Saturday, April 30, 2016
The Education of a Pulp Writer: Under Burning Skies: The Americano, Hombre, and Ba...
The Education of a Pulp Writer: Under Burning Skies: The Americano, Hombre, and Ba...: The Americano (1955, film) You have to love low-budget RKO Pictures for always throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. In the...
KRL This Week Update
Up this morning in KRL a recipe for your Mother's Day dinner
from the mystery "A Catered Mother's Day" by Isis Crawford, along
with a chance to win a copy of the book
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/30/a-catered-mothers-day-by-isis-crawford-2/
Also up a review & giveaway of "Reading Up a
Storm" by Eva Gates aka Vicki Delaney along with an interview with Vicki
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/30/reading-up-a-storm-by-eva-gates/
And reviews & giveaways of 3 more April mysteries from
Penguin authors-"Crime and Poetry" by Amanda Flower, "Murder She Wrote: Design for Murder" by Jessica
Fletcher, Donald Bain and Renee Paley-Bain, and "Needle and Dread": A
Southern Sewing Circle Mystery by Elizabeth Lynn Casey
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/30/even-more-april-penguin-mysteries/
We also have the May mystery Coming Attractions by Sunny Frazier along with a giveaway of books
by Linda Reilly and Sherry Harris http://kingsriverlife.com/04/30/may-coming-attractions-a-garden-of-reading-delights-edition/
And we have a review & giveaway of "Double
Knot" by Gretchen
Archer http://kingsriverlife.com/04/30/double-knot-by-gretchen-archer/
We also have a never before published mystery short story by
Paul Lees-Haley
For those who enjoy fantasy with their mystery, a review & giveaway of "Grave
Visions" by Kalayna
Price
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/30/grave-visions-by-kalayna-price/
Over on KRL Lite, a review & giveaway of "Mrs.
Odboddy, Hometown Patriot" by Elaine Faber
http://kingsriverlife.blogspot.com/2016/04/mrs-odboddy-hometown-patriot-by-elaine.html
--
KRL is now selling advertising & we have special discounts for
mystery authors & bookstores! Ask me about it!
Mystery section in Kings River Life http://KingsRiverLife.com
Check out my own blog at http://mysteryratscloset.blogspot.com/
mystery authors & bookstores! Ask me about it!
Mystery section in Kings River Life http://KingsRiverLife.com
The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog: Member Lori Rader-Day wins Simon & Schuster-Mary H...
The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog: Member Lori Rader-Day wins Simon & Schuster-Mary H...: Announced last night at the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar® Awards, SMFS member Lori Rader-Day won the Simon & Schuster-Mary H...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt: Reviewed by Ambrea In The Sisters Brothers , Patrick DeWitt chronicles the unfortunate misadventures of Eli and Charlie Siste...
Friday, April 29, 2016
Gravetapping: Mystery Scene Reviews: Issue No. 144
Gravetapping: Mystery Scene Reviews: Issue No. 144: The latest issue of Mystery Scene Magazine —No. 144—is at a newsstand near you. The issue is packed, as usual. It features an in-depth ar...
FFB Review: "Shaken: Stories for Japan" Editor Timothy Hallinan
Back in July 2011 I wrote the below
review after reading and enjoying the anthology Shaken: Stories for Japan. In
the wake of the recent earthquakes that once again have rocked the island
nation it seemed a good idea to mention this book as part of Friday’s Forgotten
Books hosted by Patti Abbott.
As noted on the cover, this book is
“A Collection of Original Fiction for Japan America Society of Southern
California's 2011 Japan Relief Fund.” The authors involved have banded
together to create this e-book with all monies raised from sales given to the
Japan Relief Fund to aid earthquake relief efforts. The need remains great
in Japan and the aim of this book is to help in some small way while also
providing reading pleasure. The book seems to be meeting both goals quite well
based on the buzz it has generated.
After a brief message from Douglas
G. Erber, President, Japan American Society of Southern California followed by
a brief introduction to the book by Editor Timothy Hallinan it is on to the
stories. While some are mystery stories and others are fiction, they are all
stories of depth featuring complicated characters dealing with heavy burdens.
These are not the shallow characters of the latest maga Hollywood style
adventure. There are not any lightweight fluff stories in this book either.
It becomes quickly evident to the most casual reader that this is a book
of fiction with serious depth and meaning.
The book opens with “Matsushima Bay”
written by Adrian McKinty. The author briefly chronicles a previous trip
into the area, near the epicenter of the recent tragic earthquake and what the
region means spiritually to so many. While it is a work of fiction, it
reads as nonfiction in the style of a personal and heartfelt narrative.
