Saturday, March 29, 2014
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Elect Him to Congress
Pennsylvania student Suvir Mirchandani could help US government save $400m
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.
AbeBooks: Family Sagas
AbeBooks: Family Sagas: Every family has its secrets and stories, and the deepest and darkest of them can be found in the captivating literary genre of the family saga. Family sagas have a long standing history in literature, often telling a complicated, compelling story through multiple generations.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Uh-Oh
Nicolas Cage’s ‘Left Behind’ Set for Oct. 3 Release: “My greatest hope for the film ‘Left Behind’ is that it works as something that people will be entertained and thrilled by, but they’ll also go home and they’ll have conversations with their family and they’ll ask ‘do you think this could happen or couldn’t happen’ and it’ll inspire discussions and closeness.”
Hat tip to Vince Keenan.
Hat tip to Vince Keenan.
Lorenzo Semple Jr., R. I. P.
Variety: Lorenzo Semple Jr., creator of the ’60s “Batman” TV series and scribe on thrillers “The Parallax View” and “Three Days of Condor,” died on Friday in his home in Los Angeles, according to reports. He had turned 91 on Thursday.
Scientists find a way to read minds
Scientists find a way to read minds: In the study, scientists hooked participants up to an fMRI brain scanner – which determines activity in different parts of the brain by measuring blood flow – and showed them images of faces. Then, using only the brain scans, the scientists were able to create images of the faces the people were looking at.
Go Midwest, Young Writer
The Midwest Is the Future of American Literature: Go Midwest, Young Writer: Why the Middle of the Country (Not Brooklyn) Is the Future of American Literature
A Forgotten Book?
Flavorwire: Flavorwire Author Club: Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Bird’s Nest’ Defined the Multiple-Personality Narrative
FFB: Reading for Survival -- John D. MacDonald
This isn't really a book. It's more like a booklet, just over 30 pages, in which a couple of John D. MacDonald's characters have a discussion about man's survival over the centuries. Well, it's not really a discussion, either. The two characters are Meyer and McGee, and it's more of a lecture by Meyer. It was published in 1987 and was one of the last things MacDonald wrote before his death. And it could have been written yesterday. In the last few pages Meyer (and MacDonald) really take a hammer to any number of topics that are in the headlines all the time right now, and it's a fine rant, indeed, mainly because I'm on Meyer's side all the way. Others might find it uncomfortable and even blasphemous. So you've been warned.
This isn't to say there aren't a few missteps along the way. Meyer seems to believe an easily unproven (in this Internet age) explanation about the origin of a comment by Jesus to a rich young ruler, but I can overlook a few things like that.
There are a couple of brief, illuminating afterwords, as well. Worth reading if you ever come across a copy.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Escape tale of first Australian convicts published in full for the first time
The Raw Story: The only first-hand account of the most famous escape from Britain’s fledging Australian penal colony was published in full on Friday for the first time, exactly 223 years on.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
Boing Boing: A New Zealand man was sentenced Monday after admitting to attacking his mother with a lettuce.
Now Available from Rough Edges Press: Fast Track - Ed Gorman and Bill Crider
Dev Mallory has been a Secret Service agent, a detective, and a cowboy...which makes him the perfect man for the job of protecting a British nobleman's Thoroughbred race horse and saving the U.S. government from embarrassment. But there's more going on than sabotage, as Dev's beautiful redheaded partner is kidnapped and Dev finds himself up to his neck in murder, lust, and intrigue.
Critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Ed Gorman and Bill Crider team up for this fast-paced Western mystery now available again from Rough Edges Press. Packed with action and colorful characters, FAST TRACK is an adventure novel where the suspense never lets up!
FAST TRACK on Amazon
FAST TRACK on Barnes & Noble
FAST TRACK on Smashwords
CSI: Fort Union
CSI: Fort Union: Solving the cold case of four men riddled by bullets and uncovered in a mass grave at a frontier fort.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Free for Kindle For a Limited Time
Amazon.com: Galya Popoff and the Dead Souls eBook: Julia Odegard, George Kovach: Kindle Store: It's five a.m. in the little California coastal town of Santa Maria del Lobo, and Professor Galya Popoff is waiting for her poodle Kroshka to finish his rest-stop by the college Campanile. In the darkness, two hundred feet over their heads, Chancellor Siegfried ("Nazi") Nottbeck is honing his free climbing skills. Suddenly, his body plunges out of the night sky and hits the bricks a mere two feet from Galya. The police write it off as a bizarre accident. But Galya insists it was murder and decides to take charge of the investigation herself. She drafts her reluctant son, Lance Steele (a.k.a. Pavel Popoff) a down-on-his-luck Soap star who's fled Hollywood and bill collectors to temporarily hide out at his mother's place and work on his tan. The last thing he wants is to play Watson to her Sherlock, but how do you say no to a feisty, bossy Russian mother who once locked horns with the Soviet KGB - and won. This unlikely trio (two Popoffs and a poodle) swings into dizzying detective action as Galya tracks a shrewd and savvy murderer who will kill anyone to keep the secret of the Dead Souls safe. Santa Maria del Lobo hasn't seen this much excitement since The Great White Shark ate the prize winning surfer from Australia.
