Laura by Vera Caspary

What I'm reading.

My New Hero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-nLS6FJtSM

One Nation Under God

Clark Gable reading.







This map put together by political scientists for Congressional Quarterly indicates the religiosity of various US states. You can see a full discussion of it at The Monkey Cage. In even the least religious states, more than 50% of the respondents said religion was an important part of their life. What I wonder is why the US continues to exhibit such religiosity? Other than Islamic nations, such religious fervor is mostly absent in other nations. What would your explanation be? Has success made us religious? Or is it part of our heritage more than in other countries?

Let the Right One In

Naomi Novik reading.







It's hard to imagine a vampire movie, a movie about children, a movie about Swedish angst or a movie about the societal ills that is more powerful than this one. The scariest parts are the ones where no vampires are at work. If it comes your way, or when it comes out on DVD, I can't recommend it highly enough. The two performances by children are knockouts. It is as bleak as Detroit in February. Oh wait, it's Sweden. See it.





What movie recently knocked you out?

MTM, Famous Detroiters-Albert Kahn

Kermit reading.

Albert Kahn was one of the foremost American architects of his day and certainly the best known of Detroit. Born in German, he immigrated to Detroit in 1880.

His father Joseph was trained as a rabbi. His mother Rosalie had a talent for the visual arts and music. As a teenager he got a job at the architectural firm of Mason and Rice. Kahn won a year's scholarship to study abroad in Europe.

Albert Kahn Associates was founded in 1895. He developed a new style of construction where reinforced concrete replaced wood in factory walls, roofs, and supports. This gave better fire protection and allowed large volumes of unobstructed interior. Packard Motor Car Company's factory built in 1907 was the first development of this principle.

The success of the Packard plant interested Henry Ford in Kahn's designs. Kahn designed Ford Motor Company's Highland Park plant, begun in 1909 where Ford consolidated production of the Ford Model T and perfected the assembly line. On Bob-Lo Island, Henry Ford had a dance hall designed and built by Albert Kahn, which in 1903 was billed as the world's second largest.
Kahn later designed, in 1917, the massive half-mile-long Ford River Rouge Plant. The Rouge grew into the largest manufacturing complex in the U.S., with a force that peaked at 120,000 workers. According to the company website, "By 1938, Kahn's firm was responsible for 20 percent of all architect-designed factories in the U.S."
Kahn was responsible for many of the buildings and houses in Walkerville, Ontario built under direction of Walker family including Willistead Manor. Kahn's interest in historically styled buildings is also seen in his houses in Indian Village, Detroit, Cranbrook House, the Edsel Ford House and the Dearborn Inn, the world's first airport hotel.
Kahn's Conservatory on Belle Isle in Detroit.
Kahn also designed the landmark 28-story Art Deco Fisher Building in Detroit, considered one of the most beautiful elements of the Detroit skyline. In 1928, the Fisher building was honored by the Architectural League of New York as the year's most beautiful commercial structure.
Kahn's firm's Moscow office built 521 factories between 1930 and 1932.
Kahn also designed many of the classic buildings at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. These include the Burton Tower, Hill Auditorium, the Hatcher Graduate Library, and Clements Library.
Kahn's firm designed a large number of the army airfield and naval bases for the United States government between the wars. Kahn's 600-person office was involved in making Detroit the Arsenal of Democracy. Among others, the office designed the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, and the Willow Run Bomber Plant, Kahn's last building, located in Ypsilanti, MI where Ford Motor Company mass produced B-24 Liberator bombers. Albert Kahn worked on more than 1,000 commissions from Henry Ford and hundreds for other automakers.

As of 2006, Kahn had around 60 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Not all of Kahn's works have been preserved. The Donovan Building, later occupied by Motown Records, abandoned for decades, was demolished as part of Detroit's beautification plan before the Super Bowl in 2006.
Ten Albert Kahn buildings are recognized by official Michigan historical markers.
Battle Creek Post Office
Dearborn Inn
Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in Warren, Michigan
Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in St. Clair Shore, Michigan
Fisher Building
Michigan Alpha Chapter House of Phi Delta Theta‎
Packard Motor Car Company
The Detroit News
The Detroit Free Press
Willow Run

Dexter M. Ferry summer residence in Unadilla Center, New York; early 19th century stone farmhouse remodeled in 1890. Extant today. Known as Milfer Farm, held by Ferry heirs today. Kahn also designed the "Honeymoon Cottage" on the estate, one of the earliest prefabricated houses built.

