Saturday, March 15, 2014
David Brenner, R. I. P.
Yahoo News: David Brenner, the gangly, toothy-grinned "Tonight Show" favorite whose brand of observational comedy became a staple for other standup comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser, died Saturday. He was 78.
New Pulp Awards.
The Rap Sheet: Pulp by the Dozen: the actual commendations won’t be handed out until Sunday, March 23, during MidSouth Con in Memphis, Tennessee. However, the 12 winners have already been announced.
Birding Update
Long-extinct heath hen comes to life in archival film: The film, circa 1918, is the birding equivalent of an Elvis sighting, said Wayne Petersen of Mass Audubon — mind-blowing and transfixing to people who care. It will premier Saturday at a birding conference in Waltham.
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Why Do We Say “the Plot Thickens”?
“The plot thickens”: Why Do We Say “the Plot Thickens”? Is It a Soup Metaphor?
Live From Space
Live From Space: The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the earth at over 17,000 mph. See the world from the perspective of its astronauts and discover what's happening on the ground right now.
I'm Sure You'll All Agree
The 10 Best Robert Frost Poems
The most famous and anthologized ones are missing, but a couple of my own favorites are there.
The most famous and anthologized ones are missing, but a couple of my own favorites are there.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Here's the Plot for Your Next Hollywood Skin-Care Guru Thriller
West Hollywood skin-care guru wanted to kill rival, officials say: Dawn DaLuise, well-known as the skin-care guru of the stars, is charged in a murder-for-hire case. Aesthetician Gabriel Suarez was the target, authorities say.
Dead Sea Scrolls Update
Nine unopened Dead Sea Scrolls found: Nine newfound penny-sized pieces of parchment belonging to the Dead Sea Scrolls laid unopened for nearly six decades before they were rediscovered in Israel.
Grammar note: The battle is lost. Give it up. Nobody can get it right. Except you and me, of course.
Grammar note: The battle is lost. Give it up. Nobody can get it right. Except you and me, of course.
World's 20 Most Stunning Libraries
World's 20 Most Stunning Libraries
Yes, it's an annoying slideshow, but please whisper your complaints.
Yes, it's an annoying slideshow, but please whisper your complaints.
Mark Twain: The author's recommendations for young readers.
Mark Twain: The author's recommendations for young readers.
For those who can't read cursive, there's a transcript.
For those who can't read cursive, there's a transcript.
Happy Birthday, Einstein
Happy Birthday, Einstein: The Celebrated Scientist on Fairy Tales and Education: If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.
Nearly 4,000 WWI diaries made available online
The Raw Story: First-hand accounts of trench warfare, gas attacks and battles involving horses and machine guns, are contained in nearly 4,000 diaries released online on Thursday to mark the centenary of the 1914-18 world war.
Friday is Pi Day
Friday is Pi Day: On Friday, millions of people worldwide will celebrate both a mathematical constant and a sweet filling in a wheaten crust. In other words—Pi Day.
FFB: The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology -- John W. Campbell, Editor
A few weeks ago I wrote about one of the books I got in my first order from the Science Fiction Book Club. This was another, and it had just as big an impact on me as Conklin's Omnibus of Science Fiction. All you have to to is look at the stories that are included to see why. Here they are: "Blowups Happen" by Robert A. Heinlein, "Hindsight" by Jack Williamson, "Vault Of The Beast" by A. E. van Vogt, "The Exalted" by L. Sprague De Camp, "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov, "When The Bough Breaks" by Lewis Padgett, "Clash By Night" by Lawrence O'Donnell, "Invariant" by John R. Pierce, "First Contact" by Murray Leinster, "Meihem In Ce Klasrum" by Dolton Edwards, "Hobbyist" by Eric Frank Russell, "E For Effort" by T. L. Sherred, "Child's Play" by William Tenn, "Thunder And Roses" by Theodore Sturgeon, "Late Night Final" by Eric Frank Russell", "Cold War" by Kris Neville, "Eternity Lost" by Clifford D. Simak, "The Witches Of Karres" by James H. Schmitz, "Over The Top" by Lester del Rey, "Meteor" by William T. Powers, "Last Enemy" by H. Beam Piper, "Historical Note" by Murray Leinster, and "Protected Species" by H. B. Fyfe.It's a book full of classics. My favorite might or might not surprise you. It's the Sherred story, one I've read again and again, and always with pleasure. One of my very favorite time-travel stories. "Blowups Happen" was one of the first (maybe the first) stories about a nuclear reactor, written before such things existed. "Vault of the Beast" is one of those Van Vogt stories that's hard to describe but fun to read, totally implausible, but who cares? Asimov's "Nightfall" is the one about the stars coming out. Tenn's "Child's Play" is about the build-a-man kit. Simak's "Eternity Lost" is about immortality and the serum that provides it -- for a few. You might see the twist ending coming, but I didn't when I first read it. Hey, I was just a kid.
