Saturday, May 31, 2014
Free for Kindle For a Limited Time
Amazon.com: The Doomsday Bag (Ed Noon Mystery) eBook: Michael Avallone: Kindle Store: “The Bagman disappeared at approximately 1:30, and hardly fifteen minutes had gone by before I knew that there was something in it for me." Ed Noon, Private Eye The President’s “Shadow” is missing, and with him the lethal Doomsday Bag—the black satchel that contains the thermonuclear codes for total world destruction. When that black bag disappears, the President hands detective Ed Noon the grimmest assignment of his career: find the Bagman, and fast. If Noon fails, there will be no world left to know about it.
The Adventures of Ed Noon, Private Eye, spanning over 30 novels written between 1953 and 1990. Noon starts out dirt poor with a tiny office in Midtown Manhattan (his “Mouse Auditorium”) but success moves him to better digs, a lovely secretary (Melissa Mercer) and, eventually, the most important client of all: the President of the United States. The series concludes with a daring turn towards science fiction in the last two novels. Through it all, the wisecracking Noon is consistent: a movie and baseball-obsessed romantic who always fights the good fight. And, more often than not, wins.
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Amazon.com: Wide Spot in the Road (The Drifter Detective #4) eBook: Wayne D. Dundee: Kindle Store: Vagabond P.I. Jack Laramie stops in the remote town of Buele’s Corner for a bite to eat. Before he finishes his bowl of chili, he gets caught up in a tornado of events that starts with a panicked, young couple racing into the diner to use the phone to call for help—a menacing motorcycle gang, The Deguelloes, is chasing after them. When the couple discovers the phone is out of order, Jack steps in to help them fend off the gang who’s accusing the couple of running some of their fellow bikers off the road.
10 Most Famous Ships
10 Most Famous Ships
It doesn't explain what I've always wondered about the Bismarck. If the guns were as big as steers and the shells were as big as trees, how did they get the shells in the guns?
It doesn't explain what I've always wondered about the Bismarck. If the guns were as big as steers and the shells were as big as trees, how did they get the shells in the guns?
Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums
“Carleton Watkins: The Stanford Albums.”: Breathtaking Landscape Photos That Helped Make Yosemite a National Park
Friday, May 30, 2014
The mammoth that trampled on the history of mankind
The mammoth that trampled on the history of mankind: Next month, scientists will meet in the Dordogne to mark the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the La Madeleine mammoth – an engraving on ivory that proves man had lived alongside these prehistoric creatures
Old Folks Just Wanna Have Fun
B.C. - Times Colonist: The drama that has unfolded at Abbotsford’s Carlisle condominium complex during the last four years involves allegations of egg-throwing, scooter-tampering and prank phone calls (not to mention a hallway brawl and an alleged extra-marital affair).
Remo Williams Update
80s classic Remo Williams to be reissued with a 70s-style cover: Splendidly bad action thriller Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins is to get a long-deserved reissue on Blu-Ray this July.
Judy and I saw this in the theater. I liked it.
Judy and I saw this in the theater. I liked it.
FFB: Rookie Blues: The Nick Train Stories -- Richard A. Lupoff
This book is only a couple of years old, but I think it qualifies. I see only one copy available from Internet sellers, so it seems to have slipped down the memory hole. That's too bad, since it has a lot to offer.Start with the subtitle. It's a collection, but it's not a short-story collection, exactly. It's a novel, followed by the three previously published stories about Nick Train. The works appear in chronological order, not the order of publication. The novel, the most recently written piece, takes place in 1938. The final story, "The Laddie in the Lake," was the first one written, but the setting is 1946.
In Rookie Blues, Train is a rookie NYC cop. He'd been a professional boxer, but not a very successful one, so when a friend suggests he apply for a job with the police, Train gives it a shot. To his surprise, he's hired. Almost immediately things get complicated. His beat partner's on the take, which is bad enough, but then the partner is killed. Then his best friend, also a cop, is murdered. And then there are the personal problems. Train is falling for a Chinese woman. His father dies. And then . . . . Things aren't what they seem, and Train doesn't know whom to trust.
It's all put together in a smoothly written package with some keen observations of time and place along with the plotting, and the short stories are all very good, as well. Here's hoping some small press will bring this one back so it can find the readers it deserves.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Free for Kindle For a Limited Time
Amazon.com: DARK THRILLERS-A Box Set of Suspense Novels eBook: BILLIE SUE MOSIMAN: Kindle Store: DARK THRILLERS is a boxed set of two suspense novels and one short story.
154,000 words. Bonus Inclusion: First chapters of BANISHED. Novels by the Bram Stoker and Edgar Award Nominee author of more than 50 books.
Oscar Dystel, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Oscar Dystel, who combined sharp editorial judgments, shrewd marketing and attention-grabbing covers to propel Bantam Books from the brink of collapse to pre-eminence in paperback publishing after World War II, died on Wednesday at his home in Rye, N.Y. He was 101.
Forgotten Music
40 Albums Baby Boomers Loved That Millennials Don't Know
Very annoying slideshow. But worth it if you miss the old days.
