HAPPY BIRTHDAY, J. D. SOUTHER!

 John David Souther (1945-2024) was "a principal architect of the Southern California sound and a major influence on a generation of songwriters."  He wrote and co-wrote songs recorded by such artists as Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Christopher Cross, Dan Fogleberg, Roy Orbison, and The Eagles.  He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.

"Closing Time"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGsNCBJ8RrU&list=PLAihpSSSuB2k2K1-uUl4FEJRVn7bDCSZs&index=5

"You're Only Lonely"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSvfuchi5C0&list=PLAihpSSSuB2k2K1-uUl4FEJRVn7bDCSZs&index=3

"Southern Cross" (with the /Coral Reefer Band)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCfjRMC7HfE

"Fountain of Sorrow"  (with Jackson Brown)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHljmLUEk9o

"Hearts Against the Wind"  (with Linda Ronstadt)

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

"Her Town Too"  (with James Taylor)

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

"White Rythm and Blues"  (with Phil Everly)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMyrS32octk

"Prisoner in Disguise"  (with Linda Ronstadt)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3c1CJNUXY

"The Last in Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGA6Nr7hCpQ

And here are some of the songs he wrote for The Eagles:

"Best of Your Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VDuTGJ_ZQI

"James Dean"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5XYho0Qer4

"New Kid in Town"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fW2rw8SwoA

"Doolin-Dalton"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L4qBm8LrIc

"Heartache Tonight"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBte_o5JpJA

HYMN TIME

 Sons of the Pioneers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kqOP5sSBsI&list=OLAK5uy_mCgU4RbjP--UN8VUoOubRGcoJl3IVxhM8

SKELETON HAND in SECRETS OF THE SUPERNATURAL #1 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1952)

It's Halloween, so let's take a look at a rare horror comic book.  How rare?  A near-mint copy of issue #1 reportedly sold for $1,399.  Skeleton Hand in Secrets of the Supernatural was a six-issue title published by American Comics Group from late 1952 to mid-1953; other titles from this publisher included the  much longer lasting Adventures in the Unknown [the first continuous horror-genre comic book; 174 issues],and Forbidden Worlds [145 issues].

This issue contains four main stories:

• "Deathless Immortal" -- "To live forever -- that is the dream of many men, both good and evil!"  Using the power of Black Magic, Largo the stage magician nearly succeeded.  In order to stave off the demons from hell eager for his soul, Largo hypnotizes beautiful dancer Martha Starr to steal her youth -- don't ask.  You know that Largo will get his comeuppance and the winged demons will take him to a place of eternal torture, because even in the realm of the supernatural -- CRIME DOES NOT PAY!
• "Sea of Retribution" -- "James Simon was a smart operator!"  Yes, Simon was going to prison for a few years for selling defective steel plates to shipyards, but when he gets out, he'll have all that lovely cash he had hoarded to keep him cozy for the rest of his life.  what he did not count on was the stranger in ancient garb who came to his cell and released him, taking him through the prison gate to freedom.  The stranger is the ghost of John Paul Jones, and he has brought Simon to one of the Navy ghost ships that sank because of the defective steel Simon had sold.  The crew of that doomed ship is there also...and they are pissed.
• "Death for Hire" -- ""Craig Shultz was dead -- the electric chair had seen to that!"  But there's dead...and there's dead.  Shultz's mobster boss hires a little "professor" to bring Shultz back from the dead, as a zombie!  Zombie Schultz is sent to kill a pesky senator,  but can you really trust a brainless zombie to do a job properly?
• "Monster of the Deep" -- "Ancient epics and sagas are fill with descriptions of horrible monsters that preyed om humans -- but the most awful of all was SCYLLA, the dread monster of the Straits of Messina!"  In this brief tale. a small Italian fishing boat is taken over by a Soviet submarine; the Soviets want to use the boat to take them to shore so they can distribute funds to Communist saboteurs.  But the boat takes them close to Scylla, who, as much as the monster likes to prey on humans, it likes to prey on Communists even more.

