Sandi Tonight

Just talked to her and she is doing okay. She is fed up with being confined and various things that went sideways the last 48 hours, but, from a medical standpoint she is doing okay. The gastric issue has remain stopped. She now has developed two small mouth sores so they have changed her mouth wash to treat them. Unfortunately, this is another side effect of the stem cell transplant and the complete crash of her immune system. It was expected to happen and just took a little longer to happen than usual.

Other than that, Sandi is doing pretty good.

Still Waiting on Texas Medicaid

as is Medical City Dallas Hospital who has placed us on their BILL EVERY TEN DAYS NO MATTER WHAT program. Four bills came today with statement dates ten days or less from the last billing on the same account. One came with a statement date of three days later than the previous bill.  Not only have we blown by the quarter of a million dollar mark-- just with them-- as of mid April, thanks to her insurance and all the exclusions and limitations we now allegedly owe more than 37 grand to the hospital.

Scary stuff.

Sandi Saturday Morning

Just talked to her briefly this morning as they had done something wrong with her breakfast and she was not happy. Sandi needed to get that handled and said she was tired of stupidity. She says she feels "fine" and the stomach issues stopped late last night.Then somebody showed up and she had to go.

In less than an hour I am supposed to get a call from a worker with the Social Security Administration who wants to talk to me about something with Sandi's case. Not sure what that is about.

And Texas Medicaid folks called twice this past week with vague voice mails about our case and long distance numbers to call them back. Can't do that as we don't have long distance. Hopefully, after five applications in five months they are finally doing something to fix things.

So, I am up, the tea pot is on, and another not so fun filled day in paradise begins....

FFB Review: "BRASS KNUCKLES: The Oliver Quade, Human Encyclopedia Stories" by by Frank Gruber --Reviewed by Barry Ergang

Friday means Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott on her blog. Please welcome back Barry Ergang…..

BRASS KNUCKLES: The Oliver Quade, Human Encyclopedia Stories (1966) by Frank Gruber

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

Frank Gruber had a fondness for itinerant book salesmen who stumble into murderous situations. His best-known series of novels features Johnny Fletcher and his partner Sam Cragg. Fletcher pitches the book Every Man a Samson while the muscular Cragg, who maintains he's the strongest man in the world, shows off his physique to the audience. For the pulp magazines Gruber created Oliver Quade, the Human Encyclopedia, ten of whose adventures are collected in Brass Knuckles. (One was published in Thrilling Detective. The rest appeared in the legendary Black Mask.) Quade pitches the one-volume The Compendium of Human Knowledge, which he sells for only two ninety-five. Declaring himself possessed of "the greatest brain in the United States, possibly the greatest in the world," he maintains that "I know the answers to all questions." Over fifteen years, he has read a twenty-four volume set of the Encyclopedia Americana four times. "I've an unusual memory," he tells a woman in one of the stories. "I remember everything I read and therefore I know everything that's in the encyclopedia." The odd bits of knowledge he's picked up often aid in the solutions of the murders he has the convenient habit of stumbling upon.

The book opens with a lengthy, fascinating foreword, "The Life and Times of the Pulp Story," in which Gruber reminisces about how he struggled to break into writing for the pulps, and about the early failures and eventual successes, large and small, he experienced. It includes an eleven-point formula he claims is a "foolproof" method for plotting a salable mystery story. Although I enjoyed them, I'm not convinced all of the stories that follow exemplify it.

In the first and shortest story in the collection, "Ask Me Another," Oliver Quade and Charlie Boston are on the verge of being locked out of their hotel room because they owe three weeks' rent. But Quade figures they can raise the money by pitching the Compendium of Human Knowledge to the attendees of the Great Chicago Auditorium Poultry Show. Neither he nor Boston expects to encounter murder.

At the kennel show in Westfield, New York, the last thing Quade and Boston expect to find in their booth is the corpse of one Wesley Peters. Even more confusing is the willingness of several people in attendance to confess to shooting him. Before long, Quade tangles with the local police chief, a renowned private detective named Christopher Buck, a gangster just out of prison, and has another corpse to account for in "Dog Show Murder."

"Funny Man" takes Quade and Boston to Hollywood, where Quade is hired by Slocum Studios head man Tommy Slocum to dub the voice of cartoon character Desmond Dogg, since the actor who usually voices the character has laryngitis. Coming out of Slocum's office, Quade encounters his old adversary, self-declared "world's greatest" private detective Christopher Buck. Buck assumes Quade is working as an investigator and wants to know what he knows. Conversely, Quade wants to know the same about Buck. When studio executive Stanley Maynard, Buck's client, is found murdered, the amateur and professional sleuths compete to discover the killer's identity.

