The 100 Greatest Science Fiction or Fantasy Novels of All Time

In Which We Count Down The 100 Greatest Science Fiction or Fantasy Novels of All�Time - Home - This Recording

Kingdom of the Spiders

Erich Segal, R. I. P.

Erich Segal - Telegraph: "Erich Segal, who died on January 17 aged 72, was an esteemed Classics professor who produced the critically-panned but popularly-adored novel Love Story, which was turned into a film starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal; he also wrote the screenplay for the Beatles’ animated feature Yellow Submarine."

Hat tip to Scott Cupp.

The Traitor in Us All -- Robert S. Levinson

If you've read Bob Levinson's short stories in EQMM or AHMM, or if you've read his earlier novels, you know that he writes in a lot of subgenres. The Traitor in Us All is a straight-ahead thriller that begins with a high-voltage action scene and then zips along at top speed.

Emil Grass, a stone cold killer, murders a young woman in a pizza parlor and abducts her friend, Tracy Collins. Or is it really an abduction. Jack Sothern, a reporter, thinks there's more to it, and of course he's right. The McGuffin here is the diary of a former head of East Germany's State Security back in the Cold War days. The diary would be worth Big Bucks to certain parties, and Sothern believes that Tracy's mother either has seen the diary or knows where it is. The mother hates Sothern, whom she holds responsible (because of an article he wrote) for the death of her husband, an actor who defected to the USSR.

It's a lot more complicated than that, and there are so many twists and turns that I couldn't begin to enumerate them. It's all way over the top, but I didn't mind at all. It's easy to overlook implausible things when you're reading as fast as you can to see what happens next. Check it out.

Robert B. Parker

Trying to gather my thoughts. Still a bit boggled by the news of Parker's passing. As I mentioned earlier, I've been a big fan since the publication of The Godwulf Manuscript. The president of the college where I was teaching called me to his office and handed me a copy of the book. "This is the kind of thing you might like," he said, and he was absolutely right. Too bad it was a book club edition, or I'd have a real treasure (yes, I still have it; what did you expect?). Since that time, I don't think I've missed a single book, and that includes the YA novels.

Lots of people quit reading Parker years ago, for one reason or another. Not me. I stuck with him, and I've enjoyed every book of his that I've read. Some more than others, but I've never been less than satisfied. What did Parker have that made him one of my favorites? I've written about this before, but it's one of my favorite quotations, and so I'll repeat it. When asked why people were so devoted to his books, Parker said, "I think they like the sound of the words on the page." I can't speak for anyone else, but that's what draws me back, time after time: the sound of the words on the page.

I've joked before, and so have many others, about all the white space in Parker's novels, but when it comes to telling a fast-moving story with mostly dialog, and not much of it, Parker has few peers. His stories have a bit of depth to them, too, an emotional heft some people overlook.

I met Parker a couple of times, the first being in San Francisco in 1982 at a Bouchercon in the Jack Tarr hotel, or whatever it was called in those days. Right across the street from Tommy's Joynt, a spot Parker mentioned in one of his books published not too long after that Bouchercon. Parker was the Guest of Honor that year. I met him in the lobby, where he was waiting around for his room, which for some reason wasn't ready. He wore a red windbreaker with Ace (his nickname) embroidered on it. We talked for a while about this and that, probably our dissertations, which we'd written at about the same time about the same three authors.

It's hard to believe, but in those days at Bouchercon, a writer like Parker spoke in a small room with only 30-40 people in the audience, maybe fewer than that. He told a great story about giving up teaching for full-time writing. He said that he taught fewer and fewer classes and was finally teaching only one class a week. When he told his wife that he was going to stop teaching altogether, she said, "But it's only once a week." He answered, "Yes, but it's every week." Maybe you had to be there.

I don't have much else to say except, "Robert B. Parker, ave atque vale."

When Will the Lawsuit be Filed?

Man died after watching Avatar - doctor | News.com.au: "A 42-year-old Taiwanese man with a history of high blood pressure has died of a stroke likely triggered by over-excitement from watching the blockbuster Avatar in 3D, a doctor says."

Hat tip to David Cranmer.

Edgar Nominations

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 201st anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2010 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2009. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 64th Gala Banquet, April 29, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Odds by Kathleen George (Minotaur Books)
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)
Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Random House - Ballantine Books)
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster - Touchstone)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano (Akashic Books)
The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Books)
Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press – Castle Street Mysteries)
The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group - Twelve)
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster)
The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide by Dick Lehr (HarperCollins)
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (The Penguin Press)
Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books)
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)
The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" – Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" – Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
"Animal Rescue" – Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
"Amapola" – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers Group – Philomel Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking Children’s Books)
Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

"Place of Execution," Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)
"Strike Three" – The Closer, Teleplay by Steven Kane (Warner Bros TV for TNT)
"Look What He Dug Up This Time" – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)
"Grilled" – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by George Mastras (AMC/Sony)
"Living the Dream" – Dexter, Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"A Dreadful Day" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines)


GRAND MASTER

Dorothy Gilman

RAVEN AWARDS

Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers’ Festival

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 28, 2010)

Awakening by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement (Minotaur Books)
Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Lethal Vintage by Nadia Gordon (Chronicle Books)
Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel (HarperCollins)

Robert B. Parker, R. I. P.

