RHAPSODY IN BLUE

One of my favs.

http://archive.org/details/RhapsodyInBlue_539

FORGOTTEN BOOK: Z IS FOR ZOMBIE

Z Is for Zombie by Theodore Roscoe (1937)

Pure pulp.  Purple prose, breakneck pace, weird happenings.  And to hell with political correctness!  And do you really need.  Full, grammatical sentences?

     Z Is for Zombie was first published as a six-part serial  in Argosy in 1937.  Small press Starmont House brought it out in book form in 1989 and Otto Penzler republished in his 2011 doorstop anthology Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

     John Ranier had been had been a successful New York surgeon until he lost everything in the stock market crash.  His wife left him when his money left and Ranier began a long downward slide. For the past five years he had been serving as ship's doctor on a lowly steamship serving a New York to Caribbean route.  That's how he found him himself in a ramshackle bar in Haiti, drowning his sorrows when a group of passengers from his steamship entered.  The group had decided to go on a motoring tour and would join the ship later on the other side of the island.  One of the group is stabbed in the back, in front of witnesses and with no one near him.  Even the knife that stabbed him is gone.

     Seriously wounded but alive, the victim is taken to a small area hospital run by the mysterious Dr. Eberhardt with the help of his adopted niece, Lais Engles.  The group arrives during a fog-bound night.  The doctor is missing.  His office has been ransacked.  Lais recognizes the stabbing victim as a man who had died at the hospital and was buried fourteen years before.  (Did I mention that Dr. Eberhardt was experimenting with reviving dead calls?)  Even though he died fourteen years ago he died again that night.  A loud banging of a door.  A dark, horrible face seen staring outside the window.  And the corpse is missing.

      In 1918 Brazil and Peru had sided against Germany and Kaiser Wilhelm wanted to broker a secret pact with Chile to make war against Brazil and Peru.  Disguised as a tramp ship, the Kronprinz Albrecht headed off on the mission, captained by Lais' uncle.  Aboard were six-year-old Lais, an orphan, and a number of German soldiers.  The ship got lost in the labyrinth of the Amazon.  For four years they wandered through that maze.  When they finally emerged from the jungle they found that the war was long over.  Trying to make their way back to Germany, they are blown off-course and are beached in Haiti, but bringing with them from the jungles of Brazil the "mauve death," a virulent, lethal disease.  Helping to rescue those on the ship was Eberhardt, who brought the victims to his hospital.  There they died, one by one, except for young Lais.  One of the dead was Adolph Perl, a German soldier who had a distinctive scar on his hand and webbed toes -- the same man who had been stabbed and killed, dying again for the second time in fourteen years.

     While a local voodoo priest stirs up natives against the hospital, which the priest views as competition, Ranier and the others make a mad dash to Perl's grave.  The grave had been open but Perl's body was not there.  Instead they find the body of an old nurse sitting against the headstone.  At another cemetery they find the nurse's grave opened, but with the mummified body of an American marine there instead.  At the marine's grave, there was the body of a German colonel.  At the colonel's grave, the body of another soldier.

     While Ranier has been running from grave to grave, hundreds of incited natives have attacked the hospital, killing all the critical care patients and setting the building on fire.  Ranier rushes there to save Lais, who is trapped on the second floor but is calmly shooting the natives with a rifle.

     And so it goes.  Danger upon danger.  Mystery upon mystery.  And in the background the ominous sounds of the voodoo drums.  The finale taking place on the crowded docks of Port-au-Prince.

     I mentioned purple prose, didn't I?  Try this:

          The night, itself, was a ghost, fuming and blowing, trailing its gauzy veils across field
          and road, stalking in white cerements through the jungle, blindfolded with eerie
          bandages, muffled in cotton, embracing with clammy, half-liquid arms the earthy
          ghosts of black Haiti.

     Or this:

          His hot-potatoed words spluttered out above the thousand-tongued rattle of his car.

     Or:

          In an outer circle of night nameless shadows moved; shapes cadaverous as the
          undernourished and grinning Holbein figures of Plague and Death pictured in old
          medical book wood-cuts.

     And, as mentioned, why use sentences when you don't need them?  And let's not forget sound effects:

          There were times when, the steering gear almost torn from his hands, he marveled
          that the chassis didn't rip from the wheels and jump the curve.  Moments when the
          wheels soared above the razorback bumps and his head cracked the roof.  Bump,
          swerve, screech and bang on an unpaved stretch.  Slewing a hairpin downhill turn
          as if cracked on the end of an invisible whip.  Slam-bam on the grade crossing.  Ziff-
          ziff-ziff the trees went by.  The fog cut to whistling mist-ribbons.  The night streaming
          past like soup. Swish! a curve.  Zip! an underpass.  Rrrrrrt! the narrow span of
          mountain bridge.  Hmmmmmm on a downhill chute.