Still in Hollywood and staying at an expensive hotel, Quade and Boston owe more than four hundred dollars for rent, meals, and incidental charges—money they don't have. The hotel manager confronts them in the dining room and tells them they have until six p.m. to come up with the cash or he'll have them arrested for intent to defraud. Having overheard, another diner named George Grimshaw offers them twenty dollars to deliver a letter to a Martin Lund. They accept, not worried about the two thugs who want to relieve them of the letter. They find Lund but can't give him the letter because he's been murdered. So Quade opens the envelope, finds another envelope inside and a note from Grimshaw telling Lund to meet him at the track. Thus, it's "Oliver Quade at the Races," where Grimshaw is also murdered and Quade must use his wits and wiles to get to the bottom of things—and pay the hotel bill.

A small passenger plane makes a "Forced Landing" in a snow-covered clearing in northern Wisconsin. One passenger is dead, the result of flying glass from a shattered window. The pilot is dead, too—from a bullet wound. Around the same time, Oliver Quade and Charlie Boston are driving through the area on their way to Duluth when the car runs over an animal that turns out to be a silver fox, a creature whose pelt is very valuable. When their car won't start, they have to start walking. Eventually they come to a house owned by fox breeder Karl Becker. Not long after they arrive, the airplane's co-pilot staggers in and tells them of the crash. They set out to find and bring back the remaining passengers. That's only the beginning of an adventure that includes a pair of profit-minded fugitive kidnappers, another murder, and plenty of action.

In "Death Sits Down," Quade, sans Boston, goes to the Bartlett Cash Register Company's recreation room to launch into his sales pitch, not knowing the employees are about to go on strike and prevent anyone from entering or leaving the building. Among those in it is a vicious murderer who doesn't intend to let anyone hinder the scheme he's hatched. The author does a good job of building the tension in this fast-paced story.

"Words and Music" opens with Quade and Boston "in the dough" for a change, and relaxing in the cocktail lounge of New York City's Midtown Hotel, where they have rooms. They're approached by a drunk named Billy Bond who says he's a song writer, claims "I wrote the best little damn song that's been written in this damn town in the las' five years." He then hands sheet music to the lounge's piano player, tells the man to play, and sings the lyrics himself. After a pause during which he gulps some beer, violent convulsions seize him and he falls into Quade's arms—dead. The police are summoned, and Quade describes a man he saw switch glasses with Bond. The police detective recognizes the description as belonging to a deranged chemist named Soup Spooner, so named for providing nitroglycerine to safecrackers. Quade can't resist investigating, despite Boston's objections, and plunges into the world of music publishing rackets. Spooner is still out there, setting an insidious and deadly trap.

The second shortest story in the book, "State Fair Murder" takes Quade and Boston to the titular location in Minnesota. Quade has barely launched into his pitch when a man in the crowd falls into him, the victim of a poisoned dart in his back. As usual, despite Boston's protests, Quade can't resist playing detective in a case dealing with conflicts within a publishing company.

Among the "how-to" advice often given to both beginning and experienced writers is never open a story with a description of the weather. But in "Rain, the Killer," Frank Gruber does exactly that—and very effectively. This is, for me, the most exciting story in the book, so I don't want to give too much away. Suffice it to say that it's a take on the isolated, impassable locale that puts Quade (who once again is without Charlie Boston), the members of a wealthy household, and a sheriff and his deputy in dire peril from the weather and a particularly brutal murderer, one of whose crimes is depicted somewhat graphically. A whodunit, it does not play fair with the reader, but the tense and exciting situation that befalls the cast of characters more than makes up for it. The only element in the story that is somewhat dubious by modern standards is the psychology of the murderer.

In another story that omits Charlie Boston, Quade finagles his way into the barn Reggie Ragsdale converted into an arena on his Long Island estate in which to hold cockfights. "Long Island didn't see many cocking mains. Cocking wasn't a gentleman's sport like horse racing and fox hunting In fact, many of Long Island's blue-bloods had shaken their heads when young Ragsdale took up cock fighting. But they had eagerly accepted invitations to the Ragsdale estate to witness the great cocking main between Ragsdale's birds and the best of the Old South, the feathered warriors of George Treadwell." When Treadwell is murdered, Quade as a gate-crasher becomes a prime suspect and has to solve the crime himself. "Death at the Main" is sort of fairly-clued, if one allows for an obscure bit of lore that provides the solution.  

