Happy Thanksgiving

I hope all of you who are celebrating Thanksgiving will have a great day. Judy and I will be going to our daughter's place in Houston later this morning, and of course Judy's mother, who's been spending the week with us, will go along. Allen, our son, will drive down from Austin. We'll eat too much, watch a little football, and maybe even talk a little. It's going to be in the 80s here today, so we might even go outside and take a stroll around the park.

Tomorrow we'll take Judy's mother home and celebrate my brother's 60th birthday. On Saturday I'll be visiting with some of my friends from high school, and on Sunday we'll drive back to Houston. For me, this counts as a busy weekend. I hope I'm up to the challenge.

The New TV

Last week our old TV set gave up the ghost. In the morning it was just fine. In the afternoon, the picture disappeared. We figured that after 18 years or so, it was time for a new TV anyway, so we went out and bought a Samsung HD-ready LCD set. It's like the one on the right.

After we brought it home, the fun started. Well, it was fun for Judy, who got to watch me set it up. And listen to me. It was necessary to say a few magic words to get things just right. I finally got the cable box, DVD, and VCR hooked to the TV, which was working fine. I couldn't say the same for the DVD, however. We could get a picture, but no sound. It was a crummy picture, too.

By then it was bedtime, so I gave up for the night. The next day, after a few more experiments with the mare's nest of cables, I got things right. All was well. Except, of course, that there was no HD because we didn't have an HD cable box. I called the cable company, and they told me that they'd bring out a new box and install it for a mere $49.95. And they'd be here in only two weeks.

I didn't want to wait, so I asked if I could just get the box and install it myself. Too complicated for boob like you, I was told, or words to that effect, so I set up an appointment. Yesterday, however, I decided to e-mail the company and ask again. The reply said, "Sure, you can do it yourself. It's a snap. Come pick up a box."

So I drove to the nearest cable office in Texas City (15 miles), got the box, brought it home and got ready to go. I called the tech person, and she walked me through the installation. No picture, no sound. After an hour and a half on the phone with the tech, switching cables here and there, plugging and unplugging, etc., I threw in the towel.

The tech said the box was clearly faulty. I drove back to Texas City. Got a new box. Came home, called the help line and got the tech person (a different one, of course). I said, "I have brand new HD box here. I haven't done a thing. Walk me through the installation, step by step." So she did. Guess what. Same result exactly. Changed wires, did this, did that, all the stuff I did the first time, with the same outcome. Then she said, "Have you installed the component cables?" Well, no, nobody mentioned those. It would have been nice if someone had, since the person in Texas City had told me I wouldn't need them. Got those installed.

By golly, it worked. All was well. Did my little victory dance. Started watching TV. Discovered that I could no longer get anything but 16:9 and 4:3 pictures. All else is unavailable. No panorama, no Zoom 1, no Zoom 2. Back on the phone. Got the tech support. Sure enough, the woman (different person from the other two) tells me that those are now the only two options. No more Zoom 1, Zoom 2, or Panorama. Dang. The cable box chooses my picture size. Life sucks. But at least I saved 50 bucks and didn't have the cable guy come out.

(Next time, I'm having the cable guy.)

More Old Time Radio

Yesterday Judy and I drove to the big city of Thornton, Texas, to get Judy's mother and bring her to Alvin for Thanksgiving. Since the drive up takes a little over three hours, we listened to some OTR shows on XM Satellite Radio. The first one we heard was The Green Hornet. This was a big favorite of mine when I was a kid since it was very similar to The Lone Ranger. Only natural since George W. Trendel and Fran Striker were involved with both shows. Kato's dialogue sounds too close to Tonto's for comfort.

We also heard two episodes of The Whistler. I don't remember hearing this show when I was young, but it's pretty entertaining. Judy was a little chapped that The Whistler wasn't a crime-fighter like the Green Hornet. Instead he's the narrator, sort of like Raymond on Inner Sanctum, but without Raymond's bizarre charm.

And speaking of Inner Sanctum, that was the next show that we listened to. I always loved Raymond's little jokes, like the one on this show about the unsuccessful author who was murdered by her husband and buried in the cellar. As Raymond put it, she finally made the "best cellar" list.

After Inner Sanctum we heard Dangerous Assignment with Brian Donlevy, who also played the main character, Steve Mitchell, on TV. I remember seeing the TV show a few times, but I like the radio series better. Hardboiled fans will remember Donlevy best as the heavy in The Glass Key.

All in all, a pretty good morning's listening that made the trip seem a lot shorter.

Stark House Press

Stark House Press has a new, redesigned website, and it's very cool. Check it out at this link.

Link Wray, R. I. P.

From the Globe & Mail: Guitar player Link Wray, who invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists, has died. He was 76.

A native of Dunn, North Carolina, Wray's style is considered the blueprint for heavy metal and punk music.

Wray's is best known for his 1958 instrumental Rumble, 1959's Rawhide and 1963's Jack the Ripper. His music has appeared in movies like Pulp Fiction, Independence Day and Desperado.

I still have my battered 45 rpm recording of "Rumble." Thanks to these guys for the link to the obit.

And You Still Think We're Not Using Torture?

ABC News: CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described: "'They would not let you rest, day or night. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. Don't sleep. Don't lie on the floor,' one prisoner said through a translator. The detainees were also forced to listen to rap artist Eminem's 'Slim Shady' album. The music was so foreign to them it made them frantic, sources said."

Frantic? I'd be driven completely nuts. Or course there are those who say I'm already nuts, but what do they know?

Great Story for Con Game Fans

USATODAY.com - 75-year-old woman remembers jewel thief days: "This was how Doris Payne went about her work as an international jewel thief.

Never did she grab the jewels and run. That wasn't her way. Instead, she glided in, engaged the clerk in one of her stories, confused them and easily slipped away with a diamond ring, usually to a waiting taxi cab.

She is, says retired Denver Police Detective Gail Riddell, like a character from a movie — a female Cary Grant, smooth and confident."

National Treasure

Judy and I watched National Treasure last night. It was kind of a dumb movie (okay, it was a really dumb movie), but we had a new TV set and wanted to try it out. What I liked best about the movie was that Nicolas Cage's character was named Ben Gates. If you don't know why I enjoyed that, you haven't read as much paperback fiction as I have. And as a bonus, the sidekick's name was Riley Poole. I went to high school with a guy by that name. I can't really recommend the movie except as mild, mindless entertainment, but those two names gave me a little extra kick.

Very Cool!

Via scrubbles.net: "If you want an interesting online radio experience, try Pandora. Simply type in the name of a favorite artist, and Pandora comes up with an eerily accurate playlist of similar yet diverse sounding music."

It doesn't just come up with a playlist. It plays the songs for you, and it's all free. I love the Internet.

As If These Guys Didn't Have a Tough Life Already

Stars & Stripes: "It was Halle Berry’s first on-screen nude scene.

Halfway through “Swordfish,” she lowers a book she’s reading, exposing her breasts.

Said one reviewer on Amazon.com: “There is one redeeming feature about this film: the soundtrack. That, and you get to see Halle Berry naked.”

So viewers on military bases throughout the world may have been surprised to see the dazzling Ms. Berry wearing a bikini in the infamous scene.