Hiram Walker offices, 1892, in Windsor, Ontario
Detroit Racquet Club, 1902 (Kahn designed but was not allowed membership at the time, being Jewish)
Temple Beth El, 1903, Kahn's home synagogue, now the Bonstelle Theatre of Wayne State University
Brandeis-Millard House, 1904, located in the Country Club Historic District of Midtown Omaha, Nebraska is the only known work by Kahn in the state.
The Palms Apartments, 1901-3, on Jefferson Avenue, Detroit
Belle Isle Aquarium and Conservatory, 1904, and Casino, 1907 on Belle Isle, Detroit
Albert Kahn House, 1906, Detroit, Michigan (his personal residence)
George N. Pierce Plant, 1906, in Buffalo, New York
Willistead Manor, 1906, home of the son of Hiram Walker
Battle Creek Post Office, 1907, concrete construction method used again later that year in Kahn's Packard plant
Packard Plant, 1907, Kahn's tenth factory for Packard but first concrete one
Cranbrook House, 1907, at Cranbrook Educational Community
Highland Park Ford Plant, 1908, Highland Park, Michigan
Kaufman Footwear Building, 1908, Kitchener Ontario, recently renovated into lofts
Mahoning National Bank, 1909, Youngstown, Ohio
Kales Building, 1914, 18-story white building at Adams and Park on Grand Circus Park in Detroit built for Kresge Corporation[4]
Detroit News building, 1917
NY Headquarters, Ford Motor Company, 1917, in New York, New York, now home of Sean John and Bad Boy Worldwide
Motor Wheel Factory, Lansing, Michigan, 1918. Currently being renovated into residential lofts.
General Motors Building, 1919, largest office building in the world at that time, GM world headquarters, now State of Michigan offices
First National Building, Detroit, 1922
Detroit Police Headquarters, 1923
Temple Beth El, 1923 (a different building than the 1903 version), now the Lighthouse Cathedral.
Walker Power Plant, 1923, in Windsor
Ford Motor Company Lamp Factory, 1921-1925, in Flat Rock, Michigan
Detroit Free Press Building, 1925
S. S. Kresge World Headquarters, 1927, 5-1/2 story horizontally massed Art Deco structure
Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, 1927, Henry Ford's son's home, built as an English manor house in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan. (Incredibly beautiful place--art deco)
Fisher Building, 1927, major skyscraper of Detroit for decades
New Center Building, 1930, office building in the New Center
River Rouge Glass Plant, 1930
Dearborn Inn, 1931, world's first airport hotel, built and decorated in the Georgian style
Ford Rotunda, designed for Chicago World's Fair, 1934 (burned, 1963)
Dodge Truck Plant, 1938, Warren, Michigan
Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, 1941, produced 1/4 of American WWII tanks, continued tank production until 1997
Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1941, used by Ford for bombers during the war, then by Kaiser for cars, then by GM for transmissions
Ford Assembly Building, California
now called West Hall, with George Mason) 1904

Much of this comes from Wilkipedia as I am away this weekend. Hopefully next week will see some original obsrvations.

Check out Travis Erwin for some more MTM posts.

TV Shows That Hold Up

Mad Men reading.




Been watching some old TV shows over the last week. The Twilight Zone doesn't hold up too well for me. They're always going for the same ending-that the character is stuck somewhere. Too much retribution and punishment involved. And it's usually a man. Clearly women were the lesser sex.
Also WKRP seems to rely on drug references and Jennifer's dubious sex appeal to get through most episodes. Was her face real flesh?
MASH is awfully didactic-even if I did agree with it at the time.
NEWHART was not half the show as THE BOB NEWHART SHOW. He needed a sparkplug like Suzanne Pleshette. What TV shows from the past hold up the best for you? I'm voting for TAXI, CHEERS, MTM, THE WALTONS and FAMILY. How about you? (And no making fun of THE WALTONS)

February Love Going Out

Bo Fexler reading.








Thanks to all the writers who have joined me in flash fiction challenges--four in the last year. And especially thanks to Gerald So and Mystery Dawg (on Powder Burn Flash). I get a big kick out of these and hope you do too. Thanks for playing along with whatever the challenge is.

The Summing Up, Friday, February 13, 2009

Margaret Atwood reading.


Thanks to all of today's contributors. If you'd like to sample a Bernard Malamud story, try "A Summer's Reading" right here on The New Yorker podcasts.

I am trying to set up another blog for the complete list of forgotten books at
patti-fridaysforgottenbooks.blogspot.com
Not sure if it works yet. Somehow the two sites are getting confused (at least in my mind).