And there's so much more, but there's really no need for me to go on. You probably remember some of these as well or better than I do. Was "Thunder and Roses" the first story to predict the CD? I remember something in there that sure seemed like it, but it's been so long since I read the story that I need to read it again. I might be recalling a different story entirely, or I might have made the whole thing up. Anyway, this is a great anthology, and every story is highly readable and worth reading. It's a classic anthology in the SF field.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Uh-Oh
theguardian.com: Michael Bay to produce remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
The horror returns as Transformers director revealed as man behind new take on Hitchcock's 1963 frightener, with Naomi Watts set to take Tippi Hedren role
Hat tip to Fred Zackel.
Hat tip to Fred Zackel.
Stephen King Films FAQ: All That's Left to Know about the King of Horror on Film -- Scott Von Doviak
And it's not just the information that matters. Von Doviak writes well, he can be funny, and he's opinionated. If you like movies based on King's work, or if you hate them, this is the book for you. It really does have everything, and it's fun to read. Check it out.
Hal Douglas, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Hal Douglas, a voice-over artist who narrated thousands of movie trailers in a gravelly baritone heard by “audiences everywhere,” as he might have put it, “thrilled by images never before seen ... until now!,” died on Friday at his home in Lovettsville, Va. He was 89.
Gator Update (Camouflage Edition)
Photographer Mark Conlin captures camouflaged American alligator
Great photos at the link.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Great photos at the link.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
I Miss the Old Days
11 Gas Station Premiums of Yesteryear: It’s probably difficult to fathom now, but there was a time when the price of gasoline was pretty static for long periods and oil companies battled one another for the consumer dollar by attempting to instill some level of brand loyalty. How many of us today specifically seek out a Chevron station versus any other vendor when our gas tank needles are hovering just above “E”? That wasn’t the case some 40 or so years ago, when gas stations sought repeat business via Any Means Necessary. And among those Means were a variety of premiums or promotional giveaways.
Here's the Plot for Your Next Fruitcake-Related Thriller
A tale of trust betrayed at landmark Corsicana bakery
I taught high school in Corsicana for two years. Great little town with some great people. And one embezzler.
I taught high school in Corsicana for two years. Great little town with some great people. And one embezzler.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Free for Kindle For a Limited Time
Amazon.com: A Rip Through Time: The Dame, the Doctor, and the Device eBook: Chris F. Holm, Charles A. Gramlich, Garnett Elliott, Chad Eagleton, Ron Scheer, David Cranmer: Kindle Store Dr. Robert Berlin has created The Baryon Core, a powerful device with the ability to predict the future and retrodict the past by tracking the position and vector of every particle in the universe. Berlin swipes his own creation from The Company and disappears into history. The Company’s time-cop Simon Rip and the sexy, brilliant Dr. Serena Ludwig join together to track Berlin and return the device. Their pursuit will take them back to the ice age and forward to the end of time. A RIP THROUGH TIME follows the time-cop’s travels in a series of five short stories and a bonus flash piece written by several of today’s top pulp writers. Chris F. Holm opens the collection with the fast-paced “The Dame, the Doctor, and the Device.” Charles A. Gramlich’s “Battles, Broadswords, and Bad Girls” and Garnett Elliott’s “Chaos in the Stream” breathe new life into the time travel story. Bringing the saga to a gripping climax in “Darkling in the Eternal Space” is Chad Eagleton, who then takes it a step further with a mesmerizing coda, “The Final Painting of Hawley Exton.” And for all the time-traveling enthusiasts, Ron Scheer provides an insightful essay, “Are We Then Yet,” which explores the mechanics of time travel in popular fiction.