Naomi Hirahara comes next with
“Chirigami” where a resident, Kenbo, of an apartment with very thin walls
located somewhere just outside of Tokyo has a new neighbor. All he knows
is that she is a woman and foreigner but she is not British or American.
Times have changed. Not only does Kenbo have an unattached female
neighbor, something unheard of before, but the business he works in is slowly
failing. Thanks to his unknown neighbor, Kenbo’s relationship with others
begins to change.
“Gift of the Sea” by Vicki Doudera
tells the tale of a daughter of a woman who was destined to die at sea.
The sea was her end but it was also her mother’s beginning in this touching
story.
Japan isn’t the only place to suffer
major earthquakes that have been devastating. San Francisco has seen its share
and serves as setting for “Coolie” by Kelli Stanley. The earthquake has struck,
the heart of San Francisco is on fire and Alfred and his rescuer must navigate
through the chaos to Golden Gate Park. Alfred is blinded so he must rely
on his rescuer to navigate as well as tell him of the dead horses, the rubble
marking collapsed buildings and homes and everything else in this hell on earth
this April 18, 1906.
Editor Timothy Hallinan makes his
appearance with the powerful story “The Silken Claw.” It is September
1926 on a movie set where production of a Dr. Zo movie is underway. Shooting of
a pivotal scene is underway but the real drama is amongst the cast and crew.
Tom Hickey is 36 and a borderline
diabetic in “The Enemy” by Ken Kuhlken. He owns a supper club and hates
what he is doing and the madness of the world. That includes the shocking
shooting death of his bartender who was robbed on the way to the bank. Since
Tom Hickey also works as a private investigator he intends to find the shooter
one way or another.
It has been four long years and
finally Eunice Toyama is back home in San Pedro. Internment has changed her
home town as well as Eunice. It is 1946, she is 19, and very ready to do
business and take care of debts that are due in “The Emperor’s Truck” by Wendy
Hornsby.
Unlike many of the stories in this
anthology that are set in the past, Cora Black chose present day Tokyo for her
setting with “Mosquito Incense.” Despite the initial modern day setting,
the past is the key point of the story where Tokyo in August means heat,
humidity and regret in large amounts in this tale rich with visual details and
depth of feeling.
“Dead Time” by Dale Furutani
powerfully tells the tale of a man in prison waiting to be executed.
Between 8 and 8:30 every day the warden comes to collect the prisoners to be
executed that day. In Japan the day of the execution is not known to the
condemned or the family so each day begins with the mounting terror of not
knowing if this is the day you die. Being forced to contemplate death
each day gives one time to think.
Reality is harsh for Miki in “Miki’s
19th Birthday” by Stefan Hammond. Her daily reality is living
in a cardboard nest in a tunnel with several other refugees. She has semi
bonded with two other teen girls in the wake of the earthquake/tsunami.
It’s time to find another empty house and get clean--what they call a “shower
Invasion”-- as well as take whatever the trio wants. The problem is the
place they picked isn’t empty.
Brett Battles turns in “The
Assignment” a tale where Orlando is supposed to pick up a married Japanese
national at the airport in ‘Los Angeles. It is supposed to be a
simple pick up, escort Mrs. Tomita to a certain location, and drop her off
job. But, Mrs. Tomita is not everything she appears to be and has her own
agenda.
Faith Hasegawa and the narrator were
best friends from Junior High until Faith died at 40 from cancer. In
“Faith’s Secret” by Dianne Emley, the past is the theme in a tale that will
strike a chord in many readers that grew up in the seventies. Set in Los
Angeles this tale about teen issues works no matter where you grew up.
Working customer service from a
cubicle is no fun and it certainly isn’t in “Father Knows Best” by Hank
Phillipi Ryan. A difficult boss has to be dealt with and the options are
few.
Blending in the local society is a
frequent theme of the stories in this book regardless of where they are set.
This is certainly true in “Borrowed Scenery” by Rosemary Harris. A
fixture in the neighborhood block, Goria Madison always knew what was going
on. At least, she thought she did. The quiet neighbor next door is a
surprise.
With a name like Cynthia Goldberg,
people didn’t expect her to look the way she did. Thanks to her American
Jew father and her Japanese mother, her heritage is mixed and striking as she
walks near the tidal basin in March 1994. It is almost time for the
annual “Cherry Blossoms” in Washington D.C. The setting is more than
symbolic in this powerful tale by Debby Mack where the painful legacy of atomic
warfare lives on.