But wait! There's More:
Flavorwire: The Essential Mod Playlist
And even more:
10 Strange Original Versions Of Well-Known Songs
Very annoying slideshow. But worth it if you miss the old days.
But wait! There's More:
Flavorwire: The Essential Mod Playlist
And even more:
10 Strange Original Versions Of Well-Known Songs
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Supreme Justice -- Max Allan Collins
When a Supreme Court justice is killed in what appears to be a bungled robbery. Reeder has a special talent: he can "read" people using kinesics. Watching the surveillance video of the robbery, he realizes almost at once that it wasn't a robbery at all but a planned assassination. Appointed as a consultant to the FBI team investigating the robbery, Reeder faces opposition from some who don't believe what he's telling them, but then a second justice is killed. Is someone trying to change the balance of power on the court by means of assassination now that a more liberal president is in office? And if so, who's doing it?
Reeder has other problems, too. His daughter's really annoying boyfriend is one of them, and his pairing with agent Patti Rogers is another. She doesn't entirely trust him because of his ability to read her so well, and yet at the end, she's the only one he has to rely on.
Max Allan Collins (with an assist from Matthew Clemens) has another winner. This book rips along, so clear the decks before you start it. It might be a while before you dare to take a break.
Why Do Students Get Summers Off?
Why Do Students Get Summers Off?: It’s commonly believed that school kids started taking summers off in the 19th century so they’d have time to work on the farm. Nice as that story is, it isn’t true.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
And keep off her lawn!
Store owner, 89, uses golf club on robber with sword
Annoying auto-start video.
Store owner, 89, uses golf club on robber with sword
Annoying auto-start video.
Maya Angelou, R. I. P.
WGHP Fox 8 Television: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Award-winning author, renowned poet and civil rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou has died. She was 86.
Fabulous First Editions from the 1940s
Fabulous First Editions from the 1940s: It was a decade of conflict and change. A world war sent the world into turmoil and yet the 1940s witnessed the publication of books that are still talked about today.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
New from Perfect Crime Books
Perfect Crime Books: New editions of Robert J. Randisi's Joe Keough series. In a starred review [of Alone with the Dead] Publisher's Weekly said "Moving his readers along at a breathless pace (and keeping them one step ahead of the boys in blue), Randisi renders the mad ramblings of a pathetic young man who follows a series of sexual murders in the New York City tabloids and determines to copy, and finally to surpass, the murderer's work . . . This is top-notch suspense, right from the chilling prologue to the brutal conclusion."
Terry Teachout on the Forthcoming Reprints of Simenon's Maigret Novels
About Last Night | One thing at a time: . . .I was delighted to learn that Penguin has embarked on a uniform paperback edition of Georges Simenon’s seventy-five Maigret novels, all of which will be freshly translated and published in chronological order.
The entire essay is well worth your time.
Hat tip to Art Scott.
The entire essay is well worth your time.
Hat tip to Art Scott.
Troubled Tom Horn
Troubled Tom Horn: Steve McQueen and troubled productions seemed to be synonymous. Look at any one of his classic films—The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles, Bullitt and Papillon—each riddled with turmoil. Those productions, however, paled in comparison to his last Western, the highly underrated Tom Horn.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
Permian Basin 360: A man was arrested for allegedly assaulting his elderly mother with the leg of a bed.
Save Our Stacks
College libraries should keep their books in the stacks: It’s not about the books. It’s about the books representing the last place on campus where intellectual contemplation thrives.
Overlooked Movies: Cold in July
Okay, this is a blatant cheat since this is a brand new movie, now showing in theaters and maybe on your cable or satellite's "on demand" feature. Comcast has it on demand, and that's where Judy and I saw it. I'm writing about it because I don't want you to overlook it.The movie is based on a novel by Joe R. Lansdale, and it captures the spirit of the book very well. Michael C. Hall plays Richard Dane, just an ordinary guy in a little East Texas town. It's a far cry from his role as Dexter, which may be one reason he was eager to play it. He has a frame shop, he's married, he has a little boy. One night he hears a burglar. He gets his home defense revolver, confronts the burglar, and when his finger slips on the revolver's trigger, he kills him. The burglar was unarmed. Not that it matters. The town considers Dane a hero. Hall's very good as the everyman type who knows he's not a hero and who eventually gets in way over his head, beginning at the point when Sam Shepard shows up. Just out of the Huntsville penitentiary, Shepard believes his son was the burglar, and he's not happy about what's happened.
This is where I stop with the plot summary, since there are twists that I don't want to reveal. If you've read the book, you know what's coming, but I'm not going to be the one who tells. The trailer reveals way too much, but you might have watched it already. Sorry about that.
What I'll tell you is that the whole cast is excellent. Shepard is gruff and ready, and Don Johnson nearly steals the show as flamboyant private-eye Jim Bob Luke. He has great shirts and a dandy car, too. I'll also mention that there's plenty of tension and suspense and that the violence goes pretty far, especially in the climactic scenes. This is a very effective thriller.
That being said, there are some plot threads left dangling, and the theme of fathers and sons that enriched the novel is barely hinted at. I got the impression that the original script might have been cut by 15 minutes or more. So while I think the movie is don't-miss entertainment, I think you should read the novel, too. All those questions are answered there.
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