Saturday, April 07, 2012

Thomas Kinkade, R. I. P.

Thomas Kinkade, America's most-collected artist, dies at age 54: Thomas Kinkade, an artist who claimed to be America's most-collected living artist, died at age 54 of apparent natural causes.


Kinkade, a painter whose brushwork paintings of idyllic landscapes, cottages and churches have been big sellers for dealers across the United States, died on Friday, April 6, 2012 at home in Los Gatos, Calif., a family spokesman told the Associated Press.

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention

The Crime Interviews: Volume TwoAmazon.com: The Crime Interviews: Volume Two eBook: Len Wanner, Ian Rankin: Kindle Store: Len Wanner returns with a new collection of interviews with ten more of Scotland's finest crime writers.


"Fascinating stuff, whether you are a fan of any particular author, or of the genre as a whole, or even of the wider world of Scottish and British Literature in contemporary times. In fact, I may just have to go back and read both volumes again…" – from the foreword by Ian Rankin.


VOLUME ONE brought us page after page of unique insights into how writers think and into the professional secrets of some of the genre's greatest exponents. With THE CRIME INTERVIEWS: VOLUME TWO, once again Wanner's encyclopaedic knowledge of Scottish crime fiction is put to expert use in his enthralling and revealing conversations with another inspired line-up of stars of tartan noir. His latest interview subjects include William McIlvanney, Tony Black, Doug Johnstone, Helen FitzGerald, Quintin Jardine, Gordon Ferris, Craig Russell, Douglas Lindsay, Ray Banks and Denise Mina.

2012 Hugo and Campbell Awards Nominees

2012 Hugo and Campbell Awards Nominees

Song of the Day

Ten Extremely Misunderstood British Foods

The Brit List: Ten Extremely Misunderstood British Foods

Today's Vintage Ad


Haikus For The Most Glorious Facial Hair In Baseball

Haikus For The Most Glorious Facial Hair In Baseball

5 Dismissive Arguments That You Only Use When You're Wrong

5 Dismissive Arguments That You Only Use When You're Wrong

Writing advice from C.S. Lewis

Writing advice from C.S. Lewis was both adorable and concise

PaperBack

Fredric Brown, Space on my Hands, Bantam, 1952 

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Houston News: A quirky roadside motel from America's golden age of highway travel was the scene of a good-sized cocaine bust late last month.


According to the Wharton Journal-Spectator, Wharton County Sheriff's deputies raided teepee number ten at the Tee Pee Motel on March 27. Inside they found 48 grams of cocaine and some pot. Arrested were 30-year-old Daniel Romero Noguez Jr. of Wharton and 20-year-old Kandilyn Lathon of Hungerford.

Today's Western Movie Poster


AbeBooks' Most Expensive Sales in March 2012

AbeBooks' Most Expensive Sales in March 2012: An old book about mushrooms doesn’t sound particularly gripping. But hold on, the book in question is special. Published in 1675, Theatrum Fungorum by Franciscus van Sterbeeck was the first book to be dedicated entirely to fungi. Frans van Sterbeeck was a Flemish priest with a passion for botany, who lived in Antwerp in Belgium. In 1601, a now highly-collectible botany book called Rariorum Plantarum Historia addressed mushrooms along with many other plants, but van Sterbeeck made botanical history with his work.

The 25 Greatest Breakup Songs of the 1970s

The 25 Greatest Breakup Songs of the 1970s

Hat tip to Todd Mason.

Yes, There Is a Gator Connection

The Apartment Not Too Far From 88th Street

Dirty Dancing

Friday, April 06, 2012

Why Some Civil War Soldiers Glowed in the Dark

Why Some Civil War Soldiers Glowed in the Dark

Song of the Day

Pre-Order Yours Now!

Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen: A Dan Rhodes Mystery (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries)Amazon.com: Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen: A Dan Rhodes Mystery (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries) (9780312640170): Bill Crider: Books: Sheriff Dan Rhodes is called to The Beauty Shack, where the
young and pretty Lynn Ashton has been found dead, bashed over
the head with a hairdryer. The owner said she’d gone to the salon
late to meet a client, but no one seems to know who that client
was. Lynn was a party girl and it’s possible an angry wife or girlfriend,
or jilted lover, had something to do with her death. Or
maybe the killer is a client who confided a secret to Lynn. While
he investigates the murder, Rhodes must also deal with the theft
of copper and car batteries, not to mention a pregnant nanny
goat that is terrorizing the town.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Ex-Girlfriend Busted For Brutal Scrotum Attack

Today's Vintage Ad


What the Heinleins Told the 1940 Census

What the Heinleins Told the 1940 Census

Link via SF Signal.

10 of Film History’s Meanest Bullies

10 of Film History’s Meanest Bullies

PaperBack


Fredric Brown, A Plot for Murder, Bantam, 1949

10 Proven Brain Benefits of Being Bilingual

10 Proven Brain Benefits of Being Bilingual

Movies That Have Lost Their Shock Value

Movies That Have Lost Their Shock Value

The 20 Best Songs Written for Movies

The 20 Best Songs Written for Movies

Today's Western Movie Poster


New Story at Fires on the Plain

“Rosie’s Chicken & Biscuits” by Axel Howerton

Top 10 Literary Sci-Fi/Fantasy Covers of the 1970s

Art of the Genre: Top 10 Literary Sci-Fi/Fantasy Covers of the 1970s

Link via SF Signal.

Yes, There Is a Gator Connection

The 5 Most Insulting Ways Products Are Advertised to Men

Forgotten Books: Red Diamond, Private Eye -- Mark Schorr

Simon Jaffee's a New York cabbie whose life isn't pretty.  He's not making any dough, his wife is probably having an affair, his daughter's morals and boyfriends leave a lot to be desired, and he can't communicate with his bright, athletic son.  His only consolation is his private-eye novels and his pulps.  He's read them nearly to pieces and has them memorized.  His favorite character is Red Diamond, a tough p.i. in the Mike Hammer mode. 


When Jaffee's wife sells his pulp collection, Jaffee cracks up.  He believes he's Red Diamond, and he begins his crusade to set things right. Occasionally a little bit of Jaffee's old live peeks through, but most of the time he operates in full Red Diamond mode, spouting pulp dialogue as if it were the most natural thing in the world.  He fascinates people by telling them tales of his storied career, and when it comes to action, he's up to the job, whether it's helping out a mobster in New York or recovering stolen paintings in L. A.  He never does find his Moriarty, an overlord named Rocco, however.  Along the way, Schorr name-checks all your favorite fictional private-eyes and a few of their stories.  Oh, and there's a cabbie named Flitcraft.


There were three books in the Red Diamond series, all of them funny, fast, and entertaining, and they're all ripe for rediscovery.  You can get very cheap copies on the 'Net, and they're now available for your e-reader if you have one.  Check 'em out.

The Night Before

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Free Today for Kindle

Dead Man's Revenge (Rancho Diablo)
Currently #1 in bestselling westerns for Kindle.  Still free until midnight.  Grab your copy!

Amazon.com: Dead Man's Revenge (Rancho Diablo) eBook: Colby Jackson, Mel Odom, Bill Crider, James Reasoner: Kindle Store  

Joe Avezzano, R. I. P.

The Washington Post: Former Dallas Cowboys special teams coach Joe Avezzano, whose wild sideline antics made him a fan favorite when the Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the 1990s, died Thursday. He was 68.

Free Today for Kindle

RIPTIDE (The Jake Lassiter Series)Amazon.com: RIPTIDE (The Jake Lassiter Series) eBook: Paul Levine: Kindle Store: Jake Lassiter chases a beautiful woman and stolen bonds from Miami to Maui, where in an explosive finale, he learns lessons never taught on the football field or in the courtroom. If you enjoy John Grisham, Harlan Coben, Carl Hiaasen, and James Patterson, you'll love "Riptide" from Paul Levine, winner of the John D. MacDonald fiction award. Levine has also been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber prizes. A former trial lawyer, he wrote more than 20 episodes of the CBS military drama "JAG."

Jim Marshall, R. I. P.

