Saturday, October 29, 2016

Free Issue of Mystery Weekly MagazIne

Subscribe to Mystery Weekly MagazIne: Click on the link and you can download the first issue for free.  You don't have to subscribe to get it.

An Interview with Eric Beetner

We're All Outlaws: An Interview with Rumrunner's Eric Beetner

Great Article but Sad News for Me

Browser Update: Kayo Books Goes Online- and Appointment-Only - SF Weekly  

Hat tip to Art Scott.

50 Facts About Felines for National Cat Day

50 Facts About Felines for National Cat Day: Around 3.4 million cats enter shelters each year, and only 37 percent of them find forever homes. That’s why animal welfare advocates marked October 29th as National Cat Day, an annual day of awareness to promote feline adoption. This Saturday, celebrate Felis silvestris in all its furry glory by brushing up on the 50 bits of trivia below.

The Most Popular Holiday Novelty Song

"The Monster Mash": The Most Popular Holiday Novelty Song

Song of the Day

The Blob Theme Song - YouTube:

Forgotten Hits: SWEET 16 - Hold The Phone!

Forgotten Hits: SWEET 16 - Hold The Phone!

Today's Vintage Ad


38 Facts on Frankenstein

38 Facts on Frankenstein (Including the Aerosmith song it inspired and the reason the Munsters never got sued) 

PaperBack



Anonymous, Madeleine, Pyramid, 1955

The Little Professor's Annual Halloween Reading List

The Little Professor: Help! It's the Annual Horde of Horrific Halloween Happenings!

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review

Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of JG Ballard

Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of JG Ballard

It's National Cat Day!


Friday, October 28, 2016

Bob Dylan finally acknowledges that he's won a Nobel Prize

Bob Dylan finally acknowledges that he's won a Nobel Prize: “The news about the Nobel Prize left me speechless," he said. “I appreciate the honor so much.”

The Gone Girl With The Dragon Tattoo On The Train

The Gone Girl With The Dragon Tattoo On The Train  

Anyone who thinks books with "girl" in the title is a new trend hasn't read much Charles Williams.

John Zacherle, R. I. P.

Jerry's House of Everything: JOHN ZACHERLE, R.I.P.

How 10 Iconic Movie Monsters Were Created

How 10 Iconic Movie Monsters Were Created 

Song of the Day

Monster Mash (Lyrics) - YouTube:

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The top 12 TV Westerns of all time

The Man Behind the 'Monster Mash'

A Graveyard Smash: Bobby Pickett, The Man Behind the 'Monster Mash'

Today's Vintage Ad


I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Top 12 Original Horror Film Themes

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Chandler Broussard, All Passion Spent, Popular Library, 1954

The First Known Depiction of a Witch on a Broomstick

The First Known Depiction of a Witch on a Broomstick

Otto Penzler: By the Book

Otto Penzler: By the Book 

Florida Man!

41 Times Florida Man Proved He Is Not the Hero We Need

FFB: Four by Alistair MacLean

I got started rereading Alistair MacLean and had so much fun I couldn't stop.  This was at least the third time I've read The Black Shrike and the second for Where Eagles Dare and Ice Station Zebra.  Probably the third for Fear Is the Key.  It's my opinion that when MacLean was on top of his game, as he was in these books, nobody was better at writing adventure novels with mystery elements and plot twists galore.  There are enough twists in these two books to put a pretzel factory to shame.

The Black Shrike was orginally published in England as Dark Crusader by Ian Stuart.  The Stuart name was kept on its original publication under the new title, but soon MacLean was so famous that his real name was put on the cover.  When eight scientists disappear, along with their wives, after answering a classified ad, British agent John Bentall is sent in answer to the ninth ad, along with Mary Hopewell, an agent posing as his wife.  Following swiftly are kidnapping, escape, and rescue.  Or is all what it seems to be?  Of course it isn't.  It never is in a MacLean novel, but you'll never guess what's really going on unless somebody (like me) mentions it.  Adventures and skullduggery follow, with plenty of clues if you're alert.  But no matter how alert you are, you'll never guess the ending.  Well, I didn't.

