Saturday, February 14, 2015

New AHMM Podcast

PodOmatic | Best Free Podcasts: Eve Fisher reads her story "Drifts" from the January/February 2006 issue of AHMM. Recorded live at Bouchercon 2014 in Long Beach.

F. Scott Fitzgerald on the Secret of Great Writing

F. Scott Fitzgerald on the Secret of Great Writing

14 Wonderfully Sassy Vintage Valentines From Suffragists

14 Wonderfully Sassy Vintage Valentines From Suffragists

Alison Gordon, R. I. P.

Mystery Fanfare: ALISON GORDON: R.I.P.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

THE ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE

Song of the Day

Freddy Cannon - Way down yonder in new orleans (HQ) - YouTube:

Or Maybe We Don't

16 Things Grammar Pedants Get Wrong

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm Sure You'll All Agree

10 Best Historical Romance Novels

PaperBack



Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Pocket Books, 1955

I Want to Believe!

Obama adviser John Podesta's biggest regret: Keeping America in dark about UFOs

70 Years Ago Today, Kurt Vonnegut Was in Slaughterhouse-Five

70 Years Ago Today, Kurt Vonnegut Was in Slaughterhouse-Five

9 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

9 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

The Thousand-Year Rose

The Thousand-Year Rose: More of a out-of-control tree than the lilting flower the name might suggest, the Rose of Hildesheim, otherwise known as the Thousand-Year Rose, is thought to be the oldest living rose on the planet, and it looks to continue to be for the foreseeable future since not even bombs can stop it. 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Father charged with assault for throwing bagel at his baby  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

25 Insanely Sexist Vintage Valentines

25 Insanely Sexist Vintage Valentines

It Opened on Valentine's Day

18 Things You Might Not Have Known About 'The Silence of the Lambs' 

Happy Valentine's Day!

History of Valentine's Day

Friday, February 13, 2015

Gary Owens, R. I. P.

Variety: Radio, TV and voiceover performer Gary Owens died on Feb. 12 at his home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. 

Owens, who was 80, had been a diabetic since the age of 8. Owens was probably best known as the announcer on NBC’s “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” (1968-73), with his trademark hand-over-the-ear announcing style. On the show, John Wayne once imitated Owens announcing. The phrase Gary created on his KMPC radio show, “Beautiful downtown Burbank,” later became a nightly catchphrase on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”

How’d That Happen: John C. Boland

How’d That Happen: John C. Boland | Trace Evidence

Richard III Update

This Was The Killer Blow That Likely Ended The Life Of King Richard III

Unrequited Love Stories in Literature

Unrequited Love Stories in Literature

Song of the Day

Bo Diddley-Say Man (High Quality) - YouTube:

'Saturday Night Live': All 141 Cast Members Ranked

'Saturday Night Live': All 141 Cast Members Ranked

Hat tip to Toby O'Brien.

Today's Vintage Ad


The Weirdest Spy Action Novels Ever Published

The Weirdest Spy Action Novels Ever Published

Tony Hays: R.I.P.

Mystery Fanfare: Tony Hays: R.I.P.

PaperBack



Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe, Pocket Books, 1945



Croc Update (They Make Excellent Pets Edition)

Crocodiles Love to Play Ball and Surf, Scientist Says 

The Science-Fiction and Fantasy Adaptations from Yesteryear

The Science-Fiction and Fantasy Adaptations from Yesteryear

David Carr, R. I. P.

AOL.com: NEW YORK (AP) - Media columnist David Carr, who wrote the Media Equation column for The New York Times and penned a memoir about his fight with drug addiction, collapsed at his office and died on Thursday. He was 58.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Vintage Science Fiction Magazine Art

This Vintage Science Fiction Magazine Art Is Worth Geeking Out Over

Forgotten Books: The Complete Mother Goose

James Reasoner's post last week about his first favorite book threw me into a veritable frenzy of nostalgia, so naturally I had to have a look at my first favorite book.  There's a lot of it left, although the covers are missing.  The cheap paper is crumbling and chipping, and quite a few of the pages are gone.  Some of the remaining pages are decorated with crayon art by anonymous artists, probably me or my sister or brother.  What matters though is that I still have what's left of it. 

The first page of the remainder of the book is one of the concluding pages of what I'm sure was my favorite poem in the book, "Who Killed Cock Robin?"  Even as a little tyke, I was a crime fiction fan.

