Black Horse Westerns Update

The Black Horse Westerns site had recently been updated. If you're interested in western fiction, take a look.

Link via Mystery*File.

One Million Years B C

By request.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

There's no trailer available for embedding, but you can see one here.

The Beach Girls and the Monster

Our Tax Dollars at Work

Spending On Iraq Poorly Tracked: "The inspector general for the Defense Department said yesterday that the Pentagon cannot account for almost $15 billion worth of goods and services ranging from trucks, bottled water and mattresses to rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns that were bought from contractors in the Iraq reconstruction effort.

The Pentagon did not have the proper documentation, including receipts, vouchers, signatures, invoices or other paperwork, for $7.8 billion that American and Iraqi contractors were paid for phones, folders, paint, blankets, Nissan trucks, laundry services and other items, according to a 69-page audit released to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform."

From Michael Smith

Hi,

Once again, it's the end of the semester (and academic year) - yeah - and I can get to fun stuff (i.e., writing HTML code and scanning ACE cover images). I also want to thank all the AIL users who have supplied new (or improved) cover images, publication data, or helped find some of the errors and corrections that a site of this size appears to accrue over time. I am continually working on this as time allows, so if I have missed a glaring error - please let me know.

The ACE IMAGE LIBRARY has had several new additions to the site. I have been trying to get a backlog of ACE POTPOURRI volumes scanned as well as catalogued and am finding that the ACE POTPOURRI section is getting a bit crowded and unmanageable. To this end, I have changed the front pages to the ACE sections by making them in a TABLE format where the user can select the particular Letter-Number series for their study. For the FIVE-DIGIT NUMBER series I have split them into batches (i.e., 00001 to 09999, for example). Hopefully this will make it more useful, although I recognize that it reduces the amount of browsing you can do at any one time. Let me know if this is working out for you.


Ace Potpourri

In my reading and snooping I have been bothered by the use of 'dos-a-dos' for the format of the ACE Doubles. I have pulled a bunch of book manufacture and publishing references from the library (oh, it's great to have a decent research library with a Creative Writing department that believes in good references). Thus, I have found (as some of you already know) that the proper term for the format of the upside-down, two cover, single spine ACE Double is tête-bêche. I have rewritten and edited the sections at this site based upon this new information.

I have developed several new pages for the ACE IMAGE LIBRARY. One page deals with a summary of the book format tête-bêche and dos-a-dos. In addition, on this page (accessed through the homepage of AIL) are the imitators of ACE Doubles. At this time this section includes TOR, Belmont, Signet, Galaxy Magabooks, and the single NESFA hardback. I have a few new tête-bêche volumes by independent small press (D. Nufer - The Mudflat Man/ The River Boys published by Soultheft Records) and one from Gollancz that I need to add (keep watching).

Another new page deals with the ADVENTURE stories of NICK CARTER published by ACE. I did this primarily as a counterpoint to the MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. Page. Take a look and let me know if you have any that I do not have.

I have also updated the WESTERN Doubles and Singles pages with more images and information. Please note I am still missing a couple of the ACE Doubles in this group and would appreciate any assistance from the AIL users.

The genres of MYSTERY and SCIENCE FICTION (both ACE Doubles and Singles) have had additional images installed, especially in the five-digit numerical series. I have also been checking titles and Letter-Number sequence as I keep finding some odd-balls as well as a trend in the late 1980's for ACE to fail to keep to its numbering scheme (look at the 00001 series in SF for example). Please note that a lot of the ACE publication lately (last 10 years or so) has been in Fantasy and I am still placing them with the Science Fiction pages (in part because some of them are cross-listed).

I have been compiling more artist information as well as new images of the original paintings, drawings, illustrations, or preliminary drawings. I have been aided by many people who have allowed me to place these these on the ACE IMAGE LIBRARY site and I thank them again for their permission.

