Saturday, January 24, 2015
Once Again Texas Leads the Way
Extensive private collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia auctioned off in Texas: A collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia, including a lock of the 16th U.S president’s hair, will be up for auction in Dallas on Saturday, months before the United States marks 150 years since the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination.
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
My review of the first book in this series can be found here.
SOULS OF THE DEAD, the second book in Bob Randisi's Hit Man with a Soul trilogy, is now available at Amazon and B&N.com from Down & Out Books.
This is what was said about last year's UPON MY SOUL--
“Leave it to master-storyteller Robert Randisi to come up with a soulful new spin on the hitman genre. Sangster is a unique addition to the ranks of killers for hire.” —Max Allan Collins, creator of QUARRY
“As many excellent hitman novels as there have been over the years…you wouldn’t think there would be much left to do with the sub-genre. But you’d be wrong, as Robert J. Randisi…proves quite handily. —James Reasoner, author of Texas Wind
“…an ambitious, fast-paced thriller that plunges readers headlong into the world of professional hitmen…author Randisi promptly throws some fresh twists into his tale that amp up the excitement and suspense all the more.” —Wayne D. Dundee, author of the Joe Hannibal PI series
SOULS OF THE DEAD find ex-hit man Sangster back in New Orleans dealing with an attack on his good friend, Ken Burke, who is in an unexplainable coma. He wades into the world of Voodoo Queens, deities and spells to discover the answer, all the while being stalked by another hit man who wants to take his shot as the master.
About SOULS OF THE DEAD author Gary Phillips had this to say:
“Taut, clever and gritty, under the sure hand of Robert Randisi, The Souls of the Dead is an unputdownable crime story with a rough-hewn charm. Bring me more Sangster.”
-- Gary Phillips, author of Treacherous: Ruffians,
Grifters and Killers
Ernie Banks, R. I. P.
ESPN Chicago: "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks, the Hall of Fame slugger and two-time MVP who never lost his boundless enthusiasm for baseball despite years of playing on losing Chicago Cubs teams, died Friday night. He was 83.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Edgar Froese, R. I. P.
Electronica pioneer Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream dead at 70: Edgar Froese, whose band Tangerine Dream crafted an ambient and futuristic sound that set the stage for generations of electronic artists, has died, his son said Friday. He was 70.
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Blood Feud (Fight Card) - Kindle edition by Jack Tunney, Tim Tresslar, Paul Bishop, David Foster. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Dubai, 2015…David Garrett never could walk away from a fight. Even when a covert mission to nab a terrorist went wrong, leaving fellow CIA agents dead and Garrett holding the bag, he had to be forced to stand down.
Angry and disillusioned, he returned to his native Chicago where he engaged in off-the-books bouts for money, settled scores and made new enemies. Still, the unfinished business eats at him. Then Melissa, his former lover and fellow CIA agent, surfaces. She tells him one of the men responsible for the debacle in Iraq has surfaced. Like Garrett, the man is a fighter and on the card for an exhibition bout in Dubai. Would Garrett come back for one last mission? Garrett never could walk away from a fight. Even one that could kill him…
I Want to Believe!
But I don't want to invest!
Put your money where your foot is: Bigfoot believer plans IPO to fund search
Put your money where your foot is: Bigfoot believer plans IPO to fund search
FFB: Gun Glory for Texans -- Marshall McCoy (Lenonard Meares)
The estimable George Kelley reviewed this one a while back, and he even sent my a copy of the book, which is all of 84 pages long. I'm all for short books, as you know, but the problem with this one is that it should have been longer. The print is so tiny that I thought I might need a magnifying glass to read it. But I managed without one. Let's start with the title. It has nothing to do with anything. It sounds good, though, but what mattered to readers, I'm sure, was that it was a Larry & Streak Western. As you can see that notation is a lot bigger than the title on the cover. These two Texas Hellions (as they're often called) were featured in plenty of books. They were originally Larry Valentine and Stretch Emerson in McCoy's Australian paperbacks, but they became Larry Vance and Streak Everett in the U.S. There's a passage in this book where McCoy explains why "Streak" is an appropriate name for Everett, but what it really explains is why "Stretch" is an appropriate name. He's six feet, six inches tall. Larry, whom Streak calls "Runt" occasionally, is merely six feet, three inches tall.