Jerri Westerson pens a tale of
forced marriage and much more in “The Noodle Girl.” Haruka has just
turned 13 and has been told she is to marry Masaru-Sama. She
unfortunately came to his attention because of her mom and their noodle/tea
cart. If the food had been bad, she could have been safe from him.
Mom is thrilled with her prospects but Haruka is not.
It has been twenty years since he
was back to his village. Now the man has an 11 year old daughter. Both
the man and his daughter are abducted in the chilling story “The Missing” by
Jeffrey Siger. Captured by North Korean soldiers they must do what they
have to do to survive while keeping secret exactly who they are.
“Enforcer No. 3” has been given his
assignment in this hard hitting tale by Gary Phillips. Tokyo may be
having power problems, the city of Sendai may be heavily damaged, but the
Yakuza carry on with normal business. He has work to do with blade and
grenade.
Rebecca has her hands full with
three kids in “Dusty” by C. J. West. But instead of all three to see the
temple at Kamakura, Jessica plans instead to go to a friend’s home high in a
local apartment building. By doing so, she leaves her younger sister Lisa and
baby brother Stephen with Mom for the trip. Within minutes of her leaving
their car and joining up with her friend, the ground starts shaking and
seemingly won’t stop threatening everything and everyone.
Watanabe Wataru was born into the
right family at the right time. It may be the 11th century in
“The Kamo Horse” by IJ Parker, but nobleman Wataru is doing very well. If
he can win the great Kamo race, he can claim the prize of the Emperor’s new
horse. The emperor has selected him to train and ride the horse in the
great race but others think the horse is unlucky and dangerous. Wataru‘s
future in the court hangs in the balance but not because of the obvious in this
complex mystery tale that finishes the book.
At the very end of this enjoyable
book, there is a small explanation about the Japan American Society of Southern
California and their work. Throughout the book after each story and
author bio, there are scattered haiku from the book titled Basho: the Complete
Haiku translated by Jane Reichhold and published in 2008. Along with a brief
note about the passages cited, there is a brief note about the illustrative
work created by cover artist Gar Anthony Haywood.
The result is a complex and
imaginative work that spans the wide gulf between American and Japan while
telling tales that will resonate with many people. These are not fluff pieces
dashed off to meet a word count or loosely address a theme. These characters
are complex and deep and allow a glimpse into their lives for a few pages.
This is a book of soul and complexity of depth that just happens to
support a good cause.
Shaken: Stories for Japan
Edited by Timothy Hallinan
Japan American Society of Southern
California
June 2011
E-Book: Kindle Edition
$3.99
Material supplied by the editor in
exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2011, 2016
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Market Closed: Thuglit
Editor Todd Robinson has announced on the Facebook page for Thuglit that the market has closed. The final issue to come out, hopefully, by the end of May will be a larger than normal edition of stories as he winds things down.
Mystery Fanfare: CrimeFest Award Nominees
Mystery Fanfare: CrimeFest Award Nominees: CRIMEFEST annually presents its awards at a dinner which in 2016 will be held on Saturday, 21 May. Bristol, England. Congratulations to ...
HISTORY’S RICH WITH MYSTERIES----"NATALIE WOOD – Accidental Drowning or Something Else?" by Earl Staggs
After considering the mystery of Agatha Christie’s disappearance in January and the death of
actor George Reeves in February and who killed Bugsy
Siegel last month, Earl considers the circumstances surrounding the
death of Natalie Wood.
HISTORY’S
RICH WITH MYSTERIES
When I
look at the past, I find stories about people which fascinate me, particularly
those in which there is a curious mixture of fact, legend, and mysterious
uncertainty. In this series of articles, I want to explore some of those
stories. I think of them as mysteries swaddled in legend. While truth is always
desired in most things, truth easily becomes staid and boring. Legend, on the
other hand, forever holds a hint of romanticism and an aura of excitement borne
of adventure, imagination and, of course, mystery.
NATALIE
WOOD – Accidental Drowning or Something
Else?
by Earl
Staggs
Born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko in San Francisco on July 20, 1938,
to Russian immigrant parents, she began acting at the age of four and soon
changed her name to Natalie Wood. In
1947, at the age of eight, she played Maureen O'Hara's daughter in the original
film version of the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street, a
role which established her as one of the top child movie actors. As an adult, she starred in a number of major
films including , Splendor in the Grass
(1955), West Side Story (1961), Gypsy
(1962), and Bob & Carol & Ted &
Alice (1969).
By the time she was twenty-five, Natalie Wood, a strikingly beautiful and
talented actress, had accummulated three
Oscar nominations. That was a record
number of nominations for a young actress until
2014 when Jennifer Lawrence accomplished the same feat by the age of twenty-three.
