Saturday, January 30, 2016

So How Does His Office Roll?

TheHill: “Today I was shown a piece of literature from the Cruz for President campaign that misrepresents the roll of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law,” Paul Pate said in a statement released by his office.

Brooklyn Leads the Way

Performance Art Goes to the Toilet—in Brooklyn, Of Course

Song of the Day

The Falcons I Found A Love - YouTube:

15 Quotes That’ll Make You Proud To Be A Texan

15 Quotes That’ll Make You Proud To Be A Texan

Today's Vintage Ad


10 Lesser-Known Shakespeare Plays

10 Lesser-Known Shakespeare Plays

PaperBack



Stuart Friedman, The Troubles of Dr. Cortland, Monarch, 1965

Is Our Children Learning? No.

College Kids Spend Fifth Of Class On Phones Instead Of Learning

I For One Welcome the Coming of Our New Rodential Masters

Britain set for 'super rat' plague as millions of 2ft long rodents 'immune to poison' blossom

Archaeology Update

2500-Year-Old Human Footprints Discovered at Arizona Construction Site

Friday, January 29, 2016

Complete List of Pseudonymous Writings by Peter Brandvold

WRITING FOR THE BRAND: Complete List of Pseudonymous Writings by Peter Brandvold

Perfectly Understandable

Police got a call about screams inside a home, but found a man singing opera: Police in the Netherlands got a call about a man wailing in his apartment. The caller suspected domestic abuse.

Song of the Day

Jerry Butler - For Your Precious Love (1958) - YouTube:

The strange foods that Americans loved a century ago

The strange foods that Americans loved a century ago

Today's Vintage Ad


Brooklyn Leads the Way

Atlas Obscura: This weekend, a small group of Brooklyn entrepreneurs and snow-lovers built an igloo and listed it on Airbnb.  

Photo at link.

2015 Hammett Prize Nominees

Mystery Fanfare: 2015 HAMMETT PRIZE NOMINEES

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Niels Hoyer, editor, Man into Woman, Popular Library, 1953

Paging Halle Berry

Woman says she is a cat trapped in the wrong body - she hisses at dogs, hates water and claims she can even see better at night

Walt Williams, R. I. P.

The New York Times: Walt Williams, a high-energy, free-swinging outfielder who played for four major league teams but who was probably best known for the unusual physique that earned him the nickname No Neck, died on Saturday in Abilene, Tex. He was 72.

Phoenix Press: Depression Era Pulp

The Case of the Mysterious Moll by Harry Stephen KeelerPhoenix Press: Depression Era Pulp: New York’s Phoenix Press was a publisher of mysteries, westerns, and other light fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.  We were alerted to this company’s literary history by a loyal AbeBooks customer called Paul Rollinson, who encouraged us to feature Phoenix’s fantastic Depression-era pulp, if only for the amazing dust jackets. Phoenix was one of many lending-library publishers of the era, and fought to rise above the others of its ilk to make a name for itself in the tough economic climate.

Those Wacky Reds

Stalin 'used secret laboratory to analyse Mao's excrement'

FFB: The Tall Stranger -- Louis L'Amour

Hondo, a novelization of a screenplay based on a story by L'Amour, turned out well.  Someone must have thought that if it worked once, it would work again, so we have The Tall Stranger, a novelization of a screenplay based on a story by L'Amour.  But it didn't work this time.  The Tall Stranger is a mess.  

How messy is it?  Well, on the proofreading level, there's a character named either Satterfield or Scatterfield.  Take your pick.  I think the preponderance of evidence is with Satterfield, but I didn't count.  At one point a man is referred to as "she," and there are a number of typos, like "horrer" for "horror."  

The book is very short, a little over 120 pages.  Ordinarily I'd think that was okay, but not here.  There are a lot of things that need to be fleshed out, like characters, their motivations, and the story itself.  It's almost as if L'Amour started to do a really good job but got tired of it and turned in the book.  When he's writing about the landscape, there are pages that are just fine, but they seem out of place with the rest of the book.  As for the characters, they're very sketchy, and they do, or don't do, things just in service of the story, whether they make sense or not.  Very near the end of the book, L'Amour devotes several pages to the backstories of a couple of minor characters just to set up their final confrontations.  

Throughout the book Rock Bannon, the protagonist, is described as being unable to express himself, but at one point when he describes a particular valley, he bursts forth for a page or so with the eloquence of a rustic Wordsworth. 

I'm not going into the plot.  I'll just say that I've read and enjoyed a lot of L'Amour's novels, but this one is just plain bad.  It went through several printings from Gold Medal, though, and was reprinted later by Bantam.  I don't know if any revisions were made for any of those editions, and I'm not moved to find out.  Maybe the movie is better.  It would just about have to be.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Paul Kantner, R. I. P.