Also included are a brief text story, "The Ghost of Company C", and a brief one-page nothing-burger of a horror story, "The Corpse Under the Carpet."

Not the scariest comic book on earth, but perfectly suited for Halloween, which, -- after all -- tends to cater to predictable thrills.  The artwork of okay, but nothing really great, although I found the portrayal of Scylla to be abysmal.  (**sigh**)

Check it out.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=18915

FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy Through 1968, compiled by Donald H. Tuck, in three volumes -- Volume 1: Who's Who, A-L (1974); Volume 2: Who's Who, M-Z (1978); Volume 3:  Miscellaneous (1983)

Science fiction fans are notoriously obsessive, and in the period from the mid-1950s to 1980, perhaps none were more so than Tasmanian industrial manager and bibliographer than Donald H. Tuck (1922-2010).

Shortly after the founding of the first "scientifiction" magazine, Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories, in 1926, young readers began communicating with one another, discussing stories and favorite authors, and joining together to form clubs.  The first science fiction bibliography was a flawed and incomplete pamphlet, appropriately titled Science Fiction Bibliography (1935), published by the US fan group The Science Fiction Syndicate; a similar UK project, British Science-Fiction Bibliography, edited by Douglas W F Mayer for the Science Fiction Association appeared in 1937.  a yet-unpublished bibliography by Ben Abramslon formed the basis of J. O. Bailey's ground-breaking Pilgrims Through Space and Time:  Trends and Patterns in Scientific Utopian Fiction (1949); Abrahamson later self-published his checklist, albeit in a truncated form.  (Abramson, BTW, also published the first edition of Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature.)

The first truly important bibliography of the field was E. F. Bleiler's The Checklist of Fantastic Literature:  A Bibliography of Fantasy, Weird, and Science Fiction Books Published in the English Language (1948).  Bleiler did not differentiate between science fiction and fantasy, and included mainstream authors often overlooked by most science fiction fans, and gave no indication of the content of the books listed.  Despite this, and despite a number of errors, the book remained a pivotal resource for the science fiction fan.  Bradford M. Day added another 3000 titles to Bleiler's tome with his The Supplemental Checklist of Fantastic Literature in 1963.  Another important resource was Joseph H. Crawford's "333":  A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel (1953), which despite being limited to the titular number has proved to be quite valuable.

The stage was then set for Tuck's first bibliography, the self-published A Handbook of Science Fiction and Fantasy (1954; revised and enlarged to two volumes, 1959 -- the revised edition garnering a Special Award from the 1962 Worldcon).  The 400-page 1959 edition contained mush information that had never been previously compiled, and it cleared the path for Tuck's far more ambitious Encyclopedia, whose first volume appeared fifteen years later. 

For much of his bibiliographies, Tuck relied on a world-wide web of science fiction fans, researchers, and correspondent, including Ron Graham (Sidney, Australia), Douglas Harding (Winnepeg, Canada), Dr. Remson T. Schenk (Bangor, Pennsylvania), Piere Versins (Lausanne, Switzerland), Antonio Dupla (Zaragoza, Spain), Jakob Bleymehl (the Saar), Heinz Bingenheimer and family (Berlin), Manfred Alex (Berlin), Franz Rottenstteiner (Austria), Sqam Lundwell, Roland Adlerberth, and Sture Sedolin (all of Sweden), Norio Itoh, Takumi Shibano, and Koichiro A  Noda (all of Tokyo), T. G. L. Cockcroft (Lower Hutt, New Zealand) John C. Nitka (Richmond Hill, New Jersey), Mark Owings (Bronx, New York), Robert Reginald (San Bernardino, California), Roy Hunt (Denver, Colorado), and many others, including editors and writers such as Ted Carnell (London), Forest J. Ackerman, Anthony Boucher, Robert Briney, Basil Davenport, August Derleth, Henry Eichner, Philip Harbottle, and Earl Kemp, as well as many of the reference books mentioned above, plus Donald B. Day's Index to the Science Fiction Magazines (1952).  

