Saturday, September 06, 2014
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
The Arkansas River (Rivers West Book 1) - Kindle edition by Jory Sherman. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Eastward, as far as the eye could see, stretched the Great Plains. Westward rose the Rockies, snow-capped shadows against the sky. In the middle flowed a mighty river—silent, glistening, and turbulent—the bloodline of a wide and wild land. Three hard, tough men staked their claims on its potent shores; Jake Stonecipher, pioneer merchant, seeking his fortune—yet finding a war. Will Burke, a mountain man as savage as the wilderness itself. And Francisco Serrano, determined to carve a fertile ranch out of the stubborn soil. Three men blazing trails, forging a future… building lives as bold—and treacherous—as the Arkansas River.Interview With Lee Goldberg
Kings River Life Magazine: Interview With Brash Books Owner Lee Goldberg
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
Ski pole brandished as weapon during fight: The incident took place around 5:44 p.m. Thursday. Heighes said the customer, a 56-year-old man, came in to try and return bottles and cans. The clerk, a 34-year-old man, refused, saying he didn't have time.
"The (56-year-old) got upset and started trashing the store," Heighes said.
"The (56-year-old) got upset and started trashing the store," Heighes said.
Bruce Morton, R. I. P.
NY Daily News: Bruce Morton, a prominent long-time correspondent and anchor at CBS and CNN, died at his home in Washington, D.C., Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was 83.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Friday, September 05, 2014
Is This Even Legal?
Hold the ketchup at one Ft. Myers bistro: . . . it states in bold red letters that the chef has the right to refuse the use of ketchup on his creative concoctions.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Paging Seepy Benton
Business Insider: If You Can Solve This Math Problem You'll Get A $1 Million Prize — And Change Internet Security As We Know It
Forgotten Magazine: The JDM Review
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, John D. MacDonald was one of the bestselling writers around. Then he died, and it was almost as if he'd never existed. Plenty of old-timers like me remembered him and still considered him a favorite writer, but not so many younger people seemed to connect.He was so popular with me that around 1966 or so, I started collecting the first printings of all his paperbacks. In those days, I could still find the early ones in pretty good condition, though some of them weren't so easy. It took a while for me to find Weep for Me, for example, but I eventually found nice copies of both printings. As a grad student at The University of Texas at Austin, I won second prize in the student book collecting contest for my collection.
At about the same time, I read in the book review section of the New York Times about a fanzine called The JDM Bibliophile, published by Len and June Moffatt. I sent off for a subscription, and thus was plunged into mystery fandom, a pond I'm still swimming in. All my copies of the JDMB, as it was affectionately known, are now in the Texas A&M library if they haven't disposed of them.
Much later, another publication devoted to JDM appeared, and that's the one pictured here. Naturally I subscribed to that one, too. I can't remember how many issues there were, but I suppose that any others I had are at A&M. This one slipped by me when I packed things to take there. It's a more professionally printed job than JDMB (a mimeographed zine), but this first issue is a slim one. It has some good material, however, including several newspaper columns written by JDM. There's also a substantial contribution by Walter and Jean Shine, JDM scholars of the first rank.
I'm glad I happened across this magazine. It was fun to revisit it and to remember the days when JDM was a name to be reckoned with in the crime fiction field.
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Joan Rivers, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Joan Rivers, the raspy loudmouth who pounced on America’s obsessions with flab, face-lifts, body hair and other blemishes of neurotic life, including her own, in five decades of caustic comedy that propelled her from nightclubs to television to international stardom, died on Thursday in Manhattan. She was 81.
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Manhunter's Mountain (Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles Series Book 4) - Kindle edition by Wayne D. Dundee. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Manhunter's Mountain shows a powerful side to Cash Laramie as he makes his way down the side of a mountain with a prisoner in tow, and two prostitutes eager to flee a mining town that's gone bust, looking to make a new life for themselves. An early winter storm promises to make the journey more than a normal struggle. And, leaving town with two of its most precious gems, the prostitutes, puts Cash in the crosshairs of an angry gang of men who are willing to keep the women in town ... at any cost.
Isn't This Why We Have 911?
Ocala.com: Police said Lanquist also called 911 operators 11 times to ask if officers could give him a ride to a store so he could get a drink.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Andrew McLaglen, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Andrew V. McLaglen, a British-born director whose work in American westerns on television and in the movies starred such notable screen cowpokes, gunslingers and lawmen as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, James Arness and James Stewart, died on Saturday at his home in Friday Harbor, Wash. He was 94.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
The Smoking Gun: A Florida duffer allegedly attacked two of his playing partners with his putter following a dispute over marking a ball, police allege.