 SFGate: Paul Kantner, one of the giants of the San Francisco music scene, died Thursday. Mr. Kantner, a founding member of the Jefferson Airplane, was 74 and had suffered a heart attack this week.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Darkness on the Edge of Town: JOE R. LANSDALE IS THE TOAST OF ITALY, A HOT PROPERTY IN HOLLYWOOD, AND AN INSPIRATION TO A GENERATION OF HORROR AND THRILLER WRITERS EVERYWHERE. AND HE OWES IT ALL TO NACOGDOCHES.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

García Márquez archives debut at Austin's Ransom Center: Ransom Center adapting to use of digital formats

Song of the Day

Rappin' Rodney - YouTube:

The Terrorists Are Winning

Man claims he was robbed in the name of ISIS in East Bakersfield 

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Ranking the best and worst Super Bowl announcers, from John Madden to Phil Simms

PaperBack



Clement Wood, Fair Game, Beacon, 1958

The Weirdest Outdated Laws From Each State

The Weirdest Outdated Laws From Each State 

10 Roaring Facts About Zelda Fitzgerald

10 Roaring Facts About Zelda Fitzgerald 

I Miss the Old Days

Wonder Woman S2E8 

Peek inside one of the first family comic strips

1907: Peek inside one of the first family comic strips: Starring an elegant but nervous wife and a gentle but dim-witted husband, The Newlyweds was one of the most popular Sunday strips of its day. With the addition of Baby Snookums to the family in 1907, it became known as The Newlyweds and their Baby.

Forgotten Music: The Lost Legacy Of David Ruffin

Soul Set Free: The Lost Legacy Of David Ruffin 

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Chupacabra Update

Did someone catch the chupacabra in the Philippines?

Photos at the link.
Hat tip to Art Scott.

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

DeLorean Going Back Into Production After 34-Year Break  

Hat tip to Tom Neary.

“What I Know” (by Steven Gore)

“What I Know” (by Steven Gore) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: Steven Gore last posted on this site on July 8, 2015, just as the EQMM issue that contained his story “Black Rock” was going on sale. The private investigator turned author of short stories and seven novels (the latest of which is White Ghost, from William Morrow, March 2016) returns today with some reflections about “the emperor of all maladies” and how it has entered into his crime fiction.—Janet Hutchings

Song of the Day

THIS MAGIC MOMENT-JAY AND THE AMERICANS - YouTube:

10 Women Who Changed Sci-Fi

10 Women Who Changed Sci-Fi

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

Snapshots of Teenagers in the 1980s

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Robert & Frances Guenette, The Mysterious Monsters, Schick Sun Classic Pictures, 1975

Cursive Update

Cursive handwriting is part of being an American, senator says

Yet Another List I'm Not On

USA TODAY's top 100 books of 2015

First It Was Harper Lee . . .

New Beatrix Potter book discovered with an older, fatter Peter Rabbit

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

5 January Days—5 Free Books! | Lawrence Block

5 January Days—5 Free Books! | Lawrence Block

Abe Vigoda, R. I. P.

ABC News: Character actor Abe Vigoda, whose leathery, sunken-eyed face made him ideal for playing the over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series "Barney Miller" and the doomed Mafia soldier in "The Godfather," died Tuesday at age 94.

The story that destroyed Truman Capote

The story that destroyed Truman Capote — and high society

Song of the Day

Del Reeves / Girl On The Billboard - YouTube:

36 Film History Firsts

36 Film History Firsts

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

Rock Stars in Their Bathing Suits

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Margery Allingham, Wanted: Someone Innocent, Pony Books, 1946

Talking About Nero Wolfe

Talking About Nero Wolfe

I For One Welcome Our New Robot Overlords

This Robot Can Solve a Rubik's Cube in Just Over a Second 

First It Was the Thin Mint Melee

NJ woman shoots man who was using her shovel to clear elderly neighbor’s driveway:  While walking back to his home, he was again accosted by the woman and three men, one of whom pointed a gun at the victim's head. At the woman's command, the assailant fired a single shot at the victim, striking him in the buttocks, the report said.

Take a Peek Inside Neil Gaiman's Library

Take a Peek Inside Neil Gaiman's Library

Overlooked Movies: Agatha

I've been reading Martin Edwards' Edgar-nominated The Golden Age of Murder, and the section on Agatha Christie's still-mysterious short-term disappearance in 1926 reminded me of this movie.  It's based on a novel by Kathleen Tynan, and it's a fictionalized account of that disappearance.  Christie is played by Vanessa Redgrave, and Archie, her rotter of a husband, is a pre-James Bond Timothy Dalton.  Dustin Hoffman plays an American reporter, Wally Stanton, who tracks Christie down.  The Christies are real, but Hoffman's character is the creation of Tynan.

