SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: I WORE THE BRASSIERE OF DOOM

 "I Wore the Brassiere of Doom" by "Sally Theobald"  (Robert M. Price)  (from Lurid Confessions #1, June 1986; reportedly some French tranlators had mistakenly included the story  -- re-titled as "The Enchanted Bra" -- in a French anthology of stories by H.P. Lovecraft; I don't know if this story is true, but it would be a hoot if it were)

Let's start off Halloween month with a "true confession"-type story about an innocent and naive small-town girl who (against the advice of her home-town minister, who feared what the evils of the city might do to her) moved to New York to open her own hat shop with money saved from babysitting and quilting.  Soon she found an affordable storefront with an attached small aprtment.  Knowing that her inexpensive and plain snall-town wardode would not be suitable for the type of businesswoman she intended to become, Sally travels to Macy's to buy a complete new wardrobe, from the inside out.  Shyly, she entered the lingery section and was deciding between two brassieres when an old crone, whom she mistook for a sales clerk, approached and offered her advice: the more daring, somewhat low-cut, and sexier bra would flatter Sally's figure better.  Sally was convinced.  The new bra was a bit unusual -- there was stitching across each cup of a five-sided star with an oval or eye shape in the center.  Perhaps this unique designe explained how comfortable the brassiere seemed when worn...

When she wore the new brassiere, more customers came into her shop, more customers bought, and many of them were men who stared at Sally's figure.  Sally's small-town, secluded upbringing seemed to go by the wayside.  Soon she was dating men; men who brought her to strange places such as museums with odd exhibits, and men who brought her to lectures where strange experiments with electricity were being held.  And Sally, who had been the three-time winner of the Women's Christian Temperance Union's annual quilting bee, began drinking alcohol!  At times she would have a small glasse of wine at dinner, and sometimes TWO!  Sometimes she would invite men  up to her apartment and they would smooch.  Once, one man reached for her breast, but stopped his hand just before it touched her brassiere, and the man would begin to gesture and chant strange words.

And then there were the dreams.  She would dreram that the old crone was in her bedroom, urging her to get up and put on her new brassiere.  When she awoke, she would be in her bed, wearing that piece of lingery.  At times the image of the old crone in her dreams would vanish to be replaced by a hideous monster -- "a towering, barrel-shaped thing with what seemed to be starfishes sprouting from either end of its vertically ridged trunk"..."the crinoid thing  (or was it an echinordern?  High school biology had scarcely prepared me for this!)"

Then came the dream in which the crone and the monster were both there, urging Sally to put on the brassiere.  And brassiere then moved on its own and fitted itself comfortably on Sally's body and fastened itself.  That's when the Sally in her dream fainted.  But it was no dream!  Sally woke up plunging through a void, completely naked, falling into the gigantic cups of the brassiere which had grown to outlandish proportions.  More happens, but it's just too hideous to describe...

A spot-on parody of Lovecraft, with the addition of mild, puritanical sex (it's Lovecraft, after all), complete with some of HPL's many prejudices ("An odd lookinf fellow with swarthy skin" "[New York] that Babylonish burg had become a brothel" "a city popuolated by rat-faced mongrels and ruffians").

The cjhoice of "Sally Theobald' as a pseudonym was delibrate.  Lovecraft himself often used the name "Lewis Theobald, Jr." as a pen name, nmost often for poetry.  Price also used the pseudonuym "Lewis Thoobald III" for a short story the following year.  

Robert M. Prcie is a theologian and New Testiment scholar who now considers himself a "Christian atheist," and who supports the "Christ Myth Theory." that the hostorical Jesus Chrst did not exist.  He has published over 25 books on religioous matters.  Price has been a major figure in H. P. Lovecraft scholarship and fandom for many years; he has wriiten or edited over 45 books on this and related subjcts.  He was also the editor of various Lovecraftian and weird fiction  magazines, such as Midnight Shambler, Eldrich Tales, Crypt of Cthulu, and various one-shots such a Lurid Confeesions.  

Lurid Confessions #! (there was no #2) is available to be read at Internet Archive.  Also included in this 48-page magazine is a short story by Carl Jacobi, four pieces by Robert E. Howard, and an aticle by pulp historian Will Murray about the merging of weird fiction and confession years in such old pulps as Ghost Stories and True Strange Stories.  

OVERLOOKED FILM: THE SILVER STREAK (1934)

This is the first time a train ever got top billing in a drama.  The BurlingtonZephyr, the real-life fastest train in the world, plays the Silver Steak, its fictional counterpart.  Second billing goes to Sally Blane (Loretta Young's sister), and third billing goes to Charles Starrett (the future Durango Kid).

The Boulder Dam (what we now know as the Hoover Dam) is under construction, and a terrible accident has threatened the life of a worker.  An iron lung must be delivered within a few hours from Chicago to the Boulder Dam before it's too late.  That means it's up to the unproven Silver Streak, and its designer, Starrett.  Hr's accompanied by his gal, Blane, who is also the daughter of a railroad magnate, played by William Farnum (once one of the most popular actors in Hollywood).  Some grreat bits from noted character actors Arthur Lake (later to play Dagwood bumstead), Edgar Kennedy, Hardie Albright (destined to be the voice of the adolescent Bambi), Irving Pichel, and Guinn"Big boy " Williams.   Of course there are many obstacles to the rescue.  (Picture Balto as a train.0

The movie is also a slice of history.  There is nifty footage of the building of the Eighth Wonder of the world (which was actually dedicated on this day ninety years ago), as well as some interesting shots of the Chicago world's Fair.  1934 was a year of technical marvels, from the train to the dam, a year of wonder and hope and optimism.  The film captures a lot of that, plus it has some pretty neat shots of the high-speed train in action.

Directed by Thomas Atkins, from a script by Roger Whately, W. H. Hanemann, nnd Jack O'Donnell.

This is one of those B movies where the viewer will either go, "meh," or will go, "O, wow!"  See which side you fall into:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LTbay8TZhM

NO BITS & NO PIECES, BUT A NOD TO ASSISTANT LIBRARIANS EVERYWHERE

Normally, I write the BITS & PIECES post on Sundays and sometimes carry it over to Monday morning if conditions warrant.  The major exception is the INCOMING sections, where I list the books that have purchased or have been given; I list this as they come in, ahead of time.  This week, I also begaan writing ahead of time one of my birthday tributes, listing various people from throughout history who were born on that specific Monday; it's a deep rabbit hole I enjoy goong down...

I have mentioned that my computer hates me, and that hatred seems to have grown.  Beisdes borken cursors, refusal to be properly formatted, and missing puncutation, it also has a recent habit of sddeny changing the screen size without warning -- often to 500%.  It also jumps from rpogram to program without prompting,and has alos decided to display willy-nilly screens from the past seeral weeks.  Lately the AI gods have added a notice for me that says something on the order of "do you need help writing this?"  I doesn't really care if Ineed help (I don't) or if I want it (I definitely do not), but what it has been doing lately is erasing everything I have written up to that time, with no possibility of my retreiving what I had written.  That happened on Friday, sending over five hours work into the ether, irrevocably lost.  Some of what was lost was my draft of INCOMING books, a bit over two dozen of them.  Once I had imputted those books, they became merge with my general library and I have no idea (with some exceptions) of their specific titles.  The information is gone, gone, gone.

This weekend the Pensacola Friends of the Library held their bi-annual three-day massive book sale and I picked up 37 additional books.  (Yes, I plan to read them all because I  am immortal.)  Without listing the titles and decriptions, here are the authors:  Maddie Day, John Farris, Jasper Fforde, Chrisotpher Golden, Carolym Graham, Donald Hamilton, Robert P. Hansen, Joan Hess, Tim holt, Peter Lovesey Dan J. Marlowe, Stephen Marlowe, Ngaio Msarch, Graham Masterton, Margaret Millar, David Morrell, Patricia Moyes, Hugh Pentecosr, Helen Reilly, J. D. Robb, Mickey Spillane, Domini Taylor, Arthur W. Upfield, and Roger Zalezny.  A otm of great books here.  

And here's a homage to Assistant Librarians:

Today's Poem:

The Library Assistant's Oath

Among the remotest stacks,

Or near the periodical stand,

No talking will

Escape reprimand.

Let discourteous readers

Throughout the land

Beware our power,

'Cause we are the man!

-- Danny Nod, Library Assistant

[from Bill Willingham's "The Further Adventures of Danny Nod, Heroic Library Assistant!"]

Reminder:  Today is National Poisoned Blackberries Day.  Spend it wisely.

HYMN TIME

 Red Sovine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2RyeM5suk

77 SUNSET STRIP (JANUARY 1960)

[Dammit!  My computer and Word are both doing me dirt today.  Periods are ending up at the beginning of a line, quotations are not closed, and when I move the cursor forward it goers in reverse, and vice versa.  It took me two hours to put this post in a quasi-acceptable form.  Apologies.]

Those of a certain age remember fondly the second coolest detective television show of the late Fifties, 77 Sunset Strip (1958-1964).  (The coolest detective show of that era was of the era was Peter Gunn.)  Those who do not remember the show are mere whippersnappers.

