Free for Kindle for a Limited Time

Force of Habit - Kindle edition by James Scott Bell. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.  A vigilante nun cleans up the streets of Los Angeles. Sinners beware.

Gregg Allman, R. I. P.

Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band dies at age 69: SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Music legend Gregg Allman, whose bluesy vocals and soulful touch on the Hammond B-3 organ helped propel the Allman Brothers Band to superstardom and spawn Southern rock, died Saturday, a publicist said. He was 69.  

Hat tip to John Duke.

Jim Bunning, R. I. P.

ABC15 Arizona: SOUTHGATE, Ky. -- Former U.S. senator and baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning has died, Cincinnati-based WCPO news partner Fort Thomas Matters reports.

The Moses Deception -- Stephen Mertz

Back in the old days I read several books about discoveries that would change the Bible and change the world.  One of them was Robert Duncan's The Q Document, and another was Irving Wallace's The Word.  I like things like that, so I'm the target audience for The Moses Deception, in which a couple of archaeologists, Adam Chase and Lara Newton working along the Turkey/Syria border and are shown a cave that contains the nuclear bomb of all archaeological discoveries: the remnants of the tablets that contained the first version of the Ten Commandments.  The big revelation is that there was an eleventh commandment, and if it's genuine it will indeed change the world.  That is, it will if Adam and Lara can survive bandit gangs and all the other people who are trying to kill them.

Stephen Mertz is an expert action writer, and The Moses Deception is filled with intriguing characters, pursuits, escapes, slam-bang action, and suspense.  Chase's motto is "trust no one," but you have to trust someone now and then.  That can get people killed, and it does.  You never now when someone's going to die, or who's to blame.  It's not surprising to find this in a Mertz novel.  What surprised me was the serious discussion of religion and belief, something that you don't generally find in novels of action and adventure.  This is good stuff and The Moses Deception is a book you'll want to check out for sure.

2.2 Million Images from the Early Days of Photography

Now Online: 2.2 Million Images from the Early Days of Photography: We know how it is. You want lots and lots of olde-tymey pictures of men with big mustaches and ladies in absurd hats, but you just don’t know where to go. Fret no more, friends: Europeana Photography has got them all.

Song of the Day

Jethro Tull - Too Old To Rock'n'Roll Too Young To Die (HQ) - YouTube:

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Presidential pets, ranked  

I wrote a short story about #5, which should, of course, be #1.

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7 Random Facts You've Probably Never Heard Before

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Ernest Haycox, Chaffee of Roaring Horse, Popular Library, 1949

Over 5000 Historical Novels Listed by Time and Place

Over 5000 Historical Novels Listed by Time and Place: Including more than 700 Reviews

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

'Sgt Pepper' at 50: Every song on the album, ranked

Forgotten Hits: May 27th

Forgotten Hits: May 27th

Al Franken: By the Book

Al Franken: By the Book: The author of “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate” has at least one Congressional Research Service report on his night stand. “But it’s under Carl Reiner’s book on ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show.’”

Zbigniew Brzezinski, R. I. P.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the hawkish strategic theorist who was national security Zbigniew Brzezinski, the hawkish strategic theorist who was national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter in the tumultuous years of the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s, died on Friday. He was 89. to President Jimmy Carter in the tumultuous years of the Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s, died on Friday. He was 89.

Jared Martin, R. I. P.

Hollywood Reporter: Jared Martin, the Dallas actor who portrayed Dusty Farlow, the rodeo cowboy and Sue Ellen Ewing seducer who perished in a plane crash, only to have producers resurrect his character by popular demand, has died. He was 75.

Or Maybe You Have

13 of the best Stephen King short stories you've never read

Song of the Day

Little Richard - Goodnight Irene - YouTube:

Summer Reading Recommendations, From 6 Novelists Who Own Bookstores

Summer Reading Recommendations, From 6 Novelists Who Own Bookstores  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Denis Johnson, R.I. P.

Author Denis Johnson, Who Wrote "Jesus's Son," Dies At 67: Johnson was best known for his short story collection Jesus's Son and his novel Tree of Smoke, which won the National Book Award in 2007 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008. His novella Train Dreams was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012.