Were he writing today, Frank Gruber would be designated a minimalist, so stripped-down was his style. The physical descriptions of characters in these stories are always very brief and sometimes non-existent, and the people themselves are largely dimensionless names on the page. There is no sense of place of the kind one finds in, say, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler and, except in "Rain, the Killer," no real sense of atmosphere. I would not rate Gruber as one of the top-tier writers who honed their skills in the pulps, but he could nevertheless tell a story effectively, as the tales in Brass Knuckles demonstrate. They aren't serious literature to be pored over and explicated; they're fast-reading fluff meant strictly for entertainment. Regarded in that light, they're recommended.

Barry Ergang ©2013

Brass Knuckles is among the many books from his personal collection Barry Ergang has for sale at http://www.barryergangbooksforsale.yolasite.com/. He contributes 20% of the price of the books to our fund, so please have a look at his lists. A Derringer winner, some of Barry's work is available at Amazon and Smashwords.

Sandi Tonight

She remains the same with her stomach bothering her and cuasing frequent trips to the bathroom. While she is very naseuated at times, she has still not thrown up which is the one small peice of good news in this gastric distress. Expected to last a couple more days before subsiding.

Got reams of paperwork from the state disability review folks today in the mail. Of course, this stuff duplicates everything they already have via Social Security and was supposed to be avoided by the expedited application filed back in January through MASH. When Sandi filed then it was supposed to take 120 days max to determine she did qualify for Social Security Disability. Now, because the state of Texas is making her fill all this out --which she can't do until she finally gets back home in mid or late June---it means that it is going to be months more before she is approved --if she is---by the state so that she can receive her SSD.

I'm absolutely disgusted. I called her this evening and broke the news and she started crying hard. Just brutal.

The Morning After

This morning more storms have formed in the local area and are now going severe. These storms are sliding by to the north and hopefully they will miss us and not hurt anyone. It had been a relative quiet spring until last night. The aerial and ground pictures are just heart breaking.

I have spoken to Sandi this morning and she pretty much remains the same. The nausea is still very much present as is the need for the bathroom, but,  so far she still has not thrown up. Everyone involved tells her this is normal and nothing to be concerned about. The hope is that these symptoms will subside after another 48 hours.

Tornadoes in North Texas

It has been a very bad night across North Texas with destruction from tornadoes and large hail. There have been multiple mass casualty situations and there have been fatalities. The preliminary tornado count in the area is ten with hundreds of homes either destroyed or damaged.

Here in Plano the civil defense sirens sounded earlier, but, so far we have been spared hail and damage. We have had some wind, some incredible lightening, and torrential rain. Storms continue to track across the area and the tornado watch continues till 1 am, but the local meteorologists seem to believe things are starting to wind down.

We personally have been very lucky tonight.

Sandi Wednesday Evening

With multiple tornadoes on the ground here in North Texas (five confirmed at the same time just minutes ago) along with hail up to the size of  softballs, it seemed like it was a good time to update while I can....Sandi is doing okay. She is having some expected gastric issues and is having to spend a lot of the time in the bathroom. Fortunately, so far, despite some nausea, she is not throwing up.

Other than that, she says she feels okay. Obviously, with the stomach issues, she is not feeling as good as she did. Her numbers remain up and everything else remains stable and positive.

Plano Author Polly Holyoke BookSigning Saturday May 18, 2013

Plano Author Polly Holyoke will do a book signing and launch of her book The Neptune Project at Barnes and Noble, 2201 Preston Road on Saturday, May 18 at 1 pm. This is the Barnes and Noble at Park and Preston (same strip as Whole Foods and Ross among other stores) and the same store I helped stock and open years ago. In addition to refreshments and games for all, "Barnes and Noble will be giving 10% of the proceeds to My Very Own Book, a wonderful local Dallas charity that gives new books to students in Title One schools." (from Polly's website here.)

I second Polly's comments about the My Very Own Book charity. I have worked with students who didn't have any books in their homes and absolutely could not have any books of their very own because their families were unable to provide them. This is a wonderful charity doing great work and they deserve all the support they can get. You can find out more about them and their awesome work here.

