Algis Budrys Profile

Technology Review: The Alien Novelist

Thanks to Thomas Miller for calling this to my attention.

Ghostly Goings-On at the Lizzie Borden B&B

Ghostly goings-on at the Lizzie Borden B&B - Travel - LATimes.com: "Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother 40 whacks. And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. . . .

The rhyme may be good for skipping rope, but it's not accurate. The historically correct version of events is shared with visitors to the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, a rambling, eight-bedroom manse that doubles as a museum during the daytime, before overnight guests arrive. When it was built in 1845, it was one of the finest homes in Fall River, a then-thriving community known for its textile mills."

Thanks to Richard Moore for the link.

Paging Hagar the Horrible

Vikings preferred male grooming to pillaging - Telegraph: "The Vikings are traditionally known for leaving destruction in their wake as they travelled around Europe raping, pillaging and plundering.

But Cambridge University has launched a campaign to recast them as 'new men' with an interest in grooming, fashion and poetry.

Academics claim that the old stereotype is damaging, and want teenagers to be more appreciative of the Vikings' social and cultural impact on Britain.

They say that the Norse explorers, far from being obsessed with fighting and drinking, were a largely-peaceful race who were even criticised for being too hygienic."

Fly the Friendly Skies

Las Vegas Optic Online: "The elderly mother of a Las Vegas woman said that she was moved from her wheelchair, spread-eagled and physically searched by the Transportation Security Administration in Albuquerque. She says it’s not the first time and that officers searched her dog, too."

25 Cheesiest Syndicated TV Series

I've seen episodes of only two of these. I'd never even heard of most of them.

Tarzan's New York Adventure

Aren't Some NFL Players Contenders?

Fla. woman grows dreads to nearly 9 feet - Yahoo! News: "MIAMI – Asha Mandela has hair that could rival Rapunzel's. The South Florida woman who started growing her hair 20 years ago now has locks longer than she is tall.

Mandela has submitted her hair, which measure 8 feet 9 inches long, to the Guinness Book of World Records for the Longest Dreadlocks, the first entry in a new category."

And You Thought You Were Slow

Prehistoric cave paintings took up to 20,000 years to complete - Telegraph: "It may have taken Michelangelo four long years to paint his fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but his earliest predecessors spent considerably longer perfecting their own masterpieces.

Scientists have discovered that prehistoric cave paintings took up to 20,000 years to complete."

The Goliath Bone -- Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

The Goliath Bone is the second of Spillane's posthumous novels completed by Max Allan Collins. The first was Dead Street, and as in that instance there's a smooth melding of plotting and style. It's hard to tell which parts were written by Spillane and which by Collins (though I can make a couple of guesses). This one marks the return to print of Spillane's most famous character, Mike Hammer.

The plot involves a couple of graduate students who dig up the femur of a giant, presumably the Goliath of the biblical story. Naturally a lot of people are interested in the artifact, including al-Qaeda, the Mossad, the Feds, an Israeli terrorist group, and probably others. Hammer just happens to be around when someone tries to kill the students, and he agrees to protect them and the bone. What really matters, though, is the 21st century version of Mike Hammer. He's older, maybe a little wiser, but not slower. And he's sure not the Hammer of, say One Lonely Night. The old kill-music doesn't sing in his head the way it used to. The violence and bloodshed are a bit muted now, and Hammer takes a little time now and then to reflect on the post-9/11 world he's living in. [Spoiler Alert] As well he should, since it seems pretty easy for a 7' 3'' assassin to get into the country. [End Spoiler Alert]

The ending is telegraphed, but I didn't mind. A reminder of things past is okay with me. I enjoyed spending a little time with Hammer again, even if he's not quite the Hammer of my long-lost youth. I think you will, too.

Gator Update (Drug Dealer Edition)

This is the third or fourth example of this use of gators I've run across.

WKYC.com | Cleveland, OH | Authorities find alligator guarding stash in Cleveland pot bust: "The real surprise was a seven-foot American alligator. Deputies nicknamed it 'Bubba.' Once transported to the Cleveland Zoo though, keepers found out it's really 'bubbette.'

With $4,200 worth of electricity each month to power the growing lights, 'Bubba' was comfortably warm and with a diet of chickens and ground meat, she was well fed.

'She's a little heavier then normal, so she was clearly cared for. She looks great, ' Zoo Curator Geoff Hall said."

Forgotten Books: FAT CHANCE (aka DEADFALL) -- Keith Laumer

A number of Keith Laumer's SF novels have a nice hardboiled feel to them ( and A Trace of Memory and Dinosaur Beach come to mind), but Deadfall, published in paperback as Fat Chance is a straightforward Chandler pastiche and homage. The dedication reads, "Dedicated to the incomprable Raymond Chandler and his peerless private eye, Philip Marlowe."

Some readers might find Laumer almost too good at doing Chandler, but I really liked the novel. The first-person narrator, a p.i. named Shaw, is hired to find the daughter of a man who hasn't seen her in 25 years. As always, complications ensue. Lots of them.

The movie version of the book was called Peeper, and as you can see from the photo to the left, it starred Michael Caine. And Natalie Wood. I saw it when it hit the theaters and liked it a lot. I may be the only person who remembers it. At any rate, I recommend both the forgotten book and the forgotten movie. You can decide for yourself how tongue-in-cheek they're supposed to be. Well worth a look.

Fighting Devil Dogs

Paris Hilton Update

Paris Hilton buys brothel celebrity news.: "Paris Hilton has bought a former London brothel.

The 27-year-old hotel heiress is thrilled with her £850,000 investment located in the city's famous 'East End' district and has no qualms about the illicit history of the building, which was also a haven for drug users and pirates."

Happy Birthday, Dwight Yoakam!

Dwight Yoakam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. Active since the early 1980s, he has recorded more than twenty albums and compilations, and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts."

It's only a Game

Woman jailed after 'killing' virtual husband - Yahoo! News: "TOKYO – A 43-year-old player in a virtual game world became so angry about her sudden divorce from her online husband that she logged on with his password and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday.

The woman, who has been jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his ID and password to log onto the popular interactive game 'Maple Story' to carry out the virtual murder in May, a police official in the northern city of Sapporo said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of department policy."

Thanks to Walter Satterthwait for the link.

Strangers on a Plane

How my husband joined the Mile High Club - Times Online: "In the days before Google, sexwith a stranger on a plane could have gone no farther."

Sarah Connor Knows all about This

Packs of robots will hunt down uncooperative humans - Short Sharp Science - New Scientist: "The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a 'Multi-Robot Pursuit System' that will let packs of robots 'search for and detect a non-cooperative human'."

The Holy Grail

Fact, fiction, and more. Click here.

Who's the Greatest James Bond Ever?

You can cast your vote and watch some classic trailers right here.

Congo Bill