Best Books by Women Under 50
Flavorwire: 50 Excellent Novels by Female Writers Under 50 That Everyone Should Read
Once Again Texas Leads the Way
Texas 5-year-old girl locked in laundromat washer ‘on high speed’ is expected to recover: “Unfortunately, she spun around in the washing machine for several minutes and apparently it was on high speed. She was tumbling pretty fast in there,” Mitchell said.
Hard Case Crime Update from Charles Ardai
LOST GORE VIDAL CRIME NOVEL DISCOVERED
Hard Case Crime to Publish THIEVES FALL OUT in 2015 –
First Publication in 60 Years, First Ever Under Author’s Real Name
New York, NY; London, UK (August 14, 2014) – Hard Case Crime, the award-winning line of vintage-style crime fiction from editor Charles Ardai and publisher Titan Books, announced today that it has discovered a lost pulp crime novel by Gore Vidal, one that has been unavailable for more than 60 years and has never been published under the author’s real name. THIEVES FALL OUT, the story of an American trying to smuggle an ancient treasure out of Egypt on the eve of a bloody revolution, will be published in hardcover in April 2015.
In 1953, when he was 28 years old and already enjoying the combination of literary esteem and scandal that would mark his career as one of the major authors and intellectual figures of the 20th century, Gore Vidal wrote a pulp crime novel under the name “Cameron Kay” (the name of his great-uncle, a Texas attorney general). THIEVES FALL OUT has never been reprinted.
“This novel provides a delicious glimpse into the mind of Gore Vidal in his formative years,” said Charles Ardai. “By turns mischievous and deadly serious, Vidal tells the story of a man caught up in events bigger than he is, a down-on-his-luck American in Cairo at a time when revolution is brewing and heads are about to roll. THIEVES FALL OUT also offers a startling glimpse of Egypt in turmoil – despite having been written over half a century ago, it feels as current as the news streaming from that region today.”
Gore Vidal was one of America’s greatest and most controversial writers. The author of twenty-three novels, five plays, three memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, and well over two hundred essays, he received the National Book Award in 1993.
THIEVES FALL OUT will feature a new cover painting by Glen Orbik, one of Hard Case Crime’s most acclaimed painters. Orbik’s previous covers for Hard Case Crime include JOYLAND by Stephen King and BINARY by Michael Crichton (writing as John Lange).
Hard Case Crime to Publish THIEVES FALL OUT in 2015 –
First Publication in 60 Years, First Ever Under Author’s Real Name
New York, NY; London, UK (August 14, 2014) – Hard Case Crime, the award-winning line of vintage-style crime fiction from editor Charles Ardai and publisher Titan Books, announced today that it has discovered a lost pulp crime novel by Gore Vidal, one that has been unavailable for more than 60 years and has never been published under the author’s real name. THIEVES FALL OUT, the story of an American trying to smuggle an ancient treasure out of Egypt on the eve of a bloody revolution, will be published in hardcover in April 2015.
In 1953, when he was 28 years old and already enjoying the combination of literary esteem and scandal that would mark his career as one of the major authors and intellectual figures of the 20th century, Gore Vidal wrote a pulp crime novel under the name “Cameron Kay” (the name of his great-uncle, a Texas attorney general). THIEVES FALL OUT has never been reprinted.
“This novel provides a delicious glimpse into the mind of Gore Vidal in his formative years,” said Charles Ardai. “By turns mischievous and deadly serious, Vidal tells the story of a man caught up in events bigger than he is, a down-on-his-luck American in Cairo at a time when revolution is brewing and heads are about to roll. THIEVES FALL OUT also offers a startling glimpse of Egypt in turmoil – despite having been written over half a century ago, it feels as current as the news streaming from that region today.”
Gore Vidal was one of America’s greatest and most controversial writers. The author of twenty-three novels, five plays, three memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, and well over two hundred essays, he received the National Book Award in 1993.
THIEVES FALL OUT will feature a new cover painting by Glen Orbik, one of Hard Case Crime’s most acclaimed painters. Orbik’s previous covers for Hard Case Crime include JOYLAND by Stephen King and BINARY by Michael Crichton (writing as John Lange).
