Saturday, February 21, 2015

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Wolf Creek: Massacre! - Kindle edition by Ford Fargo, Jerry Guin, Jackson Lowry, Bill Crider, Charles Steel, Troy D. Smith. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Welcome to Wolf Creek. 

Here you will find many of your favorite authors, working together as Ford Fargo to weave a complex and textured series of Old West adventures like no one has ever seen. 

Fort Braxton has a temporary new commander, vainglorious Major Joab Putnam, whose determination to win personal glory will endanger the fragile peace the army has made with the Kiowas… and put the people of Wolf Creek in harm’s way.

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Sun Sentinel: Police K9 attacks cop, doughnut shop worker

First It was the Thin Mints Melee

Penis picture provoked assault: Drunken Donna Hamer didn’t see anything funny about it, started calling Rick Scherzo “gay” and battered him with a wooden kitchen roll holder. She had sunk her teeth into his hands and threatened him with his own 12-inch chef’s knife, even though he had told her the picture was just a joke.

12 of the most egregious Oscar mistakes of all time

Purple Clover: Winning an Academy Award doesn't necessarily mean that a film or actor was the best – as seen here in 12 of the most egregious Oscar mistakes of all time  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

The Last of the Typewriter Men

The Last of the Typewriter Men 

Song of the Day

Bay city rollers-Saturday night - YouTube:

Oscar’s Weirdest Best Picture Nominees

Oscar’s Weirdest Best Picture Nominees 

Wayne Dundee Interview

Big Wayne Dundee Hits Amazon Pay Dirt With Westerns -

Today's Vintage Ad


The Weird Week in Review

The Weird Week in Review 

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Arthur MacArthur, Aphrodite's Lover, Universal Giant, 1953

Soon to Be the Subject of a Joe Lansdale Novel

The Fearless Black Cowboy of the Wild, Wild West  

Link via mental_floss.

12 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

12 Celebrity #TBT Photos You May Have Missed This Week

The Omnibus Volumes of Jack Vance

The Omnibus Volumes of Jack Vance, Part I: Planet of Adventure

Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Teen takes selfie video in stolen car

Friday, February 20, 2015

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Product DetailsBeating the Bushes - Kindle edition by Christine Matthews. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Two fathers. One missing boy. A friendship that binds the two men, even beyond death. 

When fifteen year old Stevie Kracher goes missing, volunteers descend on a small Missouri town to join the search. One of those volunteers is Vincent Lloyd, whose six-year-old little girl had disappeared three years earlier. When her body was finally found, Vince became the prime suspect. Now he sees this new abduction as a chance to redeem himself, and to help save a child. 

Baylor Kracher is frantic to find his son. Nothing this devastating has ever happened to him; when he meets Vince he's found the only person he believes might understands his terror. Working with an Internet search group, fighting an aggressive reporter who's convinced that Vince killed his daughter, neither man will give an inch. But are they too late? And if they succeed, are they prepared for what they might find?

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Woman arrested for maiming after man claims girlfriend tried to bite his penis off 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Hartford Courant: A 47-year old Stamford man flew into a rage and began yelling and throwing things around a local salon because he did not like his haircut, according to police. 

Read the lost Sherlock Holmes story found in an attic

Read the lost Sherlock Holmes story found in an attic: Revealed for the first time, here is the short Sherlock Holmes story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in an effort to save his favourite bridge in Selkirk

The Anniversary Day Saga -- Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a remarkable writer and an amazingly prolific one.  She's written crime novels, science fiction novels, fantasy novels, and romance novels (and these are just the ones I know about) under her own and other names.  She's written dozens of short stories.  She's won awards in just about all those fields I mentioned.  What she's doing now, however, is unprecedented, as far as I know.  I reviewed one of the Retrieval Artist novels in her Anniversary Day saga a couple of years ago.  Then the books stopped.  There was apparently a good reason for that.  She's decided to release the next six books in the series on a monthly schedule, beginning with A Murder of Clones last month.  Has anyone ever tried something like this before?  Instead of waiting a year or so for the next book in a series to appear as I did after Blowback, you have to wait only a month.  You can see the books and the schedule here if you're interested.  Every book I've read in the series has been a good one.  They're SF but with a strong mystery element, so you might want to give these a try if you haven't already.  They're best read in order, and maybe you'll be hooked.

