BOOGIE WOOGIE HYMN TIME

 Jimmy Maddox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS5vhHdu3Ts&list=PLD5WXOWyWC8l7EKwJ01AGMSc6OZp99kEJ

SPACE WESTERN COMICS #42 (FEBRUARY 1953)

Cowboys and spaceships, oh my!  The only way this could be better is they added Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes.  So that's what they did, with two pulse-pounding stories.  and less you wonder where our hero got the name Spurs, check out his nether regions -- no, not those nether regions!  The ones farther down below, or nether-er. I guess.  There you will see a honking pair of gold spurs attached to his cowboy boots.  Those, with his holstered six guns, black cowboy hat, white bandana and gloves, and the stern constipated look on his face shows us that that Spurs is ready to kick some alien butt!

In the first tale, Spurs investigates exploding flying saucers of the desert and meets...The Sun Masters.  The Sun Masters claim to live on the Sun, and offer to provide Earth with faster than light technology.  Spurs smells a rat.  what they really are trying to do is extract the energy from our sun, then use it to incinerate the Earth.  We know that the sneaky aliens will be no match for Spurs and his Space Vigilantes.  BTW, spurs has a girl, Thelda, who also has a constipated look on her face -- I would ;probably begin to look into any traumatic experiences in the artists childhood.  One of his Space Vigilantes is named Strong Bow; as expected, he has a long bow and a quiver of arrows which seems to complement his fashion choices.

Strong Bow then takes center stage in the next story, "Strong Bow and His Warriors and The Return of the Aztecs."  "On certain rare occasions, Strong Bow and other members of his tribe visit the deserted adobe of of their ancestral cliff dwellers on Crater Ledge, there to perform traditional rites and ceremonies."  But this time he has to solve the mystery of ancient Aztecs able to withstand flamethrowers and modern artillery used by a U.S. Army armored division.  Hint:  it involved the mythical planet Vulcan.  you know, the one that supposedly has an orbit between Mercury and the Sun.

Then Spurs Jackson and his Space Vigilantes tangle tangle with the Outlaws of Mars.  when that red planet suddenly turns redder (intensely so), it's up to Spurs to find out why.  By sending two rockets to the fourth planet (sorry, I'm not counting Vulcan here), spurs hopes to find an explanation.  what he finds, however, is a life and death struggle.

The final story finds another Space Vigilante -- Hank Roper, this time -- to investigate the sightings of black UFOs.  Anzo, the Master of the Black World (its true name is Nux) tries to claim Hank and sheriff Townley as specimens.  BTW, the Nuxians plan to invade Earth in "The Riddle of Skull Valley."

The cowboy life has never been easy, but when you aliens and spaceships and plans to conquer mankind to the mix, you might wonder why Spurs and his Space Vigilantes don't just stay home on their Arizona ranch and let things play out on their own.  Luckily for the readers of Space Western Comics, they don't, and are always ready to answer the call to save the planet.

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=96143&comicpage=&b=i

FORGOTTEN BOOK: BABY, WOULD I LIE?

 Baby, Would I Lie?  by Donald E. Westlake  (1994}

This one is subtitled "A Romance of the Ozarks," which is a bit of a misnomer.  It's a romance about Branson. Missouri...and about country music and its fans...and about corruption stemming from supermarket tabloids...and about a legal system more concerned with winning than with the truth,,,and about fried food...and...

Well, you get the idea.  This is one of Westlake's comic crime novels in which he approaches everything with a wide and unerring  brush.

Sara Joslyn is a reporter for the New York-based weekly magazine Trend who has been assigned to cover the sensational murder trial of country music star Ray Jones, accused on the flimsiest of evidence of murdering, raping, sodomizing, beating, strangling, and drowning (perhaps not in that order) a female employee of his.  Both Sara and her editor (and lover) were former employees of the supermarket tabloid Weekly Galaxy, possibly the most unethical newspaper in the country.  The Weekly Galaxy has also sent a phalanx of reporters to Branson, including the Down Under Trio, three Australians who are experts at muddying waters, fabricating facts, and torpedoing their opposition.

The accused comes across as a good ol' boy, but is he?  Or is he a calculating showman with his own agenda?  The accusers view the trial as a way to generate publicity and are willing to stretch credence to do so.  On the morning jury selection was about to start, Ray Jones is accused for a second murder and is dragged off to jail in front of the potential jurors. 

