Memo From Melbourne

Docklands Melbourne

South Bank of Yarro development

Professor Robin Boyle is an urbanist from the Detroit area. He is on a sabbatical in Melbourne, AU. I asked him to describe what he saw for my blog. 
Robin and his wife, Christine, came to the Detroit area from their native Glasgow. He has taught urban studies at Wayne State for twenty-five years and been a major player in the resurgence of Detroit.
Chris has taught German at The International School

Memo from Melbourne

Take me to the River

March 2015

This city lives on coffee. Within our city block there are at least twelve cafes open at 7 o’clock ready to dispense long blacks, flat whites and other seemingly exotic coffee beverages to bleary-eyed office workers. By ten they’re back for another jolt, escaping their computer screens in the high-rise office buildings that tower over the streets. By noon they're down at street-level, perhaps this time sipping a macchiato as they eat lunch on the ubiquitous marble plinths that surround the office entrances. And I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that by 3:00 pm they are back at the espresso machine. Based on the Melbourne coffee exchange market this adds up to $14 per day, just for Joe! Did I say that you’d be hard pressed to find a Starbucks? These are all small, often locally owned, businesses, with Turkish, Greek, Italian and Chinese cafes within minutes of our door. You want more? Check out The Student’s Guide to Coffee in Melbourne, one of scores of websites dedicated to the black bean and its beverages.

Our apartment is in the heart of downtown, at the edge of the financial district but only minutes from Southern Cross railway station and a few more from the Yarra River. The redevelopment of the South Bank of the Yarra, especially the construction of a public promenade in front of commercial development, is a model of walkable public spaces delivered through exquisite urban design. There are three, sometimes four, levels of public or semi-public spaces for strolling, sitting, eating or just people watching along the river. The blue-stone walkway connects several slightly wider plazas, activated by street performance, artists, pop-up cafes or the occasional drunk. The riverbank faces north so it gets the sun from mid-morning to dusk. The planners put in plane trees from the get-go so there’s plenty of soft shade, if needed. But behind this urban gem lies a mess of late twentieth century office and residential high-rise towers, with more behemoths on the way. The towers are disconnected by an unreadable streetscape used mainly for getting the workers and residents’ cars out of grossly expensive underground car parks. Parked only once. Cost $19 for 55 minutes!

But across the river, on the north bank, there’s another walkway that takes you from downtown east along the Yarra, under Federation Square to the Birrarung Marr Park and on to the largest concentration of sports facilities you’ll ever see: the legendary “MCG” - Melbourne Cricket Ground, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park, AAMI Stadium and more. Tucked alongside this walkway, and squeezed beside the rail platforms at Flinders Station and the river is a new bar/café: The Arbory. This is a model of adding a commercial amenity to an existing public walkway without in any way minimizing the accessibility of the route. The new linear café is no more than 5 meters wide yet the designer has filled a dead space by adding the kitchen, bar and seats (looking out over the river) and maintained a walkway through the facility.

Back to the South Bank. I have mixed feelings about the Crown Casino that sits close to the Yarra at Clarendon Street. As in Detroit, this is one big building catering to the tourists and the locals alike. This is the only full service casino in a gambling-addicted city that is replete with betting shops, Tatts (the lotto), and bars offering Pokies (slots machines). The Crown Casino has its own bridge over the Yarra to whisk the gamblers into its subterranean parking. Its own freaking bridge across the river! Yet you can walk into this monster through a dozen different doors straight off the promenade or the street, eat in a massive food court, drink at several bars, or go to the movies. Pedestrian-friendly and mixed-use, you bet.

Walk west for five minutes and you are into the South Wharf, with the same clashing of great public walkways and spaces, up against (mainly) nondescript 1990’s commercial development.  London, Dublin, Melbourne. Eh. Biggest issue here is the omnipresent conflict between bikes and pedestrians. In some parts, walkers take their life in their hands as Lycra-clad cyclists speed by on their way to … who knows. 

Just over the river, is the Docklands. This once-industrial area is still under reconstruction and could be a great urban neighborhood, but don’t hold out too much hope. Again, they are trying to make good use of the public streets and re-use the original wharfs, and there’s a dedicated tramline into the CBD. But after 6:00pm, when the offices empty and the coffee addicts make their jittery way to the station and on to the suburbs, the concrete plazas feel forlorn and at times even intimidating. To describe the architecture in Docklands as eclectic and garish is an understatement. Red, yellow and green panels jolt the eye. And that's just the façade of the NAB headquarters. The blue and pink finish on the soaring, elliptical, residential towers looks, well, simply awful.

Without getting too technical, the Docklands are not being planned, per se. In the context of market-led development, seven companies have been selected by the State of Victoria to design their own “precincts” spread across the 190ha. waterfront. Within a very broad set of parameters, developers have free-reign in terms of use and scale of development in each precinct and there doesn't appear to be obvious design guidelines, at least for the blocks.  By a build-out date of 2025, these seven developers are charged with delivering office space for 60,000 employees and more than 20,000 new residents. 

The results of the first phases of development are confusing and disconnected. The new public spaces appear as an afterthought. The limited retail buildings, mostly bars and restaurants, lie close to the waterfront but separated from the tall structures behind. And the bars and cafes integrated with the offices are closed or empty in the evening. Will the docklands survive this architectural assault? Not sure. I wouldn’t take the bet.

One-Hit Wonders: Lovin' You, Minnie Ripperson (1975)

Great Fictional Sidekicks

There are so many great sidekicks in literature. I guess this is one of my favorites. It's not always easy to get it rights. Emma Peel may have been too divertingly pretty in THE AVENGERS. Iago might have been a lot more interesting than Othello.  Same for Lady MacBeth. Hap and Leonard (Lansdale) might be too evenly balanced to consider one a sidekick.

Who are some of the other great ones?

Because Of the Obscene Comments

I will be going to moderating comments again. Sorry.