     Pulps in the Thirties were not concerned with political correctness, in part because it had not been invented yet:

          A cry from Dr. Eberhardt's whiskers flung Ranier around to see the tree beyond
          the window monkey-jammed; Negroes shinning up the trunk, lizarding out on the
          gallery-touching limps, hanging in the bright foliage like clusters of monstrous fruit.

     And:

          His silhouette blocked the window, and his Congo presence filled the room with a
          lion-like breathing and a fetor of black grease.  A dented top hat was titled Ted Lewis
          fashion over his brows; around his naked shoulders a circlet of pig's-hoofs dangled;
          ragged pink trousers were belted by a dead snake from which hung an apron of
          gourd rattles [...] A convulsion scribbled the minstel face face under the tophat.
          [Note the "top hat" and the "tophat"]

     This book may not be everyone's cup of tea, but (low-brow that I am) I really enjoyed it.

     From Otto Penzler's introduction to Z As In Zombie:  "Theodore Roscoe (1906-1992) produced work in a variety of genres:  hard-boiled for Detective Fiction Weekly and Flynn's Detective Fiction, as well as the cult classic I'll Grind Their Bones (1936); Foreign Legion for Argosy and Adventure; boxing for Fight Stories; aviation for Air Stories; and horror for Weird Tales, among many other genres and magazines, but he is probably best-known for his adventure stories set in such exotic locales as Timbuktu, Tangier, Morocco, and Saigon, which were a mainstay of the contributions to Argosy."  A number of Roscoe's stories are available on the web at unz.org,  Another zombie-themed serial from Argosy, A Grave Must Be Deep, was published by Starmont in 1990.  A collection of three novellas, The Wonderful Lips of Thibong Linh, was published by Donald M. Grant in 1981.  Roscoe also wrote biographies and a number of books on naval history.

**********

     Patti Abbott is back at her post, curating today's Friday's Forgotten Books.  Go to pattinase.com for links and other reviews.

GHOSTOPOLIS

Ghostopolis by Doug TenNapel (2010)

Frank Gallows is a ghost hunter, a member of the Supernatural Immigration Task Force.  It's Frank's job to sent ghosts of all sorts back to the other side, and in this book the other side is Ghostopolis.  Time does not matter on the other side -- it does its own wonky thing.  Thus it was possible for Joe, a Tuskeegee airman, to build/create Ghostopolis bit by bit in six days (or maybe a billion years, take your pick).  Ghostopolis is just a way station for something bigger and brighter and (for the purposes of this graphic novel) unknowable.

     Frank finds himself hunting a night mare -- the skeletal ghost of a horse.  Just as he is sending the horse back to the other side, the night mare leaps through the wall of a house landing on top of Garth Hale, a young boy who is then accidently zapped to the ghost realm along with the night mare.  The thing about Garth is that he would soon be going to the other side no matter what:  he's dying of some unnamed disease.  Frank's task force has to retrieve Garth so he can spend what little time he has left back in the earthly realm.  Alas, Frank won't be going with the task force.  He has been fired for incompetence.

     Frank turns to his former girlfriend for help, the ghost Claire Voyant, whom he has conveniently failed to report to his superiors.  Claire has a machine that has just enough power to take them to Ghostopolis and back.  They head off to find Garth...

     ...Who faces danger in Ghostland.  Luckily Garth falls in with another boy who tries to help him return.  The other boy is Garth's own grandfather (I said time was wonky over there), and he and Garth, along with the Skinny, the skeletal night mare, head off for the capital of Ghostopolis.  Adventures continue, culminating a epic battle of good versus evil.

     Writer/artist Doug TenNapel, the creator of Earthworm Jim, has produced a thoroughly entertaining book with humor and insight.  Ghostopolis reminds me strongly of Jeff Smith's Bone with it's simplicity of detail and strong characterization.  Published for the YA market by Scholastic, Ghostopolis is an enjoyable experience for any age.

     Recommended.

BAD JOKE WEDNESDAY

She refused to marry a tennis player because love meant nothing to him.

OVERLOOKED FILMS: HAPPY 4TH!

