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DeCaprio? As Travis McGee? April 2, 2010

Posted by Steve in Movies.
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I’m not seeing it. That’s the rumor, though, concerning a Hollywood movie based on John D. MacDonald’s adventure-seeking, mystery-solving, life-pondering detective.

A big-budget McGee flick could be way cool, but I just don’t see Leo pulling this one off. I’m not sure who else I’d pick, but …

– Steve

Pulpy goodness … March 24, 2010

Posted by Steve in Books, Fiction.
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See those books I’m holding? That’s a mere random sampling from the three grocery bags full of paperbacks Gere and I netted from a friend who wants to create more space in his home. We traded a bottle of awesome hootch for the Saint, the Continental Op, Brother Cadfael, Modesty Blaise, some Sherlock Holmes knock-offs, some good old-fashioned horror and more.

I tell ya, book people are good people.

I finished a Modesty Blaise book, “In the Beginning,” which reprints the comic strip adventures of this girl James Bond. I’ve seen panels from comic strips reproduced, and I’ve heard Modesty mentioned here and there, but I’ve never actually sat down with a Modesty Blaise adventure and read it. Now I have, and it was a load of fun. I have about fifteen of these books now, thanks to our friend; a mix of comic strips and novels.

I also scored a lot of books about the Saint, by Leslie Charteris. I love these goofy, improbable tales of a Robin Hood-ish swashbuckler wending his way through the world of crime and frustrating Scotland Yard at every turn. I have about 40 new ones to read … whoohoo! (Thanks, Ron!)

The Continental Op is Dashiell Hammett’s precursor to Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, Lew Archer, Travis McGee and every other hard-boiled detective you can think of. I have three new collections of these.

I haven’t even gone through Gere’s stuff yet, but I know she loaded up on Brother Cadfael, a Medieval monk who solves murders the old-fashioned way. I’m sure I’ll enjoy a lot of what she nabbed, and she’s already making noises about giving the Saint a go.

We’ll certainly have a good time with all this stuff, and I think Ron was happy to see his books go to a new home where they will be read and enjoyed.

Life is good.

– Steve

‘Gram’s Gift,’ a Faceless Sons story, reprint coming to Residential Aliens … February 26, 2010

Posted by Steve in Fiction.
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Keep your eyes peeled for Residential Aliens, print issue 2.

That issue will include a sword-and-sorcery story from me called Gram’s Gift. The piece is part of my Faceless Sons cycle, in which I recount the exploits of three masked brothers who hunt down the demons unleashed by their power-mad father. Another Faceless Sons tale, The Mask Oath, appeared in the Rogue Blades Entertainment anthology “The Return of the Sword,” where you might also have enjoyed stories from  TW Williams, Ty Johnston, S.C. Bryce, Bill Ward, James Enge, Bruce Durham and other names you ought to recognize if you love sword-and-sorcery .

What’s that? You thought sword-and-sorcery died with Robert E. Howard and Karl Edward Wagner? C’mon … try to keep up. The authors noted above, and others, are producing a lot of fun stuff. I’m glad to see my work tucked in there with theirs.

Gram’s Gift appeared way back when in Amazing Journeys Magazine , volume 2 issue 9, but editor Residential Aliens publisher Lyn Perry thought it would work for his new print venture. I’m real happy to see Lyn try his hand at a print magazine, and doubly glad to have one of my stories appear in his project.

If you like the swords and the sorcery, by all means give Lyn’s project a look.

– Steve

Review: “The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein” by Peter Ackroyd February 22, 2010

Posted by Steve in Books, Fiction, Reviews.
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I really wanted to like this book.

My fiction reading has slowed to a snail’s pace, and I thought this book might get me back into it in a big way. I am a fan of Mary Shelley’s excellent “Frankenstein,” a fabulous blend of Gothic horror, science fiction and weighty themes. I thought a new take on this classic would be entertaining, if done well, and I thought there was enough meat on that particular story’s bones for an author to carve out new territory and still be faithful to the original.

Indeed, Ackroyd has done that, in a sensible and somewhat clever way. I also enjoyed his glimpses of literary figures of the time, especially Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, both of whom were involved in that famed night of ghost-tale spinning that led Mary Shelley to write her novel.

The problem, though, is that Ackroyd’s clever plot trick and those voyeuristic portraits of the people behind the poems are about all this book has to offer. Ackroyd certainly doesn’t explore the weighty themes tackled by Shelley — what does the Creator owe the created? Should we do things just because science gives us the power? Are there places rational investigation should not go?  Nor does he replace those themes with deeply etched themes of his own. He just sort of races through the tale, in a hurry to get to his big “surprise ending.” I won’t toss out a spoiler here, but I figured out the mystery less than a third of the way through the book, and not even a fairly well placed red herring threw me off course.

The book did not work for me on a suspense or horror level, either. Although there are one or two fairly disturbing scenes, they are disturbing more in a “why did he write THAT?” way, rather than in an “organic to the plot” way. Also, because there is a rather longish stretch of the book in which Victor seems almost to have forgotten the flesh golem  pursuing him, those moments sort of stick out all the more. Once somone has seen what Victor has seen, he ought to remain disturbed throughout the rest of the book, in my not-so-humble opinion.

If you are a real Frankenstein fan or a true horror tale geek, you probably ought to read this one just so you can discuss it intelligently at parties. It won’t take you long, either; Ackroyd’s prose is breezy enough. If you have only a passing interest in mad scientists who animate the dead, pass this up.

I welcome thoughts, rebuttals, book suggestions, etc.

– Steve

“Hope” — Alex Lifeson December 16, 2009

Posted by Steve in Music.
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Enjoy this …

Who else wants a solo acoustic guitar album from this guy?

Here’s another YouTube video on this. It didn’t include a code for embedding, but if you follow the link you’ll be rewarded with a closer view of Alex’s hands as he plays this. I wish the videos sounded as nice as the recording on “Snakes & Arrows,” which I highly recommend.

– Steve

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