tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27289092939987773912024-03-18T22:01:32.602-07:00Jerry's House of EverythingJerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.comBlogger7095125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-161042180716097362024-03-18T22:01:00.000-07:002024-03-18T22:01:00.146-07:00OVERLOOKED FILM: THE CATMAN OF PARIS (1946)<p>The tagline for this not very much of a masterpiece is: "Are the mysterious killings ion Paris of 1896 the work of man or monster?" I can answer that quite easily, the killings -- in fact, the whole movie -- is the work of Republic Films director Lesley Selander, who made his bones directing a passel of B-westerns (including a number of Hopalong Cassidy and Red Ryder oaters) before trying his hand at horror with this movie and with the earlier <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Vampire's Ghost</i> (co-scripted by Leigh Brackett, from a **cough, cough** story by Bram Stoker); he would go on to direct <i style="font-weight: bold;">Flight to Mars</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Lone Ranger and the City of Gold</i>, and various television shows in the 50s and 60s, including <i style="font-weight: bold;">Laramie</i> (46 episodes), <i style="font-weight: bold;">Lassie</i> (54 episodes), and <i style="font-weight: bold;">Cannonball</i> (28 episodes).</p><p>Paris is in the grip of a wave of vicious murders committed by a half human-half cat serial killer. Really. Writer Charles Regnier (Carl Esmond, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ministry of Fear</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Experiment Perilous</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">From the Earth to the Moon</i>) is suspected of being the murderer. Adele Mara (<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Vampire's Ghost</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Girls of the Big House</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Curse of the Faceless Man</i>, and a one-time singer and dancer for Xavier Cugat), and her cleavage play Regnier's fiance, Margeurite, but she becomes cat food early on. Then it is up to Lenore Aubert (<i style="font-weight: bold;">Having Wonderful Crime</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Return of the Whistler</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein</i>) as Marie to believe in Regnier and become the film's follow-up eye candy. There's a lot of talking, a ludicrous bar fight, some astrological gobbledegook. Gerald Mohr, Douglas Dombrille, and John Dehner appear in minor roles. Look closely and you may recognize a lot of faces from Republic westerns.</p><p>Not as bad as my description might have you think.</p><p>Scripted by Sherman L. Lowe (<i style="font-weight: bold;">Melody Trail</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Green Hornet Strikes Again!</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Monster and the Ape</i>).</p><p>Enjoy.</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGSDS5GGyfI</p><p><br /></p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-71906585917858857012024-03-17T22:01:00.000-07:002024-03-17T22:01:00.133-07:00BITS & PIECES<p><b>Openers: </b>Tony Quinn stirred restlessly in his sleep as a man's form moved silently across the room. The intruder was in a hurry, but he made not the slightest sound. Moonlight brought him into relief for a moment, showing him to be about forty with a high, bald forehead, pointed, narrow nose and a small mouth. While there was nothing sinister or evil looking about him, he did exude one specific quality -- that of being slippery.</p><p>He touched the sleeping man's shoulder and shook him slightly. In a flash Tony Quinn was awake. His brain\oriented himself immediately and one hand darted beneath his pillow to come forth with a .38 automatic.</p><p>"Wait, sir," the intruder whispered. "I'm doing you a great favor. Hear me out -- please."</p><p>"Go ahead," Tony quinn said softly. "Explain what you're doing in the house of the District Attorney."</p><p>"Are you the D.A.?" the intruder gasped. then, without waiting for an answer, he went on. "That settles a lot of things. I'm not the only man in this house, sir. There's another, searching the rooms, and he's carrying a gun. Oh, I admit I came here to rob, but I don't relish being made a part of murder, sir!"</p><p>"In the closet with you," Quinn said quickly. "Close the door and make no sound. If you're telling the truth, you won't be sorry. If this should be a trick, I'll riddle that closet with slugs."</p><p>-- <b>Brand of the Black Bat</b> by "G. Wayman Jones" (Norman A. Daniels) (from <i style="font-weight: bold;">Black Book Detective</i>, July 1939; reprinted in <b>The Black Bat Omnibus, Volume 1</b>, 2010, as by Daniels)</p><p><br /></p><p>Tony Quinn, a.k.a. the Black Bat, pulp-heroed his way through <i style="font-weight: bold;">Black Book Detective</i> magazine for 62 adventures from 1939 to 1953. At least 55 of the Black Bat stories were penned by creator Norman Daniels, three were written by Laurence Donovan, one by Norvell Page, and two remain uncredited, although it is believed that Whitney Ellsworth write one of them; the final Black Bat story in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Black Book Detective</i> was written by Prentice Mitchell under his "Stewart Sterling" pen name. Three previously unpublished Black Bat tales (including one by Mitchell) appeared from 1999 to 2001 in small press magazines edited by Tom Johnson, who also added an additional seven Black Bat stories from 1995 to 1999. J. Michael Major and Wayne Skivener added one story each to the saga in 2000 and 2007. </p><p>As a crusading District Attorney, Quinn has made some powerful enemies in the underworld. The robber who first encountered Quinn in <b>The Brand of the Black Bat</b> is Silk Norton, who reforms himself and becomes Quinn's body guard. Norton was not enough to protect Quinn in the next chapter, in which Quinn is blinded by acid, supposedly for life. But Quinn's sight slowly come back. He decides to continue the facade of being a blind public official, while donning a black costume and hood to become the crime-fighting nemesis of evil -- the Black Bat!</p><p>Daniels created the character of Ned Pines' Thrilling Group of magazines. Daniels had originally called the character the Tiger, but editor Leo Margulies wanted a name that would resonate with the title of the magazine in which he would appear: thus, the Black Bat. The stories were published under the house name G. Wayman Jones to indicate that the Thrilling Group owned the character (the name had also been used for stories about the Phantom Detective, Mr. Death, Johnnie Wells, and others). In 1942, a new editor (an unnamed female) replace Margulies as editor of the series, and she insisted on more sex and adult content to the stories, something that made Daniels somewhat uncomfortable, so Laurence Donovan was brought in to write some of the stories.</p><p>The early Black Bat stories featured organized crime, super criminals, foreign agents, and Nazi threats. Later stories descended into ordinary crime, drug activity, juvenile gangs. prostitution, and long-ago crimes coning back to read their heads; interesting stuff, perhaps, but a far cry from Daniels' original vision.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Incoming:</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Marvin Albert, <b>Rider from Wind River</b>. Western. "Yesterday he was just another cowboy. now he was a wanted man -- wanted for murder! A man has been killed for a bag of gold nuggets, and posters tacked all over the southern Wyoming Territory said Joe Land was the murderer. To clear his name, Lang had to bring back alive Ed Stone of the Stone gang, one of the most vicious, bloodthirsty gangs in the West. Through the foothills and saloon of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming he tracked the outlaws, through stagecoach holdups, saloon brawls, and pistol whippings. Finally, in Oregon, and with the aid of a beautiful woman who wanted him to use her as bait, Lang set the final trap of blazing gunfire to take his man alive, and send the others straight to hell." Also, as by Marvin H. Albert, <b>Dual at Diablo </b>(originally <b>Apache Uprising</b>). Movie tie-in edition. "It was mean country, mean and demanding and crawling with enraged Apaches. And Jess /Romberg was in the middle of it when he found the corpse staked out, spread-eagled on the sand hill. The man had been burned alive -- and it had taken a long time. 'They'll pay for it,' Jess swore. 'They'll scream to be killed before I've finished with them' " the film was also co-written by Albert and starred a post-<b><i>Maverick</i></b> James Garner, Sidney Poitier, Bibi Andersson, and Dennis Weaver. Albert was a prolific writer of mysteries, western, and film tie-ins, with occasional; jaunts into adventure and thriller territory, and was one of a handful of dependable latter-Gold Medal paperback writers. He's always fun to read. I also picked up a third western by Albert, published under his "Al Conroy" pseudonym (q.v.).</li><li>Anonymous editor, <b>Great Tales of Terror</b>. An "instant remainder" anthology, actually a reprint of the combined two editions of H. Douglas Thomson's 1936 anthology <b>The Great Book of Thrillers</b>, printing 41 of the 52 stories that were in the combined original editions, and allowing me to finally read all the stories that were in the combined two editions. (I had previously read only the second edition which dropped six or the 50 stories while added two to the first edition. Confused? So am I.) </li><li>C. J. Box, <b>Nowhere to Run</b>. A Joe Pickett novel; this is the tenth of (currently) twenty-four. Joe Pickett adventures. "It's Joe Pickett's last week as temporary game warden in the mountains of Baggs, Wyoming, but his conscience won't let him leave without checking out the strange reports coming from the wilderness: camps looted, tents slashed, elk butchered. Not to mention the Olympic hopeful who had been training in the region and the just...vanished. What awaits him is like something out of an old campfire tale, except this story is all too real -- and all too deadly, Joe thought he was saddling up for his last patrol. If only he'd known how true that might turn out to be..."</li><li>Erskine Caldwell, <b>Claudelle Inglish</b>. "Southern" sensational novel by the best-selling author of <b>Tobacco Road</b> and <b>God's Little Acre</b>. ""Word got around quickly when the shy, 18-year-old daughter of a dirt-poor sharecropper suddenly turned into the most willing girl in town. But the price was his -- and not always in money. sometimes it was a broken marriage, a wrecked career, a ruined reputation -- or even life itself." Caldwell's formula of detailing poverty, racism, and social conditions in the deep South brought him fame and millions of readers from the 1930s through the 1950s. He published 25 novels, 150 short stories, twelve nonfiction collections, two autobiographies, and two books for young children, and edited the 28-volume <i style="font-weight: bold;">American <br />Folkways</i> series of nonfiction books. Paperback editions of his books often sold in the millions.</li><li>Andrea Camilleri, <b>The Voice of the Violin</b>. An Inspector Montalbano mystery. involving (as did three previous ones) violins. ""Montalbano's gruesome discovery of a naked young woman suffocated in her bed immediately set him on a search for her killer. among the suspects are her ageing husband, a famous doctor; a shy admirer, now disappeared; and antiques-dealing lover from Bolgnia; and the victim's friend Anna, whose charms Montalbano cannot help but appreciate. but it is a mysterious, reclusive violinist who holds the key to this murder..." Translated by Stephen Sartarelli. Montalbano, the focus of 28 novels and nine short story collections, has become popular worldwide and was the subject of an Italian television series (fifteen seasons, 1999-2021) starring Luca Zingaretti, and of a prequel series, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Young Montalbano</i>, two seasons, 2012-2015) starring Michele Riondino.</li><li>Tim Cockney, <b>Backstabber</b>. Mystery novel featuring undertaker Hitchcock Sewell. "Trouble is on the way when the corpse isn't even cold and Hitch is already on the scene -- before the police. The apparent murderer, and Hitch's supposed friend , wants Hitch to scoop out the body and dump it in an unmarked grave. Hitch declines the invitation, but the police still want answers that Hitch can't provide. Meanwhile, across town, unsavory doings at a local nursing home have piqued Hitch's interest when an elderly friend residing there takes a swift turn for the worse. Pursued as a potential conspirator in one murder while attempting to sort out the facts of the suspicious nursing home death, Hitch barely has time to work his day job. But he does. And nobody turns the turf with more wit and charm than Hitchcock Sewell. Aided by his ever-lovely ex-wife Julia, his sly Aunt Billie, and a big blonde backup singer, Hitch again makes the dark arts of crime fighting and interment a joy to behold." The first book in this series, <b>The Hearse You Came In On</b>, was nominated for a Dilys Award, while the third book, <b>The Hearse Case Scenario</b>, won a Lefty Award from the Left Coast Crime Association.</li><li>"Al Conroy" (Marvin H. Albert), <b>Last Train to Bannock</b>. A Clayburn western. "Wagon train. The trail from Parrish City to Bannock was the deadliest stretch in the West., plagued by man-hunting Apache raids, crippling blizzards, and gold-hungry white men hired to kill. Any man who led a train on this trail gambled with his life against losing odds. Clayburn was willing to take that gamble -- for the sake of a woman and for revenge." This was the second of four westerns about Clayburn, all of which were later reprinted under albert's name. The last book in the series was also filmed as <i style="font-weight: bold;">Rough Night in Jericho</i>, with a script co-written by Albert.</li><li>John Farris, <b>The Captors</b>. Crime thriller/psychological horror novel. " 'Kidnappers are frequently complex devious people,' the detective had warned her. But that wasn't the half of it. what began as a routine kidnapping would end in much more -- sins of unspeakable evil and terrifying violence, Who are these strangely sinister captors and who is their wickedly erotic victim What has been happening to this strange young girl, and what has produced this nerve-fraying nightmare of sheer electric terror?" When Farris is good, he is very, very good.</li><li>Alan Dean Foster, <b>Star Trek: Into Darkness</b>. Film novelization.</li><li>Donald Hamilton, <b>Mad River</b>. Western. "Boyd Cohoon -- cowman, jailbird, knife fighter, came home to Mad River. Waiting for him was a girl. A her father paid him to stay away, <i>Cahoon saw the relief in her eyes</i>. there was her brother, who had dome the crime for which Cohoon had gone to prison. <i>Cohoon saw the hatred in his eyes</i>. The mine owner who had gotten rich off Cohoon's land gave him a smile and slapped him on the back. <i>Cohoon saw the deceit in his eyes</i>. There was the sheriff. they had been boys together. <i>Cohoon saw the suspicion in his eyes</i>. <i style="font-weight: bold;">There was also the Mad River country. Boyd Cohoon knew it like he knew the blade of his knife</i>." amilton is best-known for his Matt Helm books.</li><li>Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, with Tim Waggoner, <b>Ghost Trackers</b>. The first (of two) in a series by the stars of the reality (cough** cough**) series <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ghost Hunters </i>("Wait! What was that? Did you hear that?" "Whoa! Did something just move over there?" "Can you hear me? Do you want to communicate with me?" Jump start. Jump start.), fleshed out by horror, fantasy, and tie-in writer Waggoner. "For fifteen years, Amber, Drew, and Trevor have barely been able to recall -- let alone explain -- what happened the terrifying night they decided to explore the old, abandoned Lowry House. According to local legend, the house was cursed by a dark past and inhabited by evil. It burst into flames on the night of their visit, leaving the friends traumatized and nearly dead with only vague memories if the frightening events they had witnessed inside. Now, on the eve of their high school reunion, they have gathered to reopen their investigation and figure out, once and for all, what took place that fateful night...before the supernatural entity they escaped threatens to overtake them again." Oh, those plucky kids...</li><li>Douglas Hill & Pat Williams, <b>The Supernatural</b>. Nonfiction. According to Tuck, "About half devoted to history and current practices of magic and witchcraft, and half to discussion of supernatural beings believed to inhabit darkness, history of spiritualism, and coverage of cults and factions." Fodder for thems that believes, bushwah for the rest of us. Hill was a prolific author of science fiction and fantasy for both young readers and adults. This was the first of thirteen nonfiction books by Hill, five of which explored the supernatural in one way or another.