My November Book Reads

My reading month found a couple of good crime novels and a couple of good non-mysteries. I also read a sports autobiography by Reggie Jackson since baseball season is barely over and I'm ready for spring training to start. I hope your month was a rewarding one with reading the written word.

MYSTERIES

The Black Box by Michael Connelly. I breezed through this almost 400-page Harry Bosch cop novel. Great storyline that has Harry working on a 20-year old cold case. There is a warm-hearted sub-plot with his family life including his teenaged daughter Maddie and girlfriend Hannah. I'm not a big fan of long books, but I'm a big Michael Connelly fan, so I took the plunge. The narrative carried me right along, and I'm glad I took the time to read The Black Box.

Merciless by Lori G. Armstrong. Gritty story of ex-Black Ops army sniper Mercy Gunderson now with the FBI solving grisly murders on the Eagle River Reservation. Complex character, stark landscape, and compelling mystery are the strong points I liked while reading this crime novel.

Hammett Unwritten by Ownen Fitzstephen. I've always why Hammett stopped writing books after his early fiction successes. This short novel tries to address the reason in a clever and intriguing way. I won't play the spoiler and go into the plot. I learned some interesting personal things about "Dash" although I don't know how accurate they are since this is a novel. He does a lot of drinking and reflecting back on his youthful days as a Pinkerton detective. Hammett Unwritten is a fast read.

NON-MYSTERIES

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. For some odd reason, I missed reading Charlotte's Web in my youth. My wife re-read it and suggested I try it. Marvelous story of a talking spider named Charlotte befriending a talking pig named Wilbur. The setting is a farm which I peg somewhere in the American Midwest. I liked the details of nature and agriculture since I grew up in the countryside. I also got a crash course on spiders which don't freak me out. There are old cars like Studebakers. It's great fun and a lesson on life taught, as well.

Flora by Gail Godwin. This nicely told coming of age novel is about a almost twelve-year-old girl living in North Carolina who is put under the guardianship of her older cousin for part of one summer (1945). I've read Ms. Godwin's fiction and heard her give a reading and talk. Her Southern characters and settings appeal to me since I'm also from the region. There is a historic subplot of the Manhattan Project and Oak Ridge, TN. The narrator is the snarky type of young girl who still has a lot of things to learn about life. Her lessons begin that summer. It's an easy read and worked just fine for me on this cold wintry day.

Becoming Mr. October by Reggie Jackson. This was a fun read for me, a baseball fan from the late 1960s. I liked the great Oakland Athletics teams Reggie played on before he went on to the larger stage with the Yankees. Reading lots of familiar baseball names helps to tide me over until spring training begins again.

Keeping Up A Long-Running Web Blog

There comes a time in the shelf life of a blogger's web blog when the topics seem to grow repetitive and stale. I'm not sure if Cracked Rearview Mirror has reached that point or not, but I have given serious thought to the ways I can keep my established blog going strong. My blog, like many others, has a defined scope of interests and topics. As a rule, I don't blog outside of that box. If I want to try something new, I prefer to do it in my fiction writing. For instance, I jumpstarted my short story writing earlier this year. One of my new short stories, "Big Poison." recently appeared in Noir Nation: International Crime Fiction No. 3. I combined several elements in writing "Big Poison," including my fondness of film noir. By the way, my blog now appears on blogger.com and Shelfari, if you happen to use either of those platforms. Perhaps I could adapt my blog as a place to discuss the aspects I'm currently focusing on in my fiction, such as my expanded use of humor. One topic I have refrained from blogging about is sports, primarily baseball and basketball. (The NBA's Wizards lost last night, and MLB's spring training is a long ways off.) I appreciate all of the comments and "Likes" I receive from the readers of my blog. I do my best to respond and also thank everybody. So, my challenge for next year (2014!) will be to sustain and improve the vitality and freshness of Cracked Rearview Mirror.I hope next year at this time I can say that the state of the blog is strong.