Robert B. Parker is Dead - Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind: "At the age of 77, 'just sitting at his desk' at his home in the Boston area, according to his U.K. publisher Quercus, Robert B. Parker is dead."

I'm sure there'll be much more to come on this. Right now, I'm overwhelmed. A writer I've followed faithfully since the appearance of his very first book, never missing a one. I can't believe he's really gone.

Gator Update

Police find alligator during drug bust - Timmins Daily Press - Ontario, CA: "Officers with the TPS drug enforcement section, along with officers from the organized crime enforcement bureau of the Ontario Provincial Police, executed a search warrant at a residence on Frederick House Lake Dr. in Connaught.

Police seized 430 pot plants in various stages of growth, 60 jars of psilocybin — commonly known as magic mushrooms — also in the growing phase, 1,900 grams f marijuana and 198 grams of psilocybin.

Police also discovered a six-foot long alligator in the home."

I've lost count of the number of stories like this that I've blogged. What is it about drug dealers and gators?

Edgar Allan Poe Update

Nevermore? Mystery Visitor Misses Poe's Birthday - NYTimes.com: "Is this tradition ''nevermore?''

A mysterious visitor who for decades has left roses and cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe has failed to show up for the anniversary of the writer's birthday.

The curator of the Poe House and Museum in Baltimore says the graveyard tradition dates back to at least 1949 and has never been interrupted before."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Carl Smith, R. I. P.

Carl Smith, Dapper Country Music Singer, Is Dead at 82 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "Carl Smith, the dapper singer who ranked among the most popular country hitmakers of the 1950s, died on Saturday at his home in Franklin, Tenn., just outside Nashville. He was 82.

He had recently suffered a stroke and had been in failing health, according to Keith Bilbrey, a close friend and former announcer on the Grand Ole Opry.

Mr. Smith’s music combined crooning vocals and upbeat arrangements, updating the gutbucket honky-tonk of his predecessors Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb with elements of rockabilly and rock ’n’ roll."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Some Good News from Afghanistan

Rare bird's breeding ground found in Afghanistan: "The first known breeding area of one of the world's rarest birds has been found in the remote and rugged Pamir Mountains in war-torn Afghanistan, a New York-based conservation group said Monday.

A researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the small, olive-brown large-billed reed warbler in 2008 and taped its distinctive song—a recording experts now say is probably the first ever. He and colleagues later caught and released 20 of the birds, the largest number ever recorded, the group says."

Sands of Iwo Jima

Glen W. Bell, R. I. P.

Taco Bell founder dead at 86 - Yahoo! News: "Glen W. Bell Jr., an entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Taco Bell chain, has died. He was 86.

Bell died Sunday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, according to a statement posted Monday on the Taco Bell Web site."

Anthony Neil Smith will be in mourning for a month.

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Edgar Allan Poe Update

Edgar Allan Poe - Salon.com: "Edgar Allan Poe's fertile imagination has endured for more than 150 years -- and so has his pale, death-haunted image, with his sunken eyes, a trim mustache and unruly mop of curly hair.

However, scholars say Poe looked far more vigorous, perhaps even dashing, in his earlier years than he does in the well-known series of daguerreotypes taken in the final years of his life.

The more robust Poe is captured in a small watercolor by A.C. Smith, one of just three surviving portraits of the author, which will be shown publicly for the first time Saturday and is expected to fetch tens of thousands of dollars at auction."

Small photo at the link.

If It's Not Nachos, It's Tacos

Stabbing Reportedly Started Over Tacos - Central Coast News Story - KSBW The Central Coast: "A Greenfield woman accused of stabbing her husband allegedly did so after the two argued about tacos, prosecutors said."

Jack Benny Update

Killing Comedic Heritage? CBS Reportedly Seals Some Classic Jack Benny Show Comedy Masters | The Moderate Voice: "Late last week the International Jack Benny Fan Club got some very bad news: rather than allow the club with the Benny family’s enthusiastic blessing to digitally preserve some unreleased public domain Benny show masters that CBS has in its possession, the network is giving a thumbs down to the idea — thus sealing these shows’ fate so they will never be seen again. In effect, it’s a bullet through the head of this body of Benny work. And here is the most frustrating tidbit for comedy fans and those who study comedy: the Fan Club offered to do the preservation at no cost to CBS."

Link via Boing Boing.

No Comment Department

Boom in Avatar names for kiddies | The Sun |News: "MOVIE fans are rushing to name their babies after characters in sci-fi smash Avatar.

Choices include Neytiri - after the film's Na'vi warrior-princess - and giant flying creature Toruk.

Another favourite is Pandora, name of the blockbuster flick's fictional planet."

Bring Me the Head of -- oh, and Bring Me a Flower, Too

Human head found by tomb of Mexican drug lord Beltran Leyva : America World: "A human head and a red flower were found Sunday by the tomb of Mexican drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was killed by Mexican security forces in a raid last month. The office of the Attorney General of the state of Sinaloa said that an employee of the Jardines del Humaya cemetery in the city of Culiacan, about 1,200 kilometres northwest of Mexico City, had informed them of the finding. Several suspected drug bosses are buried in that cemetery.

