Small House of Everything

Small House of Everything

Thursday, February 13, 2025

FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE LOST GET-BACK BOOGIE

 The Lost Get-Back Boogie by James Lee Burke  (1986)

From the author's website:

"Korean War veteran Iry Paret is trying to put the past behind him, having just been released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola after serving time for manslaughter.  He heads west to begin a new life in Montana on the family ranch of Buddy Riordan, a friend from prison.  Life in Montana, however, is far from serene.  Buddy's father is waging a one-man campaign to shut down the local pulp mill that is devastating the environment.  Tensions are growing, and so is the level of power the Riordans and Iry are up against.  Meanwhile, Iry begins falling for Buddy's estranged wife. and soon his loyalty to his friend ass well as his determination to stay on the straight and narrow are put to the test."

The Lost Get-Back Boogie -- the title comes from the name of a song that Iry, a country musician, has been trying unsuccessfully to write ever since he had been imprisoned -- marked a turning point in Burke's not-quite fledgling career.  The author had gone 11 years without having one of his books printed in hardback, and the manuscript had been rejected 111 times.  When the novel was finally printed by Kouisiana State University Press it was critically acclaimed and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.  From that point, recognition and success followed, and in the following year, Burke published his first novel in a series of wildly successful books about Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux.

The Lost Get-Back Boogie has everything on has come to expect from Burke.  Lyrical, haunting prose.  An unabashed love for the beauty of nature, both in Louisiana and Montana.  A deep appreciation of the music of the people.  A sympathetic look at society's underdogs, unable to fight against (or to even understand) the hold the powerful have over them.  The pride and determination of people caught in society's trap, and sometimes caught in the trap of alcohol and drugs.  Flawed characters trying to do right and sometimes succeeding.  The casual and unthinking violence and degradation that can be part and parcel of the justice system.  But through it all, there is hope of a light at the end of the tunnel of a difficult and problematic journey.

Iry Paret is a person damaged by his own pride and arrogance, and damaged further by a difficult childhood, a war that seemed to suck the humanity out of him, and a crime that did not reflect his true nature, and finally by this betrayal of his best friend.  Nonetheless, his nobility shines through, as does James Lee Burke's nobility.

And in the end, we can hope that Iry's song, 'The Lost Get-Back Boogie" may finally get written.

Highly recommended.  

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE: TIN BOX (1934)

When I was very young, for reasons I still cannot explain, I was enamored with Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie.  The fact that I could not explain how Annie was able to see without pupil in her eyes bothered me, but did not put me off from the plucky little 10-year-old redhead.  I eventually grew out of that stage -- perhaps later than I should have.

Little Orphan Annie, the comic strip created by Harold Gray, debuted in the Daily News of New York on August 5, 1924, and continued until June 13, 2010.  the strip followed Annie, her dog Sandy ("Arf!"}, her benefactor "Daddy" Warbucks, and Warbucks' cohorts, Punjab and the Asp, as well as  Mr. Am ("a bearded sage, millions of years old, whose supernatural powerss included bringing the dead back to life") in a thinly veiled  right-wing landscape that excoriated labor unions, the New Deal (damn that government interference in private enterprise,, anyway!), and communism and socialism.  (At one time, Daddy Warbucks died briefly from despair at the 1944 election of FDR; the story was retrofitted in 1945 (at the time of Roosevelt's death) to bring Daddy Warbucks back from a "coma.")

Annie became extremely popular.  a 1937 poll raced her as the most popular comic strip character of her time.  Annie appeared in a radio series and in two films in the 1930s, a noted Broadway musical with two sequel musicals and a "junior" stage version, three film adaptations of the Broadway musical, two direct-to-video films, an animated Christmas film, various book collections beginning in 1926 and continuing to multivolume reprints of The Complete Little Orphan Annie, beginning in 2008.  And there have been ties-ins, toys, premiums, and other merchandising of the character over the years, as well as various Big Little Books and other children's volumes.  Annie was even honored with a US stamp.

Although the strip ended in 2010 with an unresolved cliff-hanger, Annie still lives on.  Annie and the gang have made a series of guest appearances in the Dick Tracy comic strip since 2013, the last appearance (for now) being in 2019.

The Little Orphan Annie radio show began on Chicago's WGN in 1930 (exact date uncertain) and moved to the NBC Blue Network on April 6, 1931, airing until April 26, 1943 as a fifteen-minute late afternoon show.   In 1931, coast-to-coast networks had not been established, so the program used two different casts -- one in Chicago and one in San Francisco.  Shirley bell played Annie in Chicago and Floy Margaret Hughes played her on the West Coast; when coast-to-coast networking became available in 1933, the Chicago cast was used.

The show was the first radio early afternoon children's series \, and proved to be extremely po;uar with the younger set.  The show took place in the rural community of Tompkin's Corners, where Annie had been adopted by the Silo Family.  Annie, aided by Sandy and her young friend Joe Corntassle (played in later episodes by Mel Torme), took on the evildoers n her small town.. Later, she expanded her reach by fighting evil throughout the world, aided by other crime-fighting children.

Brought to you by Ovaltine.  The familiar theme song was sung, variously, by Pierre Andre (who was also the show's announcer) or Lawrence Salerno (a WGN staff baritone).  Leonard Slavo played the organ.  Among the writers for the show were crime novelist, pulp writer, and scriptwriter "Day Keene" (Gunard Hjertstedt), the head writer for Little Orphan Annie and Kitty Keene, Inc., and Ferrin Fraser, who co-wrote five books with noted animal hunter and collector Frank Buck.

Enjoy this little fifteen-minute snippet from the adventures of Little Orphan Annie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw3sSoM63eQ

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: WHITE-MAN-DEVIL

 "White-Man-Devil" by "Murray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins)  (from Wide World Adventure, June 1930; reprinted in World Stories #28, July 1930; included in Leinster's collection The Trail of Blood, 2017)


This is how the story begins:

"this is the true story of how Makwa got killed and why Kittredge swore off, and all other narratives are inaccurate.  It is current report that old Makwa was blown into several pieces when H.M.S. Alfred shelled the village on account of his indulged appetite for long pig.  You will told that in Tulagi, and Port Moresby also, if you ask about him, and a great many people believe it.  But, as a matter of fact, when the Alfred shelled the village it accounted for exactly six pigs and the village idiot.  Makwa and his people knew the ship for a faka ha'ita and dived for the bush before she opened fire.  And, of course, when she steamed away they came back, surveyed the damage, ate the six pigs with an excellent appetite, and regretfully refrained from eating the village idiot for religious reasons.  They considered themselves amply repaid for the damage done when they found four 4.7 shells which had struck soft earth and failed to explode.  They were forthwith preserved as remarkable magic in the devil-devil house.

"The damage done by the bombardment has been exaggerated, you see.  After the shelling, Makwa continued to rule the village, painstakingly keep on good terms with the local devils, scratch his populous head -- and plan devilment exactly as before.  In fact he waxed in reputation, authority, duplicity, and depravity until Kittridge rolled ashore dead drunk in a whale boat."

And this is how the story ends:

"This is, then the first time anybody has ever told the true story of how Makwa got killed and why Kittridge swore off.  All other narratives are inaccurate."

Along the way we learn that Kittridge, acting only as a drunk could do, staggered into the village of natives too startled to object, went up to Makwa, rubbed his bushy head with his hand, and called him "a good boy."  Makwa, who had seventeen proven murders to his name (and seventeen heads to prove it), had bribed the devil-devil man to place a curse on anyone who touched his head; anyone who did so would immediately shrivel up and die -- which allowed Makwa to continue his rule by fear.  To have his head touched by anyone, especially a white man who did not shrivel up when ding so, was a great threat to Makwa's power.  Plus, a white man's head had only one proper place -- separated from the body and hanging in Makwa's hut.  Kittridge was knocked unconscious and woke finding himself caged and scheduled to become long pig.  Now sober and sure he was about to die, Kittridge had to bluff his way to freedom, knowing that the odds of being able to pull off the bluff were heavily against him.

"White-Man-Devil" is an entertaining, colorful tale that displays Leinster's knack for jungle adventure stories at his greatest.  Those who know Leinster for his science fiction -- or perhaps westerns -- only are in for a treat.  A powerful tale difficult to put down.

As with so many of Leinster's stories, there are also some memorable observations.  One of my favorites in this story displays an enjoyable cynicism:  "And no man's religion works when it requires him to forego riches."