Patti Abbott, THE MAGIC BARREL, Bernard Malamud
Kaye Barley, FIVE SMOOTH STONES, Ann Fairbairn
Paul Bishop, TIEBREAKER, Jack Bickham
Paul Brazill, TOP 10, Alan Moore
Cathy Cole, K.J. Erickson's series and PL Gaus' Amish series
David Cranmer, OUR MAN IN HAVANNA, Graham Greene
Bill Crider, SHERLOCK HOLMES'S WAR OF THE WORLDS, Manley W. Wellman and Wade Wellman
Gary Dobbs, CUSTER, Will Henry
Martin Edwards, THE PLOT AGAINST ROGER RIDER, Julian Symons
Cullen Gallagher, RED GARDENIAS, Jonathan Latimer
Lesa Holstine, THE BILL DONOVAN MYSTERIES, Michael Jayns
Randy Johnson, BIMBOS OF THE DEATH SUN, Sharyn McCrumb
George Kelley, FACE TO FACE, Ellery Queen (Jack Vance)
Keith Raffel, DEATH OF A UNICORN, Peter Dickinson.
Ray, CHUKA, Richard Jessup
James Reasoner, THIEVES FALL OUT, Cameron Kay
Mary Reed, TILL THE CLOCK STOPS, J.J. Bell
Kerrie Smith, VENOM HOUSE, Arthur Upfield
Jim Winter, LADY KILLER, Ed McBain

Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, February 13, 2009

Alice Walker reading.








Cullen Gallagher is a Brooklyn, NY-based film critic and musician who spends way too much time reading old pulp mysteries and hanging out at his local diner where he has a dish named after him. Listen to his music at www.myspace.com/modernsilentcinema and visit his blog at www.pulpserenade.blogspot.com.

Red Gardenias by Jonathan Latimer

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Jonathan Latimer wrote a series of screwball-hardboiled murder mysteries that were, for their time, decidedly amoral. Even now, there’s an edge to Latimer’s best work that remains undiminished some seventy years later. One can see the influence of Hammett’s The Thin Man, though Latimer’s world is far more zany, cruel, and perverse. Most of the books feature a private detective named Bill Crane who proceeds blindly in a drunken haze, more interested in debauchery than solving cases. While this makes for plenty of laughs, Latimer seems to go against the grain of most private detective novels, subverting some of their iconic principles. Most importantly, Crane is not a “hero” of any sort – he is the complete opposite of Chandler’s conception of Marlowe as a “white knight.” Crane has no moral or ethical agenda – he shows no concern for his clients, or any wish to right wrongs, or make the world a better place. Crime is a playground for Crane, and one gets the impression that he’s glad it exists.

Red Gardenias, published in 1939, is the fifth and final novel in the Crane series, as well as the weakest. The story is classic Latimer – Crane is called to Chicago by a wealthy family to prove that their son’s death was murder and not suicide. But Crane’s presence only seems to invite more trouble: robberies, accusations, and more seemingly “accidental” deaths. And the biggest mystery of all is that not only were all the bodies the victims of carbon monoxide poisoning, but that they all bore the same scent of gardenias. It is a promising premise, but Latimer seems to have run out of steam. Compared to the earlier books, the shenanigans are tame and the jokes more “miss” than “hit.” It just seems that the Crane character has run its course, and that after five books, there isn’t much more that Latimer can do with his character that he hasn’t done already. But if Crane was washed up, Latimer certainly wasn’t at all. In fact, his next book, Solomon’s Vineyard, would be his masterpiece. Crane would be no more, and in his place would be Karl Craven, the extreme manifestation of his predecessor whose hardboiled, perverse existentialism was so shocking that it couldn’t be printed in America unexpurgated until the 1980s.

While not his best, fans of Jonathan Latimer shouldn’t miss out on Red Gardenias, if only to watch the development of a writer and character. Those not familiar with Latimer should start with The Lady in the Morgue, The Dead Don’t Care, or Solomon’s Vineyard (the only one of his novels still in print).

Kaye Barley can be found hosting guest authors at Meanderings and Musings.