From 1976, The Big Picture describes the history of Independence Day.  The Big Picture was a documentary series that was produced by the United States Army Signal Corps and was shown on ABC from 1951 to 1964.  After its ABC run the series continued in syndication into the 1970s.

http://archive.org/details/OurHeritage_

And a brief patriotic video.  Music by the U. S. Army Band.

http://archive.org/details/Battle_hymn_of_The_Republic_music_Video

This short video has some great clips from the past.

http://archive.org/details/Heres_To_America_MV

From 1933, a Michigan farmer shows us a unique way to perform Yankee Doodle.

http://archive.org/details/CEP00096

American history -- the Stan Freberg version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUCe5OaKldM&feature=BFa&list=PL560510D783777072

I don't know why music about the NapoleonicWar has transformed to an American patriotic piece, but what is the Fourth of July without it, fireworks, and cannons?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTEf_caCa2M&feature=related

Have a great holiday!

**********

As usual, Todd Mason will have today's links at Sweet Freedom.

INCOMING

This was supposed to be a quiet week, but then a TARDIS appeared in my living room...

     The great Dr. Who extravaganza:

• Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who -- Castrovelva (1983), Doctor Who -- Frontios (1984), and Doctor Who -- Logopolis (1982).  That first one sounds like someone spilled cologne on the sofa.
• Ian Stuart Black, Doctor Who -- The Savages (1986).
• Barbara Clegg, Doctor Who -- Enlightenment (1984).
• Donald Cotton, Doctor Who -- The Gunfighters (1985), Doctor Who -- The Myth Makers (1985), and Doctor Who -- The Romans (1987).
• Gerry Davis, Doctor Who and the Cybermen (1974). Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet (1976), Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen (1978), and Doctor Who -- The Highlanders (1984).The first three of these also lists Kit Pedler, who co-wrote the original scripts with Davis, on the copyright.
• Gerry Davis and Alison Bingeman, Doctor Who -- The Celestial Toymaker (1986).
• Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child (1981, a novelization of the very first Doctor Who story), Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowman (1974; the original scriptwriters Melvyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln are also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Android Invasion (1978), Doctor Who and the Androids of Tara (1980; original scriptwriter David Fisher is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Armageddon Factor (1980), Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion (1974; original scriptwriter Robert Holmes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius (1977; original scriptwriter Robin Bland is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters (1977; original scriptwriter Robert Holmes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos (1977), Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth (1977; original scriptwriter Terry Nation is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks (1974; Louis Marks is also included on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin (1977), Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks (1979), Doctor Who and the Face of Evil (1978; original scriptwriter Chris Boucher is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks (1976), Doctor Who and the Giant Robot (1975), Doctor Who and the Hand of Fear (1979; original scriptwriters Bob Baker and Dave Martin are listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon (1980), Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock (1978), Doctor Who and the Image of the Fendahl (1979; original scriptwriter Chris Boucher is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and Invasion of Time (1979; original scriptwriter David Agnes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy (1979), Doctor Who and the Keeper of Traken (1982), Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster (1976; Robert Banks Stewart is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon (1980), Doctor Who and the Mutants (1977), Doctor Who and the Nightmare of Eden (1980), Doctor Who and the Planet of Evil (1979), Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks (1976), Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders (1975; original scriptwriter Robert Sloman is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Power of Kroll (1980; original scriptwriter Robert Holmes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars (1979), Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen (1975; Gerry Davis is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Robots of Death (1979; original scriptwriter Chris Boucher is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the State of Decay (1981), Doctor Who and the Stones of Blood (1980; original scriptwriter David Fisher is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Sunmakers (1982), Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977; Robert Holmes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons (1975), Doctor Who and the Three Doctors (1975; original scriptwriters Robert Baker and Dave Martin are also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Time Warrior (1978; original scriptwriter Robert Holmes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Underworld (1980), Doctor Who and the Web of Fear (1976; original scriptwriters Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln are also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who -- Arc of Infinity (1983), Doctor Who -- Death to the Daleks (1978), Doctor Who -- Four to Doomsday (1983), Doctor Who -- Inferno (1984), Doctor Who -- Kinda (1983), Doctor Who -- Meglos(1983), Doctor Who -- Snakedance (1984), Doctor Who -- The Caves of Androzani (1984), Doctor Who-- The Faceless Ones (1986), Doctor Who -- The Five Doctors (1983), Doctor Who -- The Krotons (1985; the Doctor battles those things you put on salads and in soup?), Doctor Who -- The Mind of Evil (1985),  Doctor Who -- The Seeds of Death (1986), Doctor Who -- The Time Monster (1985), and Doctor Who -- Warriors of the Deep (1984).
• Terence Dudley, Doctor Who -- Black Orchid (1986) and Doctor Who -- The King's Demons 1986).
• William Emms, Doctor Who -- Galaxy Four (1985).
• Paul Erickson, Doctor Who -- The Ark (1986).
• David Fisher, Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (1981) and Doctor Who and the Leisure Time (1980).
• Peter Grimwade, Doctor Who -- Mawdryn Undead (1983), Doctor Who -- Planet  of Fire (1984), and Doctor Who -- Time-Flight (1983).
• Brian Hayles, Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon (1974) and Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors (1976).
• Philip Hinchcliffe, Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus (1980), Doctor Who and the Masque of Madragora (1977; Louis Marks is also listed on the copyright), and Doctor Who and the Seeds of Doom (1977; Robert Banks Stewert is also listed on the copyright).
• Malcolm Hulke, Doctor Who and the Cave-Monsters (1974), Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon (1974), Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion (1976), Doctor Who and the Green Death (1975; original scriptwriter Robert Sloman is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils (1974), Doctor Who and the Space War (1976), and Doctor Who and the War Games (1979; copyrighted by both the original scriptwriters, Hulke and Terrance Dicks).
• Barry Letts, Doctor Who and the Daemons (1974; original scriptwriter Guy Leopold is also listed on the copyright).
• Peter Ling, Doctor Who and the Mindrobber (1986).
• John Lucarotti, Doctor Who -- The Aztecs (1984), Doctor Who -- Marco Polo (1984), and Doctor Who -- The Massacre (1987).
• "John Lydecker" (Stephen Gallagher), Doctor Who and the Warriors' Gate (1982) and Doctor Who -- Terminus (1983).
• Ian Marter, Doctor Who and the Ark in Space (1977; original scriptwriter Robert Holmes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World (1981; original scriptwriter David Whitaker is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Ribos Operation (1979; original scriptwriter Robert Holmes is also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who and the Sontaran Experiment (1978; original scriptwriters Bob Baker and DaveMartin are also listed on the copyright), Doctor Who -- Earthshock (1983), Doctor Who -- The Dominators (1984), Doctor Who -- The Invasion (1985), Doctor Who -- The Reign of Terror 1987), and Doctor Who -- The Rescue (1987).
• Victor Pemberton, Doctor Who -- Fury from the Deep (1986).
• Eric Pringle, Doctor Who -- The Awakening (1985).
• Eric Saward, Doctor Who and the Visitation (1982).
• Andrew Smith, Doctor Who -- Full Circle (1982).
• Bill Strutton, Doctor Who and the Zarbi  (1965).
• David Whitaker, Doctor Who and the Crusaders (1965) and Doctor Who and the Daleks (1964; original scriptwriter Terry Nation is also listed on the copyright.  This novelizes the Doctor's first televised adventure with the Daleks).

