Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Dallas -- Will F. Jenkins (aka Murray Leinster)
Earlier today I posted a lobby card for the movie Dallas. Here's the cover of the tie-in novel.
100 Must See Movies For Men
Best Movies to Watch: 100 Must See Movies For Men | The Art of Manliness: "100 Must See Movies: The Essential Men’s Movie Library"
"Save Boogertown"
Camden residents organize to "Save Boogertown" - WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina |: "Members of a historic Camden neighborhood are protesting a developer's plan to build a thoroughfare in the area.
All jokes aside, the neighborhood is affectionately known as 'Boogertown' by its citizens. The neighborhood got the name from a builder back in the 1930's."
All jokes aside, the neighborhood is affectionately known as 'Boogertown' by its citizens. The neighborhood got the name from a builder back in the 1930's."
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Set the DVR
Daily Dispatch Online: "Animal Planet, 10pm: I’m Alive – An engagement party turns to tragedy when one of the guests is attacked by an alligator and a man is bitten five times by the deadly death adder. Will they survive?"
Gator Update (I Get Around Edition)
Alligator found 20 miles out to sea swimming with whales | MNN - Mother Nature Network: "Stunned researchers came across the Georgia alligator while out looking for North Atlantic right whales."
Mammoth Update
Woolly mammoths resurfacing in Siberia - Los Angeles Times: "Reporting from Moscow — The beasts had long lain extinct and forgotten, embedded deep in the frozen turf, bodies swaddled in Earth's layers for thousands of years before Christ.Now, the Russian permafrost is offering up the bones and tusks of the woolly mammoths that once lumbered over the tundra. They are shaped into picture frames, chess sets, pendants. They are gathered and piled, carved and whittled, bought and sold on the Internet."
Hat tip to Jeff Segal.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A. S. Fleischman, R. I. P.
THE GUMSHOE SITE: "A. S. Fleischman died on March 17 at his home in Santa Monica, California. He was well known to children as Sid Fleischman, who won the Newbery Medal in 1987 for THE WHIPPING BOY. THE 13TH FLOOR (Greenwillow, 1995) and THE MIDNIGHT HORSE (Greenwillow, 1990) were both nominated for an Edgar in the juvenile mystery category. As A. S. Fleischman, he wrote several adult mystery novels such as THE STRAW DONKEY CASE (Phoenix, 1948) and COUNTERSPY EXPRESS (Ace, 1954). LOOKING BEHIND YOU, LADY (1952), DANGER IN PARADISE (1953), MALAY WOMAN (1954) and THE VENETIAN BLONDE (1963, all four from Gold Medal) were recently re-issued from Stark House Press as double-books."
I just posted a birthday notice for Fleischman a few days ago. I'm very saddened by this news.
Hard Case Crime Update from Charles Ardai
Friends,
Donald Westlake's final novel, MEMORY, is finally here.
I've seen and held a copy; I've seen it available for delivery on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com (and the easier-to-type bn.com); and I've seen it on the shelves of one bookstore near me. Chances are it's at one near you, too.
You know where else I've seen it? In USA Today last week (where they unfortunately rendered the title as "Memoir," but were very kind to give it the write-up they did). And I'm told that Time magazine will be running a piece about it in their next issue. Time magazine! And to think that when Don originally wrote the book in the early 1960s his agent told him he wouldn't be able to sell it.
The book tells the story of a man who's been the victim of a brutal assault and has to deal with the consequences: a peculiar form of brain damage that prevents him from forming or holding onto memories. When he gets out of the hospital he goes looking for his old life -- but how can you find something when you can't even remember what it was? And what if you're hundreds of miles from home, with no money and no resources, and only the cards in your wallet to remind you where you need to go...
For a taste of the book, you can read the sample chapter on our Web site, www.HardCaseCrime.com. But you're going to want more than a taste of this one. It's our first new book in four months, it's one of the longest we've ever published, and it's really, really good. This is not one you'll want to miss.
And we've got another new book that you might enjoy checking out as well: the first new Gabriel Hunt adventure novel since last November's HUNT AT WORLD'S END. This one's called HUNT BEYOND THE FROZEN FIRE and it's co-authored by Christa Faust, Edgar Award-nominated author of MONEY SHOT. In it, Gabriel and his team of hardy adventurers travel to Antarctica in search of a scientist who vanished after a final radio transmission in which he claimed to have found something impossible. What did he find...? You wouldn't believe me if I told you. The book's in stores now -- why not pick up a copy and find out for yourself?
We've got plenty more good things coming, too -- the next Hard Case Crime book will be NOBODY'S ANGEL, a gorgeous, heartbreaking noir novel written by a Chicago cab driver named Jack Clark; and the next Gabriel Hunt book, HUNT AMONG THE KILLERS OF MEN, is co-written by David J. Schow (screenwriter of "The Crow" and other Hollywood pictures) and takes Gabriel to the dark underworld of Shanghai. But those are both a couple of months away (June and July, respectively). In the meantime, I very much hope you'll give Don's book a read, and Christa's, and let me know what you thought of them. They're as different as can be from one another, but I think they'd make a hell of a one-two punch.
Best,
Charles
---------
Charles Ardai
Editor
P.S. Congratulations to the winners of our drawing for free advance copies of MEMORY: Naomi in Ohio; Charlene in Los Angeles; Jared in Kansas City, MO; David in Iowa; Audrey in Bangor, Maine; Jack in upstate New York; Tom in Tennessee; Stan in Maryland; Fran in Seattle; Kristin just 50 miles away in another part of Washington; Dannie in California; and Mike in Massachusetts.
Harper Simon
Harper Simon is Paul Simon's son, and the similarities between the two is striking, at least when it comes to singing voices and musical choices. In fact, it would be easy to call Harper Simon the best new Paul Simon album in years. And while that wouldn't be too far off the mark, it would be unfair. Harper's his own man, and his new CD stands just fine as something unique and his own. "All to God," "Wishes and Stars," and "The Audit" are fine tracks, then so are all ten of the tracks here. I don't know quite how to describe the music, but if Paul Simon had made an alt-country album, it might have been something like this. I like it a lot. You can listen to some of the tracks on Harper Simon's My Space page and judge for yourself if you're so inclined.
Archaeology Update
Back in business: Pompeii's most popular snack bar re-opens... nearly 2000 years after it was destroyed by Mt Vesuvius | Mail Online: "n AD79 it was Pompeii's most popular hang out, where locals would stop off to meet friends and partake in a snack of baked cheese smothered in honey.
Now, nearly 2000 years after the Italian city was buried under ash and rubble by the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius, its favourite snack bar has re-opened."
Now, nearly 2000 years after the Italian city was buried under ash and rubble by the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius, its favourite snack bar has re-opened."
Photos at the link.
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