FFB Review: "THE LAST BEST HOPE" (1998) by Ed McBain--Reviewed by Barry Ergang

It is Friday and as we try to resume normal operations around here that means it is time for Friday's Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott.Patti is off this week so for the complete list of today's books surf on over to  Tod Mason's excellent "Sweet Freedom"  blog at http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/ 

 

THE LAST BEST HOPE (1998) by Ed McBain

reviewed by Barry Ergang

Jill Lawton comes to attorney Matthew Hope's law office in Calusa, Florida to get a divorce—with alimony—from her long-gone husband Jack. Nine months earlier, Jack had gone north, ostensibly in search of freelance graphic design work, and she has not heard from him since. Jill hopes to invoke the Enoch Arden Law, but Matthew explains that not enough time has passed for this to apply, and that they'll have to find Jack and serve him with the divorce papers.

It's not long thereafter that a man's body is found on a beach in Calusa, the face gone from a shotgun blast. A driver's license and Visa card in the man's pockets suggest he's Jack Lawton. But when Jill is summoned to positively identify the body, she instantly determines from the absence of a miniscule blue dot on his Adam's apple that the man is not her husband.

Matthew puts a firm of private investigators on the case, and on his own phones a precinct in the city where Jack was last known to have been. The city is unnamed; the precinct is the 87th; the detective Matthew talks to is Steve Carella.

Thus McBain melds two series and the sleuths therefrom, each working in different locations on the same case.

As the body count increases and surprises unfold, McBain with the skill his fans know and love conveys the story's past and present from different angles and viewpoints, switching among the various investigators and multiple villains. The reader is taken into the heads of the characters, all of whom are believably fleshed-out, and comes to know them from their conversations with others and their internal monologues—another McBain trademark.

The Last Best Hope never lets up—it's a superb example of a "page-turner"—as characters and events converge in a wild climax tense with excitement but leavened with humor situational, coincidental, and authorial. The lyric from a song in a James Bond movie aptly sums up Ed McBain: "Nobody does it better."

Barry Ergang © 2011

Formerly the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s 2007 Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang’s written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. For links to material available online, see Barry’s webpages. The Last Best Hope is among the many books Barry has for sale at http://barryergangbooksforsale.yolasite.com/

Reviewing: "Dirty Old Town And Other Stories" by Nigel Bird

Featuring nine stories by Edinburgh resident Nigel Bird, this short collection features tales told by adults and juveniles dealing with dark days and even darker thoughts. The characters often are not happy go lucky folks. These are people trying to survive in a world stacked against them. As such, sometimes the language is a bit coarse but life is not all tea and crumpets for these folks.

This short book opens with “Drinking Wine.” She has kids at home and needs a break.  If the babysitter hadn’t arrived wearing a tight mini skirt, fishnets and a top that barely covered anything, maybe she wouldn’t have gotten the idea and then went to the bar called “The Dog and Dude.”  But, she did in her own sexy outfit and now a fellow drinker is making her feel all tingly with thoughts of Roger far from her mind. The night is young, the possibilities are endless, and things are going to go sideways.

The life of a janitor in a school is never an easy one.  Especially when some sort of stomach bug is going around in “Taking a Line for a Walk.”  Duke Earl has to quit painting the fence and go clean up the latest mess. He’s seen a lot of things over the years and knows his time on this earth is running out---one way or another.

In “Dirty Old Town” a man named “Chalky Fish” awakes from a beating realizing that not only does he massively hurt, but he lost a tooth and the sight out of one eye. He also managed to lose a button off his favorite jacket. At least the first punch had been good one because it knocked him out. The bad thing is the next day is going to be worse on so many levels.

The young boy is a long way from home in London every time he goes to visit his Gran on the island of Skye. This trip is different because not only did they have more stuff, but dad didn’t make the trip this time with him, his brother Davey and mom. Along with telling readers what life is like for the eight year old narration, author Nigel Bird weaves in just below the surface a bit of dangerous undercurrent in “Sea Minor.” Something is at work on this island where modern conveniences like television and computer aren’t possible.