Mexican authorities did not immediately know the identity of the person whose head was laid on the steps of access to the tomb with a flower in one ear. The rest of the body was found inside a plastic bag in the same cemetery, by the tomb of Gonzalo 'El Chalo' Araujo, a boss of the Sinaloa drug cartel who was killed in October 2006."

Time Travelers Never Die -- Jack McDevitt

When i was a kid, one of the first grown-up SF stories I read was "E for Effort" by T. L. Sherred. It was in some fat Groff Conklin anthology that was full of great stories, but of them all, this one excited me the most. It's still one of my favorite SF stories, and I've read it several times since then. It never fails to impress me, and it's one reason I enjoy time-travel stories so much. So you have to take that into account when I say that I got a kick out of Jack McDevitt's Time Travelers Never Die.

The novel begins with as a kind of crime story. Shel Shelbourne appears to have been murdered. But then he reveals himself to his friend Dave Dryden. Shel has discovered an invention of his father's, the Q-Pod, that allows him to travel in time, but his father has disappeared. Dave and Shel search for him through the centuries.

There's no attempt to explain how the Q-Pod works, but it does, and all the expected paradox elements also apply. McDevitt has fun explaining and playing with them. Dave and Shel can't resist mingling with the people from the past, but nothing serious comes of it because they're careful. Well, most of the time. They run into trouble in Selma, Alabama, and they tangle with a Borgia. There are other bumps in the road.

Mostly the search for Shel's father is an excuse for a "and then we visited" kind of novel. (I was pleased that Shel and Dave attended a Kingston Trio Concert; I'm assuming they saw the original group.) Some might find the plot a bit rambling, but eventually Dave and Shel get around to the "crime" that began the novel and its ingenious resolution. A couple of other bloggers have commented, and you can find James Reasoner's comments here. Randy Johnson weighs in here. And George Kelley's review is here. George is the one who first recommended McDevitt to me some years ago, and I've enjoyed several of McDevitt's books since then.

Scott Cupp: Ten Overlooked Odd Speculative Fiction Classics

The SF Site: Ten Overlooked Odd Speculative Fiction Classics: "Ten Overlooked Odd Speculative Fiction Classics"

A good list, I think. Scott and I have talked about several of these over the years.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

McCoy's proposal came off without a hitch - Big 12 Blog - ESPN: "Colt McCoy had been planning to pop the question to his fianc�e, Rachel Glandorf, for several weeks."

McCoy took advantage of favorable circumstances to propose to Glandorf Sunday night at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, shortly after he returned from an examination of his injured shoulder from Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., earlier in the day.
[. . . .]
The proposal was made inside the stadium with the question flashed on the facility’s giant scoreboard. Glandorf quickly accepted."

They Had to Do a Study to Find This Out?

Current Biology - The cry embedded within the purr: "Despite widespread interest in inter-specific communication, few studies have examined the abilities of companion animals to communicate with humans in what has become their natural environment — the human home [1,2]. Here we report how domestic cats make subtle use of one of their most characteristic vocalisations — purring — to solicit food from their human hosts, apparently exploiting sensory biases that humans have for providing care."

Flying Leathernecks

A Weighty Problem

Floor caves under Weight Watchers weigh-in - Diet and nutrition- msnbc.com: "As a Weight Watchers group gathered for a routine weigh-in, the dieters got an idea of how far they still had to go: The floor underneath them collapsed, a Swedish newspaper reports.

'We suddenly heard a huge thud; we almost thought it was an earthquake and everything flew up in the air,' one of about 20 group members said to the Smalandsposten newspaper. 'The floor collapsed in one corner of the room and along the walls.'"

Hat tip to Richard Wheeler and Jeff Meyerson.

They Had to Do a Study to Find This Out?

Weekends Are Good For You, Study Finds - Yahoo! News: "Just about everybody - even workaholics - should look forward to the weekend, when most people get a mood boost, a new study suggests.

Participants in the study often reported better moods, greater vitality, and fewer aches and pains from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon as compared with the rest of the week.

'Workers, even those with interesting, high-status jobs, really are happier on the weekend,' said study researcher Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester."

Skinks on a Plane

Michael Plank arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for strapping 15 lizards to chest: "Federal officials say they arrested a man who strapped 15 live lizards to his chest to get through customs at Los Angeles International Airport.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday that 40-year-old Michael Plank of California was returning from Australia when U.S. Customs agents found two geckos, two monitor lizards and 11 skinks - another type of lizard - fastened to his body Tuesday."

Hat tip to Art Scott.

Kenn Davis, R.I.P.

Kenn Davis, author of the Carver Bascombe series and Bogart '48, passed away on January 12. For a bit more info, see Bob Randisi's comments as PWA News and Views.

Update: More at The Rap Sheet.

Bury Me Deep -- Megan Abbott

I know I've been a little slow getting around to this one, but it's been reviewed in so many places that it doesn't need me to do any more cheerleading. The story, as you probably know by now, is a fictional retelling of the story of Winnie Ruth Judd.

