Saturday, April 04, 2015
Robert Burns Jr., R. I. P.
Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Robert Burns Jr. dies in crash, age 64: Robert Burns Jr. — drummer for the legendary Souther rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd — died on Friday night when his car left a dark road and plowed into a tree.
I Miss the Old Days
My grandmother always had irises in her yard, and there were a few around our house when I was a kid, too. They always remind me of this time of year and of my grandmother's yard. Many years ago someone gave me and Judy some bulbs that I planted in a front bed. Now and then they even produce a couple of flowers. That's all, just one or two. Sometimes nothing at all. Maybe the winters have to get cold for the bulbs to put out growth. Anyway, this year I had a couple of blooms. If I had my grandmother's green thumb, maybe I'd have a lot more.
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The Crime of Our Lives -- Lawrence Block
As I sat down to write this, it occurred to me that I've probably written more on this blog about Lawrence Block's work than about that of any other writer. I've told more than once about my discovery of his novels, so I won't repeat that story yet another time. I've also written a little bit about his nonfiction, which I first encountered in the column that he wrote for Writers Digest for a number of years. Those columns were filled with great advice for writers, and they were collected in a book called Telling Lies for Fun and Profit, which everybody should read. It's not just for writers.The Crime of Our Lives is another collection of Block's nonfiction, mostly reminiscences about authors he's known and read, but also including a good bit about himself and his career and his writing. I'd read many of these pieces before when they were published in Mystery Scene or as introductions to the work of other writers, but it's great to have them all in one place, and reading them again is just as pleasurable as reading them the first time.
Block talks about sixteen writers here, all of them now deceased. He gives his reasons for not talking about living writers, and they're good ones. He also tells why he doesn't do book reviews, and there are good reasons for that, too.
It's impossible to pick favorites from the essays here. One day I might think it's the one on Ross Thomas, and the next I might think it's the one on Robert B. Parker. And then it would be a different one next week. I have to admit that one reason I'm partial to all of these is that Block's opinions often closely mirror my own. His favorite Fredric Brown book, for example, is also my own favorite, The Wench Is Dead. In fact, I just wrote an introduction to that book, myself, a new limited edition from Centipede Press. One of his main points about Robert B. Parker is one I make almost every time I speak to a writing group. And so on. It's all great stuff. There's even a previously unpublished essay on Joseph Conrad, and it's excellent. Besides all this, the anecdotes about Block's time at the Scott Meredith Agency are pure gold.
So naturally The Crime of Our Lives is highly recommended. Essential, really, if you're interested in crime fiction or the writing life. And I can promise you one thing. After reading this book, you're never going to feel the same way again when you see a rerun of I Love Lucy.
Friday, April 03, 2015
Maybe It's Just Me, . .
Midnight Crossroad -- Charlaine Harris
At this point in her career, Charlaine Harris can write pretty much what she wants to write, however she wants to write it, which makes me suspect that this book was one that she really wanted to write and had fun writing. Maybe that's why I liked it so much. The setting is a small town named Midnight, located in West Texas. A very small town, with very few inhabitants. Some of those inhabitants might be familiar to readers of Harris's other novels, but some of them are entirely new. All of them have come to Midnight to get away from something or somewhere, and all of them have secrets. One of them is missing, and we learn later that she's been murdered.
So the book is a mystery novel. But if you're longing for the woo-woo factor, there are plenty of supernatural elements to be found. There's a vampire, a psychic, a witch, a shapeshifter, and some we can't be sure about. I have a feeling we'll find out more in the sequel, which comes out in May. There's also a cat, Mr. Snuggly. He has a secret, too.
Harris takes a leisurely approach to the story, introducing the town in a prologue, setting the stage carefully. Then we meet the residents and get to know them. As I said, all of them have secrets, and we learn a few of them but certainly not all. The personalities are distinct and, to me, fascinating. I believe I read that Midnight Crossroad was the first book of a trilogy. There's material here for a good many more books than that should Harris choose to write them.
I recall from reviews when the hardcover came out that some people were put off by the pace of this novel. Maybe they were expecting the literary equivalent of a Mad Max movie. This isn't it. This is a well-written, warm, funny, engrossing story of a quite strange community in which mysteries are uncovered and secrets are revealed carefully, layer by layer, until the final revelation at the end of the book. That's not to say there's no action and suspense. Those elements are present, too, very much so. I enjoyed every page of it.
FFB: Shadow Knight's Mate -- Jay Brandon
This isn't a forgotten book, since it was published only last year. I should more properly call it an overlooked book. Or have you read it? Anyway, Judy and I both became fans of Jay Brandon's work with his first book, Deadbolt, having met him at an MWA meeting in Houston a couple of years after we moved here. We read most, if not all, of his books after that one, and this one is very different from any of the others.There's this secret society, see, known as The Circle, and they've been operating behind the scenes in the U. S. for a couple of centuries influencing the government and the country very subtly, through suggestions and not actions. Nobody knows about them, not even the people they influence. They're not allowed to become famous, and they don't hold public office. Most of them have special talents and abilities, and they're spotted and trained early. Now someone has discovered the secret, and The Circle and the country are under attack.
Jack Driscoll, a member of The Circle and a former video game designer, seems to be a particular focus of the attacks, as people all over the world are impersonating him. With the assistance (or is it?) of Arden, a frighteningly smart young woman, Jack races all over the world to find answers to his questions and to discover who's attacking The Circle.
This is a smart international thriller with a slight SF element that races right along. I suspect there'll be a sequel, and I'll be in line to read it.