</li><li>Fritz Leiber, <b>The Black Gondolier & Other Stories</b>, <b>Day Dark, Night Bright</b>, <b>Smoke Ghost & Other Apparitions</b>, and <b>Horrible Imaginings</b>. Four collections of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories by one of the greatest writers of our time. A total of 71 stories, many of them quite rare. Yummy!</li><li>Ellen MacGregor, <b>Miss Pickerell and the Geiger Counter</b>. Now that I have completed my read of the Jay Williams & Raymond Abrashkin <i style="font-weight: bold;">Danny Dunn </i>I thought I would start to catch up on another favorite juvenile science fiction series. the Miss Pickerell books are aimed at a younger audience than the Danny Dunn books, but they also depend heavily on accurate science of the time. If you are not familiar with the character, Miss Pickerell is a take-no-nonsense spinster who travels with her unnamed cow. In <b>Geiger Counter </b>(1953), the second in the series, While "on route to the State Capitol, to see a veterinarian with her sick cow, Miss Pickerell discovers a new source of uranium." <b>Miss Pickerell Goes to the Arctic</b> (1954) was the fourth in the series, and was published shortly after the author's sudden death. (The series was continued eleven years later by Dora Pantell, who based the books on notes that MacGregor had left before her death; the next eleven books in the series were published with Pantell listed as co-author, and the final two books in the series were released as by Pantell alone.) <b>Arctic</b> involves "a lost weather-study expedition, a new snowmobile trailer she wants for her cow, [and] her niece and nephew who are ham radio operators." I wish I had had a relative like Miss Pickerell when I was growing up, although I did have a cow when I was young (her name was Lucky), but she could not hold a candle to Miss Pickerell's unnamed bovine. </li><li>"Barbara Michaels" (Barbara Mertz, aka "Elizabeth Peters), <b>Ammie, Come Home</b>. Gothicky thriller with possible supernatural elements. "Until Ruth Bennett's attractive young niece, Sara, came to live with her, the elegant old house in Georgetown was just what it appeared to be: a charming, graceful relic of a bygone era. Then a strange chill began to envelop the house, Something cold and evil seemed to possess it. Everyone they cared about -- every moment of their lives -- was now brushed by the tentacles of this unseen horror. Sara was the first to be touched. Something had wrapped itself around her mind, and she was no longer Sara. What was it? Where was it hiding? What did it want? They had to find out before it grew strong enough to destroy them all..."</li><li>"Kit Reed" (Lillian Hyde Craig, or Lilian Craig Reed, name later legally changed to Kit Reed), <b>Tiger Rag</b>. Literary thriller. "Buried within the shell of Dorothea Randall, wife and mother, is the former Dopey Cutter, tomboy and lone wolf. Behind the white gloves, proper marriage, and the proprieties of a small town is the daughter of long gone Merle Cutter, the bad woman from out of town. Dorothea reads about the murder of her childhood friend, Richard Thrall, and the mystery of his death opens up the mystery of her life: Merle waiting for the big romantic break; Guy Lufkin, Merle's lover, a town power but secretly tied to his mother; Dopey shut in a bedroom at Guy Lufkin's; Merle's disappearance and Dopey's life with Lady and Sailor, the cheerful drunks who take her in; poor Richard; and Bill Randall, whom she marries. Her tiger is in the past; her passion is the truth. Her rage is to put it all together and to fit into a town that will not admit her past, or its own." That author was a massive, underrated talent.</li><li>"Kenneth Robeson" (Laurence Donovan this time), <b>The Black Spot</b>. The 41st Doc Savage adventure, first published in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Doc Savage</i> magazine, July 1936; number 76 in the Bantam paperback reprints. "The murder party. All the guests were dressed as gangsters but their millionaire host was dead in the library with a black spot over his heart, Then the black spot struck again. And again. THE MAN OF BRONZE and his courageous crew leap into action against Jingles Sporado and his mob but they soon suspect a peril greater than any they have ever confronted." Gotta love that name, Jingles Sporado. Donovan, who had begun writing for the pulp in the 20s, had been hired by Street & Smith editor John Nanovic to alternate writing the Doc Savage novels with Lester Dent; he also created Captain John Fury for <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Skipper</i>, launched <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Whisperer</i>, and ghosted Pete Rice novels for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Wild West Weekly</i>. He wrote nine Doc Savage novels before falling out with Nanovic in an alcohol-laden argument; Donovan's problems with alcohol were legendary.. He then moved to Thrilling Publications, where he ghosted the adventures of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Phantom Detective</i>, and -- eventually -- most of Thrilling's other heroes. Three of Donovan's Doc Savage novels were adapted as early <i style="font-weight: bold;">Superman</i> comic book stories; I don't now which ones. </li><li>Kate Wilhelm, <b>Clear and Convincing Proof</b>. A Barbara Holloway mystery. "The Kelso/McIvey rehab center is a place of hope and healing for its patients -- and for the dedicated staff who volunteer there. But David McIvey, a brilliant surgeon whose ego rivals his skill with a scalpel, wants to change all that. His plan to close the clinic and replace it with a massive new surgery center -- with himself at the helm -- means that the rehab center will be forced to close its doors. Since he is poised to desecrate the dreams of so many, it's not surprising to anyone, especially Oregon lawyer Barbara Holloway, that somebody dares to stop him in cold blood. When David McIvey is murdered outside the clinic's doors early one morning, Barbara once again uses her razor-sharp instincts and take-no-prisoners attitude to create a defense for the two members of the clinic who stand accused. And in her most perplexing case yet, Barbara is forced to explore the darkest places where people can hide --- the soul beneath the skin." Wilhelm wrote fourteen novels about Barbara Holloway, as well as six novels and at least seven short stories about private detective Charlie Meiklejohn and psychologist Constance Leidl. Her science fiction and relater work garnered her two Hugo Awards, three Nebula Awards, two Locus Awards, and a Jupiter Award. A talent <i>extraordinaire</i>.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Gardner Art Heist:</b> Thirty-four years ago today, the largest art theft in U.S. history took place at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston, Twelve works of art, collectively worth some $5,000, 000 were stolen The actual number of pieces stolen may have been thirteen -- in question is a small self-portrait etching of Rembrandt, which may have been invented by the FBI as an investigative technique. There is currently a $10,000,000 reward for the missing pieces, with a separate $100,000 reward for the return of an eagle finial that once stood upon a flag in Napoleon's army.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've included photos of the missing artworks in the link below. So...</div><div><br /></div><div>If you happen find any of these sitting in your attic or in a spare room, or if you run across one at a garage sale, you know what to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>https://www.livescience.com/51808-photos-paintings-stolen-from-gardner-museum.html</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>An Irish Joke, In Honor of Yesterday: </b>An Irishman was not feeling up to snuff so he went to the doctor. After an examination, the doctor said, "Well, Paddy, the problem is with your heart, but if you take these pills, I think you'll be okay." "Do I have to take them every day?" Paddy asked. "No." the doctor said, "Take one on Monday, skip the Tuesday, then take oe on Wednesday and skip the Thursday, and just continue on like that."</div><div><br /></div><div>A couple of weeks later, while on the way to the pub, the doctor ran into Paddy's wife. "Tell me, Mrs. Murphy, how's Paddy doing?" he inquired.</div><div><br /></div><div>"I'm sorry to say he's dead,' she told him.</div><div><br /></div><div>"What?" the doctor was surprised. "Hadn't he been taking the pills I gave him?</div><div><br /></div><div>"Oh, he took them, no problem," she said. "It was the bloody skipping that killed him."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>And You Can Save This One for the Ides of Marsh, 1025:</b> Julius Caesar walks into a bar and says, "Give me a martinus." The bartender says, "Don't you mean martini?" Caesar says, "Look if I wanted a double, I'd have said so."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Chuck Berry:</b> It's been seven years since he left us. A man of great talent and showmanship whose personal life was marred by allegations of physical and sexual abuse and voyeurism. But his songs were great.</div><div><br /></div><div>Johnny B. Goode:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf4rxCB4lys</div><div><br /></div><div>No Particular Place to Go:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaT5JplqDbk</div><div><br /></div><div>Memphis Tennessee:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrbPlr4Wskc</div><div><br /></div><div>Mayballene:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPc5BqwF5NA</div><div><br /></div><div>Route 66:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg2EbJy-9dc</div><div><br /></div><div>You Never Can Tell:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULVrZrj_veo</div><div><br /></div><div>Roll Over Beethoven:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sagmwSY-ZEY</div><div><br /></div><div>Too Much Monkey Business:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b2w_nJLuvw</div><div><br /></div><div>Rock'n' Roll Music:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_F1mmC3Nhg</div><div><br /></div><div>Carol:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MC9CRL1cX4&list=PLbqlYXEyLVwbxXGGQzVk3ANdKekp_vEQZ&index=4</div><div><br /></div><div>Sweet Little Sixteen:</div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx-HaJ7V9ao&list=PLbqlYXEyLVwbxXGGQzVk3ANdKekp_vEQZ&index=7</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Birthday Fishes:</b> Three years ago, NOAA released this video on <i style="font-weight: bold;">Fish Life History: An Important Role in Fisheries Management</i>:</div><div><i style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></i></div><div>https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/outreach-materials/fish-life-history-important-role-fisheries-management<i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Birthday Wishes:</b> Check out these Pisces, who are intuitive, intense, enigmatic, empathetic, and are passionate and manifest their desires with ease., although somehow I don't think these qualities apply to all who share this birthday.</div><div><br /></div><div>Al-Zamakhshari (1075-1144), Persian scholar and theologian, whose book <b>Al-Kashshaf</b> (begun in 1132) linguistically analyzed Quranic expressions; Mary Tudor, Queen of France (1495-1533), fifth child of Henry VII and third wife of Louis XII (Louis, who was thirty years older than his 18-year-old bride, was determined to have a male heir, but died some three months after the marriage, reportedly from his exertions in the bedchamber -- but more likely from gout); Adam Eisheimer (1578-1610), who, despite dying at a relatively early age, was very influential in the field of Baroque paintings (view some of his paintings here: https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/e/elsheime/); Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere (1597-1659), who founded the <i>Societe Notre-Dame de Montreal</i> in 1639. it was dissolved in 1663 after constant attack by Iroquois and lack of support from Quebec; Madame de La Fayette (Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne) (1634-1693), French author of <b>La Princesse de Cleves</b> (1678), the first historical novel published in that country and one of the earliest novels in literature; Phillipe de La Hire (1640-1718), French painter, mathematician, astronomer, architect, and all-around smart guy, among other things, he helped map France by extending the Paris meridian to the north, and proposed what are now known as the Amontons' laws of friction; Niclas Sahlgren (1701-1776), , co-founder of the Swedish East India Company; Christoph Friedrich Nicholai (1733-1811), German writer who like to consider himself the spiritual heir to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and who wrote <b>Freuden des jungen Werthers</b>, a satire on Goethe's Werther, and <b>Anekdoten vom Konig Friedrich II. von Pruessen</b>, about the court of Frederick II the Great; John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), the seventh Vice President of the Unite States, serving under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, Calhoun was a fierce defender of white Southern beliefs and practices, he lost the 1844 Democratic nomination for president to James K. Polk, Calhoun married his first cousin once removed, he was said to be "intensely serious and severe, he could never write a love poem, though he often tried, because every line began with 'whereas'..."; Harriet Smithson (1800-1854), Shakespearean actress and the first wife and muse of composer Hector Berlioz; Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, a bachelor when he began his presidency and a number of political opponents tried to brand him with profligacy, calling him "Grover the Rover," he married his wife, the 21-year-old daughter of a late friend, when he was nearly fifty, their eldest child, Ruth, who died of diphtheria when she was twelve, lives on in the name of the Baby Ruth candy bar; Wiliam Cosmo Monkhouse (1840-1901), poet and art critic who once wrote "There once was an old man of Lyme/Who married three wives at a time/When asked, 'Why a third?'/He replied, 'One's absurd!/ And bigamy, sir, is a crime!' "; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1903), Russian composer who wrote a lot of music besides "Flight of the Bumblebee"; Kicking Bear (1845-1904), Oglala Lakota tribal leader who was active in the Ghost Dance religious movement of 1890, he was the first cousin of Crazy Horse, to his shame he joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show in 1891, leaving after a year; Rudolph Diesel (1858-1913), inventor of the titular engine; Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), British Prime Minster whose policy of appeasement encouraged Adolph Hitler; Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), American mystic and psychic, known as the "Sleeping Prophet", his clients included Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, George Gershwin, and Irving Berlin, inexplicably, he still has followers to this day -- or perhaps explicably, because there's one born every minute; Bernard Cronin (1884-1968), English-Australian writer and editor who published science fiction under the name "Eric North," and edited one nonfiction crime book by Arthur W, Upfield about the Murchison Murders; Edward Everett Horton (1886-1970), American character actor and narrator of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Fractured Fairy Tales</i> for <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show</i>; Wilfred Owen (1893-1918(, English poet and soldier, known for his moving poems about the First World War, many of which were published after his death, Owen was killed in action exactly one week (almost to the hour) before the signing of the Armistice which ended the war.</div><div><br /></div><div>Manly P. Hall (1901-1990), Canadian mystic and author, founder of the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, a complete woo-woo, IMHO; E. O. Plauen (1903-1944), German cartoonist who created the comic strip <i style="font-weight: bold;">Vater und Sohn</i> (1934-1937; 157 episodes), he was arrested for expressing anti-Nazi opinions in 1944, he committed suicide in his cell the day before his trial was scheduled to begin; Robert Donat (1905-1958), English actor, the star of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The 39 Steps</i> and <i style="font-weight: bold;">Goodbye, Mr. Chips</i>; Ernest Gallo (1909-2007), the "E." in E. and J. Gallo Winery of Modesto, California, here's a commercial for their wine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5nNv29ne3g; C. Walter Hodges (1909-2004), English children's book illustrator, winner of the Greenway Medal in 1964 for <b>Shakespeare's Theatre</b>; smiley Burnett (1911-1967), western sidekick to Gene and Roy and many other B-movie stars, and a regular on television's <i style="font-weight: bold;">Petticoat Junction</i>, he was also a songwriter (over 400 songs), and an inventor; Art Gilmore (1912-2010), radio and television announce for (on radio) <i style="font-weight: bold;">Amos 'n' Andy </i>and (on television) <i style="font-weight: bold;">Highway Patrol</i>, <b><i>T</i></b><i style="font-weight: bold;">he George Gobel Show</i>, and <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Red Skelton Show</i>; Rene Clermont (1913-1996), French film director and screenwriter, known for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Purple Noon</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Is Paris Burning?