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

Best Celebrity Movie Cameos of All Time

This Year’s Nebula Award Nominees

This Year’s Nebula Award Nominees

Song of the Day

Nancy sinatra - Friday's Child - YouTube:

Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and Whether It Was Intentional

Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and Whether It Was Intentional

Today's Vintage Ad


Once Again Texas Leads the Way

Are These the 11 Best BBQ Cities in America?

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Hector France, Musk, Hashish and Blood, Avon, 1951

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Adaptations from Yesteryear (Part 2)

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Adaptations from Yesteryear (Part 2) 

One Fan’s Top Twenty Crime Films

One Fan’s Top Twenty Crime Films, Forward To The Past

With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm, She Walks the Bloody Tower

Portraits of Anne Boleyn may not be her, say experts 

FFB: Take Me As I Am -- William H. Fielding (Darwin L. Teilhet)

When Steve Lewis reviewed this book on Mystery*File, he guaranteed that the ending would please any fan or noirish fiction.  Having had the book on my shelves for 40 years or so yet never having read it, I figured I'd give it a try.  After all, it was guaranteed, and Steve and I often agree about books.

We agree about this one, too.  It's a coming-of-age novel and a crime novel all in one.  Young Bill Owens, just out of high school and hitching his way to California for a job, gets a ride with a lovely young blonde named Alma, who's about four years older than he is and who is not what she seems to be, at least not what she seems to Bill.  We readers are in on the plot, and we know that Alma's got a trunk full of cash from an armored car robbery that didn't go off as planned (depending on whose plan you mean; do fictional armored car robberies ever go off as planned?).

Alma sees Bill as an opportunity.  The cops are looking for her, but with him along, she's part of a couple.  They're not looking for a couple.  She offers to give him a ride all the way to California.  She also tells him numerous lies.  

The plot twists and turns along because the cops aren't the only ones after Alma, as you may have guessed.  Some very bad guys want that money.  There's a fairly incredible part in the middle of the book that had me shaking my head a bit, but it's forgivable to me because it involves a hand-painted tie.  Ah, hand-painted ties.  How long has it been since you've seen or read about one of those?  Well, that's too long.  But I digress.  Along the way, Bill falls for Alma, and she appears to be falling for him, as well.  But is she?

After a number of double- and triple-crosses we get the answer to that question, and Bill's done a good bit of growing up. I'm not going to spoil the ending for you, but [SPOILER ALERT] then again maybe I am.  In a norish novel, as you know, things don't usually end well [END OF SPOILER ALERT].

Take Me As I Am might not be among the best of the Gold Medals, but it's right up there.  Check it out.


  

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Harris Wittels, R. I. P.

Flavorwire: Harris Wittels, a rising young talent in Hollywood, died on Thursday�of a potential drug overdose, TMZ reports. He was 30 years old. He had been an executive producer on Parks and Recreation, and his previous credits included work as a writer on The Sarah Silverman Program, Secret Girlfriend, and Eastbound & Down. Wittels had been open about his difficulties with addiction, and he had been to rehab twice.

Now Available for Pre-Order!

Li'l Tom and the Pussyfoot Detective Bureau: The Case of the Parrots Desaparecidos - Kindle edition by Angela Crider Neary. Children Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: Someone is stealing the parrots of Telegraph Hill! San Francisco is plagued with a rash of exotic birdnappings, and it's up to Li'l Tom and Lola of the Pussyfoot Detective Bureau to track down the culprits and put an end to this sinister scheme. With the help of a motley crew of cats, one rat, and a dog, they'll venture into the dangerous back alleys of Chinatown to rescue the brilliantly plumaged captives! 


LI'L TOM AND THE PUSSYFOOT DETECTIVE BUREAU: THE CASE OF THE PARROTS DESAPARECIDOS is a whimsical, all-ages mystery featuring a pair of charming feline detectives. Packed with action, humor, colorful characters, and vivid settings, it's a delightful reading experience for young and old!