Avoiding Black Friday But Not Cyber Monday

The TV news makes a big deal out of Black Friday, and I've seen the intrepid buyers camped out at the locked doors of their favorite stores. They want to be one of the first in line to snap up whatever bargains they can find or have picked out. At first glance, it all seems pretty silly to me. But then I thought of my two-mile daily walk in a big loop, and how that might seem to others. If I don't get to do it, like on a snowy blizzardy day, then I feel cheated. There is a pleasure I derive from walking. Same thing goes for the euphoric shoppers, I'm thinking. Besides, it is always neat to buy and try out new things. For me, it would the latest and greatest e-readers. No matter what I might have that is practical and works fine, it's fun to think how cool it would be to have a spanky brand NEW one. Of course, these bought products are supposed to be gifts, and that introduces another layer of excitement and fun to the shopping experience. The biggest hassle and drawback is so many shoppers there at the same time. Cyber Monday, then, appeals more to me.

Stop Motion Sickness While Reading In A Moving Car

Whenever I ride as a passenger in a moving car and try to read a book or my Kindle, I experience the headache, disorientation, and nausea associated with motion sickness. It has something to do with a person's inner ear, and their peripheral vision losing touch with their surroundings while they fix their focus on the same spot. I had the same problem when I rode the school bus and wanted to use my free time to do my homework. I wondered if there are any tips to cope with this problem since I like to read as often as possible.

It is recommended the reader look up from their book once in awhile and gaze out the window to lessen the motion sickness. I've done this without much success. Peppermint Lifesavers or hard candy is suggested, and I believe peppermint helps me feel a little better.

Ginger is also a favored treatment, including drinking sips of ginger ale. Listening to your favorite music on the radio or MP3/CD player might be a good trick to distract you. Wearing motion sickness eyewear is also mentioned. It uses blinders that block off the passing landscape while you are reading. I have no idea if this really works or not.

Of course, if the book you are reading is engrossing enough, you'll forget your physical discomforts and want to finish it anyway. Happy reading over the holidays!

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: 13 West Street Starring Alan Ladd

This 1962 juvenile delinquent/crime movie stars Alan Ladd, Rod Steiger, Michael Callan and Dolores Dorn. As with other films of this sub-genre, it feels a bit dated. However, I liked watching it, especially with Ladd and Steiger playing the main roles in it. Ladd's movie production company also made it. He plays an aerospace engineer who gets mugged and beat up by a gang of teenagers. Steiger is the L.A. juvenile sergeant who investigates the crime. The movie has a bit of the Charles Bronson vigilante feel to it when Ladd decides the cops aren't moving fast enough, especially after the gang threatens his wife (Dorn). The chief troublemaker (Callan) is a rich man's spoiled son who plays tennis at the country club and lives in a mansion with a swimming pool when he's not being a murderous young thug with his gang. Future soap opera star Jeanne Cooper (The Young and the Restless, 1973–2013) also plays a role, and Leigh Brackett wrote the script. IMDb.com rates 6.5/10, and that falls along the same lines I would give it.

My Sister Sleuths Isabel and Alma Trumbo Stick Up For Their Friends

I like to read the type of novels with characters who are loyal friends that always have their friends' backs. It seems to be hard to make, much less keep, friends in the modern world. It might be a cliche to express such sentiments, but I think it still holds true. The crime noirs I write feature sketchy characters who don't easily make friends unless there is something in it for them. But in my cozy mysteries, just the opposite is the case. Isabel and Alma Trumbo, my mature sister amateur sleuths, live in the fictitious small town of Quiet Anchorage, Virginia. They get into all sorts of mischief, but they always have somebody there for them. Just the same way, they are always there for the others in times of trouble. The sisters just do the right thing because that's how they were raised. My hope is my readers like that admirable quality in the sisters' makeup and find them to be "likeable protagonists." They have their share of personal flaws and warts, sure, but their overall nature is a good-hearted one. Be looking for a new title published next year.

