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Monthly Archives: July 2014

FFB: Apache Break-Out – Louis Masterson

31 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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Forgotten Books, Louis Masterson, Morgan Kane

n266736Louis Masterson (AKA: Kjell Hallbing) wrote eighty-three Morgan Kane novels between 1966-1985 in his native Norway. The series became a bestseller and sold some eleven million copies in Norway alone. Still around today, a movie is supposedly in the works and the film company acquired ebook rights to the series. Kane is a Texas Ranger in the early books, then becomes a U.S. Marshal somewhere along the line.

The idea was to use the ebooks as promotion. Along those lines, a bit over a year ago I received an email fron someone in the publicity department of the film company inquiring if I’d be interested in a printed copy, one of a thousand, of the first Morgan Kane novel, WITHOUT MERCY, to do a review. Of course I snapped one up.

Things have been quiet on all fronts since then with only that first book available as an ebook. The word I got when I asked was that they were working on acquiring the entire series first(only forty-one had ever been translated into English for the British market). I think I’ve given up on the ebooks and began picking up one of the British titles occasionally. Most are beyond what I’m willing to pay though. The Facebook listing has no recent posts and the announcement about acquiring the whole series goes back into last fall.

Geronimo and Natchez have left the reservation with a hundred braves and are raiding and killing. General Crook is coming from Washington for a meeting.

U.S. Marshal Morgan Kane is assigned to find out who’s selling guns and liquor to the Apaches before Crook’s meeting.

Plenty of action for our hero and a certain obstinate female reporter, Kate Coleman, Kane’s lover, who’s certain she can reason with Geronimo. Against Kane’s advice, she inserts herself into the niddle and makes for one more mess Kane must clean up.

Good story, but not the most dynamic cover.

July 2014 Book Round-Up

31 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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!57: WE: Peacemaker Rawhide – Clifford Blair

158: TH: John Rain: The Graveyard Witch(ebook) – Barbra Annino

159: Hu: Flying Blind(Crag Banyon)(ebook) – James Mullaney

160: CR: So Young, So wicked(ebook) – Jonathan Craig

161: CR: Color of Evil – Armando Rodera

162: SF: Daimones: Daimones Trilogy, Vol.1(ebook) – Massimo Marino

163: SF: Elixir – Ted Galdi

164: HU: Johnny Nothing(ebook) Ian Probert

165: MY: Some Die Hard – Stephen Mertz

166: SF: Been A Long Time(ebook) – Matthew P. Mayo

!67: CR: Only The Strong Survive(ebook) – A. J. Ricco

168: HR: Bubba Ho-Tep(ebook) – Joe R. Lansdale

169: TH: Low End of Nowhere(ebook) – Michael Stone

170: TH: Unmanned – Dan Fesperman

171: CR: It’s Best To Shoot In The Head(ebook) – Shayne Youngblood

172: The Crime of The French Cafe(ebook) – Nicholas Carter

173: TH: The Chase – Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg

174: TH: Sherlock Holmes & Kolchak, The Night Stalker: Cry of Thunder – Joe Gentile , Andy Bennett, & Carlos Magno

175: SF: Technically, Males Are Dummies and Other Stories – Robert J. Sullivan

176: SF: The Neworld Papers Series 1 The Historian’s Tale(Ebook) – KB Shaw

177: FA: Sharks: Awesome Predators of the Deep (Nature in Action Series)(ebook) – Hannah Benham

178: WE: Apache Break-Out – Louis Masterson

179: TH: The Missing and The Dead – Jack Lynch

180: HR: The Bitch Pit(ebook) – Christopher J. Pimental

181: WE: The Untarnished Badge – S. J. Stewart

182: SF: Once Humans(ebook) – Massimo Marino

July 2014 Movie Round-Up

31 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

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Night Must Fall(1937)

Nancy Drew … Trouble Shooter(1939)

The Big Steal(1949)

Trial(1955)

Apocalypse Joe(1970)

Big Jake(1971)

It Can Be Done, Amigo(1971)

Duel(1971)

Son of Zorro(1973)

Octopus 2: River of Fear(2002)

Cold In July(2014)

John Mayall – Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton

31 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in music

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John Mayall

I haven’t listened to this album in years. Have it on vinyl and no working player. Probably wouldn’t play anyway. It got quite a workout over the years.