Sometimes somebody gets the idea that it is their job to clean the city or village streets of what they think is human trash. The three women picked up by Brandon and his friends might have different ideas about that in “Sisterhood.”

Like in “Dirty Old Town” sport serves as a backdrop to “One hundred And Ten Per Cent.”  Vincent Love is trying to confine his running to the track. He doesn’t want to go back to prison and run in the yard ever again. Getting a good start whether or the track or running from the flashing lights of the cops is everything. No matter how fast he runs, he can’t run from the past.

Craig does not want to go down the chimney but dad insists he has to in “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight).” After all, dad intends to make sure the boy honors his promise to mom about getting her a pearl necklace.  Too bad the boy thought they would actually buy one.

“Three Little Birds” tells readers what they instinctively know. Some kids have that look in their eye of evil.  Danny had it and proved on occasion growing up. These days he is in adult, back in the area, and something needs to be done.

The pimp game has done okay for Brad in “Silver Street.”  He may only be 17 but he has plans. Big plans. They include a certain young lady because they are destined to be together.

This collection of previously published fiction in a variety of markets shares a common theme of loss and lament. Sometimes the situation is due to decisions and actions that the primary character did in the past and the character is struggling to turn things around despite the obstacles.  Sometimes it happens because not everything or everyone is as the primary character believed.

Sacrifice and desperate scrambling to survive are present in all of these good stories.  Dirty Old Town And Other Stories features dark works that take readers down the back ways, into seedy pubs, and places you may never have known about in merry old England. Tales of noir that pull you in quickly before spitting you back out like the loser you truly are at the very core of your being. These are not tales that make you feel good as many are truly at the end of their rope. No, these are tales that drag the ugly out into the light and make you look at it and identify with it on every level.

Dirty Old Town And Other Stories

Nigel Bird

http://nigelpbird@blogspot.com

2011

Kindle E-Book

$0.99

Author supplied a word document for this book for purposes of an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011

Sandi Mid Week

Appointments with various doctors are now set for the next month as they follow up on her strokes and the aftermath of them. Her blood pressure continues to soar a bit despite all the new drugs. Her mood swings continue though not at the level they were in the hospital.

So, pretty much everything is still the same. We continue to hang in and hope for things to get better.

Event: WRITERS' GUILD OF TEXAS MONTHLY MEETING--Monday, August 15, 2011

WRITERS' GUILD OF TEXAS MONTHLY MEETING

Monday, 15 August 2011

7-8:30 p.m.

Topic: Travel and Leisure Writing

Speaker: Richard Pollak

Richardson Public Library

900 Civic Center Dr.

Richardson TX 75080

Basement Room

Richard Pollak, in his own words:

• President,Press Club of North Texas, Food, Wine, Travel, Entertainment, Sports and Fashion Writers Division
• Will travel on his first travel writers’ junket to Riviera Maya, Mexico, August 24-28
• Won the Kenny’s 7 lb. El Jeffe Hamburger Eating Contest, covering the event to write an article and is a finalist for the Man vs. Food Nation Contest
• Part-time professional ice hockey writer for 18 seasons
• Owner: Rainbow Entertainment Talent and Special Event Services Agency
• Wants to write a book titled: ''What If They Play the Game and Nobody Shows Up"

Improve your writing/editing skills; attend Writers' Guild of Texas PCS (Planned Critique Sessions). 3^rd Wed. every month. Participants present their own work, receive feedback from fellow members. Richardson Public Library Basement, 7-8:45 p.m. To sign up, contact Earl Stubbs, earlstubbs34@gmail.com, 214.683.2489.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

WGT member special: Kat Smith's The Naked Author. Regularly $14.95; member price: $10.00. Pick up at any meeting or purchase online at www.tomkatproductions.com; use code: WGT2011. This Writer's Digest Magazine 16^th Annual International Self-Published Book Award-winning book contains a wealth of information covering every aspect of the book publishing business. The Naked Author is the only book you need to break into the field of publishing.

Kat Smith, Membership Chair, is developing a membership directory to help members find members with similar interests, etc. to partner for critique or support. The membership form will provide a clear picture of each member's profile. Take the opportunity to talk to her at the next meeting.