Although I don't have any trunk murderers in my family, unlike some people (*kaff*Richard Moore*kaff*), some of my relatives were fascinated by that case, and I remember my grandmother and my aunt talking about it when I was a little kid. There were other references to it over the years, so I was aware of the basic story before I picked up Bury Me Deep. This book goes way beyond the facts I knew, however, and fleshes out the characters in a way the turns the story into pure noir.

Marion Seeley is the Judd stand-in. She's married to a doctor with a morphine addiction. He's lost his license and goes to Mexico to work, leaving Marion behind in a little Arizona town where she falls in with the wrong crowd. Before long, she's going to wild parties, and not long after that, she's having an affair with a supposedly upright businessman who turns out to be anything but.

Marion's bad choices lead to even worse results, as they so often do in noir fiction, and while there's action and suspense aplenty, Bury Me Deep is really a character study. Why does Marion do the things she does? Why does she keep on doing them? Is she entirely to blame? How can a person do terrible things that don't fit with her own image of the kind of person she is? What can she do when everyone turns against her?

Megan Abbott is a skillful writer, and she's already won an Edgar. I'll be surprised if she's not nominated for another one. Bury Me Deep is just that good.

In Its Own Quiet Way, . .

. . . this is an amazing story.

I Have No Excuse for Posting This . . .

. . . other than the fact that I can't resist and article that mentions "a snail-sucking snake."

Spot the gecko: Reptile so small it can fit on pencil top found along with dozens of other new species in threatened Ecuador jungle | Mail Online: "A gecko so small it can perch on top of a pencil has been discovered along with dozens of new animal species in Ecuador’s threatened rainforest.

Scientists also found 30 new varieties of frog and a snail-sucking snake – all on the verge of becoming extinct."

Gator Update (Breathing Edition)

Alligators breathe like birds: "University of Utah scientists discovered that air flows in one direction as it loops through the lungs of alligators, just as it does in birds. The study suggests this breathing method may have helped the dinosaurs' ancestors dominate Earth after the planet's worst mass extinction 251 million years ago."

She Demons

New Story at BEAT to a PULP

BEAT to a PULP :: The Killing on Sutter Street :: Paul S. Powers

This one's special. Check out the author's name. More on Powers at the link in case you don't already know who he is.

Will the Persecution Never End

Slideshow: Celebrities Famous For No Reason - Starpulse Entertainment News: "Slideshow: Celebrities Famous For No Reason"

This Video Explains a Lot

YouTube - The Internet Is Made Of Cats

Three minutes of your life you'll never get back, a moment of which may not be safe for work.

Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction: An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm -- Bradley Mengel

I couldn't resist buying this book. I was a bit taken aback by the price, but then I saw that the Kindle edition was a lot less. So it became my first purchase of any Kindle book. (Others I've picked up for free.) It's exactly what it says on the cover there to the left: an encyclopedia of "serial vigilante" novels a sub-genre that began with The Executioner series.

So why couldn't I resist? Well, I have shelves full of serial vigilante novels, so why not find out something about the people who wrote them? And for that matter, since I've never read most of them, why not find out something about the series characters themselves? This book has most of the information I was looking for, from Able Team to Z-Comm, and I find it fascinating reading. I'm still working my way through it, but so far it's great stuff.

I have a couple of things to warn you about. First, the author offers no opinions about quality. He reports on the books and gives a good overview of the series, but there's no way to distinguish the better ones. You might not think there are none that are worth your time, but you'd be wrong. The Destroyer series, for one, has some wonderful books in it. Black Samurai is a cut above most others, and then there's the M.I.A. Hunter. You wouldn't know that by reading Serial Vigilantes, however. Second, I was hoping that I could find out who wrote all the books. The series originator is given, and there's often good material about that person. At the end of each section, there's a list of all the books in the series. So far, so good. The bad news is that while in some cases the author of each book is identified, in others, only some authors are named for specific books. And in other cases, no author is given at all. (The M.I.A. Hunter series being a prime example.)

Those quibbles aside, I recommend this to anybody who's interested in the serial vigilante novels that were so popular at one time. Now I wish someone would find out what happened to the audience for those books. Did it move on to reading other stuff? James Patterson, maybe, or Dan Brown? Or did it quit reading and start playing video games and watching DVDs? Inquiring minds want to know.

Planning to Watch the Play-Offs?

Football Games Have 11 Minutes of Action - WSJ.com: "According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

In other words, if you tally up everything that happens between the time the ball is snapped and the play is whistled dead by the officials, there's barely enough time to prepare a hard-boiled egg. In fact, the average telecast devotes 56% more time to showing replays."

Hat tip to Art Scott.

The Story With No Name Comes to a Close

The Culbin Trail: The Story With No Name

Yes, There Really Is an Internet Site for Everything

BirdSend.com | Send Someone The Bird!

You Probably Think I'm Linking to This Because of the Advice

But I'm really linking because of the picture.
Hat tip to Maurice Powell.

Bookgasm — reading material to get excited about: "20 Creative Ways to Become a Published Author"

Super Snake!