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Roger Smith starred as private eyes Stu Bailey, former World War II secret agent and foreign languages expert, and Jeff Spencer, former government agent and attorney, whose hip offices were located next door to Dean Martin's real-life Dino's Lounge.  The beautiful switchboard operator who worked in a nearby office, Suzanne Fabray (played by Jacqueline Beer, who was Miss France 1954), answered the phones of Bailey & Spencer.  Louis Quinn played Roscoe the racetrack tout who often frequented the office.  And Edd Byrnes became a national phenomenon playing Gerald Lloyd Kookson III (better known as "Kookie"), the Dino's car hop who also assisted Bailey and Spencer in their investigations.  Teenage girls just loved Kookie and the way he combed his hair; teenage boys just thought he was cool and would often call their girlfriends "the ginchiest

. With Stu and Jeff out of town, it's up to Kookie to interview a new client.  She is a beautiful young art dealer who owns a valuable painting by Japanese artist Kuyiaki worth about $50,000.  She has been getting anonymous threats that the painting is cursed, and then, just the previous day, someone took a shot at her.  She is scheduled to meet aa reputable art buyer later that day to sell the painting and would like a protective escort.  Kookie is more than happy to hang out with a beautiful girl, so... But it turns out that the buyer was a fake and two crooks pull a gun on Kookie and the client and steal the painting.  Kookie chases after them in his hot rod while the client contacts Stu for backup.  The crooks have Kookie trapped in a large drainage pipe when Stu shows up and the two manage to settle the bad guy's hash.  In appreciation, the client gives them an abstract that she has painted, and it's the "skizziest thing you've ever seen."

In "The Big Catch," Kookie is spending the weekend at a beach house and, while fishing off the pier, hooks a beautiful woman swimming by.  Alas, this chick is married to s jealous husband, who also just happened to pull off a large jewel robbery.  He needs to hide the loot from the cops and Kookie is the perfect foil.  But things go wrong and Kookie is captured and taken on a boat trying to escape the police and the Coast Guard.  But the crook does not realize how resourceful Kookie can be.

In the one-pager "Kookie's Clues," everyone's favorite parking lot attendant is being kidnapped but manages to foil the bad  guys by giving Stu clues through his jive talk.

This is followed by a full-page lexicon of Kookie-speak, followed by a full-page signed color picture of Edd Byrnes. 

Perhaps the comic book should have been titled Kookie instead of 77 Sunset Strip.

Enjoy.

https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/CB/77SS_1960_01.pdf

FORGOTTEN BOOK: BLACK CREEK CROSSING

 Black Creek Crossing by John Saul  (2004)

Fifteen-year-old Angel Sullivan is an outcast in her school.  She is not beautiful (although one day she might be), she is fat (actually, only twenty pounds overweight, if that), she's awkward and has n social skills (hey, she's thirteen), she hates her name (kids call her Mangy Angey), and she is bullied by everyone she knows.  Her father is an unreliable alcoholic with a rage disorder.  Her mother is a meek, over-religious woman who sees visions of the Virgin Mary.  It really sucks to her.

Now she has a chance to turn things around.  Her maternal aunt, Joni Fletcher, is a successful real estate agent in the small town of Roundtree, Massachusetts, and she has the listing for a house there that is very affordable for the Sullivan's.  Of course the house is very old -- in fact, it's the oldest house in the ancient New England town -- and in need of repair, but the price is good.  Don't let the fact that 250 years ago, a man accused his wife and daughter of being witches and had them burned at the tree outside their yard -- the Roundtree that gave the town it's name.  Or that only 2 years before a man savagely killed his wife and daughter there.  Or that similar tragedies had been rumored over the years.  Or that it seemed impossible for anyone to live in the house for more than a short time.  Or that strange shapes have been seen in an upstairs windows  when the house ids unoccupied.  And the round tree outside the house?  Why is it continually struck by lightning but show no damage?

Nonetheless the Sullivans move in and Angel hopes that her life will turn around.  But Angel was not counting on her slightly older cousin Zack, who hates her and uses his influence to turn all the other kids against her.  The only person more unpopular than Angel in Roundtree is Seth Baker, a boy Angel's age and a natural target for schoolyard bullies. Seth has no interest in athletics and, because of this, he is beaten regularly with a belt by his sadistic father.  Seth and Angel form a bond.

The house at Black Creek Crossing begins to have an effect on Angel's father, and he begins to have sexual thoughts about his daughter, sneaking into her bedroom at night and touching her while she sleeps.  Yucky!  He also begins to get more violent

There is black cat, presumably ownerless, who follows Angie around everywhere.  Because he can appear and disappear in an impossible manner, her calls the cat Houdini.  Houdini is a ghost cat and will attack anyone who threatens Angel or Seth, raking their flesh with its claws.  But afterwards, there is no sign of an attack, no blood, no scars.  Although Angel does not know this until near the end of the book, Houdini is also occupied by the spirit of Forbearance Wynton, the young girl who was burned as a witch 250 years before.  Houdini leads Angel and Seth to a long abandoned cabin deep in the woods.  There they discover an ancient grimoire, filled with spells and potions.  The kids start using the grimoire and begin to get revenge on their enemies.  Soon blood begins to spill...

This is a book that has no good characters, from the supposedly well-meaning bigoted priest who hates all Protestants to the clique of high school mean girls.  Everyone has a at least a dash of evil kn them, some barely have a dash of good.  John Saul (b. 1942) made his bones with best-selling novels about children in danger, often with no hope of rescue.  His writing can draw the reader in, but, because of his use of children as ploys, one can only read his books in small doses.  But the formula works:  between 1977 and 2009 Saul has published 31 best-selling novels, and was given a Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2023.   Strangely, no films were made of his works, except for a 1982 TV movie, Cry for the Strangers, featuring Patrick Duffy and Cindy Pickett.

NBC UNIVERSITY THEATER: THE WILD PALMS (DECEMBER 4, 1949)

Today is the birthday of William Faulkner (1895-1962).  In honor of the Nobel-Prize-winning author, here's an hour-long radio adaptation of his novel The Wild Palms.  Later editions of the book carried the author's preferred title, If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem,  The novel actually contains two intertwined stories, one of which was titled "The Wild Palms."

Harry is a broke intern finishing his training at a New Orleans hospital when he meets Charlotte, who abandons her husband and her two children to run away with him.  They drift through the country from Chicago, to a cabin in Wisconsin, to a mine in Utah, and finally to the Mississippi coast, where tragedy follows them.

It's not a laugh-a-minute story, and posits the "grief is better than nothing."  Echoes of the novel came be found in films by Jen-Luc Goddard, John Hughes, Wim Wenders, and Agnes Varda.  Jorge Luis Borges translated the complete novel into Spanish. 

Andrew C. Love directed this adaptation by Richard E. Davis.  Wally Maher and Lynn Allen starred as Harry and Charlotte.  Other players included Gloria Denning. Dan Simpson. Anne Diamond, Jim Nusser. Tom Charlesworth, and Clark Gordon.  Famed novelist Robert Penn Warren provided commentary on the novel during the play's intermission.  Don Stanley was the announcer.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0BRmj7_xkQ

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE DEAD MAN'S TALE

 "The Dead Man's Tale" by Willard E. Hawkins  (from Weird Tales, March 1923; reprinted as a 
"Weird Story Reprint" in Weird Tales, July 1934; reprinted in Fantastic and Weird Classics #1, April 2023, which reprinted the entire contents of the March 1923 issue of Weird Tales)

A curiosity.  The very first story from the very first issue of Weird Tales.

The narrator is a ghost calling himself Richard Devaney, a man who died in the second battle of the Marne on July 24, 1918.  Seconds before Devaney was killed he was about to murder his bitter enemy and fellow soldier Louis Winston; just as he was about to pull the trigger of his rifle to end Winston's life, a German bullet ended his.  When Devaney became aware again he spotted his arch enemy Winston kneeling over the body of a soldier and weeping incoherently.  Devaney aimed his rifle at Winston and...nothing happened.  He then swung his rifle to bludgeon his foe and... nothing happened.  then he recognized that the body Winston was weeping over was his own.  Winston lived and Devaney was dead.

Winston had been a rival for the affections of Velma Ross. and. to Devaney's mind, had won, thus the hatred and thus the attempt on Winston's life.  Winston was also wounded by a German bullet, which had pierced his leg.  He spent time in a military hospital watched over by Delaney, who remained desperate to find a way to avenge himself on his living rival.  It turned out that Winston truly believed the Delany had the upper hand for Velma's love.  With Devaney's death, Winston's path to Velma was cleared.  Over the weeks of observing Winston in  the hospital Delaney realized that he had some -- a very little -- psychic control of Winston.  Perhaps, then, there was a way to get his vengeance on Winston.  And perhaps there was a way he could get Velma  if she died and also became a ghost...

One interesting part of this story is the framing device -- a short paragraph stating that the tale was found in the papers of "psychical investigator" Dr. John  Pendric, who presumably received the story through automatic writing.  Weird Tales historian Terence E. Henley notes that this makes "The Dead Man's Tale" the first of many stories of occult investigators to be published in the magazine.  Henley also mentions that the author has written he based the story on Stevenson's Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

This was the only story Hawkins (1887-1970) published in Weird Tales.  Hawkins was an author who is credited with 61 story and one novel in the FictionMags index, the vast majority of them in the wesstern field.  His most popular short story appears to have been "The Dwindling Sphere" (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1940), which has been reprinted in anthologies by Laurence Janifer, Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg, and Hank Davis.  Hawkins was also a newspaper editor and, with David Raffelock, the editor of The Author and Journalist;  Hawkins and Raffelock also offered "a simplified training course in short story writing," leading Henley to wonder whether Weird Tales editor Edwin Baird  had contacted various writing school around the country, seeking submissions from their students.