Kaye Barley FIVE SMOOTH STONES, Ann Fairbairn

My all time very favorite book ever is a forgotten book that keeps coming backto life like the Phoenix. Published originally in 1966, reissued in the 80s,and about to be reissued again by The Chicago Review Press. But. It isn'treally a forgotten book. At least, not by anyone who ever read it. Its one ofthose books that once read, will become a book you'll push on all your friendsand insist they read. And one reading is never enough. I can't even begin toguess or remember how many times I've read it. Or how many copies I've boughtand given as gifts.FIVE SMOOTH STONES was written by Ann Fairbairn.The basic plot is a simple story of a young black child, David Champlin, beingraised by his grandparents in New Orleans in the 60s. Going on to college withthe help of an extraordinary man who befriends David’s grandfather, and thenDavid. And finally, belatedly joining the civil rights movement. The premisesounds pat, over-done, formulaic, and sappy. However this book is anything butsimple or formulaic or any of those other things. This is an exquisitelywritten powerful story about love, honor, relationships and the willingness tostand up for beliefs. The relationship between the elderly grandparents and theyoung boy is one of the most touching story lines ever written. While David isa memorable character, his grandfather is even more memorable. An indeliblecharacter who will wrap himself around your heart and once there, will livethere forever. As David's story progresses, we meet a host of some of the mostenduring characters found in literature. Friendships are formed and forged thatwill last a lifetime. We meet people who live honest, good lives with highmoral standards, never faltering in their beliefs, or in their willingness tofight for those beliefs, or in their deep abiding love and trust in one another,during one of the most turbulent, heart breaking periods of American history. And topping it all off is a love story that will break your heart, and then haveit soaring to the heavens. David Champlin and Sara Kent's story will neverleave you. I dislike using the word "powerful" while describing a book, 'causeI think its overused and therefore somewhat lacking as a true descriptor, but Ican't seem to come up with a word that works any better or even as well, sopowerful it is.I'm going to do something a little different here, and refer everyone readingthis to the reviews of FIVE SMOOTH STONES on amazon.com. -https://mirapointms3.wayne.edu/wm/mail/fetch.html?urlid=3011dba70f03a663e0dcd15bf6e6bbfc4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FFive Smooth Stones Ann Fairbairn/dp/0899668054There are, as of this writing, 91 reviews. 85 of which were given Five Stars. They've been written over a time span of ten years, and most of the people doingthe reviews were people who did something I myself have done for years - seekthis book out in any form available to buy to give to someone they care about.It was a groundbreaking novel in 1966, but one which, I believe, has stood thetest of time, and done so quite elegantly. Ann Fairbairn, whose real name was Dorothy Tait, was born in Cambridge, MA andattended the Leland Powers School in Boston. She worked in newspapers,television and radio and as publicity director for music groups. "Five SmoothStones" (1966), a Literary Guild selection in 1967, won her an enthusiasticfollowing in the United States and abroad. She also wrote "That Man Cartwright"(1970), "Call Him George" (under the pseudonym Jay Allison Stuart in 1960), abiography about New Orleans jazz clarinetist George Lewis, and was in theprocess of writing a third novel at the time of her death. Fairbairn diedapparently of a heart attack at age 70 in February 1972 (from the Boston Globe11/14/1994). Not much information can be found about the life of this amazingwoman who's life was threatened after writing FIVE SMOOTH STONES under apseudonym. Oh my, how I wish she had lived long enough to have finished thatthird novel, and a fourth, and maybe even a fifth. I think she would have, overtime, joined the ranks of great writers.


Patti Abbott, THE MAGIC BARREL by Bernard Malamud.


Malamud won the National Book Award fifty years ago for this volume. These 13 stories, mainly about first-generation Jewish immigrants in America, portray life in a community or country where one is an outsider---that feeling of not belonging permeates the text. Malamud's world is a difficult one-the view that someone steeped in religious life and particularly Jewish religious life post World War II is bound to have. The stories all feature male protagonists leading the life of an outsider and finding it hard. Religion is never very far from the plot. Moral obligation is nearby too.
In my youth, Malamud was paired with Roth and Bellow but his stock seems to have faded. This, along with THE NATURAL, THE FIXER, and THE ASSISTANT are all brilliant books. I hope they are not totally forgotten amongst younger readers.

lPaul D. Brazill-I was born in Hartlepool, England, forty-six years ago and have lived in London and Warsaw. I left school at sixteen and have worked as an office clerk, a housing adviser and a shop assistant in a toy shop. I currently teach Business English. I’ve written songs which didn’t sell and a screenplay which was lost . I now live in Bydgoszcz, Poland and have recently had two stories accepted by Six Sentences. I blog in an ad hoc, slapdash fashion at http://pauldbrazill.blogspot.com/

TOP 10 by Alan Moore.

Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct books, which kicked off in 1956 with Cop Hater , have had a strong influence on police procedural novels, films and television series alike. Steven Bochco’s Hill Street Blues, for example, was a television police drama that was first aired 1981 and ran for 146 episodes until 1987 and was almost a structural carbon copy of McBain’s books. The formula was followed by the hugely successful NYPD Blue and many other TV series.

The strangest addition of the 87th Precinct’s lineage, however, must be the hybrid that is maverick writer Alan Moore’s TOP 10 comic which ran from 1999 to 2001.

Like McBain’s novels, Top 10 details the work and day-to-day lives of the police force at one particular police station, in this case the 10th Precinct Police Station in Neopolis, a city in which everyone, from the police and criminals to civilians, children and pets, have super-powers.

One story involves the suspicious death of the member of a boy-band called Sidekix, whose hit single was Holy Broken Hearts, and other pop-culture in –jokes abound, including a clothing store called The Phonebooth and a nightclub called Godz where the Greek and Norse Gods hang out. Deadfellas is a story about vampire gangsters and of course The Invisible Man just has to be a sex pest.

Social issues such as corruption, slum housing and racism are also dealt with in Moore’s inimitable fashion and add to Top 10’s spiked cocktail of post-modernist fun which even those that don’t normally read comic books can enjoy.

