Iceland Review Online: Daily News from Iceland, Current Affairs, Business, Politics, Sports, Culture: "Polar Bear Statue Stolen in Iceland"
Hat tip to Mark R. Harris.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Ultra-Boiled -- Gary Lovisi
Gary Lovisi's a man of many talents. He's the editor and publisher of both Paperback Parade and Hardboiled as well as a writer of fiction. He's done everything from Sherlock Holmes pastiches to the ultra-boiled stories in this new collection from Ramble House. What's "ultra-boiled" mean. This is from the introduction: "Ultra-boiled is hardboiled . . . on steroids." Lovisi says that these stories are "violent, maybe even brutal," but the back cover assures us that while the stories "are not for the faint of heart. . .they're definitely full of heart."
Ultra-Boiled collects 23 stories, of which five are original to the book and four have appeared only on-line in such well-regarded publications as Hardluck Stories and Plots with Guns. If you missed any of these the first time around, this is a good time to get them all in one place.
New Crimefatory Now Online
CRIMEFACTORY
Issue 3 features fiction from some the best up and coming writers today including Dennis Tafoya, Greg Bardsley, Sandra Seamans, Daniel O'Shea, and we debut an excerpt from my good friend Jedidiah Ayres first novel, Peckerwood.
And the features, we've got some amazing stuff this issue:
And the features, we've got some amazing stuff this issue:
Liam interviews filmmaker Nash Edgerton, director of the Square.
Crimefactory founder David Honeybone interviews crime fiction legend Peter Temple.
South African novelist Roger Smith offers up a fantastic Under the Influence piece.
Australian novelist Leigh Redhead Returns to the Scene of her debut novel, Peepshow, and everyone's favorite blessedly foul mouthed critic, the Nerd of Noir, returns with another installment of the Crime Sleeper Double Feature.
Crimefactory founder David Honeybone interviews crime fiction legend Peter Temple.
South African novelist Roger Smith offers up a fantastic Under the Influence piece.
Australian novelist Leigh Redhead Returns to the Scene of her debut novel, Peepshow, and everyone's favorite blessedly foul mouthed critic, the Nerd of Noir, returns with another installment of the Crime Sleeper Double Feature.
In Case You Were Wondering, . . .
William Thompson (confidence man) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "William Thompson was an American criminal whose deceptions caused the term 'confidence man' to be coined.
Operating in New York City in the late 1840s, a gently-dressed Thompson would approach an upper-class mark, pretending they knew each other, and begin a brief conversation. After initially gaining the mark's trust, Thompson would ask 'Have you confidence in me to trust me with your watch until tomorrow?' Upon taking the watch (or, occasionally, money), Thompson would depart, never to be seen again.[1]
Thompson was arrested and brought to trial in 1849, in a case that made newspaper headlines across the country. The New York Herald, recalling his explicit appeals to the victim's 'confidence,' dubbed him the 'confidence man."
Operating in New York City in the late 1840s, a gently-dressed Thompson would approach an upper-class mark, pretending they knew each other, and begin a brief conversation. After initially gaining the mark's trust, Thompson would ask 'Have you confidence in me to trust me with your watch until tomorrow?' Upon taking the watch (or, occasionally, money), Thompson would depart, never to be seen again.[1]
Thompson was arrested and brought to trial in 1849, in a case that made newspaper headlines across the country. The New York Herald, recalling his explicit appeals to the victim's 'confidence,' dubbed him the 'confidence man."
Friday, June 11, 2010
Get off Their Lawns!
Neighbourhood feud ends in bloody weed-whacker attack - The Local: "A 20-year feud between two neighbours in the German state of Hesse revved up this week, ending in bloodshed when one of the elderly men attacked the other with a weed whacker, police reported on Thursday.
The pair had been bickering over a small strip of lawn near their homes in the small community of Grasellenbach just south of Darmstadt, according to the authorities."
The pair had been bickering over a small strip of lawn near their homes in the small community of Grasellenbach just south of Darmstadt, according to the authorities."
A Note from Fred Zackel
What's the use of having a blog if you can't promote another writer now and then. If you haven't read Cocaine and Blue Eyes, you've missed a treat. I'm sure the others are equally good, and now you can get 'em on Kindle. Here's Fred:
Some of these have never been available.
Both my 1978 novel Cocaine and Blue Eyes & my 1980 novel Cinderella After Midnight are now available as Kindle Editions, for instance.
(The webzine "Beat to a Pulp" aka BTAP did a lovely excerpt "Big and bright and colorful, like the California Dream" from CINDERELLA AFTER MIDNIGHT this past February.
http://www.beattoapulp.com/
if you're curious.
And three other books of mine are available for the first time ever ...