Annual 2011 WGT dues of $20.00 may be paid at meetings, by mail to Writers' Guild of Texas, 6009 W. Parker Road, Suite 149-175, Plano TX 75093, or online at http:/writersguildoftexas.org/joomla/.

All WGT events located at the Richardson Public Library are free and open to the public. For information on the sponsoring organization, visit http://writersguildoftexas.org/joomla/. 

·                  Tuesday, 23 August 2011: The Muse Literary Mingle. 5-8 p.m. Geisha Steak and Sushi, 3801 George Bush/I90 @ Coit. Happy hour and conversation with Pari Danian (pre-purchase books at any book retailer for autographs). Sponsored by Preface Entertainment and Writers' Guild of Texas.

·                  Third Wednesday of every month: WGT's PCS meeting (see description above). Contact: Earl Stubbs, earlstubbs34@gmail.com, 214.683.2489.

·                  Monday, 19 September 2011: Cynthia Stillar, Pros and Cons of Keeping vs. Selling Rights

·                  Monday, 17 October 2011: Rex McGee, Screenwriting: Getting Your Words on the Big Screen

·                  Saturday, 12 November 2011 TBA.

·                  Monday, 21 November 2011: Heather Wood, E-Commerce, Your Online Selling Options

·                  Monday, 19 December 2011: Holiday Open House and Networking Opportunity

·                  Monday, 16 January 2012: Diane Kelly, Tax/Business Tips for Writers

·                  Monday, 20 February 2012: Christine Perez, Writing for Magazines and Newspapers

·                  Monday, 19 March 2012: Carmen Goldthwaite, Narrative Non-fiction

·                  Monday, 16 April 2012: Mike Farris, Literary Agents

All Writers' Guild of Texas events held at the Richardson Public Library are free and open to the public. Visit WGT's website: http://writersguildoftexas.org/joomla/

Writers' Events Calendar (contact carol.woods@verizon.net to have your conferences, meetings, or other writing-related event listed here—no individual book signings, please):

·                  Tuesday, 9 August 2011: Mary DeMuth, author & speaker. 11 Secrets of Getting Published. Rockwall County Library, 1215 E. Yellowjacket, Rockwall TX 75087. 972.204.7700. rocklib@rockwallcountytexas.com

 

·                  Saturday, 13 August 2011: Do the Write Thing 2011; 5^th Annual Writing Workshop. Tarrant County Community College, Northeast Campus. 828 Harwood, Hurst TX 76054. 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Learn about the dollars and sense (cents) of publishing. Featured speaker: Ann Weisbarger, author of The Personal History of Rachel Dupree. Shewanda Riley at 972-533-3543 or email info@thewritethingworkshop.com , also www.thewritethingworkshop.com

·               Thursday-Thursday October 20-23; 2011: 2011 Conference and October 20-27: Austin Film Festival. Austin TX www.austinfilmfestival.com.
 

·               Thursday-Thursday October 20-23; 2011: Austin TX http://www.texasbookfestival.org/

·               Saturday, 10September: UT Tyler, Ornelas Activity Center, 3402 Old Omen Road, Tyler. 10 am-4 pm. http://www.etxbookfest.org/

·                  First Saturday each month: Dallas MWASW (Mystery Writers of America, Southwest). Texas Land & Cattle, 812 South Central Expressway, Richardson, TX 75080, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. $5.00 door fee, cash only. All who attend are invited to remain for lunch. Contact info: rebecca@rebeccarussell.com. 

·               The Dallas Area Writers Group (DAWG) put together a summer reading list—including a reading list for writers. Check it out! The more readers in the world—the more opportunities for writers! www.alanelliott.com

·               Second Saturday each month: North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop. Meets every 2nd Saturday at the Hurst Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 6pm.http://www.ntsfw.com

 

·               Frisco Writers Meet-Up Groups: Day group meets every 3rd Thursday and night group every 2nd Tuesday. See website for more details. http://www.meetup.com/writers-749/

·               Visit http://www.writersleague.org/programs/classes.html for up-to-date information on Writer's League of Texas workshops held in Austin TX. 

·               Visit http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ for guidelines to participate in the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.