Add to the mix a very gullible, part-time local prosecutor, a local judge who is eying an eventual governorship, a smarmy state prosecutor, a slimy IRS agent who is know as "The Prick" and wears his father's ill-fitting clothes, a tabloid editor who hates his life, his wife, and his kids, and an assortment of downhome musicians and locals.  The result?  A witty, pointed, and somewhat skewed view of both country music and the nation's heartland.

The question remains, is Ray Jones guilty?  Perhaps a better question should be, does it matter?

Thoroughly entertaining, as can be expected from Westlake.

Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) was the author of more than 100 books, and was a three-time Edgar winner, as well as an Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.  He used at least nineteen pseudonyms throughout his career, including "Richard Stark," under which he wrote the influential crime series about Parker, a professional thief.  His other popular series featured John Dortmunder, a hapless thief.  A number of novels about Parker and about Dortmunder were adapted for the screen.  Westlake was also a screenwriter and his script for Jim Thompson's The Grifters was nominated for an Academy Award.

A talented and versatile writer who always delivered the goods.

THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER: CHRISTMAS STORY (DECEMBER 25, 1951)

So what would you do if you were driving across the country with a complete stranger and the stranger dies?  Well, you may decide to impersonate the stranger in order to claim his $2 million inheritance.  I mean, what could go wrong?

Written, produced, and directed by Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan, this episode features Leon Janney and Ann Sheridan , with Maurice Tarplin as your narrator, The Mysterious Traveler.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeGdxNl97K4

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE PILGRIMS' PROGRESS: A TALE OF THE CAXTON PRIVATE LENDING LIBRARY & BOOK DEPOSITORY

 "The Pilgrims' Progress:  A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository" by John Connolly (from Connolly's collection Night & Day, 2024)

The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository came into a being as a short story that was published in book form by Mysterious Press in 2003; the story went on to win the Edgar and Anthony Awards for Best Short Story in 2014; it was included in the author's collection Night Music:  Nocturne Volume Two, 2015.  Since then the author has added two additional stories to the series:  "Unquiet Slumbers" (in the anthology Goldsboro Books First Edition 21, 2020; also included in Night & Day) and "The Pilgrims' Progress" (in Night & Day).

The Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository is a unique, otherworldly building/institute where the living breathing characters of literary fiction reside, along with a pristine first edition of the book in which they appeared.  As new literary characters appear n its doorstep, the library expands, Tardis-like, to accommodate them. with their fictional world coming into existence just outside their window.  The library has been existence since the 15th century under the watchful eyes of a changing group of directors, each of whom appear to have been selected by the library itself.  Exactly why the library came about or how it was created is unknown. as is how it has been maintained over the centuries.  When a work of fiction becomes extremely popular, a package containing a first edition of the work appears mysteriously at the library's door, to be followed by the most popular character of the book, sometimes confused, sometimes self-assured.  Almost always, only one character per book is allowed, although apparently both Holmes and Watson showed up.  There is no hard and fast rule:  a book by Samuel Beckett that was to appear has not. and the character from that book has yet to make an appearance.

"The Pilgrim's Progress" takes us back to the founding of the Library, back in 1477, following the first printing of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, where printer William Caxton woke up to find five oddly dressed individuals in his front yard arguing about how they got to be there.  They happened to be the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath, the Summoner, and the Nun's Priest.  A few days later they were joined by another Pilgrim.   Also soon to arrive was a copy of the book, one without the irregularities caused by printing of that time.  It was soon obvious who these people were, and Caxton and his assistant -- the aptly named Wynkyn de Worde, were an a quandary and very much afraid that they would be accused of sorcery -- something no one in 15th century England wants to have happen.  

William and Wynkyn turn to William's trusted relative Richard Caxton, who was  one of the Benedictine monks of Westminster Abbey, for advice.  As they try to parse out what has happened, they wonder if more fictional characters might appear from other books, perhaps appearing in the future from books yet to be written.  They decide on an experiment.  Convincing the abbot of Westminster of the beneficial effects to the Abbey if other literary characters night appear, the Abbot agrees to published two religious tracts, one extolling Thomas Aquinas, and the other, a very (very, very, very ) minor religious figure, Cominatus, to see if either might suddenly appear.  Neither did, although the tract about Cominatus -- which offered no information about the man or his deeds -- proved to be very popular and Cominatus was now being revered greatly.

