Saturday, December 24, 2016
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, festive Festivus, joyous Kwanzaa! Or if you don't celebrate any of those, happy Sunday! My wish for you is that your days be merry and bright and that you find joy where ever you go.
Peter Porges, R. I. P.
| Inkspill - New Yorker Cartoonists News: Peter Porges, who began his New Yorker career in the summer of 1965 (his first drawing in the magazine appears above) died this week at age 89. Mr. Porges was perhaps more widely known as a MAD artist (one of its famed Usual Gang of Idiots), but his New Yorker career spanned thirty-five years. Jack Ziegler, a New Yorker colleague, told Ink Spill today:
Friday, December 23, 2016
Season of Ice --Richard Prosch
Let's get this out of the way right at the beginning: Season of Ice is dedicated to me, which makes me feel humble and proud. I wouldn't feel that way if the book weren't really good, but it is.As you can see on the cover to the left, Season of Ice is a collection of crime stories, most, but not all, of them set in the present day. I say that because Prosch is a fine writer of westerns, too, and a winner of the Spur award. My favorite story is probably the one that gives the book its title both because I always enjoy it when a crime in the past has consequences in the present. Also this one, lik others in the collection, shows Prosch using the Nebraska weather to great advantage to echo the darkness of the story. But all the other stories are good ones.
One of the non-contemporary stories is "The Luck of Frankie Irish," set in a terminal at JFK airport during the blackout of 1965. The blackout is part of Frankie's luck. This story gives Prosch an opportunity to write in a different voice, and it's funny. The other historical story is "The Dead Hand," and it's set much farther back in time, just after WWI. It's a story of revenge and a good one. Like many of the stories, it has a good twist at the end.
"#peacerocks" is definitely contemporary, and all too possible in today's world.
The book opens with "Gun Guys." I love a story where the geezer wins. It's followed by "Fool Me Twice," a noir tale that lives up to the title. And you gotta love a tense tale like "Chester Dokes," in which a guy some call Chester the Molester becomes a little bit of a hero.
As I said earlier, all the stories are good ones, so you can't go wrong. Highly recommended, as it would be even if it were dedicated to Joe Lansdale.
FFB: Springer's Gambit -- W. L. Ripley
Since I enjoy W. L. Ripley's novels about Wyatt Storme so much, I thought I'd try his other series and see if it's just as good. And, sure enough, it is.Cole Springer is a smart-mouthed piano player who owns his own bar in Aspen, but he's broke and could use some money. He also happens to be a former Secret Service agent and Iraq vet who's mighty handy with a gun and a knife. (Okay, I don't know about the knife; I couldn't resist stealing that line from "Wolverton Mountain. The gun part, though, I'm sure about.)
Max Shapiro is a real estate guy who's also a money launderer for the mob. When he finds out he has cancer, he tells the mob to kiss off. Then he finds out he doesn't have cancer, after all. Uh-oh. What he needs is a bodyguard, and Springer's the best.
Add a hitman having a midlife crisis, a beautiful Colorado state cop, hapless mob types, Shapiro's girlfriend who's way too good for him, Feds out to make a name for themselves (and who happen to the the cop's ex-husband and ex-lover) plus the gambit devised by Springer to save Shapiro, get rich, and solve all the other problems.
What you get is a fast-moving story full of quirky characters, action, great one-liners, and a well worked out caper. It's funny, too, and the writing is a pure pleasure to read. Now I have to look for the other books in the series because I'm well and truly hooked.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
P.J. Lambrecht, R. I. P.
P.J. Lambrecht, Monkeewrench' series co-author, dies: Patricia “P.J.” Lambrecht, co-author of seven best-selling thrillers featuring the St. Paul Monkeewrench gang, died Wednesday on her own terms after entertaining her oldest friends. She was 70.
Gordon Hunt, R. I. P.
AOL Entertainment: Gordon Hunt, director of live-action and animated work who was also the father of Helen Hunt and the husband of actress B.J. Ward, died Saturday. He was 87.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
This week in the 'bloids
This week in the 'bloids: What happens when the tabloids hit bottom? We find out this week, when the ‘Globe’ brings us five photo-filled pages of the “worst butts in showbiz,” along with some of the worst picture captions and most labored puns accompanying celebrity derrieres..
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Kevin O'Morrison, R. I. P.
Hollywood Reporter: A member of Orson Welles' famed Mercury Theater, he also was a prolific playwright.
Kevin O'Morrison, a playwright and character actor who appeared in such films as The Set-Up and Sleepless in Seattle, has died. He was 100.
“Trust Me, I’m a Doctor” (by Manju Soni)
SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: An eye surgeon turned author, Manju Soni has written nonfiction for the Apeiron Review and other journals. Her debut short story, “The Game,” appears in the current issue of EQMM (January/February), in the Department of First Stories. It’s a tale that combines psychological suspense with a keen awareness of the drama of nature. In this post the author talks a little about how her two careers converge.—Janet Hutchings
New York Skyline 360 Panorama
New York Skyline 360 Panorama: The largest photo ever made of NYC. If you printed this image at a standard photo resolution of 300DPI, it would be 18 meters or 57 feet wide, and 9 meters / 28 feet tall. That's a big photo! For more information about this panorama, please contact us.
