'Baby Hope' case: Cousin confesses to sexually assaulting, killing toddler Anjelica Castillo more than two decades ago
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Cal Smith, R. I. P.
'Country Bumpkin' Singer Cal Smith Dies at 81: Cal Smith -- who enjoyed a rich country career with some of the biggest hits of the 1960s and 1970s, passed away yesterday at his home near Branson, Missouri. He was 81.
Once Again Texas Leads the Way
My great-niece Natalie Fulwiler is a soloist in this choir.
Not Your Average School Choir: ONLY IN AUSTIN WOULD A LOCAL KID'S CHOIR SHARE THE BILL WITH LIONEL RICHIE, MUSE, THE CURE, AND WILCO.
Not Your Average School Choir: ONLY IN AUSTIN WOULD A LOCAL KID'S CHOIR SHARE THE BILL WITH LIONEL RICHIE, MUSE, THE CURE, AND WILCO.
50 Essential Travel Books
Friday, October 11, 2013
John Lange is Back, and Hard Case Has Him
Charles Ardai says:
Eight years ago, I reached out to Michael Crichton – author of JURASSIC PARK and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, scripter of WESTWORLD and TWISTER, creator of the TV show ER -- to see whether he might let us reprint some of the wonderful paperback thrillers he wrote under the top-secret pen name “John Lange” back when he was a student at Harvard Medical School.
I knew the odds weren’t good, since he hadn’t acknowledged those books publicly or let anyone reprint them (at least in this country – I think he may have given the nod to a foreign edition or two). But…nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I wrote to him. And to my delight and surprise he said yes – provided that we keep his secret. That is, he wanted our John Lange books to be published as by John Lange, sort of the way J.K. Rowling recently published her new crime novel as by “Robert Galbraith.” We weren’t to breathe a word of his real identity. Well, of course we said yes, and he and we had a lot of fun working together, first on a reissue of the Edgar Award-nominated GRAVE DESCEND and then on one of ZERO COOL (for which Michael even penned two new chapters set in the present day to open and close the book…the first new writing he’d done as John Lange in more than 30 years!). He enjoyed the new covers Greg Manchess painted for the books and the old-fashioned paperback feel, and we were talking with him about which Lange book to reissue next – ODDS ON or DRUG OF CHOICE? – when he was suddenly taken from us by cancer at the age of 66.
Working with Michael (even if we had to keep it secret) was one of the great pleasures and privileges of my career, and ever since, I’ve wished we could have completed what we began. I’ve also wondered whether Michael might eventually have given in to temptation and written a whole new Lange novel for us -- no less persuasive a figure than Stephen King was encouraging him to do so! Alas, a new Lange novel will never be…but we’re very pleased to announce that five years later we finally will get to finish what we started. We’re going to be bringing all eight John Lange novels back to bookstores for the first time in more than four decades – and with the blessing of Michael’s family, the first time ever under the his real name.
The books are terrific reads, really delicious examples of Michael experimenting with the genres he would become famous for in later life – you’ll find sinister consequences of bioengineering (on a secret island vacation resort, no less!), you’ll find a race-against-the-clock political thriller penned long before the TV series “24,” you’ll find an archaeology professor hunting for a lost tomb in the Egyptian desert decades before Harrison Ford ever donned a fedora…plus a heist of a luxury hotel planned with the aid of a computer, a case of mistaken identity that pits an innocent man against a league of assassins, and more, all presented behind the gorgeous painted cover art of Greg Manchess and Glen Orbik.