Mary Reed

TILL THE CLOCK STOPS by J. J. Bell



Published in 1917, this novel could well have been subtitled The

Wandering Green Box, for said receptacle appears and disappears more

than once in mysterious fashion. Add to that the peculiar instructions

left by a man now dead concerning the titular timepiece and there's more

than one mystery to solve.



It all begins with young, financially embarassed Alan Craig borrows a

hefty sum, giving as security a will made in favour of the lenders,

Francis Bullard and Robert Lancaster. Craig is about to depart on an

Arctic expedition but before he leaves he goes to Scotland to visit his

ailing uncle, Christopher Craig, who made a fortune in, and owns a

staggeringly valuable number of diamonds from, South Africa.



Time passes but Alan Craig does not return from the Arctic. By then his

uncle is dying, as he tells Bullard and Lancaster, who have been friends

of his for some time. He also reveals he has willed his fortune to the

missing, presumed dead, nephew. But nothing can be done about winding up

his estate, including the diamonds, until the clock stops.



The clock was specially constructed with a mechanism that will stop it a

year and a day after it has been started, a task given to a devoted

servant to carry out once the master has died. It's a sinister sort of

timepiece, for its bottom third is filled with a sluggish green liquid

and the niche the clock occupies is labelled 'Dangerous". Is the strange

matter gas or poison, explosives or some sort of corrosive matter? What

will happen when time runs out and the clock stops working?



Before the reader discovers the answer to that interesting conundrum,

they will have contemplated a veritable Newgate Calendar of crimes

including -- but not limited to -- breaking and entering, blackmail, and

infernal engines. Toss in romantic entanglements and much to-ing and

fro-ing between London and Scotland among other things, and the result

is a novel in which the convoluted skein of events works out smoothly

and those that deserve it get their comeuppance in satisfactory fashion.

Kerrie Smith

Martin Edwards

Bill Crider

James Reasoner

Lesa Holstine

George Kelley

Jim Winter

Gary Dobbs

Keith Raffel

Cathy Cole 

Cathy Cole

David Cranmer

Ray

Randy Johnson

Paul Bishop

February Love Going Out

Astronaut reading mission plan.

Love to all of the editors of zines and magazines--and not just the ones that publish my stories. All of you. The amount of work that goes into such an endeavor is daunting. And zines and magazines that publish often or over long periods of time--my gosh. Thanks for giving us so many hours of pleasure. You deserve more than you get out of it. And not just financially. And where would we short story writers be without you. Pretty dismal thought.
And thanks especially to Ed Gorman and Todd Robinson who allowed me to see my name in a book. I never expected it.

Serenade

This idea comes from The Rap Sheet. Jeff drew attention to book covers over the years for particular titles so I decided to look at SERENADE by James Cain since my daughter had given it to me for Christmas. Mine was missing its cover but here are some of the ones I found. I think #2 is comical so I'd eliminate that one. Four doesn't have much flavor although the color combo is interesting. Six could be about western life, doesn't convey the noir aspect at all. Seven is too sixties. I vote for 1. There are probably more out there, too. What do you think?

Whose Paragraph Went to Whom (Who?)

May Sarton reading.

WOW. Am I amazed at how well this worked. I wasn't sure it would. And next time, maybe we'll trade endings. That might be even more of a challenge. There truly wasn't a single story I didn't enjoy reading. And thanks so much to Mystery Dawg and Gerald So. We really took over PBF and Mystery Dawg's time today.

To the best of my knowledge, here's the list of the paragraph writers matched with the complete story writers. I am sure there are a few mixups but you get the point. I just shuffled the deck to distribute them with a couple of exceptions due to the small number of women.

Patrick Bagley's paragraph went to Jerry House.
John McAuley's paragraph went to Gerald So.
Pamila Payne's went to Sandra Seamans
Scott Parker's went to Welles Fan
Stephen Blackmoore's went to Cormac Brown
R2 went to Thomas Miller
Keith Rawson's went to Patrick Bagley
John McFetridge's went to Kieran Shea
Cormac Brown's went to Mystery Dawg
Sandra Scoppettone went to John McFetridge
Kieran Shea's went to Sandra Scoppettone
Patti Abbott's went to Jacob Weaver, Stephen Blackmoore
Jerry House went to Steve Allan
Sandra Seamans went to Sophie Littlefield
Paul Brazill went to Keith Rawson
Steve Allan went to R2.
Ray's went to Paul Brazill
Welles Fan went to John McAuley
Thomas Miller went to Scott Parker
Sophie Littlefield went to Pamila Payne
Gerald So went to Ray,

Three people dropped out so three paragraphs didn't get used. Mine came from someone who dropped out, for instance.