Blame the Federal Communications Commission, American mores and a PG-14 rating. But don’t blame American Forces Entertainment, which aired the movie Wednesday."

This Is So, Like, Unfair

Digital Spy: Paris Hilton in trouble over illegal pet: "Paris Hilton has been ordered to get rid of her new pet kinkajou - or move to another state.

The hotel heiress returned home from a trip to Las Vegas with her latest animal friend, even though it is illegal to keep the creatures as pets in Los Angeles."

Chronicles (Volume 1) -- Bob Dylan

I was a little skeptical about this book, even after reading some favorable reviews. Why? Because years ago (more than 30, in fact), I read another of Dylan's books. Or I should say I tried to read it. The title is Tarantula. I didn't get very far.

So I was surprised at how much I liked Chronicles. Bob Dylan can write. Well, we all knew he could write songs, but after Tarantula, I wasn't so sure he could write a book. He can, though, no doubt about it.

One of the things I found interesting was Dylan's commentary on other singers. I hadn't known that he and Bobby Vee were friends before either of them hit the big time, for example, and what Dylan has to say about Vee's pop career, about Ricky Nelson, and about Roy Oribison seem to me right on the money. Here's part of what he says about the Big O: "He was now singing his compositions in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a professional criminal . . . His voice would jar a corpse, always leave you muttering to yourself something like, 'Man, I don't believe it.'"

And who knew that Dylan was a fan of old-time radio? Not me. His memory of "the creaking door" is wrong, since he attributes it to Suspense, while mentioning Inner Sanctum in the very next sentence. But that doesn't matter. It's the way he felt about the shows that matters. "Radio shows," he says, "had been a big part of my consciousness back in the Midwest, back when it seemed like I was living in perpetual youth." Here's a little more: "There was no place too far. I could see it all. All I needed to know about San Francisco was that Paladin lived in a hotel there and his gun was for hire."

In fact, I could keep on quoting great stuff from this book for a long time, but I'll stop. If you have any interest in Dylan, in the Village back in the day, in popular culture, in folk music, or in any number of other things, you should just get a copy and read it. I'm glad it's Volume 1, which means I can look forward to Volume 2.

Literary classics become txt msgs

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Literary classics become txt msgs: "Some of English literature's greatest masterpieces have been condensed into a few lines of text message to help students revise for exams.

The service condenses classic works such as Bleak House and Pride and Prejudice into a handy aide-memoire.

For example, Hamlet's famous line: 'To be or not to be, that is the question' becomes '2b? Nt2b? ???'.

A university professor claims it 'amply demonstrates text's ability to fillet out the important elements in a plot'."

Here's an example of an entire plot, taken from the article's sidebar. Now you won't have to waste your time seeing the new movie version of Pride and Prejudice:

5Sistrs WntngHsbnds. NwMeninTwn-Bingly&Darcy. Fit&Loadd.BigSis Jane Fals 4B,2ndSisLiz H8s D Coz Hes Proud. Slimy Soljr Wikam Sys DHs Shady Past.Trns Out Hes Actuly ARlyNysGuy &RlyFancysLiz. She Decyds She Lyks Him.Evry1 Gts Maryd.

Superhero or Household Cleaner?

You can take the quiz and find out if you can tell the difference. My Superhero name should be "Mr. Average." Never was a quiz more accurate.

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Yesterday afternoon Charles Ferguson called and asked if I'd like to go to Galveston and hear a talk by one of the men who "rediscovered" the ivory-billed woodpecker. I posted about this rediscovery last April and mentioned how exciting it was, so naturally I couldn't resist hearing all about it. We drove down to Galveston and had dinner at The Original Mexican Cafe. There were about ten people there, including Bobby Ray Harrison, the man who was one of the two to see the ivory-bill in April. It was nice to meet him in an informal setting and to talk to him a little bit about his adventures in birding.

After dinner Charles and I went to the Rosenberg Library for the formal program. Harrison showed a lot of slides and discussed his "obsession" with finding an ivory-billed woodpecker. His interest was roused by an article in Life magazine back in 1972, and he's been searching for the bird ever since. He finally found it in Arkansas in April. He freely admits that he believes others have seen the bird over the years, but none of those sightings have been confirmed. He was lucky enough to be with another birder, Tim Gallagher, and both of them saw the ivory-bill at the same moment. Since April there have been numerous other confirmed sightings in the same area.

Unfortunately there are no clear photographs of the woodpecker as yet. Apparently the bird is very shy. There have been a couple of recordings that have convinced ornithologists that the sightings are genuine, and I have high hopes that a decent photo will eventually be taken.

I enjoyed the talk, and it's a treat to know that the bird once thought extinct is still flying around the southern swamps.

Anna Nicole Smith Goes Wild. Again. A Continuing Series.

ANNA Nicole Smith showed up at Hamburger Mary's in West Hollywood to play bingo for charity last week and took home quite a prize — a barmaid. Tracy, a pretty blonde, allowed herself to be picked up by the former Playmate and was later bragging about the night she spent with Smith, sharing pictures from her digital camera with patrons at the bar. "She wasn't keeping it a secret," a PAGE SIX source relates. "Anna Nicole put her in handcuffs and her neck was covered with hickeys." The source added, "Anna Nicole was doing that butt-slapping thing — it was just bizarre. And her son was in the house." Calls to Tracy and Smith were not returned.

As I've mentioned before, Anna Nicole is from my old hometown of Mexia, Texas, and was a student in a biology class taught by my rotten kid brother. She continues to do the old hometown proud.

Is This a Great Country or What? (Part 2)

From the L. A. Times
By Shawn Hubler, Times Staff Writer

Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss bid farewell to Los Angeles on Wednesday, and put out the word: She's looking for a few good men.

In a move bound to hearten aspiring Deuce Bigalows the world over, Fleiss said she is joining with a Nevada brothel owner to open the state's first house of prostitution in which men cater to women.

Fleiss, whose partner notified Nye County officials of the plan this week, said they will charge $250 an hour and call it "Heidi's Stud Farm."

"Women are more independent these days; they make more money and it's hard to meet people," Fleiss said as she packed for what she said would be a permanent move to Nevada.

"You wouldn't believe the number of women who've told me, 'Heidi, if you do this, I'll be the first one in line!' I mean, relationships are harder than dieting, you know what I mean?"

I Don't Think I Want to Read This One

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Derbyshire | Historic cookbook causes a stir: "One of the oldest-known cookbooks in the country has left historians in a stew over its obscure recipes.

Her Cookery Book, written in 1742 by Mary Swanwick, includes a range of unknown dishes such as squichanary pye and Stoughtons drops.

The book, which also includes instructions for stewed calf's head, was donated to the Derbyshire Record Office by an anonymous Stockport man.

Archivists are still trying to decipher much of its faded handwriting."

Benjamin Appel from Stark House

Stark House Press (no, their website hasn't been updated) has another great double book coming in January. Benjamin Appel wrote hardboiled with the best of them, as these two novels prove. There's also a short introduction by his daughter, well worth reading.

This Sounds Interesting

HoustonChronicle.com - News from AP: "An ambitious new Google Inc. service lets anyone upload most anything to a publicly searchable database, . . ."