Monday, February 10, 2025

OVERLOOKED FILM: ODD MAN OUT (1947)

 Elizabeth Foxwell, at The Bunburyist, reminds us of the 50th anniversary of novelist and screenwriter R. C. Sherriff's (1896-1975) death.   Sherriff wrote his first play (A Hitch in the Proceedings, 1921) to help his rowing club to buy a new boat.  His seventh play, Journey's End, 1927, starred a young Lawrence Olivier and had a two-year run; the 2007 revival won both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk award; Sherriff novelized the play in 1930.  Among his other novels was The Hopkins Manuscript (1939), a science fiction novel about the cataclysm when the moon collides with the Earth; critics were quick to point out the influence of H. G. Wells, but neglected to mention similar works such as Hector Servadac by Jules Verne, o the more recent When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer.  As a screenwriter, Sherriff wrote or co-wrote many of today's classic films, including The Invisible Man, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (nominated for an Academy Award), The Four Feathers, That Hamilton Woman, Stand By for Action, No Highway in the Sky, The Dam Busters (nominated for a BAFTA Award), and The Night My Number Came Up (nominated for a BAFTA award).

One of his most celebrated films was 1947's Odd Man Out, directed by Carroll Reed and starring James Mason. Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, and Kathleen Ryan.  The movie won the first Bafta Award for Best British Film, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best film Editing.  The film, set in Belfast, follows a wounded Nationalist leader attempting to evade police following a botched robbery.  the film eerily prefigures Orson Welles's 1949 movie The Third Man.  It was based on the 1945 novel by F. L. Green; the source novel was later used for the 1969 Sidney Poitier movie The Lost Man.

The film has been called "Reed's masterpiece."   Critic Marc Connelly wrote the movie was "hailed as a masterpiece by many critics and a box office hit -- at least in Europe, where Reed had gauged the mood of postwar despondency with caliper-like accuracy."

Enjoy.


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

Sunday, February 9, 2025

BITS & PIECES

Openers:  The girl screamed once, only the once.

Even that, however, was a minor slip on his part.  That might have been the end of everything, almost before it had begun.  Neighbours inquisitive, the police called in to investigate.  No, that would not do at all.  Next time he would tie the gag a little tighter, just a little tighter, just that little bit more secure.

Afterwards, he went to the drawer and took from it a ball of string.  He used a pair of sharp nail-scissors, the kind girls always seem to use, to snip off a length of string of about six inches, then he put the ball of string and the scissors back into the drawer.  A car revved up outside, and he went to the window, upsetting a pile of books on the floor as he did so.  the car, however, had vanished.  He tied a not in the string, not any special kind of know, just a knot.  There was an envelope lying ready on the sideboard.

-- Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin  (1987)


I recently streamed all four season of Rebus, both the John Hannah and the Ken Stott versions.  The two actor appeared to playing very different characters but both portrayals were interesting.  One of my failings ( and I have many, sadly) is that I have never read a book by Ian Rankin, one of the most celebrated crime writers of our time.  To remedy that, I picked up Knots and Crosses, the first Rebus novel.  It was the second novel published by Rankin and the first of 25 novels, 27 short stories, one novella, and a non-fiction book about the character

Knots and Crosses, written as a standalone novel, introduces Rebus as a Detective Sergeant in the Edinburgh police department.  He is divorced with a pre-teen daughter.  His late father had been a stage magician, as is his nearly-estranged brother.  To get away from family life, Rebus joined the army, where he performed extremely well.  He then transferred to the elite SAS, whose training included sadistic torture that broke him.  He left the SAS and joined the police, but his experiences with the SAS followed him and adversely affected his life.  Now he is bitter, disillusioned, and drinks too much.   Rebus is apt to go his own way, even in the regimented police force.

There is a child serial killer at work in Edinburgh, one who strangles young girls without molesting them.  At the same time Rebus has been receiving anonymous envelopes, each with a cryptic message and a string tied in a knot; later envelopes contain tiny wooden crosses held together with string.  Rebus plays little attention to them.  With virtually every other member of the police, Rebus is more focused on the child killer, whose victims appear to have absolutely no common link.

In the meantime, an ambitious journalist has tied Rebus's brother to drug running and also suspects Rebus of being involved with drugs and even of being the serial killer himself.

Rebus stumbles across the common link between the victims and it proves that the killer -- whoever he or she is -- has a personal vendetta against Rebus...and that the next victim will be Rebus's own daughter.  Rebus may be too late to save his daughter -- she has been kidnapped.  Can Rebus find the killer in time to save her?  There are no guarantees in this dark book.

Knots and Crosses was followed by a second Rebus novel, Hide and Seek, four years later.  Over time, Rebus becomes a Detective Inspector and refuses a promotion to Detective Chief Inspector.  Eventually he retires, but continues consulting for the police.  Through it all, Rebus remains a deeply flawed character, struggling to overcome past mistakes.

Sir Ian Rankin (b. 1960; named an OBE in 2002; knighted in 2022) has been awarded the CWa Dagger for Short Story (twice), the CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction, and the CWA Lifetime Achievement Award (the Cartier Diamond Dagger), as well as an Edgar Award for Best Novel (and also short-listed once), Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, Finland's Whodunnit Prize, France's Grand Prix du Roman Noir and Grand Prix de Litterature Policier, Germany's Deutsche Kimi Prize, the Edinburgh Award. the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Author of the Year, Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award, Specsavers National Book award for Outstanding Achievement, the RBA Prize for Crime Writing, the Chandler-Fulbright Award, as well as being elected to the prestigious Detection Club, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Royal Society of Literature.  He has been a UNESCO City of Literature Visiting Professor and has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow.  He has received honorary doctorates from five Universities.  He has released recordings, a graphic novel, and has written a libretto for an opera.




Incoming:

