Friday, November 14, 2008

DVDs with Ben Kingsley, Australian horror, prom dance horror, and Hellboy horror

DVD

Hellboy II starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt. Hellboy and colleagues fight against [something] to...save humanity!
Ron Perlman may show up in a prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep entitled...Bubba Nosferatu!

Dance of the Dead starring [teenagers]. Oh, wow. This is a zombie movie. That must be why I bought it. Just hours before the prom high school students have to work together to stop the zombie hordes...attacking the town!

Wolf Creek starring [Australians]. Three hikers in Australia's outback return to their car to find it is dead. A passing truck stops and the Crocodile Dundee style driver offers a lift...to despair!

Last Legion starring Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley. Firth plays a general assigned the security of the young Caesar. When Rome is sacked Firth and friends flee by sea with the boy Caesar to England where they hope to find the last intact, and loyal, Roman legion. Firth rallies the troops and fights...for freedom!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Fiction with another one of those vampire/witch/werewolf paperbacks women read

Fiction

Bone Yard by Michelle Gagnon. FBI agents and serial killers. They go together like peas in a pod. This one has a mass grave on the Appalachian Trail with victims from several states.

No Rest for the Wiccan by Madelyn Alt. Witch Maggie deals with domestic crises, her love life, finding some ghosts, and solving a murder.
I bet the author stuck some recipes in there.

The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins. The one named hit man's beginning. A series started by Collins in 1976. Quarry infiltrates a college town to kill a professor.

Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman. Former policeman and current PI Moe Prager runs a wine shop in a rich part of Manhattan but feels most comfortable anywhere but there. When an old cop friend kills himself Moe starts looking into what went on and follows a trail of corruption that began 35 years ago.
Coleman's Hose Monkey (written as Tony Spinosa) was really good. The previous book in this series, The James Deans, won a bunch of mystery awards.
I was planning to interview Coleman on video at Murder and Mayhem in Muskego but did not get the opportunity.

Fault Lines by Nancy Huston. Sol's mother thinks her is destined for greatness because his birthmarks match those of relatives going three generations back. "When Sol's family makes an unexpected trip to Germany, secrets begin to emerge about their history during World War II. It seems birthmarks are not all that's been passed down through the bloodlines."

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. "Where tragedy confronts eternity." Mackenzie receives a letter, seemingly from God, telling her to revisit the Oregon mountain shack where he daughter was likely murdered four years ago.

Just After Sunset by Stephen King. I thought he was going to retire?

Whiskey Rebels by David Liss. Two former soldiers of the Revolutionary Army find themselves at odds after the war. One works for Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, who he hates. Another heads for Western Pennsylvania and distills whiskey.
This look good. You don't see many novels about the Whiskey Rebellion.

Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. Snap judgement from the cover: literary chick book.

A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre. A Russian in Germany is facing deportation. His German lawyer is intent on winning his case. Russian may be a Muslim terrorist and intelligence agencies start to swoop in to influence things.

Ritual by Mo Hayder. Police diver Flea Marley and Inspector Jack Caffery investigate an abduction after linking the victim to two hands found in the bay in Bristol, England. Their investigation takes them into the drug addicts, street kids, whores and immigrants of underground Bristol. Recent immigrants may have brought a nasty occult ceremony with them.

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton. Considering Hamilton's previous book content the title is likely a double entendre.

Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver. Wisconsin Deputy Brynn McKenzie leaves the dinner table to respond to a 911 hang-up call. The remote cabin hosts a bloody crime scene and Brynn and a survivor flee into the woods from a couple killers.

Into the Fire by Suzanne Brockman. I don't know. I'm tired of typing.

Large Print by One Pseudonym Lady, One Dead Lady, One Montana Guy and A Limey

Large Print

Salvation in Death by JD Robb. Father Flores drinks from the communion chalice and keels over. Father Flores was felled by felonious fellas who found facts of his fugitive past.

Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig. Snap judgement from cover: World War Two pilot of bomber crewman survives with guilt and goes him and woos a dead colleague's girl.

Murder Inside the Beltway by Margaret Truman. Yes, Margaret Truman was related to Harry S Truman. She was Truman's only child. Yes, she is dead. No, I do not know if her novels were ghost written or if this book was completed before her death.

