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Monthly Archives: October 2008

October Book Round-Up

31 Friday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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Books

Th:  125: Guns – Ed McBain

PI:   126: Chasing Darkness _ Robert Crais

TC:  127: The Monster of Florence – Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi

CR:  128: Mr Monk Goes To Germany – Lee Goldberg

CR:  129: Burn Notice: The Fix – Tod Goldberg

FA:   130: By The Sword: a Repairman Jack Novel – F. Paul Wilson

HR:  131: Backup: a Dresden Files novelette – Jim Butcher

WE:  132: Fargo – John Benteen

WE:  133: Fargo: Panama Gold – John Benteen

TH:  134: The Frailty of Flesh – Sandra Ruttan

FA:   135: Jirel of Joiry – C.L.Moore

WE:   136: The Trail Ends At Hell – John Benteen

October Movie Round-up

31 Friday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

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movies

SLEEPERS WEST(1941)

BLUE, WHITE, AND PERFECT(1941)

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD(1951)

HALLOWEEN(1978)

IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH(2007)

RUSH HOUR 3(2007)

THE DARK KNIGHT(2008)

IRON MAN(2008)

The Frailty of Flesh – Sandra Ruttan

29 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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RCMP, Sandra Ruttan, The Frailty of Flesh

Nolan, Hart, and Tain are back in the follow-up to WHAT BURNS WITHIN.

A four year old boy had been beaten to death. His brother, a witness, says their older sister is the murderer and the sister is also missing. Hart and Tain get the case and are surprised when they arrrive at the family home to tell them the sad news, only to have the family lawyer up, refusing to cooperate.

As the investigation begins, mistakes are made, missing the fact that the sister had been to the hospital, severely beaten and stabbed, slipping away when the doctors backs were turned. Then a call says she’s been kidnapped and a million dollar ransom is wanted.

While this is going on, Nolan is sent to review an old case. A murderer has been paroled after ten years and is suing the RCMP for false arrest and conviction. Nolan is conflicted about the investigation and wants off it because one of the officers that made the original arrest and participated in the conviction was his father.

As the investigations progress, murders start to pile up, several breakins happen, evidence goes missing, police officers get assaulted.

This is Sandra Ruttan’s third novel(the first, SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES, was a standalone).

What I like about her novels is they are set in Canada. We get a look at police work that’s a bit different from what happens in this country. Her characters argue amongst themselves, have personal problems. You know, like real people.

She keeps the action moving and the pace picks up as the narrative goes along. As in the first book in the series, about halfway through, the action shifts into high and i couldn’t put the book down. I think I finished the second half in a few hours of non stop reading.

She has another winner here and if you like a good police procedural, it’s well worth checking out.

How Napoleon and Illya Turned Into Mack Bolan

29 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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Mack Bolan, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

As a teenager, I was a fan of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. television series. Naturally I bought the tie-in novels as they came out. In the late sixties, when Don Pendleton started his Executioner series, I started buying them as well.

I followed Bolan’s one man war against the Mafia through thirty-six novels(Pendleton didn’t write the sixteenth, but that’s another story). After that, Pendleton sold the rights to Gold Eagle and Bolan moved into a different arena, abandoning the war against crime to one with the terrorists of the world. Gold Eagle hired a number of writers to continue Bolan’s adventures in a monthly series with several giant volumes a year.

One such writer was Peter Leslie, author of five Man and one Girl From U.N.C.L.E. novels. I continued to read and enjoy Bolan until I came upon the reason for this post.

I had started reading ANVIL OF HELL, a Mack Bolan giant when I realized it was strangely familiar. That was in April, 1988. I knew right away it was an U.N.C.L.E. novel and which one. THE RADIOACTIVE CAMEL AFFAIR was published in 1966 with Peter Leslie as author.

Gold Eagle’s Bolan novels all have Don Pendleton’s name on the cover. But the copyright page has the actual author’s name. When I checked, there was Peter Leslie.

I offer up below examples to show my point.

Page 183 of ANVIL OF HELL: Gold Eagle, 1988

Chapter Seventeen

The frontier was a collection of wooden huts straddling the dirt road; the border was defined by a barbed-wire fence interrupted by a striped pole with a counterweight at one end. Outside the hut nearest the highway, a squad of soldiers lounged by a trestle table, joking around with a handful of border guards. Soldiers and guards wore British-style khaki uniforms; all of them were African.