From Fred Zackel: 

I saw this paragraph in a 30 January 2015 BBC article about the "Psychology of Everyday Evil."
" ... relevant to internet trolls. “They appear to be the internet version of everyday sadists because they spend time searching for people to hurt.” Sure enough, an anonymous survey of trollish commentators found that they scored highly on dark tetrad traits, but particularly the everyday sadism component – and enjoyment was their prime motivation. Indeed, the bug-crushing experiment suggested that everyday sadists may have more muted emotional responses to all kinds of pleasurable activities – so perhaps their random acts of cruelty are attempts to break through the emotional numbness." They get up in the morning, get their first cup of the day, and then they go looking for people to spew hate on.

Forgotten TV: BUFFALO BILL (1983-84)

BUFFALO BILL was on TV for a year and a half in the mid eighties. Dabney Coleman played an egotistical, often obnoxious, TV show host. Geena Davis and Joann Cassidy also starred. If you prefer likable characters, this was not the show for you. Obviously Brandon Tartikoff did not because he cancelled the show precipitously and has said it was his biggest mistake . This show was copied by THE LARRY SANDERS show a few years later. Loved both of them but found BUFFALO BILL a bit more lovable due to his buffoonish antics.  Coleman never quite found the perfect vehicle for his talents. A shame.

One-Hit Wonders, AFTERNOON DELIGHT, Starland Vocal Band, 1976

TWO FACES OF JANUARY

This was one of those times when I really wished I had read the book first. I liked many things about the movie, especially the look of it, the setting (Greek) directorial decisions, and the chemistry of the two male leads. But for me it also needed chemistry between the female and both male leads. And, as so often is the case, Kristen Dunst was unable to convince me that she felt particularly passionate about either man, especially the one she should for plot purposes. 

I find her a curiously cold actress. Not untalented but only effective in certain parts--much like Grace Kelly. I certainly recommend seeing this movie because of its richness in suspense, the look of it, the story. You will forget, at times, it wasn't filmed in 1962 when it is set. The music could come from any movie made during that period. There are times you would swear Alfred Hitchcock must have directed it. As always I was impressed with Oscar Issac and Viggo Mortensen. But on the whole, a disappointment as she doesn't provide the motivation necessary.

What movie didn't work for you due to a lack of chemistry. Does that ever happen in a book? Does an author ever fail to inject enough romantic sizzle into his/her characters?

One-Hit wonders-TELESTAR The Tornados (1962)

One-Hit Wonders; STAY by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs (1960)

Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, March 13, 2015

From the archives


review by Heath Lowrance

The Name of the Game is Death, by Dan J. Marlowe

“Forgotten book” might be the wrong way to describe Dan J. Marlowe’s The Name of the Game is Death. For hard-core fans of brutal, fast-paced noir, the book is anything but forgotten-- it is, in fact, considered a cornerstone of the genre. But despite that, in the fifty years since its first publication it’s been out of print more often than in, and most casual readers of crime fiction have never heard of it. For me, The Name of the Game is Death is one of the essential five or ten books in the world of hardboiled/noir.

The story: a career criminal calling himself Roy Martin (more on his name later) holes up after a botched bank robbery, while his partner sends him monthly allotments of their take. But when the money stops coming, Martin suspects the worst and sets off to find out what happened. The small town he finds turns out to be a cesspool of corruption and hypocrisy that makes even Martin’s twisted morality seem sane and rational by comparison.

In the hands of most writers, this rather simple plot wouldn’t be particularly noteworthy, but Marlowe paints a vivid picture of Martin, not just through his actions but also in a set of chilling flashbacks to Martins’ youth and young manhood, where all the signs of a sociopathic personality begin to emerge. And the steps Martin takes to find out what happened to his partner and to retrieve his money reinforce him as a deeply disturbed man.

Quite simply, he enjoys killing and hurting people; in one memorable scene, he’s unable to become sexually aroused for intercourse, and admits to himself that the only thing that really turns him on is bloodshed-- in a later scene, he brutalizes a woman who attempted to set him up, and he’s able to “perform” without a hitch.

So all in all, Roy Martin is a seriously messed-up sociopath, with barely a redeeming feature-- aside from a fondness for animals. Why do we find ourselves almost rooting for him? Because almost everyone else he encounters is a hollow, lying hypocrite. Martin is the only character who is actually true to himself… much to the horror of everyone else.

The climax to Th e Name of the Game is Death is stunningly violent, very dark, and totally chilling-- not the sort of ending that would cause you to expect a sequel. And yet Marlowe did indeed bring the character back a few years later for a book that was almost-but-not-quite as good as the first, One Endless Hour. In that one we discover that Martin’s name is actually Drake (which is how he’s often referred to when discussing The Name of the Game is Death).

More books about “The Man with Nobody’s Face” would follow, each one a bit softer than the one before, until almost all signs of the near-psychopathic Martin were gone, replaced by a repentant crook who now worked for the government.

But lovers of dark, violent tales will always remember him as the blood-thirsty killer calling himself Roy Martin.