Northcoast Shakedown -- Jim Winter

Here's a hardboiled p.i. novel I enjoyed. The first-person narrator is Nick Kepler, who's freelancing and doing some work for an insurance company called Terminal Tower Life & Annuity. Most of his work is probably like one of the cases he deals with here, taking photos of a supposedly disabled man who's clearly in better shape than he's letting on.

Kepler takes on some other cases, too, and one of them leads to murder. But which one? Or are several cases connected? It takes Kepler a while to put it all together because it's all very complicated, but he does the job. Along the way he gets shot at, insulted, beaten, and laid. Kepler has a sense of humor, which he needs, and he's tough, which is a good thing.

This is a traditional p.i. novel with a modern bent. Good stuff, and here's hoping Kepler will be around for a while.

Is This a Great Country or What?

Meatpacker to pay $3m for using strength test

At the Armour Star meat packing plant in Fort Madison, Iowa, run by a subsidiary of the Dial Corporation, workers are expected to engage in "repetitive lifting of a 35-pound rod of sausages to a height of approximately 65 inches.” Concerned about a high rate of worker injuries, the company foolishly thought that it could introduce (in 2000) a physical test which "required the repeated lifting of 35 pounds to a height of 65 inches." Wrong: sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the company is now going to be paying out $3 million for its troubles.

You Can't Make Up Stuff Like This

New York Post Online Edition: gossip: "November 15, 2005 -- PARIS Hilton's new pet monkey, Baby Luv, went bananas when she took the peeved primate on a lingerie shopping spree in Las Vegas last weekend. We're told that Baby Luv bit Hilton and clawed her face when she walked into the Agent Provocateur shop at Caesars on Saturday with the beast on her shoulder. Paris managed to pull Baby Luv off her and hooked his leash to a cabinet while she rang up $4,000 worth of bras and panties and a bullwhip, says our eyewitness."

Naturally, what I want to know is if the lingere was for the monkey. And who was the bullwhip for?

See? Your Mother was Right!

CTV.ca | New research says chilly feet can bring on a cold: "British scientists say they have proof that a drop in body temperature can kickstart viruses which lie dormant in people during the cold season, from October to March.

And getting your feet wet, they found, can triple the risk of developing cold symptoms such as sore throat, sneezing and coughing."

The Colonel and Little Missie -- Larry McMurtry

I've heard about Buffalo Bill for most of my life, maybe because of the name. I had a book about him when I was a kid, but I don't remember anything about it. My parents talked about him occasionally, and because I was called Bill, I identified with him from my earliest childhood. But I never knew much about him until I read The Colonel and Little Missie by Larry McMurtry.

The book isn't a biography. As the subtitle says, it's about "Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and the Beginnings of Superstardom in America." But biography or not, there are a lot of facts about Bill Cody's life here, or at least something resembling the facts, since we'll probably never know that truth about some things. Too many versions of the same story were told by different people. Still, it's apparent that Cody was a pretty good guy. Nearly everyone liked him, he was generous to a fault, and he was loyal to his friends. He was a drunk, sure, but not a nasty one. Like a lot of superstars, he couldn't sustain his popularity, and his last years weren't good ones, but he remained an optimist to the end.

Annie Oakley is more of an enigma. Besides being a great shot with a rifle or shotgun, she was a very private person. McMurtry isn't able to tell us much about her, aside from the obvious historical facts, but that doesn't mean she's not interesting.

McMurtry's style is easy and informal. He repeats a lot of things (I didn't even try to count the number of times he said that Cody was really good-looking and a superb horseman), but that's okay for a guy with a memory like mine.

One thing the book did, with all its talk of endurance shooting matches, was make me want to re-read Brian Garfield's Wild Times, a wonderful book about that kind of thing.

Ancient Freshwater Lake under Antarctica

Columbia Earth Institute -- News: " At the coldest spot on Earth, Michael Studinger is mapping a world he cannot see.

Around him stretches a snow-scape as smooth as a starched shirt, so empty of landmarks that any sense of scale or distance is lost in the white. But hidden miles beneath the icecap on which he stands is a freshwater lake as long as Lake Ontario and as deep as Lake Tahoe--its untouched waters a time capsule from more than a million years ago."

This is a long article, but very interesting. Could be a great novel. Or at least a cool B&W SF movie from around 1956.

"A Passage to Benares" -- Suspense, 1942

The other day Judy and I drove to Houston. On the way we tuned the XM radio to channel 164 and listened to "A Passage to Benares," an episode of Suspense from 1942. When I was a kid, my family listened to Suspense every week, and after hearing this show, I can see why. Paul Stewart plays Professor Henry Poggioli, who's in Port au Prince when a gruesome murder occurs. Poggioli, a psychologist, has spent the night in a temple. When he awakens the next morning and returns to the home of his host, he discovers that there was a gruesome murder in the temple. As the show goes on, it becomes clear that Poggioli is one of the main suspects in the crime. I won't say any more about the story, except that it has a great surprise ending.

"A Passage to Benares" was originally a short story written by T. S. Stribling. Richard Moore, a T. S. Stribling fan, has a nice review of the author's biography in Mystery*File, along with some commentary, and he mentions this story as well as the others in the Dr. Poggioli series.

Charles Williams in Mystery*File

MYSTERY*FILE ON-LINE: "In this earlier installment of The Gold Medal Corner, Bill Crider tells you why you should not miss reading anything Charles Williams has written, whether it appeared as a Gold Medal paperback or not. Followed by a bibliography compiled by Steve Lewis and two letters not previously published. You can’t beat the covers, either. Reprinted from Mystery*File 47."

The Legend of Zorro

This weekend, while you were writing that essay on "The Symbolic Play of Light and Shadow in The Seventh Seal" for Cahiers du Cinema, I was at the mall watching The Legend of Zorro. It's really dumb, sort of a mish-mash of The Da Vinci Code, Notorious, and "The Reverend Mr. Black."

It's also full of bad history. For example, the year is supposedly 1850. In the first scene (and it's a pretty good action scene, too), a guy announces that he's using a Henry repeating rifle. I don't know much about the history of rifles, but I don't think the Henry came along until almost ten years later, sometime in the late 1850s. And then (not to spoil the plot for you) there are those Pinkerton agents. In California in 1850? I doubt it. Alan Pinkerton didn't found the agency until 1850 or so, and he didn't operate nationally until some years later. And then, well, what the heck. There's a lot more, but why go on?

Were the Zorro movies I saw as a kid any more accurate? I doubt it, and what difference does it really make? What matters in a Zorro movie is the stunts, a tradition going back to Douglas Fairbanks. So I'm asking myself, when did Zorro become Spiderman? The things Fairbanks did at least looked humanly possible, mainly because he was probably doing them himself instead of using stunt doubles and trampolines. Still, the stunts in this new movie do look pretty cool.

But then there's the kid. Who came up with that? Geez. Sticking the kid in the movie was a bad idea, but having him act like a modern kid was even worse. Having a California kid of 1850 saying stuff like, "C'mon, you want a piece of me?" is just asinine.

On the other hand, the movie does have Catherine Zeta-Jones (see picture, above left), a really neat explosion, a couple of funny lines, and a really cool cape-swirling scene. If you're up for a couple of hours of dumb fun, you could do worse.

To Protect and Service. Er, Serve.