Eight years ago, I reached out to Michael Crichton – author of JURASSIC PARK and THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, scripter of WESTWORLD and TWISTER, creator of the TV show ER -- to see whether he might let us reprint some of the wonderful paperback thrillers he wrote under the top-secret pen name “John Lange” back when he was a student at Harvard Medical School.I knew the odds weren’t good, since he hadn’t acknowledged those books publicly or let anyone reprint them (at least in this country – I think he may have given the nod to a foreign edition or two). But…nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I wrote to him. And to my delight and surprise he said yes – provided that we keep his secret. That is, he wanted our John Lange books to be published as by John Lange, sort of the way J.K. Rowling recently published her new crime novel as by “Robert Galbraith.” We weren’t to breathe a word of his real identity. Well, of course we said yes, and he and we had a lot of fun working together, first on a reissue of the Edgar Award-nominated GRAVE DESCEND and then on one of ZERO COOL (for which Michael even penned two new chapters set in the present day to open and close the book…the first new writing he’d done as John Lange in more than 30 years!). He enjoyed the new covers Greg Manchess painted for the books and the old-fashioned paperback feel, and we were talking with him about which Lange book to reissue next – ODDS ON or DRUG OF CHOICE? – when he was suddenly taken from us by cancer at the age of 66.
Working with Michael (even if we had to keep it secret) was one of the great pleasures and privileges of my career, and ever since, I’ve wished we could have completed what we began. I’ve also wondered whether Michael might eventually have given in to temptation and written a whole new Lange novel for us -- no less persuasive a figure than Stephen King was encouraging him to do so! Alas, a new Lange novel will never be…but we’re very pleased to announce that five years later we finally will get to finish what we started. We’re going to be bringing all eight John Lange novels back to bookstores for the first time in more than four decades – and with the blessing of Michael’s family, the first time ever under the his real name.
The books are terrific reads, really delicious examples of Michael experimenting with the genres he would become famous for in later life – you’ll find sinister consequences of bioengineering (on a secret island vacation resort, no less!), you’ll find a race-against-the-clock political thriller penned long before the TV series “24,” you’ll find an archaeology professor hunting for a lost tomb in the Egyptian desert decades before Harrison Ford ever donned a fedora…plus a heist of a luxury hotel planned with the aid of a computer, a case of mistaken identity that pits an innocent man against a league of assassins, and more, all presented behind the gorgeous painted cover art of Greg Manchess and Glen Orbik.
Because this is a family blog. . .
. . . I can't like to this:
Just a Bunch of Hot, Naked Pin-Up Girls Wearing Nothing But Milk
Hat tip to Stan Burns.
Just a Bunch of Hot, Naked Pin-Up Girls Wearing Nothing But Milk
Hat tip to Stan Burns.
Free for Kindle for One Day Only
Amazon.com: Mind Prison eBook: Dave Zeltserman: Kindle Store: A short story from Shamus award-winning author Dave Zeltserman. Do you think you'll be able to guess the shocking ending of MIND PRISON?
In this mind-bending mix of science fiction and noir, a renowned scientist, Dr. Graham Winston, is developing an ingenious and, some might say, horrifying technology that will revolutionize prison. He's close to a breakthrough, except that he finds himself distracted by his beautiful mistress... and thoughts of murder.
Croc Update (Cage of Death Edition)
'Cage of Death' Drops Tourists in Crocodile's Lair
Okay, it's a slideshow, but the photos are totally worth it.
Okay, it's a slideshow, but the photos are totally worth it.
Is Our Children Learning?
SAT essay section: Problems with grading, instruction, and prompts.: We Are Teaching High School Students to Write Terribly
Will the Persecution Never End?
Paris Hilton accidentally blasts radio host live on-air
Naughty language alert!
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Naughty language alert!
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Forgotten Books: Sad Wind from the Sea --- Harry Patterson
Harry Patterson, also known as Jack Higgins, James Graham, Hugh Marlowe, and maybe others, has long been a favorite of mine. Not his more recent novels, but his earlier ones, particularly the ones of what I think of as his "middle period." I also like the ones he wrote very early in his career, though not quite as much, and there are a couple of them that I'd never read, including Sad Wind from the Sea, which up until now had never been reprinted in the U.S. Then I saw a review of it on Ben Boulden's blog, and Boulden said that a print-on-demand edition was now available. So I decided to get a copy. I wound up buying an older paperback instead of the print-on-demand version, mainly because I like older paperbacks.The story is vintage Higgins with a lot of the same elements of his other earlier work: a tarnished hero, a beautiful woman, a boat, some marshes, a good/bad foil for the hero, and a real meanie for the villain. The setting is Macao and then Indo-China in the very late '50s. Our hero, Mark Hagen, saves the beautiful Rose Graham from muggers, and it turns out that they were after information. Rose knows where her father sunk a load of gold in the Kwai marshes, "just over the border from Viet Minh into China," Not an easy place to get into and get out of.