The 2013 Lexicon Writers Conference

The Lexicon Writers Conference is back in Denton, Texas this summer and will be held July 12-14. This is primarily a conference aimed at book promotion. As noted on the website:

"It (Lexicon) focuses on networking, building sales teams, increasing sales, and revealing the latest marketing trends. It's about friendships and the pure enjoyment of writing...and being a writer. Imagine having five, ten, or twenty people (or more) pushing your book, blogging, tweeting, posting,reviewing, interviewing, and recommending you for personal appearances, book signings, etc."


Details (including the basic charge of $100 for admission) and other information is on the website.

Medical Updates

Yesterday was a bit much for me as both Scott and I had doctor visits. With that doctor office deal, a trip to one store for groceries and a trip to another for a new medication for me, and a couple of more errands, the day was way too much for me. So, I have not been online and have not updated this blog.

First and foremost, Sandi feels great. Considering how dangerous the procedure on Monday was and what we expected IF things went right, neither one of us expected her to do so well. We weren't the only ones as the doctors and staff there are absolutely amazed. She remains on some cardiac telemetry, but all the IVs remain pulled. Her appetite remains up and all the blood work so far looks amazingly good. One gets the feeling nobody can explain what happened or why, but everyone is just keeping fingers crossed that it keeps up.

Sandi's biggest complaint is that she is seriously bored. She feels significantly better than she did last week, or in recent memory, and is now feeling very trapped in the hospital. Sandi feels exceptionally fine and wants out and to get back home. She has told me over and over she feels like she did way back before the cancers and feels like she is completely well. It seems too much to hope for, but, we are hoping this continues.

As much as I have been mad at Wal-Mart for overriding the doctors here, the transplant center, their own insurance company, the doctors at Mayo, and numerous other medical folks who all insisted that Sandi needed to stay here for the transplant, this may have, in fact, been the best thing for her. So far things have worked out wonderfully once she was in the BMT Unit and the results to this point are amazing. I have not heard her sound this good in years.

In other medical news......

The results came back and everything is fine with Scott. We didn't expect anything otherwise, but this is still good news. He has finished the semester at UTD and is awaiting his grades. He is taking the summer off to recharge as the stress of everything here and school has clearly been way too much. The kid needs a break and is taking one while he can.

As to me--for the most part things are what they normally are. A couple of issues did turn up in the blood work which could indicate MS or some other neurological disorder. I'm being referred to a new neurologist for further evaluation and testing to look at what has happened to me and how I am gradually getting worse. At this point it is too early to say definitively that I have MS, but there are indications that it is a definite possibility.

I've never really believed the diagnosis of sciatica I was given three years ago this month. Not just because the two back injections I got failed to do anything (the second one made me worse), but the fact that I have issues with my arms and hands from time to time that do not fit the sciatica profile. Considering my injections came from the same company that has been in the news with all the issues, I do feel very fortunate to not have contracted another problem thanks to the injections.

Hopefully in a few weeks I will have some definitive answers and maybe even a treatment plan to alleviate some of my constant pain and symptoms. If it is some sort of neurological disorder I know that in all likelihood whatever it is can't be cured. More than anything, I would be very happy to be in less pain.  I can deal with the falling, tremors, weakness, etc, but the constant pain is what really gets to me.

Birthday--PLUS ONE

When you have a stem cell transplant, like Sandi did yesterday, those treating you refer to the day it happens as your birthday. This is because your body is  basically reset and you have to have your childhood immunizations again because you have a brand new immune system like that of a  newborn baby. Medically everything is tied into the new birthday and counted from that day.

So, today is not Tuesday, but for Sandi today is "Birthday-Plus One."

Sandi is doing great this morning as she has been awake and up for awhile. She is back crocheting and working on her 15th hat in a week and watching TV. Those treating her are amazed at how well she is doing. Hopefully this will keep going.

Stem Cell Transplant---DONE!

Just talked to Sandi and things went amazingly well. She is sitting back up tonight with all the IV stuff out of her. The major cardiac equipment has been scaled back to a three lead deal in her pocket. She feels great and so far everything is good.

Puppet Crime

submitted by Barry.......

 

Review: "The Coyote Tracker: a Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger Novel" by Larry D. Sweazy

May 1875 finds Texas Ranger Josiah Wolfe back in Austin, Texas and very much in career limbo. Wolfe is still is a Texas Ranger despite the recent events and the media backlash. But, he has been told to stay in Austin and await the arrival of Captain Leander McNelly who will decide one more time if Ranger Wolfe is worth it. Not only is his career with the Rangers at stake, so too is the future of the Texas Rangers as an organization thanks to the coverage by the Austin Statesman newspaper. Both Wolfe and the Rangers have a negative connotation these days and forces are moving to do away with both.

