April 06, 2013
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
NY Daily News: Machete owner Miguel Jiminez died after he cut his arm on a broken bottle after a fight broke out with a pal over paying their bill at La Cabana Rodriguez restaurant on Flatbush Ave. near Beverley Rd., sources said.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Amazon.com: Taking Quinn Home eBook: Barry Napier: Kindle Store: Taking Quinn Home is a short story of approximately 7,500 words. Four men leave the local bar on a snowy night, cautiously driving an old truck down rural back roads to get home. Although the snow and ice are unforgiving, the weather conditions aren't to blame when they find themselves stranded in the woods.
And it is certainly not the freezing weather that is to blame for the terror and bloodshed that will occur before the sun rises.
There are wolves howling in the distance and the truck won't move...but these are the least of their problems. . . .
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Amazon.com: Mysteries Thrills & Spills : A Sampler eBook: Claude Bouchard, Jeff Bennington, Helen Hanson, Shawn Hopkins, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Douglas Dorow, Larry Enright, Russell Blake: Kindle Store: In this mystery thriller sampler, eight great writers have teamed up to bring you a sizable taste of some of their most thrilling work. From the "edgy action thriller featuring a smoking hot leather-clad female ex-assassin" in Russell Blake's JET, to the "supernatural thriller with heart" in Jeff Bennington's TWISTED VENGEANCE, this sampler runs the gamut of mystery's sub-genres like no other.
Blatant Self-Promotion
Amazon.com: The Texas Capitol Murders eBook: Bill Crider: Kindle Store: The classic novel of Texas politics and murder, available for the first time in more than 20 years! It's the end of the '80s. The Texas capitol building is being remodeled, and there's a body dumped in the trash. There's a witness who needs to be eliminated, and there's a slightly strange governor who wants the Texas Rangers called in. Political intrigue, murder, romance, and humor with a Texas twang.
Friday, April 05, 2013
99 Cents for Kindle for a Limited Time
Joe Hill's The Cape: Joe Hill, Jason Ciaramella, Zach Howard, Nelson Daniel, Zach Howard: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: Every little boy dreams about putting on a cape and soaring up, up, and away... but what if one day that dream were to come true? Eric was like every other eight-year-old boy, until a tragic accident changed his life forever. THE CAPE explores the dark side of power, as the adult Eric - a confused and broken man - takes to the skies... and sets out to exact a terrible vengeance on everyone who ever disappointed him. This critically acclaimed, Eisner-Award nominated story, written by Jason Ciaramella, based on the short story by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill, with art by Zach Howard and Nelson Daniel, will linger with you long after you turn the last page, and force you to ask yourself the question: "What if?"
Feeling Safer Now?
NY Daily News: Transportation Security Administration screeners let Delta employee Marcelino Aponte hop a flight Wednesday without a boarding pass or going through security, but didn't alert Port Authority cops for 45 minutes.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
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Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Amazon.com: Guilt (A Noah Milano novella) eBook: Jochem Vandersteen: Kindle Store: Years ago Noah Milano was the son and bodyguard of gangster boss Robert Milano. He was forced to shoot Lisa Waxman's father, turning her into an orphan, saddling him with a lifetime of guilt.
Now, Noah Milano has broken off all ties to his father and tries to make an honest living as a security specialist. He finds out Lisa's stepfather is accused of being one of the vilest, most sadistic serial killers of California. This is Noah's chance to find redemption. He swears to prove his innocence. It seems not everyone agrees with his quest, though. Soon not only Noah but his dearest friends are in mortal danger...
AbeBooks: Most Expensive Sales in March 2013
AbeBooks: Most Expensive Sales in March 2013: Rare books come in all shapes and formats, and they don’t have to be written by a famous author or published by an influential press. Last month’s most expensive sales on AbeBooks includes a guest book from the Castello Bar at the Castle Schloss Mondsee near Salzburg in Austria. It belonged to Countess Micheline Almeida (1911-2000), whose family used to own the property, now an upmarket hotel.
Forgotten Books: A Requiem for Astounding -- Alva Rogers
Alva Rogers writes as a fan, not a literary critic, and he communicates some of the "warm and happy memories of countless hours of reading pleasure" that the magazine gave him. He discusses the editors, the writers, the stories, and the artists. Not all of them, of course, and he admits that his choices are subjective. He writes about the ones that had the most appeal to him, and he manages to communicate some of the excitement and anticipation readers felt in the days of the pulps and early digests, the days when magazines full of stories were easy to find in drugstores newsstands and bookstores.
I started reading Astounding in the middle '50s, when it was still thought of as the premier magazine in the field, though F&SF and Galaxy weren't far behind. In fact, I preferred them and even some others, but I bought and read Astounding just about every month, and I felt the same excitement with each new issue of all the magazines that Rogers felt with Astounding.
You can't go home again, but you can read a book like this one. It's an fine account of a wonderful time, so it's the next best thing.