As you can see, at some point in the book's history my other wrote an little inscription on it.  She told me that the book was a present for my first birthday.  She also said that I was a huge fan of the rhymes that the book is filled with (it's well over 300 pages long).  She told me that when my father came home from work in the afternoons, I'd grab up the book and toddle to him as fast as I could, saying "'ead Mama Goose.  'ead Mama Goose."  Is it any wonder that I wound up as I did?  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

5 of Abraham Lincoln’s Favorite Foods

5 of Abraham Lincoln’s Favorite Foods

A fond look at the gruesome zombie comic books of yore

A fond look at the gruesome zombie comic books of yore

Who Says Hollywood Is Out of Ideas?

Sid and Marty Krofft Making 'Sigmund and the Sea Monsters' Pilot for Amazon  

Hat tip to Fred Zackel.

Song of the Day

Dean Martin-Ain't That a Kick in the Head - YouTube:

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 30 Best Period Dramas From the Last 30 Years 

Today's Vintage Ad


A Guide to the Not-So-Secret Spy Palaces of The World

A Guide to the Not-So-Secret Spy Palaces of The World

New Story at Beat to a Pulp

TheHardSideOfHeartbreak: THE HARD SIDE OF HEARTBREAK -- a Joe Hannibal Story -- Wayne D. Dundee

PaperBack



Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Lucky Legs, Pocket Books, 1946

25 Images That Show How Big Our Cities Have Gotten

25 Images That Show How Big Our Cities Have Gotten  

Link via The Presurfer.

Who Says Hollywood Is Out of Ideas?

'Saw' Writers Hired to Tackle New 'Halloween' Horror Movie: Sources say it’s not a remake, not a reboot, and not a reimagining. One source said the project is a “recalibration.”

Vintage Treasures: Pamela Dean’s Secret Country Trilogy

Vintage Treasures: Pamela Dean’s Secret Country Trilogy

I Want to Believe!

Salford 'alien' sighting: 'Creepy and weird' lifeform caught on film by terrified witness

Gator Update (Germ Fighting Edition)

Gator blood contains naturally strong germ fighters

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Bob Simon, R. I. P.

NY Daily News: “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon was killed in a car crash on the West Side Highway in Manhattan on Wednesday night, sources said. 

The 73-year-old reporter was a passenger in a livery cab traveling south on 12th Ave. at W. 30 St. when it rear-ended a Mercedes-Benz driven by a 23-year-old man and then slammed into a median around 6:45 p.m., a police source said.

Nostalgia Corner

The recent Brian Williams kerfuffle had me thinking about false memories.  I have no idea if Williams' memory is a false one or if he just made stuff up.  However, I do know that I  have plenty of false memories.  For example, there's the story about the snake on the porch.  I have a vivid memory of this event.  We lived in the country for the first four or five years of my life, and after my sister, Francelle, was born, my mother would sometimes put her in a playpen on the front porch if the weather was good.  Sometimes she'd put me in there, too, to keep Francelle company.  One day when we were out there, a big snake crawled up on the porch and slithered toward the playpen.  I started yelling, and my mother came to see what was wrong.  She saw the snake, snatched us out of the playpen, and took us inside, where she telephoned for help.  

The call went to the Farrar Lumber Company, where her father was the manager.  As it happened, my other grandfather was there, too, and he's the one who came out to the house and got rid of the snake by chopping its head off with a hoe.  It flopped around a while after the head was removed, which impressed me a lot. 

The snake was a harmless one, supposedly, but my mother was of the opinion that there was no such thing as a harmless snake.  I've been of the same opinion ever since, myself.  This event traumatized me.  I can still remember exactly where the playpen sat, and I can see that black snake slithering across the porch toward us.  It's as real as the keyboard I'm typing on right now.

Except that my mother told me it never happened, or at least not like I think it did.  According to her version of the story, I was in town with my grandfather, and I came back to the house with him when she called for help.  Only my sister was in the playpen, and I was miles away.

Francelle was too young to remember any of this, and my mother was the only other witness.  I'm sure she was right about it, but that's not the way I remember it.  No matter what, I'll always think I was there, staring into that serpent's beady little eyes and watching its tongue flicker in and out of its mouth.  