'Super snake' fears on the rise in Florida - latimes.com: "Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Fears of a new 'super snake' emerging in the Everglades grew this week during a hunt to track South Florida's invasive python population.
[. . . .]
In addition, state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a new 'super snake,' said George Horne, the water district's deputy executive director."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Hunters spark lockdown of Texas nuclear weapons plant: "A pair of fowl hunters sparked a brief lockdown of a Texas nuclear weapons plant Friday, officials said.
[. . . .]
The sheriff's office got a call around 7:20 am from an employee of B&W Pantex who saw two men getting out a vehicle dressed in camouflage and carrying guns a couple miles from the plant.

The men were soon found in a nearby field setting up goose decoys and a blind."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Dallas cop fired over nude photos sent to student - washingtonpost.com: "A 30-year-old Dallas police officer has been fired after an internal investigation revealed he sent nude photos of himself to a high school student.

Police Chief David Kunkle on Thursday fired Officer Bryan Crews. The officer's attorney says Crews will appeal and criticized the investigation."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Book 'Em

CBS rides with 'Hawaii Five-O' - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety: "Book 'em, CBS: Net has given a pilot order to its new take on 'Hawaii Five-O.'

Peter Lenkov is writing and exec producing a modern retelling of the classic 1970s crime drama. Also on board as exec producers ate Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

CBS TV Studios produces the project, which once again revolves around Steve McGarrett, the head of an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police."

Five Gates to Hell

William J. Lederer, R. I. P.

William J. Lederer, Author of ‘The Ugly American,’ Dies - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "William J. Lederer, a writer and career naval officer who, with Eugene Burdick, wrote “The Ugly American,” a novel that was among the first books to deal with American involvement in Southeast Asia and that barely veiled a blistering critique of the nation’s foreign policy there, died on Dec. 5 in Baltimore. He was 97."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Friday at the Improv

The Top Seven Classic Movie Moments You Didn't Know Were Improv | SPIKE

Somehow I Missed This

But since this is a family blog, I can't link to it.

Thanks to Linda Richards at The Rap Sheet for calling it to my attention.

"Billy Goat Bandit" Update

"Billy Goat Bandit" suspected in at least 11 Houston area bank robberies - 1/14/10 - Houston News - abc13.com: "The Houston FBI Bank Robbery Task Force is seeking the public's assistance in identifying a man who is now suspected in at least 6 Houston area bank robberies.

The latest occurred at the Wells Fargo located inside the Randall's grocery store located at 12860 Memorial Thursday. In previous robberies, the robber sported a unique straggly beard with extra long chin hair, earning him the nickname of the 'Billy Goat Bandit.' During some recent robberies, the robber's chin whiskers were more neatly trimmed."

GaGa Barbie

In case you're wondering, Barbie is on the left in each shot.

Forgotten Books: STONE M.I.A. HUNTER: MIAMI WAR ZONE -- Jack Buchanan

Okay, the truth is that this book's not entirely forgotten, and that's why I'm writing about it. I ran across a reference to it an another book. Almost as soon as I started reading the reference work, I ran across this comment: ". . . the MIA Hunter and his team do more damage to the drug trade in a week than the DEA had done in many years."

Indeed. And I'm proud to have had a part in doing that damage. Back in the late '80s, Steve Mertz invited me to write a few of the M.I.A. Hunter books based on his outlines. One of them was Miami War Zone, and seeing it mentioned in print reminded me of just how much fun it was to write those fast-moving tales of rugged adventure. Lots of action, shooting, and explosions. I wrote several in the series, and it would be hard to pick a favorite, though this one stands out in my memory.

Joe Lansdale wrote a couple of these books, too, as did Mike Newton. They turn up in used-book stores quite often, and you can buy them on-line for a buck.

My review of Serial Vigilantes, the reference work cited above, will be posted in a day or so.

Sheena

Latest Getting Away with Murder Now On-Line

The January "Getting Away With Murder" column is now up and running at

http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/columns/ripley/ripley0110.html

Bobby Charles, R. I. P.

See You Later Alligator: Louisiana Legend Bobby Charles Dead at 71 - Houston Music - Rocks Off: "It's a sad day in the swamps of South Louisiana as Bobby Charles, a founder of the musical genre known as swamp pop and one of the most under-rated songwriters of his time, has passed away at 71. Originally from rural Abbeville, Charles rose to fame on the very cusp of the birth of rock and roll when he penned and recorded 'See You Later Alligator,' which became a hit for Bill Haley & His Comets shortly thereafter. Charles also wrote the Fats Domino standard 'Walkin' To New Orleans,' and hit early rock and roll gold when Clarence 'Frogman' Henry recorded 'I Don't Know Why I Love You (But I Do).'"

Getting High

FOXNews.com - Thar She Blows: Cocaine Found at NASA: "NASA is investigating how a small amount of cocaine ended up in a space shuttle hanger at the agency's Florida spaceport.

A bag containing a small amount of white powder residue that was later confirmed to be cocaine was discovered in the space shuttle Discovery's hangar at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The hangar, known in NASA parlance as an Orbiter Processing Facility, is a restricted zone for shuttle workers only."

Latest Out of the Gutter Magazine

Out of the Gutter Magazine

Issue #6, the Sexploitation Issue, is now available. Guaranteed to contain pulp fiction and degenerate literature. Check it out.