</i>, and others; Richard Condon (1915-1996), author of T<b>he Manchurian Candidate</b> and <b>Prizzi's Honor</b>, among others; Fred Shuttlesworth (1922-2011), American civil rights leader, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he not only talked the talk, he walked the walk; Andy Granatelli (1923-2014). American auto racing personality and CEO of STP, he was believed to have attended every Indianapolis 500, whether as a participant or as a spectator, from 1946 to 2012, his autobiography was titles <b>They Call Me Mister 500</b>; Peter Graves (1926-2010), Jim Phelps from <i style="font-weight: bold;">Mission: Impossible</i>, he also starred in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Fury</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Whiplash</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Court Martial</i>, and hosted the A&E series <i style="font-weight: bold;">Biography</i>, and played Captain Clarence Oveur in the first two <i style="font-weight: bold;">Airplane!</i> films; George Plimpton (1927-2003), patrician-sounding writer, often about sports, his best-selling book <b>Paper Lion</b> was about his experiences playing for the Detroit Lions, he served as the first editor of the literary magazine <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Paris Review</i>; Lillian Vernon (1927-2015), founder of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, which continues to sell all sorts of gewgaws, it was the first company founded by a woman to be publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange; John Updike (1932-2009), a major American writer, one of only four to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, he wrote <b>Rabbit, Run</b>, <b>Rabbit Redux</b>, <b>Rabbit Is Rich</b>, <b>Rabbit at Rest</b>, and "Rabbit Remembered", as well as <b>The Witches of Eastwick</b> and the <b>Bech</b> books; Charlie Pride (1934-2020), country singer with 52 Top Ten songs on the Billboard Hot country Songs chart -- 30 of which made it to Number One; F. W. de Klerk (1936-2021), the last president of the white-minority rule in south Africa, he dismantled that country's apartheid policies, although his earlier support of apartheid and racial segregation helps muddy his reputation; Carl Gottlieb (b. 1938), actor and screenwriter, he co-authored the script for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Jaws</i>; Wilson Pickett (1941-2006), he sang "In the Midnight Hour," "Land of 1000 Dances," "Mustang Sally," "Funky Broadway." "Hey Joe," and "Mama Told Me Not to Come"; Brad Dourif (b. 1950), the voice of Chucky in the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Child's Play</i> franchise; Ben Cohen (b. 1951) , ice cream guru and philanthropist, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's; Will Durst (b. 1952), political satirist, "Men are superior to women. For one thing, men can urinate from a speeding car."; Deborah Jeane Palfrey (1956-2008), the "D.C. Madam," she operated the escort agency Pamela Martin and Associates, which catered to many influential clients, many of whom have never been publicly named; Luc Besson (b. 1959), French film maker, he directed <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Fifth Element</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Lucy</i>, and <i style="font-weight: bold;">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</i>; Irene Cara (1959-2022), who sang her was to <i style="font-weight: bold;">Fame</i>; Thomas Ian Griffin (b. 1962) actor and martial artist, known for <b><i>The Karate </i></b></div><div><i style="font-weight: bold;">kid Part III</i> and <i style="font-weight: bold;">Cobra Kai</i>; Vanessa Williams (b. 1963), actress, model, and singer, she was the first African-American Miss America, but was forced to resign when nude photographs of her were published in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Penthouse</i>, 32 years later she was given a public apology during the Miss America 2016 pageant; she has received eleven Grammy nominations, three Emmy nominations, a Tony Award nomination, seven NAACP Image Awards, and four Satellite Awards, she is a strong supporter of LGBT rights and same sex marriage, has partnered with <i style="font-weight: bold;">Dress for Success</i>, an organization which provides professional clothing for low-income women seeking employment, and is involved with a school for boys at risk, all in all a pretty neat lady; Bonnie Blair (b. 1964). american speed skater, winner of five Olympic Gold Medals and one Bronze Medal; Queen Latifah (b. 1970), actress and singer, the first hip-hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she starred in the sitcom <i style="font-weight: bold;">Living Single</i> created talk show <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Queen Latifah Show</i>, had the lead in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Star</i>, and is currently the title character in the revival of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Equalizer</i>; Reince Priebus (b. 1972), politician who served as chair of the Republican National Committee and was Donald Trump's chief of staff during the first six months of his presidency, Priebus worked hard to restore the RNC's financial footing, he openly criticized Trump while he was running for office but then bent the knee, saying Trump was a role model (three days before the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Access Hollywood</i> tape was first aired) and continued to support him thereafter, which led Trump to making Priebus his chief of staff, I find it hard to say much good about ol' Reince; and Adam Levine (b. 1975), lead vocalist for Maroon 5.</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy birthday to all.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Florida Man:</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Naples police received several complaints from the city's Cancer Center Alliance about a man who had locked himself in a bathroom and refused to leave. Police found 34-year-old Florida Man Frederick Lloyd Day standing over a pile of paper towel. EMS staff arrived and took Day to a local hospital, but the hospital staff refused to admit him due to "disorderly and destructive behavior." The police report said that Day was strapped to a stretcher during transport; he had his hands inside his basketball shorts, fondling himself. (The police report was a bit more descriptive.) When a paramedic told him to take his hands out of his pants, he continued fondling himself and attempted to touch the paramedic on the thigh. Day continued to try to touch the victim. He also removed his medical equipment and unbuckled himself from the stretcher. So it was off to jail for Day. While traveling there, he managed to move his handcuffed arms from his back to his front and unbuckled his seat belt. He was charged with battery on a specified personnel. Some medical personnel are just not paid enough.</li><li>Transient Florida Man Scott Hannaford, 50, who gave his address as Fort Lauderdale, has been arrested for setting a rabbi's van on fire and attempting to burn the Las Olas Chabad Jewish Community Center. Although the accused failed to set fire to the center, the burning car was able to spread the fire to the building. Fire damage to the center was limited to the center's kitchen. Sabbath services had to be held outside because of the smoke and soot damage. Hannaford, whom police described as suffering mental illness and "has been trespassed from this property before." Police characterized this as an isolated incident by a known vehicle and do NOT consider this to be a hate crime -- which raises a few questions in my mind.</li><li>Florida Man and State Surgeon General (and pure-dee fool) Joseph Lapado is rightfully drawing flack by advising parents they are allowed to send their unvaccinated children to school.. This during a measles outbreak in Broward County and other areas. Lapado's advice contradicts established medical advice and seriously endangers Florida's population.. Measles had been eradicated in the United States since 2000, but a recent anti-vax movement has led to a surge in cases nationwide. Lapado previously issued guidance to evade the mRNA Covid-19 boosters based on the totally false idea that they alter DNA and can cause cancer. According to Dr. Robert Speth, a professor of pharmaceutical science with more than four decades of research experience, "The surgeon general is Ron DeSantis's lapdog, and says whatever DeSantis wants him to say. his statements are more political than medical and that's a horrible disservice to the citizens of Florida. He's somebody whose job is to protect public health, and he's doing the exact opposite." Evidently in the Ron DeSantis/Joseph Lapado Florida, only woke people will get measles, and they deserve it.</li><li>A Florida Man went fishing and pulled out an alligator that chased him. cue the Benny Hill music: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/florida-man-went-fishing-and-pulled-out-an-alligator-that-chased-him-video/ar-BB1k3pCv#</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Good News:</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Broadcasting healthy reef sounds can spur degenerated coral to new life https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/broadcasting-audio-of-healthy-reef-sounds-can-spur-degraded-coral-to-new-life/</li><li>10-year-old raises $80,000 for pearl Harbor Memorial https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/10-year-old-raises-80000-for-pearl-harbor-memorial-after-school-project-inspires-deep-admiration/</li><li>CAR-T cell therapy achieves near-complete tumor regression in brain cancer https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/car-t-cell-therapy-achieves-near-complete-tumor-regression-in-brain-cancer-after-five-days/</li><li>Liverpool is building the world's largest tidal power project that could power one million homes https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/liverpool-unveils-plans-to-build-the-worlds-largest-tidal-power-project-to-power-a-million-homes/</li><li>"Macgyvered" neck brace save rare Peruvian grasshopper https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/macgyvered-neck-brace-saves-rare-peruvian-grasshopper-no-matter-how-big-or-small-the-zookeepers-care/</li><li>Watch firefighters rescue truck driver from semi dangling off a bridge https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/hero-firefighters-rescue-driver-trapped-in-semi-truck-dangling-off-ky-bridge-look/</li><li>Gray whale, extinct for centuries in the Atlantic, is spotted off Cape Cod https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/gray-whale-extinct-for-centuries-in-atlantic-is-spotted-in-cape-cod/</li><li>Deputies rescue a five-year-old girl with autism in a Florida swamp https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/deputies-rescue-5-yo-girl-with-autism-wandering-in-a-florida-swamp-we-were-looking-for-you-sweetie/</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Tomorrow's Poem, Marking the First Day of Spring:</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>A Light Exists in Spring</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;">A Light exists in Spring</div><div style="text-align: center;">Not present on the Year</div><div style="text-align: center;">At any other period --</div><div style="text-align: center;">When March is scarcely here</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A Color stands abroad</div><div style="text-align: center;">On Solitary Fields</div><div style="text-align: center;">That Science cannot overtake</div><div style="text-align: center;">But Human Nature feels</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">It waits upon the lawn,</div><div style="text-align: center;">It shows the furthest Tree</div><div style="text-align: center;">Upon the furthest Slope you know</div><div style="text-align: center;">It almost speaks to you.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Then as Horizons step</div><div style="text-align: center;">Or Noons report away</div><div style="text-align: center;">Without the Formula of sound</div><div style="text-align: center;">It passes and we stay --</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">A quality of loss</div><div style="text-align: center;">Affecting our Content</div><div style="text-align: center;">As Trade had suddenly encroached</div><div style="text-align: center;">Upon a Sacrament.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">-- Emily Dickinson</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-31410533487605561832024-03-16T22:01:00.000-07:002024-03-16T22:01:00.132-07:00IRISH HYMN TIME<p>Maire Brennan. </p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ0aINUzMSU</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-60979526609461609952024-03-15T22:00:00.000-07:002024-03-15T22:00:00.137-07:00SLASH GORDON (2002)<p> Time to get political. Gordon Campbell was the 34th Prime Minister of British Columbia from 2001 tp 2011. Unilaterally in his first term, Campbell amended labor agreements that resulted in the privatization of 8000 healthcare jobs -- something that did not go over well with the unions. A strike led to a drawn-out court case that in 2007 that Campbell's actions violated the "good faith" requirements for collective bargaining. On the meanwhile, Campbell imposed a 15% pay cut for health care employees in 2004.</p><p>In reaction to Campbell's initial action, the British Columbia Nurses' Union produced this comic book screed against him.</p><p>As some political factions in this country appear willing to go to war against the poor and the underrepresented in this country, I thought it would be interesting to take a brief look back to 2002 in British Columbia.</p><p><br /></p><p>https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=88257&comicpage=&b=i</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-61096186524146535552024-03-14T22:01:00.000-07:002024-03-14T22:01:00.128-07:00FORGOTTEN BOOK: CIRCLE OF DEATH<p> <b>Circle of Death</b> by James Patterson & Brian Sitts (2023)</p><p><br /></p><p>Not so much a Forgotten Book as it is a Was This Really Necessary? Book.</p><p>Once, back in the Dark ages, I worked in a large department store when a new store manager came on board. When the store opened on his first day on the job, there was something different. The escalators had changed direction. The Up escalator now went down and the Down escalator now went up. A small difference perhaps, but it announced to the employees and the customers that <i>something</i> had changed. There was a new sheriff in town and he was marking his territory.</p><p>When the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Mission: Impossible</i> movie franchise began in 1996 with Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, the very first film revealed the big bad to be Jim Phelps, the leader of the Impossible Mission Force from the venerable television series. It was, of course, a complete clap on the face to the franchise's predecessor and created my personal resentment to the film series that continues to this day, but it did the trick. The blame goes to director Brian de Palma and scripters David Koepp and Robert Towne, but it did the trick -- it allowed Tom Cruise to mark his territory. there was a new sheriff in town and his name was Ethan Hunt.</p><p>Now it's James Patterson's turn, with an assist from co-writer Brian Sitts. As a character, the Shadow was around long before I was. From radio to pulp magazines and novels to films to comic books, the Shadow and his most common identity as Lamont Cranston has been a somewhat definable character. Granted there are differences between how the character is portrayed in the various types of media in which he appeared, but the man of mystery and defender of justice and protector of the innocent has basically been the same person -- the one who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. A man who, in some incarnations, was able to cloud men's minds so as to appear invisible, thus making him more capable of installing fear in the hearts of evildoers.</p><p>Then along came Patterson and Sitts. </p><p><b>Circle of Death</b> is the second book in a new series about the Shadow, following 2021's <b>The Shadow</b>. In this reimagining, the Shadow and his lover (yeah, she's his lover now) Margo Lane were poisoned in 1937. Rather than dying, they were placed in suspended animation and, after 150 years, are revived by their great-great-great-great-granddaughter Maddy. (A bit more backstory here: Margo Lane was pregnant when she went into suspended animation, although neither she now the Shadow were aware of it. She had a baby but never knew it. Their only living descendants in 2087 are eighteen-year-old Maddy and her grandmother Jessica. There's more to the backstory, but <br />I get to that in a bit.)