Mack Bolan slid the Land Rover to a halt in a cloud of dust and climbed out of the furnace heat.

And:

Page 68 of THE RADIOACTIVE CAMEL AFFAIR: Ace Books, 1966

Chapter 7

The frontier was a collection of wooden huts straddling the dust road; the border was a barbed wire fence interrupted by a striped pole with a counterweight on one end. Inside the hut nearest the highway, a platoon of soldiers lounged, exchanging pleasantries with the frontier guards. Both soldiers and guards wore British-style  khaki uniforms-and all the men were Africans.

Illya slid the Landrover to a halt in a cloud of dust and climbed out onto the road.

The events were shuffled around in the books and Napoleon and Illya’s parts all became Mack Bolan.

I found another such rewritten book with DEAD MAN’S TALE and THE SPLINTERED SUNGLASSES AFFAIR, both works of Peter Leslie. I don’t know whether he did such rewriting with any of his other U.N.C.L.E. novels as I stopped reading Bolan at that point.

They were being advertised as never before published and were in fact twenty year old novels. I realize most Bolan readers might not know they were formally U.N.C.L.E. novels, but I had a problem with them.

And that’s how Napoleon and Illya turned into Mack Bolan.

NFL Week 8

27 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in Sports

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Jets, Panthers, Redskins

My teams did better this week. All three managed a win.

The Redskins beat Detroit 25-17(not a great game, but we’ll take it). The rest of the NFC East all won as well. Eagles 27-14 over the Falcons. Cowboys 13-9 against the Bucs.  The Giants defeated the Steelers 21-14. As it stands now, the Giants lead the division with the Redskins half a game back, the Cowboys one and a half back, and the Eagles last. Washington and Dallas have yet to get their bye week in.

The Panthers won over the Cardinals 27-23. As noted in the previous paragraph, the Bucs and the Falcons both lost to NFC East teams(thanks), while the Saints beat the Chargers 37-32 over in England. That leaves the Panthers a game up over Tampa Bay and a game and a half over the Falcons.

The Jets topped the Chiefs 28-24. Both Miami and New England won, the Dolphins beating former division leader Buffalo, now tied for first with New England.

The Bengals remain the worst team in the league at 0-8, the worst solely because they haven’t had the bye week yet. The Lions are close behind at 0-7. I feel bad for the fans of both teams. They both deserve much better. Having followed the Jets, and been disappointed by them for forty years, I undeerstand their frustration. I think Patti Abbott has it right on her blog. If the owners aren’t interested in doing what it takes to put a winner on the field, they should find owners who will. They’ve made money off fans’ loyalty for many years. It’s time they rewarded that loyalty before it’s too late.

The last undefeated team, the Titans, play tonight. Luck to them.

I don’t think I screwed up this week. If I have, I’ll get a well deserved smack in the head from certain quarters(don’t hit me to hard).

In The Valley of Elah

26 Sunday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

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Tommy Lee Jones

I watched IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH this morning.

Tommy Lee Jones plays Hank Deerfield, a retired Military police sergeant who gets a call early one morning telling him his son, Mike, is AWOL. “My son is in Iraq,” is his answer. That’s when he finds out his son has been back four days and has now dropped out of sight. No calls to him or his mother, played by Susan Sarandon.

Knowing something is wrong, Deerfield goes looking for Mike. He gets stonewalled everywhere he goes. The police won’t handle it because his son is military. Everyone he knew when he was a military investigator has retired, so he gets the usual platitudes from the army but no help.

His buddies last saw him on Saturday before he left the base.

Then a body is found in a field owned by the army. Stabbed multiple times, dismembered, burned, the part scattered over the field, it’s identified as Mike Deerfield only by partial fingerprints.  Since it’s on military land, they assume control of the investigation(the police are only to happy to oblige), Military investigators assume it’s a drug deal gone bad. A heroin pipe is found under Mike’s mattress on the base and dismemberment is a favorite of the Mexican gangs.

Deerfield is not satisfied and, with the help of Detective Emily Sanders, played by Charlize Theron, proves his son was murdered off the property and dragged onto the field for dismemberment and burning. That puts it reluctantly back into police hands.