At 8:00 on the morning of November 29, 1981, Natalie's body was pulled
from the water near Catalina Island, off the coast of California.
The previous night, she had partied on their yacht, Splendour,
with her husband, actor Robert Wagner.
They were married in 1957, divorced six years later, and remarried in
1972. Also on board the yacht were
their friend, actor Christopher Walken, and Dennis Davern, the boat's captain.
The Los Angeles county coroner ruled her death an accident by drowning
and hypothermia and noted that a night of heavy drinking could have caused her
to slip and fall into the water.
Not everyone accepted that ruling.
Lana Wood, Natallie's sister and a former Bond girl, accused
Wagner of killing Natalie in a jealous rage over an alleged affair with Walken.
When it was suggested Natalie fell into the water trying to board a dinghy
alongside the yacht, Lana said Natalie was a
poor swimmer with a lifelong fear of water, and for her to voluntarily
leave the yacht on a dinghy was
implausible. All three men on
board said they thought Natalie had gone to bed and had no idea she was in the
water.
The case was reopened in November 2011 after the captain of the boat,
Dennis Davern, published a book titled, GoodbyeNatalie, Goodbye Splendour. In his
book, he admitted he lied to police during the initial investigation and now
stated Wagner was responsible for her death.
Davern appeared in a 1992 Geraldo Rivera special, a 2000 Vanity Fair
piece, and CNN interview in 2010.
Davern claimed Wagner pushed Natalie away after a drunken brawl and
she fell overboard. He said he wanted
to save her, but Wagner said, “Leave her
there. Teach her a lesson.”
Wagner dismissed Davern's allegations as nothing more than an attempt
to sell books through tabloid headlines.
In his 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart, Wagner acknowledged he had a fight with
Natalie that night after Walken went to
bed, and that both of them had been drinking heavily. As for what caused her to fall off the boat,
he wrote it was "all conjecture. Nobody knows. There are only two
possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was
trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what
happened."
"Did I blame myself?," he wrote. "If I had been there,
I could have done something. But I wasn't there. I didn't see her. The door was
closed; I thought she was belowdecks. I didn't hear anything. But ultimately, a
man is responsible for his loved one, and she was my loved one."
After a fresh examination of the original autopsy report, the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner in 2012,
amended Natalie's death certificate. The
cause of death was changed from
“accidental drowning” to "drowning and other undetermined
factors."
The amended document also states:
. . .the circumstances of how Natalie ended up in the
water are "not clearly established;"
. . .some two dozen bruises on her body and an abrasion on
her left cheek may have been sustained before she went into the water;
. . .she may have been unconscious when she entered the
water.
As of now, the case is still open and unsolved. Investigators have circumstantial evidence,
allegations, and suppositions, but no definitive evidence that Natalie's death
was due to foul play.
As for me, I'm undecided. Maybe
they had a physical altercation on deck,
and she went over the side accidentally or aided by an angry, drunken
husband. Perhaps she was so anxious to
get away from him, the amount of alcohol she'd consumed overwhelmed her fear of
water, and she braved climbing into the dinghy only to lose her balance and
wind up in the water.
One thing I'm certain of. I
don't believe we'll ever know for sure what happened on that ill-fated yacht on
that dark night off the coast of Catalina.
What do you think?
Earl Staggs ©2016
Earl Staggs earned all Five
Star reviews for his novels MEMORY OF A MURDER and JUSTIFIED ACTION and
has twice received a Derringer Award for Best Short Story of the Year. He served as Managing Editor of Futures
Mystery Magazine, as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars.
He also invites you
to visit his blog site at http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com to learn more
about his novels and stories.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Florida, Paris, Einstein's Lawn, and Wh...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Florida, Paris, Einstein's Lawn, and Wh...: Reported by Jeanne The Thang That Ate My Granddaddy’s Dog by John Calvin Rainey was praised by our reviewer as a fun and funn...
News
After a long delay Sandi finally got her IVIG done.
News on the MRI was pretty bad. We await word regarding the next steps once they have talked to some specialists.
Chemo is currently planned in two weeks.
News on the MRI was pretty bad. We await word regarding the next steps once they have talked to some specialists.
Chemo is currently planned in two weeks.
Update
While there are power outages across the area and there is tornado damage to our north, we are fine. As the squall line hit here it had weakened a bit so all we got was a lot of rain and lightening with a little wind. Just a normal Texas thunderstorm and nothing more here. We are very glad about that.
I have not made it down the stairs to look at the car yet, but from looking down into the lot everything appears normal. That is a very good thing as we have a trip to the hospital today. Sandi has her IVIG deal and we should learn the MRI results.