He shaped the sound of rock ‘n’ roll: Jim Marshall, founder of Marshall Amplification, dies - The Washington Post: Ears still ringing from the 1960s? Jim Marshall might be to blame.


Marshall was the man behind “The” amplifier, the weapon of choice for guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend of The Who, and Eric Clapton — “The Marshall.”

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Tarpon Springs neighbor gets slugged for petting dog, police say

Free Today and Tomorrow for Kindle

The Ambush of My Name (US Grant mysteries)Amazon.com: The Ambush of My Name (US Grant mysteries) eBook: Jeffrey Marks: Kindle Store: When General Ulysses Grant returns to Georgetown, Ohio where he grew up he expects to be hailed as a hero. But as soon as he sets foot in the place people are calling him a butcher and he finds a dead body in his hotel room. Who it is nobody knows and he has to try to find out whodunit hampered by the fact his disapproving wife has just bumped into his old flame, one of his bitterest enemies from boyhood is running the telegraph office that just happens to be having trouble and both a Pinkerton agent and a local reporter want to help out. Suddenly fighting the Civil War doesn’t seem so hard!

Song of the Day

Today's Vintage Ad


Uh-Oh

James Bond ditches vodka martinis for Heineken - The Independent: Prepare for all the puns about irritated James Bond enthusiasts being shaken and stirred. Earlier this week, it was confirmed in Advertising Age that Britain's best known secret agent is going to change the habits of a lifetime and drink beer in the new Bond film, Skyfall. Heineken has struck a deal for a Bond campaign. There will be a new Heineken ad tied to the Bond film and Bond will reportedly be shown drinking Heineken in at least one scene in the movie itself.

Free Today Only!

Dead Man's Revenge (Rancho Diablo)

Amazon.com: Dead Man's Revenge (Rancho Diablo) eBook: Colby Jackson, Mel Odom, Bill Crider, James Reasoner: Kindle Store: Western action explodes as Sam Blaylock fights to save Rancho Diablo. Has a dead man returned to take revenge against Sam, or is there something more human at work? Even the law doesn't seem to be on Sam's side as he takes on enemies that strike in the night.


DEADMAN'S REVENGE is the third volume in the exciting Rancho Diablo series.

PaperBack

Bruno Fischer, Stairway to Death (So Much Blood), Pyramid, 1957

30 Canned Foods You Never Knew Existed

30 Canned Foods You Never Knew Existed

A Cut Above: Turn of the Century Shape Books

Gambie Gorilla Who Was So Lonely by Roselle Ross
A Cut Above: Turn of the Century Shape Books: As anyone who has ever read Pat the Bunny can attest, small children are stimulated by books not only in the sense of the story, but also by tactile and visual cues. Making a book fun and beautiful as well as engaging word-wise is a sure way to keep young minds interested. A classic example is the shape book.


A shape book is a product of a form of die-cutting, in which a book is cut into a specific shape - rather than your typical rectangle or even square, these books can be shaped into whatever figure the designer fancies - a fire engine, an artist's palette, or even a shoe. The imagination is the only limit.

Here We Go Again

10,000 Year Old Frozen Mammoth Found Perfectly Preserved in Siberia

Today's Western Poster


First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

That’s gotta hurt.

6 Common Movie Arguments That Are Always Wrong

6 Common Movie Arguments That Are Always Wrong

Storybook Fantasies: 10 Classic Children’s Fairy Tale Illustrators

Storybook Fantasies: 10 Classic Children’s Fairy Tale Illustrators

Always in My Heart

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Sing Sing Sing

Libby Fischer Hellman has a great Chicago story at Say the Word.  Check it out.

An Old Review Surfaces

A 1001 MIDNIGHTS Review: DAN J. MARLOWE – The Name of the Game Is Death.

Duncan Kyle Update

Ostara Publishing: The Guile of Duncan Kyle


Also: Ostara Publishing’s Top Notch Thriller imprint is proud to announce the reissue of two bestselling novels from the man once described as “the thriller-writer discovery of the Seventies”, Duncan Kyle.