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Only 99 Cents for a Limited Time
Diamond In The Rough (Bodie Kendrick - Bounty Hunter Book 3) - Kindle edition by Wayne D. Dundee. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Bodie Kendrick wasn't in time to stop the stagecoach from being ambushed, but he did manage to save the lives of the driver and most of the passengers. Among the latter was Amelia Gailwood, a freelance journalist working on "the story of a lifetime." In order to try and make sure her lifetime doesn't end too soon, Kendrick agrees to hire on as her protector while she continues to chase her story. The chase will take them from the gunfire-laced streets of a rowdy mining town, to the smoky mysteries of an opium den, across a punishing desert, and into beautiful but treacherous remote mountains. At the heart of their quest is a legendary gem from the time of Caesar and Cleopatra. But before they can lay claim to it so Amelia will be able to reveal it to the world and tell its fascinating history, they will have to survive betrayal from within and menace from fierce mountain Apaches—all the while eluding pursuit by a pack of hired guns who will stop at nothing to seize the stone for their unscrupulous employer.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
But now it's the Burger Brawl.
And of course Texas Leads the Way!
Whataburger brawl caught on camera in Cypress: In an instant, the burger brawl was on.
And of course Texas Leads the Way!
Whataburger brawl caught on camera in Cypress: In an instant, the burger brawl was on.
9 Lines in the Sand
9 Lines in the Sand: Borders, fences, fortifications, demarcations- whatever you call them, there are a lot of dividing lines in history. Here are some of the most famous.
First It Was the Thin Mints Melee
www.wpxi.com: Police say it started after a server told them the groom; Mark Williams of Pittsburgh was touching her inappropriately at his wedding.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson, who is not responsible for the punctuation. Neither am I, for that matter.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson, who is not responsible for the punctuation. Neither am I, for that matter.
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Overlooked Movies: Shampoo
Shampoo was hit the screen in 1974, but it's set in 1968 on the day Nixon is about to be elected. It's a sex farce, supposedly based (loosely) on a Restoration comedy. Warren Beatty (sporting one of the best hairdos ever) plays George, a hairdresser that men assume to be gay. The women all know better, especially Jackie (Julie Christie), Jill (Goldie Hawn), and Felicia (Lee Grant). So, apparently, does a quite young Carrie Fisher. Felicia is the wife of Lester (Jack Warden), from whom George hopes to get some money to set up his own hairdressing business. Jackie is George's former girlfriend and now Lester's mistress. Jill is George's current steady, not that he's loyal to anybody, as he makes it with all three of them in the course of the movie. I hope I have the relationships right.Women want George. All of them. Carrie Fisher's comment is bleeped out of the trailer below, but I'll bet you know what it is. George wants them, too, but what about true love? Will George ever find it? Will he grow up? If you think you know the answers, you must have seen the movie, because this isn't like any current romantic comedy. I don't want to say too much more. It's very funny, and the cast is great. I believe Lee Grant won an Oscar for her performance, and the movie was nominated in a lot of categories. The script by Robert Towne's very good. Hal Ashby directed. It was a big hit when it was released, but now it appears to be pretty much forgotten. If you haven't seen it, check it out.
Monday, September 01, 2014
Jimi Jamison, R. I. P.
NY Daily News: Jimi Jamison, the lead singer of arena rock band Survivor, has died of a heart attack at age 63, according to the band.
Though he joined after the band’s biggest hit, “Eye of the Tiger,” was released, Jamison spent years as the main vocalist for the pop rockers after joining in 1984 and had even performed Saturday night in Morgan, Calif., south of the Bay Area.
Though he joined after the band’s biggest hit, “Eye of the Tiger,” was released, Jamison spent years as the main vocalist for the pop rockers after joining in 1984 and had even performed Saturday night in Morgan, Calif., south of the Bay Area.
New Poem at the Five-Two
The Five-Two: Joseph S. Pete: THE SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL IN GARY, INDIANA (1971-1978)
Free for Kindle for a Limited Time
Blog Tour -- Meet My Character
The lovely and talented Jan Grape tagged me to be a part of this blog tour. I'm supposed to answer a few questions about one of my characters. You can read Jan's answers here. I wasn't going to tag anybody, but what the heck. I'll tag James Reasoner. He has about 40 dozen characters he could write about.
1. What is the name of your character? Is he or she fictional or a historic person?
Sheriff Dan Rhodes is about as fictional as they come. I'd been interested for years in small-town law enforcement and small-town crimes, and one day I sat down to write a short story about a sheriff in a thinly populated Texas county. The short story got too long to be a short story, so it became a novel and the novel became a series. The sheriff's an intelligent, intuitive guy. He's tall and maybe a tad overweight, but not much. He might be the only sheriff in Texas who doesn't wear a cowboy hat and boots. He's seen a lot of really bad old movies, and sometimes the people he meets remind him of characters in them. He doesn't have a lot of high-tech crime-solving equipment, and he believes in old-fashioned methods -- talking to people and sifting through their stories. Usually this works for him.