I'm exhausted, but that is my normal state of being these days. Between the stress of the situation here and my worsening health, things are very hard. But, it could be way worse this morning and I am well aware.
I have not made it down the stairs to look at the car yet, but from looking down into the lot everything appears normal. That is a very good thing as we have a trip to the hospital today. Sandi has her IVIG deal and we should learn the MRI results.
I'm exhausted, but that is my normal state of being these days. Between the stress of the situation here and my worsening health, things are very hard. But, it could be way worse this morning and I am well aware.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Severe Weather
Watching the radar as the squall line rolls in the west side of DFW.
The TV weather folks are not saying this, but I think the line is
weakening as it comes and seems to be kicking a gust front out of the
front of it. They are currently warning about high winds and large hail.
But, the hail reports right now are about hail the size of quarters and
smaller so none of the baseball and grapefruit sized things of just a
couple of hours ago.
Hopefully the car will get nothing more than a good wash and we can go down to the hospital in the morning for Sandi's IVIG multi hour infusion. Should also have the MRI results.
Hopefully the car will get nothing more than a good wash and we can go down to the hospital in the morning for Sandi's IVIG multi hour infusion. Should also have the MRI results.
FROM DUNDEE'S DESK: Noteworthy Reads: MAGE, MAZE, DEMON by Charles All...
FROM DUNDEE'S DESK: Noteworthy Reads: MAGE, MAZE, DEMON by Charles All...: When it comes to writing heroic fantasy --- or sword and sorcery, if you will --- nobody captures the drive and raw energy of the lat...
Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Michael Bracken honored for lifetime of mysteries
Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Michael Bracken honored for lifetime of mysteries: Waco writer Michael Bracken honored for lifetime of mysteries
Little Big Crimes: Creampuff, by Rob Hart.
Little Big Crimes: Creampuff, by Rob Hart.: "Creampuff," by Rob Hart, in Unloaded, edited by Eric Beetner, Down and Out Books, 2016. Clever concept for an anthology: cri...
Review: "Apocalypse Soon" (Kyler Knightly and Damon Cole Volume 2) by Garnett Elliot
Timelines are tricky things as
readers were reminded in Carnosaur Weekend. Agents Kyler
Knightly and Damon Cole are back in Apocalypse Soon. The work of protecting
the timelines by Continuity Inc. is ongoing, difficult, and relies on everyone sharing the
same common goal and following the rules.
In the signature story of this
second volume of the series one Continuity Inc. technician by the name of Paul
Dirac has gone rouge. His ongoing obsession with Pre-Apocalypse North America and
vintage cars was thought to be a quirk one expected from a genius. The company
shrink had perceived his obsessive interest as nothing to be concerned about
and cleared him to work. Proving the shrink wrong, Dirac has gone rogue and
jumped back in time to “Old Vegas” in the year 2035. He took a lot of supplies
with him which means he is not coming back. What he plans to do there is
unknown, but he can’t be allowed to do more damage than he has already done
simply by going back then. Kyler and Damo have to go after him as fast as
possible and bring him back alive. Easier said than done.
“Babylon Heist” comes next where Kyler
Knightly is sent back approximately 3000 years to prevent a theft. Continuity Inc. got
a tip that another time traveler had been sent back to collect a priceless
artifact for a collector in the 23rd century. Kyler knows what they
are after, but has no idea of the identity of the time traveler. So, he is
working undercover in the Babylonian underworld trying to make contacts and
gather information. 770 B.C. is a dangerous place and he has no idea whom he
can trust.
Billed as a “Bonus Story” the final
tale “Strontium Dreams” has nothing to do with Kyler and Damon or Continuity
Inc. for that matter. Time travel may or may not be involved. What is clear is
that it is a future world and one so decimated that survival means doing anything
you have to survive. Having the stamp of “genetic undesirable” on your
forehead helps keep you away from the collectors looking to salvage organs for
the wealthy and keeps the rest of you out of the taco meat sold by vendors in
the Jetsam Flats. One does not want to become taco meat.
Like the past, the future is not always
pretty and certainly not here in these short stories written by Garnett Elliot.
Whether it is Red
Venus or Dragon
By The Bay, Scorched
Noir, or his efforts in the Drifter
Detective Series, or the aforementioned Carnosaur
Weekend, a hint of hard edged noir prevails no matter the setting.
It doesn’t matter if one is vicariously on Venus fighting humans and alien life,
running from dinosaurs, or shooting it out to bring back the rogue employee,
that dark nourish edge of crime fiction is always there in the works of Garnett
Elliot. One could easily make the argument that these are primarily crime fiction tales in a science fiction setting. Those works are also very good reads that tell complex tales with
plenty of action and adventure.