'Rasta Robber' Update

FBI: 'Rasta Robber' Arrested | MyFoxHouston.com: "Red lipstick and a dreadlock wig weren't enough to disguise a robber who hit two Houston-area banks, according to the FBI.

Houston resident Rashad Rambo Kenyatta Ross, 22, was arrested and charged with two counts of robbery after investigators received a tip, an FBI spokesperson said."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

New Firefighters Calendar Dropping Jaws, Sparking Controversy | MyFoxHouston.com: "'When I look at that picture I just don't imagine that being a firefighter who represents the fire department,' one Houstonian said.

They're looking at the new 2010 calendar put out by a group of firefighters called Pipes and Drums. Those are the firemen who play the Scottish bagpipes at funerals and other events.

Their model is also a Houston firefighter. The calendar doesn't leave much to the imagination when it comes to her breasts."

No photo at the link.
Update: Brian Lindemuth has thoughtfully provided a link with a photo.

New Podcast Interview with Stephen Jones

019 Reading and Writing podcast – Stephen Jones interview

Check it out.

Which One of the Mad Men Came Up with This One?

If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats: Great Moments in Marketing #27

A great ad for "the world's finest projection equipment."

Support the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund

You'll notice the new widget at the upper right. The Red Cross has assured everyone that 100% of the money donated will go to Haiti. I've already chipped in.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

U.T. researcher studies difference between 'Dog People', 'Cat People' | kvue.com | Local News: "Sam Gosling, a professor at the University of Texas, gave personality tests to more than 4,000 people. Gosling found those who called themselves dog people were more extroverted, more agreeable, and more conscientious. Self-described cat people were more neurotic, but they were also more open."

Jungle Manhunt

Teddy Pendergrass, R. I. P.

Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass dies in Pa. at 59: "Teddy Pendergrass, who became R&B;'s reigning sex symbol in the 1970s and '80s with his forceful, masculine voice and passionate love ballads and later became an inspirational figure after suffering a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed, died Wednesday at age 59.

The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father died at a hospital in suburban Philadelphia. The singer underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had 'a difficult recovery,' his son said."

Arrrgggghhhhh!

Tolstoy will do the robot in the next Quirk Classic | EW.com: "Quirk Books, the folks who brought you Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, its prequel, and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, have moved on from bloodying the frock of Jane Austen and set their sights on a new author: Leo Tolstoy. No, the company’s fourth augmented classic isn’t going to be War and Pieces of Brain, nor will it be The Undeath of Ivan Ilyich.

It’s Android Karenina, which will transpose the tale of Anna Karenina to a steampunk-inspired alternate 19th-century world of cyborgs, robot butlers, and space travel. S&S&S scribe Ben H. Winters will be helping to mechanize the original text, and the new quirkified version (the cover, at left, has yet to be designed) is set for release in bookstores this June."

Pennsylvania Leads the Way

Hairdresser sentenced for shooting dissatisfied customer: "A Washington County hairstylist who claims she didn't know a .38-caliber handgun was a 'deadly weapon' will spend five to 20 years in prison for shooting a dissatisfied client in the lower back."

If I didn't know better, I'd think this story was from Texas.

How Does Hollywood Keep Coming Up with These Great Ideas?

Broderick approves 'Bueller' remake - MSN Movies News: "Matthew Broderick has given Hollywood bosses the green light to remake his classic movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' . . ."

Knox Burger, R. I. P.

Knox Burger, 87, Book Editor and Literary Agent - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "As a magazine editor in the 1950s, Knox Burger published Kurt Vonnegut’s first short story. As a book editor in the 1960s, he asked John D. MacDonald to create a mystery series around a character who eventually turned out to be the detective Travis McGee. And as a literary agent in the 1970s, he took on a novel about a Russian detective by a largely unknown writer — “Gorky Park,” by Martin Cruz Smith — which in 1980 he sold to Random House for $1 million."

I just learned of this from Sarah Weinman's blog. One the giants of the paperback original days (both Dell and Gold Medal) is gone.

Not Me!

Should Americans go on a data diet?

Antiques Flee Market -- Barbara Allan

Barbara Allan is, as you might know already, the writing team of Barbara and Max Allan Collins. I like the pen name because it's not just the combination of their own names but the title of a ballad I like, one that I first heard sung by the Everly Brothers. But I digress, and I've just gotten started.

Antiques Flee Market isn't the first book in the series about Brandy and Vivian Borne, but it's the first one I've read. Probably it won't be the last because I found Brandy's narrative voice very engaging, and the book was very funny, just the kind of thing I need now and then. I should mention that Vivian gets to narrate a couple of chapters, though it appears that in earlier books Brandy has limited her to only one, which seems hardly fair to Vivian (and to me).

Brandy's living with her mom, Vivian, because of an indiscretion with a former classmate at a high school reunion that led to her divorce. Brandy's on Prozac, and her mother is bi-polar. They visit their shrinks together. Obviously this book isn't a typical cozy. But if you love cozies, I must admit that the series is ostensibly antiques, and each chapter ends with a flea market shopping tip. There's even a recipe included.