</p><p>The ne'er-do-well who poisoned the Shadow and Margo was the Shadow's old enemy Shiwan Khan, once the last living descendant of Genghis Khan, but for the purposes of the reimagined series, a 10,000-year-old master for he mystics arts and would-be conqueror of the world. the shadow, BTW, is also 10,000 years old and trained with Shiwan Khan in ancient Nepal under Dache, a powerful monk. In the 150 years that the Shadow and Margo were on ice, Shiwan Khan had taken over American and now ran his brutal empire from Lamont Cranston's old mansion, killing the populace indiscriminately and generally doing evil stuff.</p><p>The Shadow has a bunch of mystic tricks up his sleeve, including invisibility ('natch), but also the power to shapeshift. Maddy, having inherited some of his genes has her own powers. She can turn invisible ('natch) but she can also control minds and shoot lightning from her hands. And she's a pretty kickass fighter. These are nascent powers, though, and we learn that she could be capable of doing much, much more.</p><p>At the end of the first book, Shiwan Khan is defeated and Lamont, Margo, Jessica, and Maddy go to live in Lamont's old mansion while the country slowly comes back from a century and a half of decay and corruption.</p><p>With me now?</p><p>Okay. <b>Circle of Death</b>, taking place the following year, brings a new threat to the entire planet. Someone called Destroyer of Worlds is slaughtering entire populations, starting from the Eastern Hemisphere and apparently work his hay to America. Someone has got to stop him and that someone is the Shadow. But he can't do it alone. He uses his resources and discovers that descendant of some of his old helpers are alive. In a case of co-inky-dink extreme these dudes are the exact likenesses of their ancestors and have the same skill sets. Naturally when the Shadow calls them they answer and become loyal followers -- Jericho, a large muscular black man; Moe Shrevnitz, cabdriver extraordinaire; Burbank, an electronic genius, although much of the electronics in a decimated 2088 is primitive; Hawkeye, an underworld snoop in 1937, but a resistance fighter in 2088; and Tapper, another resistance fighter and an ally of Hawkeye.</p><p>There is also another, lower-level threat going on, a madman is killing young men and women on the grounds of the soon-to-be-opened World's Fair. Afraid a causing a panic and of damaging the Fair itself, authorities are keeping quiet about this. Maddy, however learns about the crimes and is incensed that the authorities are keeping them under wraps. At the same time, Maddy's latent lesbianism is awakened just as her new lover becomes the latest victim of the World's Fair Killer. Maddy goes after the killer and barely escapes with her life, but discovers the killer is a shapeshifter.</p><p>Lamont calls Dache from Tibet to come and train Maddy to use her undiscovered powers, including shapeshifting, stopping time, and a form of time travel to the past.</p><p>While this is going on, the president of the Americas sends Lamont and his crew to France, where the Destroyer of Worlds is assembling a powerful new weapon in an impregnable lair. Oh, and it turns out the Destroyer of Worlds is a hot chick who has the hots for Lamont and wishes Margo dead...</p><p>There's more. We have plot reversals and reverse reversals and a few jumpstart surprises just because. The entire novel is told with very broad strokes and we never get a sense of who the characters are, or even what the real motivation of the Destroyer of Worlds really is. The cardboard characters mouth their cardboard words and the reader is not very impressed. Perils appear out of nowhere, herky-jerky, and are dispensed with quickly. If the Shadow's world were not ruled by coincidence after coincidence, the plot (what there is of it) would never advance. The book has 242 pages and 104 rapid-fire chapters, plus a four-part prologue and an epilogue.</p><p>The book I reviewed last week in this spot was a "muddled mess." Consider this "muddled mess <i>redux</i>."</p><p>Sadly, there will be more Shadow books from Patterson and Sitts, <i>and</i> there is the possibility of a film franchise (move over, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Mission: Impossible</i>). The pair also published a "Doc Savage" novel (<b>The Perfect Assassin</b>, 2022) that was just as atrocious, and threatened to be the first in a series. This January, the pair also published <b>Holmes, Miss Marple and Poe</b>, presumably the start of another series; I have not read this one, so I give the benefit of doubt by using the word "Published," rather than "foisted."</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-59997404070002164072024-03-14T06:09:00.000-07:002024-03-14T06:09:03.115-07:00MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN: THE FIRST BROADCAST (NOVEMBER 11, 1940)Mandrake the Magician was arguably the first comic strip superhero when he debuted on June 11, 1934. He soon moved to comic books, Big Little Books, film, and, later, theater, television, and animation. the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Mandrake the Magician </i>radio series lasted February 6, 1942, racking up 195 15-minute episodes.<div><br /></div><div>The show originally aired three times a week on WOR (New York); it later moved to five times a week in 1941. The program was produced by Harry Souvaine and directed by Carlo de Angelo. Raymond Edward Johnson, who had served as the host of <i style="font-weight: bold;">Inner Sanctum</i>, played the title role. Johnson has also starred as <i style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. District Attorney</i>, and was a staple on many radio soap operas. Puerto Rican stage and film actor Juano Hernandez played Mandrake's best friend and assistant Lothar, a former African prince. Hernadez had co-starred in radio's first all-black soap opera, <i style="font-weight: bold;">We Love and Learn</i>, and was nominated for a golden Globe for his role in the 1949 film <i style="font-weight: bold;">Intruder in the Dust</i>. The role of Princess Narda, Mandrake's maybe girlfriend (who finally married him in 1997) and princess of the European country Cockaigne, was played first by Jessica Tandy, then by Francesca Lenni.</div><div><br /></div><div><i style="font-weight: bold;">Mandrake the Magician</i> was played as juvenile fare on the radio. I hope that will not distract you from enjoying this premiere episode.</div><div><br /></div><div>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SBq06ke38g</div>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-79406055309845584112024-03-13T01:00:00.000-07:002024-03-13T01:00:51.397-07:00SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: FISH AND FINANCE<p> "Fish and Finance" by Arthur K. Akers (from <i style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Book</i>, July 1932)</p><p>"Whut's done put de pe'manent wave in <i>my</i> backbone, is carryin' on all de brain -work around here for de both of us!" quarreled Mr. "Frogface" Reeves, of color, as he scowled at his shrimp-sized associate in business across a liberal platter of fried channel-cat. Mr. Reeves was large, loud, prominent as to eyes, mouth, and garb, and with but little time, his manner indicated, to fool away on small-rime boys like this Marmaduke Brown.</p><p>"<i>Whut</i> brain-work?" Marmaduke mumbled derisively above the cornbread and "Blackstrap" molasses that were a mere junior partner's portion. "Thought us was gwine in de fish business: aint need no brains to sell fish."</p><p>Mr. Reeves blasted him with a look. "Aint keer whut kind of business it is," he snorted. "<i>Somebody</i> got to do the head-work and de financin' -- dat's me. And somebody got to sweep out de place and wait on de trade -- dat's you."</p><p>Marmaduke kept on making a noise like a boy eating cornbread</p><p>"Jest de financin' now," continued Frogface peevishly. "takes up all a man's time, when he's got <i>you</i> for a partner. Bankers looks at you, and den starts hollerin' for mo' collateral on de loan right off. Class is somep'n whut you ain't got."</p><p><br /></p><p>Racist stereotypes, much?</p><p>"Fish and Finance" is one of 112 popular stories about "Darktown" that Akers published in <i style="font-weight: bold;">Red Book</i> and <i style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Book </i>magazines from 1925 to 1937. (According to the FictionMags Index, Akers published nearly four dozen other stories from 1909 to 1937, nearly half of them before he started the Darktown series.) As a modern reader, you are offended by the stereotypical black characters, behavior and language in these stories, you may want avoid the illustrations that accompanied the tales, which make Winsor McCay's turn-of-the-century cartoons about Blacks seem flattering. But those were different times, you say. </p><p>Perhaps.</p><p>Akers (1886-1980) was born in Tennessee, and spent much of his adult life in Birmingham, Alabama, which may or may not have anything to do with the racial stereotyping in the Darktown stories. Another Birmingham resident at the time was Octavus Roy Cohen, whose stereotypical Black character, Birmingham private detective Florian Slappey, appeared in 96 stories from 1919 to 1950, almost all in <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Saturday Evening Post</i>. The Florian Slappey stories did draw some complaints from readers, but the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Post</i> was a slick and the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Red</i> and <i style="font-weight: bold;">Blue Books</i> were pulps, so there may not have been as much flack given to the Darktown stories as to the Slappey stories. Nonetheless, the longevity and popularity of both series with their readers is without question. (What is a question is whether Cohen had influenced Akers' Darktown stories. There is no positive information regarding this, and no indication that the two ever met, although both were active in Birmingham Rotarian clubs at the same time.)</p><p>Akers' Darktown is festooned with such characters as Frogface, Bugwine, Samson, Ducktooth, Gladstone, and Skilletface, all in search of money, success, or romance. In this manner they remind me of the denizens of Damon Runyon's Broadway -- all with their stereotypical idiosyncrasies. Even the dialect of Darktown is more stereotypical than realistic, much like Mark Twain's <b>Huckleberry Finn</b>, where the dialect is close enough to what many people think to make it work. (Although why Akers uses "of" instead of "ob" is beside me. )</p><p>The question remains, are these stories racist? Or care they merely reflections of attitudes and tropes of the time, which would also include Jews, orientals, American Indians, gays, southerners, Italians, Irish, Arabs, Germans, women, Catholics, and a gazillion other categories (including, in more modern times, blondes)? As a White, male, (somewhat fallen away) Protestant, I can't answer that. No matter what category one falls into, it is human nature to make fun of the other -- and for some humans, it is in their nature to demonize others, alas. The Darktown stories, like <i style="font-weight: bold;">Amos and Andy</i> (which was created by a couple of white guys) can be as amusing as they are offensive, so let's leave it at that.</p><p>As for "Fish and Finance," Frogface's big idea is to borrow money from the Afro-American Bank and Burial Society. that way there will be money to buy fish, needed refrigeration, cash registers, and so on -- all to avoid Frogface doing some actual fishing. The company, by the way is named Reeves, Reeves, and Brown, Dealers in Fish -- with Frogface being both Reeves in the name as his way of showing his importance in the concern. What could go wrong? Just about everything, it seems.</p><p><br /></p><p>I enjoyed the story, but as I indicated above, my cultural background is pure WASP. Am I wrong for liking this tale? </p><p>Discuss. </p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-82910032017552605002024-03-11T22:01:00.000-07:002024-03-11T22:01:00.143-07:00OVERLOOKED TELEVISION MUSIC -- WESTERNS<p>Guitarist Guy Van Duser treats us to television theme music from various western series. How many can you name? I admit a couple had me stumped.</p><p><br /></p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6XE68y14QE</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-83426453613211931752024-03-10T22:01:00.000-07:002024-03-10T22:01:00.252-07:00FOR BILL CRIDER<p> <b>A POEM FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Oh hail the master puppeteer,</p><p>Controller of the strings.</p><p>The altruistic engineer,</p><p>Sagaciousness he brings.</p><p>With breathtaking dexterity,</p><p>He moves us about.</p><p>From rich and famed celebrity,</p><p>To every down-and-out.</p><p><br /></p><p>When he feels the time is right</p><p>He drives our limbs to action.</p><p>Manipulating day and night</p><p>Gives him much satisfaction.</p><p>And having no mind of our own,</p><p>We let him have his way.</p><p>As twice a year by strings alone,</p><p>He shifts the time of day.</p><p><br /></p><p>Forward-back, year after year</p><p>Is clearly idiotic.</p><p>Yet why we do is still unclear,</p><p>We all appear robotic.</p><p>Our puppeteer is way off-track,</p><p>He makes life complicated.</p><p>Our inner clocks all out of whack,</p><p>And discombobulated.</p><p><br /></p><p>Oh why this foolish pantomime?</p><p>What purpose this decree?</p><p>What use this faulty paradigm?</p><p>What help to you or me?</p><p>Our puppeteer has lost his charms,</p><p>We're dangling just by threads.</p><p>Our little wooden legs and arms,</p><p>Our little wooden heads!</p><p><br /></p><p>-- Norma Pain</p><p><br /></p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-59915277791662630832024-03-09T22:01:00.000-08:002024-03-09T22:01:00.145-08:00HYMN TIME<p> From 1950, the Bluegrass Quartet, with Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Rudy Lyle, and Joel Price.</p><p><br /></p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-950qFelbSM</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-9018983400363390062024-03-08T22:01:00.000-08:002024-03-08T22:01:00.240-08:00THE INVISIBLE AVENGER #1 (@ JANUARY 1950)<p>The Invisible Avenger was an Australian comic book anti-hero -- a mad Chinese scientist named Pao Tcheou, based on a planer in outer space who is dedicated with purging the world of the "hated white race." He was created by Virgil Reilly, who wrote and drew the first six issues. Peter Chapman took over the reins with issue #7. By issue #12, the title of the comic book changed to <i style="font-weight: bold;">Invisible Avenger Comics</i>, but the Avenger himself was gone; rather, the issues began alternating stories about a Secret Service Agent K-7 and the Blue Ghost, both still drawn by Chapman. By issue 23, the book focused on Cometman, who was featured in three issues, again drawn by Chapman. The final two issues consisted solely of American reprints.</p><p>Issue #1, "The Theft of the Atom Bomb" takes place in New York, where an atom bomb, along with its specifications, has been stolen by an invisible person from under the watchful eyes of the military. Soon the Invisible Avenger makes contact with the city's largest newspaper. when secret service agent Stanley Gardner (wonder where that name came from?) and his assistant confront the editor, they are unknowingly met by the Avenger, who kills Gardner's assistant and then dictates his manifesto. (BTW, the American pay no attention to the British spelling of "honour" in a letter sent to the newspaper by the Avenger.)</p><p>Meanwhile, in England, the famous scientist Professor Jenkins is working on a death ray. After using it to eliminate several small animals, he next plans to use if on a tiger that was due to be killed after it mauled and killed its trainer. The tiger dies, but something has gone wrong -- all of the circus animals, plus two employees, are dead -- killed by the death ray! Not a good thing for the animals and the poor employees, perhaps, but a pretty nifty thing for the war department, which buys the death rays from Professor Jenkins for a million pounds, while allowing the scientist to continue his work on the deadly invention. Somehow, the Invisible Avenger penetrates the secret laboratory in Scotland where the work continues and manages to steal the death ray. When the BNBC reports the news that an "important invention" has been stolen, the Avenger strangles the newscaster and proclaims to England that he will kill the entire white population of London by noon of the next day!</p><p>Gulp!</p><p>But do not discount the iron resolve nor the innate intelligence of the British. They mage to destry the Invisible Avenger's plane before it could release the death ray.