   Duncan Kyle (John Broxholme, 1930-2001) shot to fame in 1970 with his debut thriller A Cage of Ice and by the time Terror’s Cradle was first published in 1975 he was being ranked alongside Alistair Maclean and Desmond Bagley and by 1976 was Chairman of the Crime Writers Association.

Sigh

In Defense Of "Bad" Baseball: For instance, the Houston Astros — a team that has made maybe two good baseball decisions since Barack Obama was elected President — are a bummer. They don't put out a competitive product, but they charge fans competitive prices for the right to consume it; their domed stadium features so much fake old-timey gimmickry and inauthentic quirk that it might as well be a gated community called Olde Baseballe Acres; much of Houston's Major League roster appears to have been spit out of a Random Athlete Name Generator, and the organization's player development strategy in recent years has been 1) short guys, 2) players who are related to former Major Leaguers, and 3) short guys who are related to former Major Leaguers. This is unfair to their fans for a bunch of reasons. It's unfair, too, to people like Chris Johnson and J.D. Martinez — real baseball players on the Astros, promise — who are good enough at a very difficult sport to make it to the Major Leagues, but still get goofed on at BuzzFeed for their implausibly generic names. Broadly speaking, this is not good. It's bad.

Bad Weather

Getting a little hail here in Alvin.

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention

The Deathly Portent (A Lady Fan Mystery)
A historical mystery with an interesting detective. Check it out.

Amazon.com: The Deathly Portent (A Lady Fan Mystery) (9780425245675): Elizabeth Bailey: Books: Her charm and cajolery may fool the unwary.
Unscrupulous and cunning, as dauntless as she is resolute, the incomparable "Lady Fan" is as ruthless as the killer she is tracking in...

A violent murder has left the village of Witherley aghast. The locals are convinced that a witch doing the devil's work is to blame-a young woman believed to have second sight. The new vicar, Aidan, taking up the cudgels in her defence, fears the witch hunt is escalating out of his control. But help is at hand.

The bright and perceptive Ottilia, once a lady's companion and now bride to Lord Francis Fanshawe, is drawn to Witherley by an insatiable curiosity. Ottilia rapidly uncovers a raft of suspects with grudges against the dead man, one of whom is determined to incriminate the "witch." And as foul play runs rampant, Ottilia must wade through the growing hysteria to unravel the tangle and point a finger at the one true menace...



First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Drunken wedding brawl breaks out as bride's 'sister-in-law' hits a policeman and refuses to stop slow-dancing with her new husband

Photo of the Day

Crocodile gets a prime spot in the sun after mistaking hippo for a rock

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

Free for Kindle Right Now!

I think you have about three days to grab this one, but why put it off.  Get it now!

Amazon.com: Harvest of War eBook: Charles Gramlich: Kindle Store: Victory rewards the most brutal. But in a war fought between Orcs, Humans, and the monsters known as the Reapers, who best deserves that title? And will any of them fight for the weak? Or are the weak doomed always to be prey?

2012 Thriller Awards Nominations

Mystery Fanfare: 2012 Thriller Awards Nominations

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

TSA screener at JFK 'hurled hot coffee at American Airlines pilot who told her to stop swearing' 

Today's Vintage Ad


10 Headline Bloopers That Probably Got Someone Fired

10 Headline Bloopers That Probably Got Someone Fired

Croc Update (Betty White Edition)

Betty White Honors Elton John's Birthday With Crocodile Adoption

PaperBack

Bruno Fischer, The Flesh Was Cold (The Angels Fell) Signet, 1957 

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Cops Say Seqoia Lemon Threw Daughter To Ground, Spit In Her Face Because She Wanted To Do Volunteer Work

You Know You Want It!

Gator Bite Oven Mitt

This Is for You Gillian Anderson Fans . . . You Know Who You Are

LRB 8 March 2012: In this podcast Gillian Anderson reads Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Ingratitude’.

Today's Western Movie Poster


I Myself Have No Comment

Judge comments on pimp's 12 children by 10 women - JSOnline: U.S. District Judge Rudoph T. Randa looked up at Patrick with disgust and a bit of curiosity.


"How do you satisfy 10 women?" he asked. "I can't even satisfy my wife."