  • "Philip Atlee" (James Atlee Phillips), The Paper Pistol Contract.  The fourth of thirty-nine Joe Gall Secret Agent novels.  "Meet Joe Gall...The Nullifier.  He kills by special contract only.  In the great, grim game of espionage, he is the master freelance counterspy, the cold deck artist, the enforcer, the ruthless take-out man who stops at nothing.  His mission is to always win -- however he does it.  If subtlety fails, he overturns the table and shouts Earthquake1   Joe Gall is in Tahiti, where the ancient rites of love are ever new, and where the French are planning an atomic test.  The Contract is to sabotage the test -- and then to throw the blame on the Red Chinese.  The Stakes:  survival or annihilation."  Phillips also published several novels under his own name and was the co-writer of the screenplay for the Robert Mitchum vehicle Thunder Road.
  • Jay Bonasinger, Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead:  Search and Destroy.  Television tie-in, an original novel based on the television series, and part of the Woodbury saga.  "For many months, the plague has taken its toll on the living.  Nerves are frayed.  Resources are dwindling.   And the dead still refuse to stay dead.  But what Lilly Caul and her ragtag band of survivors discover one evening, returning home to Woodbury after a hard day of scavenging in the hinterlands, is the worst-case scenario:  the town has been brutally and inexplicably attacked by unknown assailants, and all of the town's children have been kidnapped.  Now Lily and her team are launched on a desperate rescue mission., which leads from the walker-infested rural wastelands and into the ruins of post=plague Atlanta.  But that they find there, festering behind the walls of the derelict medical center, will not only change Lilly's life forever, but will very likely change the course of the plague itself. "  See also Robert Kirkwood, below.
  • "Max Brand" (Frederick Faust), Peter Blue.  Collection of three western novellas: "Speedy's Mare" (Western Story Magazine, March 12, 1932, one of nine stories written about Speedy, clever young hero who could outwit even the deadliest of men without the use of a gun; "His Fight for a Pardon" (Western Story Magazine, June 27, 1925 as by "George Owen Baxter", features an outlaw from a poor background facing off against a gentleman outlaw born of privilege in an attempt to win a pardon; "Peter Blue, One-Man Gun" (Far West Illustrated, June 1927), in which Blue, an infamous gunman, becomes a redeemed outlaw.
  • Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities.  A novel or a work of meditation or a poem -- take your pick.  "In a garden sit the ancient Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo -- Tartar emperor and Venetian traveler.  The mood is sunset.  Prospero is holding up for the last time his magic wand; Kublai Khan has sensed  the end of his empire, of his cities, of himself."  also, Mr. Palomar.  A novel (or, perhaps, a collection of short stories0, at times visual, at times anthropological, at times speculative.  Both books translated by William Weaver.
  • Orson Scott Card, Hidden Empire. Science fiction, sequel to Empire.  "At the close of Empire, political scientist and government advisor Averell Torrent has maneuvered himself into the presidency of the United States in the aftermath of the devastating insurrection and civil war.  but the truth is, he engineered that war, and becoming president was just the next step in his plan.  Now that he has complete power, he has two goals:  to expand the american imperial power around the world, and to control or silence the very few people who know that he was behind the assassination of the last elected president."
  • Max Allan Collins & terry Beatty, Ms. Tree:  Fallen Tree.  The sixth and final volume of the Ms. Tree comic book adventures.  The hell with Rico -- Mother of God.  Is this the end of Ms. Tree?
  • Glen Cook, She Is the Darkness.  Fantasy, Book Two of Glimmering Stone, and the seventh book in the Black Company series.  "The wind winds and howls with bitter breath.  Lightning snarls and barks.  Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone.  Even shadows are afraid.  At the heart of the plain stands a vast, grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory.  From the heart of the fastness comes a great deep slow beat like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence.  Death is eternity.  Eternity is stone.  Stone is silent.  Stone cannot speak but stone remembers.  so begins the next movement of the Glittering Stone...The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time give him a perspective like no other.  Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are everflowing with trust for each other.  Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of them all."  
  • Clive Cussler, with Paul Kemprecos, White Death.  A Kurt Austin adventure from the NUMA Files.  "A ruthless corporation is about to take control of the seas.  For those who oppose them, there is White Death...This is a mission for Kurt Austin and the NUMA team."  I have mentioned before that I am more of fan of Paul Kemprecos than of Clive Cussler.
  • Ken Goddard, Balefire, Suspense thriller.  "Huntington Beach, Southern California:  A quiet haven of suburbia that becomes the scene of a series of brutal, unexplained killings that have stunned the local citizens -- and confused and angered the police -- because the killings are aimed at them.  Detective Sergeant Walter Anderson:  Commander of the homicide unit, experienced and unafraid, who will soon learn the true meaning of fear.  Detective Rudy Hernandez:  Dedicated homicide investigator and devoted father, who finds himself torn between protecting his family and defending his city.  Brian Sheffield and Meiko Harikawa:  supervisor of the Huntington Beach crime lab and his forensic-scientist lover, who discover  the deadly secret behind the attacks and rush to stop the madness.  But they'd better hurry.  Because the murders aren't random, the killers aren't locals...and it's not just one little town that's at stake, but the security and peace of an entire nation."
  • Jason Henderson, Highlander:  The Element of Fire.  Tie-in; the first of nine novels and one anthology by various authors based on the television series.  "Centuries ago, the immortal pirate Khordas vowed to destroy MacLeod.  Evil and insane Khordas delights in burning his victims inside their homes and ships, while he loots the pyres from which he alone can emerge.  Nantucket, 1897.  Now on an anniversary of blood, this undying monster springs an infernal trap around the Highlander.  But the pirate doesn't want merely to kill MacLeod.  Unless stopped, Khodas will sear to cinders everything -- and everyone -- the Highlander holds dear..."  I liked the original movie, but the film franchise immediately jumped the shark.  Then came the television series, which started off nicely, but soon devolved  into parody.  I wonder how the tie-in series fared.
  • Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, The Walking Dead:  Rise of the Governor.  Tie-inb novel, the first  in a series exploring the origins of fan-favorite characters from The Walking Dead universe.  Here, we learn " how the Governor became the man he was, and what drove him to such extremes."
  • "Murray Leinster"  (Will F. Jenkins), Masters of Darkness.  Collection of the four stories about detective Hines and super-villain Preston, who uses super-science to plunge the world into darkness.  The stories -- "The Darkness on Fifth Avenue," "The City of the Blind," "The Storm That Had to Be Stopped," and "The Man who Put Out the Sun" -- first appeared in Argosy, 1929-1930, and helped launch Leinster's long career in science fiction.
  • Christopher Morley, Parnassus on Wheels.  The classic novel.  "[T]he story of a marvelous man, small in stature, wiry as a cat, Olympic in personality.  Roger Mifflin is part pixie, part sage, part noble savage, and all God's creature.  With his traveling book wagon, named Parnassus, he moves through the New England countryside of 1915 on an itinerant mission of enlightenment.  Mifflin's delight in books and authors (if not publishers) is infectious.  With his singular philosophy and bright eyes, he comes to represent the heart and soul of the book world."   The companion to this novel is The Haunted Bookshop.  Morley was also the author of Thunder on the Left and Kitty Foyle.
  • David Morrell, two novels,  The Covenant of the Rose:  "For two thousand years a hidden conflict has been waged.  Now it is bursting into the open-- in a pitched battle over the very future of the planet...In the Amazon and in Africa, from oil spills to animal slaughter, the earth is being defiled, and two covert armies are locked in mortal conflict -- with a woman reporter caught in the middle.  Drawn into the mysterious disappearance of a grey-eyed stranger and his horrific murder by fire, Tess Drake and a veteran New York City police officer follow the trail of blood from Manhattan to Washington to the ancient caverns of Europe.  hunted by both sides, fighting for her life, Tess races toward the dark heart of a secret that will rock the world..."  Also, The League of Night and Fog, the third novel in the Abrlard Sanction trilogy  "They were once master assassins, Saul and Drew -- lethal weapons who dealt death with icy efficiency.  Today they are silent warriors.  Sick of the bloodshed.  Penitent.  But still potent.  Now, for the first time, their paths will cross.  Comrades in killing, they must join forces against a treacherous power from the past.  This will be their most crucial assignment.  It could also be their last."
  • "J. D. Robb" (Nora Roberts), five more books in the eve Dallas "...In Death" series.  Ceremony in Death, number 4 in the series:  "Conducting a top-secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground.  She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties.  But when a dead body is placed outside of her home, Eve takes the warning personally.  With her husband, Rourke, watching her every move. Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career.  Every step she takes makes her question her own beliefs of right and wrong -- and brings her closer to a confrontation  with humanity's most seductive form of evil."  Conspiracy in Death, number 8 in the series:  "With the precision of a surgeon, a serial killer preys on the most vulnerable souls of the world's city streets.  the first victim, a sidewalk sleeper, found dead in New York City.  No bruises, no signs of struggle, Just laser-perfect fist-sized hole where his heart had once been.  Detective Eve Dallas is assigned to investigate.  But in the het of a cat-and-mouse game with the killer, Dallas's job is suddenly on the line.  Now her hands are tied...between a struggle for justice -- and a fight for her career."  Judgment in Death, number 11 in the series:  In an uptown strip joint, a cop is found bludgeoned to death.  The weapon's a baseball bat.  The motive's a mystery.  It's a case of serious overkill that pushes Eve Dallas straight into overdrive.  Her investigation uncovers a private club that's more than a hot spot.  Purgatory's a last chance for atonement where everyone is judged.  Where your ultimate fate depends on your most intimate sins.  And where one cop's hidden secrets are about to plunge innocent souls into vice-ridden damnation..."  Kindred in Death, number 29 in the series:  "A recently promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return early from their vacation.  Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene awaiting their arrival.  Deena, their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind, had been brutally murdered in her bedroom.  Her body shows signs of trauma that horrifies even the toughest of cops, including Lieutenant Eve Dallas.  As evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team believe they are about to arrest the perpetrator.  unknown to them, someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities.  Overconfidence can leave to careless mistakes .  For eve Dallas, one mistake is all she needs to serve justice."  And, Brotherhood in Death, number 42 in the series:  "Dennis Mira has had two unpleasant surprises.  First, he learned that his cousin Edward was secretly meeting with a real estate agent about their late grandfather's magnificent  SoHo brownstone, despite a promise they each had made to keep it in the family.  then, when he arrived at the house to confront Edward, he got a blunt object to the back of the head.  Luckily Dennis is married to charlotte Mira, the NYPSC's top profiler and a good friend of Lieutenant Eve Dallas.  When the two women arrive on the scene, he explains that the last thing he saw before he was knocked out was Edward in a chair, bruised and bloody.  And when he came to, his cousin was gone.  With the room cleaned up and the security disks removed, there's nothing but a few traces left behind for forensics to analyze.  A former lawyer, judge, and senator, Edward Mira has mingled with the elite and crossed paths with criminals, making enemies on a regular basis.  Like so many politicians, he has also made some very good friends behind closed -- and locked -- doors.  But a badge and a billionaire husband can get Eve access to places others can't go, and she intends to shine some light on the dirty deals and dark motives behind the disappearance of a powerful man, the family discord over a multimillion-dollar piece of real estate...and a new case that no one saw coming."  Kevin Tipple has been lauding the praises of this series for some while, so I've begun to pick up the books when I come across them;  I hope to start reading them this year.  The sixtieth novel in the series, Blooded in Death, is due out this month.
  • John Saul, Brainchild.  Another horror/suspense novel by Saul in which very little good happens to a child.  "Alex Lonsdale was one of the most popular kids in La Paloma, California.  Intil the horrifying car accident.  Until a brilliant doctor's medical miracle brought him back from the brink of death.  Now, Alex seems the same.  But in his eyes there is blankness.  I his heart there is coldness. If his parents, his friends, his girlfriend, could see inside his brain, inside his dreams,  they would be terrified.  One hundred years ago in La Paloma, a terrible deed was done.  A cry for vengeance pierced the night.  The evil still lives.  that vengeance still waits.  Waits for Alex Lonsdale.  Waits for the...BRAINCHILD."   First rule of literary survival:  Never be a kid in a John Saul novel.
  • Thomas E. Sniegoski, the first five (of seven) novels in The Fallen YA fantasy series about a young man who is the son of a mortal and an angel.  The Fallen 1:  omnibus volume of the first two books in the series, The Fallen and Leviathan.  "On his eighteenth birthday, Aaron begins to hear strange voices and is convinced he is going insane.  But having moved from foster home to foster home, Aaron doesn't know whom he can trust.  He wants to confide in the cute girl in class, but fears she'll confirm he's crazy.  Then a mysterious man begins following Aaron.  He knows about Aaron's troubled past and his new powers.  And he has a message for Aaron:  As the son of a mortal and an angel, Aaron has been chosen to redeem the Fallen.  Aaron tries to dismiss the news and resist his supernatural abilities.  But he must accept his newfound heritage -- and quickly.  For the dark powers are gaining strength, and are hell-bent on destroying him.  The Fallen 2: omnibus volume of the third and fourth books in the series, Aerie and Reckoning.  "Aaron's senior year has been anything but typical.  Half angel and half human, he has been charged to reunite the Fallen with Heaven.  But the leader of the Dark Powers is determined to destroy Aaron -- and all hope of angelic reconciliation.  Struggling to harness the incredible force within him, Aaron trains for the ultimate battle.  With the Dark Powers gaining in strength, their clash may come sooner than he expects.  and everyone who's ever mattered to Aaron is now in grave danger.  Aaron must protect the girl he loves and rescue the only family he's ever known.  Because if he can't save them from the dark Powers, how can he hope to save the Fallen?"   The Fallen 3: standalone volume of the fifth book in the series, End of Days, packaged to conform with the earlier two volumes.  "The war between Heaven and Hell rages on.  Aaron, half angel and half human, commands the Fallen in their quest to protect humanity.  But evil forces gain strength at every turn.  And lurking somewhere in the shadows is Archangel Gabriel's instrument with the power to call down the End of Days.  Aaron draws confidence from the girl he loves as he struggles to make peace as Lucifer's son."  -- [Whoa  Didn't expect that revelation!] -- "These are desperate times, and Aaron knows the Fallen will needs to forge new, unlikely alliances to survive.  With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Aaron will stop at nothing to defend civilization -- and the girl who holds his heart.  Even if it means facing Hell's darkest demons."  Sniegoski has written a number of fantasy novels, comic books, and comic-related works; one of his most popular series deals with another angel, Remy Chandler, who gave up Heaven to live on Earth and is now a private investigator.