Apocalypse Soon is yet another example of Mr. Elliott’s steadily increasing
body of work. If you have not read him yet you really should. The only question
is where and when you wish to start.
Apocalypse Soon (Kyler Knightly and Damon Cole Volume 2)
Garnett Elliot
Beat To A Pulp
February 2016
ISBN# 978-1943035144
Paperback
(also available in eBook format)
104
Pages
$5.95
Material was supplied in paperback
format by the publisher three months ago in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016
Monday, April 25, 2016
Mystery Fanfare: Worst. Reading. Ever. - Guest post by Adrian McKin...
Mystery Fanfare: Worst. Reading. Ever. - Guest post by Adrian McKin...: Adrian McKinty is an Edgar Award nominated ( Gun Street Girl ) crime writer from Belfast. His first crime novel, Dead I Well May Be , wa...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee: Reviewed by Ambrea Portia Cuthcart always dreamed of running the Glass Kitchen. Like her grandmother, who founded the rest...
TEXAS BOOK LOVER: MONDAY ROUNDUP: Texas Literary Calendar April 25 -...
TEXAS BOOK LOVER: MONDAY ROUNDUP: Texas Literary Calendar April 25 -...: Bookish events in Texas for the week of April 25 - May 1, 2016: Special Events: Houston Writers Guild Annual Conference , April 29 - ...
Monday With Kaye: "Threat Warning" by John Gilstrap (Reviewed by Kaye George)
This Monday author Kaye George
brings news of a thriller that could be all too real…
Threat Warning by John Gilstrap
There’s no
need to wonder how Gilstrap gets the rave reviews and best-selling status that he
gets. Just start reading and it all becomes clear.
A bizarre
group calling themselves “The Army of God,” and calling each other Brother-This
and Sister-That, have a secret goal so lofty it’s worth killing for. At least
in their minds it is. The story opens with young Colleen Devlin preparing to
mow down motorists on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge
over the Potomac during the afternoon rush
hour. She’s at one end of the bridge and Brother Stephen is at the other end.
Jonathan
Grave is driving across the bridge at the moment they open fire, stuck in
traffic, chatting with his friend and passenger, Father Dom D’Angelo. Jonathan
instantly recognizes the sound of an automatic weapon, creeps out of his car,
and whips out his Colt .45. Although he hits the shooter in the chest, she runs
away just as he realizes she’s a female and not a young man. A misguided Secret
Service agent gets the drop on Jonathan, thinking he’s the perpetrator, and
both shooters escape detection.
Colleen
commandeers a minivan for her getaway and, in the process, takes the driver and
her teenage son hostage to a mountain hideout. The Army of God is
well-organized and supremely motivated, but their captives, the wife, and son
of a deployed Delta force operative, and their opponent, Jonathan Grave
himself, are formidable. Grave and his team watch as other fatal mass attacks
are carried out across America.
They struggle to get to the people behind the carnage that continues splashing
blood and leaving bodies across the country before even greater havoc ensues.
Hang on, it’s
a wild ride!
Reviewed by Kaye George, Author
of Choke
for Suspense
Magazine
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Market Call: Current Cowboy Jamboree call for Fiction and Non
Saw Craig Faustus Buck (author of the very good GO DOWN HARD among other things) mention this on Facebook and am sharing here....
Current Cowboy Jamboree call for Fiction and Non
Current Cowboy Jamboree call for Fiction and Non
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye: Reviewed by Ambrea Jane Steele, like her heroine Jane Eyre, endures abuse at the hands of her horrible aunt and her predatory cou...
My Books
I hate plugging my own stuff. Still, every now and then it has to be done.
Mind Slices: A Collection of New and Previously Published Stories—16 stories in fantasy, science fiction, mystery, suspense, and mainstream fiction, with some stories blending genres. The book includes “Burning Questions” which was a honorable mention winner in Mysterical-E’s “Skeletons in the Closet” contest in the fall of 2007 as well as several pieces that were published at the mystery e-zine “Mouth Full Of Bullets.” In total, the book contains 16 stories in a variety of genres for $2.99.
Mind Slices: A Collection of New and Previously Published Stories—16 stories in fantasy, science fiction, mystery, suspense, and mainstream fiction, with some stories blending genres. The book includes “Burning Questions” which was a honorable mention winner in Mysterical-E’s “Skeletons in the Closet” contest in the fall of 2007 as well as several pieces that were published at the mystery e-zine “Mouth Full Of Bullets.” In total, the book contains 16 stories in a variety of genres for $2.99.