The 5 Most Clearly Cursed Expeditions of All Time

The 5 Most Clearly Cursed Expeditions of All Time

7 Outrageous Hoaxes That Actually Worked

7 Outrageous Hoaxes That Actually Worked

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Perfect! Griner and Baylor beat Notre Dame 80-61 for NCAA title and 40-0 season

Heathers

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

25 Incredible Pictures Of The Tornadoes That Hit The Dallas/Fort Worth Area

25 Incredible Pictures Of The Tornadoes That Hit The Dallas/Fort Worth Area

Noooooooooooooooooo!

"The Blue Lagoon" Remake -- See the Hot New Castaways! | tooFab.com

FREE ED GORMAN NOVEL ON KINDLE

Ed Gorman's blog: FREE ED GORMAN NOVEL ON KINDLE MURDER ON THE AISLE

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention

If you like cats, this one's for you. Leann Sweeny is my neighbor, sort of. She's from Friendswood, only a few miles from Alvin, and this is the new one in her bestselling series.

Amazon.com: The Cat, the Wife and the Weapon: A Cats in Trouble Mystery (9780451236470): Leann Sweeney: Books: When quilter Jillian Hart returns to her lake house in Mercy, South Carolina, she discovered her friend, Tom, is missing-and his estranged half-brother has moved into Tom's house. Jillian doesn't trust the guy, especially since he allowed Tom's diabetic cat to escape. When police officers find Tom's wrecked car with a dead stranger inside, Jillian is determined to find out what happened to Tom-before someone else turns up dead.

Song of the Day

Free Today for Kindle

Amazon.com: Breaking Cover eBook: J.D. Rhoades: Kindle Store: From the Shamus Award-nominated author of the critically-acclaimed Jack Keller southern crime series comes an explosive stand-alone thriller about an undercover federal agent, a chameleon whose specialty is assaulting criminal organizations from within.


He was the most talented undercover agent in FBI history, until he dropped completely off the grid, and hasn't been heard from in years. Did he go native, or was he discovered and killed? When Tony Wolf is finally driven out into the open, torn from deep cover during the rescue of two kidnapped children, he becomes the number one target of both the vicious biker gang he double-crossed and a massive Federal manhunt.


But Tony’s tired of being the hunted, and as both the gang and a traitorous FBI agent converge on a small southern town, they’re all about to learn a hard lesson: When the Wolf breaks cover, he doesn’t always run away.


Sometimes he comes straight at your throat.

Remembering Arthur Lyons

Remembering Arthur Lyons

Today's Vintage Ad


Yet Another List I'm Not On

The 10 Youngest PhDs of All Time

Free Today for Kindle

Amazon.com: The Day Remo Died --A Special Edition Destroyer Novella (The Destroyer) eBook: Richard Sapir, Warren Murphy: Kindle Store: "The Day Remo Died" is a novella which appears in the ever popular "The Assassin's Handbook." It tells a part of the series' history, showing where the magic of the books come from.


The Destroyer Series centers around the adventures of Remo Williams. Remo is a Newark, N.J. police officer who gets framed for a drug dealer's murder. Sentenced to death and on Death Row, he is offered the chance to stay alive by going along with plans to fake his death. Surviving his death sentence, he wakes to find he's been recruited to be a highly trained enforcement arm for a secret government organization called CURE. Remo is trained in a style of martial arts called Sinanju named after the Korean village where it was created. His mentor is a wizened, old Korean named Chiun. Chiun is the single most lethal force on the planet.


Hilariously funny, the series details the exploits of Remo and Chiun as Remo attempts to save the country, one crime at a time with Chiun along to continue training Remo.

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Police: Man bites off bartender's finger

10 Famous Authors Who Made Unlikely Genre Jumps

10 Famous Authors Who Made Unlikely Genre Jumps

PaperBack




















John Evans (Howard Browne), Halo in BrassPocket Books, 1950 


The Best Hidden Netflix Movies About Dudes With Guns And Ghost Pimps

The Best Hidden Netflix Movies About Dudes With Guns And Ghost Pimps

Those Were the Days, My Friend

Rebel Style In The 50's

Funny (Alleged) Criminal Names

Babyboy Small, Vernon Wade Baloney: Funny (Alleged) Criminal Names, Spring 2012 Edition

Today's Western Movie Poster


The 9 Coolest Historic Bars Around the World

The 9 Coolest Historic Bars Around the World

So You're All in on These, Right?