Thanks again. It was a blast!

FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE

Dustin Hoffman reading.




Ladies and Gentlemen: May I present some flash fiction stories for your enjoyment. (Powder Burn Flash should go up with the hour). The first paragraph or so of each story was written by another writer. That was the challenge.

Steve Allan "Pieces of History"
Sandra Seamans "Lost in Vegas"
Sandra Scoppettone, "Meatloaf"
John McFetridge, "Cozy Noir"
Patrick S. Bagley "One More Mess"
Cormac Brown "All Time Low"
Kieran Shea "Malice" at Powder Burn Flash
Welles Fan "Choices Made"
Ray "Behind the Mask"
Paul Brazill, "Red Winter" at Powder Burn Flash
John McAuley, "No Pool, No Car"at Powder Burn Flash
Scott D. Parker "Construction Paper Camelot"
Sophie Littlefield, "Reparations" at Powder Burn Flash
r2 "Send in the Clowns"
Keith Rawson, "The Word" at Powder Burn Flash
Jerry House "Bad Break: at Powder Burn Flash
Gerald So
Fester McFardle "Bloody Valentines" Powder Burn Flash
Thomas Miller "Valentine's Night" at Powder Burn Flash
Pamila Payne "Liquid Silver" Powder Burn Flash
Patti Abbott "Initiation"
Jacob Weaver "One Last Night"

Once again, at least two-three paragraphs are missing because I couldn't reach the writer to resend it or someone dropped out. I hope there are not too many screwups beyond that. I had fun writing this. I hope you did too.

"Initiation"

by Patricia Abbott

She hated working late shift at the Waffle House. The night cook, Gary, had slicked-back dishwater blond hair and always wore the same greasy tunic that had once been chef's white. He'd grind his hip rough against her ass as she refilled the syrups and ketchup bottles, then smirk while she cleaned up the mess.

Back when she first started, she'd complained to the manager. The next night Gary'd leaned in close and stared at her nipples while she wiped blueberry syrup off her blouse. Since then, he'd laugh whenever he saw her. A mean-spirited, snake-eyed kind of laugh that crawled up her spine and whispered in her ear "I'm gonna fuck you to Jesus the second I get around to it. Just because I can."

“It’s your initiation, honey,” Rhonda told her, toting up a bill at the cash register. “Didn’t you know guys like Gary in high school? He’ll back off once he sees it don’t bother you.” But Rhonda was fifty-five and Starla got the feeling it’d been decades since anyone rubbed up against her.

At most restaurants, the night shift was the money-maker but not at the badly located South Peoria Waffle House. There’d been one snowy night last month when the four of them-Gary, the dishwasher, Lloyd, Rhonda and her-- had gone three hours without a single customer. Starla could only wipe off the counters and tables so many times, could only fiddle with the pieces of cake and pies in the display case so much before they looked shopworn.

Later, Gary found a reason to send her into the backroom where he turned up seconds later. He stuck his wormy tongue in her ear like it was a move he’d just invented. His hand slid up her skirt, his eyes dancing with glee when she tripped and fell over the splayed legs on the desk chair.

“That’s how I like to see my women,” he laughed, looming over her. “Down and dirty.” He held out a hand and when, without thinking, she started to take it, he yanked it back. “Your head good for anything more than keeping your neck on straight, Starla? Any thoughts ever wander through it.” She could hear Lloyd laughing in the kitchen.

Gradually, she spent all her free time thinking about how to solve her problem. She flirted back at him just as hard as he gave it; he laughed even more. She called the Sexual Harassment Office in Chicago, but their funding had been cut. She let the air out of his tires, and weakly wielded a knife after the place closed one night. He had it out of her hand in seconds. “You’re pathetic,” he said, pocketing it. “Don’t pick up a knife ‘less you know how to use it.” He flicked her nipple before climbing into his car.

She followed him home one night and found he lived with his mother in a trailer park. Her next free night, she knocked at the door and his mother, old and as quiet as the truckers in the Waffle House, waved her in and put on a rusty kettle for coffee. They sat together silently until Gary came in and did a double take. She was there again the next night too—and the one after that.

On the fourth night, she tied up his mother with silk kerchiefs and faced the chair toward the door. “What do you think he’ll do?” the old lady giggled, spitting the gag out. “He has a temper, you know. My Gary has a terrible temper.”

He swung in about eleven, gasped when he saw Starla’s handiwork, and hurried over to his mother. “You stay away from here, you crazy bitch,” he told Starla, shoving her out the door.

“Only if you stay away from me.”

“I haven’t laid a hand on you in weeks.”

Could that be true? She could still feel his hands on her, his breath on her neck. She woke up in a sweat, remembering, so filled with fear or something like it that she couldn’t get back to sleep.