Weird Tales billed itself a "the unique magazine," and has lately been called "the magazine that would not die."  Perhaps a better phrase would be "the magazine that kept on dying."  From March 1923 to May 1924, it was published by The Rural Publishing Corp of Chicago and was edited by Edwin Baird (well, almost -- Baird may or may not have edited Rural's final issue).  Six months later it started again, and from November 1924 to October 1938, it was published by Popular Fiction and was edited by Farnsworth Wright   It was then published by Weird Tales, Inc,, a subsidiary of Short Stories, Inc., from November 1938 to September 1934, with Wright remaining as editor through March 1940, then replaced by Dorothy McIlwraith.  Then  it died a second and much longer death.

The magazine shifted its focus over the 279 issues published over this period.  At first it covered, supernatural, horror and science fiction stories, occasionally touching on other genres, and slowly it became the premiere magazine of supernatural tales.  (I say the premiere magazine, but it was basically the only game in town for a number of years, outside of the terror pulps, which were an entirely different kettle of fish.  The magazine had a reputation for low and slow pay for its authors, but it was a receptive market and many authors could not overlook that,

Weird Tales sprang to life many times since then, beginning in 1973.  Reknown Publications, under the editorship of science fiction historian Dam Moskowitz, put out four issues ending with the Summer 1974 issue.  Then it died.  Again.  In the Spring of 1981, Kensington Publications brought out four issues in paperback from through the summer of 1984 under the editorship of author, editor, and fanboy Lin Carter.  Then it died.  This time its demise lasted just over a year, because it arose again in the Fall of 1984 under the editorship of Gil Lamont & Gordon Garb and lasted until the Winter of 1985, but lasted only two issues from their Belleraphon Network, Inc. publishing company.  I believe there had been some question of the ownership of the title.  After that, Terminus Publishing began issuing their version of Weird Tales, which ran from issue #290 (Spring, 1988) to issue #308 (Spring 1994) before Terminus lost claim to the title Weird Tales and changed the name of the magazine to Worlds of Fantasy and Horror for four issues (ending with Winter 1996-1997) before dying, once again.  DNA Publications took over the title and reclaimed the Weird Tales name with the Summer 1998 issue and ran it until December 2004.  Then the magazine fell to Wildside Press, which published it from May 2005 to Summer 2011.  Darryl Schweitzer was the magazine's editor over several of these incarnations, from Winter 1985 until December 2006; Stephen H. Segal took over as editor in 2007; and Ann VanderMeer edited the magazine from January 2008 to the Fall 2012 issue.  Nth Dimension media became the publisher from the 'winter 2012 to the Spring 2014 issues,, with Marvin Kaye as editor.  And then it died. AGAIN!  Kaye was the first editor (for one issue only) when the magazine was revived by Weird Tales, Inc. in August 2019, after which Jonathan Maberry became the editor.  This incarnation may still be ongoing.  The last dated issue was for January 2025, but the magazine's publication has been spotty, to say the least.  (Please note that this details were culled the best I could from the FictionMags Index, which has provided some contradictory information.)  

OVERLOOKED FILM: THINK FAST, MR. MOTO (1937)

When Charlie Chan creator Earl Der Biggers died in 1933, The Saturday Evening Post began looking for another writer to create a series about an Asian hero.  They found the writer in John Marquand and the hero in Japanese secret agent Mr. I. A, Moto.  The first Mr. Moto novel, No Hero, was published in SEP six part from March 30 through May 4, 1935, and was released in book form later that year as Your Turn, Mr. Moto (British title Mr. Moto Takes a Hand).  Five more Mr. Moto novels followed; the fifth novel, Last Laugh, Mr. Moto. was written before Pearl Harbor but was published afterward. the final novel was published in 1957 and was a Cold War tale.  The character appeared in eight popular motion pictures between 1937 and 1939, but was reimagined as a detective working for Interpol.  (By 1938 there was some distrust about Japanese foreign policy and studio executives considered making the character Korean instead of Japanese, but the idea never went too far.)

In the great tradition of Hollywood bigotry, Mr. Moto was portrayed by a white actor, Peter Lorre.  Moto returned to the screen in 1965's The Return of Mr. Moto, again being portrayed by a white actor, Henry Silva.  (The final Mr. Moto novel was filmed in 1957 as Stopover:  Tokyo and featured Robert Wagner and eliminated the Moto character altogether.)

The practice of "yellowface" -- using white actors to portray Asians -- cut a wide swarth through Hollywood history, from Dr. Fu Manchu to Charlie Chan to Madame Butterfly.  Actors cast in yellowface roles included Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Bessie Love. Lon Chaney. Myrna Loy, Edward G. Robinson, Bela Lugosi, Paul Muni, Louise Ranier, Emlyn Williams, Anthony Quinn, Boris Karloff, Gale Sondergaard, J. Carroll Nash, Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, Turhan Bey, Agnes Moorehead, Hurd Hatfield, Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Fred Astaire, Anita Ekberg, Mike Mazurki, Jennifer Jones. John Wayne, Susan Haywood, Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno, Marlon Brando, Ricardo Montalban, Kurt Jurgens. Robert Donat, Mickey Rooney, Christopher Lee, Alec Guinness, Dorothy Dandridge, William Schallet, Tony Randall. Robert Morley, James Mason, Vito Scotti, Ray Walston,  David Carradine, John Gielgud, Charles Boyer, Peter Ustinov, Peter Sellers, Max von Sydow, Lind Hunt, David Suchet, Barbara Hershey, Edward James Olmos. Joel Grey, Roddy McDowell, Piper Laurie, Groucho Marx, Christopher Walken, Eddie Murphy,  Nicholas Cage, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, James D'Arcy, Jon Voight, Emma Stone, and (marginally) Scarlett Johansson, along with many. many others.  A lot of these portrayals will leave you scratching your head, while others are totally cringe-worthy.

Peter Lorre's portrayal of Mr. Moto, while worthy of some head-scratching, was not completely cringe-worthy.  Here, in the first Mr. Moto film, Moto is after a gang of international smugglers.  While Moto is on a Shanghai-bound ship, he recognizes his steward as a man wanted for murder in San Francisco.  The steward tries to steal a letter from passenger Bob Hitchings (Thomas Beck), the son of the owner of the shipping line.  After a stopover in Honolulu, beautiful Gloria Danton (Virginia Field) comes aboard and falls in love with her, not realizing that she is a spy for smuggler Nicholas Marloff (Sig Ruman).  Fast action and some nifty plot twists helped propel Mr. Moto into a film franchise.

Also featuring Murray Kinnell, John Rogers, Lotus Long, George Cooper, J. Carrol Nash, Frederik Vogeding, and Philip Ahn.  Directed by Norman Foster (Charlie Chan in Reno, Journey Into Fear, Davy Crockett:  King of the Wild Frontier), and written by Foster and (according to IMDb and the actual film credits) Howard Ellis Smith.  (Wikipedia mistakenly credits mystery writer Philip MacDonald as the co-writer: MacDonald wrote three of the Mr. Moto films, but not this one.)

Try to ignore the yellowface and enjoy this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9lUInobAdE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JONI JAMES!

Joni James (birth name Giovanna Camilla Babbo) was born non the day in 1930 and rose to become one of the most popular singers of the Fifties and Early Sixties.  She had 23 top 40 hits from 1952 to 1960, and has sold over 100 million records.  She started her career with a local dance group in South Chicago, moved to join a chorus line at a Chicago hotel before deciding to try her luck with a singing career.  She changed her name to Joni James on the advise of one of her managers.  After being spotted in a television commercial, she was signed by MGM in 1952 and soon had her hit "Why Don't You Believe in Me?," which sold over two million copies.

"Why Don't You Believe Me?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkWyaCQXds

"How Important Can It Be?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTawWjUfngA

"Have You Heard"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxkgA5Z4FmE

"Your Cheatin' Heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFUpLAN3gNA

"Almost Always"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_boal0Mf4tA

"My Love, My Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwVjr-t7EAw

"You Are My Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaKp0PyBmlY

"You Belong to Me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXfs0YEG1Pk

"There Goes My Heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZGZwqYFWAM

"When I Fall in Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSmctsEIIwA

"You Don't Know Me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rLwcBW-lA

"You're Breaking My Heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwOkViC4ZA8

"Vaya con Dios"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMPJoHcS_lA

"Secret Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fENKshMhL-w&list=PL6F8BBF7574D78ED5&index=12

"Cold, Cold Heart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwJLim-up5w&list=PL6F8BBF7574D78ED5&index=16

"Let Me Call You Sweetheart"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCzCo2GlX_k&list=PL6F8BBF7574D78ED5&index=18

"On a Slow Boat to China"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aJFIuUg4ng&list=PL6F8BBF7574D78ED5&index=20

"The Party's Over"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRuZnSSqXrg&list=PL6F8BBF7574D78ED5&index=24

HYMN TIME

 Guy Penrod:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiY5yIbqmDs

And an instrumental from Elizabeth Cotton;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pUdUX5Gagc

SHOWCASE #30 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1961)

Aquaman was created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger as a backup feature for DC's More Fun Comics in 1941.  He spent years as both a backup and main feature for various Dc anthology comic books, and was one of the few DC heroes to continually appear throughout the 1950s.  In 1961 he copped a four-issue feature run in Showcase, beginning with this issue, while also gaining his very first cover art.  In 1962, Aquaman scored his very own title, which ran (in it's initial run) for 56 issues.  Over the years, the character has been reimagined numerous times and has been featured on television and in films.