Cream Cheese Brownies:  So the Super Bowl is Over and you are either very happy and hungover, or very sad and hungover, or, perhaps, somewhere in between. Like many, you are wondering what to do with the rest of your life until football season stats up once again.  Well, I can't help you over the long Run, but I can give you an idea on how to occupy some of your time today...because today is....[drum roll, please],,,NATIONAL CREAM CHEESE BROWNIE DAY!

So, let's get cracking, eh?

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/cream-cheese-brownies





And...er...uh...:  There's also another holiday today and I urge you not to conflate the two.  With this holiday, you should definitely stay out of the kitchen:

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/national-poop-day/








The Sweet Science:  In the news this week is the death of Irish boxer John Cooney. 28. after being injured in a title match a week before.  Cooney was defending his Celtic superfeatherweight title against Welshman Nathan Howells in a February 1 match in Belfast.  The fight was stopped in the ninth round.  Cooney was assessed by an onsite medical team, then taken out in a stretcher to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where it was determined he had suffered an intracranial hemorrhage and was operated upon to relieve pressure on the brain.  He remained in intensive care, dying on February 8.  Cooney had won his title from Liam Gaynor in November of 2023 but a hand injury prevented him from boxing again until last October, when he defeated Tampela Maharrudi.

Cooney is just the latest in a long line of men who have died from injuries suffered in a bout.  One estimate has over 500 deaths attributed to the sweet science sine the establishment of the Marquis of Queensbury rules.  Because of various boxing leagues and federations and the methods used to record events it is difficult to get an accurate count.  Then, too, there have been uncounted unrecorded later deaths related to injuries sustained in the ring.

In was ninety-two years ago on this day that 24-year-old Ernie Schaff was fatally injured in a match against Primo Carnera (who was lass than five months away from becoming the World Heavyweight Boxing champion).  Schaff, who had an official record of 55-13-2, with 1 no contest and 4 no decisions (reports indicate that Schaaf had actually won 3 of those no-decision bouts); of his 75 total fights, 23 of his 58 wins were by KO, and he came into the February 19 match following a TKO win the previous month (the month before that, he claimed the New England Heavyweight title with KO win).  But, in his best shape, Schaaf weight 200-210 pounds; Carnera weighed 250 pounds; of his 88 professional wins, 72 were by knockout; he won more fights by knockout than any other heavyweight champion.

Schaff suffered a knockout loss in round 13.  He fell into  a coma and was rushed to the hospital to undergo emergency surgery.  He died on February 14.  An autopsy revealed that Schaff had meningitis, a swelling of the brain, and was recovering from a severe case of influenza when he entered the ring against Carnera.

(Carnera, by the way, eventually lost his heavyweight championship to Max Baer, who, coincidently, had killed a boxer in a August 25, 1930 match -- 26-year-old Frankie Campbell died just hours after the match -- it was revealed that Campbell's brain had been knocked loose from the connective tissue in his head.  Carnera was also a professional wrestler who had a 143-2-1 record after losing to world heavyweight champion Lou Thesz in May 1948.  Carnera also had an acting career -- you might remember him as one of the tug-of-war-pulling strongmen in Mighty Joe Young.  Carnera was also mob-linked and a number of matches have been deemed suspicious by those who have studied the sport.)

I know that boxing entails athleticism, stamina, speed, strength, coordination, and endurance.  I understand that there is more to the sport than meets the casual eye.  But to me it remains a blood sport, pure and simple.  I know that many others will disagree with me, citing that every major sports -- even baseball -- has had its fatalities.  But all I can see is a port where the sole purpose is to beat an opponent senseless.

Boxing will continue.  Fans will cheer. More people will die or become permanently injured.  The beat -- and the beatings -- go on.






Hearts and Flowers:  1930's Hearts and Flower, featuring Dolly Daisy, has been described as the creepiest sop-motion animated cartoon ever.  The Internet Archive description of the cartoon calls it a "charming and heart-warming film that is sure to please audiences of all ages....a simple but effective tale of love and adventure."  I believe whoever wrote that was on some serious drugs and had never watched the piece, giving plot descriptions that just are not there.  There is a lot to unpack here behind the scenes, starting with voyeurism and going to a moon that likes to fondle a young girl's bottom., with a little bit of racism along the way.  Creepy is a good word for it.  See for yourself.

https://archive.org/details/dolly-dasiy-in-hearts-and-flowers-7680x-4320-prob-3-1/DOLLY+DASIY+IN+HEARTS+AND+FLOWERS.mov







Sir John Sucking:  A unfortunate name perhaps, Suckling (1609-1641) was an English poet of "careless gaiety and wit."  His father was Secretary of State under James 1; his uncle the Earl of Middlesex.  His lose friends included Ben Jonson, Thomas Carew, and Richard Lovelace.  A man of many talent, Suckling's poetry was brought to the attention of Charles I, and he later assisted Charles in the First Scottish War.  He was deemed the most skillful card player, as well as the best bowler, in England.  He invented the game of cribbage.  It is unclear how he died but many believe he ingested poison either intentionally or unintentionally, and there has been a persistent rumor of a servant with a razor blade in his shoe.

Suckling is considered a Cavalier Poet.  Some of his works are dismissive of women ("There never yet was woman made,/Nor shall, but to be curst;/And O. that I, fond I, should first,/Of any lover,/this truth at my own charge to other fools discover.").  His most well-known poem is "A Ballad upon a Wedding":

I tell thee, Dick, where I have been,
Where I the rarest things have seen,
O, things without compare!
Such sights again cannot be found
In any place on English ground,
Be it at wake or fair.

At Charing Cross, hard by the way
Where we. thou know'st, do sell out hay,
There is a house with stairs,
And there I did see coming down
Such folks as are not in our town,
Forty, at least, in pairs.

Amongst the rest, one pest'lent fine
(His beard no bigger, though, than thine)
Walked on before the rest
Our landlord looks like nothing to him,
The King (God bless him!) 'twould undo him,
Should he go still so dressed.

At course-a-park, without all doubt,
He should have first been taken out
By all the maids i' th' town:
Though lusty Roger there had been,
Or little George upon the Green,
Or Vincent of the Crown.

But wot you what?  the youth was going
To make an end of all his wooing,
The Parson for him stayed.
Yet, by his leave, for all his hast,
He did not so much wish all past,
Perchance, as did the maid.

The Maid (and thereby hangs a tale),
For such a maid no Whitsun-ale
Could ever yet produce.
No grape that's kindly ripe could be
So round, so plump, so soft, as she,
Nor half so full of juice!

Her finger was so small the ring
Would not stay on, which they did bring;
It was too wide a peck:
And truth to say (for out it must),
It looked like a great collar (just)
About out young colt's neck.

Her feet beneath her petticoat,
Like little mice, stole in and out,
As if they feared the light.
But oh!  she dances such a way.
No sun upon an Easter Day
Is half so fine a sight!

He would have kissed her once or twice,
But she would not, she was so nice,
She would not do 't in sight.
And then she looked as who should say
"I will do what I list today
And you shall do 't at night."