Panel reduces officer's suspension for quitting work early to have sex: "A Seattle police officer called to a fight between a man and a woman made no arrests and took no report, instead quitting his shift early to take the woman involved to his place for sex."

How Low Can You Go?

I'd say not much lower than this:

Aide convicted of sucking medication from patient's pain patch - - The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register: "A West Virginia woman was convicted of neglect after she admitted removing a nursing home patient's time-release pain patch and sucking out the medication, the attorney general's office said Thursday."

New Croc Discovered!

Evidence of Huge Ancient Crocodile Found - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON - In the era when dinosaurs ruled the Jurassic earth, a 13-foot oceanic crocodile with a short snout and a mouthful of deadly teeth hunted large creatures in the sea, scientists reported Thursday.

Nicknamed 'Godzilla' by its discoverers, the new find was much different from other marine crocodiles, which had long snouts with many small teeth.

The discovery of the creature, given the scientific name Dakosaurus andiniensis, was reported Thursday in ScienceExpress, the online edition of the journal Science.

'This animal was one of the latest members of its family and certainly the most bizarre of all marine crocs,' said Diego Pol of Ohio State University, one of the authors of the report."

Cozy Readers, Take Note!

United Press International - NewsTrack - Cat parasite linked to schizophrenia?: "Cat parasite linked to schizophrenia?

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A Washington psychiatrist believes there is a link between exposure to cats in childhood and schizophrenia.

Dr. Fuller Torrey says that he has noticed that schizophrenics were more likely to have had cats when they were very young or mothers who had cats while pregnant.

Torrey told the New York Daily News that his wife thinks he is going to be killed by cat lovers. But he still believes that there is a link between early exposure to Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite found in cats, and schizophrenia."

Crusader's Cross -- James Lee Burke

OK, let's get the obvious out of the way: Burke still writes like a slumming angel. It's not the writing I have a complaint about. It's the plotting. It seems to me that most of Burke's books just meander around , full of sound and fury, for a couple of hundred pages, and then when it's time for the resolution, one is rushed on stage. I could easily be wrong about this, but that's my perception of the books lately. In Crusader's Cross, there are a couple of things about the plotting that really bother me, too, but I won't go into those since some of you might not have read the book yet.

I'm not sure if anybody else feels this way, but for me the Robicheaux novels, of which this is the latest, seem to be getting a little repetitive. There's the decadent southern family with a crazy daughter, along with the certain knowledge that Dave's going to fall off the wagon yet again and get fired from his job on the cops (or come close) while causing everybody he knows a heck of a lot of grief and trouble as he dispenses vigilante justice, badge or no badge. And Clete's going to help him. Meanwhile Burke is going to switch from first to third person point of view whenever he feels like it.

The prologue of Crusader's Cross is set in 1958 when Dave is 20 years old, which means that he's now 67. But he's as full of rage as ever, and he can still go out and run a few miles, come home and lift weights, and then do a few hundred pushups with his feet elevated and pressed against a wall. We should all be in that kind of shape when we hit 67. And sex? Dave gets plenty of that, too, without any pharmaceutical aids.

In spite of my litany of complaints, I don't have any plans to stop reading the books. The voice still holds me, and until it stops, I'll lay my money down.

Addendum: Just to let you know my Burke credentials, for many years he was a "whatever happened to" author for me. I bought (and still have) copies of and Half of Paradise and Lay Down my Sword and Shield when they first came out in paperback in the late '60s or early '70s. I got Burke to sign them a few years ago when he was on a book tour. I thought those two books were wonderful, but after they came out, the author disappeared as far as I knew. I wondered for a long time how a writer with so much talent could just drop out of sight. Then one day after I'd been in Alvin a couple of years, Jim Creel, a faculty member the college came by my office with a paperback copy of a mystery novel he'd just read. He said it was really good and wanted to know if I'd like to read it. When I saw the author's name on the cover, I got a very pleasant jolt and took the book off his hands immediately. I haven't missed one since.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang

You probably find this as hard to believe as I do, but Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang isn't playing in Alvin. If you're as deprived as I am, you might enjoy seeing the very cool title sequence right on your computer at this link. (Via Yes But No But Yes)

The Victoria's Secret Show is Back!

ABC News: Victoria's Secret show struts back after hiatus: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Victoria's Secret fashion show staged an exuberant return on Wednesday evening as the lingerie retailer brought back its sexually-charged runway extravaganza for the first time in two years.

The fashion show, a multimillion dollar televised showcase of lacy titillation, was scrapped last year amid a wave of broadcasting modesty that followed singer Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl 'wardrobe malfunction' in 2004."

My theory is that if mentioning Lindsay Lohan's nipples will bring a thousand hits, this story is worth a few thousand more. The show will be on CBS on December 6. Mark your calendars.

Dirty Little Billy

Billy the Kid investigation resurrected - Science - MSNBC.com: "FORT SUMNER, N.M. - Two investigators say they have obtained DNA from a cowboy who claimed to be Billy the Kid.

Before dying in the 1930s, John Miller purportedly told friends and a son that he was the legendary Western outlaw.

Former Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan and Capitan Mayor Steve Sederwall say they obtained the DNA last May from Miller's remains, which are buried in Prescott, Ariz."

They say they will compare it with blood traces taken from a 19th-century bench that is believed to be the one the Kid's body was placed on after he was shot by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881. The bench was discovered on a Fort Sumner ranch.

Should the samples match, Sullivan and Sederwall say they could have a break that upends accepted historical accounts of the Kid's life and death.

There's a lot more. Click the link.

Mother of Mercy, Could This Be the End of Billo?

I heard from my agent today that he's going to "semi-retire." What this means is that he'll continue to work with my backlist but that he won't be handling any new projects.

I'm not exactly sure what effect this will have on my future in the writing game. I turned in a book on November 1, and I have one book left to write on a two-book contract with St. Martin's, so of course I'll do that one. After that, it's anybody's guess. I've had a good run, and maybe this is a sign I should hang up the old keyboard. I hate the thought of having to find a new agent and start all over again. I have several little projects I'd like to find representation for, but I'm feeling pretty ignorant and apathetic about what will happen, as in "I don't know and I don't care."

Sadly, my agent didn't mention Lindsay Lohan's nipples.

50 Greatest Independent Films

Yes, it's another list. And there's absolutely no mention of Lindsay Lohan's nipples anywhere in it. It's still worth a look, though.

Okay, This is Pretty Cool

You can send yourself an e-mail that will be delivered in 20 years. Or, if you're my age, you might want to make that ten years, or five, or fewer. Forbes is doing this for some reason or another, and I've already written my e-mail. You can send one to yourself right here. Better pick an e-mail address you'll still be using, assuming you're still around.

The Big Blind -- Ray Banks

This is one of those books that you might not want to read if you're feeling depressed. It's about a double glazing salesman named Alan Slater. He runs over a dog, and from there his life goes downhill fast.

Slater's not a bad salesman, and he knows how to work the marks. Some of the stuff about selling windows is pretty funny, and there are also some good scenes set in casinos, which Banks seems to know quite well.