The two hellions are drifters, and they always drift into situations that involve fist fights and gunplay. This time they're drifting along when they encounter (roughly speaking) the head of a railroad who's traveling incognito. As a result of his improbable kidnapping by train robbers, he looks more like a tramp than a railroad magnate, and Larry and Streak don't believe a word of his story. They're willing to help him out, however, and the situation they find themselves in is one familiar to anybody who's seen a B-western or read a western novel or two. The evil rancher is trying to buy the land of the old bird who won't let go of his property. Naturally the evil rancher has brought in a fast gun and lots of bad guys to help out. Naturally they'll prove to be no match for Larry and Streak.
It's not the tale, however, but the telling, and McCoy does a good job of it, injecting a lot of humor in among the fist fights and the shooting. In a way, it's like a tall tale, and entertaining all the way. Check it out.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
John Bayley, R. I. P.
NYTimes.com: John Bayley, an Oxford don and literary critic who found an international readership with his memoir “Elegy for Iris,” a moving account of his life with the novelist Iris Murdoch, his wife, after she was struck by Alzheimer’s disease, died on Jan. 12 at his home in Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. He was 89.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Everybody Does It
NYTimes.com: For every N.F.L. game, each team has 12 to 20 balls that it has meticulously groomed and prepared according to the needs of its starting quarterback. The balls, brushed and primed using various obvious and semisecret techniques, bear the team logo and are switched out from sideline to sideline depending on which team is on offense.
Written in the Pen
Written in the Pen: Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s first prime minister) once said, “All my major works have been written in prison. I would recommend prison not only to aspiring writers, but to aspiring politicians, too.” Here are some other notable jailhouse jotters who seem to agree with that advice.
Vintage Treasures: Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
Vintage Treasures: Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
Judy and I heard Martin read from this at an Aggiecon when it was a novel in progress, and we both knew we'd have to read it. We liked it a lot when when we did, and it became one of Judy's favorite vampire novels.
Judy and I heard Martin read from this at an Aggiecon when it was a novel in progress, and we both knew we'd have to read it. We liked it a lot when when we did, and it became one of Judy's favorite vampire novels.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
The History of the Knights Templar
The Knights Templar: Start with nine very determined knights and a couple of sacred oaths. Add a jealous and vindictive king, a puppet pope, a mysterious wagon train, and a medieval “celebrity roast,” and you get the amazing -and sometimes bizarre- story of the warrior-monks known as the Knights Templar.
“Boredom, and Other Cures for the Modern World” (by Antony Mann)
“Boredom, and Other Cures for the Modern World” (by Antony Mann) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: Antony Mann is an Australian writer who grew up in and currently lives near Sydney. His work first appeared in EQMM in 2002.
Edgar Award Nominees
Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 206th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the Nominees for the 2015 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2014. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 69th Gala Banquet, Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.
BEST NOVEL
This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Wolf by Mo Hayder (Grove/Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
The Final Silence by Stuart Neville (Soho Press)
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown)
Coptown by Karin Slaughter (Penguin Randomhouse – Ballantine Books)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman (W.W. Norton)
Invisible City by Julia Dahl (Minotaur Books)
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
Bad Country by C.B. McKenzie (Minotaur Books – A Thomas Dunne Book)
Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh (Crown Publishers)
Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver (Minotaur Books – A Thomas Dunne Book)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Albani (Penguin Randomhouse – Penguin Books)
Stay With Me by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
The Barkeep by William Lashner (Amazon Publishing – Thomas and Mercer)
The Day She Died by Catriona McPherson (Llewellyn Worldwide – Midnight Ink)
The Gone Dead Train by Lisa Turner (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books)
BEST FACT CRIME
Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America by Kevin Cook (W.W. Norton)
The Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
The Other Side: A Memoir by Lacy M. Johnson (Tin House Books)
Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William Mann (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
The Mad Sculptor: The Maniac, the Model, and the Murder that Shook the Nation by Harold Schechter (Amazon Publishing – New Harvest)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis by Charles Brownson (McFarland & Company)
James Ellroy: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Jim Mancall (Oxford University Press)
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands: Classic Film Noir by Robert Miklitsch (University of Illinois Press)
Judges & Justice & Lawyers & Law: Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Fiction and Film by Francis M. Nevins (Perfect Crime Books)
Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe by J.W. Ocker (W.W. Norton – Countryman Press)
BEST SHORT STORY
"The Snow Angel" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Doug Allyn (Dell Magazines)
"200 Feet" – Strand Magazine by John Floyd (The Strand)
"What Do You Do?” – Rogues by Gillian Flynn (Penguin Randomhouse Publishing – Ballantine Books)
"Red Eye" – Faceoff by Dennis Lehane vs. Michael Connelly (Simon & Schuster)
"Teddy" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Brian Tobin (Dell Magazines)
BEST JUVENILE
Absolutely Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Greenglass House by Kate Milford (Clarion Books – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