</p><p>But the British are also cocky. (Or is that Cockney?) They believe they killed the Invisible Avenger when they destroyed the plane. The Avenger lives and is plotting his next attack, with a "mysterious germ weapon" -- to be detailed in the next issue.</p><p>Enjoy this odd little bit of Australian super-villainy.</p><p><br /></p><p>https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=88246&comicpage=&b=i</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-40687961226769218202024-03-07T22:01:00.000-08:002024-03-07T22:01:00.146-08:00FORGOTTEN BOOK: AGENT OF T.E.R.R.A. #2: THE GOLDEN GODDESS GAMBIT<p> <b>Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #2: The Golden Goddess Gambit </b>by "Larry Maddock" (Jack Owen Jardine), 1967</p><p>Steve Lewis covered this book this week in a Dairy Review on his blog, calling it a "muddled mess." George Kelley the looked back to when he first read the book in the 60s and agreed. Being a connoisseur of muddled messes, I felt it was my duty to check it out. <br />And -- yup -- it's a muddled mess.</p><p>And yet...</p><p>T.E.R.R.A. stands for Temporal entropy Restructure and Repair Agency, a galaxy-wide organization dedicated to maintaining the timelines of various worlds. Conveniently, its headquarters are located smack-dab in the center of the galaxy, and to hell with the actual physics of that placement. Hannibal Fortune is one of their free-lance agents, tasked with setting timeline straight whenever there is a glitch -- usually caused by T.E.R.R.A.'s arch enemy, the Empire. Fortune's partner is a 15-pundalien symbiote named Webley, a telepathic creature who can assume animal shape within its 15-pound limit/.</p><p>A T.E.R.R.A. agent has uncovered an archeological find on Crete -- a copper tablet with a proto-Greek inscription that date back to 1509 B.C. -- long before both copper tablets and written language existed. The tablet proclaimed the glory of a ruler named Kronos. Further testing showed that the tablet actually dated back 11,000 years earlier, and originated in what would eventually be known as Mu, or Lemuria, the ancient unknown land that had been swallowed by the sea. For reasons not made very clear -- a "muddled mess," remember? -- Kronos and his would-be empire have the capability of destroying the timeline. So back into the past go the two agents.</p><p>Then comes the backstory. An awful lot of backstory. Too much backstory. Kronos is evidently a time traveler, and he's playing the long game. He is originally from a planet where humans have an extra-long life, aging about three or four times slower than Earth humans. Before declaring himself ruler of Manukronis (his name for the island country) he impregnates a young girl who eventually (after a three-year pregnancy!) gives birth to twin daughters. The elder daughter, Ylni, is slated to become ruler of the land. Ylni poisons the younger twin, because who needs possible competition for rule? When Kronos finally arrives, he takes over and places Ylni in charge of the temple of Yolarabus, the golden goddess of fertility whom Kronus has invented to replace the sea-god Nodiesop ("Poseidon" spelled backwards; cute, huh?).</p><p>The craft Hannibal and Webley use to go back in time is full of all sorts of time-traveling tricks, some of which are gobbledegook-explained because the effects are needed later in the book. Hannibal also has all sorts of super-charged weapons hidden in his contemporary disguise. There's palace intrigue, a little bit of humor, and not that much action. SPOILER: Manukronis and Kronos are eventually destroyed and the timeline is safe. Two other major villains are also killed in a very off-handed (and boring) way earlier in the book -- too early, perhaps, and a clog in the pacing.</p><p>Yes, the pacing of the book. It's virtually nonexistent. What could be decent action sequences are fraught with backstory and exposition. There's a lot of ancient history between these pages and a rather lame explanation of goddess religions throughout the ages near the end of the book. For the most part, these are <i>meh</i>.</p><p>In more capable hands, Hannibal and Webley could have headlined an interesting and long-running series, rather than just the four books published nearly back to back and never reprinted. </p><p>A muddled mess to be sure, but it harked back to my personal Golden Age of science fiction when I was twelve or thirteen, a time when logic and literary quality meant nothing when compared to derring-do and strange worlds, a time when Captain Future (and later, Cap Kennedy,) would keep me glue to the pages. Dammit, now I'll probably go and read the other three books in the series.</p><p>To give you an idea of what <b>T.E.R.R.A.</b>'s intended audience was, the last page of this Ace paperback edition contains an advertisement for the first nine books in that publisher's campy <b>Man from U.N.C.L.E. </b>series. If that's your cup of tea, go for it!</p><p>Also, a word about the cover artist. His name was Sergio Leone. This was the British children's book illustrator and not the more famous Italian director. This Sergio Leone did the covers for two of the three remaining <b>Agent of T.E.R.R.A.</b> books.</p><p><br /></p><p>The author, Jack Owen Jardine (1931-2009), under the Larry Maddock byline, also wrote three earlier stories about Webley the alien symbiote in 1960. With his wife, Julia Ann Jardine, he co-wrote two science fiction novels as "Howard Corey." Under the names "Arthur Farmer" and "Alan Hunter" ("Hunter" may have been a house name; it was used several times for Bee-Line Books) he published a couple of science fiction sex novels in the 60s. His writing can be seen as a somewhat pleasant time-passer.</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-52329828720251473392024-03-07T06:00:00.000-08:002024-03-07T06:00:00.128-08:00HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KITTY<p>Today would have been her 75th birthday. I wish I had had more time with her, but I am ever so grateful for the time I did have with her. Always in my heart, always in my mind.</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-18711245638181310812024-03-06T22:00:00.000-08:002024-03-06T22:00:00.136-08:00RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT -- BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (NOVEMBER 3, 1935)<p> At the age of 16, Robert Ripley (1890-1949) began drawing sports cartoons for various California newspapers. He moved to New York in 1913 and produced the first <i style="font-weight: bold;">Believe It or Not!</i> cartoon for the <i style="font-weight: bold;">New York Globe </i>newspaper on December 19, 1918. The cartoon soon became a weekly feature. He made his first world trip in 1922, becoming fascinated with unusual traditions and cultures. Because he took the truthfulness of the various items in his cartoon, he hired a full-time research assistant on 1923. In 1926, the cartoon moved to the <i style="font-weight: bold;">New York Post</i>. William Randolph Hearst syndicated the cartoon in 1929, allowing it to debit in 360 newspapers through the King Features Syndicate. Soon books, a radio show, short feature films, and museums in major cities opened up.</p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">Ripley's Believe It or Not</i> radio show ran from 1930 to 1948. Its format changed over the years, at time running 15 minute, and other times, half an hour; 35- to 60-second segments also aired. During one period the show featured music from Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra, with vocals from Harriet Hilliard (later, Mrs. Ozzie). A typical format then had Ripley detailing strange facts and customs from throughout the world, with skits including to dramatize various stories. In 1948, when the radio show closed, Ripley moved his franchise to television.</p><p>- A poor shop girl had her hair done and that day met the Aga Khan, who fell for her and later married her -- Believe It or Not!</p><p>- Another woman had been burned at the stake for the crime of curling another woman's hair -- Believe It or Not!</p><p>The cartoon series reached some 80 million readers worldwide and drew more mail than the president of the United States -- Believe It or Not!</p><p>Ripley himself was the New York state handball champion in 1926. He published both a book on American handball and on boxing. -- Believe It or Not!</p><p>When his cartoon proclaimed that, despite a widespread belief, America did not actually have a national anthem, Congress eventually made it official, naming <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Star Spangled Banner</i> the country's official national anthem in 1931 -- Believe It or Not!</p><p>Ripley's marriage took place in 1919 when he married a fourteen-year-old film actress; he was slightly more than twice her age at the time. -- Believe It or Not!</p><p>The link below take you to the November 3, 1935 episode of the radio program. -- Believe It or Not!</p><p><br /></p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWGm2qSU7FU</p><p><br /></p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-38082403172128771052024-03-06T07:29:00.000-08:002024-03-07T04:27:22.907-08:00SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE SHRINE FOR LOST CHILDREN<p> "The Shrine for Lost Children" by Poul Anderson (first published in <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>, October-November 1999; reprinted in Anderson's collection <b>Going for Infinity</b>, 2002)</p><p>This was Anderson's contribution to the 50th anniversary edition of <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>. He wrote it after he and his wife Karen had visited Japan and were impressed with the kindness and generosity of the Japanese people; he wrote: "After returning home, what else could I do but make this story a tribute to that beautiful land and her people?"</p><p>It is a gentle story about a woman who is haunted by the ghost of her unborn twin sister. The haunting has defined her life with failures of relationships to others, in both love and work. Told in reverse order snippets from adulthood to college to high school to her childhood, it is also interspersed with a present day pilgrimage to the temples of Kamkura. Japan, where she comes across a shrine for lost children. Here, she finds both redemption and peace...</p><p><br /></p><p>A brief gentle, and evocative story from a master of science fiction and fantasy. Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was one of the most respected writes in the genre. He was named a SFWA Grand Master in 1978 and was inducted in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2000. Anderson won seven Hugo Awards, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Inkpot Award, the Locus award (along with some 41 nominations), the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, the Prometheus Award (along with four nominations and being being awarded a Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement),a Pegasus Award, and was nominated five times for a Nebula Award. Anderson was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and of the Lin Carter-organized Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America. He serves as the Science Fiction Writers of America seventh president. He was also a member Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.</p><p>A prolific but always careful author, Anderson wrote planetary adventure, space opera, hard science fiction, fantasy, sword and sorcery, historical novels, mysteries, children's books, poetry, Scandinavian folklore, Sherlockania, and nonfiction, as well as editing several anthologies. Among his major series were the Technic History (including sub-series about Nicholas van Rijn and Dominic Flandry), and , the Polytechnic League, the Time Patrol, Hoka, the Guthrie Family, the King of Ys, the Last Viking, Operation Chaos, Maurai, and Rustrum, If science fiction ever had a renaissance man, it was Poul Anderson. I cannot find a book by him that I cannot recommend unhesitatingly.</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-67163092247717532662024-03-04T22:01:00.000-08:002024-03-04T22:01:00.136-08:00CLIMAX!: AN ERROR IN CHEMISTRY (DECEMBER 2, 1954)<p>One of Nobel Prize-winner William Faulkner's favorite characters, Yoknapatawpha County attorney Gavin Stevens, is front and center in this crime story, taken from <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine</i> (June 1946, where it won second prize in <i style="font-weight: bold;">EQMM</i>'s annual contest) and then reprinted in <b>Knight's Gambit</b> (1949).</p><p>Edmond O'Brien plays Joel flint, a carnival huckster who inserts himself with farmer Pritchel (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and his young daughter M'Liss (Margaret Field -- mother of Sally). M'Loss falls for flint, marries him, and soon is dead. Douglas Kennedy plays the detecting Uncle Gavin Stevens. The cast also includes child actor and dragster racer Tommy Ivo, prolific character actor James Bell (he played Hugh Lynn Cayce in <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Search for Bridey Murphy</i>). the ever ubiquitous William Schallert (388 IMDb credits), and Dan White (who has 294 credits on IMDb, including <i style="font-weight: bold;">Touch of Evil</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Jailhouse Rock</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Attack of the Giant Leeches</i>, and <i style="font-weight: bold;">Corky and White Shadow</i>). William Lundigan was the show's host.</p><p>This episode was adapted by David Dontort from Faulkner's story. William H. Brown Jr. directed.</p><p>Enjoy.</p><p><br /></p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbXm2NklRaY&list=PLTKmp3L0wn-UpS3Gnj1hdk-oOCLRUkIzu&index=1</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-74118206722739422402024-03-04T08:44:00.000-08:002024-03-04T08:44:37.568-08:00HUP! TWO, THREE, FOUR! HUP! TWO, THREE, FOUR!<p> March fourth. (groan)</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-27155848275722856392024-03-04T03:57:00.000-08:002024-03-04T03:57:32.110-08:00BIT & NO PIECES<p>Life, as sometimes will happen, interfered with today's post...but at least there was a boatload of <b>Incoming</b>.</p><p><br /></p><p> <b>Incoming:</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Roger MacBride Allen, <b>Isaac Asimov's Utopia</b>. Science fiction, the third novel ina trilogy by Allen exploring Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, and Caliban, the No Law robot. "In danger of imminent climate collapse, the partially terraformed planet Inferno needs fixing fast, and junior researcher Davlo Lentrall has what seems to him a brilliant solution. Carve out a couple of channels to connect the Southern Ocean with the landlocked northern polar region, thereby causing it to flood. Tropical waters can then warm the pole, and polar waters, flowing south, will cool the southern regions, moderating and stabilizing the planetary climate, as well as increasing rainfall throughout the naturally desert world. But how to do it? The job is too big and too expensive to achieve with conventional digging equipment. To the brash young scientist, it's a simple matter. He intends to drop a comet on the planet. Needless to say, his idea is not received with enthusiasm. If something goes wrong, millions of people will die. The mere thought of it will create enormous stress in Inferno's vast population of Three Law and New Law robots -- sentient machines heavily programmed against harming humans. But the plan, for all its dangers, may be the only way to solve Inferno's desperate problems. Problems compounded by Prospero, a dangerously unstable New Law robot whose only match is a robot with no laws at all -- the infamous Caliban."</li><li>Poul Anderson, <b>Maurai & Kith</b>. Science fiction collection of five stories, three from his Maurai sequence and two from his Kith sequence."After Armageddon the People of the Sea created a new kind of civilization, one based on the integrity of Life and the moral as well as pragmatic necessity of conservation. But the Sky People live by a different vision, and they have come to enforce it..."</li><li>Gordon Ashe" (John Creasey), <b>A Life for a Death</b>. A Patrick Dawlish thriller. "The unbelievable message flashes across six continents to a shocked and dismayed world: 'Patrick Dawlish Murdered! Shot on Rome's Famous Spanish Steps!' It seems impossible, but the facts are clear. Dawlish, the world's number-one policeman,. dead by an assassin's bullet, was about to reveal the plans behind one of the most incredible, worldwide conspiracies of the century. Dawlish's colleagues in the international association, known as the Crime Haters, were aware that he had been privately investigating an underworld organization called the Farenza, but they had no knowledge of his findings. In an attempt to find even the slightest clue as to Dawlish's activities, Felicity, his grief-stricken widow, is asked to recall any chance remark her husband may have made in the weeks prior to his death, little realizing that this was a move that squarely placed her own life in gravest peril." The ever-prolific Creasey published 51 Patrick Dawlish novels between 1939 and 1976.