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

CBS Sacramento: Authorities say a Patterson man is under arrest after he allegedly bit off his mother’s ear.

Only 8 Hours Left in This Great Deal!

StoryBundle: Welcome to StoryBundle! As the temperature outside ranges from chilly to frigid, there's no better activity than to hole up indoors with some great reads. Enter The Cozy Mystery Bundle. A total of fourteen titles (seven books and two more boxed sets) are made up of perennial favorites like Bill Crider and Ed Gorman, as well as some new and rising stars you're sure to love. All these wonderful titles are curated by Patricia Lee Macomber, and you can read more about the bundle here, or you can click on each book cover to see a preview and reviews.

4 Famous Pop Culture Moments Everyone Remembers Incorrectly

4 Famous Pop Culture Moments Everyone Remembers Incorrectly

10 Bizarre Stories Behind The Movies Of Alfred Hitchcock

10 Bizarre Stories Behind The Movies Of Alfred Hitchcock

Song of the Day

THE FALCONS - ''YOU'RE SO FINE'' (1959) - YouTube:

Who Says Hollywood Is Out of Ideas?

Shaft Is Getting A Reboot 

10 Bizarre Horror Movies from the 1970s

10 Bizarre Horror Movies from the 1970s

I Miss the Old Days

Most Iconic 1960s Counter-Culture Movies 

Today's Vintage Ad


I Found a Penny Last Week

Ariz. man buys watch for $6, sells it for $35,000

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Robert C. Du Soe, The Devil Thumbs a Ride, Avon, 1949

Alvin, Texas, Not Included

 Business Insider: Here's The Most Affluent Town In Every State

More than 600 covers of Philip K. Dick novels from around the world

More than 600 covers of Philip K. Dick novels from around the world 

Patrick Shawn Bagley Interview

Short, Sharp Interview: Patrick Shawn Bagley

The Most Used Words in Online Dating By State

The Most Used Words in Online Dating By State

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Bulletin! Bulletin! Bulletin! Instant Classic Alert!

Deadline: Jerry Lewis has signed on to join Nicolas Cage, Elijah Wood and Sky Ferreira in The Trust, a drama that’s shooting in Las Vegas with Ben and Alex Brewer directing.

A Martian Walks Into A Bar (Based on a Story by Joe R. Lansdale)

A Martian Walks Into A Bar In This Short From The Writer Of Bubba Ho-Tep: Joe R. Lansdale's short story "Bar Talk" comes to life in this entertaining short film about a very unusual bar conversation.

Ice, Ice, Baby

Vanilla Ice arrested in Florida burglary rap: The former hip hop star boosted furniture, bicycles and a pool heater from a vacant house near the site of his home-renovation show 'The Vanilla Ice Project,' police say.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Harper Lee Unavailable for Comment

Newly Discovered Dr. Seuss Book To Hit The Shelves In July: In 2013, Geisel’s widow and secretary found manuscripts and illustrations for two other books, which will also be published.

Need a Bona Fide Badass as Your Personal Trainer?

Need a Bona Fide Badass as Your Personal Trainer? Look No Further Than Chuck. 

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

9 Worst Awards Show Hosts in History

Or Maybe You Did

20 Things You Didn’t Know About Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ 

13 Reasons Singer Lesley Gore Will Always Be An Inspiration

13 Reasons Singer Lesley Gore Will Always Be An Inspiration

Song of the Day

Lesley Gore - Maybe I Know (HQ) - YouTube:

The top 10 William Shatner performances that aren't Kirk

The top 10 William Shatner performances that aren't Kirk

Today's Vintage Ad


The Stories Behind 21 World-Famous Photos, By The People Who Took Them

The Stories Behind 21 World-Famous Photos, By The People Who Took Them

“Murder Most Entertaining” (by Lucy Ribchester)

“Murder Most Entertaining” (by Lucy Ribchester) | SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN

PaperBack



Kathleen Norris, Walls of Gold, Pocket Books, 1948

10 Famous Figures Who May Never Have Really Existed

10 Famous Figures Who May Never Have Really Existed

Or Maybe Not

Venice's Libreria Acqua Alta: The most beautiful book shop in the world  

Link via The Presurfer.