One of Slater's problems (aside from the fact that he drinks way too much) is that he doesn't choose his friends very carefully. Or his friend. There seems to be only one, and he's the wrong one. Les Beale is a guy who's always getting into trouble and always asking Alan to get him out of it. Alan, knowing better, always goes along, and things begin to get really out of hand.
Alan also has a much younger girlfriend whom he treats shabbily.

It's not an easy trick to make you care about someone like Slater, but Banks pulls it off. Slater seems on the verge, several times, of pulling himself out of the mess he's getting into, and you'd like to see him do it. Finally, though, his helpfulness to Beale takes him across the final line, and you know that the end isn't going to be pretty. It's not. It's ugly and appropriate. Cozy fans beware. Those who like their noir short, gritty, and fueld by booze, check it out. This is the real goods.

Lindsay Lohan's Nipples

According to Lee Goldberg, a mention of Lindsay Lohan's nipples should bring 1000 extra hits to his blog page. Hey, if it works for Lee, I figured it was worth a try.

When It Comes to News . . . The Sun Is There

The Sun Online - News: Wackiest web names ever

Who Represents?, a database for agencies to the rich and famous: www.whorepresents.com

Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views: www.expertsexchange.com

Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island: www.penisland.net

Need a therapist? www.therapistfinder.com

Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com

New to Milan and you need electric light? Why not sign up on-line with Power-Gen? www.powergenitalia.com

Once Upon a Time . . .

. . . I was Sean McIver, for a series of books that never saw the light of print. This was the first in the series, and I thought it was a pretty good one. I suppose that Sean McIver wasn't destined to be a household name, though the cover lingers on. It was probably better than the book, in fact. It turns up on the Internet now and then.

Mystery*File Yet Again

Steve Lewis has just posted Gary Warren Niebuhr's article on Honey West (with some cool cover scans) at the Mystery*File site. Check it out!

Dennis Day and More OTR

Since we have XM Satellite Radio in the car, Judy and I like to listen to an OTR show now and then when we're driving. Last night we heard an episode of The Jack Benny Show, on which Dennis Day was a regular. I was reminded that he had his own show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day, which was another big favorite in my family. We listened to that one nearly every week. My mother was a sucker for that Irish tenor voice, and so I became a fan, too. I looked the show up in John Dunning's On the Air, which I mentioned the other day, and it went off the air in 1951. That means I was only ten when it disappeared.

Ed Gorman recalls on his blog that sitting around and listening to the radio was as much a part of family life as watching TV became, which was certainly true of my family. We listened just about every evening, and I still remember what the radio looked like. It wasn't one of those big fancy sets you see in movies or in magazine ads from those days. It was a fairly small wooden box, painted yellow, but it was magic for me.

I didn't just listen in the evenings, though. In the summers I'd listen in the morning, mostly to The Breakfast Club. In the afternoons I'd listen to the kid shows, but also to the soaps, like Just Plain Bill (which I thought had a great title), Young Widder Brown, Lorenzo Jones, and others. No wonder I have low tastes in literature.

Mystery*File Yet Again

Steve Lewis just keeps right on updating Mystery*File. Check it out.

Self-Publishing

For those of you who just can't get enough of articles on self-publishing (*kaff*Lee Goldberg*kaff*), here's a pretty good one.

This Land is Your Land -- The Kingston Trio and The Brothers Four

Yesterday evening Judy and I drove down to Galveston Island for a concert by the Kingston Trio and the Brothers Four. The weather was great, and we got to the Island just about dark. The concert was at The Grand 1894 Opera House, and we were lucky enough to find a parking spot only a block and a half away. We had reservations at the Saltwater Grill, which is directly across the street from the theater, so we had a good meal before the concert. Judy had the shrimp scampi, and I (because I don't like seafood) had a nice steak fillet. After we ate, we walked across the street to the theater to discover that Doris Burbank was in charge of the ushers and the seating. Doris was the chair of the music department at Alvin Community College for many years, and I was her supervisor for about fifteen of them. It was good to visit with her for a while before we took our seats.

The Brothers Four opened the show. Some people have the opinion that the Brothers Four have a sort of "glee club" sound. Those people haven't heard this configuration. The only original member remaining in the group is Bob Flick, and when he came out on the stage, I got an immediate nostalgia rush. I saw the group about 45 years ago, maybe a little more, in Austin, but it was as if all those years melted away and I was a kid again. Bob Flick seemed to be enjoying himself as much now as he did then, and he looked as familiar to me as an old friend. The guys didn't make any effort to reproduce the sound of the original group, and they did only a couple of songs that are strongly identified with the Brothers Four. In fact, it was a little odd to hear them do "Sloop John B," which is a Kingston Trio song in my mind.

But I digress. The group's sound is great, probably better than the original's, and one of the current members (Mark Pearson) is a terrific instrumentalist. He can play things the original group couldn't touch, as he demonstrated on his banjo solo, a medley with "Because," "Tiger Rag," and a couple of songs I didn't recognize. The audience was wowed. I particularly liked the group's version of "Whiskey in the Jar," but my favorite of their set was the railroad medley that closed it out: "City of New Orleans," "Blue Water Line" (one of my favorites and better than the original), "Wabash Cannonball," "This Train," and "Rock Island Line." They brought down the house and got a standing O. I thought, Wow, it's going to be hard to the Kingston Trio to follow this.

But I was wrong. The Kingston Trio came out and from the first few notes of the first song ("Road to Freedom"), I knew they wouldn't have trouble following anybody. With Bob Shane's retirement a couple of years ago, there are no original members singing with the group now, though George Grove has been with them for thirty years or so. I thought I'd miss Bob Shane, and of course I did, but the current group is just flat terrific. If anybody has any doubts about how good they are, I say, just go and listen. Voyle Gilmore isn't working the sound board, but I think you'll be blown away by the fullness of the voices and the power of the instruments.

Bill Zorn has taken Shane's place in the middle, and he has an excellent stage presence, along with what I can only describe as a "big" voice. He was great on "They Call the Wind Maria," which is strongly identified in my mind with Bob Shane. The newest member is Rick Dougherty, who has a clear tenor that fit right in, and he harmonized flawlessly with the others. His solo on "M.T.A." was a real treat. So he's not Nick Reynolds. So what? He's Rick Dougherty, and he's damned good. The strumming by him and Zorn on this song was amazing to me. By the end, their hands were just a blur. George Grove did the solo work on "The Reverend Mr. Black," and this is one fine version of the song, much better to my ears than the hit record of long ago. The harmony on the chorus was killer. And speaking of killer harmony, the newest addition to the set list, "All the Hard Days are Gone," just knocked me out. Judy was bowled over, too, as she told me when we were leaving the concert. The Trio closed with "Worried Man," got a standing ovation, and came back for an encore with "Where Have all the Flowers Gone" that got another standing O.

People were still standing when the Trio and the Brothers Four came on stage to close the show with "This Land is Your Land," bringing the audience to its feet even before the song was over. People stood and cheered and begged for more. I'm convinced that the audience would have stayed for another hour, heck, maybe another week. The show really was that good. I wish I had tickets to tonight's performance. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Bummer

A tip of the Hatlo hat to Art Scott, who let me in on this sad story. Cheesy rap for Mouseketeer '50s star gets busted on mail fraud

BY JOHN MARZULLI NEW YORK DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Darlene Gillespie, one of the original Mouseketeers, is acting more like a racketeer these days. Gillespie, 61, and her husband, Jerry Fraschilla, 66, were arrested by the FBI at their home in Ventura County, Calif., on Thursday to face federal mail fraud charges in Long Island. The couple, who have served time for stock fraud, are accused of pocketing over $317,000 in bogus claims they submitted in a class-action settlement, according to a complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip. They are being held pending a bail hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles, law enforcement officials said yesterday.