Dick Latessa, R. I. P.
The New York Times: Dick Latessa, whose long New York stage career started in the 1960s and culminated in 2003 with a Tony Award for playing the adoring husband Wilbur Turnblad in the hit musical comedy “Hairspray,” died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 87.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Blaze! The Christmas Journey -- Stephen Mertz
If you're looking for an entertaining Christmas story to read during the holidays, Stephen Mertz provides it in Blaze! The Christmas Journey. Kate and J.D. Blaze, husband and wife, are the fastest gunslingers in the west, but Kate has talked J.D. into playing Santa for the townsfolk in Horseshoe, Arizona Territory. He's reluctant, but he's doing fine until a drunk woman with a gun tries to kill him. And then the bank is robbed.
It turns out that the woman believes her son has been with the bank robbers in another town and is about to be hanged. Kate thinks she and J.D. should travel with the woman to the town and try to save the woman's son. After all, it's Christmas. Besides, at the same time they might catch the bank robbers and collect the bounty. They travel by stage, train, and Conestoga wagon. And if there's anything that improves any story almost as much as quicksand, it's a fight on top of a moving train.
There's surprisingly little sex in this adult western, and nothing graphic. There's humor and heart and plenty of action. Not only that, things work out just the way you'd want them to, so it's just right for the holidays. Check it out.
Louis Harris, R. I. P.
The New York Times Louis Harris, the nation’s best-known 20th-century pollster, who refined interpretive polling methods and took the pulse of voters and consumers through four decades of elections, wars, racial troubles and cultural revolutions that ran from tail fins to the internet, died on Saturday at his home in Key West, Fla. He was 95.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Overlooked Movies -- Pretty Maids All in a Row
When I read the novel Pretty Maids all in a Row in the '60s, I never dreamed it could be made into a movie, much less a movie with a major director (Roger Vadim), well-known stars (Rock Hudson [with porn 'stache!], Angie Dickinson, Roddy McDowall, Telly Savalas [absolutely playing Kojak], Keenan Wynn). With a screenplay by producer Gene Roddenberry. One thing I'm convinced of is that the movie could never be made now. Rock Hudson is a high-school guidance counselor who's sleeping with students (lots and lots of underage nudity and upskirt shots, not to mention sex scenes). John David Carson is a student whom Hudson sets up with his teacher, Angie Dickinson (yes, nudity and sex). Meanwhile someone's murdering cheerleaders and pinning notes to their panties. The whole thing is so unPC that it's hard to believe even when you're watching it. The '70s were a different world, for sure. Oh, and it's a comedy. With a song by the Osmonds (!). Looking for something completely different? This is it.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Sheila Liming -- My Neighbor Octavia
My Neighbor Octavia: For years, I knew Octavia E. Butler, the famed African American science fiction and fantasy writer, by her first name only. That was the way she introduced herself when I first met her back in the fall of 1999. Butler had just purchased the house across the street from my parents’ and joined the ranks of our rather conventional suburban community in Lake Forest Park, WA, located just north of Seattle. A spate of rumors had attended her arrival on the block: “Octavia” wrote novels (about aliens!); “Octavia” had one of those “genius” grants; “Octavia” lived alone and was a reclusive artist type. An interview with Butler appeared in the Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Enterprise, our humble (and long-since defunct) local weekly, explaining that our new neighbor was, indeed, the author of a dozen novels and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient.
Patti Smith on Singing at Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize Ceremony
Patti Smith on Singing at Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize Ceremony: "It occurred to me then that, although I did not live in the time of Arthur Rimbaud, I existed in the time of Bob Dylan."
I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week
Daily Mail Online: The incredible thousand-year-old UNDERGROUND 18-storey city that could house 20,000 people and was discovered by chance when a man was doing DIY on his house in Turkey
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Zsa Zsa Gabor, R. I. P.
abc7ny.com: Zsa Zsa Gabor, the jet-setting Hungarian actress who made a career out of multiple marriages, conspicuous wealth and jaded wisdom about the glamorous life, has died. She was 99.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Bob Coburn, R. I. P.
Beverly Hills, CA Patch: LOS ANGELES, CA -- Bob Coburn, a Los Angeles radio personality who had also hosted the country's premiere rock and roll interview program [Rockline], died Saturday. He was 68.
10 Bizarre Stories About The Real Saint Nicholas
10 Bizarre Stories About The Real Saint Nicholas: About 1,700 years ago, the real Saint Nicholas lived in Turkey, serving as a bishop for the Catholic Church. The real man has a whole legend of his own, full of some incredibly strange stories that just might change how you see Christmas.
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