More Nostalgia

Today I bounded out of bed at 5:30 A.M., got dressed, and hit the highway for the old hometown. It was homecoming weekend at the high school, and the Class of '57 was having a 50th anniversary get-together. I'm not quite as aged as the members of that class, but I knew most if not all of them back in the Olden Days, and I hadn't seen most of them since they graduated. I figured it would be fun to get a look at them.

When I arrived, I was met by Fred Williams. He was one of my best friends during high school, college, and a couple of years of grad school. We've kept in touch (we e-mail just about every day) and visited over the years, so I knew what he looked like, not that he's changed much. We chatted for a while, looked over the old building (which now houses the school museum), and then went down to where the Class of '57 was gathered.

I have to say, it was great to see them again. Sure, it was hard to recognize some of them, though some of them looked so much the same, I could name them easily. What always strikes me about things like this is that it's as if no time has passed. We all share so many of the same memories of a crucial time in our lives that we can pick up as if we'd just seen each other yesterday.

Faye Lynn Eubanks was there. She's the sister of the late Ray Eubanks, without whom I'd never have gone to school. Faye Lynn and Ray walked by my house every day, and my mother dragged me out and gave me over to them. Ray's the one who forced me to go with him and his sister to the school. He did it every day for probably the entire first grade. He's been dead for a long time (massive heart attack), but Faye Lynn remembered all about those days. In fact, she'd been telling people about them before I ever showed up.

Suzanne Hayter was there. Suzanne was the band drum major, and a lovely girl back in 1956. She's a lovely woman now, and she looks about 15 years younger than I do, even though she's older. I'd love to know her secret.

Robert Isham. Quickest wit around fifty years ago. Now a wealthy man, or so rumor has it. I hope it's true.

Warner Dean Hancock, who claims to have introduced me to Judy. I owe him big if that's the case.

And a lot of others. I stayed for about three hours and had a wonderful time. I wish I could have spent more time with them, hearing about their lives. Everything about them is interesting to me. That probably makes me pretty weird. But I don't care.

Point Break LIVE!

Point Break LIVE! Tickets, Discount Tickets and more - Point Break LIVE! Information - Point Break LIVE! Pictures and Video - New York: "Point Break LIVE!, the absurdist stage adaptation of the 1992 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze extreme-sports blockbuster, tells the story of former college football star Johnny Utah (Reeves in the film), as he pursues the surfing, bankrobbing, skydiving, bare-hand-fighting, adrenaline junkie cum Zen Master, Bodhi Sattva. The Brechtian blockbuster, which garnered a 'Seattle P-I Best of Seattle 2004' award during its run in the Northwest, features armed robbery, big-wave surfing, car chases, explosions, and no less than two extended skydiving sequences. Best of all, you could be the next Johnny Utah... the starring role of Keanu will be selected at random from the audience each night, and will read their entire script off of cue-cards. This method manages to capture the rawness of a Keanu Reeves performance, even from those who generally think themselves incapable of acting."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Girl, 12, Accused Of Packing Heat At School - News Story - KMGH Denver: "HOUSTON -- A Houston-area middle school student was arrested Friday after allegedly bringing a handgun to school and pointing it at teachers and a maintenance worker, authorities said.

The unidentified 12-year-old female student at Dean Middle School in Harris County, Texas, threatened to kill a teacher and students, and was sent to the office at about 8:30 a.m. for starting a fight, police said, according to KPRC-TV."

Bigfoot Update

2 Chattanooga Men Say They May Have Landed "Bigfoot" Say Hulking Furry Figure Is On Video Shot In Remote New Mexico posted September 28, 2007 Two Chattanoogans say they may have bagged the mythical "Bigfoot".

Lindsay Lemmon and Austin McGee said after returning from a trip out west, they found that video shot out the window along I-40 in New Mexico has a glimpse of what appears to be a hulking furry figure walking.

Mr. Lemmon, a local contractor who specializes in historic homes, said, "I'm still skeptical, but it does look like a figure to me. If it was a prank, then it was awfully hot and it was out in the middle of nowhere."

Mr. McGee, who shot the footage, is much more positive.

He said, "I believe it whole-heartedly. Every time I look at it on the VCR I see a figure with real long arms hanging below the knees. He is walking and swinging those arms." He said a close examination of the figure reveals "a tan round face."

Mr. Lemmon, who went to Las Vegas for filming of a Discovery Channel show on drag racing, has contacted his CPA and is in the process of getting all rights to the video.