2. When and where is the story set?
The whole series, over 20 books now, is set in Blacklin County, Texas, a place just as fictional as Sheriff Rhodes. I've lived in several Texas counties, and people from all of them seem to think that the books are set where they live. This is probably a good sign. The setting is contemporary, sort of. There's probably no real-world county or law enforcement agency like mine anywhere.
3. What should we know about him or her?
Besides what I've mentioned in the answer to #1, Rhodes is married to Ivy Daniel, who feeds him more healthy food than he likes. He used to drink a lot of Dr Pepper, but he's still upset that he can't get it from Dublin, Texas, where it was once made with real sugar, so he's not drinking it now. He has the unfortunate habit of picking up cats and dogs in the course of his work and taking them home with him. He has a civilian friend, Seepy Benton, a college math teacher who thinks he's a qualified law enforcement officer (and who believes this should be called the Seepy Benton series and not the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series).
4. What is the conflict? What messes up his or her life?
Murder, usually, but there are a lot of problems in small towns, ranging from feral pigs to donkeys and goats on the loose. Or alligators. You never know what a sheriff will be called on to take care of.
5. What is the personal goal of this character?
Being a sheriff, he wants to enforce the law. Simple as that. Now and then he likes to watch an old movie or have a good meal.
6. Can we read about this character yet?
He's been around since 1986 or so. The only problem is that not enough of you are reading about him yet. So get busy and buy some books. The sheriff and I need all the help we can get.
7. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
The current book, just published in August, is Half in Love with Artful Death. Next August, the sheriff will be back in Between the Living and the Dead.
1. What is the name of your character? Is he or she fictional or a historic person?
Sheriff Dan Rhodes is about as fictional as they come. I'd been interested for years in small-town law enforcement and small-town crimes, and one day I sat down to write a short story about a sheriff in a thinly populated Texas county. The short story got too long to be a short story, so it became a novel and the novel became a series. The sheriff's an intelligent, intuitive guy. He's tall and maybe a tad overweight, but not much. He might be the only sheriff in Texas who doesn't wear a cowboy hat and boots. He's seen a lot of really bad old movies, and sometimes the people he meets remind him of characters in them. He doesn't have a lot of high-tech crime-solving equipment, and he believes in old-fashioned methods -- talking to people and sifting through their stories. Usually this works for him.
2. When and where is the story set?
The whole series, over 20 books now, is set in Blacklin County, Texas, a place just as fictional as Sheriff Rhodes. I've lived in several Texas counties, and people from all of them seem to think that the books are set where they live. This is probably a good sign. The setting is contemporary, sort of. There's probably no real-world county or law enforcement agency like mine anywhere.
3. What should we know about him or her?
Besides what I've mentioned in the answer to #1, Rhodes is married to Ivy Daniel, who feeds him more healthy food than he likes. He used to drink a lot of Dr Pepper, but he's still upset that he can't get it from Dublin, Texas, where it was once made with real sugar, so he's not drinking it now. He has the unfortunate habit of picking up cats and dogs in the course of his work and taking them home with him. He has a civilian friend, Seepy Benton, a college math teacher who thinks he's a qualified law enforcement officer (and who believes this should be called the Seepy Benton series and not the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series).
4. What is the conflict? What messes up his or her life?
Murder, usually, but there are a lot of problems in small towns, ranging from feral pigs to donkeys and goats on the loose. Or alligators. You never know what a sheriff will be called on to take care of.
5. What is the personal goal of this character?
Being a sheriff, he wants to enforce the law. Simple as that. Now and then he likes to watch an old movie or have a good meal.
6. Can we read about this character yet?
He's been around since 1986 or so. The only problem is that not enough of you are reading about him yet. So get busy and buy some books. The sheriff and I need all the help we can get.
7. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
The current book, just published in August, is Half in Love with Artful Death. Next August, the sheriff will be back in Between the Living and the Dead.
Sandy Wilson, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: Sandy Wilson, the British composer and playwright whose hit musical “The Boy Friend” starred Julie Andrews in her Broadway debut, died on Wednesday in Taunton, England. He was 90.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
What's Your Favorite Part of the Squirrel, Miss Stephanie?*
How to Cook Squirrel Brains
*Yes, this is another obscure reference that only one or two of you will get. I can't help myself.
*Yes, this is another obscure reference that only one or two of you will get. I can't help myself.
Gator/Croc Update (Genetic Link Edition)
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tech researchers reveal genetic link of alligators and crocodiles
It turns out the people who tend to have trouble distinguishing alligators from crocodiles had it right all along.
It turns out the people who tend to have trouble distinguishing alligators from crocodiles had it right all along.
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