The plot? When one of Vivian's old boyfriends is murdered, Brandy and Vivian get involved in the investigation, even though the cops warn them off. Brandy's current boyfriend is a cop, in fact, but he doesn't help the pair in any way with with their probe into the case, which involves a first edition of Tarzan of the Apes. There's cold weather, amusing dialogue, and a couple of nice surprises. Next time you need a laugh, check it out.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

The Galveston County Daily News: "A West End property owner is suing Bank of America Corp., asserting its agents mistakenly seized a vacation house he owns free and clear, then changed the locks and shut the power off, resulting in the smelly spoiling of about 75 pounds of salmon and halibut from an Alaska fishing trip and other damages.
[. . . .]
Bank of America officials on Friday said they had not had an opportunity to review the lawsuit and typically decline to comment on pending litigation. But the bank is familiar with the case.

“Based on previous discussions with Mr. Schroit, we do not believe the case will show merit,” spokesman Rick Simon said."

Okay, Hasn't This Sort of Thing Gone Just About Far Enough?

Reported to the Fictionmags list by Martin Wooster: LOCUS reports that Sherri Browning Erwen "sold JANE SLAYRE, a literary mash-up in which Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is a vampire slayer."

Wow, and Only a Buck Ninety-Nine

Company creates sarcasm punctuation - UPI.com: "A Michigan company announced the release of software
Tuesday that introduces new punctuation to the typed word: The sarcasm mark.

Sarcasm Inc. of Washington Township said the SarcMark, which resembles an open circle with a dot in the center, can be installed on computers via a program that can be downloaded from sarcmark.com for $1.99"

Valley of Vengeance

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Police line up to use drones on patrol after Houston secret test: "The Federal Aviation Administration has been flooded with requests from police departments throughout the United States to use drones to fly on patrol, since a secret test of the technology was captured in Houston."

Video here.
Hat tip to Mike Stamm.

A Letter from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Letters of Note: Slaughterhouse Five: "In December of 1944, whilst behind enemy lines during the Rhineland Campaign, Private Kurt Vonnegut was captured by Wehrmacht troops and subsequently became a prisoner of war.
[. . . .]
Below is a letter he wrote to his family that May from a repatriation camp, in which he informs them of his capture and survival."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Disc golf: All the joys of golf without the plaid or green fees - 2010-Jan-09 - CultureMap Houston: "Fortunately for those of us who have a hard time coughing up regular greens fees for a sport they know will make them look like jerks, there is an alternative. Disc golf grows in following and respectability every year, and with more courses than any other city in the country, Houston is a great place to give it a try."

Archaeology Update

My Way News - Prehistoric building found in modern Israeli city: "Archaeologists have uncovered remains of an 8,000-year-old prehistoric building as well as ancient flint tools in the modern city of Tel Aviv, Israel's Antiquities Authority announced Monday. The building is the earliest structure ever found in Tel Aviv and changes what archaeologists previously believed about the area in ancient times.

'This discovery is both important and surprising to researchers of the period,' said Ayelet Dayan, the archaeologist who led the excavation. 'For the first time we have encountered evidence of a permanent habitation that existed in the Tel Aviv region 8,000 years ago,' she said.

The three-room structure is believed to be have been built in the Neolithic period - when humans went from a nomadic existence of hunting and gathering to living in permanent settlements and engaging in agriculture."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

CRIME Blog | The Dallas Morning News: "This anouncement from the State Bar of Texas should spawn all sorts of creative responses: The Bar is sponsoring a video contest on 'the importance of the Legal System.' Texans are asked to create a 30-second video that answers one of two questions: Why are lawyers important to our society? How is the court system important to our society?"

Santa Fe Leads the Way

Santa Fe man demands half a mill for being near iPhone • The Register: "Arthur Firstenberg is suing his neighbour for $530,000 for refusing to switch off her iPhone, claiming that the electromagnetic fields generated are destroying his health.

Not only does Mr. Firstenberg want the iPhone switched off, but he also reckons that leaving the iPhone and a laptop charging overnight is denying him the sleep he so badly needs, according to the filing spotted by the Santa Fe Reporter. This is apparently why his half-million claim includes $100,000 for pain and suffering."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

4 men arrested in botched Conroe jewelry store burglary | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Police captured a band of suspected burglars who made several mistakes when they allegedly broke into a Conroe jewelry store Monday morning, officials said.

The alleged lookout man failed to disable the alarm system at Camillo's Fine Jewelry, 2107 W. Davis. The suspected getaway driver was found sleeping in his car, Conroe police said."

Marshal of Cedar Rock

Eric Rohmer, R. I. P.

Eric Rohmer, New Wave Filmmaker, Dies at 89 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "Eric Rohmer, the French critic and filmmaker who was one of the founding figures of the internationally influential movement that became known as the French New Wave, and the director of more than 50 films for theaters and television, including the Oscar-nominated “My Night at Maud’s” (1969), died on Monday. He was 89."

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

This Is Gonna Be Great!

'Rockford Files' remake in the works - UPI.com: "NBC has announced plans to remake the 1970s U.S. private detective series 'The Rockford Files' and the contemporary British police drama 'Prime Suspect.'"