Thursday, April 02, 2015
PimPage: An Occasional Feature in which I Call Attention to Books of Interest
Gunfire Ridge (Bodie Kendrick - Bounty Hunter Book 4) - Kindle edition by Wayne D. Dundee. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. For the bounty on their heads and for the sake of personal vengeance, Bodie Kendrick is finally closing in on the notorious McLory brothers. Their trail has led him far from his normal stomping grounds down in the Southwest and brought him to the remote Pine Ridge region of northwest Nebraska. The danger awaiting him when he at last faces the McLorys is bad enough.
But, in addition to that, he’s also under threat from members of the fiercely determined Cardiff clan who are hot on his trail in order to deliver some vengeance of their own.
And then there’s the pretty gal he’s become responsible for since she risked her neck to try and help him.
Not to mention the renegade Indians who’ve begun raising hell throughout the territory directly in their path …
Everything converges and then erupts into a violent climax on the powder smoke-shrouded heights of Gunfire Ridge!
Another gritty, action-packed adventure from Peacemaker Award-winning author Wayne D. Dundee.
I Want to Believe!
New Scientist: BURSTS of radio waves flashing across the sky seem to follow a mathematical pattern. If the pattern is real, either some strange celestial physics is going on, or the bursts are artificial, produced by human – or alien – technology.
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
New EQMM Podcast
PodOmatic | Best Free Podcasts: Join us this month for a story by Ellery Queen, founder of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and one of the best selling mystery writers of all time. "The Adventure of 'The Two-Headed Dog'" was collected in the 1934 volume The Adventures of Ellery Queen. The story is read by Mark Lagasse.
First It was the Thin Mints Melee
UPI.com: Woman choked with bra defends herself with ceramic chicken
Cynthia Lennon, R. I. P.
Flavorwire: Cynthia Powell Lennon, the first wife of The Beatles‘ John Lennon, has died from cancer at her home in Spain, reports the BBC.
The Five-Two: 30 Days of The Five-Two (2015)
The Five-Two: 30 Days of The Five-Two (2015): For the fifth consecutive year, I'm joining the celebration with a blog tour. For my tours, I don't ask to guest-post on your blogs. Instead, I invite you to post about poetry. If you don't have a blog, email your entry to G_SO at YAHOO dot COM and you'll be my guest here at The Five-Two.
Robert Z'Dar, R. I. P.
Cult actor Robert Z'Dar dies in Pensacola: Actor Robert Z'Dar, the massive man with the gigantic chin best known for the cult film series "Maniac Cop," died Monday night in Pensacola after being hospitalized when he came to town to appear at Pensacon, according to his long-time manager and friend Jim Decker.
Gary Dahl, R. I. P.
Gary Dahl, Inventor of the Pet Rock, Dies at 78: It was a craze to rival the Hula-Hoop, and even less explicable. For a mere three dollars and 95 cents, a consumer could buy ... a rock — a plain, ordinary, egg-shaped rock of the kind one could dig up in almost any backyard.
Wrong About Wright
Wrong About Wright: Judging from what we’ve been told in history books, when the Wright Brothers invented powered flight, they were rewarded with parades, medals, and headlines. But that’s a lie. The truth is, the U.S. government insisted that one of the greatest technological achievements of all time simply hadn’t happened. Here’s the true story.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Overlooked Movies: Red Eye
This review appeared in slightly different form on August 27, 2005, just after I saw the movie in the theater. It seems mostly forgotten now, which makes it a fine candidate for an Overlooked Movies feature.Vince Keenan is one of the few people I know (besides me and Rosemarie, his wife) who openly admits a liking for Joe and the Volcano. So when he recommends a movie, I pay attention. The other day he recommended Red Eye, so I figured it was worth a look (and not because it starred Rachel McAdams, so stop saying that).
Some of the movie's real horrors have nothing to do with the plot and everything to do with the extreme hassle that air travel has become. As readers of this blog know, I don't approve with those hassles and think they're stupid and ridiculous. But I don't mind mentioning it again.
As for the plot, the less said about it, the better. You don't want to know too much going in, or that would spoil the fun. Let's just say that if you thought you've had bad seatmates on an airplane before, you're lucky you didn't have Cillian Murphy sitting beside you. Sure there are lots of holes in the plot, but only a picky person would even mention them. So I won't. Just go along for the ride, so to speak, and enjoy yourself.
Rachel McAdams does a fine job here as the woman in jeopardy who's better equipped to deal with things than you might think at first, and Cillian Murphy is smoothly ruthless. These two characters have to carry the movie, and McAdams and Murphy are more than up to it.
I don't know if Wes Craven of Nightmare on Elm Street fame has directed a thriller of this kind before, but he's certainly good at it. Check it out.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Gene Saks, R. I. P.
Actor/Director Gene Saks Dies at 93 - Playbill.com: Six-time Tony Award nominee Gene Saks, a comic actor who made a memorable splash in the role of the desperately unfunny children's TV host Leo "Chuckles The Chipmunk" Herman in the 1962 Broadway comedy A Thousand Clowns and who went on to a major directing career as the interpreter of playwright Neil Simon on stage and screen, died March 28 at age 93.
Hat tipt o Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tipt o Jeff Meyerson.
In Case You Were Wondering
Science explains why hipsters grow beards: The answer, according to The University of Western Australia researchers, is because men are feeling under pressure from other men and are attempting to look aggressive by being more flamboyant with their whiskers.
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