The Mysterious Life of David Goodis

The Mysterious Life of David Goodis

Storme Warning -- W. L. Ripley

Brash Books isn't just bringing back out-of-print books.  In some cases it's bringing back a series and also publishing new books in the series.  That's the case with W. L. Ripley's books about Wyatt Storme, former wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, now retired and living in his homes in either Colorado or the Ozarks, depending on his mood.  He likes isolation and doesn't suffer fools gladly.  That's why it's a real problem for him when a movie company wants to shoot on his property.  Storme is even less happy to be providing protection for one of the movie's stars, Cameron Fogarty.  Throw into the mix a vengeful ex-con who's out to get Storme, and complications ensue.

Storme is an engaging first-person narrator*, a wise-ass, and a guy more than capable of backing up anything he says.  Just in case he needs any help, however, there's his psycho sidekick, Chick Easton, who's even tougher than Storme, and more damaged, too.  

The narrative is speedy and twisty, the snappy patter is always amusing, and the conclusion is satisfactory.  If you like being reminded a bit of Spenser or Travis McGee, you'll get a real kick out of this one and the other books in the series.  Check 'em out.

*There's some third-person narration thrown in, too, but not too much, and Ripley handles it well.

'Which' Versus 'That'

'Which' Versus 'That' 

40 brilliant idioms that simply can’t be translated literally

40 brilliant idioms that simply can’t be translated literally  

Hat tip to John Duke.

Song of the Day

The Kinks - Apeman (Official Audio) - YouTube:

8 Mysterious Disappearances

8 Mysterious Disappearances (And The Clues That Keep People Guessing)  

Link via Neatorama.

Today's Vintage Ad


Fictional Spy Disguises That Fooled Absolutely No One

Fictional Spy Disguises That Fooled Absolutely No One

“Saved by Ellery Queen” (by Russell Atwood)

“Saved by Ellery Queen” (by Russell Atwood) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

PaperBack



David Knight (Richard S. Prather), Dragnet: Case No. 561, Pocket Books, 1956

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The Best Spy Comedy Is: Get Smart

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

And of course Texas Leads the Way: Houston Press: Watch out. In Deer Park, Walmart patrons solve arguments in front of the $2.99 baby wipes the same way billy goats resolve their differences.

See the video at the link.  Bad language involved.

The Trap of Solid Gold: "Half-Past Eternity"

The Trap of Solid Gold: "Half-Past Eternity": It’s one of [John D.] MacDonald’s more delightful stories, in that it is barely science fiction for much of its early pages, and the subject matter of the plot straddles several different story types and works on several different levels: it’s a crime story, a sports story, a business story and a science fiction story.

Dino Update

Fossilized grass hints that dinosaurs ate hallucinogenic fungus similar to LSD

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Readers' Poll: The 10 Greatest Double Albums of All Time 

(Hint:  Annoying slideshow)

Comic Strip of the Day

Link

Song of the Day

Lovin' Spoonful - Best Of - Money - YouTube:

Who Says TV Is Out of Ideas?

'Battlebots' is coming back to TV this summer

The 25 Best Tumblr Accounts for Book Nerds

The 25 Best Tumblr Accounts for Book Nerds  


Today's Vintage Ad


10 Wildly Successful Books Authors Wish They Hadn't Written

It's a misleading headline, but it's kind of an interesting list, anyway.

10 Wildly Successful Books Authors Wish They Hadn't Written

PaperBack



Richard Deming, Dragnet: The Case of the Crime King, Pocket Books, 1959

Songs that Sound Very Much Alike

16 songs that sound as much (or more) alike than Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” and Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”

The Stories Behind 10 Unused Film Scores

The Stories Behind 10 Unused Film Scores

Sadly, Not All of Them

How Many Of These Nicolas Cage Movies Have You Seen

Overlooked TV: Cool and Lam

Scroll down and you'll see the pilot episode for a proposed 1958 TV series based on the Cool & Lam novels by A. A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner, who introduces the pilot).  I watched it yesterday, and it seems pretty true to the books as I remember them, but I haven't read one lately.  Bertha's a little less acerbic, maybe.

Billy Pearson plays Lam, and Benay Venuta plays Cool.  Not exactly household names. Pearson had only a few small roles, two of them as a jockey.  Venuta was in a few more things, but not many, and not in major roles.  Too bad the pilot didn't go to series.  They'd have been better known if it had.

Hat tip to Bill Page, who linked this on his Facebook page.

Cool and Lam (The Pilot) 1958.