Rose's father had a noble purpose for the gold, but Hagen, down to his last few petakas, wants it for himself. So does a Russian, Kossoff, who's working for the Chinese. And so does Charlie, the man who's going to help Hagen get his boat back and finance the trip. Naturally things do not go well.
Patterson does a good job with the landscape and descriptions, as usual, and if there are lots of cliches, who cares? I've said before that Patterson seems not to mind using them in the least and that he even embraces them. And it works. There's plenty of action and it's all good fun. If you've enjoyed Patterson under any of his names, or if you just like adventure in general, you'll probably get a kick out of this one.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Scott Carpenter, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: M. Scott Carpenter, whose flight into space in 1962 as the second American to orbit the Earth was marred by technical glitches and ended with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a landing far from the target site, died on Thursday in Denver. He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America’s original space program, Project Mercury.
Restless -- Kasey Lansdale
Anyway, I was listening today to a new album by Cassadee Pope, who's supposed to be a hot new young country star, and I said to myself, "Self, how come it is that Cassadee Pope gets a major recording deal when Kasey Lansdale's independent CD is so much better?" Well, we all know there is no justice, and all we can do is buy the good stuff like Restless and enjoy it. Which is what I recommend you do. Kasey Lansdale's songs are country, bluesy, and there's even a little pop in there. They all have a bit of an edge, which probably comes from the fact that she wrote or co-wrote a number of them herself, including the tough-chick opener, "Sorry Ain't Enough," one of my favorites here. Another one I like a lot, though Kasey didn't write it, is "Never Say Never." Catchy with a great hook. Along with tough, there's tender, on songs like "Blame You for Trying" and the fine closer, "Half as Much" (there's some toughness even with the tender, though). Kasey has the voice for just about anything: big, sweet, soft, wry, funny, whatever you're looking for, you'll find it here.
Being a geezer (Lordy, I'm so old that I know why albums used to be called that), I bought the CD of this collection, but you whippersnappers can download it on iTunes if that's what you prefer. Give it a try. You'll be glad you did.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . .
. . . and now it's the violent testicle assault!
Cops: South Carolina Man Was Left Bloodied By Ex-Girlfriend's Violent Testicle Assault
Cops: South Carolina Man Was Left Bloodied By Ex-Girlfriend's Violent Testicle Assault
The Plurality of Worlds
Reflections: Robert Silverberg on the plurality of worlds in the myriad galaxies.
Hitchhiking Platypus WBAGNFARB
Metro News: Hitchhiking platypus gets stuck in truck engine, travels for nine miles
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Uh-Oh
'Remington Steele' Reboot: Three decades after Remington Steele launched the career of Pierce Brosnan, the romantic comedy/drama procedural is getting a next-generation reboot, this time as a half-hour comedy.
Andy Pafko, R. I. P.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Stanley Kauffmann, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Stanley Kauffmann, whose literate, tightly constructed movie reviews appeared in The New Republic for more than half a century and set a standard for critical ease and erudition, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 97.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
#8 Must Be an Error . . .
. . . the Lansdale family empire alone would bring the average up way above that.
The poorest cities in America
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
The poorest cities in America
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Archaeology Update
Archaeologists in Bolivia find 1,500-year-old treasures: Gold and silver pieces as well as bones and pottery from 1,500 years ago were discovered in Lake Titicaca by underwater archaeologists, a researcher said Tuesday.
Tuesday, October 08, 2013
I Was Just Reminded . . .