</li><li>Mike Ashley, editor, <b>Arthurian Legends</b>. Collection of 27 Arthurian stories, both traditional and new. The book "brings together many of the traditional stories about King Arthur, along with several new interpretations of the legend, to provide a complete picture of his birth, adventures, romance, and fate. It traces Arthur's exploits to gain the sword Excalibur, the conflict with his half-sister Morgan, the birth of his bastard son Mordred, and the shadowy influence and fate of Merlin. This collection also follows that adventures of many of Arthur's knights, including Sir Balin, Sir Lanval, Sir Marrock, Sir John, Sir Tristan, and of course Sir Lancelot. this culminates in the mighty quest for the Holy Grail, the break up of the Round Table, and finally the usurping of the throne by Mordred and the death of Arthur at Camlann." Sheesh! What to spoil the ending, Mr. Blurb Writer!</li><li>Art Bourgeau, <b>Wolfman</b>. Thriller. "A mysterious, sadistic killer is on the loose in Philadelphia. A cannibalized body has been found in the park, the victim's finger apparently chewed off. While detective Nate Mercanto investigates the murders, Loring Weatherby -- cool of demeanor, a financial advisor, from old money -- seeks the counsel of psychoanalyst Margaret Priest. He is, he is ashamed to say, obsessed with the notion that he is, literally, shrinking...Margaret Priest, having no notion that her patient is the killer, Helps Mercanto set up a psychological profile of the killer. Only gradually does she come to suspect her patient. And she is torn between her concern for him and her growing fear of him. Although she is unable to violate a doctor-patient confidentiality, she can hardly ignore the danger that Weatherby presents to an unsuspecting public and herself. Woven between her deep fears is the one she shares with Detective Mercanto -- that Weatherby is not just a psychotic killer, but a lycanthrope, a genuine human werewolf."</li><li>Dan Brennan, <b>One of Our Bombers Is Missing</b>. War novel. A critically praised World War II novel. John Betjeman wrote, "Brennan's novel is really remarkable. I shall not lend it to anyone who has a son in the Air Force. I is too unnerving. It would tear their hearts pout.:</li><li>Alfred Coppel, <b>A Little Time for Laughter</b>. Mainstream novel. "This is the story of six young Americans as they span the generations from the beginning of World War II to the present. Against the backdrop of youth, innocence, and passion, this touching, nostalgic tale brings alive our own past and awakens the hidden violence that lies beneath the surface of all our lives." Coppel was a prolific genre writer in the 1950s and 60s, best known for his action thrillers and science fiction.</li><li>"James S. A. Corey" (Daniel Abraham & Ty Frank), <b>Leviathan Wakes</b>. Science fiction, the first novel in The Expanse series. "Humanity has colonized the solar system -- Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt, and beyond -- but the stars are still out of reach. Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Scopuli</i>, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret someone is willing to kill for -- and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why. Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the <i style="font-weight: bold;">Scopuli</i> and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that the girl may be the key to everything. Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations -- and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can shape the fate of the universe." I tried to get into the television series and bailed during the first episode (probably my fault), but the books are mega-popular. I'll probably dip into this one sometime in the future.</li><li>John Creasey, <b>The Famine</b>. A Dr. Palfey thriller. "The Lozi were small, intelligent, vicious...and insatiably hungry. They sprang seemingly from nowhere; one day the world was quiet, peaceful, the next Lozi colonies were discovered in every major nation, and on every continent. They built their cities beneath the surface, away from prying eyes, and it wasn't until the food began to disappear that they were discovered. Only one man stood between the end of the world and the Lozi...Dr. Stanislaus Palfrey. But this time it seemed that even the resources of Z5, the international organization he headed, must fail..." Creasey published 34 books in the Palfrey series from 1942 to 1979 -- many of which took a scie3nce fictional tone as be battled to save the world from aAmageddon...again and again. Creasey's son Richard contributed tow further books to the series after his father's death, a novel and a collection of three stories. <b>Go Away Death</b>. A Gordon Craigie-Department z thriller. "Bill Loftus, number two man of England's secret Department Z, had very personal reasons for tracking down the men who were using international blackmail to rupture relations between Britain and the U.S. and undermine the NATO Alliance. They had murdered his fiancee. But although Loftus was seeing red, he had to use all his professional cool to unravel the plot which entangled America's most powerful industrialist, three British peers of the realm and agents of unknown powers. In a violent, surprising climax, Loftus finds new love just before he shakes hands with death." Creasey wrote 28 novels about Craigie and Department Z between 1933 and 1957. <b>The Sleep</b>. Another day, another threatened end-of-the-world adventure for Dr. Palfrey. "The first victim had been asleep for more than three years. The best scientists and doctors were unable to find out what was wrong with him, and at last they gave up, letting his wife take him home to sleep away the rest of his life...or die. Then an entire African village was seized into a frenzy of mad dancing that stopped only when the villagers collapsed into that same sleep...and Dr. Palfrey and the agents of Z-5 found themselves confronting one of the most terrifying threats to the world they had ever known!"</li><li>Loren D. Estleman, <b>The Witchfinder</b>. An Amos Walker mystery. "In seventeenth-century New England witch-finders were the bearers of false witness -- and were paid handsomely for their lies. In twentieth-century Detroit, the pickings are easier, and the pay has gone through the roof. Now, a world-renowned architect, a man though to be dying in a Los Angeles hospital, has called Amos Walker to a hotel room at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, to find the person who engineered a heart-breaking lie -- and cost the architect the one woman he truly loved. It began with a photograph that Jay Bell Furlong didn't recognize as a fake. It turned into a smashed love affair, with the master builder fleeing to the West Coast and the lonely world of fame, money, and megalomania. As soon as Walker gets the photograph in his hand and hits Detroit's heat-soaked streets, the doctored photo becomes a passport to murder. In a world of tycoons, blackballers, socialites, cops, and crooks, Walker is turning over rocks in Detroit's best and worst neighborhoods. What he finds are a lot of people who had plenty of reasons to hate Jay Bell Furlong -- from his long-suffering kid brother to an embittered ex-wife and a glad-handing son. But it takes two murders and a bullet for Walker to realize who he's really up against: an ex-Vietnam sniper and an all-around solid citizen who has made killing his career."</li><li>"David Farland" (Dave Wolverton), editor. <b>L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 38</b>. Annual presentation of writing and illustrating contest, this time from 2022. Thirteen stories from the WOTF international writers' program, three short stories from Farland, Hubbard, and Frank Herbert, essays on writing and illustration by Dian Dillon, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, Frank Herbert, and L. Ron Hubbard, and illustrations by winners in the Illustrators of the Future international illustrators' program. This has always been kind of an iffy series for me. The stories tend to be amateurish, ranging from good to meh, but some of the past winners have gone on the bigger and much better things; time will tell if that happens to any of this year's crop. The contest does try to divorce itself nicely from Scientology (for which I'm thankful), but it also tends to lionize Hubbard -- something I'm not happy with. (Hubbard could be a good and effective pulp writer, but Xenu knows he had more than his share of faults.)</li><li>Nicholas Freeling, <b>King of the Rainy Country</b>. A Van der Valk mystery, winner of the 1987 Edgar. " Inspector Van der Valk was doing some quiet, undercover investigating -- nothing criminal, no foul play, just the odd disappearance would be a better word, of a wealthy man. Cause for worry, but not -- yet -- cause for alarm. But the investigation had another disappearance. the chase for the two persons led to ski resorts, carnivals, a small village, and past murder (or suicide?) until Van der Valk uncovered some astonishing facts and a solution to the problems. Or so he thought."</li><li>Vic Ghidalia, editor, <b>The Oddballs</b>. Science fiction/fantasy anthology with nine stories. Authors are H. G. wells, Robert Silverberg, Algis Budrys, Fritz Leiber, Nelson Bond, Robert Bloch, Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, and Jerome K. Jerome. Ghidalia edited eighteen science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies from 1969 to 1977, mostly for lower-tiered paperback houses. </li><li>Michael Halliday" (John Creasey), <b>Runaway</b>. A non-series mystery. This was the first novel Creasey wrote while in America. "When he knocked on the door of Arne Manor, little did Bob Curran know that upstairs the old man lay dead. When the police came in on the case, the relatives gathered round like vultures, eager to profit from the old man's will, eager also to frame the tall American in the murder inquiry." <b>Two Meet Trouble</b>. Another standalone mystery. "The wail of the siren declared that a convict had escaped from Dartmoor prison. And Gabrielle Melson was all alone in the cottage she shared with her brother...Suddenly a strange face loomed at the window. But once inside the cottage, Michael Cranton seemed reassuringly normal and pleasant -- until he admitted that he'd helped the prisoner, Sam Peek, to escape. Reluctantly, Gabrielle agreed to hide Sam while the hunt was under way. And it wasn't until her brother returned with his friend, Klimmer, that Michael Cranton revealed the awful connection between Klimmer and Sam Peek..." Creasey published 54 novels under his Michael Halliday pseudonym between 1937 and 1976, mostly standalone novels, but also four novels featuring Martin and Richard Fane and ten novels featuring Dr. Emmanuel Cellini.</li><li>Alex Hamilton, <b>Beam of Malice</b>. Horror collection with 15 stories. "Alex Hamilton is one of the absolute masters of the sunlit nightmare, the tale of insidious quiet and relentless menace." -- Ramsay Campbell</li><li>Nancy Holder, <b>Angel: City of</b>. Television tie-in, a novelization of the series premiere, based on the teleplay by David Greenwalt & Joss Whedon. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer was Angel's first true love, but the relationship was doomed from the start -- a moment of true happiness would cause Angel to lose his soul forever. so he left -- Sunnydale, Buffy, and everything else meaningful to him. 'Alive for 244 years, I thought I'd seen everything. Then I came to LA.' City of Angels. run by powerful forces, agents of pure evil. It's a city hard on its human population. If Angel wants to save himself, he's going to have to save them...somehow. With the help of two unlikely allies -- a half-demon and an ex-May Queen -- he's going to set up shop...And keep watch over his city." Yeah, I'm a big Buffy and Angel fan.</li><li>Charlie Huston, <b>Caught Stealing</b>. Crime thriller, Huston's first novel. "Henry 'call me Hank' Thompson used to play California baseball. Now he tends bar on Manhattan's Lower East Side. When two Russians in tracksuits beat Hank to a pulp. he gets the clue: someone wants something from him. He just doesn't know what it is, where it is, or how to make them understand he doesn't have it. Within twenty-four hours Hank is running over rooftops, playing hide-and-seek with the NYPD, riding the subway with a dead man at his side, and counting a whole lot of cash on a concrete floor. All because of some Russian hoods and a flat-out freak show of goons. All because once, in another life, the only thing Hank wanted to do was to steal third base -- without getting caught."</li><li>Alexander C. Irvine, <b>Asimov's Have Robot Will Travel</b>. Science fiction, an Asimov's Robot mystery. following a trilogy written by Mark W. Tiedemann. "Exiled to the colony Nova Levis, roboticist Derec Avery and Auroran ambassador Ariel Burgess have tried to make their best of their situation, after exposing an anti-robot conspiracy on Earth five years before that cost them their jobs and their freedom. But all that is about to change...A human has been murdered on Kopernik, a space station orbiting the Earth, and all the clues point toward a robot as the killer. But how can that be, when robots are programmed to never bring harm to humans? It's a familiar situation for Derec and Ariel -- the sort of mystery that led to their current status as political pariahs. Still, not even an exiled robot expert can turndown an opportunity to add his expertise to the investigation, and before too long, Derec is on his way to Kapernik. Ariel, meanwhile, has a mystery of her own to unravel. With the help of old friends -- and potentially new enemies -- Derec searches for the identity of a killer, unaware that Ariel is walking directly into the center of the web of intrigue..."</li><li>John Jakes, <b>Secrets of Stardeep</b>. Science fiction. "The faster-than-light ship that simply wasn't there! FTLS <i style="font-weight: bold;">Majestica</i>, with Lightcommander Duncan Edison in charge and 2,000 crewmen aboard, had vanished without a trace only moments after leaving the planet Stardeep. Seven years later, no one had yet been able to discover what had happened to <i style="font-weight: bold;">Majestica</i>, and to most people it was a long-forgotten tragedy. but not to Rob Edison. rob knew his father wasn't responsible for the disappearance of the FTLS, and he would go clear across the galaxy to Stardeep to prove it. But Rob wasn't the only one looking for something on Stardeep. and what started as a private search for the truth soon became a dangerous encounter with invaders out to steal Stardeep's greatest treasure."</li><li>William Katz, <b>Death Dreams</b>. Horror novel. "It began, like most horrors, without warning...Her return to life brought with it knowledge of life-after-death, of another world where the ghost of her child wanders until her death is avenged. But her death was only the beginning...It would take more than a year to pass. Before it was over it would fascinate a nation, terrorize a town, and consume a family."</li><li>"Murray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins), <b>Outlaw Sheriff</b>. Western, originally published as by Jenkins. "Determined to save his brother, Ted, from a long prison term and possible lynching, Dave Gilmore tangles with the law and flees from the state with a price on his head. Seeking the elusive evidence necessary to prove that Ted is innocent, he plunges into the midst of a sinister range war and is appointed official deputy sheriff of a small town who befriends him but is also worried over Dave's strange behavior. With the law hunting him, the lawless hating him, and the law-abiding suspecting him. Dave pits his skill and flashing six-guns against the world. Ranged against him are independent rustlers, a rancher who considered him bought and another rancher who hated him because he could not be bribed. The enthusiastic readers of Murray Leinster's <b>Guns Along the Mexican Trail</b> will find this new yarn packed with hard-riding action and terrific suspense" The copywriter here goofed because the book referred to is simply titled <b>Mexican Trail</b> (A. L. Burt, 1933, as by Jenkins), but I have no doubt that if or when I find a copy of it, I will be an enthusiastic reader. Leinster's westerns are nothing more or nothing less than readable pulp stories following typical pulp templates -- nothing major, but always entertaining. The vast majority of books by Leinster reprinted over the past fifty years or so have been science fiction, with a scattering of adventure tales. Surely it is past time for some enterprising publisher to begin mining his many western novels and short stories. I, for one, would buy them in an instant. </li><li>John Lutz, <b>Double Cross</b>. Something a bit outside my normal wheelhouse: a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle mystery with an original story by Lutz. And just to be mean, there is no picture of what the puzzle looks like to use as a guide. I suspect it will take me many days to complete the puzzle, that is, if the cat doesn't knock it off the table and the dogs don't eat the pieces. But it is Lutz, so the effort should be worth it. <span style="color: red;">UPDATE:</span> The best-laid plans...Got up in the morning to find that Jolly the Golden Retriever had eaten over 100 pieces of the 1000-piece puzzle, including the entire lower edge. Makes doing the puzzle an exercise in futility now...At least I have Lutz's story, with the solution printed out in mirror type.