The original Aquaman was Arthur Curry, the son of a lighthouse keeper and an exiled princess of Atlantis.  He can breathe under water and telepathically communicate with various ocean life.  Rigorous training and about a "hundred scientific secret" have helped make him a superhero.  He is married to Mera, a princess from an aquatic dimension; they have a kid called -- what else? -- Aquababy.  Because he's a DC hero, he had to have a young sidekick and his is Aqualad, a.k.a. Garth, an exiled Atlantean boy whom Aquaman took under his wing (flipper?).  Aquaman carries the Trident of Neptune, bestowed by Poseidon to one who is 'the rightful ruler and protector of the sea.'  He faces many villains, including Black Manta and his own half-brother, The Ocean Master.

Now let's get to the story:

A storm at sea. A ship carrying a deadly cargo in crates -- a rare, very lethal, new poison.  Lighting strikes the front of the ship, setting it on fire.  Oh no!  If the fire reached the cartons in the cargo hold, they will burst, releasing the poison into the sea, killing thousand of Aquaman and Aqualad's "finny friends."  This cannot be allowed to happen, so Aquaman orders whales to spray the fire using their blowholes.  this extinguishes the surface fire, but the fire has also entered below deck.  Aquaman then has swordfish saw their way to the cargo hold, then has octopi grab the deadly carton and bring the to him on top of the back of a whale.  The cartons are then lashed to the whales' back using electric eels as ties.  Aqualad pilots the whales to port where the ship (having now put out all the fires) can limp back and get their cargo.

Phew!  Time for a rest.  Aquaman returns to the Aqua-Cave, only to find his lantern fish blinking an S.O.S. from Atlantis.  (This gives us a chance to segue back in time to rehash Aqauman's origin.)

Responding to the distress call, Aquaman is taken captive outside Atlantis by some demonic and intelligent sea creatures.  All of Atlantic has been taken over and turned into a prison camp by these aquatic aliens from another dimension, whose rule is the evil Trino.  The Atlanteans, and now Aquaman, are being forced to build some sort of interdimensional gateway, the purpose of which cannot be good.  But, hark!  A small guppy has managed to sneak through the hatch and Aquaman gives it a message to send throughout the ocean.  Soon a fantastic army of fish are attacking the aliens but they manage to repel them with a powerful invention that turns the ocean currents against them,  The fishy attack fails.  Also, it seems that Troni has stolen master plans from his government for a weapon which he plans to use to conquer the surface world. 

Things don't look good.  Is all lost?  Is the world doomed?  Not by a longshot.  We still have ten pages of panels ahead of us, with all sorts of twists and turns, and a possible deus ex machina or two.  Remember Aqualad?

And there's a big ocean battle with whales smashing into things, octopi hurling hand grenades, and flying fish dropping bombs from above.  (My grandson is a zookeeper and he just wishes he could get his animals to do cool things like that.)

i never cared much for the Dc comics of this era, but there are a lot of people who do.  If you're one of those, you might want to check out the link.

https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/CB/SC_1961_02.pdf

FORGOTTEN BOOK: KILL NOW, PAY LATER

 Kill Now, Pay Later by Robert Terrall (original published under the pseudonym "Robert Kyle, 1960; reprinted under the author's name by Hard Case Crime, 2007)

Ben Gates was one of the more effective fictional private eyes in the late 50s and early 60s.  He was tough but not too tough.  He was attractive to the ladies, although he did not really seek them out.  He valued his reputation.  He would follow case wherever it led.  He sometimes had quirky associates.  He smoked cigars.  Several have noted that Ben Gates was the perfect in-between detective, nestled snuggly between Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Richard Prather's Shell Scott.  He appeared in five novels; Kill Now, Pay Later was the third.

Gates is hired to stand watch over wedding presents at a ritzy mansion.  It's an easy gig and the guests are pretty well lubricated.  Among those lubricated is one of the bridesmaids who comes in to gawk at the presents.  She picks up a diamond bracelet and puts it on.  Gates is keeping a close eye on her.  She tries to get Gates to drink some champagne; all he's had was some coffee that a maid had brought up earlier.  He takes a sip of champagne and passes out.

When he wakes up, all hell has broken loose.  The mother of the bride had gone to her room and frightened a thief who had begun to ransack the room.  She had a weak ticker and dropped dead from the shock.  When the burglar tried to escape, he was shot dead by one of Gates's fellow detectives.  Everything was recovered except for the diamond bracelet... Well, may not everything.  We learn later that the bride's father said there was $75,000 missing from the safe in the dead woman's room -- the missing money was not reported to the police because the old man had been trying to pull a scam on the IRS.

Gates is fired and the insurance company that hired hi to guard the wedding gifts has vowed to blackball him throughout the industry.  In addition, the local police chief is accusing Gates of stealing the diamond necklace himself.  All pretty cut and dried so far.  But Terrall is an expert of mixing thing up and adding complication to complication to his plots.  (The author had a hand-drawn sign at his desk which was given to him  to remind him of his tendency to overplot; the sign read SIMPLIFY -- of course the sign was printed in the most ornate fashion possible.)  So there's arson, blackmail, pornographic pictures, nubile and willing ladies, corrupt politicians, and another dead body to consider.

Can Gates untwist all the plot complications, solve all the mysteries, and save his job/  Of course he can, but getting there is where all the fun is.

Terrall (1914-2009) published at least 53 books under his own name and as "Robert Kyle," "J. D. Gonzales," and as "Brett Halliday" -- he took over the Mike Shayne series of detective novels from Davis Dresser after Dresser hit a writer's block, writing at least 20 books in the series.  In addition to the Ben gates books, Terrall also authored the Harry Horne series as Gonzales, as well as a number of stand-alones.  One book that was ahead of its time was 1950's A Killer Is Loose Among Us. is an early novel dealing with biological threat (and one that really deserves reprinting).  Virtually forgotten today, Terrall was much admired by his contemporaries and his work in the 50s and 60s influenced many later writers.  Terrall died at age 94 and had gone for 23 years without publishing a book.

THE DAUGHTER OF TIME (BBC RADIO - DECEMBER 25, 1982)

This is the second radio adaptation of Josephine Tey's classic detective novel.  I have not been able to locate the first, which aired in 1952, one year after the novel was published.  The novel was listed as number one in England's Crime Writers Association's 100 Crime Novels of All Time and number four in the Mystery Writers of America's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time lists.

Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant, who was featured in five other novels by Tey, is hospitalized with a broken leg and confined to bed.  To distract from his boredom, he begins looking into historical mysteries and becomes interested in King Richard III.  Grant prides himself on being able to read faces and Richard appears to be a kind and gentle man.  Why, then, has history accused of of being a murderer, the man who supposedly killed the Princes in the Tower?

The princes were the deposed King Edward V, age 12, and his brother Prince Richard, the Duke of York, age 9.  They were lodge in the Tower of London by their uncle and England's regent, the Duke of Gloucester in preparation for Edward's coronation.  BeforTe the coronation, both boys were declared illegitimate by Parliament and Gloucester assumed the throne as Richard III.  Both boys were never heard of again and a common assumption was that they were murdered by Richard to strengthen his hold on the throne.  The fate of the Princes in the Tower has never been known.

Grant spends weeks going over whatever information and historic documents exists to try to come up with an answer to the puzzle.  Using his detective's logic, he finally comes up with an answer that satisfies him.

A blend of rational logic, and historic fact and fiction, The Daughter of Time is a fascinating twist on the traditional detective story and deserves all the accolades it has received.

Dramatized by Neville Keller, the program features Peter Gilmore as Alan Grant.  Also featured are Frances Jester, Rosalind Shanks, Jill Lidstone, Simon Hewitt. Steve Hodson, Nigel Lambert, Lewis Stringer, Miranda Forbes, Graham Faulkner, Katherine Parr, Stuart Organ, Peter Tuddenham, Alex Jenkins, and James Thomason.

"Josephine Tey"  was a pen name of Scottish author and playwright  Elizabeth MacKintosh (1896-1952).  She is often considered, with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, as one of the "Big Three" classic female mystery writers -- "Big Five," if you add Ngaio Marsh and Margery Allingham.  Tey's other novels include The Franchise Affair, A Shilling for Candles, Brat Farrar, The Singing Sands, and Miss Pym Disposes.

Let's take a trip back in time to a British hospital room and further back in time to 1483 England.  Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJpUU2pwi0s

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: HALF-PINT HERCULES

Half-Pint Hercules" by William Lindsay Gresham  (from Collier's, February 23, 1952)

Steve Lorenz is a midget who has been working as a strong man at a carny for years, but during the war years he was employed at an airplane factory.  Because of his size, he was able to reach places and do assembly that normal-sized persons could not and was greatly appreciated for his skill.  But when the war ended, so did his employment at the aircraft factory, so he went back to the carny.

Besides being very strong (he could straighten and bend horse shoes with his bare hands), Steve was also a talented mechanic, among other skills.  He came from a prominent family that was embarrassed by his, size keeping him essentially hidden from view.  Among the carny folk he found people that accepted and respected him -- something he also had briefly during the war year at the factory.  But he also met with rude and ignorant comments from the carnival's customers, full-sized people who considered it fair game to make fun of him.  Steve had met, fell in love with, and married another midget at the carnival, Dora.  now his insecurities are getting the best of him.  He's afraid of having a child with Dora.  What if it were normal-sized and grew up embarrassed by his parents and hating them?   What of it were a midget and had to endure what Steve had when he was younger?  Various pressures led Steve to blow up at a rude customer, frightening off others and reducing the day's take.  Steve is glum and down in the dumps and generally feeling sorry for himself.