Archaeology Update
Two more colossal pharaoh statues unveiled in Egypt - Yahoo News: Archaeologists on Sunday unveiled two colossal statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Egypt's famed temple city of Luxor, adding to an existing pair of world-renowned tourist attractions.
The two monoliths in red quartzite were raised at what European and Egyptian archaeologists said were their original sites in the funerary temple of the king, on the west bank of the Nile.
The two monoliths in red quartzite were raised at what European and Egyptian archaeologists said were their original sites in the funerary temple of the king, on the west bank of the Nile.
PA Leads the Way
New definition of ‘dead’: PA doctors to suspend gunshot victims between this life and next: “After we did those experiments, the definition of ‘dead’ changed,” said surgeon Peter Rhee, who helped refine the procedure. “Every day at work I declare people dead. They have no signs of life, no heartbeat, no brain activity. I sign a piece of paper knowing in my heart that they are not actually dead. I could, right then and there, suspend them. But I have to put them in a body bag. It’s frustrating to know there’s a solution.”
Didn't Evan Lewis Just Publish a Story about This?
Davy Crockett’s “Ol’ Betsy” Found: Lost in Hollywood for nearly half a century, the frontier flintlock is safe and sound.
Ralph Wilson, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Ralph Wilson, who founded the Buffalo Bills as an original member of the American Football League in 1960 and saw them go to four Super Bowls as the only owner in the team’s history, died on Tuesday at his home in Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. He was 95.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Patrice Wymore Flynn, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Patrice Wymore Flynn, a former Hollywood actress and cattle rancher who was the widow of the swashbuckling screen legend Errol Flynn, died on Saturday at her seaside home in northeastern Jamaica, a family spokesman said. She was 87.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Early film: Clips of movies shown to Iowans as part of a traveling show
Early film: This reel of clips comes from a group of brief films that Iowa entrepreneur W. Frank Brinton took from town to town at the very beginning of the film era. The University of Iowa Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives has recently restored the movies, which sat in a basement for almost the entirety of the twentieth century.
AbeBooks: George Orwell
AbeBooks: George Orwell: Born Eric Arthur Blair, George Orwell (1903-1950) occupies a special place in 20th century literature for his dystopian, satirical contributions to literature and language. When searching for a pseudonym, he settled on George Orwell as it was a "good English name." He is best remembered for his six novels, but also wrote nonfiction narrative essays, literary reviews and journalistic articles. Orwell identified strongly with democratic socialism. Throughout his writing, themes surrounding social injustice, government and religion recur, and many of his works can be read on both a literal level and a metaphorical one. Orwell's writing was so pervasive that phrases of his creation are still used, such as the Thought Police, Doublethink, Big Brother and more. To this day, any overtly controlling regime or power is often referred to as Orwellian.
Overlooked Movies: I Married a Witch
This movie was featured on Trailers from Hell a while back, and the mere mention of it sent me into a veritable frenzy of nostalgia. When I was but a child (I don't remember the year) we went to San Antonio to visit my aunt Ellen, who lived in an apartment in the Calcasieu Building. That in itself was quite an experience, as I'd never been in an apartment building before, and of course being in the midst of a big city was a real thrill. I believe this was also the time of year of the Battle of the Flowers parade, which has been going on since the late 19th century. The parade passed along the street right below the apartment window. This trip was just thrill after thrill.But what I remember more clearly than anything was that this trip was my first real contact with television. My aunt and her roommate had a TV set, a very small one, to be sure, but a TV set nevertheless. Because of the situation with beds and such, I was left to sleep on a pallet on the living room floor, which was fine with me because it left me alone in the room with the TV set. On the night I remember, there was a movie on TV, and that movie was I Married a Witch. The reception was lousy (You whippersnappers can't remember a time when you got anything but perfect pictures on TV, but, trust me, back in the olden days we were sometimes lucky to get a picture at all), but the lousy reception didn't bother me in the least. There was a movie. On a little box in the room where I was supposed to be sleeping. It was like a miracle.
And besides all that, the movie might very well have been aimed right at me. A fantasy about a beautiful witch? What more could you ask, especially since the witch was played by Veronica Lake, with whom I promptly feel in love. (I was terribly disappointed to learn from Joe Dante's commentary on the trailer that Fredric March couldn't stand Lake and that Joel McCrea disliked her so much after Sullivan's Travels that he turned down the role that March accepted.) Susan Hayward is in the movie, too, but she's not a patch on Veronica Lake.