Sergio Angelini, THE COMPLETE CASES OF INSPECTOR ALLHOFF, D.L. Champion
Les Blatt, MURDER GONE MINOAN, Clyde B. Clason
Brian Busby, THE TOWN BELOW, Roger Lemelin
Bill Crider, ANY WOMAN HE WANTED, Whit Harrison
Martin Edwards, THE SECRET OF HIGH ELDERSHAM, John Rhode
Curt Evans, NO PAST IS DEAD: THE LAST TALK WITH LOLA FAYE, Thomas H. Cook
Ed Gorman, BONJOUR, TRISTESSE, Francoise Sagan
John Hegenberger, THE LAND, Robert K Swisher
Rick Horton, THE GREAT IMPERSONATION, E. Phillips Oppenheim
Jerry House, THE ZANZIBAR CAT, Joanna Russ
Randy Johnson, THIEVES FALL OUT, Gore Vidal
Nick Jones, WAR GAMES, Anthony Price
George Kelley, LOVECRAFT'S LEGACY, ed. Robert E. Weinberg
Margot Kinberg, THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE, Alan Brady
Rob Kitchin, BRIGHTON ROCK, Graham Greene
B.V. Lawson, THE SIX MEN, E. and M.A. Radford
Evan Lewis, DEAD AT THE TAKE-OFF, Lester Dent
Steve Lewis/William Deeck, THE MASTER MYSTERY, Austin J Small
Todd Mason/Mildred Perkins, 11/22/63, Stephen King
J.F. Norris, THE LATE MRS. D, Hillary Waugh
James Reasone, THE BUZZARDS OF ROCKY PASS, L.P. Holmes Pete Rozovsky, BLACK WINGS HAS MY ANGEL, Elliott Chaze
Bill Selnes, PRARIE HARDBALL, Alison Gordon (recently deceased after a distinguished career in sports reporting and mystery fiction
Kerrie Smith, THE HUNTING DOGS, Jorn Lier Horst
R.T. CROSS, Ken Bruen
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang, MASTERS OF NOIR, Vol 4
TracyK, DANCING WITH THE VIRGINS, Stephen Booth
Prashant Trikannad, THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS, Erle Stanley Gardner

Blossom Dearies: ALWAYS TRUE TO YOU IN MY FASHION

Charlie Mingus: Reincarantion of a Lovebird

House Hunters

We are in the process of looking for a new house nearer to my son and to MOVIE THEATERS and also to our friends who all live on the other side of Detroit.  We would consider renting but the area only has garden apartments and we're past the stage where that is appealing.

We live in a very large but vertical house now. In other words, three floors. Much more space than we need at 2400 square feet. 

We go back and forth in what we really require in a house. What things do you require?

Blossom Dearie: True to You in My Own Fashion

Forgotten TV: PAPER CHASE

No, not the book and not the movie although John Houseman is in both, in the role he seemed born to play. “

"The study of law is something new and unfamiliar to most of you, unlike any other schooling you have ever known before. You teach yourselves the law, but I train your minds. You come in here with a skull full of mush and, if you survive, you leave thinking like a lawyer."

This series debuted in 1978 and was on for four years. James Stephens played the leading role of a student at Harvard Law.  Four years was probably too long. Law school itself is only three. But it was an intelligent drama that did not feature cops or hospitals, a rare thing then and now. And based on my son's experience in law school, fairly accurate.

The Last Line

A list of great last lines from novels right here. 

Hard to beat this one from THE LONG GOODBYE (Chandler)  ''I never saw any of them again — except the cops. No way has yet been invented to say goodbye to them."

What is your favorite last line?


And wishing the very best to Ron Scheer, our dear friend, undergoing treatment in Palm Springs Hospital.

Rush: Tom Sawyer

Amy Grant: BYT

Keren Ann: BYT

Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, March 6, 2015

(Oddly I could not get a cover of the book to stick on here).

THE WITCHING NIGHT, Leslie Waller (reviewed by Anthony Ambrogio)

THE WITCHING NIGHT, by Leslie Waller (writing as C. S. Cody), came out in 1952. I think it had a hardcover publication before its Dell paperback incarnation.

It's certainly a better-written book than MARK OF THE MOON*** (though I have to give MARK higher marks when it comes to cover design, front and back). You can tell that almost from the first page of this first-person narrative. Waller has a good way with words; his protagonist is cursed by a suburban Chicago cult and suffers the headaches of the damned, and damned if his descriptions of the hero's torments weren't enough to make ME start feeling as if I needed an aspirin.

So the narrative pulls you along as the skeptical hero gets thrust into this dark world of banally evil, slimily evil, and perhaps-inadvertently-evil characters (the last of which is, of course, a beautiful, alluring woman).

The narrator, a doctor, has a wise-cracking receptionist (who, for some reason never explained, is never given a name or is clearly described; she's the one who tells the "formaldehyde" knock-knock joke -- the only part of the book that I remembered; it occurs around page 167 of this 256-page, so I know I must have read at least that far the first time through).

What I didn't like about the book is that the seemingly polite demon society with which he gets involved (think along the lines of THE SEVENTH VICTIM or maybe the folks in ROSEMARY'S BABY) is never adequately described -- not their motives (though he speculates about them) nor their demises (why what happens to one person happens to her is never made clear -- not to me, at least), nor their exact relationships to one another. Maybe we're supposed to speculate, but I was waiting for that one moment, that one chapter, when All Was Revealed, which I didn't get.

The central love-hate relationship between him and the apparently unwitting priestess of the cult also seems to have ups and downs based on the exigencies of plot rather than any logical unfolding.

I couldn't help but wonder if the original ms. of THE WITCHING NIGHT was much longer but that the publisher told Waller to cut it down (which may be why he resorted to a pseudonym).

Well, for what it is, it's an engrossing page-turner. And maybe I shouldn't carp too much. MARK OF THE MOON has a long explanation at the end, tying up all sorts of loose ends, but, since it's inferior in terms of execution, it's not particularly satisfying, so who knows if clarification and explanation would have made THE WITCHING NIGHT any better?

(Anthony added this to explain where this comparison came from) He purchased both books recently but read MARK OF THE MOON first.

***"John Norris is probably right when he describes MARK OF THE MOON as ersatz Dennis Wheatley -- not particular well written or engrossing. (Of course, I confess that I only read one Wheatley novel, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, and, although the story was of interest, I wasn't particularly impressed with the writing in that book.) I'm a little more than a third of the way through MARK OF THE MOON, and I can attest to the less-than-scintillating writing. The writer is dropping big clues as to the cultish conspiracy at the heart of the book (though the clueless protagonist is having a hard time putting anything together); it's not a slog to get through the pages because one does want to see where everything is going to end up (and if the expected twists do occur), but it's no page turner. And the plot is familiar to anyone who's seen any of Hitchcock's spy thrillers or films like ROSEMARY'S BABY.