Mr. Austin said he contacted two groups that specialize in Bigfoot lore - one from Atlanta and another from Texas. He said, "They were ready to come to my house right then. They were freaking out. They were trying all sorts of ways to get to see it."

Kasey Lansdale

Did I link to Kasey Lansdale's new website in my previous post about her? Probably, but I'm too lazy to check. The site is here.

Fantastic Fest Award Winners

Rick Klaw has a rundown here.

American Skin -- Ken Bruen

I've known I was going to read this ever since I read the first chapter somewhere. EQMM? Can't recall. Anyway, it's enough to hook anybody, pure adrenaline, death, and carnage. The book doesn't let up much after that, either, with its interconnecting storylines and flashbacks handled so smoothly that you hardly notice the transitions.

Stephen Blake is involved in an bank robbery that goes wrong. His best friend dies, but he winds up with tons of money that his girlfriend knows how to launder. She works on that from Ireland, while he comes to the U.S. Blake, I should mention, is the sort of Good Guy, and he's up against as twisted a bunch of loonies as you'll ever encounter, including Dade, a killer who's obsessed with Tammy Wynette; Sherry, a woman who loves sex and killing people, not necessarily in that order; Stapleton, an Irish killer who's tougher than stones; and several others. All their stores come together eventually, and there are a couple of things you can be sure of in with a Bruen book: it's going to be darker than dark and that it's not going to end well for anybody involved. So be warned. This isn't a cozy by any stretch of the imagination.

This is the longest Bruen novel I've read, and it's the first one that seems clearly set up for a sequel. I don't know if there'll be one, but I'm sure I'll read it if there is.

His Majesty's Dragon -- Naomi Novik

The series of books beginning with His Majesty's Dragon has been getting great reviews, and when Naomi Novik won the Campbell Award at the recent WorldCon, I knew it was time for me to see what all the fuss was about.

Here's the deal. It's the Napoleonic Wars, but this time with dragons. Dragons, it seems, hatch from the shell able to speak English (and French, too), and they choose their partners at once. Will Laurence captures a dragon's egg from a French frigate, little suspecting that he will no longer be captain of his own ship but a member of the Aerial Corps, fighting sky battles from the back of the dragon Temeraire.

For whatever reason, corps members are practically outcasts from society, and Laurence isn't looking forward to becoming a member. He has no choice, however, and soon he's trying to adjust to the informality and strange ways of the group. He's noble, fair, and right-minded in the extreme, however, and he makes his way without too much difficulty. Soon he and Temeraire have bonded in a way that makes any thought of a return to his old life impossible.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and I've already obtained the next two in the series to read at a later date. If you like fantasy, dragons, or alternate universes, check it out.

Note: Some of you might not be aware that Novik is the wife of Charles Ardai (sometimes known as Richard Aleas), of Hard Case Crime, so I just thought I'd mention it.

Friday TV Bulletin!

Paris Hilton will be David Letterman's guest tonight. I know you'll all want to tune in. In case you missed it, you can catch it here.

Déjà Vu

A domestic terrorist blows up a ferry boat filled with 500 passengers. Denzel Washington plays Doug Carlin, the ATF agent assigned to investigate, and before long strange things begin to happen. For one thing, a woman's body washes ashore and is found before the explosion, though she's got traces of the explosive on her. Carlin is added to a team of scientists and FBI agents who have a big view screen that they tell him is filled with images from various satellites arranged into streaming video. All the images are a bit over four days old, and they can't be reversed or paused (they can be recorded, though). Carlin is bothered by the fact that there's also audio, and before long he learns the truth of what's going on.

That's about all that can be revealed without telling you more than you need to know if you plan to see the movie. Let me just add that things blow up real good, there's romance, there's gunplay, and there are car chases that threaten to kill more people than the explosion. Jerry Bruckheimer is the producer, and Tony Scott is the director, so you'd expect those things, but it's got a lot of quiet moments, and the cast is uniformly good. Check it out.

Gator Update (YMCA Edition)

Video at link.

Alligator Found Swimming In YMCA Pool - Local News Story - WKMG Orlando: "A swimmer discovered an alligator at the bottom of a Central Florida YMCA pool on Friday morning.

The gator, which was about 4 feet long, was found swimming in the pool, which is located on the campus of Brevard Community College on Clearlake Road in Cocoa.

A YMCA worker joked that the alligator was targeting her because she was wearing an Auburn Tigers sweatshirt."

What Would YOU Do if You had a Time Machine?