Finally, one night she pushed up against him at the kitchen counter, slipping her hand inside his pocket, watching his face harden in the stainless steel counter beneath them. “You can take me now.”

“I wouldn’t touch you for a million dollars.” His face crinkled with revulsion.

“Then I’ll have to touch you,” she said, pulling out his kitchen slicing knife. She’d considered the chef’s knife but finally rejected it. And correctly it seemed because this one went into his neck, the one that only held his head up straight, easier than she’d expected. And the second time, his tendons parted like the strings of a harp.

The Hub

Buster Keaton reading.




May I point you to a zine you might enjoy-specializing in science fiction, horror, fantasy, crime: The Hub. Please note Gordon Harries fine appreciation of RED HARVEST therein.

Gordon teaches at Manchester University (UK). You can read him too at his own blog. http://needlescratchstatic.blogspot.com/

DAMAGES

Simone de Beauvoir reading.












Is it just me (and it may well be) or is this TV show incomprehensible this year? Every scene seems followed by another scene that makes what went before it dissolve into huhs? The end of last year suffered from some of this obfuscation but not to this extent. I truly believe a scene from Season One could be inserted and no one would know the difference except for the weight loss of the young female lead. Does anyone know what's going on or more to the point care? I hate it when a show this good goes bad. Or maybe my concentration is fractured. (And my husband's too).

February Love Going Out

Ann Southern reading.

To the amazing writers/readers who have send me reviews of forgotten books each Friday. And especially to the multiple submitters.
And especially to people like James Reasoner, Lesa Holstine, Kerrie Smith, Martin Edwards and other folks who do a review almost every week.

And most especially to Bill Crider, who has done one every single week.
And a special thanks to J. Kingston Pierce who has run his own series of "Books You Have to Read" on The Rap Sheet.

This project has brought me joy and I hope others have found it interesting, fun, insightful. Thanks so much to you all.

February Love Going Out

Atticus Finch reads. (I may have done this one before)

To Graham Powell who without any fanfare or self-aggrandizement keeps Crimespot afloat. And when something goes wrong, he's johnny- on- the-spot to fix it. Thanks, Graham for being the self-effacing, wonderful man you are. I think about you every day, toiling away on some huge Rube Goldberg machine to keep this thing going.
Take a bow.

Flash Fiction Note

Girls reading.





Will everyone posting a story on the 10th, send their blog address, story title and name (or Mystery Dawg's address at Powder Burn Flash) here and to Gerald So by Sunday, the 8th. Don't want to take any chances with missing someone. I finally finished mine and hope you'll be joining me.

The Summing Up, Friday, February 6, 2009

Monk reading.



Didn't have a chance this week to thank you personally, but I thank you collectively.

February 6, 2009
Paul Bishop, High Hat, Greg Mandel
Jan Brogan, New Years Eve, Lisa Grunwald
Bill Crider, Afternoon of a Loser, Tom Pace
Martin Edwards, Payment Deferred, C. S, Forester
Elizabeth Foxwell, A Diplomatic Woman, Huan Mee
Cullen Gallagher, Cry Hard, Cry Fast, John D. MacDonald
Charles Gramlich, Cap Kennedy, Gregory Kern (E.C. Tubb)
Ali Karim, Paranoia, Joe Finder
George Kelley, The Eighth Circle, Stanley Ellin
Juri Nummelin, The Black Rose, Thomas B. Costain
Scott D. Parker, The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton
Eric Peterson, Resume with Monsters, William Browning Spencer
Norman Price, The Locked Room, Sjowall and Wahloo
Anthony Rainone, The Andromeda Strain
Ray, The Night of the Tiger, Al Dewlen
James Reasoner, Slice of Hell, Mike Roscoe
Kerrie Smith, A is for Alibi, Sue Grafton
James Winter, Deadfolk, Charles Williams

Friday's Forgotten Books, February 6, 2009

Ray Milland reading.






Norman Price is a short. balding heatlhcare professional lives between the sea, Dartmoor and the English Riviera in Devon. In his childhood he lived next door to one of South London’s most notorious criminal gangs and directly opposite the road where Victorian detective Jack Whicher [The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale] had lived 120 years before. He now spends his time reading, blogging and eating fish.


THE LOCKED ROOM by Sjowall and Wahloo

My Friday Forgotten book is The Locked Room by the Swedish married couple Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, who charmingly wrote their novels in the evenings after they had put their two children to bed. It is not really a forgotten book but is not as well known as some of the others in the classic Martin Beck series. This is a pity because I believe it is one of the series strongest books with both a clever detection puzzle and a lot of humour in contrast to the stereotypical image of the gloomy Nordic novel.

Detective Chief Inspector Martin Beck, head of the National Homicide squad, is recovering from a near fatal bullet wound, and his first case on returning involves the investigation of a suspected suicide found in a locked room. The victim had apparently managed to shoot himself without there being a gun in the room. Needless to say the conduct of the case prior to Martin Beck’s return had been totally negligent.