     Phew!  Lest you think that I was totally fixated on the Doctor this past week, here's the rest of the Incoming:

• Kate Atkinson, Case Histories.  Mystery.
• Stephen Baxter, Time's Tapestry, Book Two:  Conqueror.  SF.
• Greg Bear, Mariposa.  Thriller.
• Orson Scott Card, Shadow Puppets.  SF, part the of Ender saga.
• John M. Ellis, One Fairy Story Too Many:  The Brothers Grimm and Their Tales.  Nonfiction, exploring the sources of the tales.
• Diana Graziunas and Jim Starlin, Pedators.  Horror.
• Hans Holzer, Life Beyond: Compelling Evidence for Part Lives and Existence After Death.  From one of my favorite expounders of bushwah.
• Brian Lumley, Blood Brothers, Demogorgan, The House of Doors, Necroscope, Necroscope III:  The Source, Necroscope IV:  Deadspeak, Necroscope V:  Deadspawn, Necrosope, The Lost Years, Volume Two:  Resurgence, Psychomech, and Psychosphere.  Horror all.
• Marie J. MacNee, The Crime Emcyclopedia:  The World's Most Notorious Outlaws, Mobsters and Crooks.  Nonfiction, with a sometimes bending of the word "outlaw" to include Calamity Jane and Wyatt Earp, and maybe others.
• Marcia Muller, Locked In.  A Sharon McCone mystery.
• Tim Tresslar, Don Pendleton's Stony Man #79:  Promise To Defend.  Men's action adventure.
• Richard S. Wheeler, Trouble in Tombstone.  A historical novel set in the West.  Few people do it better than Wheeler.

HYMN TIME

I spent yesterday without cable or the internet, but the electricity did not go out.  Unfortunately, there's a lot of folks who are still without power in the middle of this heatwave.  My thoughts are with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVr0M7WCBu4