Then a news item came over the radio.  A six-year-old girl was strapped in a well.  Efforts to save her failed when a tunnel collapsed and killed one of the rescuers.  Microphones lowered into the well could hear shallow breathing and authorities fear that she may not survive.  Steve came out of his funk and drove the 60 miles to the site.  There, recue workers \try to dissuade him from trying to reach the girl through the narrow pipe that had been built.  Steve's response:  "I'm a mechanic, a welder, and an acrobat.  I've got a Red Cross First Aid Instructor's card.  I've got no children of my own to be left orphans,  Now, do I take a chance on that pipe or do more guys get killed going down that big hole in the sand that's always caving in?"

The well had been built thirty years before and went down two hundred feet.  A shift in the earth had burst the pipe some eighty feet down and it now sloped off at an angle.  The girl was trapped about fifteen feet from the angle of the pipe.  The pipe is very rusty and there might be a pocket of water surrounding it.  If the girl is tightly wedge, a section of the pipe will have to be cut out, perhaps risking both the girl and Steve of drowning.  The girl may injured and need a shot of morphine.  Steve will have to rescue her using only a cold chisel, a small sledge, and a hacksaw.   He will not be able to maneuver well in the pipe.

So you know what's going to happen.  Steve goes down and rescues the girl.  But it's not easy and there's a lot that goes on.  It's a thrilling rescue and, for a moment, it seemed like Steve was not going to survive.  But he does.  And he has that epiphany the readers had all been hoping for.  Just because you are thirty-eight inches tall does not make you less of a man.  And Steve is now thinking about becoming a father.  The end.

A good story, told realistically.

William Lindsay Gresham (19009-1962) is best known for his first novel, Nightmare Alley (1946), which was adapted for a 1947 film starring Tyrone Power, and was later filmed in 2021 with Bradley Cooper.  Nightmare Alley takes place in a second-rate carnival and remains one of the most significant noir novels published.  Gresham was fascinated with sideshow and carnivals and they inspired mush of his work, including his nonfiction book Monster Midway (1954).   Grindshow:  The Selected Writings of William Lindsay Gresham (2013) contains 24 articles and stories about "fairgrounds, spook shows, and hucksters."  Another noted work was his biography Houdini:  The Man Who Walked Through Walls (1959), written with the assistance of magician and skeptic James Randi.

Gresham was an alcoholic and serial adulterer who had occasional bouts of violence.  His wife, Joy Davidman, who was suffering from cancer, went to England to visit writer C. S. Lewis, with whom she had had a warm correspondence.  In her absence, Joy asked her cousin. Renee Rodiguez, to stay with Gresham and look after their two children.  When Joy was in England Gresham and Renee began an affair  Gresham eventually divorce Joy and married Renee.  Joy, meanwhile became a non-sexual companion to Lewis; she loved him and he respected her intellect -- eventually they married and he later fell in love with her.

Gresham eventually joined Alcoholics Anonymous but by that time he was going blind and had developed cancer of the tongue.  He committed suicide at age 53.  The only notice of his death in the New York paper was by Albert H. Morehead, a bridge columnist for the New York Times.

The February 23, 1952 issue of Collier's is availnable online at Internet Archive.

OVERLOOKED RACE FILM: DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM U.S.A. (1946)

 Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. was a "Race" film-- all-black productions that catered to African-American audiences -- that was an unauthorized adaptation of Somerset Maugham's 1921 short story "Rain."  (The story had previously been filmed in 1928 as Sadie Thompson featuring Gloria Swanson, and in 1943, starring Joan Crawford.)  It was directed by Spencer Williams (he later played Andy Brown on television's Amos and Andy) for Dallas-based producer Alfred Sack.  Dirty Gertie was a commercially successful film on the Race circuit but was not widely seen by white audiences until the 1990s.

Gertie LaRue (Francine Everett) is a nightclub performer from Harlem who goes to the Caribbean island of Rinidad to be the headliner in a revue for a large hotel.  She has earned her nickname for the callous way she treats men -- seducing and then humiliating them.  Two Americans, a soldier and a sailor (hugh Watson and Shelly Ross), are entranced by her, as is the owner of the hotel, Diamond Joe (Don Wilson).  there are also two missionaries (Alfred Hawkins and David Boykin) who are concerned about Gertie.  One of Gertie's former lovers (John King) comes to the island and, unable to win her back, kills her.  O well.

Also featured in the film are Katherine Moore, L. E. Lewis, Inez Newell, Piano Frank, Don Gilbert, Julie Jones, and Howard Galloway. Spencer Williams also makes a very strange appearance as a female fortune teller, Old Hager, who predicts Gertie's death.

Scripted by True T. Thompson.  A recording of the Harold Arlen-Johnny mercer sonf "Blues in the Night" by Dinah Shore was featured. 

Francine Everett (1915-1999) was called  the most beautiful woman in Harlem and was one of the most beautiful actresses to appear on screen.  she was briefly (1936-1939) married to Rex Ingrim, the star of Green Pastures.   Hollywood wanted her but insisted she play stereotypical black roles .  She refused and retired from acting in the Fifties, working as a clerk until 1985 at Harlem Hospital.  I think I could have easily fallen in love with her.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVFJomlm2UI

BITS & PIECES

 Openers:  From Rebecca Crane's backyard, forty steps led to the beach, where sharp-billed sandpipers scurried along the fringe of foaming surf, pecking without cease for their sustenance, as if they were an enfevered species that never knew a moment of peace.  That morning, she descended the stairs twelve times and climbed the eleven times before she set off on a run along the shore.

At thirty-five, Rebecca wasn't old; however, she wasn't young, either, not by the standards of her profession.  In dog years, she was three times dead.  If she had been an elephant, a species that lived seventy years, she would be halfway through her life, but is she had been a gorilla, she would have as little as a week left and certainly not more than several months.  If she had been a kangaroo, she would have hopped into the void perhaps twelve years earlier.

She knew the average lifespan of many mammals, not because she was a veterinarian or zoologist, but because she had a healthy fear of death that was somewhat greater than the average person's healthy fear of death.  She wasn't depr4essive or paranoid or obsessed with her mortality.   Nothing like that.  She had a sunny disposition and was quick to laugh even at jokes about death, though when the humor was related to something else, her laughter was more robust.

-- Going Home in the Dark by Dean Koontz  (2015)

Rebecca, a successful and popular film and television actress, was once a nerd.  At age fourteen,,she banded with three other nerds in the small town of Maple Grove, becoming one of the four "amigos," who maintained their deep friendship even after three of them (including Rebecca) moved from Maple Grove to much bigger and better things:  Bobby Shamrock ("Bobby the Sham") became a best selling author; Spencer Truelove became a noted artist whose canvases drew hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece e, even though he could not draw; and Ernie Hernishen, who stayed in Maple Grove, wrote a slew of best-selling country songs.  Not bad for a group of self-confessed, and otherwise friendless, nerds, especially since all four came from absolutely horrid homes, making their childhoods an absolute shit show.

Now word has come that Ernie is in a coma and is not expected to live.  The remaining three amigos rush back to their home town to be with him.  Shortly after they arrive at the hospital, Ernie dies.  Except his friends are convinced that he is not dead.  Yes, he stopped breathing and all body functions stopped, but they are sure that he still lives and are determined to save him before a mortician or a coroner claims the body and either performs an autopsy or drains his body of blood and pumps it with formaldehyde -- either action would end Ernie and make him definitely dead.  So they kidnap the body and hide it.

Also, there is something strange about Maple Grove and their childhood.  There are large gaps in their collective memories.  They begin to remember about the many people in Maple Grove who also mysteriously fell into comas.  And what's this about half-formed bodies store in a church basement?  Slowly, memories are coming back.  Piecemeal.  As if the memories were deliberately being fed back to them.  And why is Maple Grove such a picture perfect town, so neat and orderly, with no litter or blight, and with absolutely no crime, ever?

Dean Koontz's latest novel is a phantasmagoria of strangeness, both in the subject matter and in its presentation.  Koontz the author inserts himself at random times, breaking down the fourth wall, and explaining the literary tricks he is using, while also foreshadowing what mat or may not happen a few chapters or a few pages ahead in this perhaps (or perhaps not) "true" story.   In his introduction  to the book (aptly titled "Read This First of Live to Regret It Forever"), he states, "How I came to know of these events in such specific detail will cause much conjecture that I do not encourage.  Already, powerful individuals in my professional life have pressured me to reveal my sources, but /i have nor done so -- and will not -- because lives are at stake.  The speculation that I am the 'fifth amigo' and have expunged my role in this is an unlikely theory that I will neither conform nor deny for legal reasons."

I have often publicly kicked myself for reading Koontz incessantly, and have often pointed out his authoritorial flaws.  (I have read all of his novels, with the exception of one scarce paperback Gothic written long ago as "Deanna Dwyer," and the slew of of softcore novels (published under various pseudonyms) that he firmly, and unconvincingly (IMHO), denies ever having written.)  Koontz. although not noted for it, can be a humorous writer, and he displays that here.  The humor, though, is not laugh-out-loud funny; rather, it provides a very occasional faint grin and a more occasional appreciation of wordplay and whimsey.

At least, there is no heroic or noble dog in this one, although there is an Easter egg obliquely referring to his much earlier novel Watchers, which featured a nobly heroic dog.  I caught a few other Easter eggs and probably missed many more.

An interesting book, worth your time -- if you can get used to the style and make it through the first fifty or so pages.