Free for Kindle For a Limited Time
Amazon.com: Understrike eBook: John Gardner: Kindle Store: Boysie Oakes is back. The suave, womanising special agent for British Intelligence returns in his second thrilling adventure.
At the height of the Cold War, Boysie is sent on a routine mission to America.
In San Diego, he will be the official British observer for the test-fire of America’s latest nuclear missile: The Trepholite.
But the Soviets have other plans.
A double of Boysie has been sent into the field.
And very soon Boysie is embroiled in a game of bluff and double-bluff involving a holocaustic missile, a slick con man - and Vladimir Solev, an deadly opponent and yet also a man in whom Boysie sees something of himself.
Something about Comments
You bloggers might know about things like this, and I'm just writing about it because I think it's kind of interesting. For the last month or so, I've been getting a couple of spam comments every day. Sometimes three or four. Nothing unusual about that, and blogger nearly always catches them and puts them into the spam folder instead of publishing them. What's interesting is that they're always on the same two posts. This one and this one. The second one of those is going on two years old now. I have no idea why those two posts seem to attract all the spam. Maybe some spammer has them bookmarked and posts to them every day. Just one more mystery of the Internet, I suppose.
Cynthia Lynn, R. I. P.
Variety: Cynthia Lynn, who played Colonel Klink’s secretary Fraulein Helga on “Hogan’s Heroes” during the first season, died Monday in Los Angeles. She was 76 and had been suffering from hepatitis. She was among the last surviving cast members of the 1960s military comedy.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
News from Robert J. Randisi
It’s all about BROOKLYN
Robert J. Randisi
In 2011 my novel, THE END OF BROOKLYN, was published. It was meant as the third and final entry in what turned out to be a “Nick Delvecchio” trilogy. Why it came 20 years after the second nook is a mystery, even to me. but because it did it had to be written that way. In parts of the book, Nick had to be 20 years older. It was a joy to write, mainly because I was able to go back to Nick and Brooklyn 20 years after I, myself, had left them.
This was what my Booklist review looked like
* Starred Review Booklist. "The final entry in Randisi's Brooklyn trilogy is dark, brooding, and thoroughly compelling [with] . . . clever plotting and an engaging narrative voice. Randisi has written hundreds of crime stories and earned numerous awards. This is among his finest efforts." (Wes Lukowsky, Booklist, May 2011).
It was very gratifying for two reasons. One, I wasn’t sure how Nick and Brooklyn would sound 20 years later and two, We Lukoswksy had reviewed a lot of my work over the years, so his opinion in very informed.
END was published by Perfect Crime in 2011, and now, in 2014, they are bringing back the first two books, NO EXIT FROM BROOKLYN, and THE DEAD OF BROOKLYN. So for the first time all three “Delvecchio” novels are available at the same time from the same place. “Nick Delvecchio” is one my my best, my favorite, and my most fully realized characters. (Available from Amazon, B&N, the PerfectCrime website, and many mystery bookstores).
I Wanted to Believe!
No, "Planet X" does not exist: There's a going theory out there that an undiscovered planet resides in our solar system somewhere beyond the orbit of Pluto. But NASA just finished an exhaustive survey — and it completely failed to turn up any evidence that "Planet X" exists.
The first American mystery novelist.
Metta Fuller Victor: A Sensational Life: Metta Fuller Victor (1831–1885) was a writer, editor, abolitionist, moral reformer—and the first American mystery novelist.
Croc Update (I Am a Camera Edition)
Mail Online: A 50-second video shows five-metre saltwater crocodile attack a camera
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Wendy Hughes, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Wendy Hughes, an Australian actress known internationally for her roles in “My Brilliant Career” and other movies, died on Saturday in Sydney. She was 61.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Joe McGinniss, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Joe McGinniss, the author who reported on political campaigns and murder cases in the books “The Selling of the President” and “Fatal Vision,” died on Monday. He was 71.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Overlooked Movies: Robinson Crusoe on Mars
I've been hearing good things about a new book called The Martian, and I was reminded of this movie, which I saw in the theater long ago. We've learned a lot about Mars since then, and we know that nearly nothing in this movie is possible. That doesn't mean it's not still fun, though.Paul Mantee plays Draper, the survivor of a space accident. Adam West plays the other astronaut, but he's in the movie only briefly. He doesn't survive. A monkey named Mona does, though, and makes the movie more fun.