Tynan speculates that Christie's disappearance has to do with the fact that her husband is having an affair with his secretary.  (In real life, she registered at a hotel using the secretary's last name, and two years later the Christies were divorced and Archie had married his secretary.)  Tynan also speculates that Agatha had plans for the secretary, the kind of plans that a mystery writer usually confines to the pages of a book.  

When Wally finds Christie, he doesn't rat her out.  Instead, he falls for her, and this leads to some nice scenes, especially the one where the quite short Wally and the quite tall Agatha dance together.  The plot kind of meanders along for a lot of them movie, but the period details are great, and it's always fun to watch actors like Dalton, Hoffman, and Redgrave do their stuff.  They do it very well here.

If you want a kind of fluffy entertainment that has some relation to the truth, whatever that might be, this movie will provide it.  But if you want the real skinny on crime fiction's Golden Age, then I highly recommend Edwards' book.

Update:  Over at Kevin Tipple's blog today, Earl Staggs writes about Christie's disappearance.

Agatha

Dustin Hoffman in Agatha 1979 TV trailer - YouTube:

Monday, January 25, 2016

When Alligators Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Alligators

Six-foot alligator removed from suburban home after 26-year stint  

Hat tip to Art Scott.

First It Was the Thin Mint Melee

Dad accused of hitting daughter over the head with frozen bacon

First It Was the Thin Mint Melee

Daily Mail Online: Clip shows furious wife viciously attacking her husband's alleged mistress 

The scorned woman then drags her shrieking love rival along the pavement 

She is joined by a friend, who helps throw the alleged mistress of a bridge 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson. 


First It Was the Thin Mint Melee

Man dumped mashed potatoes onto woman's work desk  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Great New Triple-Decker Coming from Stark House Press

STARK HOUSE PRESS: Leave Her to Hell / Let Me Kill You Sweetheart / Take Me Home 978-1-933586-95-3 Three acerbic noirs: an unconventional private eye novel, a murder mystery set in a small Midwestern town, and the story of a writer who falls in love with a troubled young lesbian. Includes a new introduction by Bill Pronzini. Available March 2016

9 Novels George R. R. Martin Thinks You Should Read

9 Novels George R. R. Martin Thinks You Should Read

Song of the Day

I'm Not A Juvenille Delinquent - Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - YouTube:

I Miss the Old Days

50 Snapshots of People Posing Next to Their Damn Cool Cars in the 1970s

Today's Vintage Ad


I Miss the Old Days

TV Guide #13: July 10-16, 1976 | Retrospace

PaperBack



Fredric Brown, Madball, Dell, 1953

“Love Me Do”: The Beatles First Record

“Love Me Do”: The Beatles First Record  

Paging the apostrophe police.

John D and me: Jeffery Deaver

John D and me: Jeffery Deaver

Free Download of Bruce Springsteen Concert -- Two Days Only

Download Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band January 19, 2016, United Center, Chicago, IL MP3 and FLAC: UPDATE (1/24/16): Starting at 8PM tonight the live recording of The River tour from the Jan. 19 Chicago show will be available as a free MP3 for the next two days.

Click on "Buy Show."

New Poem at the Five-Two

The Five-Two: Kurt Nimmo: MINNESOTA JUMP

First It Was the Thin Mint Melee

This woman Sondra Earle-Kelly 'beat up her husband with nunchucks because he refused her sex' 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Best Fast Food Fried Chicken Sandwiches

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Alvin, Texas, Not Included

US cities that will pay you to live there  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

10 Enduring Cold War Mysteries & Conspiracy Theories

10 Enduring Cold War Mysteries & Conspiracy Theories

Song of the Day

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt - Farther Along - YouTube:

Why We Picture Bombs As Round Black Balls with a Burning Wick

Why We Picture Bombs As Round Black Balls with a Burning Wick

Today's Vintage Ad


Alvin Yellowjackets Inexplicably Not Included

The 30 Best Texas High School Mascots, Ranked

PaperBack



Fredric Brown, Madball, Gold Medal, 1961

A Map of the Land of Rock and Roll

A Map of the Land of Rock and Roll

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review 

Uh-Oh

Fox is Bringing ‘The Exorcist’ to TV

Paris Hilton Update

Kim Kardashian Instagrammed What Might Be The Most 2000s Photo Of All Time