The movie has a complicated plot that I won't bother describing other than to say that if you ever see an episode of Bewitched, it was probably a direct steal from this movie. Except that the movie is a lot better. I mean, Endora is okay, but I Married a Witch has Cecil Kellaway, who's great. If you like light fantasy and if you get a chance to see this one, I highly recommend it.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Space Thief Or Hero?
NPR: More than 30 years ago, Robert Farquhar stole a spacecraft.
Now he's trying to give it back.
A Courageous Standoff
A Courageous Standoff: Jeff Milton saved the day with the help of the first lever-action repeating shotgun produced in the United States.
Dave Brockie, R. I. P.
Houston Chronicle: Dave Brockie, frontman for the heavy metal band GWAR, has been found dead in his Richmond, Va., home at age 50.
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A Raymond Chandler Collection
Raymond Chandler Collection: Included are first American and first British editions, vintage paperbacks, foreign editions, magazine appearances, various reprints, limited editions, movie related items, reference works, bibliographies, student editions and ephemera.This is an amazing and beautiful collection of books by and about Raymond Chandler. If you're at all interested in Chandler's work, you should take a few minutes and have a look. You'll want to bookmark the pages so you can return, because there's a lot there. Try not to be consumed by envy.
New Poem at the 5-2
The 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly: Rachel Lynn McGuire: Rachel Lynn McGuire
FOR NEWTOWN
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Free for Kindle For a Limited Time
Amazon.com: The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington) eBook: David Weber: Kindle Store: RIGHT WOMAN, WRONG PLACE
It's hard to give peace a chance when the other side regards war as the necessary prelude to conquest, and a sneak attack as the best means to that end. That's why the Kingdom of Manticore needs allies against the so-called ""Republic"" of Haven--and the planet Grayson is just the right strategic place to make a very good ally indeed. But Her Majesty's Foreign Office had overlooked a ""minor cultural difference"" when they chose Honor Harrington to carry the flag: women on the planet Grayson are without rank or rights; Honor's very presence is an intolerable affront to every male on the planet.
At first Honor doesn't take it personally; where she comes from gender discrimination is barely a historical memory, right up there in significance to fear of the left-handed. But in time such treatment as she receives from the Graysonites does become wearing, and Honor would withdraw if she could--but then Grayson's fratricidal sister planet attacks without warning and she must stay and prevail, not just for Honor's honor, but for her sovereign's, for--THE HONOR OF THE QUEEN.
It's hard to give peace a chance when the other side regards war as the necessary prelude to conquest, and a sneak attack as the best means to that end. That's why the Kingdom of Manticore needs allies against the so-called ""Republic"" of Haven--and the planet Grayson is just the right strategic place to make a very good ally indeed. But Her Majesty's Foreign Office had overlooked a ""minor cultural difference"" when they chose Honor Harrington to carry the flag: women on the planet Grayson are without rank or rights; Honor's very presence is an intolerable affront to every male on the planet. At first Honor doesn't take it personally; where she comes from gender discrimination is barely a historical memory, right up there in significance to fear of the left-handed. But in time such treatment as she receives from the Graysonites does become wearing, and Honor would withdraw if she could--but then Grayson's fratricidal sister planet attacks without warning and she must stay and prevail, not just for Honor's honor, but for her sovereign's, for--THE HONOR OF THE QUEEN.
James Rebhorn, R. I. P.
NY Daily News: The actor who played the father of Carrie Mathison on Showtime's "Homeland" has passed away.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Emilie and the Sky World -- Martha Wells
Emilie's been back from her adventure in the Hollow World for only a short time before the uncle whose home she fled shows up with her brother to take her back. But bigger things are in store. Something has shown up in the aetheric current -- a ship unlike any seen before. It can only mean that the Hollow World isn't the only one that can be reached by means of the currents. Are the ship's occupants friendly, or to they mean trouble? There's only one way to find out, and so it's off into the aether again for Emilie and her companions from the earlier book, along with her stowaway brother. When they reach the other ship, it appears to be deserted, and the first party that goes to investigate disappears. What could have happened to them? I'm not going to tell, but I have two words for you: ghost pirates. If that doesn't sell you, well, you just don't think like I do.
Let me add that there are several twists and turns to the narrative before things are settled and that there's more than just adventure going on. Emilie and her brother have a few issues, and their evolving relationship is one of the things that makes the book entertaining. As in the first book, Emilie proves herself clever, resourceful, and ready to take risks for her friends. If you're looking for a fast-moving YA adventure with interesting characters and a vivid setting, this is it. Check it out.
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