The Nations of My Social Media World

Google's Blogger includes the metrics to see which nations' viewers have looked at your blog post. I don't know enough about how the feature works or even how accurate it is. For some reason, the viewers in Russia and China show up sometimes. What is up with that? I wonder. It probably doesn't mean anything, since my readership never exceeds any large number. Plus the United States is always the largest block of viewers which is what I'd expect to find to be the case. Canada or Great Britain would be the next places, since English is also spoken there as the official language. I don't check my metrics often enough to spot any trends or patterns. I suppose it might be another example of how the world is getting to be a smaller and smaller place.

What I Am Working On Right Now

My final editing continues on my next P.I. Frank Johnson title, AFTER THE BIG NOISE. I haven't devoted my entire work day to Frank, but he is my current work-in-progress, so we hang out a lot together. I like the storyline a lot more than I did when it was still a draft. My original intention was to make this book the grand finale in the series which might still take place. Things supposedly slow down at the year's end although I find the pace grows more hectic between the holidays. I don't know about you but that seems to be true each year for me. At any rate, I'll be working on AFTER THE BIG NOISE for the rest of this month, and into December it looks at this point. The Blue Cheer was released as an ebook for the first time last month, so AFTER THE BIG NOISE will be coming out early next year. I have a new Isabel and Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery title outlined to begin writing the first draft of it. The Cashmere Shroud, their latest amateur sleuth caper, hit the streets this summer in case you are interested, and I hope you are. Happy reading over the holidays!

Tuesday's Forgotten Films: Sleep, My Love

This 1948 film noir/feature film is a different spin on the old make-my-wife-go-insane plot a la Gaslight which did it better. The acting is first-rate with Claudette Colbert, slick-talking Robert Cummings and Don Ameche playing the suave but evil husband who has the hots for the sultry Hazel Brooks (her debut film). The always solid Raymond Burr plays the burly NYC cop. Colbert at 45 seems a bit old for the wife's role, but I liked her gutsy performance. Keye Luke who played in the Charlie Chan movies is also featured. The familiar plot seems to run off the rails about halfway through, but I just stuck with the story because of the top quality actors. Leonard Maltin gives Sleep, My Love three out of four stars. That is my score, too, based on the acting.

What Exactly Is Leisure Reading?

Many academic libraries have a "Leisure Reading" collection, and the term has always troubled me a little. Pleasure reading, recreational reading, and fiction reading all sound as if it is done outside of a constructive purpose and is therefore diminished in its worth. For instance, if reading is assigned at school or university, then is it leisure reading? Probably not unless you happen to be an English major and enjoy whatever it is you are reading. That is what happened to me when I was in graduate school, except I didn't much care for Henry James' novels. Edith Wharton, I loved. If you are reading something for work or your job, then you are doing it in pursuit of earning your livelihood. If money enters the picture, then it is no longer seen as leisure. There is more. When I think of leisure reading, I imagine the reader is seated in an overstuffed armchair or stretched out on a chaise lounge beside the swimming pool. Both of those images seem frivilous and carefree, not serious and goal-oriented. So, I suppose leisure reading = fun, or it just isn't leisure reading which diverts or amuses and doesn't teach or instruct. Whatever it is, there is a lot of leisure reading going on, and I'm grateful for that much, both as a novelist and as a reader.

What Is the Best Bargain You Ever Bought at a Flea Market?

I don't go around to garage sales and flea markets all that much. Back before the internet changed the book market, I used to visit used bookstores quite a bit looking for modern first editions. I bought a few Richard Brautigan firsts because I liked reading his Trout Fishing In America while I was in college. His other whimsical novels with their colorful titles never measured up, at least of the ones I ever read. So, I guess those purchases would have to count for me. I have passed by flea markets open for business, and the folks browsing there look as if they are enjoying the experience. I don't know if you can haggle over the prices charged at flea market, but I never did that for the used books I bought. I figured the courageous proprietor had a tough go of it already, so I just paid the full asking price. Besides I didn't want to see the used bookstores close up shop and leave town. I like having the local bookstores around. Sometimes I visited antique shops that also offered secondhand books among their wares. However, I don't recall ever buying a book there. Maybe I picked up a reading copy or two of the titles I thought I'd enjoy. Happy reading.