</li><li>"John Lymington" (John Newton Chance), <b>The Night Spiders</b>. Horror collection with 28 stories. Originally published as a British paperback in 1964, it had never been reprinted and never appeared in America. However, one of Lymington's science fiction novels, three years after the collection appeared, was also titled <b>The Night Spiders</b> in its US edition, but had no relation to the collection; it did muddy things up, bibliographically speaking, though. The novel was published in America by Doubleday and is surely a retitling of a British novel, although a cursory check online has not confirmed that. Anyway, I have been looking for an affordable copy of this collection for many years, and now a number of Lymington's works are currently being reprinted, among them this collection; I preordered the Kindle version, which is due next week. The stories are probably pure <i>schlock</i> (Lymington was a sometime effective, but not highly skilled, science fiction writer), but it will feel good to finally get to read them.</li><li>John D. MacDonald, <b>No Deadly Drug</b>. True crime. "Dr. Carl Coppolino was indicted by the state of New Jersey for the murder of retired Colonel William Farber. Coppolino had been having an affair with Farber's wife, Marjorie. Did Coppolino kill Marjorie's husband and his own wife so he could marry Marjorie? If he did, he may have regretted it, for Marjorie Farber became the prosecution's star witness, claiming her former lover had hypnotized her into becoming an unwilling accomplice in the death of her husband. Famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey led the defense and concluded that Marjorie Farber was a classic case of a woman scorned. Did the jury agree? Bestselling author John D. MacDonald chronicled the proceedings in the Coppolino case. <b>No Deadly Drug</b> is a work of impeccable journalism -- detailed, unbiased, even-handed, and thorough -- tempered with the inimitable MacDonald insight, subtlety, and thoughtfulness." </li><li>"Larry Maddock" (Jack Owen Jardine), <b>Agent of T.E.R.R.A. #2: The Golden Goddess Gambit</b>. Gosh! Wow! Gee whiz! SF adventure. "When T.E.R.R.A.'s Resident Agent in ancient Crete discovered a mysterious inscription written in a language which wouldn't exist for another thousand years, he immediately suspected time-tampering by the minions of EMPIRE. Special Agent Hannibal Fortune and his partner, the alien symbiote Webley, were assigned to investigate. But when they put a time-tracer on the artifact, they found that it had originated far earlier than even the semi-legendary Crete -- fully ten thousand years before that, and far to the west, on an unknown continent in the Atlantic. There T.E.R.R.A. agents encountered a thriving civilization ruled by the enigmatic god-king named Kronos --and the ultimate secret of Kronos could shatter Earth's time-line forever!" There were four novels in this series, plus an additional three stories about Webley.</li><li>"Anthony Morton" (John Creasey), <b>Hide the Baron</b>. A John Mannering (a.k.a. the Baron) thriller. "The solitary evening walk on the grounds of her employer's estate had been so quiet and beautiful. Beneath the branches of the pine trees, lovely Joanna Woburn can see the last of the evening sunlight brushing the green of the meadows with gold. Then she hears a screech that comes again and again, that seems to tell of acute pain. Running towards the anguished cry she comes upon a small dog caught in a viselike hold of a fox trap. But there is something even more hideous nearby -- George Morrow, the arrogant young nephew of her employer, is held by the ankle in another viciously gripping steel trap. Following closely on the mishap that almost costs George his life is a murderous attack on Joanna's employer, the aging millionaire recluse Jimmy Garfield. In his last moments of consciousness, he begs Joanna to find John Mannering and deliver to him a small black box kept hidden in the seat of his wheelchair. Thus begins a devilish nightmare for Joanna and Mannering, for possession of the box makes them the next targets for murder." <b>Black for the Baron</b> (reprinted as <b>If Anything Happens to Hester</b>, under the Creasey byline). Another John Mannering adventure. "Hester Vane becomes a murder suspect when a middle-aged male acquaintance of hers is found dead on the grounds of Horton Hall. As she flees from wicked accusations and evil implications, THE BARON is thrown into her frightening web of danger. His life is in the balance, especially IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HESTER." Creasey published 49 books about the Baron -- a reformed jewel thief turned high-end antique dealer --from 1937 to 1979. For reasons known only to the publishing gods, the character's name was changed to Blue Mask when the first eight books were first published in the U.S. (<i style="font-weight: bold;">The Baron</i> was also a British television series starring Steve Forrest from 1965 to 1966. The show, which lasted for thirty episodes, was developed by Terry Nation, best-known for creating the Daleks and Davros for <i style="font-weight: bold;">Dr. Who</i>; Nation also worked on <i style="font-weight: bold;">Blake's Seven</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Avengers</i>, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Persuaders</i>, and <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Saint</i>.)</li><li>Mel Odum, <b>Angel: Redemption</b>. Television tie-in novel. "When their investigation agency books a walk-in client, Angel, Cordelia, and Doyle couldn't be happier/ Whitney Tyler is a beautiful, widely adored actress who plays a vampire on a popular television series. Trouble is, a cult of viewers seems to think she's a real vampire, and has made attempts on her life. Cordelia has got stars in her eyes now that she's rubbing elbows with Hollywood's elite, and Doyle's just relieved to have signed on a case that didn't start with a vision -- and a blinding migraine. But when Angel lays eyes on Whitney he's astounded -- she's the spitting image pf a young woman warrior whom he encountered during his early days as the scourge of Europe. As the attempts on Whitney's life continue, the trio uncovers a symbol that links the perpetrators to an ancient cadre sworn to battle creatures of the night. But what could connect Whitney to someone that Angel once knew -- almost two centuries ago?" <b>Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Cursed</b>. Television tie-in novel. "Skulking around the Slayer in Sunnydale, the vampire Spike has often run into demons intent on punishing him for throwing in with the White Hats. But when there are hints of a more organized campaign dedicated to vanquishing the vampire with a chip in his head, Spike sets off on the trail of whoever's pit a hit out on him. Meanwhile, in the City of Angels, the vampire with a soul finds that the search for a mystical object is tied to his days as the vicious Angelus. Then Spike -- his former partner in carnage -- arrives in LA. Each nursing a grudge, and with the specter of Buffy in both of their (cold, dead) hearts, the two vampires reluctantly work together...until their torturous past catches up with them!"</li><li>"Ellis Peters" (Edith Parteger), <b>The Will and the Deed</b> (also published as <b>Where There's a Will</b>). Standalone mystery. "It was just like the great lady of the stage to bow out of life with a spectacular grand finale. Even before the curtain of death began to descend, Antonia had personally set the scene for a dramatic climax, calling to center stage all her ex-leading men." </li><li>Ian Rankin, <b>Strip Jack</b>. An Inspector John Rebus mystery. "when respected MP Gregor Jack is caught in a police raid on an Edinburgh brothel and his flamboyant wife Elizabeth suddenly disappears, John Rebus smalls a set-up. And when Elizabeth's badly beaten body is found, Rebus is suddenly up against a killer who holds all the cards." The title refers to the popular card game Strip Jack Naked. A word of warning: You do not want to google the term "strip jack," no, no, no.</li><li>Andrzej Sapkowski, <b>The Last Wish</b>. Fantasy novel, introducing The Witcher. ""Gerlat is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent. But not everything monstrous looking is evil and not everything fair is good...and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth." Sapkowski is a winner of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.</li><li>Isaac Bashevis Singer, <b>An Isaac Bashevis Singer Reader</b>. A collection of fifteen stories, four memoirs, and the novel <b>The Magician of Lubin</b> from the Nobel Prize winner.</li><li>Philip Van Doren Stern, editor, <b>The Pocket Book of Modern American Short Stories</b>. 1943 anthology of 18 classic American stories. Authors are Stephen Vincent Benet, MacKinlay Kantor, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Ring Lardner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Conrad Aiken, Erskine Caldwell, Dorothy Parker, James Thurber, Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, Jerome Weidman, Albert Maltz, Katherine Anne Porter, William Saroyan, Sally Benson, and Eudora Welty. An important entry in the history of paperback publishing. </li><li>H. Douglas Thomson, editor, <b>The Great Boo</b><b>k of Thrillers</b>. One of those doorstop anthologies of mystery, detective, and supernatural stories that were so popular in Britain in the 1930s. The original 1935 edition contained 50 stories; the 1937 Odhams edition (which I have) contains 46 stories in 765 pages, dropping six stories ("A Spanish Ghost Story" by Anonymous, "Stanley Fleming'a Hallucination" by Ambrose Bierce, "The Phantom Coach" by Amelia B. Edwards, "The Dilemma of Phadrig" by Gerald Griffin, "The Bowmen" by Arthur Machen, and "The Doctor's Ghost" by Norman MacLeod), and adding two stories ("The Shadow Man" by Edgar Wallace and "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood). A further abridged edition with only 41 stories was published anonymously as an "instant remainder" in 1991, titled <b>Great Tales of Terror</b>. Authors included in the 1937 edition were a mix of classic authors and those well-known at the time -- many of whom may be unfamiliar to present-day audiences: A. J. Alan (and when will some ambitious publisher reissue Alan's delightful stories?), Michael Arlen, W. E. Aytoun, Honore de Balzac, E. F. Benson, Anthony Berkeley, Algernon Blackwood, Marjorie Bowen, Agatha Christie, G. D. H. and M. I. Cole, Wilkie Collins, Freeman Wills Crofts, Catherine Crowe, Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens, Sheridan Le Fanu, Jeffrey Farnol, J. S. Fletcher, Gilbert Frankau, R. Austin Freeman, John Galt, Theophile Gauthier, L. P. Hartley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Hogg, Washington Irving, W. W. Jacobs, Herbert Jenkins, Maurice Leblanc, Walter de la Mare, Frederick Marryat, Prosper Merimee, E, Phillips Oppenheim, Baroness Orczy, Eden Philpotts, Edgar Allan Poe, John Rhodes, Dorothy L. Sayers, Sir Walter Scott, H. Russell Wakefield, High Walpole, Samuel Warren, H. G. Wells, and Oscar Wilde. Some good reading then, some good reading now.</li><li>Mark W. Tiedemann, <b>Asimov's Mirage</b>. Science fiction, an Asimov's Robot mystery. "At a crucial conference uniting the Spacers, the Settler, and representatives of Earth, Senator Clar Eliton of Earth and Senior Space Ambassador Galiel Humadros od Aurora are advocating the restoration of positronic robots on Earth, repudiating years of fear and resentment. It is a dangerous stance to take. As the Spacer delegates arrive on Earth, conspirators assassinate Senator Eliton. Ambassador Humadros is cut down, too. Both are failed by their robot protectors. Special Agent Mia Daventri -- part of the security force assigned to protect Eliton -- is the only member of her team to survive the attack, and is rushed to the hospital. Expert roboticist Derec Avery is called in to investigate what may have caused the robot bodyguards to fail at the most critical hour. But his inquiries are stonewalled, and an attempt is made on Mia's life. Derec and Mia must join forces with Calvin Institute attache Ariel Burgess to penetrate a conspiracy that sprawls across Terran, Spacer, and Settler worlds and threatens to bring war to them all."</li><li>Robin Scott Wilson, editor, <b>Clarion III</b>. Science fiction anthology of fiction written by attendants of the Clarion science fiction workshop, along with articles from various instructors. The young talent attending back then (1973) included F. M. Busby, Mel Gliden, Mildred Downey Broxon, John Shirley, Gerard F. Conway, J. Michael Reaves, and Lisa Tuttle. Among those contributing articles were Ursula K. Le Guin, Theodore Sturgeon, Kate Wilhelm, Damon Knight, and Harlan Ellison. Clarion, now bi-coastal, is still going strong.</li></ul><p></p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-6777248816593684582024-03-02T06:17:00.000-08:002024-03-02T06:17:07.637-08:00SUPER-DETECTIVE LIBRARY No. 1: MEET THE SAINT in THE CASE OF THE CONTRABAND PEOPLE (1953)<p> Hilda Shane has a good racket: smuggling refugees into the United States and bleeding them for money. In this, she is helped by the thug Dancey. Brodin, a watch repairer, goes to her to get his mother and his orphaned nephew into the country. Because the boy, Victor, has a spot on his luing, it is unlikely that immigration would ever allow him into America. Hilda Shane demands $5000 in advance and a further $3000 when she brings them across the border. The old woman and the boy, who had made it as far as Mexico, are told to go to a hotel in Ensenada, where Hilda will meet them and take them aboard her boat for the journey north. Guess who happens to be vacationing in Ensenada...</p><p>Outside the hotel, Simon sees an old woman and a child struggling with a load of luggage and offers to help. The old woman think is that Simon may be the man Hilda sent to take them to her. Dancey shows up and rudely corrects the old woman's mistake. Later, Simon accidently bumps into Hilda at the hotel. Dancey sees them and figures that was too much of a coincidence. He then asks the hotel clerk who Simon is, and when he is told, recognizes that Simon is the Saint. Both he and Hilda then believe that Simon is onto their game. They convince Simon to get on Hilda's boat, drug him, and throw him in the ocean to drown.</p><p>Hilda has given the refugees papers and a carefully concocted story about having already been US residents, which leads to a perfectly prescient bit of dialogue when an immigration official questions young Victor about where he lives. The boy replies, "In Hollywood, but I wish I lived in Brooklyn so I could see the Dodgers." That one made the entire comic book worthwhile.</p><p>Hilda decides if Simon Templar was on to them, it would be safer to get out of the smuggling business and go into the blackmailing business -- there have been 45 people who she has smuggled in...and would have to keep paying her to keep their secret. Soon Dancey murders a man who had paid Hilda to smuggle his sister into the country but refuses to pay additional blackmail. Who will stand up for these refugees, innocent victims of war? Certainly not Simon Templar, because he is dead. Or is he...?</p><p><b>Super Detective Library</b> was a British comic book that published two issues a month from April 1953 through December 1960, for a total of 188 issues. The series featured many established heroes and previously published stories, along with original heroes. characters featured were The Saint, Bulldog Drummond, Harry Lime, Blackshirt, Rip Kirby, Buck Ryan, space detective Rick Random, Sexton Blake, Temple Fortune, and various characters from Edgar Wallace and E. Phillips Oppenheim. The vast majority of issues are available at <i style="font-weight: bold;">Comic Book Plus</i>, including:</p><p>https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=88225&comicpage=&b=i</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-35134764161083351002024-02-29T22:01:00.000-08:002024-02-29T22:01:00.245-08:00FORGOTTEN BOOK: INSPECTOR WEST TAKES CHARGE<p> <b>Inspector West Takes Charge</b> by John Creasey (1942)</p><p><br /></p><p>In this, the first of 43 mysteries featuring Inspector (later Superintendent) Roger West of Scotland Yard, John Creasey sets the template for one of his most popular series. Previous to this Creasey had published over 80 mystery novels and, if they did include a policeman, he was a secondary character. By 1940, Creasey had gotten to know and had become friends with a number of Scotland Yard policemen. He felt it was high time he created a character who was as close to a real policeman as possible.