I didn't guess the ending of Where Eagles Dare, either, even though [HUGE SPOILER ALERT] it's the same ending as in The Black Shrike [END OF HUGE SPOILER ALERT].  In this one, British agent John Smith leads a hastily assembled [PARENTHETICAL SPOILERS FOLLOW] (or is it?) band of agents to rescue a British general (or is he?) from an impregnable (ha!) castle fortress [END OF PARENTHETICAL SPOILERS].  Double agents abound.  There's even a triple agent.  Extreme cold and many heroic adventures ensue.  Just read it.  It's even better than the movie.

Fear Is the Key is set in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.  The plot is so wildly preposterous that I'm not even going to try to cover it.  It has wild chases, a hurricane sweeping over an oil rig in the Gulf, more chases, and more twists than even the usual MacLean book.  Great stuff, one of my favorites of his work.

Ice Station Zebra is an English country house mystery set on a nuclear submarine.  You probably think I'm joking, and I am.  A little.  It really is an adventure novel, but it's also a mystery with a (mostly) closed setting, and there's even a gathering of the suspects so that the villain can be exposed at the end.  As with all of MacLean's books, the setting is quite important and is described minutely.  I don't know how much MacLean faked things, but in all his books I'm absolutely convinced by the details.  MacLean does cold weather better than just about anyone, and this book is a fine example, as is Where Eagles Dare.  My cold-weather favorite, though, is Night without End, which I should also reread soon.

If you're looking for depth of character, look elsewhere.  MacLean's heroes are stalwart men (often named John; in fact several of these books have at least two characters with that name), able to bear punishments and wounds that would put anyone else in intensive care.  They're witty in moments of stress that would require a double dose of Valium for anyone else.  They don't need sleep.  They're competent in everything they do, unless MacLean needs for them to make a slip.  They're always the smartest person in the room, unless MacLean needs for them to make mistakes that cost the lives of others, as happens in several books.  And they never, ever let you in on a tenth of what they know, although they keep hinting at how much more there is to what's going on than they're telling.  Anyway, if you're looking for sheer fun, which is what pleasure reading is all about, you can't go wrong with the early works of MacLean.  Later on he wrote books sadly unworthy of his legacy, but for a while he was as good as it gets.

For other MacLean reviews, here are my comments on The Satan Bug, Puppet on a Chainand South by Java Head.




Thursday, October 27, 2016

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Deputies: Clay County man points gun at sister for washing clothes that held ecstasy

"We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we . . . ."

Police: Texas A&M student crashed into patrol car after attempting topless Snapchat 

The Best of Genre The Best of Literary Fiction = Awesome

The Best of Genre The Best of Literary Fiction = Awesome 

Song of the Day

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Night moves (album version) - YouTube:

The 11 Creepiest Unsolved Crimes No One Can Explain (Part 2)

The 11 Creepiest Unsolved Crimes No One Can Explain (Part 2)

Update

Daily Mail Online: Finnish man described as a 'well-built giant' is arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after British man was found dead, stripped and tied to an airport bench in Spain

Today's Vintage Ad


The 11 Creepiest Unsolved Crimes No One Can Explain (Part 1)

The 11 Creepiest Unsolved Crimes No One Can Explain (Part 1)

PaperBack



Guy des Cars, The Brute, Pyramid, 1952

Bouchercon/EQMM 75th Anniverary Symposium Photo Gallery 2

BOUCHERCON/EQMM 75TH ANNIVERSARY SYMPOSIUM PHOTO GALLERY PART 2 | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN: This week we want to share some photos that were not available to us when we posted about our 75th anniversary symposium last week. . . A selection of them can be found below, along with three additional photos from the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in New Orleans.

I Want to Believe!

ABBA to reunite for 2018 live shows 

34 Vintage Funny Halloween Costumes Can Make You Laugh

34 Vintage Funny Halloween Costumes Can Make You Laugh

I Want to Believe!

'Alien Megastructure' Star Targeted by $100 Million SETI Search: "I don't think it's very likely — a one-in-a-billion chance or something like that — but nevertheless, we're going to check it out," Dan Werthimer, chief scientist at Berkeley SETI, said in the same statement. "But I think that E.T., if it's ever discovered, it might be something like that. It'll be some bizarre thing that somebody finds by accident … that nobody expected, and then we look more carefully and we say, 'Hey, that's a civilization.'"