10 New Must-Reads for April

Uh-Oh

Telegraph: Sir Paul McCartney's son James said he would be willing to form a 'next generation' Beatles with the sons of the other band members.

Archaeology Update

The Guardian: The discovery in Africa of a one million year old fireplace may enable us to identify when humans first began using fire

Overlooked Movies -- The Lawless Frontier

I have this movie on a compilation DVD. The quality is, to say the least, poor. The movie's not much better. The frontier of the title is an interesting place, though. One minute you can be in trees beside a wide river, and the next you can be in the middle of a trackless desert.

John Wayne plays a guy who comes home to find that his parents have been murdered by an outlaw called Zandri (Earl Dwire) and his gang, who steal all their cattle. It's a lot of cattle, and how one old man and woman could have taken care of them isn't explained. For that matter how Wayne knows that Zandri is responsible isn't explained, either. Nor is what Zandri does with the cattle. We're told that Zandri is half Apache but that he pretends to be Mexican and speaks the language like a native. That's the first big laugh of the movie as soon as you hear him talk.

Gabby Hayes plays a rancher with a beautiful daughter, Ruby (Sheila Terry). Zandri plans to kill Gabby and kidnap Ruby, but she overhears his fiendish plan. She and Gabby escape and meet up with Wayne, who decides to get Zandri.

But enough about the plot, such as it is. What about the good stuff? Well, there's a secret tunnel, which is always good to have. There are some good stunts (Yakima Canutt is on hand), including Wayne does himself when he rides a log down a long aqueduct. Or something. And the bad stuff? The dumbest sheriff in movie history. A stunt with a horse that involves a tripwire. I wouldn't have thought twice about this as a kid, but it was terrible to see this time.
[SPOILER ALERT]
The best part of the movie involves Gabby, who's felled by knife thrown by Zandri. Gabby collapses with the knife buried in his back. Wayne finds him and knows he's dead. But he's not. Imagine the surprise of the audience when Gabby shows up later on. Wayne asks him about the knife. "Just a scratch," Gabby says.
[END OF SPOILER ALERT]
There are some more amazing things, but I don't think I'll write about them. The Lawless Frontier was never intended to be a good movie, just a disposable item for the bottom of the bill. If you're desperate for some western action or to see John Wayne as he starts to build the screen persona that served him so well, it's worth a look. You can watch it on your computer. Otherwise, skip it.

Bells of Rosarita

Monday, April 02, 2012

I Found a Penny in the Street Last Week

British Businessman Buys $2M Warhol for Just $5

Now She Can Stay Home and Keep You Kids Off Her Lawn

Florida Woman, 93, Reaches End Of The Road After 576,000 Miles In Her 1964 Mercury

Flash Fiction Challenge Results

Patti Abbott has the results of her latest flash fiction challenge posted on her blog.  First you get her own cool story and then links to the others.  Check it out: Flash Fiction Challenge: At Large in the Monkey House

What Could Possibly Be Wrong?

Rick Perry, Singing at the Urinal: There's Something Wrong with This Anecdote

Western Fictioneers 2011 Peacemaker Award Nominees

Congratulations to All! Western Fictioneers 2011 Peacemaker Award. Nominees

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . .

Apparent boisterous bare-breasted brouhaha in Indian River County

Interview with Libby Fischer Hellmann

Click here:  THE BIG THRILL

Place Your Order

8 Foods Worse Than White Bread

Carbs Without Cause: 8 Foods Worse Than White Bread

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention


Free through Wednesday!

Amazon.com: Little Girl Gone (A Logan Harper Thriller) eBook: Brett Battles: Kindle Store: Logan Harper isn't looking for redemption. He just wants to live in peace and forget his troubled past. But one morning his quiet life is upended when he interrupts the attempted murder of his father's best friend Tooney.