Friday's Forgotten Books: The Rare Coin Score by Richard Stark

This top-notch Parker caper comes from the mighty pen of Richard Stark (a.k.a. Donald Westlake). What a shame there will be no other titles. This time Parker, the most hardboiled of American thieves, decides to throw in with a motley crew heisting a rare coins convention. Of course, things never go as planned no matter how carefully he sets up the job. This is the job where Parker meets his loyal and smart lady friend Claire who has a key role. It's a thrill to see how Parker thinks on the fly and manages to keep on going, or else there would be no further Parker adventures. Kudos and thanks to the University of Chicago Press for reprinting the Parker novels in handsome paperback. 

Learning Better How to Let Go and Say Goodbye

This blog post isn't about anything sappier than turning loose of my work-in-progress. Harlan Coben once said during a talk I attended that he is changing commas right up until the last minute. I suspect he was only half-kidding. A dozen thoughts jam my racing mind before I cut my WIP adrift and move on to the next project. One of my largest concerns right now is whether my WIP is different enough from my previous books. Nothing is more boring than reading the same thing found in an author's two books. I take special pains to lock in and ensure all of my writing is fresh content. I use a checklist of different items to review and fix during my revision process. Still, when the right time comes to pull the trigger, I won't hesitate because I have already done it many times before now with my new books. And the Good Lord willing, I'll do it again many more times to come.

Books I Still Want to Write

Everybody is said to have at least one book in them. To write more than one book might be even better. I usually don't take the long range view in my writing projects. I like to concentrate on what I'm doing at any one time, but I suppose there is enough room to think larger than my work-in-progress. Wouldn't it be grand, for instance, to write a book that took the international reading public's fancy and make obscene amounts of royalties off it? I'd buy me a new laptop computer. One book I have little appetite to write is a memoir or autobiography. There is nothing in my living experience that is engaging enough to set down in print. Fiction, on the other hand, offers all sorts of ripe ways to entertain and interest the readers. I often like to write up outlines and notes for future novels, especially the next titles in my mystery series. At any rate, may the Muse be kind to you if you decide to pen the book you still want to write.

Tuesday's Forgotten Films: Roger Corman's Gunslinger

I hesitated to review this short, offbeat 1956 Western directed by Roger Corman. It was a slight disappointment because I have enjoyed watching other Corman movies. Film critic Leonard Matlin gives it 1-1/2 stars, and IMDb.com clocks in at a paltry 2.9 stars. Those ratings might be a bit harsh. The premise is intriguing enough. A small town sheriff is gunned down, and his enraged widow pins on his sheriff's badge and goes after the bad guys. She knows how to use a six-shooter and rifle and isn't afraid to fire when she sees the need for it. The talented Beverly Garland (I liked her as Fred MacMurray's second wife on the TV series My Three Sons) plays the pistol-packing, gunfighter widow. She does a fairly good job. John Ireland plays the hired gun Cane Miro paid by the saloon owner (Allison Hayes) to bump off Garland. He does a sturdy enough job. I had trouble following the overall plot, especially at the beginning. Scenes didn't make sense to me. Other parts were entertaining enough. At any rate, it only runs for an hour, so I didn't feel too bad after watching Gunslinger. Fans of Roger Corman might want to check it out.

Smoking on Mount Rushmore: Short Fiction for Veterans Day

My e-book Smoking on Mount Rushmore: 16 Selected & New Short Stories has a patriotic-themed title if you're doing some reading. The title story is about Cerise and Derek, a young married couple who want to have a last trip together before he ships out with his military unit to serve overseas. Derek picks Mount Rushmore as their trip's destination, and off they go on the lark. He wants it to be a memorable trip. Of course, they run into a few problems along the way, threatening to derail Derek's fun before he leaves the U.S. Readers at Goodreads and Amazon have enjoyed Smoking on Mount Rushmore: 16 Selected & New Short Stories for the diversity and originality of its offerings. "Your money's worth & then some," says one Amazon reviewer. Thanks and wishing you a safe holiday.