The book is available at Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble The read currently is only available in e-book
form.
If 16 stories all written by yours truly sounds daunting
take a look at Carpathian Shadows: Volume II. The anthology
contains six stories based on a simple premise.
Deep in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains, in
Transylvania, lies an castle once home to a nobleman who warred with the
church, bound his servants with a curse of silence, and ruled his lands with a
grip of iron. Lord John Erdely has been dead for centuries and his castle now a
haven for tourists. Or so, at least, is the claim. Under the editorial
direction of Lea Schizas, six authors tell what happens to these tourists.
My story titled “By The Light Of The Moon...” is a
mystery with a couple of fantasy elements.
Published by Books
For A Buck where it is available, it can also be obtained in
print as well as e-book forms at Amazon,
Smashwords,
and Barnes
and Noble. I also have a few print copies on sale for ten
dollars which includes postage.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Writers Who Kill: Ask A Policeman: A review by Warren Bull
Writers Who Kill: Ask A Policeman: A review by Warren Bull: Ask A Policeman published in 1933 was a work by members of the Detection Club. The authors are Anthony Berkeley, Milward Kennedy, ...
Lesa's Latest Contest--This week's giveaway
This week, I'm giving away copies of Marla Cooper's debut mystery, Terror
in Taffeta, and Mary Daheim's Here Comes the Bribe. Details on my blog,
http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com. Entries from the U.S. only,
please.
Lesa Holstine
KRL This Week Update
Up this morning in KRL a review & giveaway of
"Breach of Crust" by Ellery
Adams
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/23/breach-of-crust-by-ellery-adams/
Also a review & giveaway of "Moss Hysteria" by
Kate Collinshttp://kingsriverlife.com/04/23/moss-hysteria-by-kate-collins/
And in this issue, mystery writer Victoria Abbott talks about food & mysteries
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/23/murder-gets-the-munchies/
We also have a review & giveaway of a new food mystery, "Dying
for a Taste" by Leslie Karst, along with an interview with Leslie
And we have a review of 2 of the Aurora Teagarden movies on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/23/hallmark-movies-mysteries-aurora-teagarden-movies/
And a review & giveaway of "Curtains for Miss
Plym" by Kathleen Delaney
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/23/curtains-for-miss-plym-by-kathleen-delaney/
For those who also enjoy fantasy, up this morning in KRL a
review & giveaway of "Shadow Rites" by Faith Hunter
http://kingsriverlife.com/04/23/shadow-rites-by-faith-hunter/
And over on KRL Lite a review & giveaway of "Killer
Reunion" by GA McKevett
http://kingsriverlife.blogspot.com/2016/04/killer-reunion-by-ga-mckevett.html
--
KRL is now selling advertising & we have special discounts for
mystery authors & bookstores! Ask me about it!
Mystery section in Kings River Life http://KingsRiverLife.com
Check out my own blog at http://mysteryratscloset.blogspot.com/ mystery authors & bookstores! Ask me about it!
Mystery section in Kings River Life http://KingsRiverLife.com
A Bookseller Recommends: The Passenger (A Mystery or Thriller)
A Bookseller Recommends: The Passenger (A Mystery or Thriller): Pro: You'll keep wondering until the end. And oh, that twist. Con: It's not as nail-biting as it sounds. The Bottom Line: De...
Friday, April 22, 2016
Mystery Fanfare: Earth Day: Environmental/Ecological Crime Fiction
Mystery Fanfare: Earth Day: Environmental/Ecological Crime Fiction: Earth Day: April 22, 2016 This is an updated Earth Day/Environmental Mysteries List that is by no means complete. There are many more...
Crime Time : JACKSTRAW – Ron Faust
Crime Time : JACKSTRAW – Ron Faust: Jackstraw is the perfect tonic for this election year of our discontent. Tired of worrying (or hoping) an obscenely rich populist presiden...
FFB Review: "SON OF A WANTED MAN" (1984) by Louis L’Amour (Reviewed by Barry Ergang)
Blowing
the dust off another older review from the dark ages of this blog for Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by
Patti Abbott. I have read a few of Louis L’amour novels, but not this one reviewed
by Barry Ergang. Journey back to those
days of yesteryear by way of SON OF A
WANTED MAN by Louis L’Amour.