On the Air -- John Dunning

On the Air is a massive (over 800 pages) encyclopedia of Old Time Radio. John Dunning discusses every show you've ever heard of, and a few you haven't. I was lucky to get this book at a huge discount, thanks to having seen a mention of the sale on Ivan Shreve's Thrilling Days of Yesteryear. Only 19 bucks, plus postage, which makes it the biggest bargain I've found this year.

I don't write much about OTR here, but I grew up listening to radio as a kid, and sometimes I'm amazed at how many shows I must have heard at one time or another. Browsing through Dunning's book brings back a lot of memories.

The favorite show of one of my grandfathers, as I may have mentioned before, was Lum & Abner. But he was also a big fan of The Great Gildersleeve. His favorite character on the show, aside from Gildy, was Mr. Peavey, the druggist, and naturally Mr. Peavey became one of my favorites as well. This was all a long time ago. My grandfather died when I was six, which means that we're talking about things that occurred in 1947. Obviously I started listening to and enjoying radio when I was pretty young.

Don't worry. I'm not going to start listing all the shows I remember. What I will mention is that over on broadcastellan there's a on-going discussion of "The Thing that Cries in the Night," a serial presentation on I Love a Mystery. I'm listening to a chapter a day and following the discussion. You can listen for free right here if you're so inclined. There are some other shows archived, too. It's been a long time since I heard this serial, and I'm enjoying it a lot. We're up to Chapter Five now. Great stuff.

Napoleon Dynamite

Our daughter suggested that Judy and I might like this movie, and, sure enough, we did. It's a strange one, a little slow and virtually plotless. Mostly it's just an observation of the lives of some geeky guys and a gal. Napoleon is a high school student who lives with his grandmother and his brother Kip (in his 30s and addicted to computer chat rooms). When the grandmother has a dirtbike accident, Uncle Rico moves in. Rico believes that his life was ruined in 1982 when the coach didn't put him into the big game as the quarterback. He buys a time machine on eBay so he can return to the '80s and change history (and his life). Napoleon finds a friend in Pedro, who runs for class president, his main qualification being that he's the only kid in the school with a moustache.

I don't want to say more about what happens to the various characters because that would spoil the surprises and the fun. Mostly the movie's a series of vignettes, some of them very funny, but be warned: some people really, really hate it. Roger Ebert, for one. Maybe you have to be a little weird to appreciate it. If you do watch, though, be sure to sit through the end credits. There's a five-minute scene tacked on, and it's very funny, too.

Fall Comes to Texas

There are a couple of new pictures posted on my photoblog. Check 'em out.

One Ride Too Many -- Frank Bonham

This is a collection of stores (and one essay) by a prolific pulpster. Bonham also wrote for the slicks and later for the paperback market. He wrote mostly westerns, but for Gold Medal he did some crime novels, and in 1965 he had a YA bestseller.

The opening essay, "Tarzana Nights," is worth the price of the book (which you'll probably have to find used). It was originally published in Mystery Scene in 1987, and I can't believe it's been nearly 20 years since I first read it. It's the great story of how Bonham learned to write through his association with the earl of the pulps, a guy he prefers to call "Ed Oliver Ratt." You pulp fans know who he means.

The only story I've read so far is the one that gives the book its title. It happens to be a rodeo story, set most likely around the time it was written (1950) rather than in the Old West. It features an ageing rodeo rider who comes up against the new kid who appears likely to take his place as the champ, but it's a slightly different take on an old story, very well done. I'm looking forward to reading more of these stories, and maybe I'll even have a look at one of Bonham's crime novels.

Hard Case Crime in the News

CNN.com - Girls, guns and money - Nov 2, 2005: "Girls, guns and money
A revival of the pulp fiction paperback genre"

Nice article, well worth a look. Thanks to Sarah Weinman's blog for the tip.

Maybe It's Just Me

Ever since this post way back on August 6, I've been looking forward to reading Fan Tan, supposedly written by Marlon Brando and Donald Cammel. So the other day I picked up the book at the local library and brought it home. What a great cover! Too bad I started reading it, because I was very disappointed. It got a starred review in PW, but I thought the writing bit the moose. I couldn't get past about the first fifteen pages. I skipped to the Afterword, which pretty much says that Cammel did all the actual writing, though Brando came up with much of the story. Doesn't matter. I couldn't get through it. Maybe some other time.

I also tried Chris Elliott's The Shroud of the Thwacker. I figured a book that sends up Dan Brown, historical mysteries, and amateur sleuths, all in the vein of Mad magazine, would be just what I needed. It wasn't. I got through about forty pages of it and gave up. The stuff that was supposed to be hilarious just didn't work for me. Obviously I'm turning into the typical grumpy old man. That must be it.

UPDATE: Lee Goldberg has an interesting post related to The Shroud of the Thwacker on his blog.

Happy Halloween, Part 2

LONDON - Here's one to ponder on Halloween. A new survey says more people in Britain believe in ghosts than believe in God.

A poll of more than 2,000 says 68 percent believe in ghosts and spirits, while 55 percent say they believe in the existence of God.

Of the ghost believers, 12 percent claim to have seen an apparition. Seventy-six percent say reality television shows and films about the supernatural are part of the reason they're convinced ghosts are real.

Ed's Back!

Yes, after the good news yesterday, Ed Gorman's back to regular blogging. That's more good news for all of us.

Happy Halloween!

Good News from Ed Gorman

Check out this post if you haven't seen it. Maybe Ed will be blogging again Real Soon Now.

"Incident on and off a Mountain Road" -- Joe R. Lansdale

Showtime has a new series called Masters of Horror, 13 one-hour movies by the directors of famous horror films and based on stories by some of the greats, including Joe Lansdale, whose "Incident on and off a Mountain Road" kicks things off. I guess they wanted to get off to a rousing start, and this story does the job. A young woman, whose husband has given her considerable survival training, has an accident along a deserted stretch of highway and finds herself mixed up with Moonface, a serial killer who makes Hannibal Lecter look like Archie Andrews. She turns out to be a lot more resourceful than Moonface figures, but that's not the whole story. You'll have to read the short or watch the movie to find out more because I'm not going to spoil it for you. It'll make your Halloween weekend even creepier, but don't watch right after you eat. Great stuff. Check it out.

100 Greatest Horror Movie Performances

Here's another of those lists you can argue with. There are some on here that I'd completely forgotten about.

Anna Nicole Smith Back in the News

Via MSNBC: NEW YORK - Anna Nicole Smith’s dogs are boycotting pet food maker Iams.

Smith’s protesting pooches are refusing dog food from Iams in a new advertisement for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“Marilyn, Sugar Pie and Puppy are boycotting Iams until it stops testing on animals in labs,” the poster reads beneath a picture of Smith, a former Playboy model, and her three dogs.

