FORGOTTEN BOOKS: SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

I haven't read anything this week that would qualify as a Forgotten Book.  In lieu of a review, then, let me take the easy way out and recommend some good books.  The twenty-five books listed below are the ones short-listed for the Edgar award for best paperback original, from 1970 through 1974 -- the first years the award was granted in this category.  I've listed them alphabetically by author.  Can you tell which five won the Edgar?

• Philip Atlee, The White Wolverine Contract (Gold Medal)
• Daniel Banko, Not Dead Yet (Gold Medal)
• Alan Caillou, Assault on Ming (Avon)
• Elsie Cromwell, The Governess (Paperback Library)
• Clive Cussler, The Mediterranean Caper (Pyramid)
• Jack Ehrlich, The Drowning (Pocket Books)
• Matt Gattzden, O.D. at Sweet Claude's (Belmont)
• Ron Goulart, After Things Fell Apart (Ace)
• Leo P. Kelley, Deadlocked! (Gold Medal)
• Michael Kurland, A Plague of Spies (Pyramid)
• John Lange, Grave Descend (Signet)
• Dan J. Marlowe, Flashpoint (Gold Medal)
• Frank McAuliffe, For Murder I Charge More (Ballantine)
• Peter McCurtin, Mafioso (Belmont)
• Richard Neely, The Smith Conspiracy (Signet)
• William F. Nolan, Space for Hire (Lancer)
• Dinah Palmtag, Starling Street (Dell)
• Will Perry. Death of an Informer (Pyramid)
• Charles Runyon, Power Kill (Gold Medal)
• Roger L. Simon, The Big Fix (Straight Arrow)
• Richard Stark, The Sour Lemon Score (Gold Medal)
• Scott C. S. Stone, The Dragon's Eye (Gold Medal)
• Alicen White, Nor Spell, Nor Charm (Lancer)
• Charles Williams, And the Deep Blue Sea (Signet)
• Richard Wormser, The Invader (Gold Medal)

There's a lot of good stuff here -- something for just about every taste:  crime, suspense, P.I., gothic, SF, adventure...

Some familiar authors, some unfamiliar, some -- Michael Crichton, Donald E. Westlake, Elsie Lee, James Atlee Phillips -- under pseudonyms, some unjustly forgotten.

Eight of the twenty-five books were published by Gold Medal.  No surprise there.  Two from bottom of the barrel publisher Belmont, which still managed from time to time to publish some good stuff, including the two listed here.  I never heard of Straight Arrow; I read the Simon in a Pocket Books reprint.  If memory serves, I have only read ten of these books.

A few of these books are readily available; others, alas, not as readily.  Any of these twenty-five should be well worth your time.

PIANO ROLL BLUES

When I was in college I had an old 78 of this record and played it quite a lot.  I remember it had a small chunk bitten off the edge of the record, but that did not affect the song itself.  (Another go-to record was an album with the title -- I believe -- Clark Kessinger, Old Time Fiddler, where every track sounded suspiciously like Turkey in the Straw.  And, of course, there was the Best of Chickenman album...ah, college days!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAJalGmya2U

COINCIDENCE

Yesterday afternoon we were watching an episode of Revolution that we had taped, and when we reached the point where everybody seemed to accusing everybody else of being a spy, the Giancarlo Esposito character nodded at another character and said something to the effect of, "What about Travis Bickle over there?"  Cool, I thought.  It's not that often that you hear a DeNiro/Taxi Driver reference these days. 

Since I had had a tooth extracted earlier that afternoon (a longer and more difficult process than neither the dentist nor I had expected) and since my mouth started throbbing in earnest about then, I took a Vicodan (prescribed, I believe, only because my last name is House and because I occasionally use a cane) and went in for a nap.  While waiting for the painkiller to kick in, a read a few pages (three, actually) of the current book, Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (it's very,very good, btw) and read this passage on page 122:  "By the time I woke up it was five in the morning and my taxi driver was turning into Travis Bickle."

Strange, huh?  Two Travis Bickle references in less than half an hour.  Well, actually, no.  My life seems to be made up of such minor and inconsequential coincidences, interspersed with periods of non-coincidence.  Your life, too, probably.

I could say that when I fell asleep, I dreamed of a young Jody Foster.  But I didn't and I won't.  Coincidences only go so far, except in bad fiction.

All of the above is very trivial and forgettable and has absolutely no meaning at all.  But when it came time to write a post for the blog, I wrote the above.

Purely by coincidence, of course.

FREE TODAY FOR THE KINDLE!

Penalty Shot by Paul Bishop. 

Soccer can be a dangerous sport as Ian Chappel knows all to well.  The one-time British goalkeeper lost an eye in his last game.  Now there is a dead goalie on the L.A. Ravens team and Chappel is convinced to take his place.  Danger, terrorism, a pretty girl, and soccer action...sounds like a great combination to me.

Paul Bishop is a former (and highly decorated) Los Angeles police officer who has written many acclaimed crime and suspense novels.  He is also one of the creators of the highly popular Felony Fists series.

Also of interest is Out of Bedlam, two stories by the great Stephen Gallagher that take you back to Edwardian and Victorian times of mystery and terror.

Both are free today for the Kindle.  Check 'em out at Amazon.com.

BAD JOKE WEDNESDAY

So I got a job as a prospector but it didn't pan out.

Then I was hired as a butcher, but when I backed into the meat grinder I got a little behind in my work.

But now I've found my dream job.  I'm working in a girdle factory.  I pull down three hundred a week.

THIS IS A RULE, DECLAN

Just because I am brushing you does not mean that you have to pass gas.  Bad dog.  Smelly dog.

OVERLOOKED MOVIE: BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS (1961)

The word in the title is "Yucca," not "Yuckie."

And it has Tor Johnson.

And, yes, I am easily amused.  Perhaps you will be, too.

http://archive.org/details/Beast_of_Yucca_Flats_movie