My Summer of Buffy

I missed this whole phenomena.
But now I sit here with Buffy books piled around me, trying to get myself educated on Buffy lore.
For Pete's sake, I've attended popular culture conferences with panels on Buffy. Academics using post-modern terms to describe it.

I am at Episode Seven in Season One, with a hundred more episodes to go. Is it worth it? Did you watch Buffy and get something more than Scooby Doo with real people. Is it about more than teenagers kicking ass, changing clothes and flirting.

My husband says no, and switches on Keith Oberman. What do you think?

Hillary's Supporters

A lot of Hillary's most vocal supporters claim that they're voting for McCain should Hillary not get the nomination. Can this really be true? I can't fathom how a group of feminists would be willing to allow McCain to nominate a Supreme Court Justice who will undoubtedly overturn Roe v. Wade. Or continue the war. Or continue a million other Republican projects. Is this a sadness and discontent that will dissipate in time? Will Hillary bring them around or will it take a Vice-Presidency for her to release them? What do you think?

My Town Monday: Detroit's Incinerator

It’s been 20 years since the inception of the idea that an incinerator was the answer to Detroit’s trash problems. Landfills that leaked and a shortage of them led to the construction of the nation’s largest incinerator. The City is deciding now what to do about it as the lease runs out today. It sits at the intersection of two of Detroit’s most highly traveled freeways, as if its is something you’d want to see as a tourist.

As you might guess, environmental groups have been on the offensive for the entire 20 years with plenty of statistics about the increase in incidence of cancer and breathing difficulties to back them up. Live east of this structure (as I do) and you’re breathing in toxic air most of the day. To the immediate east, sits the city's poorest neighborhoods. The asthma rate among children there is off the charts. Wayne State University is right there too and the odor some days brings tears to your eyes.

It’s been hugely expensive to pay for this monstrosity, necessary even to import trash to burn to meet the fees. Detroit does little to recycle and has little reason to increase recycling with this structure at its center. That also means that pretty much everything we throw away goes into it… and out of it.

The City decided yesterday they were going to allow the lease to expire. This means they will have to return to landfills and recycling or purchase the facility themselves.

I hate to see historical buildings torn down but this one’s the exception

Am I Underpopulated?

In my umpteenth edit of the novel, I noticed there are only six characters in it--and two are minor. This is what happens when you move from shorts stories to novels. You forget to increase the cast! Will this make the reader claustrophobic? Can you bear this close scrutiny of such a small group of people? Do other novels focus in this tightly or do I need to repeople it?

A Summing Up for Friday, May 30th

(And check out http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/
for a second look at The January Corpse, recommended by Kevin Smith two weeks ago)

Joe Boland, Lightening of the Sun, Robert Bingham
Gerard Brennan, Sacrifice of the Fools, Ian McDonald
Ken Bruen, Michigan Roll, Tom Kakonis
Bill Crider, The Hot-Shot, Fletcher Flora
Deborah (Knit Lady) Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey
Stephen Elliott, (an extensive list: see link from yesterday)
Alison Gaylin, The Dice Man, Luke Reinhart
Charles Gramlich, Desert Dog, Jim Kjelgaard
Lisa Kenney, The Dogs of March, Ernest Hebert
Kristy Kiernan, Into the Road, Adrienne Richard
Steve Lewis, Too Much Poison, Anne Rowe
Brian Lindenmuth, (an extensive list of forgotten Sci-Fi: see link)
Dick Lochte, The Honest Dealer, Frank Gruber
Stuart MacBride, Shooting Dr. Jack, Norman Green, Diamond Dove, Adrian Hyland
Todd Mason, Alfred Hitchcock: Stories to be Read with the Door Locked, edited by Harold Q. Masur
Jason Pinter, The Long Walk, Stephen King
Sandra Seaman, The Quiet Game, Greg Iles
Andi Shechter, Cut to the Quick, Kate Ross
Clea Simon, A Place of Greater Safety, Hilary Mantel
Wallace Stroby, The Rare Coin Score, Richard Stark
Dave Zeltserman, The Captain, Seymour Shubin

Thanks to all these folks and I hope they'll return with another favorite soon.