Her cheeks so rare a white was on
No daisy makes comparison,
(Who seeks them is undone),
For streaks of red were mingled there,
Such as are on a Catherine pear,
(The side that's next the sun).

Her lips were red, and one was thin
compared to that was next her chin, --
(Some bee had stung it newly);
But, Dick, her eyes so guard her face,
I durst no more upon them gaze
Than on the sun in July.

Her mouth so small, when she does speak
Thou'dst swear her teeth her words did break,
That they might passage get.
But she so handled still the matter,
They came as good as ours, or better,
And are not spent a whit.

If wishing could be any sin,
The Parson himself had guilty been,
(She looked that day so purely),
And, did our youth so oft the feat
At night, as some did in conceit,
It would have spoiled him surely.

Just in the nick, the cook knocked thrice,
And all the waiters in a trice
His summons did obey.
Each servingman, with dish in hand,
Marched boldly up, like our trained band,
Presented, and away.

When all the meat was on the table,
What man of knife or teeth was able
To stay to be entreated?
And this the very reason was,
Before the parson could say grace,
The company was seated.

The business of the kitchen's great,
For it is fit that man should eat,
Nor was it there denied.
Passion o' me, how I run on!
There's that that would be thought upon,
I trow, beside the bride.

Now hats fly off, and youths carouse,
Healths first go round, and the the house
The bride's came thick and thick;
And when 'twas named another's health, 
Perhaps he made it hers by stealth,
And who could help it, Dick?

O' th' sudden, up they rise and dance;
Then sit again and sigh and glance;
Then dance again and kiss.
Thus several ways the time did pass,
Whilst every woman wished her place,
And every man wished his!

By this time all were stolen inside
To counsel and undress the bride,
But that he must not know;
And yet 'twas thought he guessed her mind,
And did not mean to stay behind
Above an hour or so.

When in he came, Dick, there she lay
like new-fallen snow melting away,
('Twas time, I trow, to part)
Kisses were now the only stay,
Which soon she gave, as one would say,
"God-be-with-ye, with all my heart."

But, just as Heavens would have, to cross it,
In came the bridesmaids with the possit:
The bridegroom ate in spite.
For, had he left the women to 't,
It would have cost tow hours to do 't,
Which were too much that night.

At length the candle's out, and now
All that they had not done they do;
What that is, who can tell?
I believe it was no more
Than thou and I have done before
With Bridget and with Nell.






Dad Joke:  The person who handled customer transactions at the Chocolate Bank quit his jub.  He was replaced with a Nutella.








Ku Klux Klan:  The Invisible Empire:  A CBS Reports television documentary from 1965.

https://archive.org/details/kukluxklantheinvisibleempire_201505






Some Music:  Among the many musical greats born on this date are:
  • Adelina Patti (1843-1919), Italian opera singer, considered to be one of the most famous sopranos in history.  Here's a restored copy of Patti singing "Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0_D65bedTc
  • Jimmy Durante (1893-1980), actor, comedian, singer, and one of my wife's favorites (because he reminded her of her grandfather).  One of his signature songs was "Inka Dinka Doo," and here's an absolutely joyous rendition:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV7XIw-eNUg
  • Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German playwright and poet; his collaborations with Kurt Weill and others included The Threepenny Opera, which included this classic song, sung by Lotte Lenya:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPG9GcykPIY  Cleaned up somewhat, it became a hit for Bobby Darin:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=557lFG-qq5g
  • Chick Webb (1905-1939), American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader.  Here's "Stompin' at the Savoy":     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgX5_waK--w
  • Jean Coulthard (1908-2000), prominent 2oth century Canadian composer.  Here's her "Canadian Mosaics/Introduction and Three Folk songs":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3YkP4WGoqA
  • Larry Adler (1914-2001), American harmonica player and composer; during his later career, he collaborated with Elton John, Sting, and Kate Bush.  Here he is with Yitzak Perlman, performing Gershwin's "Summertime":   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrdauSqH_EI
  • Leontyne Price (b. 1927), American spinto soprano.  Here's her absolutely glorious take on "Summertime":      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7crcoAkVg0
  • Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004), celebrated American film and television composer.  I was tempted to post his theme music for The Man from U.N.C.L.E, because I'm such a fan of that cheesy television show, but am opting instead to post his Academy Award-winning "Ave Satani" from the 1976 film The Omen:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN14vgOZPmU
  • Faramarz Payvar (1933-2009), Iranian composer and santur (or santour) player, who was playing the santur before it was considered cool.  In large part because of Payvar, the santur is now considered an important solo instrument in Persian classical music.  Here's the "Zarb Solo" from Payvar and ensemble:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q89MYFjPog
  • Theodore Antoniou (1935-2018), Greek composer and conductor.  Here's his powerful and dramatic "Symphony No. 1" with the Symphony Orchestra of Belgarian Radio:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qljqm4F5QOs
  • Barbara Maier Gusten (1935-2022), beloved Broadway vocal coach whose students included Deborah Harry, Taylor Mac, Justin Vivian Bond, Diamanda Galas, and Kathleen Hanna.  she was killed at age 87 when she was pushed to the ground by a woman outside her apartment, and died five days later.  A week after her death, a 26-year-old woman turned herself in; the woman was eventually charged with manslaughter (although prosecutors had considered upgrading the charge to murder) and was sentenced to eight years in prison; a judge then extended the sentence by six months, saying he was not convinced the woman had taken responsibility for her actions.  I don't have a recording of her singing, but here's an interview with her, introducing two of her students:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKkMwOnv7Ho
  • Roberta Flack (b. 1937), a legend.  Here's "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8_fLu2yrP4
  • Kenny Rankin (1940-2009), American folk-rock singer/songwriter.  Here's "Peaceful":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av21FvTeScE
  • Peter Allen (1944-1992), flamboyant Australian singer/songwriter and entertainer (and Liza Minelli's first husband).  Here's "Arthur's Theme" (written with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross), performed with Christopher Cross:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYpCxRVEwME
  • Nigel Olssen (b. 1949), session musician and lifelong member of the Elton John Band.  Here's "a Little Bit of Soap":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjIJZhF-Bu0
  • Cliff Burton (1962-1986), Metallica bassist from 1982 until his death.  Here's Metallica's "Orion," in which Burton's bass is really, really loud:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HeV6uN5f5o
  • Lorena Rojas (1971-2015), Mexican telenovela actress and singer.  She died six days after her 44th birthday from breast cancer which had metastasized throughout her body.  (**sigh**)  Here's "Sin Ti No Si":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8hQAqp-dY
  • Ivri Lider (b. 1974), Openly gay Israeli pop singer.  Here's "Song to a Siren":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iVerkWDXqM
  • Don Omar (b. 1978), Puerto Rican rapper, known as the "King of Reggaeton."  Here's "Pobre Diabla":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iVerkWDXqM
  • Vic Fuentes (b. 1983), co-founder and lead vocalist of Pierce the Veil.  Here he is featured on "Somebody That I Used to Know" from Mayday Parade:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZRuPe97GzY
  • Choi Soo-Young (b. 1990), South Korean singer, member of the girl group Girls' Generation, and actress.  Here's "Winter Breath":   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1v-n0r1d9U
  • Haruka Nakagawa (b. 1992), Japanese media personality and former member of Japanese idol groups AKB48 and Watarirouka Hashinritai and the Indonesian group JKT48.  Here she is with JKT48 and "Winter Story":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhLL2-04WA8
  • Son Na-eum (b. 1994), South Korean actress and singer, a member of popular girl group Apink until 2022.  As a popular idol, the products that she advertised began to sell out in record time, giving her the nickname "Sold-Out Girl."  Here's a video covering come of her highlights with Apink:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTA_ofXNV7w
  • And we close with another South Korean singer/birthday girl -- Kang Seul-gi (b. 1994), a member of the South Korean girl group Red Velvet and the supergroup Got the Beat.  Here she is with red Velvet, performing "Anywhere But Home":   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2mFlOenmss
Best birthday wishes to this broad spectrum of musical talent.







I Can't Even...:  No Florida Man section this time around, because I can't even...

Casey DeSantis, the wife of current governor Ron DeSantis is considering running for her husband's term-limited seat in 2026.  Among many possible Republican contenders for the position, she seems the best-poised to run for the position, with some 38% of Republicans thinking it is a good idea -- admittedly a very low bar: 10% of Republicans want Matt Gaetz to run for the position.  Gaetz, meanwhile, is smugly toying about running, saying he is a "'Florida Man, after all."  He certainly is, and I can't even...






Today's Poem:
The Timeless Love

There once were lovers, aged and wise, 
Who saw the world through joyful eyes'
"Though our hair turns to gray.
Our love will not sway.
It's forever young," they surmise.