Incoming:

• Nathan Ballingrud, Monsterland.  Originally published as North American Lake Monsters.  Nine stories, including "The Monsters of Heaven," the 2007 winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for short story.  The collection itself won the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award for single-author short story collection, and was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. Ballingrud's stories are love stories.  They are also horror stories.  Sometimes the monsters collected here are vampires of werewolves.  Sometimes they wear the faces of parents. , lovers, brothers, ex-wives -- or the faces we see in the mirror."
• James P.  Blaylock, The Elfin Ship.  Fantasy, the first volume in the Balumnia trilogy.  "Trading with elves used to be so simple.  Every year Master Cheeser Jonathan Bing would send his very best cheeses downriver to traders who would eventually return with Elfin wonders for the people of Twombly Town.  But no more...  Frist, the trading post at Willowood Station was mysteriously destroyed.  Then a magical elfin airship began making forays overhead:  Jonathan knew something was definitely amiss.  So he set off downriver to deliver the cheeses himself, accompanied by the mazing Professor Wurzle, the impressionable Dooly, and his faithful dog Ahab.  It would have been such a pleasant trip, if not for the weeping skeleton, mad goblins, magic coins, an evil dwarf, a cloak of invisibility -- and a watch the stopped time.  Of course, the return trip was not so simple..."
• Persephone Braham, Crimes Against the State, Crimes Against Persons:  Detective Fiction in  Cuba and Mexico.  Non-fiction, literary criticism and history from an academic.  Includes a 20-page bibliography.  I have very little knowledge of Latin American crime fiction; this seemed like a good place to start learning.
• Donn  Cortez, CSI Miami:  Cult Following and CSI Miami:  Cut and Run.  Two original television tie-ins.  In the first, "Lieutenant Horatio Caine of the Miami-Dade Crime Lab is called to investigate the mysterious death at n organic eatery.  He finds the victim,, Philip Mulrooney, bent over a stainless steel toilet, his clothing shredded.  There are burn marks on his face and cell phone fragments scattered around, and his shoes are blown off his feet.  Incredible as it seems, the initial evidence points to death by lightning strike.  The staff at Earthly Garden believe Mulrooney's death is an act of God -- punishment for straying from the vitality method, their spiritual philosophy that inner beauty can be revealed  by nurturing the physical and spiritual."  In the second book, Horatio and the team are called to a field outside  the Everglades where "a balloon has just set down, the lone man inside the basket is dead -- an apparent suicide.  A yacht riddled with bullets limps into the Port of Miami, only a gravely wounded hijacker survives, confessing there are drugs somewhere on board, but he can't find them.  a local journalist, thinking to break out of the rat race with a novel based on the people he covers on his beat, is found dead.  In the yacht's galley is a record-setting sunfish that seems to be the key piece of evidence to just what was being smuggled on the ship, yet the lab is stumped when they discover no more than the normal parasites infecting the fish.  A raunchy video of a citrus heiress having sex in a public place gives her the motive to kill the journalist turned novelist, but she has an alibi."  A lot to unpack here. 
• Michael Crichton, The Great Train Robbery.  Victorian crime novel.  "In teeming Victorian 
  London, where lavish wealth and appalling poverty exist side by side, one mysterious man navigates both worlds with perfect ease.  Rich, handsome and ingenious, Edward Pierce preys on the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of the century.  Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the daring theft of a fortune in gold?  Who could predict the consequences of making the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England's industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive?  Based on fact, as lively as legend, and studded with all the suspense and style of a modern fiction master, here is a classic novel, set a decade before the age of dynamite -- yet nonetheless explosive..."  Crichton also wrote and directed the 1979 film version of this story, which starred Sean Connery.  This happens to be the only one of Crichton's 35 published books that I have not yet read; soon, another item on my pitifully mundane bucket list will be checked off. 
• Corbett Davis, Jr., Dead Low (as by Corbett A. Davis, Jr.) and Dead Man's Fingers.  Two suspense thrillers featuring Powell Taylor and Captain Limbo from  a local author.  The author writes that he was inspired by the novels of John d., McDonald, Randy Wayne White, and Carl Hiaasen.  Dead Low:  "For the first time since Powell Taylor and Dawn Landry hit town in the Florida Keys, they were both beginning to question their once hot love affair.  After a meaningless argument that neither would later remember, Dawn suddenly disappeared from a Key West hospital.  Dead Low is the story of a love sick jeweler motivated by that love and guilt. searching for the girl of his dreams.  When mutilated bodies begin to show up in the Florida Straights around the lower Keys, Powell begins to expect a connection to Dawn's disappearance.  Once his fears are confronted, time is quickly running out for Dawn's survival.  With the help of his friend Captain Limbo, the two embark on a treacherous journey that eventually leads them across the Gulf into Cuba.  It is not until their cursed encounter with the crew of a n antiquated rusty hulled ship docked in Havana that Dawn's fate is fully revealed.  (as you can tell from the inept jacket copy, this is a self-published book, as is the sequel.)  Dead Man's Fingers:  "where else but the Florida Keys can you find so much natural beauty and so much craziness all  ixed together to make a story full of mystery, romance, suspense, and friendship?  Dead Man's Fingers is just that plus a whole lot more.  Powell Taylor and his best friend Captain Limbo are back, trying to cope with the strange death of Powell's beloved Dawn Landry [oops! A spoiler for the previous book.  Sorry -- JH] when suddenly a bizarre twist of events requires their full attention and sends their combined bank of contacts into action.  From the greedy but lovable Charlie Switzer to the despicable Hilda Tucker, the characters will make you laugh out loud as you find yourself cheering for the most unlikely of heroes.  Sea burials, Viagra, body parts in fish guts, frivolous lawsuits and a strong thread of loyalty among friends make for a feel good read that will leave you ready for the net chapter.  Take this wild ride from Miami to Cudjoe Key, to Key West, the Dry Tortugas and even Havana for a journey that includes plenty of unexpected entanglements."  Truth to tell, I don't hold out much hope for either book, but Davis was a local author and the second generation owner of the Jewelers Trade Shop in Pensacola, now owned and operated by his son Corbett David III.  As with many books by local authors, both of these books are signed and were relegated to a local thrift shop.
• Roger Lancelyn Green, The Tale of Troy.  Young adult retelling of the legend, a companion to Green's Tales of the Greek Heroes.  "Step back into the Heroic Age with the story of Helen and the judgment of Paris:  of the gathering of the heroes and the siege of Troy; of Achilles and his vulnerable heel.  And join Odysseus, the last of the heroes -- famous for his wisdom and cunning -- on his thrilling adventures as he makes the long journey home to Greece."  Green was noted for his retelling of myths and legends, and for encouraging C. S. Lewis to publish The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe after J. R. R. Tolkien had advised against it.
• Donald Hamilton, The Infiltrators.  The 21st book in the Matt Helm spy-guy series.  "Brains.  Beauty, Ambition.  Lawyer.  Madeleine Ellershaw had it all.  Until the day nine years ago when she took her husband's rap and went to jail for selling classified data to the Russians.  Today she walks out of prison a free woman.  Her escort:  Matt Helm.  Matt's two jobs:  keep madeleine alive.  and find the truth about her supposedly traitorous past.  The first step is only tough.  The second is deadly."
• David Jacobs. The Devil's Brood:  The New adventures of Dracula, Frankenstein  & the Universal Monsters.  Film franchise tie-in, the first of two books.  "In the shadows of the Alps, a vampire princess and her devil-cult seek to resurrect the Bride of Frankenstein... In England, the grandson of the legendary werewolf of London learns to his horror that he's the inheritor of a lycanthropic legacy... On a zombie-haunted tropical isle, the spirit of Dracula, Lord of the Undead, gives rise to a terrifying new creature of destruction... Voodoo drums beat and the Frankenstein M monster stirs, powered by the dread force of black magic... As the forces off darkness draw together, the only person standing between the monsters and mankind is an American gangster -- who is about to discover the true meaning of underwotld..."  The tagline for the book, of course, is "Fear is Universal."
• Chuck Palahnuik, Lullaby.  Fantasy.  '"Ever heard of a culling song?  It's a lullaby sung in Africa to give a painless death to the old or infirm.  The lyrics of the culling song kill, whether spoken or even just thought.  you can find one on page 27 of Poems and Rhymers from Around the World, an anthology non the shelves of libraries across the country.  When reporter Carl Streator discovers that unsuspecting readers are reading the poem and accidentally killing their children, he begins a desperate cross-country quest to put the culling song to rest and save the nation from certain disaster."
• Louise Penny, How the Light Gets In.  An Inspector Gamache novel.  "Christmas is approaching, and in Quebec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths.  But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete de Quebec.  Most of his best agents have left or have been transferred out of the Homicide /department; his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn't spoken to him in months; and hostile forces are lining up against him.  When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers, in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city for a few hours.  Myrna's long-time friend, who was due to spend Christmas in the village, has failed to arrive.  When Chief Inspector Gamache presses for information, Myrna is reluctant to reveal her friend's name.  Mystified, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people, not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo."
• Terry Pratchett, The Shepherd's Crown.  Humorous fantasy, the final Tiffany Aching young adult novel, a subset of Pratchett's Discworld series, and the final Discworld novel.  "Deep in the Chalk, something is stirring.  the owls and the foxes can sense it, and Tiffany Aching feels it in her boots.  an ols enemy is gathering strength.  This is a time of endings and beginnings, old friends and new, a blurring of edges and a shifting of power.  Now Tiffany stands between the light and the darlk, the good and the bad.  As the fairy horde prepares for invasion, Tiffany must summon all the witches to stand with her.  To protect the land.  Her land.  There will be a reckoning..."
• "J. D. Robb" (Nora Roberts), 15 novels from the In Death featuring Eve Dallas, a New York cop in the near future, a mix of mystery, romance, fantasy, and suspense.  There are to date 60 novels and 11 novellas in the series.  The books have been highly recommended by Kevin Tipple and Jackie Meyerson, among others.  I have a few other volumes scattered around here somewhere and thought I'd give the series a try sometime soon.  Immortal in Death (the 3rd in the series), Rapture in Death (#4), Vengeance in Death (#5), Ceremony in Death (#6), Holiday in Death (#7), Conspiracy in Death (#8), Loyalty in Death (#9), Witness in Death (#10), Seduction in Death (#13), Reunion in Death (#14), Purity in Death (#15), Imitation in Death (#17), Fantasy in Death (#30), Obsession ins Death (#40), and Devoted in Death (#41).
• "James Rollins" (James Czajkowski), The Last Oracle.  A Grey Pierce thriller.  "In Washington, D.C., a homeless man takes an assassin's bullet and dies in Commander Grey Pierce's arms.  A bloody coin clutched in the dead man's hand -- an ancient relic that can be traced back to the Greek Oracle at Delphi -- is the key to a conspiracy that dates back to the Cold War and threatens the very foundation of humanity.  For what if it were possible to bioengineer the next great prophet -- a new Buddha, Muhammed, or even Jesus?  Would this Second Coming be a boon...or would it initiate a chain reaction that would result in the extinction of humankind?"
• John Saul, Black Creek Crossing.  horror novel.  "Thirteen-year-old Angel Sullivan is thrilled when her family moves to a cool old house in Roundtree, Massachusetts -- until she is socially shunned at school and falls deeper into despair.  But then she meets Seth Baker, a fellow outcast, and a fateful kinship is forged.  Seth tells Angel about the whispered rumors of something supernatural linking her family's home.  Curious, Angel and Seth devote themselves to contacting whatever restless soul haunts the dark recesses of Black Creek Crossing.  With ghastly revelations they unleash a vengeful spirit and a terrifying power, and there is no turning back..."  Saul made his bines on children-in-danger horror.