FRIDAY'S Forgotten Books

Forgotten Books for May 30, 2008

Ken Bruen’s Forgotten Book

Michigan Roll by Tom Kakonis

The great neglected forgotten writer in my opinion is Tom Kakonis.
He wrote a wondrous series of novels featuring an ex professor who'd served time and is now eking out a precarious existence in Las Vegas under the dubious mentorship of a very shady acquaintance.
The writing is dark dangerous poetry and the violence when it comes, is sharp and shocking, an air of doomed menace looms over the novels like a palpable cloud.
Michigan Roll, perhaps the very best in the series,, is a true forgotten classic.
Kakonis abandoned this stunning series and now writes under a different name.
The atmosphere of being damned, of no hope, of no redemption is noir like you rarely read.
The characterisation is superb and the sheer agony of seeing a decent man who never caught a break and knows he is screwed is heart wrenching.

Sandra Seaman’s Forgotten Book

THE QUIET GAME by Greg Iles

To be perfectly honest, I've never written a book review. For me books have always been a personal journey, something I've kept to myself, so I hope you'll bear with me as I tell you a little about the book I chose.

The book is "The Quiet Game" by Greg Iles. I'd been dipping into the work of several Southern writers when I stumbled across The Quiet Game. Published in 1999, the book centers around a thirty year old mystery.

Penn Cage is a lawyer who, with his daughter, returns to his parent's home in Natchez, Mississippi so the two of them can heal after the death of his wife. He gets prodded into investigating the unsolved murder of a black man in 1968. A murder that neither the black nor white community wants re-opened. Everyone is guarding their secrets, playing the quiet game.

Iles lays bare the undercurrents of a small southern town from the racial to the political. His wonderful writing weaves the secrets of the past into the secret lives of the present, exploring the effects of choices on people, their families and the community.

My poor summary doesn't do justice to the many layers that Mr. Iles has written into this book. His words make you sit up and think, chew your fingernails when things go terribly wrong, and smile when you realize that under all the conspiracy and mayhem the story is about justice in its truest sense.

And the rest:

http://joeboland.blogspot.com/

http://jasonpinter.blogspot.com/

http://wallacestrobycom.blogspot.com/

http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/ (Dick Lochte)

http://halfhead.blogspot.com/

http://smallcrimes-novel.blogspot.com/index.html

http://firstoffenders.typepad.com/offenders/

http://cleasimon.blogspot.com/

http://www.journalscape.com/Hedgehog/2008-05-29-17:50/

http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=622

http://juxtabook.typepad.com/

http://knitstory.blogspot.com/2008/05/fridays-forgotten-books.html

http://www.redroom.com/blog/kristy-kiernan/fridays-forgotten-books-or-how-evel-knievel-got-me-to-read

http://billcrider.blogspot.com/

http://crimesceneni.blogspot.com/2008/05/friday-project-sacrifice-of-fools-by.html

http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com/2008/05/faded.html (Stephen Elliott)

http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2008/05/friday-forgotten-books-harold-q-masur.html

http://eudaemoniaforall.blogspot.com/2008/05/overlooked-books-friday-dogs-of-march.html

http://www.mysterybookspot.com/brianlindenmuth/http://www.mysterybookspot.com/brianlindenmuth/

http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2008/05/forgotten-fridays-mythago-wood-by.
html

http://charlesgramlich.blogspot.com/

You Score It

The new rage of putting together video book trailers has started to infect my writing. What tune would you use to score the end of this story: a thirteen year old boy returns home after burying the man his mother has murdered and finds her sitting on the porch, the murder weapon in hand.

RULES RE: Friday's Forgotten Books

There are no rules.

You can choose any book of any genre you like. Fiction or non-fiction. You can do it once, once in a while, or every week. You don't have to be tagged by someone else. It doesn't have to be a long review. The goal is to get the titles out there.

You don't have to be a crime fiction writer or even a writer to participate. Readers are welcomed. This is not a meme but a weekly (hopefully) endeavor.

I would love anyone who reads one of the mentioned books to let me know too. That would be a nice second aim: we are reading the books others mention.

It will be harder and harder for me to find you so please find me.

Just send me your link or review by Thursday of the week you want it to appear. Or just let me know it will be up the next day. If I miss one, let me know.

June 20th will be an off day unless someone else wants to do it.