 

The Writers' Guild of Texas is a nonprofit professional organization whose primary purpose is to provide a forum for information, support, and sharing among writers; to help members improve and market their writing skills; and to promote the interests of writers and the writing community.

If you don't wish to receive these announcements, please let me know.

Permission to forward this email is not only granted, but encouraged. Let's get the word out to as many in the writing community as possible.

Carol Woods, Communications

Writers' Guild of Texas

carol.woods@verizon.net

Update on Sandi

Sandi was allowed to come back home late Friday afternoon. She is not right and she knows it and is frustrated. How much of this is the brain damage she suffered and how much of it is the medications of various types in her system I don’t know. Her blood pressure remains very unstable despite the sixteen drugs they have her on now.  We got through the weekend but it was close as her blood pressure went way up several times. One would think with ten blood pressure drugs in her, she would not have this kind of issue but we were told to monitor closely as her body needs time to adjust to the new meds. Of course, they adjusted the dosages on three others as well as changed the frequency of her taking five other ones. Kind of makes one wonder what all this is doing to her.

Sandi is supposed to see our regular doctor sometime this week and then the neurologist within the next two weeks to evaluate the brain damage and whether or not it is reversible. The neurologist believes it most likely is not reversible at this point. He further believes she has been quietly having strokes since she had the heart attack and strokes back in April 2010. That event put her in ICU for four days. If he is right, that means the all clear we were given in May 2010 was very wrong. At this point, his main goal going forward is her not to get worse as her brain scans present as if she is a 71 year old woman with Alzheimer’s.

Considering Sandi turns 52 in January, the fact her brain is that bad off at this point is very scary. Not to mention all the other associated issues and potential issues with that kind of diagnosis. She agitates very easily now and fixates on one thing. An example of that was how upset she got yesterday afternoon when she could not find one of the meds she is supposed to take. She was convinced that I had not picked up the drug Friday afternoon after I got her home from the hospital and that she had never taken it. Not only had she taken it Friday and Saturday afternoons as scheduled, the bottle was sitting behind another medicine bottle. She simply could not find it.

So, that is where we are this Monday morning.  For the foreseeable future, I pretty much have to figure out on my own how we are going to deal with anything going forward. From doctor visits, school stuff with Scott, trips to the local food bank, and everything else, it is all on me now as she has to be as calm as possible. That means I can’t discuss anything with Sandi. She triggers easily and when she gets upset things go downhill quickly.

We are in real trouble and I don't know what we are going to do.

Review: "Lake Charles" by Ed Lynskey

It is 1979 and Brendan Fishback isn’t doing too well in the game called life. Waking up next to a dead woman can cause huge problems. The fact that she, Ashleigh Sizemore, was the daughter of the wealthy and powerfully connected, Ralph Sizemore is a huge problem. Word is old Ralph is going to be a Senator. The fact that drugs were planted in the room is a huge issue. The fact that Brendan keeps having strange dreams and visions where the dead teenage girl talks to him about her murder is a huge problem.

Despite the odds and the nice frame job against him, Brendan Fishback gets out on bail.  Besides avoiding the shyster slime ball lawyer his mother, Mama Jo, hired for him Brendan plans to go fishing with his brother in law and good friend, Cobb Kuzawa. A quiet couple of days at Lake Charles, a local man-made lake created by the Tennessee Valley Authority, will be as good a break as he can get these days.

Like Brandan, the best days seem to have gone by the lake as it and the surrounding area is in bad shape. If trying to detox from all the pot he has done isn’t enough, the area flat out reeks and is depressing to look at. Back in the day, it used to be a happening place. Not only is nobody apparently around, but there is the stench of rot and decay at the marina area and large sections of the lake are fouled by algae scum. Not only do they have to get the bass boats through that, Brendon has to listen to his sister Edna and Cobb bicker.

Edna invited herself along and that had not been the plan. What been initially planned as a guy trip has mutated into a cranky family outing. Edna and Cobb fight constantly and both of them are driving him nuts. Clearly, Edna should have never married Cobb and certainly she should never have come on the trip. They are driving each other nuts too and before long Edna rockets away on her jet ski towards the dam area leaving the other two behind on the lake in their boats.