Draper learns how to survive on Mars and eventually finds himself a man Friday, an alien enslaved by other aliens. There's some cat-and-mousing as the masters try to retrieve their slave, and the canals of Mars come into play.
I can't guarantee you'll like this movie as much as I did when I first saw it, but you might if you can put aside your disbelief for a while. It has a very high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, if that matters to you.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Alan Rodgers, R. I. P.
Alan Rodgers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Alan Rodgers (1959 - 8 March 2014) was a science fiction and horror writer, editor, and poet. In the mid-eighties he was the editor for Night Cry. His short stories have been published in a number of venues, including Weird Tales, Twilight Zone and a number of anthologies, such as Darker Masques, Prom Night, and Vengeance Fantastic. His novelette "The Boy Who Came Back From the Dead" won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction in 1987 and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award.
Uh-Oh
The Star Wars Trilogy: Then, a couple of weeks ago an OriginalTrilogy.com member calling him (or her) self "Tasjo" picked up an original first generation VHS recording of the Star Wars Holiday Special from WHIO in Dayton Ohio.
Bouchercon Memories
The other day I was trying to clear away some of the clutter in my office, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the program from the first Bouchercon I ever attended. It was number XI, and it was held in Washington, D. C. I thought some of you might like to have a look at the program, too, especially those of you who've attended a Bouchercon in recent years. There's a difference. If size matters, the current Bouchercons are so much bigger that it's hard to explain. So I'll let the program speak for itself.Look at the guest list first. There are familiar names there, and some of the people represented are no longer among us. I miss them all. The good news is that a lot of them are still around. A little older, perhaps. Okay, a lot older. But still here and still going to Bouchercon.
Then look at the program. Yes, that's all of it, right there on two uncrowded pages. In those days, it was easy to go to everything on the program, and I'm pretty sure I did.
The highlight of the convention for me, however, was meeting the DAPA-Em gang in person for the first time. You know who you are. I didn't have a camera with me on the trip, so I don't have a record of it. A physical record, that is. A lot of it is in memory yet green. Besides the convention, Judy and I toured the White House, the Smithsonian, and the Washington Monument. And then there was that great trip to the bookstore in a station wagon piloted by Art Scott. What was the name of that place? Chaos Unlimited? I remember finding Roughneck by Jim Thompson there, and a second printing of John D. MacDonald's Weep for Me. Probably paid a quarter for them. On the way back to the convention we were treated to a dramatic reading of selected passages from Michael Avallone's The Bouncing Betty by the inimitable John Nimienski. I miss the old days.
New Poem at the 5-2
The 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly: Catherine Wald: Catherine Wald
TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME
Sunday, March 09, 2014
William Clay Ford Sr., R. I. P.
NY Daily News: William Clay Ford, the owner of the Detroit Lions and last surviving grandchild of automotive pioneer Henry Ford, has died. He was 88.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
Big Gym Fight Has Police Hoping LA Fitness Beefs Up Security : It started all on the basketball court over a call and escalated, moving into the main fitness area.
“People were actually throwing two and a half, five, 10 pound weights within the building,” said Police Lt. Lorne Rosand.
“People were actually throwing two and a half, five, 10 pound weights within the building,” said Police Lt. Lorne Rosand.
Ken Bruen -- Purgatory
I've read all Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor novels, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that being Jack's friend is possibly more dangerous than being Travis McGee's girlfriend. This book really doubles down on that. While Jack is personally doing pretty well, especially financially, you can't say the same for anyone he knows. Jack's clean and sober (some of the time), and a serial killer known as C33 wants him to play. Jack's not interested, so C33 has fun without him. And with him, too. There's a slight attempt at misdirection, but I don't think anybody's going to be surprised at C33's identity.
Galway is depicted vividly and sadly here, as it often is, with priests and coppers figuring in. There are references to past novels that long-time readers of the series (like me) will appreciate. And there's one passage that's so meta that I have to quote it here. Mr. Westbury, a lawyer, says to Jack, "'What a turn of phrase you have. Have you ever considered writing? They tell me mystery is the money spinner these days and Lord knows, you talk in a disjointed fashion that might even pass for style." Any fan of Bruen's work will get a laugh out of that. Check it out.
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