The ebook site Smashwords is running its year-end sale between now and January 1st. Barry Ergang is among the many participants, and is offering his titles at reduced prices (not that they're pricey to begin with), and some of them are freebies. Take advantage of this opportunity to read his work and that of thousands of others. Barry's offerings include but aren't limited to:
Barry also hopes that readers who acquire any of his ebooks will, after reading them, post ratings and their honest comments on their site pages.
Friday, December 27, 2019
Barry's Sale At Smashwords
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 43 Writing Contests in January 2020 - No entry fee...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 43 Writing Contests in January 2020 - No entry fee...: Wikipedia January is a wonderful month for writing contests. This month there are more than three dozen contests calling for every genre...
FFB Review: The Empty Manger by Bill Crider
Back a number of years
ago, I first heard about The Empty
Manager by Bill Crider when Ben Boulden mentioned his 2008 review of the
same over on his Gravetapping Blog. It wasn’t available via eBook or at my
local library so Bill Crider sent me a copy from his own personal library. I
reviewed it here on the blog late December 2014. I mentioned in here again in
December 2016. I had planned to read the other novellas in the book and still
have not managed to do that. Life tended to laugh and interefer with my plans
on this and quite a number of other things. So it goes. Though I have not
managed to get the job done, my advice remains the same as it was then—if you
can get your hands on the book do so.
For this final Friday in 2019, head over
to Todd Mason ‘s Sweet Freedom
Blog for the full list of reading suggestions.
Sheriff
Dan Rhodes can’t remember it ever snowing in Blacklin County on Christmas. It
certainly didn’t look like it would happen this year with daytime temperatures
in the upper 60’s and low 40’s at night. Typical weather for the area residents
of the county located in East Texas, but not conducive to the postcard winter
wonderland so many long for at this time of year.
Like
a lot of small Texan towns-- and elsewhere for that matter-- the downtown area
of Clearview has a number of vacant buildings in various states of disrepair.
Some of the vacant buildings are in very bad shape. Shoppers were drawn away to
the nearby Wal-Mart or one of the big new grocery stores and local businesses
closed leaving the buildings to decay and rot. City council member Jerri Laxton
had been pushing plans to restore the grandeur of the downtown area.
One
of her ideas was to get some of the local high school students to paint a mural
on one of the walls of a downtown building. Some of the local religious leaders
convinced all that in the spirit of the season the mural should be of a manger
with a brilliant star hanging over it. Somebody else came up with the plan to
have members of the local Baptist congregation play the parts of Joseph, Mary,
wise men, and the shepherds with a doll standing in for the baby Jesus. After
all, the risk with a real baby as part of the outside scene would be too high.
It
was a very good thing that a doll was used because, according to Francis Blair,
somebody stole baby Jesus. She is very upset that somebody would do that. She
might be more upset if she knew there was a dead body in the alley behind the
building.
While
Rhodes never drinks a Dr Pepper----though he does talk about it---- and he
never eats any crackers, he does actively work the cases. Any Rhodes story is a
good one and this one is no exception. The novella The Empty Manger by Bill
Crider is well worth the effort to get your hands on the book, Murder,
Mayhem, And Mistletoe. Crider’s story is one of four novellas in the
book that also contains works from Terence Faherty, Aileen Schumacher, and
Wendi Lee.
Material supplied by the author so that I could read and review.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2014, 2016, 2019
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Mystery Fanfare: BOXING DAY MYSTERIES // BOXING DAY CRIME FICTION
Mystery Fanfare: BOXING DAY MYSTERIES // BOXING DAY CRIME FICTION: December 26 is Boxing Day . I've put together a list of over 1400 mysteries that take place at Christmas , and although I'm s...
Review: The Lost Are The Last To Die: A Sonny Burton Novel by Larry D. Sweazy
Sometimes
a short story takes on a life of its own and becomes a full sized novel. Such is
the case with The Lost Are The Last To Die: A Sonny Burton Novel. This read
is a sequel to the very good, A Thousand Falling Crows.
It is October 1934 as this novel
begins and Sunny Burton is no longer a Texas Ranger. Drought and the depression
have Texas in their two handed grip and men and the land are being crushed
alike. Sonny Burton, thanks to the gunshot that ultimately took his right arm,
will never be able to do a two handed grip again. His new prosthesis allows him
to work the stick on his old model A Ford pickup truck and that makes
driving a little easier than it was for a while there though he prefers to stay
close to home.
That isn’t to be.