"I am sure I read this book when my dad had it, but I remember nothing about it except for one detail, which the protagonist can't figure out yet. The title mark is a small, crescent-shaped brand that a number of women sport under their left breast. I imagine it will prove to indicate that they are initiates into the cult. The protagonist's wife had such a mark; she told him it was a birthmark. Now she's gone, fled back to the little French village where she was born, taking their year-old son with them -- which is what has brought our hero back to this place where he spied for the Allies during WWII (and met his wife, a member of the Resistance). Since some 20 kids have disappeared from the region in the last two years, there's little doubt in the reader's mind that child sacrifice plays a part in these unholy rituals, but the protagonist hasn't figured it out yet. Oh, well, he's got 120 pages to go."

I thought that I had written to SOMEone (apparently not you) when I finished MARK OF THE MOON, but I couldn't find that letter anywhere. (This e-mail system online is very unwieldy and doesn't let me search of messages the way I would like.) Well, MARK OF THE MOON, although it holds one's interest (partly because the reader wonders when the protagonist is going to wise up and catch up with him), isn't the greatest -- there's one really stupid part where he wakes up in a cave and accidentally tips over a candle, which burns a message that's left for him so that, going by the letter's charred remains, he makes all sorts of misinterpretations. Talk about contrivances! And there was too much of him stumbling around in that cave for my tastes. But his climactic battle with the main bad guy is pretty well described -- the writer actually makes it exciting. His attitude toward the major woman in the plot is typical, I guess, of male attitudes of the time, but it's kind of annoying. (Can't say more without giving stuff away.)

Sergio Angelini, 1222, Anne Holt
Joe Barone, THE CROWDED GRAVE, Martin Walker
Les Blatt, SWAN SONG,  Edmund Crispin
Brian Busby, THE WINE OF LIFE, Arthur Stringer
Bill Cride, SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, Edgar Lee Masters
David Cranmer, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, John LeCarre
Martin Edwards, THE RASP, Philip MacDonald
Curt Evan, TIME ON MY HANDS and STRANGER AT HOME, George Sanders
Ed Gorman, HAWKSBILL STATION, Robert Silverberg
John Hegenbergen, TENDER IS LEVINE, Andrew Bergman
Rich Horton, PICADILLY JIM, P.G. Wodehouse
Jerry House, ONLY THE CAT KNOWS, Marion Babson
Nick Jones, THE MAN WHO WROTE BOOKS IN HIS HEAD, Patricia Highsmith
Randy Johnson
George Kelley, OVER MY DEAD BODY, Lee Server

Margot Kinberg, THE DIVIDED CHILD, Ekaterine Nikas
Rob Kitchin, WINTER QUEEN, Boris Akunin
B.V. Lawson, PUZZLE OF THE BLUE BANDERILLA, Stuart Palmer
Evan Lewis, EXeCUTUIONER 42: THE IRANIAN HIT, Stephen Mertz
Steve Lewis, THE PARISIAN AFFAIR, Nick Carter
J.F. Norris, CORPSE ON THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN, DiplomatGraham Powell, TRAGEDY AT LAW, Cyril Hare
James Reasoner, THE TRADITIONAL WEST, Western Fictineers
Richard Robinson, PLANETS OF ADVENTURE, Murray Leinster
Kerrie Smith, AN EVENT IN AUTUMN, Henning Mankell
R.T. GARDENS OF THE DEAD, William Brodrick
TracyK, THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS, Agatha Chrisite
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang, MASTERS OF NOIR, Volume 3
Prashant Trikannad, ALL'S FAIR, Richard Wormser

Counting Crows: BYT

The Most Consistent Authors

I read Henning Mankell a lot while in CA. Somehow his themes, his setting, and his detective rarely let me down. He has just enough personal detail, enough police politics, enough stuff about what has happened in Sweden since 1990 to keep me going. And he's pretty good at plotting too.

What writers have rarely let you down? Who is your go-to writer?

Fleetwood Mac: Big Yellow Taxi

First Wednesday's Book Review Club: THE BOYS IN THE BOAT

I am not sure of the psychology behind this, but every month I find myself resisting reading the book chosen by the dozen women in my book club. Even if it's a book I chose myself! This was one I had not heard of until I was told this would be the March choice. 

And it seemed like a book that would not be very discussable. Lots of times, the books I like the most turn out to lead to poor discussions.

I am not sure about the discussability of THE BOYS IN THE BOAT: NINE AMERICANS AND THEIR EPIC QUEST FOR GOLD AT THE 1936 BERLIN OLYMPICS, but I sure enjoyed reading it. A book about rowing? Seems improbable that anyone could make it a page turner but David James Brown succeeded.

The reason he was able to do this was because he was able to pull in so much beside the University of Washington's rowing program in the thirties. The book looks at the problems of poverty in the 1930s, the dust bowl, Nazi German's rise to power, the Olympic movement, the story of rowing itself, the lives of the coach, the boat builder and some of the athletes. Most especially it gave us the life of Joe Rantz, a rower who had an exceptionally hard childhood. His summer job while in college was hanging from cliffs and using a 75 pound drill to build a damn. Most of the boys came from humble means, which means we cheer for them all the more. Brown was especially adept at exploring the psychology of successful rowing. A very particular sort of sport.

I enjoyed this book immensely and am anxious to hear what my book group members think of it.

For more book reviews, go see Barrie Summy.

Joni Mitchell: BIG YELLOW TAXI

Forgotten Movies-LIVE-IN MAID

This is an Argentinian movie directed by Jorge Daggero made in 2005. It concerns the havoc wreaked on a wealthy woman with the financial crisis of 2001 in Argentina.

Beba and and Dora (wealthy woman and her maid) have been together for thirty years. But gradually, Beba finds herself unable to pay Dora or any of her bills. She is also unable to do any of the chores Dora performs. She is alienated from her daughter and is getting less and less money from her former husband. Apparently they have gone through money left to her from her mother.