Deerfield keeps doggedly pursuing clues and dead ends until he finds out the real story. I won’t say anymore, not wishing to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the film yet.

I liked this movie. It’s based on a true story and Jones received an academy award nomination for the role of Hank Deerfield. To the best of my recollection, the only Tommy Lee Jones role I didn’t like was Two-Face in that abominable Batman and Robin.

The State Of The Republican Party

23 Thursday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in politics

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I think this clip says it all about the state of the Republican party these days. Abraham Lincoln would probably be apalled if he could see it today.

[I don’t think I could say it any better.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

22 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in Television

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Television, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

UPS just delivered my birthday present to myself two days before the actual day. The complete Man From U.N.C.L.E. series. Much beyond my control, that young teenager locked inside gleefully dived in to open up and examine his prize.

It was one of my favorites when I was that uncertain teenager in the first bloom of puberty. Napoleon Solo was the American version of James Bond, everything that -nerdy kid(ouch) wasn’t, handsome, assured, a swell dresser(yes we talked like that), good looking women after him all the time.

105 episodes, the rarely seen color pilot(the first season was black and white), one of the feature films, and all the usual bells and whistles. It all comes packed in a nice little briefcase.

It certainly took them long enough. Over the years I’ve collected all the tie-ins: 23 paperback novels, 24 issues of the magazine, two hardcover novels, a Big-Little book, one by Walter Gibson(he of The Shadow fame), 7 issues of the Girl magazine, the two book Girl series, and the 4 book British Girl series. One last DVD is ordered and should be here in the next few days: The Return of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair.

I’ve a feeling over the next couple of months, that twelve year old locked inside will be escaping all too frequently. I’m looking forward to it.

NFL Week 7

20 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in Sports

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Panthers, Redskins

My teams had a decent week. The Redskins beat the Browns 14-11. Not a great win, but a win. The Giants smacked around the 49ers 29-17. The Cowboys got slaughtered by the Rams 34-14(couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch) and the Eagles had a bye.

The Panthers looked good this week, 30-7 over the Saints, after playing miserably last week. The Bucs beat the Seahawks 20-10, staying even with my Panthers. The Falcons fell back half a game with a bye.

The Jets played terribly, losing in overtime to the Raiders 16-13 after getting a second life because of one of the stupidest moves a Coach can make. It’s popular to try to freeze the field goal kicker by calling time at the last second, letting the kicker get off a meaningless kick. The idiot Raider coach did that on a fifty-two yard attempt, which bounced off the goal posts. No good. Except it didn’t count. Second kick was good, sending the game into overtime. It would have been poetic justice for thre Raiders to lose. Alas, they got lucky.

It’s a stupid thing to do. Over the last couple of years, a couple of games have been lost that way. There was one New England should have lost last year against the Ravens. On a fourth down late in the game, trailing, the Patriots went for it and were stopped. Game over! But wait! An idiot coach came running to call time at the last second. On the replay, the Patriots made the first, going on to score and win the game, preserving their perfect season far longer than they should.

The Titans remained undefeated. The hapless Bengals stayed winless. Hey, the Lions didn’t lose this week. Wait a minute. They had a bye.

Update: The lions did play, losing to the Texans(I’m embarrassed). Thanks to Bill Crider for the correction.

Backup: a Dresden Files Novelette Jim Butcher

20 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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Dresden Files, horror

For a few years now, Subterranean Press has been publishing a wide range of titles in horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Small print runs with various deluxe editions, lovingly done, beautiful books. I’ve bought a few and they are all unique books worth the price asked, depending on which edition one is interested.

BACKUP is a twelve thousand word novelette set in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files universe, just released early this month. The dust jacket and interior illustrations are by Mike Mignola, he of Hellboy fame.

In this one, though, center stage is taken by Harry’s half-brother, Thomas Raith, a vampire. He takes it upon himself to help Harry out of a set-up situation that his brother doesn’t evem realize is happening. Honor would force him to do exactly what the demon involved wants him to do, which ultimately wouldn’t do Harry or the human race any good.

So Thomas has to sneak around behind the scenes to prevent the whole mess.

A nice little change of pace from the regular story line. Well recommended.

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