Time to Get Political:  Feel free to skip this if it seems too much.  You have that right as an american citizen.

First off, I should make a couple of things clear;

One, the more I read and learn about Charlie Kirk, the less I like him;

And, two, the death of Charlie Kirk was a terrible tragedy and a stain on America.

Your milage may differ and you are certainly free to hold alternate views on either of these.

As people from both sides of the aisle have said, political violence should have no place in America,  A tragedy of nearly equal proportions is the weaponizing of grief and the seeming deification and glorification of Kirk as a "truly great American" who was "loved and admired by ALL,'' while overlooking or whitewashing his racist, transphobic, misogynistic, White Supremacist views.  One can, and should, mourn the loss of a human being while also recognizing that person's lesser qualities.  Whitewashing (a term chosen deliberately here) is a dangerous path.

 

Kirk was a far-right idol, an effective communicator and one who was willing to discuss and debate his views.  He was personable and could come off as caring, and to all intents and purposes came off as a loving family man, and perhaps he was.  But make no mistake about his toxicity.  This was a guy who told a 14-year-old girl her future was to be a brood mare.  This was the guy who glossed over the death of 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who with her six members of her family were killed in an attack on their Kia Picanto just outside Gaza City in January 2004 when their car was stuck by at least 335 bullets and then run over by a bulldozer; the damage was consistent with Israeli-issued military weapons such as the M4 assault rifle and the FN MAG machine gun on a Merkava tank.  This was a guy who dismissed the victims of gun violence as the unfortunate price we pay for having the vaunted Second Amendment.

Here's a bit of Charlie Kirk's philosophy:

• "The transgender thing happening in America' was a "middle finger to God."  Transgender identiy was a "mental disease" and being transgender was akin to "wearing blackface."
• He misquoted scripture, stating that men who had sex with other men should be "stoned to death.'
• Doctors who perform gender-affirming care to m minors should be given "Nuremberg-style trials."  He compared their actions to Nazi atrocities.
• On violence in urban areas:  "Prowling Blacks go around for fun go around to target white people." 
• Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson were "affirmative action picks" who "did not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously.  You had to steal a white person's slot to be taken seriously."
• "Black America is worse than it has been in the last 80 years."  Blacks were better during the Jim Crow era because they committed fewer crimes, according to Kirk.
• After another conservation blamed a plane crash on DEI initiatives:  "If I see a Black pilot, I'm going to be like, 'Boy, I hope he's qualified.' " 
• "The Great Replacement" -- the idea that immigrants were brought into this country to replace whites -- was a "reality."
• He spread misinformation during the Covid epidemic, calling masks and vaccine requirements "medical apartheid."
• George Floyd was not beaten; he died of an "overdose."
• Gun deaths are "unfortunately worth it" to support the Second amendment.  (This has led to online memes posting the word "unfortunate" over his image.)
• "We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 60s."  Martin Luther King, Jr. was "awful" and "not a good person."
• Just before he was shot, he said that too many mass shooting were carried out by transgender persons.  This has already led to a great fear of retaliation in the trans community.  
• Abortion is worse than the Holocaust.
• "I can't stand the word empathy, actually.  I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage."
• After Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsie announced their engagement:  'Submit to your husband, Taylor.  You're not in charge."  (Kirk was not a Swiftie.)
• "Gun control, like vaccines and masks, is focused on making people feel 'safe' by taking freedoms away from others.  Don't fall for it."  No mention of the freedom of being shot or killed because that should not be taken away.
• "We do not have enough people in jail in this country."
•  "Death penalties should be public. should be quick, should be televised.  I think at a certain age, it's an initiation..."  He said the crime rate would go down if kids witnessed executions.
• "The philosophical foundation of anti-whiteness has been largely financed by Jewish donors in this country."
• On Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate for mayor in New York:  "America's largest city was attacked by radical Muslim 24 years ago, and now a similar form of that pernicious force is poised to capture city hall."
• Kirk incorrectly claimed there was no scientific consensus on climate change, claiming the threat of climate change was "complete gibberish, nonsense and balderdash."
• "Democratic women want to die alone without children."
• "Reject feminism."

Had enough?

I should remind you that Charlie Kirk -- as horrible and senseless as his murder was -- is not being mourned for the death of a human being, but is being used to score political points.  Trump originally blamed Democrats and the "radical left," a sentiment repeated by many MAGA followers.  This is now being walked back (or completely ignored) now that the accused murderer has been reported to be influenced by a far-right radical group which felt that Kirk was not extreme enough.  Rumors about anti-trans and other messages found on the weapon and ammunition appear to be have been misinterpreted by authorities.  If there were a radical component to the shooting, and not just the assassin's mental aberrations, it came from the far-right and not the left., which has been responsible for far more recents acts of violence than the far left.  (BTW, the radical, Far left that Trumo and the MAGA crowd are talking about is actually the just a bit left of center.)  The accused comes from a conservative family, and grew up with a gun culture in the home.

The incompetence of Trump's FBI is glaring.  The two top officials -- Patel and Bongino -- have no experience in law enforcement and have made misleading and inaccurate statements to the public that have basically endangered the public.  It should be noted that, despite Patel's high praise for the hard work the FBI had done in bringing the accused to justice, the FBI deserves no credit in this department.  The accused turned himself in after pleading from his family.

I feel much safer living in Trump's distorted reality of America, don't you?

Again, the murder of Charlie Kirk was a heinous and horrifying act that goes against everything that America is supposed to stand for.  But let us not turn this into a moment where we are blinded by political rhetoric.  Let us move on from this and work to heal political differences, where compassion and empathy and good will overpower divisiveness, bigotry, and rancor.  Let us as a nation grow up, put on our big boy and big girl pants, and establish common-sense gun laws and work to bring equality and equality to all Americans.

End of rant.  Feel free to go back to the rest of today's post.

A Early Serial Killer Who Was Also a Companion of Joan of Arc:  Giles de Rais (c.1405-1440) was a knight and lord who was a leader of the French Army in the Hundred Years War.  Not much is known about Giles' early life.  He was descended from two great feudal houses of the 15th century. His mother died on an unknown date and his father died in 1415 of 'a serious bodily infirmity" -- a legend that he had been disemboweled by a wild boar was patently false.  Giles and his younger brother were then raised by their maternal grandfather, who betrothed Giles to a wealthy Norman heiress (Giles may have been twelve at the time).  France's Parliament forbade the marriage until the girl came of age; the marriage never happened, perhaps because the girl became an abbess.  About a year later Giles was then betrothed to the niece of the Duke of Brittany but this union was also never realized; perhaps the girl had died.  

Giles then became engaged to his third cousin, Catherine de Thouars but questions of consanguinity arose (the two were related by both the maternal and paternal lines), along with squabbling between the two families.  Giles took matters into his own hands and abducted Catherine and married her in a chapel outside his parish church, without posting banns.  The Church annulled the marriage and declared it incestuous.  After the death of Catherine's father, the two houses reconciled and sought to legitimize the marriage.  A penance was invoked and the two were absolved of the crime of incest, becoming free to marry in the Church.  They were wed with great pomp and ceremony in 1422.  Their only child, Marie, was born eleven or twelve years later.

Shifting allegiances and battles during the early years of the Hundred Years War threatened much of the property of Giles de Rais' family and allies.  Giles himself may have participated in battles in 1426 and earlier, but this has never been confirmed.  By 1427 Giles had been appointed captain of Sable (in western France) against English garrisons.  Later that year, when John V of Brittany, Giles's suzerain, ordered his vassals to stop fighting the English troops, Giles refused and remained loyal to the King of France.