-- anon.
And a Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 8, 2025

HYMN TIME

 It's Black History Month.  Here's Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Iq3TiR8T64


Friday, February 7, 2025

FANTASTIC FEARS #7 -- ACTUALLY THE FIRST ISSUE -- WHO'DA GUESSED? -- (MAY 1953)

The numbering continues from the Ajax-Farrell comic book (produced by the Iger Studios) Captain Jet #5 (1952); there was no #6.  The second issue of Fantastic Fears was numbered #8.  The magazine then changed its numbering and the next issue was #3.  Confused?

Nine issues of Fantastic Fears were published, with the last dated September 1954.  The numbering was then taken over by Fantastic #10 in November 1954, then changed to Fantastic Comics #11 (1955) before passing on to oblivion.  The Fantastic Fears tagline was "tales of stalking horror," which became "tales of enchantment" for issue #10, and "amazing adventures" for issue #12 -- clearly a sign of the industry's response to the controversy started by Dr. Frederick Wertham's 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent.  The final issue veered significantly from horror, with its cover illustration depicting a giant robot (which had nothing to do with the stories therein).

So this is a pre-Code issue, chock full of bloody horror:

  • "And Death Makes Three" -- A scientist invents an invisibility formula and sets out to rob the Bank of England, not of money, but of a tiny bit of matter that could destroy millions -- the only supply of Double U-39 in the world.  But the murderous scientist is betrayed by his equally murderous niece, who then kills her lover, and escapes by becoming invisible.  But a fast-moving train cannot see an invisible girl...
  • "Curse of Coincidence" -- A man who has just rebuilt his home after a devasatting fire meets a "Jonah" who brings death and destruction wherever he goes.  A lot of gruesome deaths in this one.
  • "Creeping Vines" -- A two-page text story about a jungle movie being filmed among the Ashanti people in the Radinga Jungle, where there happens to a legend of the Creeping Vines, which can expand and contract, crushing both humans and animals.
  • "Hawk's Folly" --  A  millionaire moved a European castle to America, complete with a werewolf curse.  He is killed by a wolf, who is actually a female loup-garou, and his daughter is slated to be the next victim.
  • "The Blood Blossom" -- A 2000-year-old seed unearthed from a Japanese tomb blossoms into a vampire lotus plant.  Memorable line after the deaths begin to pile up:  "First time I ever had to arrest a flower." (But they didn't arrest the flower -- they hacked to pieces, but, as the last panel shows, you can't keep a good bad flower down!)
Later issues of this comic book would get more graphic, with stories of decapitation, dismemberment, and extreme violence.  Ghosts, werewolves, vampires, zombies, monsters of all sorts, man-eating dogs, demons, body horror, mad scientists, and occult detectives would all become grist for this mill.


https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=96268&comicpage=&b=i

Thursday, February 6, 2025

FORGOTTEN BOOK: DIRTY MONEY

Dirty Money by "Richard Stark" (Donald E. Westlake)  (2008)


The is the final novel that Westlake wrote about master criminal Parker and the last to be published in his lifetime.

Theft is Parker's business and he takes his business very seriously.  He tends to be fairly straightforward in his dealings.  He's a man of his word and will not cheat anyone who throws in with him, but he is unforgiving with anyone who tries to take his hard-earned loot from him, or with anyone who tries to double-cross him.  You do not want to get on Parker's bad side.

Dirty Money  is a sequel to an earlier book, Nobody Runs Forever.  In that novel, Parker and two allies used antitank weapons to waylay a convoy of four trucks transporting a bank's complete assets, records as well as cash.  They made off with  little over two million dollars.  As sometimes happens, things go wrong and the search for the robbers is intense.  With so many law officer descending on the area, Parker and his cohorts cannot move the cash out of the area, storing it in an abandoned church among boxes of old hymnals, and waiting for the proper time to retrieve the cash.  then one of the robbers, Nick Dalesia, did something stupid:  he paid for some food he had ordered with a $20 bill from the robbery, not knowing the serial numbers of the stolen bills had all be recorded.  Dalesia was arrested but managed to escape the next day, doing something else that was very stupid:  he killed a US marshal.  Now the police are pulling out all the stops to catch Dalesia, the other two robbers, and recover the cash.

Dalesia is on his own.  He has not given up Parker or the other robber, McWhirter.  But he needs cash -- and lots of it -- to avoid the police traps and go to ground permanently.  Parker and McWhirter are afraid that Dalesia will lead the cops to the cash.  But the cash belongs to Parker and McWhirter.  It is theirs!  Dalesia forfeited any claim to a share of the loot by being stupid and getting caught and by being even more stupid by killing a federal agent.  But how can they get the money without anyone knowing bout it?

To complicate things, the cops has descriptions of both Parker and McWhirter, although at first the e-fits of the pair could have been of anyone.  But more witnesses came through and there is now a highly recognizable poster of Parker circulated throughout the countryside.

And to make things worse, the scent of money has drawn not only some hard-core independent gangsters, but also a prominent mob-connected business.  It seems like everyone wants Parker's money.

And interesting cat and mouse game among a number of very deadly players, as well as an audacious plan to retrieve the stolen money.   Through it all, Parker is being Parker, and focusing on the end game, coolly and dispassionately.

I should note that the book, and the series, ends with a last line that epitomizes the entire tone of the series.  (And to point out just one Easter egg:  one of the aliases Parker uses in this book is "John B. Allen," which happens to the pseudonym  Westlake used to pen a quickie paperback biography of Elizabeth Taylor.)

Highly recommended.


Westlake (1933-2008) Westlake was a much honored writer of crime and detective novels, creating not only Partker, but his comic counterpart John Dortmunder.  (The final Dortmunder book was published just a few months after Westlake's death.)    Eight films have been based on Parker novels; and at least eight films have been based on Dortmunder novels.  Westlake was nominated for an Academy Award for penning the 1990 film The Grifters.   He was a three-time Edgar Award winner, managing to win in three different categories -- Best Novel, Best Sort Story, and Best Screenplay.  In 1993, he was named an MWA Grand Master.  It's hard to go wrong with a Westlake story.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: THE LOST CONTINENT OF ATLANTIS (1942)

The Adventures of Superman ran on the radio from 1940 to 1951.  It started as a syndicated show on New York's WOR of February 12, 1940; moved to the Mutual Network on August 31, 1941, as a 15-minute show three to five nights a weeks, (becoming a thrice-weekly half hour show on February 7, 1949); then moved to ABC Radio on October 29, 1949 as a Saturday evening offering, then switched to twice a week on June 5, 1950, until the show's final episode on March 1, 1951.  In total, the show ran 2088 original episodes.

For this presentation, the gang's all here -- Clark Kent -- and you know who -- (Bud Collyer), Lois Lane (Joan Alexander), Jimmy Olsen (Jackie Kelk), and Perry White (Julian Noa).  George Lowther was the narrator, soon to be replaced by Jackson Beck.

It should be noted that the radio program introduced many aspects of the Superman universe -- including kryptonite, Perry White, and Jimmy Olsen (who started out as a fourteen-year-old newsboy); it was on the radio show that Superman met Batman and Robin for the first time.


"The Lost Continent of Atlantis" was a nine-part radio adventure, supposedly all parts are included at the link below.  Enjoy.  (And, kiddos, don't forget to ask Mom and Dad for an extra dime each day to buy War Saving Stamps.)


The complete radio adventure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdpqL0J6DaM






Tuesday, February 4, 2025

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE HAUNTED ORGANIST OF HURLY BURLY

"The Haunted Organist of Hurley Burley" by Rosa Mulholland (Lady Gregory)  (first published [uncredited] in All the Year Round, edited by Charles Dickens, Jr., November 10, 1886; reprinted as "The Haunted Organist" in Mulholland's collection The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly and Other Stories, n.d. [1881]; in Reign of Terror:  The f4th Corgi Book of Great Victorian Horror Stories, edited by Michael Parry, 1878; in Victorian Ghost Stories:  An Oxford Anthology [also published as The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories], edited by Michael Cox & R. A. Gilbert, 1991; in Classic Ghost Stories II, edited by Glen & Karen Bledsoe, 1998; in Classic Scary Stories, edited by Glen & Karen Bledsoe & Molly Cooper, 1999; in Best Ghost Short Stories 1850-1899:  A Phantasmal Ghost Anthology, edited by Andrew Berger,  The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories:  Volume I, edited by Alistair Quinn, 2016; in Mulholland's Collection Not to Be Taken at Bed-time & Other Strange Stories, 2019; in Haunted Tales:  Classic Stories of Ghosts and the Supernatural, edited by Leslie S. Klinger & Lisa Morton, 2022, and in Spectral Sounds, edited by Manon Burz-Labrande, 2022.


The story takes place "more than half a century ago" (so, some time before 1831) in the village of Hurly Burly, where lived the influential Hurly family.  After several dry months, a sudden heavy rainstorm hit, bringing with it strange noises, which, for some reason, disturbed the elderly Hurly couple, who lived alone in their ancestral home.  They can hear the sound of carriage wheels outside the house.  A few minutes later, the maid came to announce that a young lady had arrived and said that she was expected and that the maid had shown her to a guest room.  But the Hurlys had expected no visitor.