A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre. A Russian in Germany is facing deportation. His German lawyer is intent on winning his case. Russian may be a Muslim terrorist and intelligence agencies start to swoop in to influence things.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

What to Read 14

Interview with author J.D. "Dusty" Rhoades at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference held at the Mueskego, WI public library on 8 November 2008.

Rhoades's books include the Jack Keller series: Devil's Right Hand, Good Day in Hell, Devil's Right Hand. Rhoades's most recent is the thriller Breaking Cover. All titles are available from the Library.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What to Read 13

Discussion with author Anthony Neil Smith about Minnesota and Smith's latest novel Yellow Medicine. Filmed at the Muskego Public Library in Muskego, WI during the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference on Nov. 8, 2008.

Edited for time to keep under 10 minutes.


Made-up Stories

Mysteries

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth. We already own Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance. That one checked out so I bought this one. Oscar Wilde is at a dinner party in 1892 with, among others, Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle. Wilde proposes the question, "Who would you most like to kill?" When one of people whose name was anonymously written down at the party is murdered Oscar and pals get to work.

Blood Alone by James R. Benn. Billy Boyle has landed in advance of the rest of the Allied invasion force on Sicily. With a concussion induced amnesia he cannot recall the true mission. You see, Boyle's mother got Billy a cushy staff job with Uncle Ike. Too bad Uncle Ike is General Eisenhower who decided to put Billy's detective skills to use.
If you like this one there is at least one more Boyle novel set in North Africa.

Twin Killing by Marshall Cook. Small town newspaper editor Monona Quinn rushes back to Iowa after her nephew is arrested for drug possession. Back home in Summersend, IA the locals start turning up dead. What a coincidence.

Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown. Some dead cat story. Or a cat with dead people. Or a cat writes about dead people. I'm not sure what the deal is with these.

Angel's Tip by Alafair Burke. Spring Breaker Chelsea hart stays late at a New York nightclub's VIP room and is found dead with her hair chopped off. NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher has a good case against a rich jerk but has suspicions based on previous deaths.
Burke gets around. I think she used to attorney-ize in Phoenix. Then she lawyerized in Portland, OR. Now she teaches legalizing in New York.

Fiction

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler. Mortimer Tate leaves his mountain side cave after hiding out for nine years due to the fall of civilizaztion. He encounters cannibals, one eyed train conductors, hookers, would be cowboys, and searches for coffee.
For a fuller review see What to Read 10 or What to Read 12.

'Tis the Season by Lorna Landvik. Drunken socialite Caroline reaches out to her Norwegian former nanny and a dude ranch owner in Aridzona. Stories are exchanged and a Christmas reunion is planned.

Breaking Cover by JD Rhoades. Tony Wolf was assumed dead after his undercover assignment went bad and he took a biker gang's cash and ran. Now his self-imposed cover is blown and he has to defend himself.
A replacement for a copy that was doused. I interviewed Rhoades at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego thing this past Saturday but do not have the video up yet.

Searching for Paradise in Parker, PA by Kris Radish. Some chick book. Judging by the cover and title this is a comedy.

Western

Grave For A Dead Gunfighter by Kent Cowell. Clint thought his father dead by Clint's own mistake. Ten years later Clint learns his father is alive and when Clint finds his father the man refuses Clint and his help against the carpetbaggers out to take the old man's land.

Monday, November 10, 2008

What to Read 12

Interview with Victor Gischler at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference held at the Muskego Public Library in Muskego, WI.

Gischler's available books are: Gun Monkeys, Pistol Poets, Suicide Squeeze, Shotgun Opera, Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse. His Blogpocalypse website is at victorgischler.blogspot.com.





What to Read 11

Interview with author Chris Grabenstein at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego writers conference hosted by the Muskego Public Library in Muskego, WI.

Grabenstein's novels include the John Ceepak series with Tilt-A-Whirl, Mad Mouse, Whack-A-Mole, Hell Hole. The Christopher Miller holiday-themed thriller series with Slay Ride and Hell for the Holidays. Horror novels for middle readers with The Crossroads.