As can be seen, Tuck managed to garner a wide range of international support for this project.  And, as with any project of this scope, a few errors of omission and in fact and opinion managed to sneak in.  Still, the scope of the work remains incredible.

Over the years, much of the information has been supplanted and added to by such online resources as ISFDb, the FictionMags Index, and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and The Encyclopedia of Fantasy.  Yet, Tuck's Encyclopedia remains a valuable source of information, and has set a template for others to follow.

Volume 1 contains of 286 pages of double column text covering authors from "Anthony Abbott" to Lord Lytton.  Most entries detail first editions (hardcover, paperback, and English language foreign), with brief description of the works and contents of collections and anthologies; where possible, a description of the author's biography is included.

Volume 2 does the same in 188 pages for authors from J. Cecil Maby (whose 1933 collection By Stygian Waters I'm still trying to locate) to Czech author Stanley Zuber, with an additional 52 pages listing all the books covering in the first two volumes alphabetically.

Volume 3 covers various miscellaneous topics over 389 pages -- Magazines (listings of all known issues, including notable fiction), from A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, to the German publication Zauberkreis SF; Paperbacks, 96 pages, listed by author, from Edwin Abbott's Flatland to Albert Zugsmith & Robert Hill's The Private Lives of Adam and Eve; Paperback Publishers, 74 pages listing all covered books from publishers from Ace Books to A. Zwemmer, Ltd., plus an additional three pagers of "Ephemerals"; Paperback Titles, 37 pages, listing titles from A for Andromeda (Fred Hoyle & John Elliot) to The Zolotov Affair (Robert H. Rimmer); Pseudonyms:  31 pages, listing first, "Pseudonyms/Real Names' ("A., D. E." - M. Dominick to "Zweig, Allen" - Frederik Pohl [fan pseud.]), then "Real Names/Pseudonyms" (Aarons, Edward S. - "Edward Ronns)" to Zinberg, Leonard S. - "Ed Lacy"); Series, Connected Stories, and Sequels: 11 pages (for sories within a given series, the reader is directed to the authors' listings in the first two volumes; i.e., for the "AAA Ace Interplanetary Decontamination" series, see Robert Sheckley's listing); General Selected Material, not necessarily covered elsewhere, including definitions, organizations, publishers, various international publications, an incomplete list of SF and fantasy films, and a listing of selections from the Science Fiction Book Club).

Phew!

I purchased the first two volumes of Tuck's Encyclopedia nearly fifty years ago, and have been using on a regular basis ever since (the third volume had not been ;published then, and I never went back to pick it up.  The binding on my copies is long gone, as is the duct I used to hold the volumes together.  The pages are loose and covered with copious notes and updates, much of which is faded.  But today is my birthday (Yay, me!) and I now entire my 90th decade on this planet (Double yay, me!), so as a birthday treat to myself, I managed to locate pristine copies of all three volumes.

I optimistically look forward to another fifty years of treating myself to these books.

NIGEL KNEALE'S "THE ROAD" (APRIL 27, 2018)

Nigel Kneale (1922-2006), the legendary Manx screenwriter and author, may be best known for creating Professor Bernard Quatermass in 1953 for the BBC, a character who "helped invent popular TV."  A year earlier, Michael Barry was appointed the Head of Drama for BBC Television and Barry spent his entire first year budget hiring Kneale to become his main writer.  In addition to the Quatermass trilogy, Kneale penned such critically acclaimed shows as The Road, The Stone Tape, and The Year of the Sex Olympics (all three scripts were included in the rare and highly collectible The Year of the Sex Olympics and Other Television Plays, 1976), as well as the films Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, and H.M.S. Defiant.  His short story collection, Tomato Cain and Other Stories (1949), won the Somerset Maugham Award.  [SIDE NOTE:  A fantastic collection; if you have a chance to read it, do so; you can thank me later)

The original 1973 television recording of "The Road" is lost, but a 2018 adaptation by Toby Hadoke, and starring Mark Gatiss and Adrian Scarborough, was directed by Charlotte Riches.