And she never comes back.

The search is soon on and leads Brendan and Cobb into a violent confrontation. The first of many confrontations proving that the lake area is not at all deserted like they thought. Brendan wants his sister back, alive and in one piece, and knows too well they can’t get help from the corrupt local police. The trail of the missing Edna leads back and forth across the Lake Charles area and the Tennessee Mountains while Brendan soldiers on getting the answers he seeks. Some of them won’t be pretty.

The front cover has a blurb quote from author Ed Gorman, “Lake Charles is going to scorch your soul . . . I loved it.”  That pretty much sums up things very well for this very complicated book where everyone has a dark backstory that gradually comes out. A dark and twisted noir tale that starts with a bang and goes in many different ways by use of dreams and flashbacks and forward literary narrative before bringing the whole thing to a surprising conclusion. 

Simply put, Lake Charles by Ed Lynskey is a mighty good book and one well worth your time.

Lake Charles

Ed Lynskey

Wildside Press LLC

http://www.wildsidebooks.com

June 2011

ISBN# 978-1-4344-3046-5

Paperback

192 Pages (includes one page of reference sources)

$12.99

Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2011

Sandi Home

Sandi is home.

FFB

It is Friday and in a normal week that would mean either Barry or I would have a blog posting today for Friday's Forgotten Books. But, this has not been a normal week.

So, with Sandi in the hospital and hopefully coming home today, we are taking the day off. For the complete list of the Friday's Forgotten Books, surf over to http://pattinase.blogspot.com/

I expect and hope that we will be back in stride next Friday.

TEE, Sandi and her stroke

A long day but we got some good news today. They did the TEE deal which consists of running a camera on a line down the throat into the esophagus. The camera sends out sound waves that paint a picture of the backside of the heart and the area around it so the docs can check and see if something is happening that could generate clots. In Sandi's case, she was given the all clear as her heart is functioning correctly and not throwing clots off into her brain.

So, while the clots happened, they did not come from her heart. Where they came from is a bit of an open question.

Sandi could be one of those people who just form clots. Blood thinners would help prevent that, but long term use of them have risks because of her other medical issues.

The clots could have formed because her blood pressure got too high. She has been taking her meds, but with the heat, the stress of various things here, etc. there may need to be a medication change. She was checking her BP routinely on our home monitor and things were okay until last weekend.

Her spirits are good, she is alert, stable blood pressure and diabetes wise, and seemingly back to normal. I'm worried since we still don't know the "why" of all this, but she seems okay with not knowing the exact reason. She just wants to get released and come home. On that score, we agree.

Kevin

Sandi and her stroke

I would have had this up earlier but we just suffered through a nearly two hour power outage. No fun with temps outside at 110. Dinner number two is underway now and one hopes the power stays on long enough that we get to eat it.

I am absolutely exhausted between the pain, the heat, and the stress of everything here.  I did manage to get, I think, three hours of sleep last night which helped a little bit. We are on our own here and that means I am doing everything myself with what help I can get from the boys. Don't get me wrong, they do help. But, they can't drive, make the trek from the parking garage into the hospital any easier, or help me not hurt when I am sitting there. I have been sitting up so much that my leg is not shrinking at night and seems to be somewhat swollen all the time. Not a good sign. But, it is what it is.

AS TO THE MORE IMPORTANT MATTER....Sandi is a little better tonight.

Apparently  what happened is she has been throwing blood clots out of her heart and up into her brain. This may have been going on as far back as April 2010 when she had a heart attack and stroke. We had been told then that everything was resolved and she was stable. Apparently she wasn't and most of the clots were undetected during followup visits and did not present symptoms for her to take note of until last weekend.

Most of the clots broke up and dissolved but several that she threw on Saturday and Sunday did not dissolve and break up. This is why she got so screwed up and her brain swelled. Theoretically they have dissolved now. they see at least six impact points across the top of her brain indicating clots that have either almost dissolved or still formed up that have scarred her brain.  Apparently her brain scans indicate the brain of a 71 year old female with senile dementia bordering on Alzheimer's. Considering she is 51, pretty scary stuff.