PETA claims an undercover investigation in 2002 and 2003 revealed “deplorable” conditions in Iams’ contract laboratory. The group said at least 27 dogs were killed, and listed abuses including cramped conditions and having dogs’ vocal cords removed to prevent barking.

The Colorado Kid -- Stephen King

The Colorado Kid is by Stephen King, it's published by Hard Case Crime, and it's dedicated "With admiration, for Dan J. Marlowe, author of The Name of the Game is Death, Hardest of the hardboiled." So what kind of book would you expect it to be? If you said, "Something like Marlowe's book or another Hard Case novel," you'd be dead wrong. This is about as far from The Name of the Game is Death as you can get. If this were a Gold Medal novel, it would be by Vin Packer, not Dan J. Marlowe. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And if you were thinking, "Well, it's Stephen King, so it must be weird," well, you'd be wrong about that, too.

It's the story of a body found on a beach in Maine, told by two colorful geezers to a much younger woman many years after the fact, so there's another story going on too, about the young newspaper reporter who's coming to love life on the island where she's working as an intern and who's learning a lot from the two old men who run the newspaper there.

The cover asks the question, "Would she learn the dead man's secret?" SPOILER ALERT! The answer to that is, no, she won't, and that's the whole point of the story. She learns a lot of things, but the major questions go unanswered. Some mysteries can't be explained, and they're all the more interesting for that. END SPOILER ALERT!

This book is neither hardboiled nor noir, but it's entertaining enough. It's slight, but it's certainly not disappointing, and I enjoyed reading it. It's brought Hard Case a ton of free publicity, which is great. I'm happy to add it to my Hard Case shelf.

Because this is a family blog . . .

. . . I cannot provide a link to this story.

Sad? Yes. Bizarre? Ditto. Hey, it's Halloween!

From the Associated Press: FREDERICA, Del. - The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.

The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.

Mystery*File

I don't know how many of you are checking Steve Lewis's Mystery*File with any regularity, but he puts up new stuff all the time, and it's all worth having a look at. Click the link and check it out.

Shred of Evidence

The new issue is up and available for free right here. Highly recommended. I've read only Brian Thornton's "Glycerine" so far, but if the other stores are as good, this will be a really outstanding issue.

DisAstros

Here are a few things I'd like to know:

1. What changed Brad Lidge from one of the league's best closers into just another ordinary relief pitcher?

2. For that matter what happened to Morgan Ensberg?

3. Why didn't Jose Vizcaino start at shortstop in game 4? Adam Everett couldn't buy a hit and struck out in crucial situations at least three times in the Series. I think he might have had one hit in the four games with the White Sox.

4. Will the Chronicle break out that tombstone again? This time it might be deserved.

Attention Western Fans

Here's a link to Yes but no but Yes where an new western comic is described. Or graphic novel, or whatever. You might want to check it out.

You won't be interested in this link to the same site's list of "10 Pioneers of Striptease" (with pictures).

Of all the Bloody Cheek -- Frank McAuliffe

The other day I thought it was time to re-read Frank McAuliffe's Of all the Bloody Cheek. When I read it the first time, something like forty years ago, I knew I'd never read anything quite like it. All these years later, I still haven't, except for the sequels: Rather a Vicious Gentleman and For Murder I Charge More. The books aren't exactly novels, more like collections of novellas, but the novellas in each volume are interconnected, and in fact the novellas in all three volumes are interconnected in a marvel of plotting seldom, if ever, equalled. The stories are very funny, thanks the the narrative voice of Augustus Mandrell, killer for hire, and I've been recommending this series for a long, long time. The trouble was that nobody could find the books. Soon, I hope, that won't be a problem. PointBlank is supposedly going to reprint all three volumes, not to mention (and here's the really good news) print a fourth as-yet-unpublished book. I've read a version of the manuscript, and it's a fine addition to the previous three. Buy them all as soon as you get a chance. You won't regret it.

This Stuff always Comes too Late for Me to Benefit

The Chronicle: 10/28/2005: The Man Who Would Murder Death

The 42-year-old English biogerontologist [Aubrey de Grey] has made his name by claiming that some people alive right now could live for 1,000 years or longer. Maybe much longer. Growing old is not, in his view, an inevitable consequence of the human condition; rather, it is the result of accumulated damage at the cellular and molecular levels that medical advances will soon be able to prevent — or even reverse — allowing people to go on living pretty much indefinitely. We'll still have to worry about angry bears and falling pianos, but aging, the biggest killer of all, will cease to be a threat. Death, as we know it, will die.

Old Time Radio

Yesterday on our drive to Galveston, Judy and I listened to a couple of radio shows. The first was an episode of The Six Shooter, starring James Stewart. This a show I'd never heard on radio, as it wasn't broadcast until around the time we got our TV set and weren't listening to the radio in the evenings any more. The episode we heard was "Johnny Springer," about Britt Poncet (Stewart) and a sheriff tracking down the killer whose name is the title of the episode. Nothing new, but Stewart was really good as the hero/narrator.

We also listened to an episode of Suspense. This was a really popular show at my house when I was a kid, and everyone knew what your were talking about when you intoned, "a tale well calculated to keep you in . . . suspense!" The one we heard starred Howard Duff as a radio-show writer whose boss tells him he's no longer any good. Duff, who had ambitions of being a great novelist and feels he lowered himself to write radio shows for money, is naturally resentful, so he decides to kill his boss and record the murder for a radio show. Suspense nearly always had a twist ending, and so does this one (it even kids the idea), but it's not much of a twist. Anybody who hears it will probably guess the ending about five minutes into the show. Heck, you've probably guessed it already. Still, it was fun. Duff was one of my favorite radio actors in Sam Spade, another one we never missed, and it was nice to hear him in this bad-guy role.

Strange Sisters

You'd think that Lee Goldberg, what with writing the Diagnosis Murder tie-in novels, the Monk tie-in novels, his own novels, and TV series pitches, not to mention teleplays, wouldn't have time to be searching the 'Net for paperback covers with lesbian themes. But apparently he doesn't let work stand in the way of diligent research, which led him to this recommended site. Check it out.

Galveston in October

It was such a nice day yesterday that Judy and I drove down to Galveston. I took a couple of photos and posted them on the photoblog.

See You in Austin Next July?

The Guest line up for ConMisterio 2006 is now set. The convention is July 14 - 16, 2006 at the Austin Doubletree Hotel at Interstate 35 and Hwy 290. The Guests include:

Literary Guests:

James Crumley

Margaret Maron

Toastmaster

Bill Crider

Publisher Guest

Dennis McMillan

Fan Guests

Elmer and Jan Grape

Be there or be square.

Not That There's Anything Wrong with That

From The Independent: They strut their stuff and shake their booties as well as any pop band worldwide, and their infectious dance tunes are taking the Asian music scene by storm.

But in one crucial respect Lady, the hottest music act to come out of South Korea in years, are not your average girl group. They may have looks that many women would die for - but none of these four singers was born as a lady.

Happy Birthday, Annette!

I suspect that anybody who grew up when I did knew immediately whose birthday I meant in the headline. No last name necessary. She's 63 today. I know her health hasn't been great, and if you want to donate to her fund for neurological disorders, you can click here. There's a good fan site here, and there are some more photos here. Like every other boy my age, I was a huge fan, and I wish her all the best.