Meanwhile Beck’s colleagues Kollberg, Ronn and Gunvald Larsson are working on the special bank robbery squad under the command of District Attorney “Bulldozer” Olsson. The incompetence of this accident-prone squad assumes keystone cops proportions, but Olsson remains supremely confident of his own very limited abilities.
The narrative also follows the antics of the bank robbers lead by Werner Roos who are the prime target of Bulldozer Olsson and his merry men. Here there is a touch of irony and a comment on Sweden’s liberal laws in that two of the gang, Malmstrom and Mohren, were under lock and key in the supposedly escape proof prison at Kumla, but failed to return after they were granted a weekend parole.

Roos, Malmstrom and Mohren are planning one huge robbery before they retire to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

The humour in the book is at times savage and the social commentary could be easily made today about much of Europe. Sometimes you have to shake yourself to remember the book was written in 1973 when Sweden was thought to be a socialist utopia by most people.

“From this ultra modern colossus in the heart of Stockholm the police would extend their tentacles in every direction and hold the dispirited citizens of Sweden in an iron grip. At least some of them.
After all they couldn’t all emigrate or commit suicide.”

While Swedish villains looked at their Europe wide business opportunities.

“Smuggling Danish butter into Italy was amazingly profitable. Moreover it was virtually legal; it’s only real risk lay in the possibility of being liquidated by the Mafia……..”

There is a wonderful contrast between Martin Beck’s lonely meticulous detection process and the incompetent blundering waste of massive resources by Bulldozer Olsson that makes this a novel not to be missed.
The Martin Beck books were the inspiration for all the Scandinavian crime fiction that has followed including Henning Mankell, and the latest best seller Stieg Larsson.


Jan Brogan, author of Teaser, (St. Martin’s Minotaur)the Hallie Ahern series, and Final Copy, winner of the Drood Review Editors Choice award.


I’m a crime writer, but it’s no murder mystery or thriller that has stayed with me all these years. The book I can’t forget is New Year’s Eve by Lisa Grunwald. It was first published in 1996 and I read it when it came out in paperback two years later, but I still think about the two sisters and the divergent ways they deal with their lives and their grief.

Pregnant twin sisters and deliver their babies soon after New Years Eve, and raise their toddlers together. When Heather’s son David dies in an accident, Erica’s three-year old daughter begins to see his ghost. Heather is comforted by this, but Erica is totally freaked out.

It is not a ghost story, but an argument about the different ways we all cope with loss, why some of us turn to religion or the supernatural, and why some of us stick to the cold, hard, facts.

It’s also about mothering, sisterhood, family dynamics and the comfort we all need to get through life. It’s one of the best novels I’ve ever read, and I still can’t figure out why no one made it into a film.

The characters and family tensions are deep and richly drawn, and the story moves. The only thing I don’t love about this book is the title. New Year’s Eve. Although its central to the story – big events and family memories are focused on New Year’s Eve – I think the connotations of that celebration may seem trivial compared to the import of the story.


Eric Peterson is a wannabe writer, living in Michigan, working a day job and is always on the lookout for the Great Old Ones to show up at his job. He's on the web at www.restlesskind.blogspot.com


RESUME WITH MONSTERS by William Browning Spencer

I think at this point we all know that there is little virtue in the corporate world, that the grind of the Dilbert world is the modern slave pit for too many modern men and women. William Browning Spencer explores the modern Office Space world with his tale of a lowly worker, a Morlock if you will, Philip Kenan and his last chance job at Ralph's One-Day Resumes. The only problem is that his last job and last girlfriend were lost when a couple of creatures out of a HP Lovecraft Mythos tale showed up and wrecked the place. Now not only is Philip holding onto his job by a string, but his sanity as well. Philip is also writing his cyclopean (sorry I had to find a way to use that word) tome (that one as well) titled "The Despicable Quest" hoping that it will be his ticket to big league of Sci Fi/ Horror Star-Dumb, all the while on the lookout for the reemergence of the Great Old Ones that destroyed his previous life. The book is funny, surreal and satirical. I don't recall exactly how I stumbled across the book, but I noted inside the front cover that I wrote "8-31-96" which was the end of my first summer out of college and working my first full time minimum wage job, and wondering what evil powers were keeping me from finding rewarding work that paid well and satisfied my artistic need. I guess the Great Old Ones were as good an answer as anything else.

Elizabeth Foxwell
James Winter
Bill Crider
Martin Edwards
James Reasoner
George Kelley
Scott Parker
Paul Bishop
Kerrie Smith
Ray
Juri Nummelin
Charles Gramlich
Anthony Rainone
Cullen Gallagher
Ali Karim