Forgotten Music -- Johnny Ace

I Was There: The Night Johnny Ace Died 

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Michael Massee, R. I. P.

Deadline: Michael Massee, known for roles in The Amazing Spider-Man film series and whose name was, unfortunately, inextricably linked to the tragic accident that killed Brandon Lee during the filming of the 1994 film The Crow, died October 26 from undisclosed causes. He was 61. The news was first announced by French actor Anthony Delon, Massee’s fellow cast member on the 2014 French series Interventions.

Henry Melton Interview

A Window into Fantasy: Henry Melton, Science Fiction author extraordinaire

The Sellout wins 2016 Man Booker Prize

The Sellout wins 2016 Man Booker Prize 

Lying Swine (Part 2)

Having decided that the goobers at Google are indeed lying swine, I've made a start at reconstituting the links list.  It's back on the right.  I've probably forgotten a few that should be there, maybe your very favorite.  Let me know what's missing, and I'll add it.

Six Scarlet Scorpions -- Kenneth Robeson (Will Murray)

With Six Scarlet Scorpions (try saying that six times fast) Will Murray begins "The Wild Adventures of Pat Savage," Doc Savage's cousin and a fan favorite from her appearances in Doc's own adventures.

In her opening adventure (based, as I understand it, on an outline Lester Dent did for an unpublished adventure novel), Pat, who wants to get rich, is in Oklahoma with the purpose of buying oil leases.  Her partner in this venture is Monk Mayfair, and they're not in Oklahoma long before they're in a plane crash, which is the least of their worries as they're soon tangled in the machinations of the Scarlet Scorpion, a hooded villain who's out to take over the state by means of extorting money to provide the cure to a mysterious paralyzing disease that he's causing.  

Pat and Monk are framed for the murder of a cop, so they're being chased all over Oklahoma by the good guys and the bad guys, and sometimes it becomes hard to tell just who's one and who's the other, with the mysterious Scarlet Scorpion always floating in the background.

This book reminded me a lot of the old movie serials with its hooded villain and its many cliffhangers.  Lots of gunplay and explosions and huge fires and escapes and pursuits, just the kind of thing to liven up a Saturday afternoon, or any afternoon, for that matter.  Pat Savage is more than up to the job of holding her own in any situation, even though she doesn't have the abilities of her famous cousin.  This new series is off to a humdinger of a start.

This Is Great

Parental Permission Needed to Read Fahrenheit 451

Song of the Day

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross - YouTube:

I Found a Penny in the Walmart Parking Lot Last Week

Dozens of ancient shipwrecks found accidentally during Black Sea mapping 

Today's Vintage Ad


Who's Kydding Whom?

Those who think Marlowe co-wrote plays with Shakespeare may Kyd themselves

PaperBack




Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, Cardinal Books, 1964


It's Not that Hard

This Is The Hardest Spelling Quiz You'll Ever Take

Lying Swine?

The folks at Google said it would take "a few days" to restore the links that used to reside happily at the right of my blog.  It's been a lot more than a few days since the links disappeared.  More like a month.  Some people now suspect that Google never intended to restore the links, which seem to have been removed during some kind of "improvement" to blogger.  Some people think that some lying swine just threw out the "a few days" timeline to keep people quiet for a while in the hopes that everyone would just forget that the links had gone missing in the first place.  I know of at least one blog on which the links have reappeared.  I know of many others on which they haven't.  So I'll start gathering some links and try to get some of them back where they belong.  However, there were a lot of links, and I don't remember all of them.  You can let me know if there are any you'd especially like to see, and I'll get those on the list.  In a few days.

Kevin Curran, R. I. P.

Veteran Simpsons Writer, Producer Dies: (NEWSER) – Kevin Curran might not have been a household name, but there were few Americans he didn't get a laugh out of during a decades-long career in TV comedy writing and producing. Curran, a six-time Emmy winner who has died from complications from cancer at the age of 59, joined the producing team of The Simpsons in 2001 and wrote a dozen episodes, Deadline reports. He won three of his Emmys with The Simpsons and three with Late Night With David Letterman, where he was part of the writing team from 1985 to 1987, reports Variety. He came up with the show's first Top Ten list: "'Top Ten Words That Almost Rhyme with ‘Peas.'"  

