Friday, September 09, 2011

2.5" to 3" of Fiction

3" deep (uncompressed, measured from spine) or 2.5" deep (compressed, measured from spine)

Crimes in Southern Indiana by Frank Bill. 272 pages with acknowledgments. This is listed again because the spine label had to be redone. Bill thanks Roger Smith and Christa Faust in his acknowledgments. I always have difficulty spelling acknowledments.

The Mercy by Beverly Lewis. 306 pages with author's note.

Burning Soul by John Connolly. 406 pages with
acknawludgmints. Connolly thanks Howie Carr for the Boston background and information of Carr's The Brothers Bulger. I read that book.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Two Movies, One Television Show

DVD

The Horseman starring [Australians]. Man's daughter is murdered and he murders for revenge and "reaches a new level of brutality."



Prisoner of Her Past featuring Sonia Reich and Howard Reich. Sixty years after surviving a concentration camp Sonia Reich's PTSD catches up with her and she thinks everyone is out to kill her. Her son films her and also traces the PTSD effects on kids who survived Hurricane Katrina. Dirty, filthy, rotten, stinking nazis.




Single-Handed: Series (Season) One starring [Irish People]. Irish Garda (police) Seargeant from Dublin is transferred out West and takes over his father's rural beat. As chief law-enforcement officer in this insular community, Jack soon learns the hard truth [of working alone].

Lake Mills 175th Anniversary

175th Anniversary

I was going to go around this past weekend and take photos of the many events that were scheduled. I did not do so. My family did attend the car show on Sunday.

The Handy Man tries out a Ferrari.
The Handy Man tries out a Ferrari

The "upper" grill off a Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner. One of two Fairlanes at the car show.
Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner "upper grill"

Panoz Esperante. The owner said the company only built about 230 of these. The owner told me the exact number but I cannot recall it, look it up yourself.
Panoz Esperante

I guess this came from Germany. That makes sense since this badge was on a Porsche.
Car Badge

Lotus Europa Special. This puts the driver and passenger incredibly close to the ground.
Lotus Europa Special

Renault 4CV. My apologies but I do not know any insulting jokes about French cars.
Renault 4CV

Edsel grill. A face only Sheriff Dan Rhodes could love.
Edsel Toilet Seat Grill

1930s MG Midget that won the overall judging and peoples choice award. The car was highly polished with copper tubes routed all around the engine bay. There is no way the Midget's owner drove the car here.
MG

MG

MG Midget Carburetors

MG Midget Engine

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

New Guy, Old Guy, North Country

Fiction

Northwest Angle by William Kent Krueger. Continuing character Cork O'Connor is on vacation in Lake of the Woods, MN. Someone is dead. Infant boy is found. Cork has to protect boy from bad guys.

Crimes in Southern Indiana by Frank Bill. First book by short story writer. "The union jobs and family farms that kept the white on the picket fences have given way to meth labs, backwoods gunrunners, and bare-knuckle brawling." Bill has gotten a lot of raves from other writers, like Anthony Neil Smith who will teach our writing workshop on Nov. 5th.

Heartwishes by Jude Deveraux. "An Edilean Novel." Edilean?

Only Time Will tell by Jeffrey Archer. First in a new series about 1920s guy from the English docks who wins scholarship to a prestigious school. Sounds like that novel by that one guy. You know who I mean. I had to read the book in high school.

Liquid Smoke by Jeff Shelby. Surfer mystery by author in Texas. These are supposed to be good. Try reading Winslow's Dawn Patrol for surfing comparison. Then email the author you liked the least and complain at him. Writers love that.

End of Days by Robert Gleason. Some lady who has stockpiled for apocalypse finds out about a plot for apocalypse. The flyleaf's plot description is very confusing.

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman. I'm attending Bouchercon in St. Louis in a couple weeks. Lippman is scheduled to be there. She sells a lot of books. I think if I run into her I'll say something like. "Oh, do you write books?"

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny. Inspector Gamache investigates another murder in the small Quebec town of Three Pines. The mortality rate in Three Pines is worse than that of Bill Crider's Blacklin County.

Kill Me If You Can by James Patterson and Marshall Karp. I saw a television advertisement for this book. Patterson is not scheduled for Bouchercon in St. Louis. He is probably too busy counting his money.

The Cut by George Pelecanos. Another guy with a big following among fellow writers. Former soldier who served in Iraq has a new job in D.C.: "recovering stolen property, no questions asked, as long as he gets his cut - 40 percent."