I Miss the Old Days

A Tribute to 80's Teen Movies 

Fantastic Universe, September 1959: A Retro-Review

Fantastic Universe, September 1959: A Retro-Review

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Movita Castaneda, R. I. P.

LA Times: Movita Castaneda, a movie actress who married Marlon Brando in 1960 and had two children with him, has died in a Los Angeles rehabilitation center. She was believed to be 98.

12 Perfectly Timed Pictures Of Politicians Standing In Front Of Unfortunate Signs

12 Perfectly Timed Pictures Of Politicians Standing In Front Of Unfortunate Signs

Les Edgerton Interview

Telling it Like it is: Alex Laybourne Interviews Les Edgerton Part 1  

Part 2 is here.

The 10 Most Evil Kids in Horror

The 10 Most Evil Kids in Horror

In Case You Were Wondering

Barns Are Painted Red Because of the Physics of Dying Stars

Song of the Day

Lesley Gore - You Don't Own Me (1964) - YouTube:

Or Maybe You Did

3 Shocking Facts You Didn’t Know About Presidents Day

Today's Vintage Ad


Yet Another List I'm Not On

Mars One mission chooses its 100 finalists

PaperBack



Mickey Spillane, Vengeance Is Mine, Signet, 1953

10 Unsolved Mysteries From Early 20th-Century Organized Crime

10 Unsolved Mysteries From Early 20th-Century Organized Crime

Arnaud de Borchgrave, R. I. P.

The Washington Post: Arnaud de Borchgrave, who interviewed statesmen and despots across time zones and war zones as a swashbuckling foreign correspondent for Newsweek magazine, and who later led the Washington Times as editor during the newspaper’s early years, died Feb. 15 at a hospice in the District. He was 88.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

"The Straw Witch" by John D. MacDonald

The Trap of Solid Gold: "The Straw Witch"

AbeBooks: The Queen of Crime Writing

The Hound of Death by Agatha Christie - published in 1936AbeBooks: The Queen of Crime Writing - Agatha Christie: “Anyway (poetry) is not the most important thing in life, is it? Frankly, I'd much rather lie in a hot bath sucking boiled sweets and reading Agatha Christie, which is just exactly what I intend to do as soon as I get home.” -- Dylan Thomas 

Crime, murder, the Orient Express, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot - these are all terms synonymous with the queen of crime writing, Agatha Christie. Born on September 15, 1890, Christie grew up in Torquay, Devon, where she enjoyed a happy childhood.

Overlooked TV Pilot: The Man in the High Castle

Maybe The Man in the High Castle isn't an overlooked pilot.  Maybe all of you saw it, but since I haven't seen much discussion of it on blogs, I thought I'd at least mention it.  It's based on Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name.  Since I read book well over 40 years ago, I don't remember a lot about it.  I remember enough, however, to know that the premise of the proposed series is the same as that of the novel: the U.S. has lost WWII.  As a result, the western U.S. is ruled by the Japanese, while the eastern half belongs to the Germans.  There's a neutral strip somewhere around the middle.

In the proposed series, it's about 15 years after the war, and it's clear that there's an underground resistance that's fighting in both halves of the country.  One of the keys is a film called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy.  It shows an America that won the war, and some people believe that it's true, not a hoax.  I recall that in Dick's novel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a book, not a film, but I don't mind the change.  It's a lot easier to show a film than passages from a book.

The look of the pilot is great, there was a nice twist at the conclusion, and the cast does a good job.  There's a lot about the cops and the enforcers of both the Germans and the Japanese, which I don't remember from the book.  It could be that the series (if it gets made) will become just another us-against-them thriller, which the book was not.  I'll probably still watch it though, because I'm curious to see where it goes.  

You can watch the pilot here if you haven't seen it.