The next thing he knows, Logan is on his way to Los Angeles, searching for Tooney's missing granddaughter and uncovering a sinister plot connected not only to Tooney's past, but also to the boardrooms of corporate America.


As the odds stack up against him, Logan must fall back on old skills from the life he'd rather forget. He's made a promise, and the only way to fulfill it is to bring the girl home alive.

Song of the Day

Today's Vintage Ad


5 People Cheated Out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

5 People Cheated Out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

PaperBack

Bruno Fischer, The Bleeding Scissors, Signet, 1955 

New York Leads the Way

New York City's oldest taxi driver Johnnie 'Spider' Footman still hackin' it at 92 

Naturally I Don't Own Any of Them

The unlikely DVDs that have become surprisingly valuable

First It Was the Thin Mints Melee . . . .

And keep off her damn lawn!

Telegraph: A grandmother, Margaret Perry, admitted "hydrangea rage" after a foul-mouthed outburst against her neighbours, a court heard.


Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

5 Computer Hacks from Movies You Won't Believe Are Possible

5 Computer Hacks from Movies You Won't Believe Are Possible

Today's Western Movie Poster


9 Most Frequently Broken Laws

 9 Most Frequently Broken Laws

10 of the Greatest Cartoons of All Time

10 of the Greatest Cartoons of All Time

The 100 Greatest Hong Kong Films

The 100 Greatest Hong Kong Films

Hat tip to Jeff Segal.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Robot Shuts Down Love Field msnbc.com: "It was determined that the device was not dangerous and was a student's science project," the statement said. "The student was traveling with fellow students and a professor. That student told authorities the robot was accidentally left on the plane."

Frontier Phantom

F

Sunday, April 01, 2012

The Thrilling Detective 14th Anniversary Issue

The 14th Anniversary Issue of The Thrilling Detective Web Site is up.

The Reverend Walter Burton Funk, R. I. P.

Walter Funk and I met the week I entered The University of Texas in 1959 and began a lifelong friendship.  We lived next door to each other on the fourth floor of Brackenridge Hall.  Neither of us was thrilled with his roommate, so the next semester we took up residence in the penthouse, the only room on the fifth floor of the dorm.  It was such a large room that we had a third roommate, Jimmy McConnell.  There were no elevators in Brack Hall.  We were in great shape.


Jimmy moved into an apartment the next year, and Walter and I moved to Prather Hall.  I believe we were on the third floor there.  Still plenty of exercise.  We loved visiting the observation deck of the Tower at UT. Here's a snapshot of us there in 1960 or so.  That's Walter on the right.


When we graduated, Walter went to the Presbyterian seminary in Austin, and I went to Corsicana, Texas, to teach school.  I still remember packing his things in my old '53 Ford to move them to the seminary before I left Austin.  I visited him there once before he graduated.


When I returned to grad school at UT, Walter was minister of the Presbyterian church in Round Rock and dating Eleanor Newton, a Pi Phi from Round Rock who was working on her M.A.  I was the best man in their wedding in December, 1968.


We always kept in touch over the years, and one year when I was teaching at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, he served as the interim pastor of the Presbyterian church there.  It was great to see him, hear his sermons, and visit with him after church every week.  Later we got to visit him briefly in Princeton, New Jersey, when he was living there..  We were in New York for the Edgars, and he drove over and picked us up.  He loved living in Princeton.


For years now we've been in touch by telephone and e-mail.  Usually it was Walter who called, and we always had some laughs as we reminisced about the old days and talked about what was going on in our lives.  


Walter had some tough times in the last few years, but lately he'd been happy and chipper when we talked.  Things seemed to be going well for him, and I was glad to hear it.  The last time I talked to him was a little over a month ago.


Today, I got an e-mail from his daughter.  She told me that Walter had passed away.  It must have been not too long after I talked to him.  She didn't have a number for me and couldn't call, but I'm glad she let me know.  It was all very sudden.  He'd gone to the hospital with labored breathing, and they discovered that he had massive infections in his kidneys and spine.  He died not long afterward.


It's been a sad day around here for both me and Judy, who's known Walter almost as long as I have.  We'll be miss him a lot.