Hat tip to Deb.

Gator Update (Squeaking Baby Edition)

VIDEO: Squeaking baby alligators released into the wild at Brazos Bend State Park 

In that case, sir, you are free to go

Man drove at 129mph in Blyth to stop McDonald's getting cold

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

PimPage: An occasional feature in which I call attention books of possible interest

Season of Ice: Richard Prosch: 9781539033424: Amazon.com: Books -- From the 1965 east-coast blackout to depression-era Nebraska; from the trash-piled streets of Manhattan to rural-South Carolina; here are 17 stories of innocent criminals, guilty bystanders, mob hit men, dead farm girls, and small-town cops. Justice is brutal. Long dead secrets won't stay in the grave. And just about everybody has something real to fear. New tales of crime and suspense join Prosch fan favorites to keep you turning pages well past midnight.

All Things About “Althing” by Stephen P. Kelner, Jr.

All Things About “Althing” by Stephen P. Kelner, Jr. | Trace Evidence: Massachusetts-based writer Stephen P. Kelner, Jr. is a management consultant and the author of Motivate Your Writing! (UPNE). His fiction appears in the Level Best anthology Undertow, featuring stories by New England crime writers. Here he talks about the history behind his story “Death at the Althing” from the November issue.

I Miss the Old Days

Atlas Obscura: The Futuro House, in all its space age retro splendor, is like a physical manifestation of 1960s optimism. Shaped like the Hollywood idea of a flying saucer, the Futuro is a plastic, prefabricated, portable vacation home built to easily adapt to any climate or terrain, from mountain slopes to the seaside. After enjoying a heyday in the late '60s and early '70s, the remaining Futuros are now scattered across all parts of the globe, from the Australian beaches to the mountains of Russia, like secluded relics of midcentury technoutopianism.

Song of the Day

Lou Reed Ocean (HQ) - YouTube:

The 30 Weirdest Horror Movies of the 1970s

The 30 Weirdest Horror Movies of the 1970s

Today's Vintage Ad


What’s the Origin of Jack-O’-Lanterns?

What’s the Origin of Jack-O’-Lanterns?

PaperBack



Pel Torro (Lionel Fanthorpe), The Return, Vega Books, 1963

It's about time

Ninth century library goes digital to reach wider audience

Nico Is Getting a Biopic

Everyone Gets a Biopic — So Now Nico Is Getting a Biopic

The Trap of Solid Gold: "The Legend of Joe Lee"

The Trap of Solid Gold: "The Legend of Joe Lee"

Overlooked Movies: Who Done It?

Who Done It? is Abbott and Costello's take on the B-mystery.  My favorite part about it is the setting: a radio studio.  I like Old Time Radio, and there's a good bit of stuff here that appeals to me.  Another thing that appeals: No musical numbers.  This one's straight comedy all the way.

Bud and Lou are hapless soda jerks who want to be radio writers.  When a man is killed on the air, they become hapless investigators in an attempt to solve the crime and get jobs as writers.  The cops are not amused.

Lots of burlesque routines are used, and the guys are right on the timing, as ever.  There's a joking bit where they tune in a radio and hear "Who's on First," and they don't like it.  Considering that it's a lot better than the "Watts and Volts" routine from earlier in the movie, that's hard to believe.  If you like pratfalls and slapstick, the movie's full of those, just one thing after another.  Fans of Bud and Lou will be happy.  If you're not a fan, though, you won't be happy.

Great cast in this one, including William Gargan, William Bendix, and Mary Wickes.  Some nicely effective B&W photography, too.  Not the best of the Abbott and Costello movies, but it's right up there.

Who Done It?

Abbott & Costello 'Who Done It' Trailer (11/06/1942) - YouTube:

Monday, October 24, 2016

In that case, sir, you are free to go

Florida police arrest man stealing goods to sell to bail out wife

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee. . . .

Man, 22, Denied Taco Bell Batters His Mother: Police: Victim was hit over the head with a hockey stick

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Hipster snake sports mustache and sunglasses   

I saw Hipster Snake open for Phish.

Sheri S. Tepper, R. I. P.

Locus Online News: Author Sheri S. Tepper, 87, died October 22, 2016. Tepper was a prolific author of SF, best known for her feminist and ecological themes, with major titles including The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) and Grass (1989).