Gatiss and Scarborough "star as a philosopher and a scientist investigating ghostly outbreaks in a country wood in 1768.  Neither is quite prepared for the shocking truth that they uncover."

Here's a tale that will add to your Halloween week thrills, and perhaps send a quiver up your bones.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRr32PYrFIg

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY REDUX: RISEN FROM THE GRAVE

 This first appeared on the blog on October 26, 2013.

Erin Roof is eleven years old and in the sixth grade.  Erin likes reading, every type of animal, playing the flute, and soccer.  This summer she built her own boat and got her Captain's license.  She has a great giggle.

RISEN FROM THE GRAVE

by Erin Roof

It was a dark and stormy night.  (I know, how original, right?)

I'm Rosie.  I'm 11 years old.  Last Halloween I was going trick-or-treating with my dad and little brother.  That was the night my life turned upside-down.

Duh duh duuuuuuhhhh...

"Come on, Dad, come on, let's go!" I said impatiently.  I was pacing in front of the door.  "Are you ready yet?"

"Calm down," my dad said.  He told me that a lot.  He was very serious, with short brown hair and green eyes.  He was dressed as Superman for Halloween this year.  He has this theme where he's a new superhero every year.  Last year, he was Batman.  The year before that, he was the Incredible Hulk.  You get the idea.

Anyway, Dad was helping my little brother, George, get into his dinosaur costume.  George loves dinos, so it's no surprise when he shouts, "I want to be a dinosaur!  Roar!" every single year.  He's been a dinosaur for all six years of his life.  We just paint the costume different colors.  This year it was red.  George was trying not to let his bangs stick out of his dino hat, but he was having no luck.

I was a tree this year.  I love nature, so every year I'm something from the great outdoors.  Last year, I was a rock.  I like this costume better.

Finally, FINALL, dad finished with George's costume.  "Ok, ok, come on," he said.  "Are you sure you still want to go out?  It's raining pretty hard."

"Yes, Dad, we have to. It's Halloween, COME ON!"  I exclaimed. I pushed him out the door and took George's hand.  Then we walked into the night.

A lot of houses didn't have lights on.  I didn't care.  I just went farther than usual to get candy.  We didn't see any other trick-or-treaters, which was understandable, since it was storming badly.

"Rosie, are we done yet?  George is getting tired," Dad said.  He was carrying George now, and they were both panting heavily.

"Just one more street, Dad.  Please?"  I asked.  "Then we'll go right back."

"Do you even know where we are?" Dad asked.  

"Of course," I replied.

We turned up the next street.  There was only one light on, at the very end of the road.  We hurried to the house.

It was a huge, old, Victorian-style house.  It was ancient too, with peeling paint and shattered windows.  But the light was on.  I knocked on the door.

We heard footsteps coming towards the door.  I held my breath, wondering about the people who lived here.  Were they as ancient as the house?

The door opened, and an old woman emerged.  She had knotted gray hair, as if it hadn't been brushed in a year.  Her hands were wrinkled, her fingers long and thin.  When she opened her mouth, there were exactly two moldy yellow teeth.

"Why, hello there!" the woman said.  "How nice to see you!  You're the first trick-or-treaters all night!  Why don't you come in for a while?"

I didn't have the courage to say yes.  Or no.  Instead, I screamed and ran, my dad and brother fleeing after me.

We stopped running when we were hopelessly lost.

"Dad, who was that?  Do you know her?" I questioned.

"No idea...don't have a clue," he panted.

"Do you know how to get home?"

"Still...no idea."

Our candy was getting soaked, so George and I left it on the side of the road.  It was really storming now, with thunder and lightning.  I knew we had to get home fast.