Horror Writers Association Names 2011 Bram Stoker Award Winners

Congratulations to all: Horror Writers Association Names 2011 Bram Stoker Award Winners

2012 SMFS Derringer Award Winners

Congrats to the winners!  My Little Corner: 2012 SMFS Derringer Award Winners

AbeBooks: Jokes, Hoaxes & Other Literary Frauds

AbeBooks: Jokes, Hoaxes & Other Literary Frauds: Literary hoaxes, pranks and frauds have been around since the early days of the printing press. One well documented example was in the late 18th century when Thomas Chatterton wrote a number of poems and then claimed that they had been written by a 15th century monk named Thomas Rowley, and that he had merely transcribed them. Chatterton maintained the ruse until his death when scholars took a closer look and realized they were Chatterton’s work.


Pulling off a hoax of that magnitude requires gall and skill – and it doesn’t always succeed. In the early 1970s, Clifford Michael Irving tried to use a series of handwritten letters, that he had forged, to convince a publisher that he had an “autobiography” written by movie producer and infamous recluse Howard Hughes. The publisher jumped at the opportunity but unfortunately for Irving it turned out that while Hughes was reclusive, his lawyers were not and he found himself on the wrong end of a law suit rather quickly. Books offered as non-fiction but in reality are pure fiction are a common literary fraud.

PimPage: An Occasional Feature in Which I Call Interesting Books to Your Attention

The Death on Demand series has been running for quite a while now, and I've enjoyed many of them. Hey, I'm even mentioned in one. Highly recommended.

Amazon.com: Death Comes Silently (Death on Demand Mysteries) (9780425245705): Carolyn G. Hart: Books: Winter has arrived in Broward's Rock, South Carolina, and business has slowed for Annie Darling, owner of mystery bookstore Death on Demand. So when the island's resident writer publishes the latest in her popular mystery series, Annie jumps at the chance to host a book signing, even though it conflicts with her shift at the local charity shop, Better Tomorrow.



Luckily, fellow volunteer Gretchen Burkholt agrees to sub for her. The signing goes well, but Gretchen interrupts the event multiple times, leaving voice mails about scandalous news she's dying to share. Even though Gretchen tends to be excitable, Annie heads over to Better Tomorrow, where she finds Gretchen dead on the floor, an axe by her side.



Annie enlists the help of her husband, Max, to piece together a puzzle involving an overturned kayak, a stolen motorboat, a troubled love affair, and a reckless teenager. And she must tread carefully in her investigation, because a killer is on the loose, and that killer works well in the foggy days of winter...

10 of the Best Practical Jokes in Literature

10 of the Best Practical Jokes in Literature

Latest Getting Away With Murder Now On-line

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER #65 APRIL 2012

Will the Persecution Never End?

Paris Hilton bans Australian television station from future interviews after reporter questions her about dwindling fame

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

Song of the Day

Today's Vintage Ad


Why Does It Always Have to be Snakes?

Not quite dead yet: Decapitated snake bites finger of homeless man who PUT IT IN the animal's mouth

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.

14 Famous People Who Were Philosophy Majors

14 Famous People Who Were Philosophy Majors


John Evans (Howard Browne), Halo in Blood, Bantam, 1949

Holy Grail Update

BGR: When scratched or cracked, the new plastic responds on a molecular level and regenerates to repair itself without leaving any signs of damage. According to some scientists, the material is considered the "Holy Grail of Material Science."

Here's the Plot for Your Next Spy Thriller

Fox News: The family of a British codebreaker whose naked and decomposing body was found inside a padlocked sports bag believes the country's intelligence agencies may have interfered with evidence that could explain the spy's puzzling death, their lawyer said Friday.


Lawyer Anthony O'Toole told a hearing that relatives of Gareth Williams, who was discovered inside the bag in the bathtub of his central London home in August 2010, do not accept a claim by British authorities that his death was unconnected to his work.

Yet Another List I'm Not On

Commentary Magazine: Here are the top 25 American writers as determined by the amount of scholarship on each. In brackets is the rise or fall of each writer when compared to his or her ranking since 1947.


Hat tip to George Kelley.

Today's Western Movie Poster