Image

Today’s Humor

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Posted by Randy Johnson | Filed under Humor

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Night Must Fall(1937)

28 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in Uncategorized

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Al_caer_la_noche-721345545-largeNIGHT MUST FALL is not so much a whodunnit as a why he did it. Based on a play by Emlyn Williams, it had a stellar cast including Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russel, and Dame May Whitty(who reprised the role she played on the London stage.

Robert Montgomery is Danny, the charming, and quite mad, killer. He disarms everyone he meets with his good cheer and manners. Dame May Whitty plays Mrs. Bramson, a rich crabby old woman who is quite abrasive with everyone, but meddles in everyone’s business. Rosalind Russell is Olivia, the old lady’s niece and assistant, caring for the wheelchair bounddownload (2) Bramson(we do see late in the film, though, that she’s quite capable of getting up and walking very easily when no one is around. She keeps a lot of cash at her home, distrustful of banks. Justin Laurie(Alan Marshal) is Bramson’s lawyer and Olivia’s hopeful lover. She’s fond of him, but doesn’t love him.

Danny comes to the household when he visits his fiancee, Dora(Merle Tottenham), who’s about to be fired for breaking a piece of china dinner ware. Danny works his charms on the old lady and is soon offered a job(he needs more money before he can marry Dora you see).

images (2)We learn the police are dragging the river for a missing woman as the picture opens.

Olivia is the only one immune to Danny’s charm. Instinctively she senses something wrong about him. To that end, when Danny is taking Mrs. Bramson for a push in the garden, she convinces Dora and the cook, Emily Terence(Kathleen Harrison), to search his room. He’s been there a week and has failed to unpack his two suitcases. and then there’s the hatbox, locked and heavy, that they fail to open whe he catches them in his room.

When the body is found near the Bramson estate, and minus the head, weimages (1) know exactly where it is.

The final sequence, late at night, with the phone wire cut and Olivia alone with Danny, we see just how mad the man really is as Montgomery does an excellent job portraying a disintegrating mind.

Excellent film.

nightmustfall_1937_lc_02_1200_071520080434

New In The House

27 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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1: The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Galbraith= I’m sure every body knows by now that the author is J. K. Rowling. Cormoran Strike is her private investigator and she’s promised to write more about him than Harry Potter.

1: Sherlock Holmes & Kolchak, The Night Stalker: Cry of Thunder – Joe Gentile, Andy Bennett & Carlos Magno: Moonstone Books’ graphic novel compilation of the comic series.

3: The Missing and The Dead(review copy) – Jack Lynch. from Brash Books, the second in the Bragg series.

4: Pieces of Death(review copy) – Jack Lynch: the third in Brash Books Bragg thriller series.

5: The Untarnished Badge(ARC) – S. J. Stewart: forthcoming western

6: The Execution(ARC) Dick Wolf: second in the author’s Jeremy Fisk thriller series

7: The Last Whisper In The Dark(ARC) – Tom Piccirilli: sequel to The Last Kind Words; thief Terrier Rand is the protagonist

8: Inca’s Death Cave(review copy) – Wheeler Bradford: An archaeological mystery thriller

9: Enter The Saint(review copy) – Leslie Charteris: Amazon’s reissue of the Saint series. One I didn’t own.

10: Apache Break-out – Louis Masterson: English language edition of the Morgan Kane western series.

and the ebooks:

11 Snake skin(review copy) – C. J. Lyons: book 1 in the Lucy Guardino FBI thriller series.

12: Witherings(review copy) – A. R. Khan: Arthur McQueen is forty-nine years old, married, and counting down the hours to his inevitable death from brain cancer. After learning his cancer has progressed to stage IV, he invites the only suspect in his wife’s disappearance to move in with him. With a desperate desire to seek the truth about her disappearance, a plan in place, and a nothing to lose attitude, Arthur quickly realizes that his rapidly deteriorating health is becoming an obstacle.

13 Thai Horse – William Diehl: a freebie from Diehl. How could I resist.

Technically, Males Are Dummies and Other Stories – Robert J. Sullivan

26 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in Uncategorized

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22179632A wide range of short stories from SF to action to period pieces.

SF includes the title story, a couple of alternate universe tales, and an alien invasion, sort of, piece.

The title short is of a man who develops an app for clothing and it’s consequences. The explanation for the title comes from something I did not know. Mannequins are what the females are called. The male version are known as dummies.