SON
OF A WANTED MAN (1984) by Louis L’Amour
During the course of the past year and a half or thereabouts, I’ve become happily reacquainted with one of the joys of my childhood, the western. It began when Turner Classic Movies ran a Roy Rogers movie marathon. This in turn prompted me to rent Hopalong Cassidy films from Netflix, and to buy some from Amazon.com. I also rented movies, primarily the kind of B-westerns I grew up watching on TV in the early 1950s, featuring other cowboy stars: Buck Jones, Bob Steele, Allan “Rocky” Lane, Lash LaRue, “Wild Bill” Elliott, Tim Holt, Dick Foran, Charles Starrett as the Durango Kid, and Bob Livingston, Ray “Crash” Corrigan, and Max Terhune as the Three Mesquiteers. My Netflix queue is loaded with others yet to come.
For all that I enjoyed watching westerns, I’d read very few. Except for a handful of short stories (mostly found at the Online Pulps website), the only novel I’d read was Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses. I remembered Louis L’Amour from his instant best-sellerdom years ago. When a neighbor’s yard sale made his Son of a Wanted Man available, I bought it.
In it we meet Mike Bastian, who has been raised from childhood by his adoptive father, Ben Curry, for the life of a successful outlaw. As one of his “trainers,” a man named Roundy, says:
“…You can track like an Apache. In the woods you’re a ghost, and I doubt if old Ben Curry himself can throw a gun as fast and accurate as you. You can ride anything that wears hair, an’ what you don’t know about cards, dice, roulette, and all the rest of it, nobody knows. You can handle a knife, fight with your fists, and open anything made in the way of safes and locks.
“Along with that he’s seen you got a good education, so’s you can handle yourself in any kind of company. I doubt if any boy ever got the education and training you’ve had, and now Ben is ready to step back an’ let you take over.”
Ben Curry has never been caught because he’s smart, he’s a careful planner, and unlike other outlaws, he doesn’t want a “reputation.” His wife and daughters, who live back east, don’t know anything about this aspect of his life. They think he’s a rancher named Ben Ragan whose business transactions keep him traveling a great deal of the time. Curry has been highly selective about the men he uses to pull off the robberies he plans. He wants men who also don’t seek to advertise themselves as tough criminals.
What he doesn’t know is that two tough lawmen, Borden Chantry and Tyrel Sackett, have begun to detect a pattern in his modus operandi, and are closing in.
Mike Bastian’s problem? Deciding whether he wants to lead an outlaw’s life or stick to the straight path.
As events unfold, the matter is largely decided when Curry’s life and the life of one of his daughters, Juliana, is threatened by a band of men Curry recruited and who have, for years, benefited by his recruitment. Harrowing circumstances compel Bastian and others loyal to Curry to try to hunt down these renegades. Among the hunters is Curry’s other daughter, Drusilla, to whom Bastian is strongly attracted—and vice versa.
Since this is the first novel I’ve read by the late Louis L’Amour, I can only assume it’s representative of the way he wrote his many other novels. He was clearly a storyteller, and a man who wrote in a style free of any verbal furbelows and flourishes. The story itself is compelling, even if there are passages here and there that are repetitious, and despite the intimacy between Mike Bastian and Drusilla Ragan that strikes me as abrupt and false as the almost instant, unlikely connections seen in many B-western films.
L’Amour has one mannerism—in this book, at least—that’s annoying in its misuse. He’s fond of sentences that open with participial phrases, sentences meant to describe simultaneous actions. All too often, the simultaneities he describes are impossible. If I write, for example, “Striding across the floor of the bunkhouse, he unbuckled his holster,” the reader can picture someone walking and unbuckling at the same time. Now consider a line from L’Amour. After telling us that Borden Chantry “went to the stove for the coffeepot,” implying that he had to rise from his seat, move across the room, and then fill his and Sackett’s cups, he writes, “Returning the pot to the stovetop, he sat down, straddling his chair,” suggesting that Chantry is the Old West’s equivalent of Plastic Man. Here’s a “twofer”: “Walking back to the table Dru took the chimney from the lamp, struck a match, and touched it to the wick. Replacing the lamp globe she drew back a chair.” This is a flexible, multi-talented multi-tasker!
In both examples, the addition of the word “after” at the beginning of each sentence would have corrected the errors.
You may have also noted that the second L’Amour example could stand some commas. Which is to say that Bantam Books, the publisher, could have used a good copy editor. Then again, considering the general quality of book editing for years now, along with the way English is taught, I’m not sure the majority of readers will notice the grammatical nits I’ve picked.
Nits notwithstanding, Son of a Wanted Man is a fast-paced, exciting piece of entertainment. It may not be a masterpiece, but it’s a lot better than a Tex Ritter movie.
Barry Ergang © 2009, 2016
Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang’s work, including his locked-room mystery novelette The Play of Light and Shadow, is available at Amazon and Smashwords, along with other stories and collections.
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