This is a character study of the two women, who dance around each other's grievances and issues for ninety minutes. It might be too small of a movie for some but I found the subtlety of their performances a treat.

And the ending is both surprising and inevitable.

Thirty Minutes of Terror at Noicon

A bunch of people read scary three minute stories at Noircon back in October. If this appeals to you, here are the links. For the life of me, I can't remember what I read. I think I am on the first day. Hate hearing my voice, so....

Three Minutes of Terror, Part 1, is now live! Feel free to spread any or all of these links around, whatever you think works best:

Word Crimes Podcast: https://wordcrimespodcast.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/live-at-noircon-three-minutes-of-terror-part-1/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/title-18-word-crimes/id793004574

Direct link to the MP3 file: http://traffic.libsyn.com/erikarneson/episode023_final.mp3

I'll send the links around for Part 2 when it goes live tomorrow. Enjoy!

Part Two

Word Crimes Podcast: https://wordcrimespodcast.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/live-at-noircon-three-minutes-of-terror-part-2/

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/title-18-word-crimes/id793004574

Direct link to the MP3 file: http://traffic.libsyn.com/erikarneson/episode024_final.mp3

Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, February 27, 2015

From the archives

leopard13 is the internet moniker of a father of two, spouse to one, who blogs out of The City of the Angels. He owns a first edition copy of the book below and one day hopes to have the author autograph for him.

The Ninth Configuration, by William Peter Blatty (Harper & Row 1978)

Just say the name, William Peter Blatty. It does have its own sense of meter as it rolls off the tongue, now doesn't it? You'll most likely recognize it, too. Just the same, saying it three times in front of a mirror won’t cause anything bad to happen, either -- contrary to urban legend. If you love books and reading, whether you are a baby boomer or Generation X, Y, or even Z, odds-on you've heard of him. Such is the legacy of authoring a horror novel as famous as 1971's The Exorcist (which would go on to even greater notoriety when it was adapted to the screen in 1973's film of the novel). However, along with the popularity and fame for a book that became an all-encompassing event, it can be too much of good thing. 'Event' novels can take on a life of their own, and they can build to the point that all other work by the same author lies in its shadow. Obscured because they are not anything like that book. Such was the consequence for the next novel by author Blatty that it seemed to fall by the wayside when it was published in 1978. That forgotten, but wonderful, piece of elegant writing was, The Ninth Configuration.

What was released that year actually germinated from a hasty 1966 novel titled, Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane! From his author's note: "Its basic concept was surely the best I have ever created, but what was published was just as surely no more than the notes for a novel -- some sketches, unformed, unfinished, lacking even a plot." Luckily, for those of us who read the re-envisioned work in the late 70's (and those who would go on to discover and appreciate it decades later), it is an overlooked book worth remembering. Ironically, WPB has said more than once he considers it his unofficial sequel to The Exorcist. Although The Ninth Configuration shares a very loose connection (via an unnamed character) from that novel, the genre and plot line couldn't be more divergent. Plus, it works whether or not you've read the legendary blockbuster that preceded it.

The novel's story centers upon a select small group of military men secluded away with what are believed to be inexplicable mental disorders. Or, being highly intelligent men, they could be faking it--which could be the reason nothing has worked and why they continue their stay at a decaying Gothic mansion. Their treatment, and sanity, ultimately hinges upon one Marine Colonel Kane (a psychiatrist who may have his own issues) brought to the sheltered facility to seek the answers in the most unexpected of ways. Blatty crafts the story as a mystery to be solved, planting its seeds in the unusual interactions that take place. The author’s dialogue between the patients and staff are quite purpose-built, madcap, and unexpected. I cannot describe it any better than what a good friend wrote in a review of his, "Because the story is relatively brief, no words are wasted in an attempt to be lyrical or poetic. Yet somehow there are moments of utter poetry in the exchanges between doctor and patients, and in Kane's own introspective reasonings." While the material covered is meaty, it is one of the few novels that made be laugh out loud, and had my eyes welling by the time I finished it.

One could describe WPB as an author who writes eloquent, thought provoking fiction that draws in his readers with clever, humorous dialogue (keep in mind, he also wrote the screenplay for the comedy, A Shot In The Dark). Or put another way, he’s a humorous, clever writer who puts out eloquent novels that catch the readers off guard by being thought provoking. I'd say both are true. He just happened to author a chart topping novel of horror that eclipsed everything before, or since, in his bibliography. However, The Ninth Configuration remains perhaps a more intriguing read, and worth exploration by those who haven't experienced it. As well, for those of us who are film buffs, sprinkled throughout, the author references classic movie moments and dialogue within this novel. A few years after its publication, William Peter Blatty would pen and direct its film adaptation in 1980. Not surprisingly, it has developed a strong cult following, and many believe the story is more immersive on the screen (consider me in both groups). The 1978 novel is a svelte 135-page work, and next year TNC will be re-released by Centipede Press as a new edition. Purportedly, it will combine both novels and will include a long essay by film scholar Mark Kermode in a 292-page hardcover. So on this Friday, The Ninth Configuration is not forgotten (at least, by me anyways).

"Every kind thought is the hope of the world."