. . . of something that I wish I'd thought of a month ago. In the fall of 1963, 50 years ago, I walked into a classroom on the second floor of Corsicana High School and began my teaching career. I taught four sections of junior English and had to keep a study hall. Do they still have study hall? It was a great experience in most ways, and I remember the students from my two years in Corsicana very well. Some of them are on Facebook, so I even get to keep up with them a little bit. I really enjoyed those classes, and I might still be teaching high school if it weren't for all the little things I didn't particularly like, which were all the little additional duties besides the teaching part. I went to grad school one summer and then got a teaching assistantship at North Texas State University, now the University of North Texas. And that was the end of my high school teaching career. It was short but sweet.
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
The Girl in Berlin: Elizabeth Wilson: 9781846688270: Amazon.com: Books: Summer, 1951. Two suspected spies, Burgess and Maclean, have disappeared, and the nation is obsessed with their whereabouts.
Speculation is at fever pitch when Colin Harris, a member of the Communist Party who has been in Germany for several years, turns up to see his old friends Dinah and Alan Wentworth. He has news: he has fallen in love with a girl in East Berlin, and is coming home—with her—for good. Meanwhile, Jack McGovern, who sometimes feels like the only decent man in Special Branch, has a rendezvous with a real spy. Miles Kingdom thinks there's a mole at MI5, and he wants McGovern's help.
A novel about secrets, betrayal, and unearthing the truth, The Girl in Berlin is a reminder that when nothing is as it seems, no one can be trusted—even those you think you know best.
Overlooked Movies: The Killer Shrews
McLendon became even more famous in the 1950s when he bought some radio stations in Texas. The ones I listened to were KLIF in Dallas, KTSA in San Antonio, and KILT in Houston. On a good day, I could pick up all three of them in a car radio in Mexia, Texas. He might not have invented the Top 40 format, but he was expert at exploiting it.
At some point in the late '50s, McClendon got the idea he wanted to be a movie producer. Ken Curtis (best known as Festus on Gunsmoke's TV incarnation) went in with him, and one of the movies they produced was The Killer Shrews. Some would say that this movie makes Plan Nine from Outer Space look like a big-budget Hollywood studio production. If you've seen it on MST3K, you know what I'm talking about. Or scroll down and take a look at the trailer.
The special effects for the killer shrews drew the most laughter in the theaters in the '50s (yes, I was there). They were obviously just dogs with some tacky fur glued on them. The plot is ludicrous. A mad scientist is trying to shrink people to about half their normal size in order to cure world hunger. Somehow his formula creates killer shrews, and the cast is trapped on an island with them. Several people fall victim to the shrews, but the others escape in . . . you need to see it.
This is a classic of its kind, and it was filmed in Texas!
Monday, October 07, 2013
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . .
. . . and now it's the bizarre paintball incident.
SWAT Team Called to Bizarre Paintball Incident Between Cousins
SWAT Team Called to Bizarre Paintball Incident Between Cousins
I Miss the Old Days
Vintage Catalog Cards for Literary Classics from the Semi-Secret Archive of the Library of Congress | Brain Pickings: An affectionate reminder that a book is a node in a complex human network of authors, readers, and librarians, connecting time, space, and sensibility.
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A. C. Lyles, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: A. C. Lyles, who rose from the mail room to producer at Paramount Pictures and created a string of profitable low-budget westerns, died on Sept. 27 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 95.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
New Poem at The 5-2
The 5-2 | Crime Poetry Weekly, Annual Ebooks - Gerald So, Editor: Charles Rammelkamp
THE DAY SADAT DIED
Sunday, October 06, 2013
Gergory Gibson -- The Old Turk's Load
Gregory Gibson is an antiquarian book dealer, but The Old Turk's Load isn't about books or antiquities. The macguffin here is a load of heroin that falls into the hands of Richard Mundi, to whom it doesn't belong. It belongs to Angelo DeNotto, who doesn't have it and who wants it back. The point of view shifts among lot of people who get involved in the caper. You might wonder just how, at first, but it all comes together in surprising and satisfactory ways. The characters include an alcoholic private-eye named Kelly, and Mundi's daughter, whose name is Gloria. (My first thought on this was that Gloria Mundi sounds like a character in a Thomas Pynchon novel.) The setting is 1967, and it's wonderfully done. Not a false note that I detected.
The writing is sharp, colorful, and witty, and the plotting is clever. Check it out.
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