I'm thinking Adam Sander as Jim Rockford and Rob Schneider at Angel.

Edgar Allan Poe Update

The World of Edgar Allan Poe: Poe In Short Fiction...

Nice comment about an old story of mine.

Gaily bedight,/ A gallant knight/ In sunshine and in shadow, . . .

Google Earth helps find El Dorado - Times Online: "Since the time of the conquistadors, the legend of an ancient, lost civilisation deep in the Amazon forest has beguiled hundreds of explorers and led many to their deaths. Some called their dream El Dorado. Others, most notably Colonel Percy Fawcett, the gloriously moustached British explorer (and real-life model for Indiana Jones) named it the City of Z. But no one has ever returned from the Amazon with conclusive proof that such a place existed.

Three scientists have now come close to doing just that. The journal Antiquity has published a report showing more than 200 massive earthworks in the upper Amazon basin near Brazil’s border with Bolivia. From the sky it looks as if a series of geometric figures has been carved into the earth, but the archeologists and historians who published the report believe these shapes are the remains of roads, bridges, moats, avenues and squares that formed the basis for a sophisticated civilisation spanning 155 miles, which could have supported a population of 60,000. The remains date from AD200 to 1283."

Words. Who Needs 'Em?

Teenagers 'only use 800 different words a day' - Telegraph: "A generation of teenagers who communicate via the Internet and by text messages are risking unemployment because their daily vocabulary consists of just 800 words, the Government's new children's communication tsar has warned.

Although, according to recent surveys, they know an average of 40,000 words, they tend to favour a 'teenspeak' used in text messages, on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and in internet chat rooms like MSN.

One poll, commissioned by Tesco, revealed that while children had the vocabulary to be articulate, the top 20 words they used - including the Vicky Pollard lexicon of “yeah”, “no” and “but” - accounted for about a third of all the words they used."

Defiance

Near the beginning of WWII, the Bielski brothers lose their family to the Nazis. They flee to the Lipicza´nska Forest in Belorussia and decide to fight back. Tuvia (Daniel Craig) wants to fight by helping other Jews escape the on-going attempt at genocide. Zus (Lev Schreiber) wants to use guns. Eventually they gather a large number of people in the forest. They have to fight not only the Germans but disease, the cold, and sometimes each other. Zus leaves to join the partisans who have more and better weapons.

You can pretty much write the script for this one yourself, but it's still an effective movie. Watching it reminded me once again that we never learn anything. We still seem to think that killing and war will solve all our problems. Pretty depressing when you think about it, but the movie, based on a true story, does at least show that some people have the grit and the spirit to survive the terrible things that others do to them.

I don't know much about the Bielski brothers, so I didn't really care whether the movie stuck close to what actually happened. It works well enough on its own terms. Check it out.

Love Will Find a Way

Lots of folks dial 911 for stupid stuff. But this guy wins: "First Paul Brian Clutts, 46, called 911 in Tampa to report that he hit his house with a car, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

Cops rushed to his home but Clutts had vanished. And there was no damage to his home.

Afterwards Clutts showed up at a Sheriff's District Office and told deputies he called 911 because 'his cat attacked him.' Also he wanted to join his girlfriend in jail. He also told cops 'someone was going to shoot up the district.'"

Archaeology Update

NewsDaily: Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves: "New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday."

Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.

Breakheart Pass

Poetry Update

Businessman is arrested in front of wife and son... for �anti-gipsy� email that he didn�t even write | Mail Online: "A wealthy businessman was arrested at home in front of his wife and young son over an email which council officials deemed ‘offensive’ to gipsies – but which he had not even written.

The email, concerning a planning appeal by a gipsy, included the phrase: ‘It’s the 'do as you likey' attitude that I am against.’

Council staff believed the email was offensive because ‘likey’ rhymes with the derogatory term ‘pikey’."

Big Netflix is Watching You (and What You're Watching)

A Peek Into Netflix Queues - NYTimes.com: "Examine Netflix rental patterns, neighborhood by neighborhood, in a dozen cities."

No Comment Department

Top 10 TV Disasters

Jay Leno in prime time...and TV's other great disasters - latimes.com

3-D Update

Avatar sparks 3-D makeover for action classics - Times Online: "Hollywood is preparing to re-release some past hits, including Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 3-D following the record-breaking success of Avatar."

No Comment Department

Tweet, google voted top words - UPI.com: "Members of the American Dialect Society have voted 'tweet' the 2009 word of the year and 'google' the word of the decade."

Next Time, Use a Marshmallow

Myleene Klass Knife Warning: Marks And Spencer Model Warned Over Waving Kitchen Knife At Teenagers | Showbiz News | Sky News: "Celebrity mum Myleene Klass is 'aghast' after being warned by police for waving a knife at teenagers who entered her garden.

The TV star and Marks & Spencer model was in her kitchen, with her daughter upstairs, when she spotted people peering into her window just after midnight on Friday.

She grabbed a knife and banged the windows before they ran away.

Hertfordshire Police officers warned Klass she should not have used a knife to scare off the teens because carrying an 'offensive weapon' - even in her own home - was illegal."

Murder on the Orient Express