Tomorrow, at some point most likely in the morning, they are going to do a TEE which is a deal where they will knock her out and put a camera down her throat and look at her heart from the backside. The belief is that something might be wrong on the backside of her heart in the major artery and since it can't be seen from the front, this is the safest way to go look at it.

Theoretically, if the clot situation can be stopped, some of this can be reversed with meds. How much is permanent is something that will take time. She is better today and more coherent. o far today no headache and no nausea. She could read the clock again and she could work the TV remote and once again knows it is daytime.

She is aware of her surroundings, knows she is not quite right, and knows that she has a big problem. She asked me to thank everyone for their prayers and support and to let you know how much it means to the both of us.

It does and I thank you.

Kevin

Tuesday, Sandi and her Significant Stroke

Sandi is still in the hospital and won't be coming home anytime soon.

The MRI was finally done late yesterday afternoon once they had her stabilized enough where she was not throwing up as they had real issues with it and could not run the risk of her throwing up while in the tube. The news is not good. According to the nurse who told me stuff because Sandi was getting increasingly agitated and demanding to see the doctor, Sandi has had a significant stroke. How much damage and whether or not is is permanent is unknown right now as they are pushing drugs into her to alleviate the brain swelling and hopefully prevent an additional stroke(s). She has had a major personality shift and is cussing out folks, including me, has no idea what day it is, can't read the analog clock on the wall, can't work the remote, has no idea if it is daytime or night despite the fact the blazing sun is hitting her windows a bit, believes she has been in there for months, that I never once have come to see her, and that she has brain tumor that no one will tell her about.

I can't tell you how bad off she is mentally right now. The only good thing is that she has apparently regained use of her right hand having decked me and a nurse today and can now see out of her right eye again. She also thought, at one point, that purple spiders were on the walls this afternoon and that some sort of creature was in the hall.  At another point she was screaming that we all were trying to kill her.

It is ugly and whether this is the drugs talking or the brain injury we may not know for several days to come. The social worker is trying to work on why we were denied medicaid and will be looking into where my appeal stands for disability. If this is permanent, she may have to go to a rehab facility of some type until work fires her and the insurance runs out.

At this point they have her on additional blood pressure drugs trying to hold her BP down, anti seizure drugs, some anti clotting drug, insulin shots, and half a done other things. She was more awake today but much more agitated as well. She seems to have stopped throwing up as she made it through lunch without doing it and that is the first time since 11am Sunday. They also are running some sort of magnesium potassium drip into her because she was so low on those and the drip is supposed to help.



So, things do not look good at all and I have no idea where we go from here. I'm home for the evening, eaten alive by guilt as I physically can't do what needs to be done. I want to thank everyone their support, prayers, positive thoughts, etc. It means a lot and is definitely appreciated.


Kevin

Sandi Monday Night

First thank you one and all that have commented here or sent e-mail to me with your prayers, support, good wishes, etc. They are much, much appreciated.

I just got back home from the hospital as the patient is in a seriously foul mood and bit my head off in between throwing up episodes. She thinks she has been in there four days (no) that somebody dropped her off (no) that I had not been there before tonight (no), that they left food sitting out for twelve hours for her to then eat it (no), that she had an MRI yesterday afternoon at 4:30 (no), etc. According to the nurse she has not had her MRI yet because she keeps throwing up despite the nausea meds. They are now running some sort of potassium/magnesium drip into her because her levels are very low and that could be causing the headaches and nausea issues. If that helps, they will try to do the MRI around midnight as they really want to get it done asap.

She was arguing with me so much, I stopped talking and just sat there while she continued to argue other stuff.  Her heart and bp monitors started tripping off so a nurse came in and reset everything. After a couple of minutes of happy talk, she asked me to come out in the hall where she explained that maybe it would be best if I went home because Mrs. Tipple's being super argumentative with everyone and they don't know whether that is the meds or what that is causing it. Either way, it would be best for me to go as they were trying to leave her alone as  much as they could so that she would calm down.

It took the poor tech lady doing her blood pressure twenty minutes to get a reading because Sandi would not stop moving and fussing.


So, at this point, things have not improved at all. Hopefully, by tomorrow, things will start getting better.