Sunday, July 21, 2024
Beneath the Stains of Time: Bunraku Noir (2023) by K.O. Enigma
Guest Post: A Study in Contrasts by Paul A. Barra
Please welcome back author Paul A
Barra to the blog today…
A Study in Contrasts by Paul A. Barra
I admire contrast
when authors have two important characters vying for prominence in a mystery novel.
Otherwise, why have two? The contrast can vary from the natural complementarity
between a man and a woman, working together as protagonists, to a good
protagonist opposing an evil antagonist. Whether the contrast is inherently
occurring or forced by circumstances, it is important to a story because it
adds conflict—and conflict drives the plot, creating tension, the lifeblood of
the genre.
Many of us write,
and read, crime fiction precisely because a certain tension or suspense is a
built-in part of the fictive type, pitting criminal activity against
investigative efforts designed to end that activity. A person or persons
unknown commits a crime, usually murder, early in the book and a good person or
persons tries to identify the killer(s) and prevent more of his or her or their
evil work. I need hardly mention here that “good” is a relative term when
describing our protagonists. Victims are innocents (also speaking relatively),
so there is also the satisfying result of justice served. Usually. No matter
how intricate a writer’s plot or how well-crafted his characters, introducing a
pair of contrasting good guys trying to solve the same mystery adds tension,
and so adds interest.
When I was working
to add such interest to my new thriller, SGT. FORD’S WIDOW, I
searched for an opposite to my protagonist. Gil Ford is a rangy native of wild
Wyoming who can ride a horse as well as he can drive a pickup. I wanted him to
be a veteran of the Vietnam War because I think the Modern-Historical Mystery
is the wave of the future in the genre as readers tire of the ubiquitous cell
phone playing the role of an electronic version of deus ex machina, or
forcing the writer to invent unlikely reasons for a character to be unable to
use his or her cell. I say unlikely because we know most people today would
rather leave home without their shirts than without their phones. A charged
cell is as important to a detective as a loaded sidearm. Cell phone towers have
proliferated today to such an extent that Statista, a statistical research
company, estimates that there are 16 billion (that’s sixteen thousand million
or 16 x 109) mobile phones in the world today—a world of just less
than 8 billion human inhabitants. A garbage picker in Bangladesh can now call
after work to see if his wife needs anything from Walmart on his way home.
Well, maybe not Walmart.
What I needed was a person to work with Ford who was small, had never known winter, had never seen a horse or a cow, and who spoke no English. Enter Tran Thi Linh, the wife of a Viet Cong guerilla who died trying to infiltrate Ford’s army base. Ford was an MP then, and he rescued Linh from incensed GIs taking out their anger on her for the damage done by her late husband. As she recovers after in an army field hospital, she realizes Ford saved her very life and she decides she must dedicate the rest of that life to repaying him for his kindness. For his part, Ford realizes Linh will not survive on her own in the war-torn Mekong delta. She is broken, scarred and ostracized by the villagers who hate the grief her husband’s actions brought to them. Ford must get her to his home in Wyoming. It’s 1967. The trouble is, home is 8,000 miles away and American officials, not happy by then with how the war is going, will not transport the family of a VC to the World, as American conscripts referred to the USA. Ford works out an ingenious deal with an officer on a South Vietnamese gunboat, and Linh gets to Guam. And then to California on a plane with other wounded people.
The main part of
the book takes place in eastern Wyoming, where Linh is convinced that no living
thing can survive outside in January, and where Ford returns to work as a P.I.
She accommodates to the weather, and to the large, hairy people, the amounts of
protein they consume regularly, and the primitive language they speak. Women in
Wyoming shoot guns and smoke cigarettes, she discovers to her horror. But she
overcomes all the divergences from her former life and helps Ford solve the
theft of six pigeon-blood-red rubies and subsequent murders. Linh eventually
becomes locally famous as a crime-buster. She bows to her neighbors, and they
bow back. Ford bows to no one. They are the perfect pair—if you like contrast
between protagonists—except that Linh can no longer tolerate any sexual
contact. That produces yet another contrast to chew over as you read.
Paul A. Barra’s
new mystery-thriller, SGT. FORD’S WIDOW, will be released by the venerable
publishing house The Permanent Press on Oct. 1, 2024. He invites you to kindly
check out his website for more information (www.paulbarra.com).
Paul A. Barra ©2024
Saturday, July 20, 2024
SleuthSayers: Transparent, Proactive, and Incentivized
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Third Shift Society by Meredith Moriarty
Scott's Take: Duke Volume 1: Knowing is Half the Battle by Joshua Williamson
Duke Volume 1:
Knowing is Half the Battle by Joshua Williamson with Tom Reilly (illustrator)
and Jordie Bellaire (colorist) is a miniseries despite being titled Volume 1.
There is no Volume 2 and there will not be. This is a miniseries set in the
Energon Universe. A recently started line of books based on the idea--- what if
the Transformers and the G.I. Joe lived in the same universe? This miniseries
is designed to start setting up the G.I. Joe part of the Energon Universe.
Duke barely
survived an encounter with the Decepticon known as Starscream, but his friend
was not so lucky. The United States military is covering it up and telling the
highly decorated soldier that he is just wrong. So, Duke goes rogue and finds
out that the rot in the institutions he has served his whole life in is deeper
that he knows.
The art is
pretty good even if the colors are a little dull. I don’t know if this was a
deliberate choice, but Duke spends a good portion of this tale looking like
Captain America from Infinity War. This is a mature and well thought out tale
that raises a number of questions about what does a man who believes in the
system do when the system fails him? We don’t get to explore this version of
Duke too in much depth as this is more of a thriller than a character
development read.
I really liked
this read until the ending. Major spoilers, but a lot of the questions raised
in this tale are brushed aside in order to have Duke help form the G.I. Joes.
The newly formed
G.I. Joe group is assigned to kill Optimus Prime. They don’t know he is a good
guy or, I guess, a good robot. Started here, this mission will be followed up
in one of the new books in the universe. At the time of this review, I do not
know which one.
The next
announced book in the series, Cobra Commander, focuses on the
Cobra Commander forming his group to take over the world.
Additionally, a
full G.I. Joe series will start sometime this fall. That series will have Duke and
other members of the G. I. Joe group.
Overall, while
they are building up the G.I. Joe part of the universe with miniseries, they
are currently giving the Transformers universe an actual series.
There is also
something called Void Rivals set in space. I read it, and quite
frankly, I still have no idea how it’s supposed to tie in yet. Which is why I
have not reviewed it. I did not much care for it either.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3zEWshf
My reading copy
was a Hoopla digital eBook via the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2024
Friday, July 19, 2024
Update
For those scoring along at home… left ear is still a mess. Not any better so went back to the doc today. Ear drum looks way better. Ear canal is a little better. Next we try a steroid dose pack and Claritin and Flonase. The ongoing bad air from allergens and Saharan Dust might be causing all of this. Also working on a referral to an ENT. Sigh.
No FFB Review Today-- Doctor Visit Instead
By the time this post appears, I should be at, or very near, the doctor's office. I went last Tuesday, over a week ago, to have my left ear looked at after various over the counter things did not help. Turned out that I had a left ear drum infection and the ear canal was also swollen and infected. I did not know one could get their ear canal infected, but I did it. A five day dose pack of antibiotics was prescribed as were ear drops.
Due to how late in the day it was after the doc, I had to wait till Wednesday to get the pills and start them. I did not get the ear drops until late Thursday as they were on a truck and it took awhile.
Nothing has worked. I still have more ear drops, and am continuing to do that, but nothing is happening. So, it is back to the doc today to see what will be the new plan.
Posts