Collingsworth County Sheriff Layton
Jones, known to all the locals as “Jonesy” brings word that Billy Bunson has
escaped from Huntsville. When Burton was working for the Texas Rangers, he had
several encounters with Bunson over the years. The first time was back when
Billy was a small child. The last one got the adult Billy put away in
Huntsville. Not only is he out, but he took the warden’s pregnant wife with him
as a hostage when he left the legendary Texas prison.
Billy He
took her because the police grabbed his girlfriend. Donna Del Rey was helping
in the escape and now is sitting in the county jail for her efforts. He wants
to make a trade-- the warden’s wife for his girlfriend. To make sure he got his
point across, he sent a piece of one finger. Everyone understands that if he
does not get what he wants, he will keep taking pieces off of her until she is
dead as is the baby. The Rangers want Sonny to find him. Billy knows that the
Texas Rangers would get Sonny to help as nobody knows Billy better than Sonny.
Sonny coming to Hunstville to lead the search would be expected and another
piece of Billy’s plan.
Sonny does not have a choice and he
knows it. He is going to have to go to Huntsville and find out all he can so
that he can stop Billy if at all possible. A man who was passing his days
waiting for the end is given a reason to do what he does best. Even if he does
not want to admit it to himself that being back on the chase and needed makes
him feel alive in ways he has not felt in a very long time.
What
follows is a highly atmospheric mystery with a lot going on. Author Larry D.
Sweazy uses a current storyline in 1934 as well as numerous flashbacks across
various other storylines primarily to weave a complicated tale in terms of
Billy and Sonny’s relationship. Those various storylines and flashbacks also
serve to illustrate the complicated relationship Sonny had with everyone including
his late wife, Martha, his son, Jesse, and the Texas Rangers, and others. More
than once these storylines also touch on Billy and illustrate his childhood
years and more and how, in some ways, his destiny was always pre-ordained as
was the destiny of Sonny to this point. Multiple storylines are at work through
the book as is the overarching idea of a sort of new beginning for Sonny who
has suffered so much over the years. There is a lot going on in this very
complicated read and far more than what is described here in this review.
The Lost Are The
Last To Die: A Sonny Burton Novel is one of those rare reads in fiction that make you think long
after the book is closed. I suspect author Larry. D. Sweazy and this book will
be up for a slew of awards next year. No doubt he will collect more than one
for this intense and very good read.
Lesa Holstine very graciously sent me
the ARC she had of this for my reading pleasure after she completed her review.
You can, and should, read that review here.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2019
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: 127 Hours, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Ch...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: 127 Hours, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Ch...: Reported by Jeanne Nevermore opened with a report on 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Halston which details Hals...
Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder in Retrospect: The Best and Worst of 2019
Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder in Retrospect: The Best and Worst of 2019: So, here we are again, gathered at the yawning grave of another year that has passed too soon and, before we start shuffling dirt o...
Sweet Freedom: FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE on Xmas; the l...
Sweet Freedom: FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE on Xmas; the l...: famous seasonal novel This week's books and more, unfairly (or sometimes fairly) neglected, or simply those the reviewers below thi...
Merry Christmas 2019
Merry Christmas from Scott and I here in NE Dallas.... may you and yours have a great one.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Views From The Yard
Here in North Texas, when the weather is warm enough to sit outside, you better take advantage of it before you blink and it is 37 and trying to sleet. Today was one of those days as we climbed from 37 around 7 am to 70 by 2 this afternoon. Scott and I spent the afternoon out in the backyard reading. The holidays are very hard and getting outside for a little while helps both of us somewhat as we try to deal with the way things are these days.
While Scott was reading a fantasy book that looks to be about three times the size of one of my print reads, I read and finished PURGATORY BAY by Bryan Gruley. It comes out the middle of next month and is an incredible read. Review coming soon.
Jeanne Reviews: The Twilight Man by Koren Shadmi
This graphic novel biography of Rod Serling opens
with Serling on an airplane, talking with a fellow passenger about his
life. The moody black and white
illustrations are reminiscent of the old Twilight
Zone program, as I am sure the author intended.
I was vaguely aware of some of Serling’s background;
as a fan of both TZ and later Night Gallery, I felt I had grown up
listening to his stories. What I didn’t
know, and what Shadmi vividly portrays, is the source material that informed
his writing. Serling joined the military
in 1943, an undersized Jewish boy who wanted to be a paratrooper and fight the
Germans. He was turned down because he
was too short, but with the determination—some would say bull-headedness—he
persisted until he was sent to training. Many didn’t make the cut; for Serling,
failure was not an option.
But no training in the world can really prepare one
for war. Serling’s disappointment at
being sent to the Pacific instead of Europe was soon shattered as death and
destruction became real. The war would haunt his dreams the rest of his life.