Nick and Tesla’s Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove by “Science Bob” Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith (Quirk Books)
Saving Kabul Corner by N.H. Senzai (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)
Eddie Red, Undercover: Mystery on Museum Mile by Marcia Wells (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano (Penguin Young Readers Group – Kathy Dawson Books)
Fake ID by Lamar Giles (HarperCollins Children’s Books - Amistad)
The Art of Secrets by James Klise (Algonquin Young Readers)
The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“The Empty Hearse” – Sherlock, Teleplay by Mark Gatiss (Hartswood Films/Masterpiece)
“Unfinished Business” – Blue Bloods, Teleplay by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS)
“Episode 1” – Happy Valley, Teleplay by Sally Wainwright (Netflix)
“Dream Baby Dream” – The Killing, Teleplay by Sean Whitesell (Netflix)
“Episode 6” – The Game, Teleplay by Toby Whithouse (BBC America)
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"Getaway Girl" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine By Zoë Z. Dean (Dell Magazines)
GRAND MASTER
Lois Duncan
James Ellroy
RAVEN AWARDS
Ruth & Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
Kathryn Kennison, Magna Cum Murder
ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Charles Ardai, Editor & Founder, Hard Case Crime
* * * * * *
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Tuesday, April 28, 2015)
A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton (Minotaur Books)
The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey (Minotaur Books)
Invisible City by Julia Dahl (Minotaur Books)
Summer of the Dead by Julia Keller (Minotaur Books)
The Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
# # #
The EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.
BEST NOVEL
This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Wolf by Mo Hayder (Grove/Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
The Final Silence by Stuart Neville (Soho Press)
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown)
Coptown by Karin Slaughter (Penguin Randomhouse – Ballantine Books)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman (W.W. Norton)
Invisible City by Julia Dahl (Minotaur Books)
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
Bad Country by C.B. McKenzie (Minotaur Books – A Thomas Dunne Book)
Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh (Crown Publishers)
Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver (Minotaur Books – A Thomas Dunne Book)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Albani (Penguin Randomhouse – Penguin Books)
Stay With Me by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
The Barkeep by William Lashner (Amazon Publishing – Thomas and Mercer)
The Day She Died by Catriona McPherson (Llewellyn Worldwide – Midnight Ink)
The Gone Dead Train by Lisa Turner (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books)
BEST FACT CRIME
Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America by Kevin Cook (W.W. Norton)
The Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
The Other Side: A Memoir by Lacy M. Johnson (Tin House Books)
Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William Mann (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
The Mad Sculptor: The Maniac, the Model, and the Murder that Shook the Nation by Harold Schechter (Amazon Publishing – New Harvest)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis by Charles Brownson (McFarland & Company)
James Ellroy: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Jim Mancall (Oxford University Press)
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands: Classic Film Noir by Robert Miklitsch (University of Illinois Press)
Judges & Justice & Lawyers & Law: Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Fiction and Film by Francis M. Nevins (Perfect Crime Books)
Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe by J.W. Ocker (W.W. Norton – Countryman Press)
BEST SHORT STORY
"The Snow Angel" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Doug Allyn (Dell Magazines)
"200 Feet" – Strand Magazine by John Floyd (The Strand)
"What Do You Do?” – Rogues by Gillian Flynn (Penguin Randomhouse Publishing – Ballantine Books)
"Red Eye" – Faceoff by Dennis Lehane vs. Michael Connelly (Simon & Schuster)
"Teddy" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Brian Tobin (Dell Magazines)
BEST JUVENILE
Absolutely Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Greenglass House by Kate Milford (Clarion Books – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
Nick and Tesla’s Super-Cyborg Gadget Glove by “Science Bob” Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith (Quirk Books)
Saving Kabul Corner by N.H. Senzai (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)
Eddie Red, Undercover: Mystery on Museum Mile by Marcia Wells (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano (Penguin Young Readers Group – Kathy Dawson Books)
Fake ID by Lamar Giles (HarperCollins Children’s Books - Amistad)
The Art of Secrets by James Klise (Algonquin Young Readers)
The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“The Empty Hearse” – Sherlock, Teleplay by Mark Gatiss (Hartswood Films/Masterpiece)
“Unfinished Business” – Blue Bloods, Teleplay by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS)
“Episode 1” – Happy Valley, Teleplay by Sally Wainwright (Netflix)
“Dream Baby Dream” – The Killing, Teleplay by Sean Whitesell (Netflix)
“Episode 6” – The Game, Teleplay by Toby Whithouse (BBC America)
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"Getaway Girl" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine By Zoë Z. Dean (Dell Magazines)
GRAND MASTER
Lois Duncan
James Ellroy
RAVEN AWARDS
Ruth & Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
Kathryn Kennison, Magna Cum Murder
ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Charles Ardai, Editor & Founder, Hard Case Crime
* * * * * *
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Tuesday, April 28, 2015)
A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton (Minotaur Books)
The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey (Minotaur Books)
Invisible City by Julia Dahl (Minotaur Books)
Summer of the Dead by Julia Keller (Minotaur Books)
The Black Hour by Lori Rader-Day (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
# # #
The EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.