Mike Ripley's Latest Column Posted at Shots Magazine

Click here.

Oh, to be in Anchorage . . .

. . . now that Bouchercon's here. This is the first Bouchercon that I've missed in a while. In fact, since around 1980, I haven't missed one held on U.S. soil. I'll bet everybody's having a good time without me, though.

Houston's 20 Best Songs

They're here, with nice annotations.

The Ultimate Solution -- Eric Norden

I don't know much about Eric Norden except that he conducted a lot of the Playboy interviews 30-35 years ago. And he wrote at least one novel, The Ultimate Solution, published in 1974, the year of the novel's setting.

The book is an alternate history police procedural, narrated by an NYC cop named Bill. In his world, Germany won WW11, and all the Jews in the world have been exterminated. Except that one has suddenly appeared in NYC. Bill and a member of the Gestapo are assigned to find him. You think cops in regular police procedurals wander through a dark and terrible world? You should read about Bill's.

To Bill, there's nothing unusual in what he sees. He just tells us about it without comment or surprise. The reader, however, is likely to be surprised. Not to mention horrified and disgusted. What we might consider depraved is just more of the usual to Bill. Even 30 years after its publication, this novel has the ability to shock. Just one example: crucifixion as entertainment in cheap nightclubs.

I read The Ultimate Solution when it was first published, and I've remembered it ever since. Last night I pulled it off th shelf and read it again just to see if it was as powerful as I remembered. It is. Only 140 pages, but it packs a heck of a punch.

I'd suggest that you check it out, but I looked on the 'Net and saw only a couple of copies for sale, the cheaper of the two being $100. It's good, but it's not that good.

Must-See TV

Reality TV Magazine: The Search For The Next Elvira Cast Announced: "The Fox Reality Channel recently announced the participants for The Search for the Next Elvira. Elvira, the Queen of Halloween, has selected 13 participants who will compete to become her surrogate handmaiden. “Hundreds auditioned to become a handmaiden for little old me,” said Elvira. “But only 13 had true T&A (talent and ability) and the others were told to Rest in Peace.”

“The Search for the Next Elvira” premieres on the Fox Reality Channel on Saturday, October 13 at Midnight. Queen 'B' Productions and Panacea Entertainment are producing The Search for the Next Elvira series exclusively for Fox Reality Channel in association with Natural 9 Entertainment."

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

A mere 60 miles from Alvin.

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) and South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) will file a Combined Construction and Operating License Application (COLA) today with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build and operate two new nuclear units at the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear power station site. The total rated capacity of the new units, STP 3 and 4, will equal or exceed 2,700 megawatts (MWs) – enough to power more than two million homes. NRG expects to bring the units on line in 2014 and 2015 in order to provide reliable and affordable power to fuel Texas’ continued growth and economic prosperity.

“It is a new day for energy in America. Advanced technology nuclear power plants like STP 3 and 4, generating a vast amount of electricity cleanly, safely and reliably, will make an enormous contribution toward the greater energy security of the United States,” said David Crane, NRG’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “But equally, this announcement heralds a new day for the environment. Advanced nuclear technology is the only currently viable large-scale alternative to traditional coal-fueled generation to produce none of the traditional air emissions—and most importantly in this age of climate change—no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.”

From Bryon Quertermous

Some people think Fall and they think pumpkins and leaves and ghosts.
Here at DEMOLITION when we think Fall, we think about bodies falling
from great heights, innocent people taking the fall for crooks, and
the slow spirialing fall from success of people in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Maybe we're just a sick bunch.

If you're like us, you'll enjoy the latest issue of DEMOLITION now
live. We've got stories from pros like Patti Abbott, Mike Maclean,
Stephen D. Rogers, and Scott Wolven, along with Chris Holm, Brian
Ross, Steven Messner, Tony Black, and the legendary Fred Zackel.

Check it out before we carve you up like a rotten pumpkin.
--
Bryon Quertermous
http://bryonquertermous.blogspot.com
http://www.bryonquertermous

Gator Update (Long Island Edition)

The Associated Press: Alligator Found Walking Along LI Roadway: "WADING RIVER, N.Y. (AP) — A 3 1/2-foot alligator has been captured walking along a Long Island roadway. Chief Roy Gross of the Suffolk County SPCA said the reptile was found by two people who were walking alongside a grassy area of Route 25A in Wading River on Sunday afternoon.

A crew from the SPCA picked up the alligator, who had some front teeth missing, but Gross said it was still capable of inflicting serious injury to humans and death to small animals and pets."