But then, something caught my eye.

"Dad, look, the graveyard!  Remember. where Grandpa Bartholomew was buried?  Don't they always have people guarding it?  They can help us get home!"

"Are you sure?" Dad asked. He was breathing normally now.

"Yes, come on!  We have to get home!" I exclaimed.  I dragged my family into yet another bad plan.

The cemetery was just another normal graveyard, with the occasional tree or bush, and lots of graves.  Grandpa Bartholomew's grave was a big stone that said, "Bartholomew Smith, June 1908-June 2009."  He lived exactly 101 years, which I thought was impressive.

"Here we are," I said.  "Now where are the guards?"

"Maybe it's too wet, George said.  Helpful, right?

Suddenly a big clap of thunder shook the ground.  Lightning shot out of the sky and struck Grandpa's grave.  The stone began to tremble, harder and harder, until something stepped out of the grave.

The figure was see-through, pale, and the air around it was freezing cold.  When I turned around, I gasped in shock.  I knew that face.  It was...

"Grandpa Bartholomew?!?!" I exclaimed.  I was cared out of my mind.  But I was frozen in shock.

"Hello Rosie.  You've grown," my grandpa said.  His voice was like nails on a chalkboard.  "And George.  How cute."

"Ummm..."  I was trying to get my thoughts straight.  "Aren't you like, dead or something?"

"Yes.  Thank you for noticing.  But since lightning struck my grave, I was awakened.  Now I am a ghost.  And I will be, until someone figures out how to put me back!  Mwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

That laugh got me.  I unfroze myself and screamed, "Run!"

But poor George wasn't fast enough.  When his little legs started working, Grandpa lunged forward and caught my brother by the leg.  As soon as Grandpa's ghostly fingers touched him, George disappeared!

"Grandpa!  What did you do?  Where did he go?"  I shrieked.

"Little dino man is a ghost now!  He knows how it feels!"

I heard George scream.  Then I heard his footsteps running away in fright.

"Rosie.  Run.  NOW," my dad commanded.  We both [printed down the street, followed by my invisible brother.

That night, I lay on my bed in defeat.

We searched for George for hours.  But no luck.  He was invisible.  Finding him would be nearly impossible.

I never thought I'd get to sleep.  But I closed my eyes and drifted off.

The next thing I knew, I was being shaken awake by my dad.  "Come on.  Got to go to school."

I was immediately awake.  "Umm...in case you haven't noticed, George is now an invisible ghost, and is currently running around town screaming his head off.  And you want me to go to school?"

Dad nodded cheerfully.  "Yup.  Pretty much."  I realized he was trying to stay positive.

"Fine," I grumbled.  I dragged myself out of bed.

I got ready for school.  I walked to my bus stop.  My friends came too, but I ignored them.  I was looking for my brother.

The  bus came, I got on, we went to school, yadda, yadda, yadda.  It all came in a blur.  But when I was in math, staring at my test, I heard a whisper, "Rosie!"

I looked around.  Who was whispering my name?  "Rosie!"

Suddenly I recognized the voice.  George!

"Um, Mr. Eraser?"  I'm not kidding, that was his name.  "I have to puke, so..."

"Go, go!" Mr. Eraser commanded.

I got up and ran lout of the room.  I heard footsteps behind me.  "George! Where have you been?"

'Well, I found my way to the school and slept over here.  The cafeteria has really good food."

"George!" I scolded.   "Wait, where are you?"

"Who cares where I am?" George cried.  "Am I ever going to be normal again?  I'm still in my dinosaur costume because I can't get it off!"

"Come here," I said, and felt around until I located him.  I started taking off his costume.  I told him about how long we had searched for him the night before.

"You really did that for me?" he sniffled.

"Yup. Come on, let's go home."

I played with invisible George for the rest of the day.  We played board games, card games, word games, everything.

When dad got home, I told him about what had happened today.  He didn't seem mad that I skipped school.  He just cared about George.

Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding light.  When it dimmed, I could see something...someone standing there.  It was Grandpa Bartholomew.

"Here I am again," he cackled.  "Are you ready to become a ghost like Georgie?"

He lunged for me.  Before I could cry out, my brother leaped in front of me.  Grandpa grabbed George again, and George was visible, back to normal.  I could see him!

George ran.  I fled after him.  I heard Dad coming too.  We ran out the door and into the yard.  We looked for Grandpa, but couldn't find him.

"We need a plan," I gasped, out of breath.

"We can't live like this." Dad agreed.  "But, George, you're back."

We all hugged George in a giant group hug.

"Wait!  I have an idea!" I exclaimed.  "Grandpa's grave was struck by lighting and he came back as a ghost.  So...if he gets struck again, he might go away!"

"Please, anything," Dad said.  "He's been haunting me all day."

"All we need are thunderstorms," I said.  We looked up in the sky.  Dark gray  louds were rolling in.

"Tonight.  At the graveyard.  He'll be there.  I know it."

Waiting was torture.  A minute felt like an hour.  An hour felt like a day.  When it was time to go, it seemed like a year.

We ran to the grave around 6:00 pm.  It was AGES before there was another flash of lightning.  Grandpa Bartholomew appeared in front of us.

"Ha ha!" he laughed.  "Here I am again!  You're so stupid, coming outside in a thunderstorm."

Thunder crackled.  Lightning flashed and shot out of the sky onto Grandpa.  His mouth opened n confusion. Then he dissolved into sparks.

I let out my breath.  I didn't even realize I had been holding it.

"Rosie," dad said, "you saved us!  His ghost will never bother us again!"

Just as he was saying that, lightning struck the grave again, and it started trembling, harder and harder.

Duh duh duuuuuuhhhh

___________________________

UPDATE:  Erin is no longer the cute little eleven-year-old with a great giggle.  She is now a beautiful woman, talented and smart, with a mind of her own.  She can still giggle, but alternates that with knowing smiles and a fierce sense of humor.  I'm not sure if she will forgive for reporting her juvenilia on Halloween week, but I love her anyway.

UNDERAPPRECIATED STINKER: CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (1986)

Troma Entertainment has been scraping the bottom of the B-movie barrel for 52 years and is now known mainly for its horror comedies, full of violence, sex, gore, laughable monsters, and poor production values.  They are the ones who created The Toxic Avenger, Poultrygeist:  Night of the Chicken Dead, Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, and Surf Nazis Must Die.  The company has had many financial problems, yet they have retained a certain cult status along the way.  You may kick yourself after watching a Troma film, and perhaps hide your head in shame because you enjoyed it in all its cheesy gloriousness,

The Class of Nuke 'Em High may well be the studio's second most successful film, following The Toxic Avenger.  It had our unsuccessful sequels, proving that you can't capture lightning in a bottle more than once.  At one time, it was the highest-selling VHS release for Troma.

Tromaville High School, New Jersey, sits next to a  nuclear power plant.  When a radioactive leak occurs, the plant owner, Mr. Paley, covers it up.  The waste reaches a drinking fountain in the school, killing a student.  Some of the school's honor society, have turned into [psychopaths from the radioactive waste, and form a vicious gang called "The Cretins," and harvest some marijuana affected by the waste.  This has an aphrodisiac effect and one girl, Chrissie, becomes pregnant...but not for long; she spits out a tiny creature into a restroom toilet.  The creature travels through the pipes until it comes to rest on a pile of radioactive sludge.  It grows.  And grows.  There's a killing spree.  And a takeover of the school by The Cretins, who also kidnap Chrissie, planning to kill her in front of her boyfriend.  and there's lasers.  and explosions.  And a lot of characters die.  Although the school is totally destroyed, we learn that it will be closed temporarily for "repairs."

Here's the link.  Try not to watch it with your sainted grandmother.

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