Another Bargain from Stark House

Here's another great double volume from Stark House Press. Publication date is December, so get yourself one for Christmas. The two Peter Rabe novels included were both originally published by Gold Medal, so you know you have a couple of winners. Besides the novels you get an introduction by me and Ed Gorman, George Tuttle's essay on Rabe's life, and Donald Westlake's essay on Rabe's writing. Wotta deal!

School Days -- Robert B. Parker

Yes, it's another Spenser, but this time there's no Hawk, and Susan is just a voice on the phone until the last chapter. Pearl, however, is omnipresent.

Spenser's hired by the grandmother of one of two boys who strolled into their school building with a pair of 9mm pistols each and opened fire. The grandma wants to prove the kid's not guilty, and when it becomes obvious that he is, Spenser decides to find out a couple of things the cops don't care about: why the kid did it and where he got the guns.

If you've read a newspaper in the last ten years or so, you'll be a long way ahead of Spenser on this one. Still I enjoyed reading it. I like Parker's writing; it's as simple as that. He's really doing a lot of books lately, it seems like. That's fine, too. Whatever he wants to write, I'll read, though I admit that I check his books out of the library instead of buying them.

More SF Covers

Via Jayme Lynn Blaschke, a link that will give you hours of fun looking at old SF cover art. It's great. Check it out.

ASTROS WIN!

Oh, me of little faith. Pass me that heapin' helpin' of crow, and make the dessert a nice slice of humble pie. Looks like Pujols' homer in the fifth game put a stake in my heart, but not the hearts of the Astros. Tonight it was the Cards who looked listless and distracted, while the Astros went out and played ball. World Series in Houston? I would never have believed it.

Biggio and Bagwell in the big show at last. The irony is that Bagwell didn't do a thing to help the team get there, after all he's done over the years. I hope they'll use him as the DH in the games in Chicago. It would be a nice gesture.

More Emsh Covers

Check out the photoblog for a few of the covers Emsh did for the Ace Doubles series.

Hunter's Moon

Back in March I wrote a short post about the old family plantation. Last night my brother paid a visit to the land, a small portion of which is still in the family (tangled in an inheritance mess that Dickens would envy). The cabin that my great-grandfather built ("The Old Hunter's Retreat") is still there and is show in the picture to the left, with last night's Hunter's Moon.

It's not hard for somebody like me to imagine that there were spirits walking those woods last night: my great-grandfather and his friends Dave and the Old Koon among them. My great uncle Everett was probably sitting on the porch, sketchbook in hand, listening to the barking of the dogs that have treed something down in the bottoms. I wonder if my brother heard them, too.

Happy Birthday, Chuck Berry!

Seventy-nine years old today. I wonder if he can still do that duck walk? One of the greats of my youth. "Maybellene," "School Days," "Sweet Little Sixteen," Roll Over, Beethoven," "Promised Land," "Carol," "Brown-eyed Handsome Man," "Johnny B. Goode," "You Never Can Tell," "Memphis Tennessee," "No Particular Place to Go," "Nadine." And more I can't remember right now. It wouldn't have been the same without him.

Another List

Time's "100 All-Time Novels" via Pop Culture Junk Mail. And I'm left off again! The swine. You've probably read all of the, right?

Cards 5, Astros 4

Arrrgggghhhhhhhhh! One out away from the World Series. One pitch away, and Brad Lidge couldn't make it. After Eckstine's hit, Lidge couldn't make any pitches. I blame Phil Garner and Brad Asmus as much as Lidge. I haven't played baseball since Little League, but my theory would be: Pitch around Pujols, and whatever you do, don't groove him one. He hit the kind of home run that's more than a game winner. It's a stake in the heart. My prediction: Oswalt and Clemens won't be able to carry the load. Cards in seven.

Thunder Road Redux

WorldNetDaily: Moonshining 'still' big business in '05:
Some whiskey operations capable of producing $40,000 per week"

A Virginia moonshine still raided last week could be connected to a larger whiskey-running operation, said an Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) official.

............................

Calhoun described the operation as an "average" size still, which included seven pots – one 400-gallon pot, five 800-gallon pots and one 1,200-gallon pot – that were capable of producing 800 to 1,000 gallons of whiskey a week.

By comparison, the largest still ever uncovered in Virginia contained more than 30 pots and produced 4,000-plus gallons of moonshine a week, said Calhoun.

The Axton still's production required about 5,600 pounds of sugar per week as well as 450-700 pounds of grain and 35 pounds of malted barley every five to seven fermentation periods, which last seven to 10 days, said Calhoun.

Irony is Apparent

From Excite.com: "The cover photo on the latest issue of Patrick Buchanan's American Conservative magazine, bearing the cover line "After the Storm," is not that much different from many of the pictures coming out of the hurricane-stricken areas of the South. It shows a family of four children slogging through knee-deep water with two adult women. However, the "woman" on the far right is none other than well-known New Orleans drag queen and bartender Jack "Lady Charles" Nicholson. Kara Hopkins, the magazine's executive editor, had no explanation other than "it was a good photo."

Ed Gorman

Ed Gorman has made (so he says) his final post to his blog. If you haven't seen it already, click the link and take a look before you read anything else I have to say.

Ed has done more for the mystery field than just about anybody I can think of, through Mystery Scene and Five Star books, just to name a couple of venues. Five Star has revived careers and launched them. It's given writers a place to publish books that the bigger houses wouldn't touch, books that garnered rave reviews in PW and Kirkus when they appeared. Ed's not Five Star, but he's a driving force.

And that's not all. I suspect that there are dozens of writers, maybe more than that, whom Ed has personally helped out in one way or another. He's been incredibly generous with a lot of us, especially me. I'm not going to list all the ways he's helped me, but I owe him a lot. Believe me.

I love reading Ed's blog, or just about anything he writes. I'm always amazed at his ability to write about movies, books, and other writers, especially the books and writers of the Gold Medal era. I think he has a better understanding of them than just about anyone.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that Ed better not have made the final post to his blog. I'm counting on his complete and total recovery and his eventual return to blogging. I suspect that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of others who feel the same way. I'm not deleting my bookmark, and that's final.

The Wheelman -- Duane Swierczynski

This must be my month for reading novels about getaway drivers. First came Jim Sallis's excellent Drive, and now The Wheelman, which also begins with a heist gone wrong but which is quite a different book. For one thing, the title character, Partick Lennon, absorbs more punishment than just about anybody I can think of in recent fiction. Even moer than Declan MacManus of D. Daniel Judson's The Bone Orchard. Until I read about Lennon, I considered MacManus the champ, but Lennon, well, you should just read the book and find out.

Are there any other reasons to read the book? Duane Swierczynski's the real deal. First there was Secret Dead Men, a tour-de-force if ever there was one, and now this. It's fast-moving, full of double crosses, triple crosses, and maybe quadruple crosses, the action scenes are so good that you wonder when the movie will be coming out, and the characters are the kind you don't want to meet in a dark alley, or anywhere else except in the pages of a book, where they're all equally terrible and equally entertaining. Anybody can die and any time, and will.

If, like me, you have a little trouble spelling Swierczynski, better sit down and practice. This guy's gonna be around a long time.