Second Looks

What was I thinking? In my flurry of cleaning and finding that book from 1987-89 that listed books and movies I read, I couldn't help but notice how my opinion of some of the entries had changed over time. When I saw Moonstruck in 1988, I gave it an 8. An 8 is very high for me. I've only ever given one movie a 10.

Anyway, I saw Moonstruck recently and was struck by how false all of the performances seemed-how Hollywoodish. Maybe my opinion of Cher and Nic Cage has changed over time, but they seemed laughable in their roles. Although it was a comedy, they were supposed to seem like real working class people. But she was Cher and he was Nic Cage, very Hollywoodish actors.

What have you seen recently that was either much worse or better than your original assessment?

Workspace Meme

Clair Dickson tagged me with this meme:

There are only a few guidelines:

1) You must take a photo of your workspace and post it to your blog.

2) You must provide a few words about it.

3) You must NOT tidy, clean or otherwise stage the workspace - it must be EXACTLY as it usually is (you can see that I followed this rule
religiously).

4) (Optional) You can tag someone.





Okay, third and fourth pictures on here are my husband's office but I'm actually at that desk more than at mine since the treadmill moved in and gave me claustrophobia. We had to put it in my room because we had to have a tv to watch while we tread and the cable was in there.

So as soon as he takes off, I sneak in and use the brighter office with more room, more light. In my office I have two tables, one with a PC with Internet and one without for when I'm really trying to work. It's a dull room. It needs to be as I'm so distractable.

Both offices are cleaner than usual because we had company come over Memorial Day. But mine never is too cluttered because it's too damned small for much clutter. The bookcase mostly holds technical books.
Please don't fault my husband for having the better office. He's written fourteen books and forty articles. I've written no books. He'd gladly switch offices with me.

I'm not tagging anyone but I encourage you to play. Here's a cool site on The Guardian with lots of British writers' offices if you haven't seen it. http://books.guardian.co.uk/writersrooms

Memory Games

Here's something kind of scary. In cleaning my house in the way I only do it once every five years--every drawer, every closet, I came across my diary from twenty years ago when I used to post all the books and movies I saw that year. In 1988, I read about 90 books, 38 of them crime novels. That year I also saw 61 movies at the theater. Highly-rated films for me that year included Manon of the Spring, Au Revoir Les Enfants,The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Dead, Wings of Desire, Married to the Mob. I can give you a brief summary of every one of those 61 films. There were no titles where I completely drew a blank.

Maybe it's because the movies play on TV later although I rarely watch films twice since my husband remembers them too well. Maybe it's because putting an actor's face on a character helps me to remember the story.

On the 90 books, I read, I could remember very few plots. Just one or two that became well-known over time. or were turned into movies. Is this true for you? Do you remember movies you've seen just once better than books you've read once.

One further statistic, I saw 13 plays that year. My husband was working on a project in NY and we were there several times. I remember the plots of those plays too. Does the visual component in movies and plays bolster the ability to remember. I wonder how audio books play into this. Do you remember books you hear on tape better than ones read?

Or am I just losing it?

A Summing Up, Friday May 23, 2008

Thanks to all those who remembered a book today. Have a great holiday weekend and let me know if YOU can help out next Friday.

Summing Up: One Stop Shopping for May 23, 2006

Dick Adler, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, Lawrence Block

Steve Allan, Horse Latitudes, Robert Ferrigno

Bookwitch, Home, Sweet Homicide, Craig Rice

Bill Crider, Revenge, Jack Ehrlich

Lonnie Cruse, We Have Always Lived in a Castle, Shirley Jackson

Jenny Davidson, Colors Insulting to Nature, Cintra Wilson

Martin Edwards, Reputation for a Song, Edward Grierson

J.T. Ellison, Songs of Innocence, Richard Aleas (Charles Ardai)

Victor Gischler, Clans of the Alphane Moon, Philip K. Dick

Ed Gorman, Spree, Max Allan Collins

Lynne Hatwell (Dovegreyreader), The Scapegoat, Daphne Du Maurier

Laura Lippman, A Novel Called Heritage, Margaret Dukore

John McFetridge, Cutter and Bone, Newton Thornburg

Todd Mason, Trouble Valley, Lee Hoffman

A.R. Pickett(Woodstock’s Blog) Alas Babylon, Pat Frank

James Reasoner, Day of the Moon, Bill Prozini and Jeffrey Wallman

Linda Richards, Swann, Carol Shields

Last Up to the Plate Today (unless I forgot you!)

http://www.journalscape.com/LauraLippman/2008-05-23-12:30

FRIDAY'S: Forgotten Books

FRIDAY’S Forgotten Books-May 23^rd 2008

Lonnie Cruse’s Forgotten Book: (Lonnie writes the Metropolis Mystery and the Kitty Bloodworth series) She contributes to Poe’s Forgotten Daughters and her personal website is below.

WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN A CASTLE by Shirley Jackson

This book isn't totally forgotten, but many readers haven't heard of it. I heard about it a couple of years ago on DorothyL, an e-mail list for mystery readers, but no one's mentioned it lately. The title is, WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, by Shirley Jackson.

The book features two sisters living alone in an old house and how they interact with the locals. And it features that wonderful house. I loved the ending. No, I loved the entire book!

Jackson died in the mid-sixties, when she was middle aged, yet her books are still loved and read by loyal fans. Her short story, THE LOTTERY, is taught in colleges all across the country as the example to end all examples. When I discovered CASTLE, I immediately read it twice, making sure I didn't miss a single word. It isn't a really a mystery . . . or is it? Jackson hooks her readers and reels them carefully in. And I always think I'm ready for the surprise at the end. I never am.

Shirley Jackson achieved the dream of all writers, to write something so timeless, it's still read and enjoyed nearly fifty years after her death. I hope you will check out Shirley Jackson's books, particularly WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE.

Lonnie Cruse
http://www.lonniecruse.com

Lonnie Cruse asked me a question or two at: http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/

Here are some more selections. If I’ve left someone out, please advise and forgive. And many thanks to all of you for accepting the tap on the shoulder. Don’t wait for the tap though. Give me a ring at aa2579@wayne.edu if you have a book.

http://billcrider.blogspot.com/2008/05/forgotten-books-revenge-jack-ehrlich.html

http://noirwriter.blogspot.com/

http://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/

http://lindalrichards.blogspot.com/

http://victorgischler.blogspot.com/

http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com/

http://murderati.typepad.com/

http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/

http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/

http://johnmcfetridge.blogspot.com/

http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com/2008/05/spree-forgotten-books.html

http://dovegreyreader.co.uk

http://bookwitch.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/child-detectives/

http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2008/05/friday-forgotten-books-lee-hoffman.html

http://www.journalscape.com/woodstock/2008-05-23-12:48

PRISONER OF MEMORY

Thanks to Ed Gorman and Sarah Weinman, two people who have been guardian angels more than once, I'm in this collection with the likes of--well, all of the rest of them--something I never dreamed would happen to me. It's a terrific collection. I read a lot of the stories in galleys but here they are in person. Wow.

Republican Operatives as Political Commentators

in the Democratic Primary. I'd sworn off a writing a blog entry today, but this really gets to me.
Should former candidates for the Republican nomination for President be given credence as network pundits? Should they be allowed to participate in the process regularly by commenting in a duplicitous way? They are brought on to these shows as a neutral observer, not as a Republican (or Democrat).
Buchanan constantly extols Hillary Clinton's advantages. Does he really think she's the better candidate or just easier to beat? Is he objective? I'm sure there are similar "guest commentators" pushing Obama's interests. This is not meant as a rap against Hillary. Just the networks duplicitous commentary.

POV: THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT

In a sidebar to the discussion last week on why people stop reading a novel, a commenter asked about the Third Person Omniscient POV and Al Guthrie responded that he almost certainly would find this a difficult book to finish. In the TPO, the narrator speaks for all the characters, knowing what's going on in each of their heads, knowing what's going on in their life at any moment. It has always seemed to me like the voice of God speaking. Or at least the voice of Morgan Freeman.
It's much less common than it used to be. A prime example is Anna Karenina according to a site I came on.
Can you think of a book today that used this POV successfully? Do you ever write in this POV?

"Shifting Gears"

SHIFTING GEARS

Spring’s half gone, school’s out, so are you ready for another flash fiction challenge? Mystery Dawg, Gerald So and I have come up with a new one.

Here’s the idea: incorporate the following sentence into a flash story of around 750 words.

“With gas prices rising, their plans had to change.”

OR for those who prefer first person: "With gas prices rising, our plans had to change."