To find out how William, Wynkyn, and Richard were able to establish the Library and keep its literary residents safely hidden from worldly eyes, I'm afraid you would have to read the story.  It's a good one.

Irish author John Connolly is the best-selling writer of the Charlie Parker mystery series (the fist of which , the Samuel Johnson stories for young adults, the science fiction trilogy Chronicles of the Invaders, and the duology about the Book of Lost Things.  With Declan Burke, he produced the award-winning Books to Die For:  The World's Greatest Mystery Writers on the World's Greatest Mystery Novels.  More recently, he edited the massive Shadow Voices:  100 Years of Irish Genre Fiction, a History in Stories.  Over his career, Connolly has been nominated for sixteen awards, winning five of them, including A Shamus, a Barry, an Anthony, an Agatha, and an Edgar.  

OVERLOOKED FILM: HORROR EXPRESS (1972)

British specialty publisher has been issuing a series of "Midnight Monographs" for some time now, each focusing on a specific horror movie.  The seventh in the series featured Horror Express, and was written by one of my favorite authors, John Connolly, and is a book I've long wanted to read.  Connolly's latest book, Night & Day, is a collection of short stories, plus a newly revised and expanded version of his Horror Express monograph, which I devoured instantly.  It made long to see the original movie, so here it is.

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Make no mistake about it, Horror Express is not a great movie.  It's a bottom of the barrel, cheaply mad programmer that does not come close to pretending its fine art.  But it has a certain, undefinable something that makes it special.

"Set in 1906, the film's storyline follows the various passengers aboard a European-bound Trans-Siberian Railway train.  They are soon stalked, one by one, by an alien intelligence inhabiting the frozen body of an ancient primitive humanoid brought onboard by an anthropologist."

Do we need to know any more?

Although the maker of the film did not acknowledge John W. Campbell, Jr.'s "Who Goes There?", which was filmed both as The Thing from Another World and The Thing, the influence is obvious.

Featuring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and an over-the-top Telly Savalas.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LCtzLEebBI

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOAN ARMATRADING!

 British musician and singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading turns 74 today.  She was born in the British colony of Saint Christopher and Nevis and moved to Anigua when she was three.  Four years later she joined her parents in Brookfields, a district of Birmingham.  Around age fourteen she began teaching herself to play guitar.  She left school at age 15 to help support her family.  She was fired from her first job because she took her guitar to work and would play it during tea-breaks.  At age 16 she began playing in the local area, mainly relying on her own songs.  By age 18 she had joined a touring comp-any of Hair.  Armatrading released her debut album, Whatever's for Us, in 1972.  By the mid-Seventies, she became the first Black British female singer to enjoy international success.  And the songs and the acclaim just kept coming.

Armatrading is also known for supporting new music and local talent.  she released a three-disc compilation featuring takes from 56 singer-songwriter/artists, each of whom opened for her in their respective home towns during her 2012 Starlight tour.  Among her many awards, she was made an Honorary Fellow in 2022 of Newnham College, Cambridge; in giving the award, the college said, "We believe that Ms Armatrading embodies and lives the spirit of Newnham.  Intellectually curious and focused on achieving her potential, she is pioneering, inspiring, supporting and sharing."

When asked which book she would choose to have with her if she were a castaway on a desert island, Armatrading picked Why Don't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie.

"Love and Affection"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oag3I4VRXyM

"The Weakness in Me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i95GcmpXPe0

"Drop the Pilot"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak_C18uh2Bo

"Here's What I Know"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxTa-tSx-lc

"Down to Zero"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7147pAjGbpU

"More Than One Kind of Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6SdtRjiXh0

"Me Myself I"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibds7i_jLWw

"Willow"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU35pF0JYCE

"25 Kisses"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M24W35NbpcY

"Barefoot and Pregnant"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xiWCBNMYvw&list=PLbonMlLqZPFuDrq87S_HWUOayRKoAnE_U&index=1

"Taking My Baby Up Town"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGLZDimtDw8&list=PLbonMlLqZPFuDrq87S_HWUOayRKoAnE_U&index=7

"Save Me"

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