Enter Joan of Arc in 1429.  By this time Giles was part of King Charles VII's entourage, was a member of the Royal Council (although seldom participated due to military matters), and was referred to as the king's chamberlain.  In April 1429, Joan of Arc accompanied France's relief army to Orleans, with Giles de Rais leading the escort of men-at-arms and archers.  Giles took part in the storming of the Saint-Loup bastille early in May, he then took part with Joan in the Loire campaign.  In July, the same day Charles VII was coronated. Giles was elevated to the rank of Marshal of France.  On September 8, Giles stood by Joan's side during the Siege of Paris; the siege failed after Joan was wounded in the leg by a crossbow bolt.  Joan of Arc was captured on December 23, 1430 and held prisoner in Rouen;  Giles was seen in Rouen on December 26, presumably to try to free Joan, although no attempt was ever made.  Joan of Arc was burned at the stake the following May.  Little is know about the relationship between Joan and Giles, much that  is assumed today is through various fictional speculations.

Giles de Rais gradually withdrew from the was in the 1430s and was an excessive profligate, squandering his patrimony by selling off lands to pay his debts.  (He had reportedly been incurring insane expenses" since the age of 20.)  Giles was placed under interdict by Charles VII in 1435.  He physically assaulted a high-ranking cleric and seized a local castle in May 1440.  He was arrested that September and tried the following month for heresy, sodomy, and "the murder of one hundred and forty or more children."  He was executed on October 26.

Giles de Rais is counted as among the first recorded serial killers.  Some believe he was an inspiration for the Charles Perrault fairy tale of Bluebeard and his name has often been conflated with the fictional villain.  

Was he guilty?  Current thought says probably yes.  But the trial and contemporary accounts have been tainted by the status of the Church at the time, the prevalence of superstition, Giles actual confession given under torture, the political atmosphere, and a lot more.  There are records of young children (boys) going missing over that period, but the number accredited to Giles de Rais' crimes have most likely been exaggerated.  Over the years, a number of people have asserted their belief that Giles de Rais was innocent of most if not all of his charges, but those arguments have not really held up.  Various psychological theories have also been proposed.  Giles de Rais was most likely a tortured sexual psychopath whose name has lived on because his tenuous relationship with Joan of Arc, his linkage in popular thought to the fictional Blackbeard, and the enormity of the crimes he was said to have committed.

A Little Bit of Country-Western:  Dusty Rivers and the Rangers, with vocal by "Speedy" Ross:

https://archive.org/details/78_i-dont-know-where-i-go-but-im-goin_dusty-rivers-and-the-rangers-speedy-ross-l_gbia0203108b

For Those Who Like to Eat:  Today is

• National Double Cheeseburger Day
• National Linguine Day
• Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie Day
• National Cheese Toast Day

My mouth is watering, especially for the butterscotch cinnamon pie!  Perhaps with a double cheeseburger and linguine for dessert.

https://www.thefreshcooky.com/butterscotch-cinnamon-pie-recipe/

 

Funny?  You Tell Me:  The lawyers for the Old MacDonald estate hired a new person to run the farm.  He's the C-I-E-I-O.

Florida Man:

• In a case of justice, Florida-style, a Texas woman was arrested despite overwhelming evidence that she was not the person the police were looking for.  She spent three days in jail.  I wonder hoe long she would have spent in jail if she came from a Blue state?   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-deputies-jailed-a-texas-woman-for-3-days-even-though-she-s-23-years-older-than-the-suspect/ar-AA1LYrIH?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=94dd27128e754bb3856b5db5fb75b39e&ei=27
• And then there's Florida Man Roman Rawicki, 50, of Palm Bay.  Oops.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/road-rage-wrong-address-florida-man-attacked-woman-fired-17-shots-after-simple-mistake/ar-AA1M1li8?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=c8269682ac204563a278803e08521ccb&ei=25
• And a certain Florida Man (or Men) has (have) decided that the state has too many children and has come up with a solution to divest the state of the excess.   https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/09/florida-vaccine-children-mandate/684110/?gift=j9r7avb6p-KY8zdjhsiSZ1KV5cFKtQASw6v7_TPkcvA
• 60-year-old Florida Man Michael Jablonki has a reason to dislike the Publix supermarket in Tradition, F.lorida.  https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/woman-escapes-kidnapper-at-florida-grocery-store-with-employees-helping-her-hide-police-suspect-in-custody-abduction-abducted-tradition-publix-port-st-lucie-police-department
• Florida Woman Jessica Sonya Humpheys, 24, of Miami, allegedly went to my neck of the woods in the Florida Panhandle to commit 72 counts of petition fraud and 71 counts of perjury in Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties.  She had previously posted bail for the Santa Rosa county charges but failed to show up for a scheduled court hearing so she will be facing additional charges for that.  Humphries was a paid petition gatherer for "safe and Smart Florida," a group working for a constitutional amendment concerning marijuana use in Florida.   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/woman-faces-72-felony-charges-in-northwest-florida-for-petition-fraud-and-perjury/ar-AA1MgKFv?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=9d2a0f53a2bb45cdf1ee9ed9600e69b2&ei=87
• Staying in my general neighborhood, two Florida Pensacolans -- Salvatore John Carpanzarno, , 66, and Heather Gayle Fisher, 54 -- were indicted in federal court on charges stemming from a multi-year scheme to defraud victims of millions of dollars.  Details are scant but among the charges are conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  If convicted, the pair face up to 50 years in jail.
• And, still keeping it in my neighborhood, the fallout from a recent high school grad being arrested in child porn charges.   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/gulf-breeze-elementary-asst-principal-won-t-return-to-position-investigation-continues/ar-AA1MhfXf?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=800e90691e6e47ff9a76ea4c3c7d29fd&ei=20
• Florida Job Applicant Joseph Thomas Kinney, 55, was arrested at a staged job interview where he tried to pose as a nurse for hire using his roommates stolen credentials.  Kinney's original licenses in Alabama, California, and Florida had been revoked in 2022 for several reasons, including diverting drugs from his employer and driving under the influence of drugs.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-man-arrested-at-job-interview-while-allegedly-impersonating-nurse-using-roommate-s-credentials-what-did-i-do/ar-AA1Mef7F?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=51684f5d69b0416acbc47b73b294de80&ei=12
• Florida Woman arrested after kids found living in a "House of Horror."   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-mom-arrested-after-3-kids-found-living-in-house-of-horror/ar-AA1Mhn1L?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=800e90691e6e47ff9a76ea4c3c7d29fd&ei=41

Good News:

• The world's happiest elephant herd.        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/photographer-captures-pictures-of-worlds-happiest-elephant-herd-look/
• As mentioned on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me this week.   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/kentucky-nurse-revives-drunk-raccoon-found-in-dumpster-with-cpr/
• A pizzeria owner worth emulating.    https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/pizzeria-owner-sees-people-eating-from-dumpster-offers-them-free-pies-and-a-slice-of-dignity/
• We need more rivers like this.   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chicago-river-follows-the-seine-to-become-biodynamic-and-swimmable-once-again/
• Another reason why medical and scientific research should not be defunded or politicized.  https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/tiny-protein-confirmed-to-dismantle-the-toxic-clumps-linked-to-alzheimers-disease/
• Sometimes it's the little kindnesses.   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/boy-with-cerebral-palsy-lights-up-as-stranger-takes-him-for-spin-on-the-ice/
• Again, more kindness in the little things.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/beating-cancer-required-a-mountain-of-money-for-parking-she-now-raises-funds-for-other-cars/

Today's Poem:

24 Bullets

Because of a gun I had to hide.  Because of a gun I had to lie.

Because of a gun I can never feel fully safe when I leave my house and enter school/

My mom used to day it was never like this... She means it has never been this bad.  There has always been guns and gun violence and it is sad to say but I think it always will be.

As I sit in class watching the time go by, I never would have thought I would also have to be cautious of my surroundings.  If a kid looks a little too sad or a little too angry, I never know if he is going to boil over and let his emotions spill out all over the floor as he takes innocent lives as a peace offering for his "troubles."

They say the government is here to help and make it better, but they ban abortions instead of guns?  They take away our rights and expect us to stay silent as I watch people from my neighborhood die from getting shot because "they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Is there ever a right time?  When will I be completely safe and not fear for my life or others...

Out there right now there is a mother waiting on a call to hear where her child is, waiting to hear that they are all right and that everything is okay.  Instead, she gets a call that her baby was hot, and did not make it.  Her grief and anger is bigger than any protest could do justice for.

The police officer tells her "it will be okay, we are doing everything we can," but nobody knows how she feels, the pain and agony she is going through.

They took her child's life, he had more to do, his friends say he was a bright light, always kept people laughing and on their toes.

Others like to stereotype and go directly to, "It was gang related, and it was his fault."

This is not true. as a mother you should never fear for your child's life, or when it is going to be cut short.  Ask yourself right now, could you handle your sibling getting shot, your best friend, or your lover?

No, you could not handle the pain, no one could.

America is a gun and Cleveland is just one of its many witnesses and targets.

We did not do anything wrong; we are innocent but the only people who care for us is the mother who is waiting for the call to hear that we are okay.

We are not okay, and nothing will be the same, why stay silent when I have so much to say?  This is not fair even if it is one voice or a thousand.  I try to make a change than know I did nothing.

I would rather have the world against me than them mother who is waiting to hear that phone call, them mother whose life just got ruined in one night with 24 bullets.

-- Kayden Ferris

[Kayden Ferris is a student from the Cleveland Metropolitan Scholl district.  Kayden writes:  "I wrote this poem because gun violence has unfortunately always been .  My friend Jeovanni has witnessed it firsthand and has lost someone dear to him because of it.  This poems is partly based on my conversations with him.  I really hope my poem reaches its larger audience."

[Feel free to share this poem with all you know.

[By the way, I would adopt Kayden in a heartbeat.]