Lastly, I have acquired a bunch of Television spin-off/tie-in volumes and am playing about with a page directed to this ACE genre. If any AIL users have information on the ACE Charter (think this is related to the ownership of ACE by Grosset & Dunlap in the late 1970's and early 1980's) and ACE Tempo (think this is a juvenile/young adult imprint - some of the numbers correspond, but some do not) series, please let me know. I am also looking for a list of the 2nd series of ACE Special Editions edited by Terry Carr when he returned to ACE in 1982. I have a few, but not all of them and am trying to find a way to differentiate them from the 1st series with the cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon.

So, have fun. Remember, all errors are mine and any corrections are always appreciated.


Sincerely,

Michael

Robert Asprin, R. I. P.

I can't resist saying it: He'll be mythed. I haven't read many of his books, but I've enjoyed the ones I did read. He came up with a great idea and played it for keeps.

Link via Boing Boing.

Live the Dream!

But will there be groupies?

Forgotten Books: REVENGE -- Jack Ehrlich

This book might not be in a class by itself, but, as Bum Phillips would say, it doesn't take very long to call the roll. For me, it's up there with The Killer Inside Me and The Vengeance Man. Like those novels, this one's narrated by a guy who's clearly off the rails, a man who knows "how to right the wrongs, his own way, a way no one else would ever approve of, or understand." Ehrlich wrote a series of novels about a parole officer named Flick, and those aren't bad, but this is the one you want to read. Or, if not this one, Bloody Vengeance, a novel with a similar theme, about vigilante cops. I didn't know when I read it if Ehrlich was serious, and I still don't, but it's well worth looking for if you don't have it on your shelves.

Attack of the Crab Monsters

Gator Update (Reggie Edition)

Nice photos at the link.

Curbed LA: Hey, Reggie! His Zoo Life, One Year In: "“For the first four months, he was shy,” says Ian Recchio, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Los Angeles Zoo. “But now he’s completely comfortable.” This Saturday marks the one year anniversary of Reggie’s arrival to Los Angeles Zoo."

Geezers Are Brainier! So Stay off my Lawn!

Memory Loss - Aging - Alzheimer's Disease - Aging Brains Take In More Information, Studies Show - Health - New York Times: "When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong.

Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit."

Link via the Public Reader.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

NEWS RADIO 590 KLBJ - Breaking News Headlines and Video from 590 KLBJ: "Former APD Officer Scott Lando has been indicted by the Travis County Grand Jury on several different felony charges. He was fired from the force earlier this year after APD officials determined he had repeatedly hired prostitutes, provided women with drugs, and even paid a woman for sex by giving her some of his wife's clothes."

I Was a Vegan for the FBI

Moles Wanted - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul): "In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups."

Tired of these Lists?

Well, here's another one.

Top 100 Films: "Another film list? The same old Citizen Kane? No - this one’s different, says The Times’s chief film critic James Christopher."

16 Candles

In 30 seconds, with bunnies.

The Valley of Gwangi

Twilight -- Stephenie Meyer

I read this YA novel because I'd heard so much about it. I'd also heard that it was highly praised, was a number one bestseller, was on a lot of "best of the year" lists. Let's just say that I don't agree and let it go at that. The less said, the better.

The Smiley Face Killers

Here's the plot of your next novel. My usual 10% can be mailed in small bills. No consecutive serial numbers, please.

Smiley face killers may be stalking college men - CNN.com: "ALBANY, New York (CNN) -- At the age of 21, Christopher Jenkins appeared to have everything going for him. The University of Minnesota senior was good-looking, had a near perfect grade-point average and had a future in business.

Then, suddenly, he vanished.

He was last seen celebrating Halloween at a bar in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2002. Jenkins' friends said he left about midnight. Four months later, his body was found in the Mississippi River, still wearing his Halloween costume."

Richard S. Prather Interview

Doc Quatermass sent along this link to an interview with Richard S. Prather, and I was reminded of this site, to which I've linked before. There's another interview with Prather there, along with some other stuff of interest. Check 'em out.