</p><p>Enter Roger West, a man as realistic as the times and the market would allow. West was Creasey's idealized policeman, a man of compassion and a man with an unswerving instinct to do what is right. West was the youngest inspector in the CID and his sense of idealism did not diminish over the next 36 years. His good looks earned him the sobriquet "Handsome." His basic sense of decency earned his the respect of his fellow officers, both those above and those below him. In this first book, West has an understanding young wife, Janet. They would eventually have two sons, Richard ("Scoop") and Martin ("Fish") -- which happened to be the names of two of Creasey's sons and the source of the pen name he used for his Commander George Gideon novels, "J. J. Marric." Writing of this first novel, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Punch</i> called West "a likable young slop," and famed Scotland Yard Inspector Robert Fabian said, "He behaves much like I would behave."</p><p><b>Inspector West Takes Charge </b>starts with the death of three members of the Prendergast family, owners of the Dreem cigarette company. Old Septimus Prendergast drowned in his swimming pool; his passing was recorded as death by misadventure. Three weeks later, his son Monty fell off a cliff in Cornwall; in the absence of any contrary evidence, this became another death by misadventure. The family fortune then went to Waverley Prendergast, who had been the victim of a hit and run. Also, death by misadventure. The money and the company now went to Claude Prendergast, a rather weak-willed man who had recently married Maisie, a cold and scheming woman who assumed control over her husband. West is convinced the murder has been done and is obsessed with the case.</p><p>West's best friend, Mark Lessing, who often assists West unofficially, has been making inquiries for West. Two thugs invaded Lessing's flat and attacked him, then search the apartment thoroughly. Lessing had hinted in a news interview that he knew more than he really did and the raid on his apartment was the result. Enter the unscrupulous attorney Gabriel Potter (another character who appears in the early West novels). It turns out that Maisie has hired Potter. Potter also represents a known criminal who West had brought in for the attack on Lessing. Potter gives his client an alibi and suggests that West look at another known criminal for the attack. Is it a coincidence that that criminal was then killed in a deliberate hit and run?</p><p>Claude Prendergast is getting nervous. He fears his wife knows more about the deaths in the family than she is admitting to. He believes that Maisie may be out to kill him. Maisie meanwhile has located an unknown relative of Claude, a cousin who she tries to convince to take over the family business. Blackmail, murder, and the control of a large estate keep the wheels turning in this mystery. There's plenty of action and more than a few twists before Roger West wraps up the case.</p><p>A good start to a storied fictional career.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thirteen years later, Creasey created another realistic and humane police detective, Commander George Gideon. A number of critics feel that Gideon was Creasey's greatest character. If so, it was because Roger West led the way.</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-30746303770541323342024-02-29T05:33:00.000-08:002024-02-29T05:33:24.302-08:00THE SAINT: THE FURNITURE MOVE (MARCH 3, 1951)<p> When the Simon Templar's taxi pulls up to his apartment building, he notices men finishing moving furniture into a large truck. Someone must be moving out of the building. Wouldn't it be nice if it were the occupants if the apartment above his -- the one with the large feet? After the truck pulls away, he realizes that it was <i>his </i>furniture. Why would somebody want to steal his furniture? And so begins another puzzling episode in the life of the Saint, played by Vincent Price.</p><p>Enjoy.</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZzrUE_4jFE</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-80481786398902892462024-02-27T22:01:00.000-08:002024-02-27T22:01:00.238-08:00SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: HOT WATER<p> "Hot Water" by Val Gielgud (from <b>The Great Book of Thrillers</b>, edited by H. Douglas Thomson, 1935; earlier publication possible; reprinted in <b>Great Tales of Terror</b>, edited anonymously, 1991)</p><p><br /></p><p>" 'The regrettable truth about all Secret Service work,' said Casimir Sipiaghin, 'is that it must be devastatingl;y boring, revoltingly squalid, or unspeakably tragic. Personally I hate boredom, I abominate squalir, and I find tragedy does not suit me.' " He went on, " 'Spyng is altogether a dirty business. If you wish me to talk about it, you will have to buy me more <i>vermouth cassis</i>.' "</p><p>Sipiaghin was a pre-war Russian, the only person the narrator knew to have been a professional spy. His story goes back to 1919, when he fled from Russia and landed in the Polish police, and was given the job of running the Frontier Intelligence Service against the Bolsheviks. For four months, he was stationed in a run-down hotel in Kovno, Lithuania -- windows shattered, cramped quarters, and although modern conveniences had been installed, there was no running water. The one bright spot ws that most of his agents were women, planted across the border in various capacities, usually as nurses or typists. One of these agents was a girl named Tatiana, the daughter of a rich merchant who had been shot by the Reds. Tatiana managed to be placed as a typist-stenographer to the political commissar attached to the Soviet Fourteenth Army. Before being placed as a spy, she and Sipiaghin were lovers. Although Tatiana had ended the affair, Sipiaghin remained deeply in love with her.</p><p>Returning from a two-day undercover mission, all Sipiaghin could think of was a hot bath. The weather had been vile, his disguise had been that of a peasant, and he was feeling "dirty and depressed to the soles of my boots." Climbing the stairs to his room, he called out to the landlosrd to prepare buckets of hot water for a bath. When he got to his room, Sipiaghin was surprised to see Tatiana there. </p><p>She evidently had something important to tell him, but that could wait until he had his bath. Instructing the girl to wait for him, he crossed that hall to the bathroom, where the landlord had filled the tub half way with very hot water. But the landlord had forgotten to provide a bucket of cold water to lower the temperature. There was a jug of cold water by the basin in his bedroom, so Sipiaghin returned to his room for it. There he found Tatiana with a black box that he had hidden under his bed; the box containing many important secrets gleaned from his spyng. Tatoana stared at him, saying nothing.</p><p>Just then, his chauffeur, Stefan, entered the anteroom. He told Stefan to remain in the rooms with Tatiana while he took his bath. He needed the time to consider what to do. He still loved Tatiana and to expose her would mean her certain death by firing squad. (He later learned that she was forced to act because the Russians held her mother and threatened to kill her if Tatiana did not do their bidding.) What to do? What to do?</p><p>Spyng can be unspeakably tragic and an altogether dirty business...</p><p><br /></p><p>A brief, sharp, poignant tale.</p><p><br /></p><p>Val Gielgud (1900-1981) was a pioneering radio and television broadcaster and writer.. He was appointed Head of Production at the BBC in 1929, where he oversaw all radio drama produced over the next twenty years, and was credited with inventing many of the radio techniques still in use today. In 1930, he successfully directed the first ever television drama in an experimental transmission of a short play by Pirandello. Nine years later he was seconded to the BBC Television Service to direct a short play based on one of his short stories. He returned to radio and in 1946, was named the head of BBC Television drama; but Gielgud's heart was in radio. During the 1950s, he directed his brother, john Gielgud, in a radio series based on the Sherlock Holmes stories; Ralph Richardson appeared as Dr. Watson, and Gielgud himself appeared in one episode as Mycroft Holmes. Gielgud had determined tastes in drama. He abhorred soap opera, and had no truck with many modern playwrights, and rejected Beckett's <i style="font-weight: bold;">Waiting for Godot</i> as a radio drama.</p><p>During his career, he wrote or co-wrote twenty-six mystery novels, one short story collection, two historical novels, nineteen stage plays, four screenplays, forty radio plays, and seven nonfiction books, as well as editing two anthologies. His best-known book was <b>Death at Broadcasting House</b> (1934; filmed that same year).</p><p>Giielgud was married five times. His mother's third husband was the brother of Czar Nicholas II. As mentioned above, he was the brother of actor Sir John Girelgug. He was a great-nephew of noted actress Dame Ellen Terry. Val Gieldud was awarded the CBE in 1958.</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-5508131213901473532024-02-27T04:43:00.000-08:002024-02-27T04:43:33.171-08:00OVERLOOKED FILMS: DREAMS OFTHE RAREBIT FIEND (1906-1921)<p>Because of a reaction to my second shingles vaccine, I spent much of last week in bed, tired beyond belief. (I'm fine. My reaction consisted of a sore arm and more than usual sleepiness -- nothing more.) I'm rather glad that my rerst did ot include the type of dreams experienced by Winsor McCay's Rarebit Fiend, the protagonist of McCay's comic strip that had begun in 1904. The comic strip spawned several early films:</p><p><br /></p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">Dream of a Rarebit Fiend</i>, 1906:</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlC90TGwTxI</p><p><br /></p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">How a Mosquito Operates</i>, 1912:</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77cn30IeZPU</p><p><br /></p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">Bug Vaudeville</i>, 1921:</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpHBX2heXCo</p><p><br /></p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">The Pet</i>, 1921:</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s39jimMyAFI</p><p><br /></p><p><i style="font-weight: bold;">The Flying House</i>, 1921:</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obnRKhgRFXA</p><p><br /></p><p>Sweet dreams.</p><p><br /></p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-8649056677589036182024-02-21T03:42:00.000-08:002024-02-21T03:42:30.484-08:00SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: OH, VALINDA!"Oh, Valinda!" by Michael G. Coney (first published in <b>New Writings in SF 20</b>, edited by John Carnell, 1972; reprinted in <b>The 1973 Annual World's Best SF</b> [also published as <b>Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series 2</b>], edired by Donald S. Wollheim with Arthur W, Saha, 1973)<div><br /></div><div>A brief exercise in world building, with an emphasis on ecological concerns and the effect of colonialism.</div><div><br /></div><div>The planet Cantek can be seen as a distorted image of Earth. The four-foot humanoid natives of the planet have brought about ecological disaster through unthinking and irrsdposible use of fossile fuels. The seas and the air are severely polluted. A recent disaster involving an undersea drilling operation has left the ocean covered with inches (and sometimes, feet) of oil. For the populace to survive, they must have fresh water from ice bergs navigated through the ocean to the cities. This provides an opportunity for great profits for Earthmen who have the technoliogy to steer the ice bergs.</div><div><br /></div><div>And how do they maneuver the ice bergs. The oceans of Cantek are the home of giant marine worms, some 400 yards in length. These worms attached themselves to the bottom of the ice flows, ech suspending from them like a large upside-down "U." These giant worms suck in a large amopunt of water and dispel it one the other end of their bodies, creating a motive force. A hole drilled through the ice sheet allows an instument to attach itself to the worm, providing shocks that allow the humans to steer the worms toward a preferred destination. The native of Cantek have a mold psychic link to the worms, allowing them to locate them and to steer them. Each ice floe is steered by a group of three -- two Earthmen and a Cantek native.</div><div><br /></div><div>Skunder is a Cantek who has discovered a very large and powerful worm. He is accompanied by Erkelens, an experienced Earthman working on ice floe, and Rosskidd, a younger man who is bigoted against the Cantek natives. But their bigotry is a matter of degree; neither Earthman is pleasant. Skunder, like others of his race is resentful of Earth; Earth has the power to pull Cantek out of the ecological disaster it is facing, but refuse to do it; preferring instead to let the backward planet solve its own problems -- something that will take hundreds of years and cosr ountless lifves. As Erkelens put it, "Handing our reactors to all your various governments would be like giving lasers to chimpanzees." </div><div><br /></div><div>Previously, Skandar and his mate Valinda, worked for another Earthman, Lejour, who had caused the death of Valinda after she had gone underwater to try to steer a marine worm in a different direction. Skandar vowed never to work for Lejour again, and now Lejour and his small crew have appeared on another ice flow and is racing Erkelens and Rosskidd to a nearby port -- whoever reaches there first will become fabulously wealthy; whoever comes in second will receive only dregs, if that. Lejour is far better funded than his opponents and has much better equipment. But Lejour's worm is smaller than his rival's worm, so the race for profits is up in the air. </div><div><br /></div><div>In an effot to sabotage Erkelens and Rosskidd, Lejour sets fire to the ocean surface, causng disaster for both parties. Skunder takes a submersable underwater in an effort to salvage the situation...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In Coney's tale, stupidity and greed are not limited to a single race, and the destructive power of both has negative effects on both races. A cautionary tale, of you will. One that is well thought out and reasoned.and one that will leave a powerful impact.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Michael G. Coney (1932-2005) was an accountant who served as a hotel manager for several years in the West Indies, at which time he began publishing science fiction. His first of twenty novels, <b>Mirror Image</b>, was published in 1972. His 1976 novel <b>Brontomek!</b> won the British Science Fiction Association Award. He was nominated for a Nebula Award for his 1995 novelette "Tea and Hamsters." He had been nominated for the Prix Aurora Award five times. He published on collection of short stories (<b>Monoitor Found in Orbit</b>. 1974) and two nonfiction books about his experiences as a forest ranger in British Columbia, where he livedduring the last half of his life. Coney was a capable, talented, and diverse author whose works should have been better known.</div>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2728909293998777391.post-57461124323193470522024-02-20T04:25:00.000-08:002024-02-20T04:25:13.855-08:00THE CASES OF EDDIE DRAKE: THE MAN WITH THE STOMACH ACHE (1949)<p><i style="font-weight: bold;">The Cases of Eddie Drake </i>was an early television detective show starring Don Haggerty as the wise-cracking New York PI. It was based on the radio show <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Cases of Mr. Ace</i>. The first nine episodes were filmed in 1949 for CBS television, who finally released them for syndication in 1951. The DuMont Network picked the show up the following year, airing the nine episodes and adding another four episodes. </p><p>In the first nine episodes, Patricia Morison plays psychologist Karen Gayle, who is writing a book on criminal psychology. The episodes are told in flashback as Drake stops by her office to relate his most recent case. For the DuMont run, she is replaced by Lynne Roberts as criminalogist Dr. Joan Wright, who fulfilled the same function.</p><p>The show was popular enough that CBS regretting selling it to DuMont. CBS then produced a somewhat similar show, <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Files of Jeffrey Jones</i>, which also starred Haggerty, and ran for 39 episodes begininning in 1954.</p><p>In "The Man with the Stomach Ache," a ticket for a Chinese laundry and a set of Chinese Army credentials with a message written on them in Chinese holds the key to three murders,</p><p>This episode appears to be one of the original nine filmed in 1949, but DuMont aired it as the thirteenth and last of the series on April 3, 1952.</p><p>Enjoy this oldie but goodie.</p><p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6oa3YU064k</p>Jerry Househttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482856733981933159noreply@blogger.com0