Sergio Angelini, THE QUIET AMERICAN, Graham Greene

Joe Barone, ASSASSINS OF ATHENS, Jeffrey Siger

Les Blatt, THE DOORBELL RANG, Nero Wolfe
Brian Busby, BAROMETER RISING, Hugh Maclennan
David Cranmer, THE LIGHTHOUSE, Edgar Allan Poe

Bill Crider, DREAM LOVERS, Dodd Darin

Martin Edward, DEATH BY REQUEST, Romilly and Katherine John

Curt Evans, A LIFE OF CRIME, Sinclair Gluck

Ed Gorman, CROSS COUNTRY, Herbert Kastle
John Hegenberger, THE BRIGHTEST BUCCANEER, Leslie Charteris

Rick Horton, A DIVERSITY OF CREATURES, Rudyard Kipling

Randy Johnson, DEVILS AND DUST, J.D. Rhoades

George Kelley, SOME CAME RUNNING, James Jones

Margot Kinberg, A NICE QUIET HOLIDAY, Aditya Sudarshan

Rob Kitchin, THE YARD, Alex Grecian

B.V. Lawson, WINDY CITY, Hugh Holton

Evan Lewis, THE TRAILSMAN: TEXAS UPRISING, Stephen Mertz

Steve Lewis, THE INTERLOPERS, Donald Hamilton
Neer, THE MORTAL RALLY MYSTERY, John Rhode

J.F. Norris, THE FETISH MURDERS, Avon Curry

James Reasoner, ROCKET ROBINSON AND THE PHAROAH'S FORTUNE, Sean O'Neill
Richard Robinson, WATSON'S CHOICE, Gladys Mitchell 
Ron Schee, BLUE PETER, Luke Allan 
R.T. CRIPPEN, John Boyne

Kerrie Smith, ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION, Michael Connelly

Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang, MASTERS OF NOIR, Vol. 2

TracyK, THE CALLING, Inger Ash Wolfe

ALSO MY REVIEW OF BLACK SEA in Crimespree Magazine.

Agatha Christie

Okay, I just mailed the box of books back to Michigan. And then I discovered I didn't like the book I saved. And Phil is reading a really long book on the Kindle.

So I am left with the books left here by
other guests. The only ones I think I might like are the ACs. Now I have read every AC but a long time ago.

These are my choices: THE PALE HORSE, MRS. MCGINTY'S DEAD, SLEEPING MURDER, AN OVERDOSE OF DEATH, THE UNDERDOG, THE BURDEN, A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED, CROOKED HOUSE, DEAD MAN"S FOLLY, NEMESIS and THE CLOCKS.

Which one would you read?

Things I Look Forward to in Michigan

Certainly not the weather. Somehow returning at the beginning of March seemed like we might avoid these frigid temps but it doesn't look like it. But there are some things I look forward to...

Being closer to family and friends. I am pretty gregarious and not having anyone but Phil to talk to most days is not enough after a while. Not that he is not delightful. ..

Being in the same time zone as most of our friends and all of our family. It does get to be a nuisance figuring out the time elsewhere.

Being able to take books out of the library, three blocks away. I am too promiscuous a reader to buy many books. I so often don't finish them. I still buy more than most people but buying every book I think I might read is pricey.

Being able to DVR TV shows. I'd forgotten how horrible watching commercials is. And also getting rid of DISH TV. And also having TV shows on at the correct time.

Being able to go to movies at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Although we have venues showing foreign and indie films here, they are not as adventurous at the DFT at the DIA.

My electric teapot. And my electric stove. I know gas is supposedly better but the burners here don't always light.  Also having my own cooking ware, silverware and dishes.

Enough lamps. I like a bright room at night. And a good reading lamp. 

Not having to ask ourselves will we finish this? Will we get our money out of it.

I will not miss driving here although it is Phil who drives. I hate double turning lanes. You always have to know exactly which lane you need to be in. And as a stranger here, you just don't always know. Don't know how people did it before SIRI.

Not having to figure out how to get everywhere.

How About Some Bluegrass

How About Some Bluegrass?

The Galleys Are In.

I guess this is going to happen. I will probably ask all of you who read this blog to help me get the word out via a blog tour. I do not need any ego boosting and have no dreams of grandeur, but I want to make Jason Pinter proud (or at least not regretful) he decided to take a chance on an old lady writing a novel.

The book comes out in June. Any advice is welcomed. I would categorize this as domestic suspense. Sort of like MILDRED PIERCE reversed (and written by someone with a lot less talent than James Cain). Phil says I am incapable of saying anything good about myself and I see that is true as I struggle here. Anyway, you get the drift. 

How About Some Bluegrass

Uh, oh.

In attempting to change Rick's blog URL, I removed all of them. It may take me a few days or more to reconstruct that. Hopefully, by Friday.

If I Chose the Oscars

And yes, I have seen them all, sadly or not, depending on your view

Best Picture-BIRDMAN (Although my favorite picture of the year might be CALVARY, which was not nominated. Also snubbed were NIGHTCRAWLER and BABADOOK-the most original movie of the year.

Best Actor-Michael Keaton. Although these were all great performances, I liked his the most of the nominees. Jake Gyllenhaal gave my favorite performance in NIGHTCRAWLER but was not nominated.

Best Actress -Marion Cotillard-Although Julianne Moore was very fine, I never forgot who she was as I did with Cotillard in TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT. Reese Witherspoon was also totally believable in WILD.

Best Supporting Actor-J.K. Simmons - Ruffalo a close runner-up but in a much less showy role.

Best Supporting Actress-Patricia Arquette-who played a fairly complex mother in BOYHOOD. Nobody else impressed me nearly as much.

Best Director-Alejandro Inarritu (BIRDMAN)

Best Adapted Screenplay-Damien Chazelle-WHIPLASH

Best Original Screenplay-Inarritu et al for BIRDMAN

Best Doc. FINDING VIVIAN MAIER

Friday's Forgotten Books, February 20, 2015

Today's links can be found on Sergio Angelini's blog.

Tom Waits: Grapefruit Moon

Tom Waits: Waltzing Matilda

Two Great Old Covers (Hat tip to Anthony Ambrogio)

Here is what Anthony said about these books.

I am eagerly awaiting in the mail the arrival of two 1950s-era paperbacks that I ordered through biblio.com. MARK OF THE MOON and THE WITCHING NIGHT. I'm including images of the covers of both books. These two novels were in my dad's paperback library, and I "appropriated" them when I was 12 or 13. I no longer remember anything about them -- except that one of them (THE WITCHING NIGHT, I think) features a knock-knock joke, told (I think) by the hero's secretary to the hero:

"Knock-knock."