OR the bit ominous, "With gas prices rising, your plans had to change." (Thanks, Peter)

Anything you can do with that sentence as a part of your story is fair game. The line doesn’t have to be the central idea of the story. Or it can be. Whatever you want.

Mystery Dawg will post stories for those without blogs at Powder Burn Flash (http://powderburnflash.blogspot.com/).

Gerald and I will post links to any blogs with stories on our blogs on June 15^th.

If you think you’re in, let us know by commenting.

We’re looking at an end date of June 15^th

^{Hope to see you then.}

My Town Monday

My Town Mondays: Tiger Stadium

Sure we have Comerica Park in Detroit now and a new generation will make its memories there. It’s the new look in stadiums: open, friendly, all the bells and whistles. Corporate boxes, designer food, waitresses to take care of you, amusements for the kids, wall-to-wall bathrooms, for the women at least, a scoreboard so elaborate you’d need never look to the field.

But once upon a time, eight years ago, in fact, there was Tiger Stadium. It has sat on the same corner (Michigan and Trumbull) in a section of Detroit called Corktown since 1895. Every seat was close to the field. There were not enough bathrooms, snack bars, good unobstructed seats. You didn’t get the feel of being outside. But it was Tiger Stadium for better or worse. It was our place to watch baseball and its name was the right one, no corporate reminders.

Tiger Stadium has sat empty now for eight years. A hundred plans to reuse it have gone awry: condos, shopping, restaurants, a college stadium, a memorial stadium. None of them happened. Late last year, the city auctioned its innards off— like grandstand seats, the dugout urinal, Al Kaline’s locker and the fence in front of the right-center-field light tower, hit by a Reggie Jackson home run in the 1971 All-Star Game. Last month, the city tentatively awarded a partial demolition contract for the stadium.

People hoping to save it, the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, has until June 1 to raise $369,000 to try to save part of Tiger Stadium, even temporarily. The group includes Ernie Harwell, the retired Tigers radio broadcaster.

If that goal is reached, Senator Carl Levin said he will look for greater financing in the 2009 federal budget to preserve the oldest part of the structure around the infield and redevelop the playing field for amateur teams.

Levin, who grew up in the city, would like to see the stadium remain in some incarnation.

Philanthropic groups have discussed contributing money to stave off a full demolition that may begin in weeks. But we’ve heard this sort of rumor for eight years now. And the area the stadium in is in a severe decline, especially with current economic woes, since the stadium moved east. The Tigers organization has not shown a lot of interest in preserving the field. They've moved on with their stadium.

Preserving even a remnant of the structure would add to the costs so the demolition companies have offered to pay the city $300, 000 if the whole thing comes down.

How have old stadiums fared in your neck of the woods? Is any attempt underway to preserve Yankee Stadium?

(Some of the information here comes from a New York Times article)

Another Meme (with my apologies)

The tag: (from Sandra Ruttan)

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

A Meme about Various ThingsWhat were you doing ten years ago?
I was thinking that I wasn't a very good poet and maybe I should try short stories. I was living in Amsterdam for six months which was great fun.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
Go out to breakfast. Go help my husband pick up nursery plants and maybe a flowering tree. Read a ms. someone sent me for my thoughts on Detroit sections. Write a blog entry for My Town Monday about Detroit, finishing cleaning the third floor for an explosion of relatives arriving next week.

What are some snacks you enjoy?
Popcorn, olives, carrots, twizzlers, almonds.

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
I would get advice from someone on how to distribute it. Truly that's too much money to contemplate spending. I would probably travel a bit more.

What are five places where you have lived?
Philadelphia, Wenham, MA, New Brunswick, NJ., Manchester, England, Amsterdam.

What are five jobs you have had?
Waitress, Service Rep. for At& T, Copy Editor and Index Maker, Secretary, Writer (Fancy stuff, right?)

What were the last five books you read?
Pictures of a Revolution (Harris), Olive Kitteredge (Strout) Speed Queen (O'Nan), A Hell of a Woman (Abbott), Sleeping Dogs (Gorman)

What are five web sites you visit daily (in no particular order)?
Crimespot
Rap Sheet
Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind
Rotten Tomatoes
Weather.com

Tag 5 People
Gerald, Clair, Steve, Josephine, Megan (not mine)
... with my apologies. :)