"COOL AND LAM" (The Pilot) 1958. - YouTube:

Monday, February 09, 2015

Lovey Award Winners

Mystery Fanfare: LOVEY AWARD WINNERS

Melanie Tem, R. I. P.

Locus Online News: Author Melanie Tem, 65, died February 9, 2015 of cancer. Tem’s debut novel Prodigal (1991) was the winner of a Bram Stoker Award, and in 1992 she won the Icarus award for most promising newcomer, presented by the British Fantasy Society. Novella “The Man on the Ceiling” (2000), co-written with her husband Steve Rasnic Tem, won a World Fantasy Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and an International Horror Guild Award. They expanded it into a novel in 2008, and in that form it was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award. They also collaborated on novel Daughters (2001), numerous works of short fiction, and multimedia collection Imagination Box(2001), a Bram Stoker Award winner and International Horror Guild Award finalist.

40 Movies That Define Los Angeles

40 Movies That Define Los Angeles

Song of the Day

The Box Tops - The Letter - YouTube:

Scientific geniuses whothought magic was real

These 5 men were scientific geniuses. They also thought magic was real. 

New Poem at the Five-Two

The Five-Two: Sharon Lask Munson: THE NEW WOMAN

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm going with "Monster"

Massive 'Crocodile' (or maybe a monster) spotted off the British coast

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback: February 9, 1965

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback: February 9, 1965

PaperBack



Ted E. Abrams, Sinful Cowboy, Newsstand Library, 1961

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

20 Best TV Spin-Offs 

I Found a Penny Last Week

Secret stash of Moon artifacts found hidden in Neil Armstrong's closet

Who Said It First?

It wasn't Harry Truman.  The Buck Stops Here

Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1951: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1951: A Retro-Review

Sunday, February 08, 2015

Here's the Plot for Your Next Marriage Made in Heaven Comedy

New York Post: [Charles] Manson’s engagement to a woman 53 years his junior was part of a wild scheme of hers to profit by putting his body on public display after his death, says the author of an upcoming book.

Dean Smith, R. I. P.

ESPN: Dean Smith, the coaching innovator who won two national championships at North Carolina, an Olympic gold medal in 1976 and induction into basketball's Hall of Fame more than a decade before he left the bench, has died. He was 83.

Billy Casper, R. I. P.

ESPN: SAN DIEGO -- Billy Casper, one of the most prolific winners on the PGA Tour who was overshadowed at the height of his career by the "Big Three," died Saturday at his home in Utah. He was 83.

Seven unknown architectural wonders

Seven unknown architectural wonders  

Slideshow, but worth it.

Song of the Day

I'm On My Way to Canaan's Land - Flatt and Scruggs - YouTube:

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Texas man jailed after attempt to pay $600 tax bill with tightly folded dollar bills

Today's Vintage Ad


Is It 'Donut' or 'Doughnut'?

Is It 'Donut' or 'Doughnut'? 

PaperBack



Walter A. Tompkins, Manhunt West, Dell, 1951

Joe Mauldin, R. I. P.

Buddy Holly bassist Joe Mauldin dies: Joe B. Mauldin, the bassist for Buddy Holly's Crickets died Saturday morning in Nashville. He was 74.

10 People Who Lived Conflicting Double Lives

10 People Who Lived Conflicting Double Lives 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

All 86 Best Picture Oscar Winners Ranked

Free for Kindle for One Day Only

Amazon.com: The Unburied Dead (DS Thomas Hutton 1) eBook: Douglas Lindsay: Kindle Store  Amazon.com: The Unburied Dead (DS Thomas Hutton 1) eBook: Douglas Lindsay: Kindle Store: A psychopath walks the streets of Glasgow, selecting his first victim. He sees his ex-girlfriend everywhere, and he will have her back. 

When a woman is savagely murdered, her body stabbed over a hundred times, the police know from the nature of the crime that the killer will strike again. DCI Bloonsbury, the once-feted detective, is put in charge of the investigation, but as the killer begins to hit much closer to home and an old police conspiracy starts to unravel, Bloonsbury slides further into morose alcoholic depression. 

In the middle of it all is Detective Sergeant Thomas Hutton, juggling divorce, deception, alcohol, murdered colleagues, and Dylan. He could use a break but the dead will not rest and the past will not be buried until he can catch the latest serial killer to haunt the streets of his city.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

CBS New York: A Staten Island mother stood accused Friday of threatening to blow up her daughter’s school after her daughter failed an exam.