"Who's there?"

"Formaldehyde."

"Formaldehyde who?"

"Formaldehyde-ing places came de Indians, whoo-whoo-whoo."

I only hope the rest of the books are that good! (But -- if that's all I remember about either -- what does it say about the books themselves?)

Tom Waits: I Hope I Don't Fall in Love With You

Forgotten Movies: Who's That Knocking at my Door

J.R,. an early version of the young men who will turn up in MEAN STREETS and GOOD FELLAS, is a young Italian-American who is more interested in spending time with his friends than forging a relationship with a woman. Until he meets a girl (Zina Bethune) who is a notch above him in every way and yet falls for him. When she reveals an incident from her past he is put to the test,.

It is easy to see what themes Scorcese will pursue for the next 40 years. It may be sketchy in plot but there are lovely shots,a keen eye, and some real angst in this his first real film. A great introduction to a man who will dominate films for the rest of our lives.

Tom Waits: Blue Valentine

Modern Art

We just watched a documentary about the 1913 Armory Show, an huge art exhibit introducing many of the new less representational European artists to the US in 1913 and how confounded the critics and public were about this new group of artists. Looking at the work now, it is not shocking to our eyes any longer. We have grown used to that art and accept its brilliance.

But when I go do an art museum now and see installation art, I know what they felt like. Or even more ordinary art. Today I saw perhaps twenty drawings on yellow and pink legal pad paper. They were drawings of ordinary things and not done very well to my eyes. Perhaps that was the point. Or maybe they were the preliminary artwork for sculptures.

But I just can't grasp how so much of what I see in contemporary museums is art. I need the eyes of someone from 2115, I guess.

How do you feel about contemporary art?

Tom Waits: HOLD ON

Setting the bar

(Thanks to George for the idea)

Reading a post on George's blog last week,  I realized I am not able to set the bar low with movies. And I am wondering if it is more a male thing. Most men I know enjoy junky movies of some kind-horror, adventure, science fiction, war.  Most women will tolerate a poor romance but not me so much.

 However, it is possible that I set the bar in the middle too often. I see a lot of stuff none of my friends would see. I guess I am a mid-bar setter.

Where do you set the bar with your favorite genres? 

House of the Rising Sun Lauren O'Connell (from American Horror: Coven)

Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, February 13, 2015

Many thanks to Evan Lewis and B.V. Lawson for hosting FFB.
This may go up late. I went from edits to page proofs in two weeks and I am tied to the computer. Next week my family arrives so I am doubtful about whether I will get this up. If someone has time to do it, let me know and I will put a link up. 
But on February 28th I return to Michigan and things should go back to normal the first Friday in March. Thanks for your patience  with this and for my sporadic appearances here and at your place.

Sergio Angelini, THE DEADLY CLIMATE, Ursula Curtiss
Joe Barone, ACT OF DARKNESS, Jane Haddam
Les Blatt, NO WIND OF BLAME, Georgette Heyer
Bill Crider. THE COMPLETE MOTHER GOOSE
Martin Edwards, THE NOOSE, Philip MacDonald
Ed Gorman, KILLER, Dave Zeltserman
John Hegenberger, THE GAME OF X, Robert Sheckley
Rick Horton, STORMSWIFT, Madeleine Brent
Jerry House. MURGUNSTRUMM AND OTHERS, Hugh B,. Cave
Randy Johnson, HARK, Ed McBain
Nick JonesMargot Kinberg, THE CORNISH COAST MURDERS, John Bude
George Kelle, AS TIME GOES BY, edited by Hank Davis
Rob Kitchin, THE VANISHED, Bill Pronzini; DUTCH SHOE MYSTERY, Ellery Queen
B.F. Lawson, DEATH ON THE ROCKS, Michael Allegretto
Evan Lewis, RED TRAILS, Hugh Pendexter
Steve Lewis/David Vineyard, THE COMING OF CASSIDY, Clarence E. Mulford
J.F. Norris. THE TALL DARK MAN, Anne Chamberlain
James Reasone, SHADOW OF A GUNMAN Gordon Shirreffs
Richard Robinson, BEHIND THAT CURTAIN, Earl Derr Biggers
Gerard Saylor, LIFE DELUX, Jen Lapidus
Ron Scheer, A GOOD MAN, Guy Vanderhaeghe
Kerrie Smith, A BEAST IN VIEW, Margaret Millar
R.T. MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER, Cara Black
Kevin Tipple/Barry Ergang, THE BEST FROM MANHUNT, Scott and Sidney Meredith
TomCat, THE JUDAS WINDOW, Carter Dickson
TracyK, THE WANDERING SOUL MURDERS, Gail Bowen

House of the Rising Sun: White Buffalo (Sons of Anarchy)

House of the Rising Sun; Joan Baez

The Things You Don't Buy

La Jolla

We went to a church rummage sale this week and picked up a bunch of books. What I left behind was a complete set of the newer editions of Sjowal and Wahloo's Martin Beck series. As soon as I got home I realized I should have bought them. But I had said to myself, "Patti, you have read all of these books and you will have to ship them home and they will probably sit on a shelf until you pass them on to a sale back home. So I didn't buy them.

I rushed back the next morning, but of course they were gone.

Has this ever happened to you? What book(s) did you leave sitting on a table?

House of the Rising Sun-Leadbelly

Forgotten Movies: MATCH POINT

SPOILERS

Woody Allen's 2005 film set in London is not forgotten, but I remembered it as much stronger than it was on a second viewing. I always find Woody's attempts to capture milieus outside of his own New Yorkers a bit painful to watch. He has way too much reverence for the rich in this film and little sympathy for the struggling working class. Scarlett Johansson's temptress gets little sympathy, for instance. Despite being dumped by the rich boy (Matthew Goode), we are offered a sympathetic view of his motivations rather than her position. And his sister's (Emily Mortimer: too perfect to be likable or interesting) sole interest is in producing children.