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Roger Ebert, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Roger Ebert, the popular film critic and television co-host who along with his fellow reviewer and sometime sparring partner Gene Siskel could lift or sink the fortunes of a movie with their trademark thumbs up or thumbs down, died on Thursday in Chicago. He was 70.
Why, Indeed?
What It's Like to Be Kidnapped: Why on earth would someone pay hundreds of dollars to fly halfway across the country for the pleasure of being abducted by thugs, handcuffed in a basement for hours, and forced to pee into a Gatorade bottle?
Hat tip to Art Scott.
Hat tip to Art Scott.
Here's the Outline for Your Next Big Rogue Cop Thriller
NY Daily News: A 17-year veteran of the NYPD was busted Wednesday for using his badge to lead a ruthless stickup crew — dressed up like New York’s Finest — to rob drug dealers of cash and narcotics, law enforcement officials said.
Max Allan Collins Update
Omnimystery News: Cinemax has ordered a pilot for a period crime drama based on a character created by Max Allan Collins.
Titled Quarry — the character's name, which is also the title of the first book in Collins's series — the action takes place in the early 1970s after Quarry, a young veteran coming home from Vietnam, finds his life further devastated upon his return.
Titled Quarry — the character's name, which is also the title of the first book in Collins's series — the action takes place in the early 1970s after Quarry, a young veteran coming home from Vietnam, finds his life further devastated upon his return.
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the German-born screenwriter and novelist who, as the writing member of the Merchant Ivory filmmaking team, won two Academy Awards for adaptations of genteel, class-conscious E. M. Forster novels, died on Wednesday at her home in Manhattan. She was 85.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Milo O'Shea, R. I. P.
BBC News - Milo O'Shea dies after a short illness: The Irish actor, Milo O'Shea, has died after a short illness, his son has confirmed. He was 86.
The Dubliner, who had a long career on the stage and screen, died in a New York hospital on Tuesday night.
He is best remembered for his role in Franco Zeffirelli's film, Romeo and Juliet, the 1968 film Barbarella, and for his performance as Leopold Bloom in an adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses.
The Dubliner, who had a long career on the stage and screen, died in a New York hospital on Tuesday night.
He is best remembered for his role in Franco Zeffirelli's film, Romeo and Juliet, the 1968 film Barbarella, and for his performance as Leopold Bloom in an adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses.
Jess Franco, R. I. P.
Variety: Jess Franco, the prolific Spanish filmmaker who became renowned for his low-budget cult films, died in Malaga, Spain, of heart complications. He was 82.
Franco’s feature pic debut came in 1959 with “We Are 18 Years Old,” but the helmer found more mainstream success with 1962′s “The Awful Dr. Orlof,” which received wide distribution Stateside and in Blighty. He is best known for his contributions to the cinema fantastique genre, which veered away from the mainstream and employed supernatural phenomena in otherwise realistic narratives. Notable credits include “Necronomicon,” (1967), “Count Dracula” (1969), “Vampyros Lesbos” (1970), “Dracula vs. Frankenstein” (1971), and “Oasis of the Zombies” (1983).
Hat tip to Todd Mason.
Franco’s feature pic debut came in 1959 with “We Are 18 Years Old,” but the helmer found more mainstream success with 1962′s “The Awful Dr. Orlof,” which received wide distribution Stateside and in Blighty. He is best known for his contributions to the cinema fantastique genre, which veered away from the mainstream and employed supernatural phenomena in otherwise realistic narratives. Notable credits include “Necronomicon,” (1967), “Count Dracula” (1969), “Vampyros Lesbos” (1970), “Dracula vs. Frankenstein” (1971), and “Oasis of the Zombies” (1983).
Hat tip to Todd Mason.
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Sumatran Rhino Update
www.ajc.com: Several footprints believed to be from critically endangered Sumatran rhino have been found on Indonesia's Borneo island, raising hopes for the existence of an animal long thought to be extinct in that area, a conservation group said Thursday.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
Report: Enraged wife set kitchen fire to "go out in a blaze of glory": Michelle Diane Fowler Osteen Bedillion's 46-year-old hubby called dispatchers on Easter Sunday morning to report his wife had been hitting him in the back of head with a heavy picture frame. He also said his wife threw a computer printer at him, striking him in the back, according to a news release from the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .
The Australian: A VICTORIAN man had superglue poured into his eyes and an ear and was bashed with a prosthetic leg during an argument with his housemate.
Experimenting with the Scientific Book Club
AbeBooks: Experimenting with the Scientific Book Club: The Scientific Book Club was a monthly publication that brought its readers tales from the world of modern science. The books were available to the public as well, but members enjoyed a discount off the cover price, and received the full-length, unabridged version just the same. The club operated out of 121 Charing Cross Road in London, under the umbrella of the much-beloved Foyles, one of London’s most well-known booksellers. Foyles began operation in 1903, and, although now it is a very different animal, is still in operation today.
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Jane Henson, R. I.P.
CNN.com: (CNN) -- Jane Nebel Henson -- who was married to the late Muppets creator Jim Henson and was instrumental in the development of the world-famous puppets -- died Tuesday morning, a representative for the Jim Henson Company said. She was 79.