Jazz: The Beat Goes On

My wife and I recently got tickets to see the Jazz Ensemble's show at our local state university. The players are undergrads and graduate students. The show was in a small concert hall with good acoustics, so the sound was great no matter where the audience members sat. I'm something of a jazz buff with an interest in the jazz music of Parker, Brubeck, Coltrane, and Miles Davis. At any rate, the show was excellent and quite enjoyable. The selections played included the work of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and even Glen Miller ("In the Mood"). The students were enthusiastic and hugely talented. It was good to see a younger generation embrace jazz music and carry it on into the future. So, the beat truly does go on, doesn't it?

Back Story of My Private Eye Novel The Blue Cheer

The Blue Cheer features PI Frank Johnson who has already appeared in my debut book, The Dirt-Brown Derby. I wanted to take a new approach. I knew Stephen Greenleaf takes his PI away from home in his excellent Marshall Tanner novels. Even Ross Macdonald’s PI Lew Archer takes frequent trips out of his home base in California. So, the premise behind The Blue Cheer is to ship Frank out of his native town of Pelham, Virginia, and transplant him in a different locale.

Frank grows tired and bored with living in Pelham and itches for a change in scenery. He surfs across an ad for cheap property. It comes with a cabin deep in the West Virginia mountains near a fictitious town I called Scarab. The prospect of becoming a mountain man fires up Frank. My in-laws own a cabin in West Virginia, so I had a handy place to send Frank except I made his cabin more primitive and remote. After all, he’s now a mountain man.

Before long Frank figures he has it dicked. He’s grooving on mother nature, splitting up cords of red oak for his winter woodstove, and dealing with an antsy case of buck fever. An autumnal chill nips the air. He promises himself he’ll soon go hunt up a job.

Then one evening while Frank fixes dinner, he hears a buzz in the sky. He sprints outdoors for a look. A Stinger rocket launched at a target drone causes an explosion over his cabin. My work in the defense industry provided the background material for starting off The Blue Cheer with a dramatic boom. A fellow who sells target drones filled me in on its specs. They’re not cheap.

You know the adage telling writers to use what’s at hand to spin their tales? Not true for me. The Blue Cheer required lots more of research than my other PI Frank Johnson books (I have four titles under contract). The Internet wasn’t specific enough. All I can say is thank goodness for email and the generosity of experts. First, the setting had to be exact. Scarab’s main industry is a noisy plant erecting steel bridges on the outskirts of town. A buddy of mine worked for just such an outfit and I picked his brain at a steak house. I also picked up the tab, again not so cheap.

I consulted with an environmental group for the skinny on coal mining pollution. Frank and Old Man’s investigation lead them to an old graveyard. A geology professor aided me with Appalachian cemeteries (type of rock, design, etc.). An auto club in the sprawling Land of Oz assured me that vintage Valiants (Frank’s faithful car) remain roadworthy. I also needed to nail down particular details in creating the characters.

A former autopsy assistant lent me professional insights to create Eva, my own denier. Hattie McGraw, my blind granny lady, was inspired by Eudora Welty’s photograph, “Blind Weaver/Oktibbeha County” (1930s). Like me, Frank is a big bluegrass music fan and a local chamber of commerce supplied the bluegrass musicians native to West Virginia (O’Quinn Brothers).

Jan, the wife of Frank’s pal Old Man Maddox, writes poetry. Her “Vietnam War Memorial Triolet” originally appeared in a literary magazine penned ages ago by yours truly. I like that incongruity -- embedding a poem in a hardboiled detective novel. Noir master writer Charles Willeford wrote verse, too, so I felt on safe ground in using mine. Old Man Maddox, a Viet Nam War vet, likes his C&W music. A DJ who worked at the Vietnam War radio station KLIK in Lai Khe briefed me on their playlists.

Of course I needed to create the bad guys (a hate group called The Blue Cheer). The Southern Poverty Law Center confirmed their suits against hate groups. My bad guys then hatch a scheme to escape from any penury. A court clerk and court librarian set me straight in writing Frank’s legal hassles in the West Virginia courts. An ombudsman with the West Virginia State Police patiently answered my questions (what color uniform, what color squad cars, etc.). The Chief Medical Examiner of West Virginia and a forensic pathologist helped me with the gruesome aspects of my autopsy and crime scenes used in The Blue Cheer.