"Tough Town Cold City" (a novel)
An old friend is brutally murdered and San Francisco private eye Frank Pasnow is told the funeral home needs a down payment. He goes after the security deposit from the cute and cunning landlady.
"Murder in Waikiki" (a novel)
It's 1985. Murder arrives in sun-drenched Waikiki Beach with a van filled with tourists from the Mainland. (Agatha Christie meets Joseph Conrad.)
Most recently, "Crow on the Cradle" went up.
Murder, intrigue, revenge, betrayal, suspense, thriller, conspiracies, sex, swords, mythology, noir, classic, regicide, inheritance, birthright, throne ... and pagan.
Will Ferrell's Sexy Hot Tan Sunscreen
Will Ferrell's Sexy Hot Tan Sunscreen
"I've always dreamed of owning a lotion company," said Will Ferrell, "I'm proud to be associated with Cancer for College. Since 1993, CFC has helped students realize their college aspirations. Proceeds to CFC provides college scholarships to cancer survivors.
I'll Just Have a Dr Pepper, Please
‘Tarantula sunrise’ is a cocktail with bite | Metro.co.uk: "The arachnophobe’s nightmare is made using rice wine, jack fruit and a tarantula – which many Cambodians believe can help your heart and work as an aphrodisiac."
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
Crispian St. Peters, R. I. P.
Crispian St. Peters, Singer of the Hit ‘Pied Piper,’ Dies at 71 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com: "Crispian St. Peters, a British pop singer of the ’60s best known for his buoyant hit “Pied Piper” and his soulful version of “You Were on My Mind,” died on Tuesday at his home in Swanley, Kent, England. He was 71."
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
What Not to Wear on Safari
'Fiery fragrance' Obsession for Men attracts big cats: "Zookeepers and biologists have found that Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men, one of the Top 10 best-selling men’s fragrances worldwide, effectively attracts big cats such as jaguars and cheetahs."
Hat tip to Fred Zackel.
Robert E. Howard Days!
Robert E. Howard Days this Weekend in Cross Plains: Full Schedule of Events: "Robert E. Howard, one of the best known action and adventure story authors, is being celebrated and fans are coming to “pay homage” to their favorite author in Cross Plains, TX this weekend June 11-12. They call it Howard Days and fans come from near and far to attend… putting Cross Plains in the spot light for a weekend."
Full schedule at the link.
Forgotten Books: EMBASSY -- Keith Laumer
Keith Laumer was a prolific SF writer who served in the U. S. Army and worked in the foreign service. His stories about Retief, a galactic diplomat, are pretty clearly a result of the latter employment. I find the early ones hilarious. (Others don't.) I also enjoy the novels in Laumer's Imperium series, especially the first, Worlds of the Imperium.Which brings us to today's Forgotten Book, because the foreign service diplomat who's kidnapped by the Imperium and take to an alternate America is Brion Bayard, who happens to be one of the characters Laumer's mainstream novelEmbassy.
Embassy is, as you can read on the cover, "A shocker to rival The Ugly American." It's Laumer's "straight" novel about the U. S. foreign service, which, if Laumer's to be believed, was staffed in the '60s by opportunists, lechers, poltroons, climbers, dumbasses, dullards, and layabouts. The setting is the mythical country of Samoy, which happens to be a lot like Burma (now Myanmar), where Laumer served. Bayard comes to the embassy ready to work, and he doesn't suffer fools gladly. He wants to do things right, and he doesn't like injustice. Naturally everyone is immediately out to get him out of Samoy and ruin his career.
Embassy is crammed with dozens of characters and plot lines, including an incipient communist revolution. It's not at all a humorous novel in the Retief vein, though there are moments of humor. Before it's over, there's plenty of action and violence. Torture, even. It's a serious take on the foreign service and what was wrong with it. Even if Laumer is exaggerating by a factor of ten, it's amazing that the U. S. has any standing left in the world.
I suspect that Laumer had high hopes for this book, and he must have been surprised when it wound up being published by a second-rank paperback house instead of some prestigious hardcover imprint. Even Pyramid didn't seem to have any faith in it, cramming its huge cast and story into a slim 200-page volume with tiny print and way too many lines on a page.
I enjoyed the book a lot, but I can see two problems, both of which could have been easily corrected. One is the narration. Bayard's sections of the book are in first-person. Why? I have no idea, since he's only one character among many and gets no more attention than a lot of the others. The other problem is the chronology. A good bit of time passes in the book, but it's hard to know when it happens. Some chapters pick up immediately after the preceding one, while between others a lot of time goes by.
Back in the early '60s I read The Ugly American and liked it. I wish I'd seen this book when it came out, but I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
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