Allowing Rhys Davis to get away with his ridiculous and crackpot scheme seems like a bad idea too. The audience is not rooting for him at all.Although I believe Allen is.

I understand the film is examining the notion of luck but it just didn't work for me. It took too long getting to where it was going. Too many scenes of the rich frolicking, drinking, dining. The best plot points were borrowed from AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY and the worst from other Allen films.

What movie did you initially like and change your mind about?

House of the Rising Sun-The Animals

La Jolla

La Jolla Sunset

The thing I am most stocked up on out here is tea. I have seven boxes of tea and show no signs of throwing in the towel.

Everyone in La Jolla belongs to some sort of exercise venue. Despite being able to get outside to walk, run, swim, bike, play tennis virtually every day of the year, there is some sort of gym on every block. Sometimes more than one. You can't walk through the streets without seeing anorexic women carrying their mats to yoga or pilates or dance class.

I get very parsimonious about spending money on certain things here. I have been looking for a good price on a bottle of Clorox all week. I know I won't use that much and hate paying five dollars.

And yet in four weeks I have been to a play, three musical events, one dance event and four movies.Who's kidding who? Once I found out about Gold Star, I became unhinged.

Because I have no access to taking books out of a library, I buy books from them. Last year we mailed back two boxes. Phil is no better than me with this. So far we have bought over 16 books and downloaded four. All of these I could have had for free at my library 3 weeks from now.

I walk for an hour or two every day here but I eat more to compensate. Thus I always come home weighing just as much as when I left.

I can't unlock the door to this place. So I can only go out when Phil does and return when he does.

We spend more at the Sunday Farmer's Market than we do on the rest of our food. Organic food is expensive. Especially here.

I will never get over it being warm and dark at five each night. If it is warm it should be light outside, right?

The bookstore here never has any books on sale. How can a bookstore survive this pricing? And yet it is always pretty busy.

There is also a very good used bookstore here that is always empty. Why?

Everyone is always smiling here. I guess they know how lucky they are.

I find it funny when someone remarks on what a nice day it is. It is almost always a nice day.

Friday's Forgotten Books, Friday, February 6, 2015

Evan Lewis will have the links right here.

Ben Wendel Quartet: Julia

Hiatus While My Condo's Kitchen Ceiling is Redone

First Wednesday Book Review Club: CLOSE TO BROKEN-HEARTED, Michael Hiebert

Ever pick up a book left behind by a former occupant at a place you are staying? This is how this one fell into my hands. And although I can't really recommend it whole-heartedly, it kept my attention for the first few days I was here.

The comparison to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD on the book jacket is a travesty, however. A Southern setting does not a classic make. However, it was a reasonably decent story about a female detective in a Southern town who is also a single mother. The story is told from her point of view as she tries to solve a case and the point of view of her son as he tries to piece together why his mother never speaks about his father. There's a sister too but she gets little attention.

The detective's case involves another single mother and her horrific past.This was an interesting storyline although the author relied way too heavily on a red herring. The second storyline didn't come together until the end and the movations were not all that persuasive. It was hard to believe a woman as reasonable and rational as this detective would deprive her children of any mention of their father or his family.

And yet I finished it despite these caveats. I guess its strength lay in the two main characters who seemed real and richly written.

For more reviews, see Barrie Summy. 

Dave Miller Trio: Dream Dancing

Forgotten Movies: MY ARCHITECT

A decade or so ago, Nathaniel Kahn, the illegitimate son of architect, Louis Kahn, set out on a journey to discover his father. Aside from a wife and daughter,, Kahn had two other families, each with one child. Despite promises to Nathaniel's mother, Kahn never left his wife. Nathaniel harbored few hard feelings toward his father and this documentary is mostly a tribute to him as well as the story of his attempts to discover why Kahn did what he did. 

The most interesting parts of the film though look at the man within his profession. For a name that is known he had few big successes although the ones he did have (the Salk Institute and a building in Bangladesh) are considered masterpieces.Architect I.M Pei summed it up when he said better to design just a few masterworks than dozens of competent buildings.

While here, we have been looking at a lot of documentaries about artists and architects. I also recommend the one on the Woodman family. Amazing.

Maroon Five: Sugar

Stewart O'Nan

We got to see Stewart O'Nan, no secret my favorite writer, at Warwick's Bookstore last week. And he was everything you would hope for in your favorite writer: funny, charming, modest, enthusiastic.
He read quite a bit from his new books WEST OF HOLLYWOOD and he read it so well, I wanted him to read the whole book to me.

Most amazing thing he said: he works from 9-5 to produce one page. And sometimes he fails to do that. Every word has to sparkle to his ear as well as his brain.  But this is probably why his writing is so gorgeous.

My favorite books of Mr. O'Nan are A PRAYER FOR THE DYING, SPEEDQUEEN, THE LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER, and EMILY, ALONE but all of them were great.

Often, after hearing or seeing a writer, I am a bit less enthusiastic about them. But in this case, I am even more enamored.

What writer have you been most impressed by at a reading or on a podcast or radio program?

Jerzy Jung: ALIBI (written after reading DARE ME)

How I Came to Write This Story: "THE CAPE"

This story, included in the HISTORY AND MYSTERY, OH MY anthology started out as a quick little flash fiction story about Caruso's entanglement with the law when he fondled a woman at the Bronx Zoo.
In enlarging it for this anthology, I wanted to look at the incident more closely from the viewpoint of the tailor who made the fur coat (with slits for Caruso's hands) that he wore on the fateful day. How he saw the fur coat as his opportunity to increase his wealthy clientele and perhaps eventually move uptown.
It was fun looking into life on the lower east side at the turn of the last century and what a shop like his might be like.The story is true except for the parts about the tailor. It is very possible the coat was made uptown and not downtown at all. But I like to think my little tailor was responsible.

You can find this available on kindle and soon it will also be in print.