The devil is always in the details. I only hope I mastered enough of mine to write a vivid story.

Previously published on M.J. Rose's website. 

If I Were a Television Producer

This is something like playing if I were king for a day, and making proclamations about what you would do to make things better. In this instance, I'm going to pretend I am a TV producer who has been given a pot of money and lots of artistic freedom to develop TV programs I believe the viewing audiences would appreciate watching as much as I would. Since I like to read, I'd start looking at acquiring the film rights to crime fiction authors I admire and enjoy reading. Michael Connelly comes to mind. But I believe I read where Amazon has already grabbed him to make a TV series. Now that was a smart business move. Walter Mosley is another one. Why didn't more Easy Rawlins movies get made? Well, let's make him into a TV series instead. Speaking of cop shows, the other night I saw The Streets of San Francisco (starring Michael Douglas and Karl Malden) and Cannon (starring William Conrad) on a retro TV channel. It was pretty cool. I ended up liking Cannon more than I did the SF show. But maybe it is because I'm more partial to the private eye premise. Anyway, let's hope some good TV cop programs will be coming out soon.

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Alias Nick Beal

This 1949 film comes recommended by film noir czar Eddie Muller. It is a nifty retelling of the Faust myth where the ambitious man is willing to sell his soul to the devil to achieve his desired fame and power. Ray Milland starring as Nick Beal a.k.a. The Devil does a good job of personifying evil with his clipped speech and piercing, dark eyes. Thomas Mitchell as Joseph Foster is the conflicted, paunchy politician-D.A. who wants to be elected the governor. He sets up a meeting with Nick who pitches Foster the grand deal. The alway reliable Audrey Totter (I liked her best in The Setup with Robert Ryan) as the femme fatale Donna Allen gives Nick a hand in seducing Foster over to the dark side. Meantime George Macready as the Reverend Thomas Garfield represents the side of good and justice. There is lots of fog at a seedy portside bar where Nick likes to meet with his clients and hang out while drinking expensive brandy. The musical score is an eerie one, too. Everything is kept mortal throughout the picture, so there are no Exorcist-like special effects. I appreciated that aspect, too. IMDb.com rates Alias Nick Beal as 7.0/10.0, but I think it's more like 7.9. Googling it turns up a number of video sites that are streaming it online.

Fortieth Anniversary of the Horror Classic "The Exorcist "

When I read that this year is the 40th anniversary of the The Exorcist, I had to check just to be sure the math is right. Sure enough, The Exorcist is a 1973 U.S. horror flick. It was directed by William Friedkin and adapted by William Peter Blatty (won an Oscar) from his bestselling 1971 novel The Exorcist. Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, and Lee J. Cobb are the stars, with Blair playing the role of a lifetime as the teenage girl who is possessed by the Devil. Ellen Burstyn plays her mother, and von Sydow is the priest who performs the exorcism on Blair. This was potent subject matter at the time, although I contend the only real Devils were the ones laughing all the way to the bank. That same year I was in Mexico, and the folks there didn't know what I was talking about. Anyway, I didn't watch The Exorcist until years later at the drive-in theater, and by then, it was just another gory horror flick. Ellen Burstyn is a top notch actress who deserved better roles than this one. IMDb.com rates The Excorcist with a 8.0/10.0 which is a pretty high score by their standards. So, in honor of Halloween, we have The Exorcist as one of the most enduring scary movies.

Famous Cat(s) in TV Shows

I thought this would make a good topic for a blog post. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I couldn't think of but only one TV show with a recurring cat charater in it. Early Edition (1996-2000) starred Gary Hobson. Every week, an orange cat (no name?) sat on the early edition of the Chicago Sun-Times left outside his doorway. Maybe it's the bad luck of the black cats from Halloween that has struck me. Anyway, there must be more cats who appeared on the small screen. I could google it, but it's too late in the day. Besides, I might come up with more of them over the next few days as I'm writing my latest private eye book that has a cat named Flitcraft. Have a good Friday.