The strange visitor turned out to be Lisa, a young Italian woman, who had traveled to England, she said, to play the organ at the Hurly mansion at the request of The Hurlys' son.  Lisa, who had been taching music since her English father and Italian mother, as well as her brothers and sisters, had died, leaving her alone.  She was often visited by The Hurly son, who became affianced to the girl, and constantly urged her to "play better, better still" because he had work for her to do by-and-by.  He told Lisa that she must travel to England and play the organ at his parents' house.  Lisa must "get up in the night and play" and she must "never tire."

When questioned, Lisa said that she last spoke to their son five days before -- which is something quite strange because Lisa was just eighteen and their son had died twenty years ago...

Yet Lisa was able to pick out their son from a group of portraits in their home...


A classic Victorian ghost story that included the rakehell son, part of a group of young men who formed the 'Devil's Club," a profane act at a funeral, a curse upon the organ now located at the Hurley home and upon their son, a long-broken engagement, spectral music, a sealed room, and an impossible death.  The creepiness just kept getting creepier.


Rosa Mulholland (1841-1821) was an Irish novelist, poet, and playwright who was encouraged in her writing by Charles Dickens.  She published her first novel in 1864.  Many of her books feature females desiring to be artistic successes in professional setting, although she never opposed the gender limits set by Victorian standards.  When she was fifty years old she married Irish historian Sir John Gilbert, becoming Lady Gilbert.  Mulholland may best remembered today for a handful of highly effective ghost stories.

The Haunted Organist of Hurley Burly and Other Stories is available to read here:  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=bc.ark:/13960/t7pp31119&seq=1

BOSTON BLACKIE ON SCREEN AND TELEVISION (1941 and 1951)

Boston Blackie was a jewel thief and a safecracker who was created by Jack Boyle (1881-1928), an opium addict who was serving time at the Colorado Stare Prison for robbery when he created the character.  Boyle wrote the first four Boston Blackie stories under the pen name (an apt description) of "No. 6066"; they appeared in The American Magazine in 1914.  three years later, a fifth story, published under Boyle's own name appeared in Redbook, which went on to publish eight further adventures through January 1919.  Two Boston Blackie stories was published in The Strand (1918-1919), and the final eight stories in the series was published in Cosmopolitan in 1919 and 1920.  In 1919, Boyle took the Redbook stories and adapted them into a novel, Boston Blackie, the character's only book appearance.

The stories were popular enough for Columbia Pictures to begin a series of films about the character, transforming him into a detective who was an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."  The first film, Boston Blackie's Little Pal, appeared in 1918 with Bert Lytell playing Blackie.  From 1919 to 1927, another ten Boston Blackie films were released; playing the character in these various films were Lytell, Walter Long, Sam De Grasse, Lionel Barrymore, David Powell, William Russell, Thomas Carrigan, Forrest Stanley, and Raymond Glenn.  Columbia revived the character in 1941 with Meet Boston Blackie, starring Chester Morris.  Morris -- the actor most people place with the character -- was featured in fourteen Boston Blackie movies through 1949 and in a summer replacement series on NBC Radio from June 23 through September 15, 1944.  Boston Blackie  was revisited as a syndicated radio program on April 25, 1945, running for 220 episodes, and featuring Richard Kolmar as Blackie.  The syndicated aeries lasted until October 25, 1950.

Boston Blackie also made it to television with a syndicated program -- "a memorable B-grade television series" -- that last for 58 episodes (1951-1953), with Kent Taylor taking the starring role.

Over the ensuing years, Boston Blackie has not been entirely forgotten.. Stefan Petrucha and Kirk Van Wormer put out a graphic novel, Boston Blackie, in 2002.  The character has been referenced in popular culture by Jimmy buffet, Daffy Duck, The Coasters, Bewitched, Mad Men, Robert b. Parker, and Errol Morris.

In case you are wondering what Boston Blackie's real name was, so am I.  In After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943), the character's name was revealed as Horatio Black, but I maintain that that was some scriptwriter's (possibly Howard J. Green) wishful imagination.


Here's Chester Morris in Meet Boston Blackie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIpN023LXRc


And Kent Taylor in an episode from the television show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUeKK_gIoZ0&list=PLSRNHuXkF8ZLeycm0u4lCGI-SxYPC1jFF

Sunday, February 2, 2025

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIN!

Some people may argue this, but I maintain that nothing of importance during the first year of the 21st century.  Matter of fact, it wasn't until the third of February in 2002 that history was made.  Future generations would do well to mark the date, for this was the day that granddaughter Erin was born.  Because Erin is sure to mark her mark on the world.  She has already made a mark on my heart for the past 23 years.

Erin has always traveled her own path.  Kitty wanted her to be born a day earlier, just because 2-2-02 had such a symmetrical sound to it.  Erin defied her grandmother -- and was probably the only person in the world to do so -- and was born the following day.  Not to worry, though.  Kitty forgave her instantly.  One look at Erin's beautiful, calm face was all that it took.  Erin had a very difficult birth but despite danger signs, she came put perfect.  Not that I am prejudiced, buy she has carried that perfection for the past 3 years, with no sign of letting up.

How can I describe her?  First of all, she's very smart.  When she was younger, she knew how smart she was.  When she went to college she learned that she might be as smart as she thought she was  -- and that takes a lot of smarts to realize that.  She learned, even though she reads Sarah Maas and Rebecca Yarrow.  She's talented, both artistically and musically.  She's funny with a sense of humor both dry and wry.  She's loving and kind and generous and empathetic.  She loves her cat and her dog and her two hedgehogs and will do whatever is needed to cherish and protect them.  (Not to put her on the spot, but she feels that same toward her boyfriend of six years, Trey {who is almost as cool as Erin is].)  She is fierce.  She is determined,  She is hard-working.  As a bonus, she is also breathtakingly beautiful (with Christina and Walt as her parents and Kitty as her grandmother, how can she not be?)

To say that I am proud of her is like saying water is wet.  My love for her has been hardwired into my soul from Day One.

And every day, she makes me smile.  Every single day.

Happy birthday, sweetheart.

GROUNDHOG DAY MEMORIES

Today is the day we at least give lip service to Marmota monax (less so if you are a reveal cake acolyte supporting PETA).  Groundhog Day always brings back memories of my constant childhood companion, Polly.  Her full name was Polly Sweetiepie Puppydog House, so named by my older sister when she was three.  Big, black, and shaggy, Polly was half Newfoundland and half Saint Bernard.  To cool off during the summer, she would go into the woods and wallow in a steam and come back slathered in mud.  More than once, when she emerged from the woods, people would report seeing a bear.

Polly lived up to the first half of her middle name -- she was a sweetiepie.  Gentle and protective of us kids.  Mt father was a big, strong man, and once he determined that one of us kids (don't know who; certainly it couldn't have been me, who would do no wrong) deserved a spanking.  He had gotten no further than raising his arm when Polly grabbed it with her mouth and stopped him.  He said he could not fell her teeth but he also could not move his arm -- the dog's grip was that strong.  That was most likely the only time my father was tempted to spank one of us.  He learned his lesson from Polly...don't mess with her beloved kids.

Although Polly was fearless, she was also gentle and loving.  The only thing she was afraid of was thunder.  Early summer evening thunderstorms were the worse.  She would run up the land by our house, back and forth in a panic, trying to get away from the thunder.  No dog ever moved so fast, and no efforts to comfort her would work.  Once, when were being babysat by Minnie Brown, an elderly neighbor, Polly in her panic charged through the porch screen door into the kitchen, trying to escape the dreaded thunder.  Minnie has the unfortunate luck to be standing by the screen door as Polly burst in and ran between her legs, taking Minnie on a bareback ride through half the length of the kitchen.  I don't think Minnie ever forgave us for our laughter, nor for the fact that we were more concerned about Polly than her.

What has all this to do with groundhogs?  We live on a farm.  It was a small community and groundhogs were the considered enemy of many of the farmers -- although we called them woodchucks.  Polly hated woodchucks, probably just a little less than she hated thunder.  Four or five times each summer we would go outside an find woodchuck parts scattered all across our lawn.  Polly would never attack other animals, not even rats.  Just woodchucks.  A number of the neighboring farmers wished they had a dog like Polly, who was worth her weight in gold in woodchucks.

One fourth of July, I was with Bobby Johnstone, and older boy in the neighborhood, when we came upon the body of a woodchuck.  Because it was the Fourth of July and because Bobby was Bobby, he put a firecracker in the dead animal's mouth and lit it, blowing the woodchuck's jaw off.  I thought that was a terribly cruel thing to do, although I never had such thoughts about the woodchuck body parts that were regularly strewn over our lawn.  Go figure.

We had Polly for a dozen years or so.  A state highway ran along one side of our house and a speeding car clipped Polly.  She went around to the front of the house and crawled under the porch.  Her injuries were so bad that she had to be put down.  I have never forgiven that unnamed speeder who took our dog from us and then just kept on.