Pete Burns, R. I. P.

'Dead or Alive' singer Pete Burns, proto-Goth icon of the '80s, dies: Pete Burns, the vivacious and androgynous frontman for British pop and New Wave band Dead or Alive, died Sunday from cardiac arrest, his management confirmed Monday. He was 57. Dead or Alive's biggest hit was also its first -- "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" -- which charted around the world and peaked at No. 11 in the U.S. in 1985. The band, known as much for its proto-Goth style as its music, had a handful of lesser hits including "Brand New Lover" and "Something in My House."

Jack Chick, R. I. P.

RIP Jack Chick, father of the Satanic Panic   

Hat tip to Deb.

Early Voting

Early voting opened in Texas today, so I voted.  I can now sit back, relax, and see how things turn out.  The line inside the building (the local branch library) was as long as the line outside.  I was told that the poll workers were shorthanded, not a good thing for opening day.  But I was patient.  My civic duty is done for the day.

The Best Small Cities in the U.S

The Best Small Cities in the U.S.

Song of the Day

Bobby Vee - Rubber Ball (HQ) - YouTube:

Bobby Vee, R. I. P.

Pop music icon Bobby Vee dead at 73: Pop music legend Bobby Vee — an icon for music fans around the world, and a champion for charitable causes around Central Minnesota — died early Monday morning of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 73.  

Hat tip to Steve Stilwell.

The Best Big Cities in the U.S.

The Best Big Cities in the U.S. 

Today's Vintage Ad


The Lesbian Vampire Story That Came Before Dracula

The Lesbian Vampire Story That Came Before Dracula 

PaperBack



Dwight Bennett, Cherokee Outlet, Lancer, 1961

Maybe You Have Some Spare Change to Spend

Shop Pulp Magazines Collections: Art & Collectibles | AbeBooks: John McCormick

I Miss the Old Days

22 of the Most Hideous Jumpers on British TV in the 80s  

Link via boingboing.

Next -- the Earl of Oxford?

It's Official: Marlowe Listed as Shakespeare's Co-Author: (NEWSER) – "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers," wrote William Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part II—or was it Christopher Marlowe? After more than 400 years, Marlowe has been given joint credit for all three of the Henry VI plays long thought to have been the work of Shakespeare alone, the Telegraph reports. Marlowe gets the credit in the upcoming New Oxford Shakespeare collection of Shakespeare's works. For the first new edition of the collection in 30 years, an international team of scholars worked to identify co-authors of Shakespeare works. The collection also includes works that Shakespeare has been declared the co-author of for the first time, like Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy.  

Hat tip to Deb.

Tom Hayden, R. I. P.

The New York Times: Tom Hayden, who burst out of the 1960s counterculture as a radical leader of America’s civil rights and antiwar movements, but rocked the boat more gently later in life with a progressive political agenda as an author and California state legislator, died on Sunday. He was 76. 

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Uh-Oh

Somehow I missed this earlier:  Bruce Willis Is Remaking Death Wish, Here's What We Know

Sunday, October 23, 2016

This Happens All Too Often

Body of British man found in Malaga had 'ham on buttocks and genitals wedged into TUNA can'

Song of the Day

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt - Hobo's Meditation - YouTube:

Unusual Suspects: Finding the Humanity in Vintage Mugshots

Unusual Suspects: Finding the Humanity in Vintage Mugshots

Today's Vintage Ad


33 Grocery Store Staples Named After Real People

33 Grocery Store Staples Named After Real People

Cecilia Hart, R. I. P.

Daily Mail Online: After a year-long battle with ovarian cancer, Cecilia Hart has died. The 68-year-old actress passed away on Sunday with her death confirmed by the local Connecticut paper WestportNow. Cecilia was married to James Earl Jones for 34 years and shared one son, Flynn.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

PaperBack



Robert McCaig, Toll Mountain, Pennant Books, 1954

The Stories Behind 8 Horror Movie Masks

The Stories Behind 8 Horror Movie Masks

The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review

There Will Always Be an England

London Is Still Paying Rent to the Queen on a Property Leased in 1211

I Want to Believe!

Experts believe mysterious aluminium object dating back 250,000 years 'could be part of ancient UFO'