The alternate universe tales find a man hunting Wooly Mammoths and taking on a Sabre-tooth tiger and a man being advised by other versions of himself.

Action pieces, one with Sam Dane, star of two of the author’s novels, and a bit of humor in a variation, Bill Crider will like this one, of the urban legend of alligators in the sewers of New York City. A little humor here: think alligators with guns.

A period piece from sailing skips and sword days: A vain character though well deserved of that thought.

Nice fast read. Worth a look. Available HERE.

Son of Zorro(Il Figlio Di Zorro)1973

25 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in movies

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Robert Widmark, spaghetti western, William Berger

Apparently, SON OF ZORRO is somewhat of a rarity in the spaghetti western180px-2625 genre. The print downloaded to Youtube looks to have been recorded from TV. Poor quality, rolling picture at times, the aspect cuts off some credits. Not letter-boxed, but black bars down each side. It’s dubbed in English with subtitles that appear to be Russian. Not positive of that though. The same version appears twice on Youtube, once under the title I use, the other THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN WINCHESTER. To complete the picture, the trailer, of far superior quality uses the world wide English title, adding the to the version I use. It only has a bare bones listing on the Spaghetti Western Database, mainly a listing of the main players and director and writers with a one line plot synopsis. No review. The IMDb listing doesn’t have even one review.

I thought the pacing of the picture was bad. Despite plenty of action, it actually seemed slow at times.

27 SON OF ZORROThe location is Mexico, the time during Maximillian’s reign. Revolution is brewing. led by Don José Herrera(Andrea Fantasia) and his beautiful daughter, Conchita(Elisa Ramírez). The father is disposed of quickly when a traitor in the ranks blows the whistle. It takes Zorro to rescue her.

Let’s talk about Zorro. Don Rocardo Villaverde(Alberto Dell’Acqua, billed as Robert Widmark) is a skinny blond that wears only a thin mask that covers only his eyes, that blond hair shining. That no one connects him to the skinny blond Zorro seems a bit ridiculous. He professes to be on the side of those in charge, thus getting in on all the planning. His cover is that of a nonviolent Lothario making advances on every attractive woman that crosses his path.

Two spaghetti western regulars keep this one from getting too embarrassing.mix6 William Berger plays Mathias Boyd, an American from Louisiana. the man bringing the revolutionaries a new kind of rifle for their war with French forces. He’s hidden them and everyone wants the location. With Don Herrera murdered, he;ll only tell Zorro where he’s hidden them. The second spaghetti veteran is Fernando Sancho, Colonel Michel Leblanche, titular ruler of the area.

Franco Fantasia is Captain François Bardeau, the best swordsman in all of France and the man plagued mostly by Zorro. Our black clad outlaw’s version of Bernardo is Pedro Garcia(George Wang).

27 SON OF ZORRO lobbyAnother problem I had with the film was that it couldn’t decide whether it was an Action piece or a comedy. Both Zorro and Pedro rode horses that seemed to fart a lot, long and loud. In an early scene, shown in the trailer below, Pedro is waiting below to take loot Zorro confiscates from the rich at a party when a guard takes a leak off the wall, a long one, right onto Pedro’s sombrero. The pair tortur information from Leblanche by tickling the bottoms of his feet. That can be torture I know, but come on.

I’d give it a C- at best.

4587

The Crime of The French Cafe – Nicholas Carter

24 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Randy Johnson in Books

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Nick Carter

2940015772593_p0_v1_s260x420The character of Nick Carter has been around, in one form or other, since 1886. He’s been a P.I. and a spy. Some five authors wrote most of the early stories. I have no idea how many were involved in The Killmaster spy series. Other than Bill Crider of course.

In this one, master detective Nick Carter is investigating a minor robbery for a close friend. Staking out a French restaurant, he spots a waiter rushing out to leave in a cab. Curious, he enters and engages a head waiter, learning the floor the rushing waiter had worked. Two private dining rooms, one holding a dead woman shot through the head.

The head waiter later points out one man from one of the rooms, one John Jones. Jones is a cool customer, pointing out that if he had murdered the woman, tentatively identified as his wife, the woman he’d arrived with, though he claims different.

It’s left up to Nock Carter, along with his two assistants, to unravel the mystery.

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