Polly was the last dog my parents had.  When I was married, Kitty and I have several dogs, some of whom became very special...McGillicuddy, the snaggle-toothed Pekinese who kept trying to get Kitty's blanket, thinking she never knew...and Declan, a black lab mix, so gentle with the kids and who let anyone who came to the door know that this house was protected.  But there never was another Polly.

And so I think of Polly every Groundhog Day...and during every summer thunderstorm,.

Saturday, February 1, 2025

HYMN TIME

 From 1912, Louise Horner and Alma Gluck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik67GJNHKNk

Friday, January 31, 2025

THE PINK ELEPHANT RING (1944)

 Action...Adventure...Romance...Mystery...

And a pink elephant ring made of some cheap composite material...

What more can you ask for?  How about some stolen diamonds...a 5000 dollar reward...Albie, a phony Indian road-house owner...a cage of homing pigeons...Dragon-Fly Danny and Hamburger Harr and Grabby the Snatcher...a midair battle and a parachute to (could it be) safety?...our dauntless hero captured by thugs...The Three Sisters (two in drag) -- Damarius, Rebella, Angela...a deadly cobra named Kitty...a human lemon sqeezer...a wig of red hair...Matalini, the evil crystal gazer...a Book of Fate laced with chloroform...a daring escape,,,a deadly bombing mission...and a dash of true love amongst the chaos.

Hold on to you hat!  Detective Dale is on the case...with a little assist from pilot Mike Condor.

A memorable line:  "So there's a woman in this case, eh?  There generally is when there's loose diamonds about."


Drawn by Australian comic book artist Will Donald (active from 1906 to the mid-1940s), using a rathe grotesque, Chester Gould approach to the villains.


Enjoy this throw-everything-into-the-pot-and-see-what-comes-out from Australia's Offset Printing Company.


https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=96265&comicpage=&b=i

Thursday, January 30, 2025

FORGOTTEN BOOK: PARNASSUS ON WHEELS

 Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley  (1917)


A story of wit, charm, and grace...and a paean to the importance of reading.

The time is around 1915.  Helen McGill is a fat(ish) spinster just this side of forty.  She worked as a governess since she was a young girl; then, fifteen years ago, she pooled an inheritance with her brother Andrew and they bought a small New England farm.  since then, she has cared for her brother, doing the cooking and the cleaning, as well as any other household or farm chores that needed doing.  She has worked out the, over the fifteen years, she has baked 6000 loaves of bread for her brother.  somewhere along the line, Andrew began toying with writing.  He wrote a book and it sold and it be=came a best-seller and Andrew was proclaimed one of the greatest writers of the age.  Helen, of course, could not be bothered reading the book; she was too busy prodding Andrew not to neglect his farm duties.  Over the next few years, Andrew would take off for weeks at a time, traveling the countryside, researching his next book, and Helen would be stuck on the farm, trying to catch up on all the necessary chores required to keep the farm afloat.

One day, while Andrew was out in the fields, a strange wagon pulled up tot he farm.  It was robin's-egg blue and shaped like a van.  On the side in large red letters were the words

R. MIFFLIN'S

TRAVELLING PARNASSUS

GOOD BOOKS FOR SALE

SHAKESPEARE, CHARLES LAMB, R.L.S.

HAZLITT, AND ALL OTHERS

   It was driven by a funny-looking little man with a red beard -- Mifflin himself.  He asked for Andrew, wondering if Andrew would be willing to buy the wagon and its contents.  Mifflin had been traveling the countryside for years, hand selling his books, and now wanted to retire to his brother's home in Brooklyn and write a book himself.  He thought that, being a literary man, Andrew would be interested in purchasing the business.  Helen was afraid that Andrew would be interested in buying the "Travelling Parnassus," and would use it for another extended jaunt, leaving Helen once again to manage the farm by herself.  Helen made a spur of the moment decision.  She would buy the business from Mr. Mifflin before Andrew returned from the fields.  She had about $600 carefully saved over the years in the hopes of buying a Ford, and was willing to spend $400 of it on the wagon, it's stock and contents, the horse and Mifflin's dog.  (The horse was named Peg -- Pegasus -- and the dog was Bock -- Boccacio.)  So Helen became the owner of the Parnassus on Wheels, in part to give herself a little vacation and in part to pay back Andrew in kind.

Mifflin was going to take the train to Brooklyn.  Helen offered to take him to the train station in a nearby town.  along the way, Mifflin was instructing Helen in his own peculiar method of selling books.  The little man was preaching the gospel of reading, stopping at small farms and villages along his way, evangelizing about the value books, and selling a book here and a book there.  Cheaply, and never more than for a dollar (and seldom that).  Most of the rural places where he stopped had never had much of an opportunity to buy, let along read, good books.  They would have a Bible, and perhaps a local paper; some also had the 20-volume The World's Great Funeral Orations that had been peddled by a silver-tongued salesman travelling through the area some year before (few, if any, were able to get past the first oration).  These people were hungry for good books and Mifflin was determined to meet their needs.  He had a friendly style and was able to discern what type of book would interest which type of reader.  Mifflin would hold his customers spellbound while he told stories and read from his books.  wherever he went he made friends and sold books and his customers would look forward to return visits.  And his customers always benefited from they books they bought.  

He was careful not sell customers books before they were ready for them -- he often refused to sell copies of Shakespeare because he felt his customers could not handle such heavy reading at the moment. And Henry James?  "It always seemed to me that he had a kind of rush of words to the head and never stopped to sort them out properly."  ( Helen had taken one of Henry James's books to read aloud to her sewing circle and. after one try, they had to fall back on Pollyanna.)  Mifflin also had negative views on Nick Carter and Betha M. Clay.

It took only a few days for Helen's worldview to expand.  But also during those few days, Andrew was anxious to get Helen back.  He felt that his ever-practical sister had been conned (or perhaps kidnapped) and that she belonged back on the farm.  Andrew chased his sister and Helen, got into the losing end of a bout of fisticuffs with Mifflin and managed to convince authorities to place Mifflin in jail, but not before Helen and Mifflin had to face a band of dangerous, armed hobos out to steal the Parnassus.

Adventure, conflict, derring-do -- all the things that might make a good novel from the shelves of the Parnassus -- are here in this book.  As are spot-on descriptions of the landscape and the people of  New England.  And there are the surprisingly simple and evocative sentences. ("Distant cowbells sounded tankle-tonk among the bushes.")  And really, how can anyone argue against Thoreau, Carlyle, Treasure Island, Little Women, Robinson Crusoe, O. Henry ("there isn't anyone so dog-gone sleepy that he won't enjoy that man's stories"), or Huck Finn? 

And Mifflin says, "When you sell a man a book you don't just sell him twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue -- you sell him a whole new life.  love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night -- there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book."

Mifflin's philosophy is infectious, and so is this book 

And it is not beside the point that Helen McGill is also able to find her true self in a world that often labels and categorizes females. 


As wonderful as this book is, it was sorely in need of a copy editor.  (The story opens on Monday, October third, and three days later it was Sunday, October sixth, for example.)  And there are a number of contemporary references that might fly over the head of today's readers; i.e., a "Redfern advertisement" refers to a woman's corset; and how many will know the "Dr.. Eliot's five-foot shelf" refers to the 50-volume Harvard Classics?  No matter.  These references, enjoyable as they are, do not affect the overall enjoyment of the book.


Christopher Morley (1890-1957), a respected journalist and novelist, was one of the founding editors of the Saturday Review of Literature, and helped found the Baker Street Irregulars.   Parnassus on Wheels was his first novel, followed two years later by the companion novel The Haunted Bookshop, both of which remain in print.  Author of more than 100 novels and books of essays and poetry, among his other well-known works are Thunder on the Left and Kitty Foyle.  Morley also served as the editor of two editions of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

THE GHOST EXTINGUISHER by GELETT BURGESS (1905)

Today marks the 159th anniversary of Gelett Burgess's birth.

Gelett Burgess was a writer and humorist best known for hiss poem that began "I never saw a purple cow."

He also coined the word "Blurb" and was the first to use the term bromide to describe an stodgy person who says boring things.  Burgess also created the famous "Goops" (Goops, and How to Be Them; Goops, and How Not to Be Them; Goops Tales, Alphabetically Told; Blue Goops and Red; The Goop Directory; Why Be a Goop?; The Goop Songbook; New Goops and How to Know Them).  His 1912 collection of mystery short stories, Master of Mysteries, was included in Queen's Quorum of the most important volumes of detective and mystery short stories; it was recently released as a Library of Congress Crime Classic.  

"The Ghost Extinguisher," a classic humorous ghost story, was first published The Cosmopolitan, April 1905.

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/823a28df-d470-4f4e-94a2-6863cc43a8ea/episodes/61945a8c-d07f-477c-90ed-a72128e41cf2/daily-short-stories---ghost-and-horror-stories-the-ghost-extinguisher---frank-gelett-burgess---scary-stories