At least Wolfe’s forced idleness has a couple of positive aspects. One is that he is able to court Pearl Fikes. A romance is building there between the widow Fikes and Wolfe despite the issues they both bring to a relationship. Being home in Austin also means Wolfe can spend time with his rapidly growing son, Kyle. During his frequent and often long absences, he is cared for by Ofelia who has been with him many years now and is far more than a trusted caregiver. She is akin to family and Wolfe is well aware of his obligations to her and others.

Obligations that also are present with fellow Ranger Scrap Elliot. Scrap finds himself in the local jail, accused of murdering a whore. Seen at the body with blood on his hands, he briefly fled the scene, and now there seems to be a push to hang him for the most recent murder as well as for several other crimes. Crimes he certainly did not commit though those in charge seem more concerned about hanging any suspect rather than hanging the correct person. What role Scrap’s worsening situation plays in the recent string of events involving a jail break, a mysterious cypher, a strangely familiar horse, and other recent events is something Wolfe has to figure out in time to save the life of his friend.

Award winning author Larry D. Sweazy has crafted yet another outstanding tale in this long running series. Along with multiple plot lines and action are authentic details that make this novel and series come alive for readers. More mystery in a western setting than a western in a western setting, it may not appeal as much to those who want the typical formulaic western fare. This is not one of those kind of formulaic western novels as Wolfe spends much of the time thinking, asking questions, and dealing with various relationship issues. There is good reason why the novel received the “Spur Award for Best Mass Market Paperback” as The Coyote Tracker: A Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger Novel is good on its own while continuing this excellent series in fine tradition.

The Coyote Tracker: A Josiah Wolfe, Texas Ranger Novel

Larry D. Sweazy

http://larrydsweazy.com

Thorndike Press (Gale, Cengage Learning)

http://www.thorndike.gale.com/

January 2013

ISBN# 978-1-4104-5400-3

Large Print (also available in paperback and e-book)

451 Pages

$27.99

Material was supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System. The cover for the award winning paperback version is below.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

Sandi on Mother's Day

Despite being far from home and going through what she is going through, Sandi is doing okay. Earlier today she finished her final bag of chemotherapy that she will receive prior to the stem cell transplant. That is still scheduled tomorrow and is a multi hour long process. Not only does she have to have some injections of various things over a several hour time period late tonight and into the morning hours of tomorrow, she has to be extensively hooked up to cardiac monitoring equipment and then the dialysis type machine. Once everything is hooked up they way they want it and she is considered stable, she faces almost six hours of straight bed time while the machine pumps her modified stem cells into her under the watchful eyes of a nurse who will be in her room the entire period. This is an important  safety precaution as there are major risks with the procedure.

At this point tonight she has just started the second bag of a needed blood transfusion. She thinks this will be it and that the deal should finish an  hour or so after midnight her time. While the blood count numbers did drop as expected, they did not drop nearly as far as it was believed they would. Still, she has dipped low enough to cause the need for the transfusion.

Apparently her immune system has not gone down like it should have and there is some concern on this issue. The bottom line is her body is fighting very hard to handle the effects of six days of round the clock chemotherapy and is actively fighting them. This may result in a delay of a day or two while they have to adjust medications and take other steps to make the environment for the stem cell transplant as receptive as possible. Because of the schedule she has been on and the narrow window they have to work with to make a stem cell transplant, there is time for a one or two day delay if necessary though they would much prefer to do it now as fast as possible. We won't know if a change has to be made until late tomorrow morning after they have run blood work after midnight my time tonight and again early in the morning.

She is tired, but positive, and remains optimistic that the transplant is going to work. She has been able to crochet all week and apparently is now teaching some of the nurses and other visitors to her room how to crochet. Which proves yet again how she is always teaching no matter waht she is going through or her surroundings.

Lesa's Latest Contest

as posted earlier today.....
 
This week, I'm giving away copies of Steve Hamilton's North of Nowhere and Yrsa Sigurdardottir's The Day is Dark. Details on my blog at http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com. Entries from the U.S. only, please.

Lesa Holstine

lesa.holstine@gmail.com 

http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com

Happy Mother's Day!

make it one to remember........

 

Meditation For The Modern Word

Thought this was amusing......

The Rap Sheet Needs Your Help

and those of you familiar with the world of Matt Helm should be able to help. J. Kingston Pierce needs trivia questions and suggestions as he notes here. So, if you have some ideas, let him know.