Free Today for Kindle
Amazon.com: A Cold Day for Murder (Kate Shugak #1) eBook: Dana Stabenow: Kindle Store: Somewhere in the hinterlands of Alaska, among the millions of sprawling acres that comprise “The Park,” a young National Park Ranger has gone missing. When the detective sent after him also vanishes, the Anchorage DA’s department must turn to their reluctant former investigator, Kate Shugak. Shugak knows The Park because she’s of The Park, an Aleut who left her home village of Niniltna to pursue education, a career, and the righting of wrongs. Kate’s search for the missing men will take her from self-imposed exile back to a life she’d left behind, and face-to-face with people and problems she'd hoped never to confront again. The first novel in the popular Kate Shugak Series, A Cold Day for Murder established Dana Stabenow as a new voice in Alaskan mystery writing, and earned her an Edgar Award.
Bob Clarke, R. I. P.
Bleeding Cool: Delaware Online reports on the passing of Bob Clarke of Seaford, one of MAD Magazine’s earliest artists, working there in the fifties and sixties. He died on Sunday from complications related to pneumonia, at the age of 87.
His best-known work there was his “Believe It or NUTS!” regular… as well as being and artist for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! syndicated articles that he then parodied.
His best-known work there was his “Believe It or NUTS!” regular… as well as being and artist for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! syndicated articles that he then parodied.
Free Today for Kindle
The Complete Caspak Trilogy: Edgar Rice Burroughs: Amazon.com: Kindle Store (The Land that Time Forgot, etc.)Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Jack Pardee, R. I. P.
SportsDayDFW: Jack Pardee, one of Bear Bryant's "Junction Boys" at Texas A&M who went on to become an All-Pro linebacker and an NFL coach, has died, University of Houston spokesman David Bassity said.
Pardee was 76.
Forgotten US airship crash recalled 80 years later
Forgotten US airship crash recalled 80 years later: A ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the crash, the deadliest airship disaster on record, is being held Thursday at a veterans park where there is a tiny plaque dedicated to the victims. Below it is a small piece of metal from the airship.
Overlooked Movies: Creature from the Haunted Sea
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The movie is supposed to be a spoofy comedy, but it's not funny. The plot features an American mobster who escapes Cuba (it's 1961) with loyalists and bunches of money with which the loyalists plan start a counter-revolution and which the mobster plans to keep for himself. Our Hero (Towne) is embedded in the mob, and he's going to foil the plan. There's a woman, of course, the mobster's moll, who's allegedly a singer. (I report, you decide.) When the supposedly mythical creature from the haunted sea turns out to be real, people start getting killed. We sure must have been hard pressed to find entertainment in the earlyu '60s.
Monday, April 01, 2013
Paris Hilton Update
Paris Hilton slips into Playboy bunny costume as she parties with Hugh Hefner
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Christa Speck, R. I. P.
Christa Speck Krofft: Woman who went from Bank of America secretary to Playboy Playmate of the Year dies: Playboy magazine's 1962 'Playmate of the Year,' Christa Speck Krofft, has died of natural causes at the age of 70.
Family spokesman Christoph Buerger said she died on March 22, at home.
Free Today for Kindle
Granny Smith and the Deadly Frogs: G M Dobbs: Amazon.com: Kindle Store: ‘It’s Miss Marple on steroids!’ Another murder rocks the small Welsh town of Gilfach – the police are baffled, the corpse is getting colder and only Granny Smith, the intrepid pensioner sleuth stands between justice and all out anarchy.
Granny has a talent for mayhem and soon those talents are put to good use as our intrepid pensioner starts to unravel the case, which finds her provoking Chief Inspector Miskin as she comes up against a full scale police investigation, proving that you’re never too old to make a nuisance of yourself and that seventy-one is actually the new twenty-one.
Murder’s never been so much fun.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Opening Day
Watched the first inning of the Astros game against the Rangers and saw the ump miss his first call of the year. That didn't take long.
Honduras Leads the Way
Mail Online: The most dangerous place on earth? San Pedro Sula in Honduras - where three people are murdered EVERY DAY - tops list of the world's most violent cities
2013 Derringer Winners from Short Mystery Fiction Society
Best Flash Story:
The Cable Job - Randy DeWitt
Best Short Story:
Getting Out of the Box - Michael Bracken, 54.55%
Best Long Story:
When Duty Calls - Art Taylor
Best Novelette:
Wood-Smoke Boys - Doug Allyn
The Cable Job - Randy DeWitt
Best Short Story:
Getting Out of the Box - Michael Bracken, 54.55%
Best Long Story:
When Duty Calls - Art Taylor
Best Novelette:
Wood-Smoke Boys - Doug Allyn
Bob Turley, R. I. P.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Why Eat Peeps at Easter?
Slate Magazine: But for all the fascination with Peeps, it's never been clear why the sugary treats are associated with Easter. The marshmallow rabbits represent the Easter Bunny, but what do marshmallow chicks have to do with the resurrection of Christ?
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