I'm Waiting for the Return of the 8-Track
Are cassette players really going to make a comeback?: “We know that many of our customers have been buying cassette players for older friends and family to enjoy their favorite music from the 60s, 70s and 80s,” says Argos audio buyer Rachel Bartram.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
A. Merritt: Forgotten Father
Forgotten Father: The tastes of one generation are not necessarily those of another and literature is no more exempt from the alienating power of time than any other form of art. Realizing this doesn’t make it any less surprising when one encounters an artist wildly popular in his own day but largely unknown in the present. Such an artist was Abraham Grace Merritt, who was born today in 1884.
This is what dead Cthulhu dreams of as he waits In his house at R'lyeh
Gothamist: H.P. Lovecraft has inspired generations of authors, artists and now beer makers, with the release of a new beer inspired by the works of the "Father of Modern Horror." Rhode Island's Narragansett Beer has begun a new beer collection dubbed the Lovecraft Series, which pays homage to the Providence-born author, who was also born in the same year the brewery was founded.
Overlooked Movies -- Madigan
If you like gritty cop movies and haven't see Madigan, you've missed a good one. Look at the cast on the poster there on the left. How could you go wrong? And check out the director. When it comes to cop movies, Don Siegel is hard to beat. One puzzling omission is that Steve Ihnat's name isn't there. He practically steals the show as a crazed killer that Madigan (Richard Widmark) and his partner have 72 hours to catch. The have only 72 hours because that's how long the commissioner (Henry Fonda) gives them after Ihnat, whom they've already caught once, turns the tables on them and takes their guns.Fonda has plenty of other problems, too, some personal, some departmental. As you can see in the poster, the book the movie is based on is The Commissioner, but although he's the title character in the book, it's Widmark who's the one with the big role in the movie.
This isn't one of those movies that's like a TV series where everything is wrapped up neatly before the credits roll. Not everything ends the way you might expect it to, and not everything is tidied up. It's not a feel-good film, but it's certainly worth checking out.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Now Available: How the West Was Written: Frontier Fiction, Vol. 2, 1907-1915 by Ron Scheer
The Education of a Pulp Writer: How the West Was Written: Frontier Fiction, Vol. 2, 1907-1915 by Ron Scheer: During the years 1907–1915, frontier fiction boomed with new writers, and the success of Owen Wister’s The Virginian (1902) began to make itself felt in their work. That novel had made the bestseller lists for two years running. With the continued popularity of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show, and the appearance of one-reeler westerns on movie screens, many featuring the adventures of Bronco Billy Anderson, the cowboy hero was becoming an established mythic figure in the public imagination.
Get it here.
Get it here.
Edgar Allan Poe's Birthday
Since today is the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe, I couldn't let it pass without a snapshot of me at the site of his grave back in 2008.
Philip K. Dick Unavailable for Comment
Daily Mail Online: That's cheaper than an airfare! Paul McKenna launches 'holiday hypnotherapy' so tired workers feel like they've had a two-week trip in 20 minutes
Uh-Oh
Liberace Is Going Back On Tour...As A Hologram: Apparently, the “hologram” won’t just be a typical projection, but one that will actually be able to “interact” with audience members. In fact, Jonathan Warren, the chairman of the Liberace Foundation, said that those who attend the show will be able to “ feel the warmth from his heart, the sparkle of his eye”.
Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day in United States: Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday held on the third Monday of January. It celebrates the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., an influential American civil rights leader. He is most well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the United States.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
The first Coke was Bordeaux mixed with cocaine | Daily Mail Online
Very first Coke was Bordeaux mixed with cocaine: The very first Coke? It was Bordeaux mixed with cocaine... and 23 other interesting facts about the world's best-known brand
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