Post-war, he went to college and decided he wanted
to become a writer, a thing much easier said than accomplished. The subtitle of the book is Rod Serling
and the Birth of Television, which is entirely accurate. This was the Golden Age of live dramas, where
an infant industry tried to find its footing.
Serling wrote script after script, meeting rejection at every turn,
until he finally broke through with a teleplay entitled “Patterns.”
But he still hadn’t found the formula that would let
him say what he wanted. Sponsors,
executives, censors, etc. seemed to be intent on gutting his work, rendering it
innocuous. The suggestions to “improve”
his script about Emmett Till are jaw-dropping. It was a chance remark that led Serling to a
revelation that would revolutionize television.
The book doesn’t stop there, but tells us about
Serling’s life post-TZ. I admire
Shadmi for showing us Serling warts and all; this book neither idolizes nor
demonizes him. It does portray a
complicated, haunted man who made an impact on our culture.
This is an excellent resource for anyone interested
in either Serling or early television.
Shadmi has appended an extensive bibliography. I also enjoyed his afterword, in which he
explained how he came to do the book. It’s a fitting book for its subject; I
think Serling might have approved.
Monday, December 23, 2019
Mail Call
Every now and then, the mail brings something I want and not just more bills and ads from the "we buy ugly houses" parasites. Today is one of those rare good days.
Writer Beware®: The Blog: Writing Contest Beware: Pressfuls
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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Portrait of a Murderer: A Christmas Crime Story b...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Portrait of a Murderer: A Christmas Crime Story b...: Reviewed by Jeanne Mystery Scene Magazine has a feature entitled “Intriguing First Lines.” I don’t think they come much better...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 10 (Warm) Writing Conferences in January 2020
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 10 (Warm) Writing Conferences in January 2020: Baby, it's cold outside! Wouldn't you rather be on a beach? Luckily, writing conferences in January tend to be held in warm places -...
Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Drowning in Christmas by Judith K. Ivie
Drowning in Christmas
by Judith K. Ivie (Mainly Murder Press, 2010) is
the fourth book in the Kate Lawrence mystery series. Kate and her partners Margo
and Charlene have shelved their Hartford, Connecticut, real estate business for
the present during the lingering recession. Kate accepts a temporary position
with a local nonprofit just in time for the organization’s major fundraiser.
Held during the height of Christmas celebrations, an auction is staged in the Wadsworth
Atheneum Museum of Art, the oldest public art museum in the United States, with
the attendant wine and hors d’oeuvres.
While coordinating the usual last-minute flurry
of activities leading up to the auction, family responsibilities are occupying
Kate’s mind. Her old cat is grieving the loss of the other cat a month previously
and is refusing to eat. Kate is mourning too and is frantically looking for
tidbits to tempt the sad kitty. Her daughter is bringing a new boyfriend to
Christmas dinner and wants everything Norman Rockwell perfect. Her ex-husband
begs her to host the holiday wedding of his nephew (and Kate’s godson) in her
home since his temporary apartment is too small. Kate’s live-in boyfriend is on
business travel and not sure if he will return in time to celebrate the day
with her. It’s all just about more than she can bear.
Then on the night of the auction, which goes
swimmingly up to the point Santa Claus is to appear, the nonprofit’s financial
officer, James O’Halloran, slated to serve as Santa Claus, fails to respond to
his cue. No one can find him anywhere, so Kate and the nonprofit CEO scramble
to smooth over the gaffe. After all the donors have left, a comprehensive
search reveals nothing. The local police will not accept a missing person’s
report for 48 hours, and Kate and the CEO are at a loss as to where to look for
him. Discussion with his wife reveals his black sheep brother has surfaced
after an absence of years, no doubt looking for money, and everyone wonders if
his appearance has something to do with O’Halloran’s disappearance.
The mystery here is gossamer thin, anemic and
waiflike. However, this is a fine Christmas read, full of the scents, sights, and
sounds that say Christmas in the contemporary United States, from the music to
the food to the rampant consumerism. The scene where Kate stops to listen to
the choir practicing to the accompaniment of a huge pipe organ in the nearby
cathedral dazzling with extravagant Christmas decorations is a good example. I
particularly like the way expectations are nicely tempered with realism
throughout. Kate plans a complicated menu that succeeds no better than most,
and she tries to accommodate her godson’s wedding plans that go awry. Her children
bicker and the family of her friend Charlene all come down with the flu. While
nothing goes quite as planned, the outcomes are still satisfying. A good
addition to any holiday reading list.
·
Hardcover: 234 pages
·
Publisher: Mainly Murder Press (October 1, 2010)
·
Language: English
·
ISBN-10: 0982795254
·
ISBN-13: 978-0982795255
Aubrey Hamilton ©2019
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It
projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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