The Man In the High Castle - Opening Title Sequence

The Man In the High Castle - Opening Title Sequence - YouTube:

Monday, February 16, 2015

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Denied Sex, Woman Pulled Gun On Boyfriend

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee

Groom attacks wife when he can't get her wedding dress off

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Lesley Gore, R. I. P.

Yahoo News: NEW YORK (AP) — Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 at age 16 with her epic song of teenage angst, "It's My Party," and followed it up with the hits "Judy's Turn to Cry," and the feminist anthem "You Don't Own Me," died Monday. She was 68.

10 Secondary Characters Who Became TV Stars

10 Secondary Characters Who Became TV Stars

10 Head-Scratching Facts About Gray Hair

10 Head-Scratching Facts About Gray Hair

Song of the Day

Jay & The Americans Come A Little Bit Closer - YouTube:

Yet Another List I'm Not On

10 Writers Who Took Themselves Way Too Seriously

Today's Vintage Ad


Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback: February 16, 1965

Forgotten Hits: 50 Year Flashback: February 16, 1965

Vicki Hendricks Interview

Short, Sharp Interview: Vicki Hendricks | PAUL D. BRAZILL

Sam Andrew, R. I. P.

Music News - Digital Spy: Sam Andrew - founding member and guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company - has passed away.

PaperBack



Mickey Spillane, One Lonely Night, Signet, 1954

Or Maybe Not

This Guy Trolling His Local Book Store Is The Funniest Thing You'll See Today

I Wrote a Short Story about the First One

15 Quirks of U.S. Presidents You Didn’t Learn in School

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The Top 10 Science Fiction Films of the 1990s   

Link via SF Signal.

10 Odd Jobs Held By Future Presidents

10 Odd Jobs Held By Future Presidents 

New Poem at the Five-Two

The Five-Two: Phyllis Wax: Still Waters.

Happy Presidents' Day!

Presidents' Day (Washington's Birthday) in United States: Washington's Birthday, also known as Presidents' Day, is a federal holiday held on the third Monday of February. The day honors presidents of the United States, including George Washington, the USA's first president.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Louis Jourdan, R. I. P.

Suave French actor Louis Jourdan dies at 93: Paris (France) (AFP) – Veteran French actor Louis Jourdan, who starred in “Gigi” and “Octopussy”, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 93, his official biographer Olivier Minne said Sunday.

Philip Levine, R. I. P.

Bookmarks: Philip Levine, the former poet laureate of the United States whose poems dignified working-class life, died on Saturday at his home in Fresno. He was 87 years old.

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Attention to Books of Interest

Blood and Gold (Outlaw Ranger Book 3) - Kindle edition by James Reasoner. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.: A savage ambush...twenty men slaughtered in a brutal massacre...a fortune in gold stolen! This was a crime big enough and bold enough to bring the Outlaw Ranger to the wide-open settlement of Cemetery Butte, where a powerful mining tycoon rode roughshod over any who dared to oppose him. But even that atrocity doesn't prepare G.W. Braddock for the evil that awaits him, stretching bloody hands out of the past. 

Gritty, compelling, and packed with action, the saga of the Outlaw Ranger continues in BLOOD AND GOLD, the third exciting installment in this series from bestselling author James Reasoner.

10 Great Books About Young Women

10 Great Books About Young Women

Song of the Day

Down To The River To Pray - Alison Krauss - YouTube:

The 10 Biggest Blunders in The History Of Espionage

The 10 Biggest Blunders in The History Of Espionage

Today's Vintage Ad


Captain Video and his Science Fiction Authors

Captain Video and his Science Fiction Authors  

Link via SF Signal.

PaperBack



Carl Jonas, Snowslide, Dell, 1953

How "Clean" Was Sold to America with Fake Science

How "Clean" Was Sold to America with Fake Science

Yet Another List I'm Not On

AbeBooks: Top 100 Most Searched-For Books of 2014

Vintage Treasures: Somewhere a Voice by Eric Frank Russell

Vintage Treasures: Somewhere a Voice by Eric Frank Russell

Croc Update (Overfeeding Edition)

Obese 100-year-old crocodile dies from overeating after worshippers keep throwing it chickens and goats for good luck