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Books: _The Bank Shot_ by Donald Westlake
Thu, 03 Jul 2008

No doubt I've gone on about Mr. Westlake in the past (or should have) -- truly his works form an astounding body of fiction that really everyone should have a taste of. I can only say that, fortunately for the humble reader, he has written and continues to write so many works that you will never truly run out - and for the completionists among us, much of his work is now out of print and can be great fun to track down. How many times in the past have you caught up to an authors latest work and waited half a decade for the sequal, and then found another one in the wait? With Mr. Westlake and his sydonyms you could start with books done many decades ago, only to find out he pops out a book a year .. go forward or back, you'll never keep up to the man.

Of the several dozen books I've read from the man, they are generally even.. highly consistent pacing (always a fast read since of course you can barely stand to put them down), always crackling and witty dialog, always very human characters -- likable heroes, bad guys you cannot wait to get their upcomings and always some absolutely perfect caper scenes.. be they amusing or action packed.) Choose Donald Westlake for his capers-gone-wrong or other works, or the Richard Stark alias for more serious crime noir fiction.. capers going right.

Just go read some. I'll wait. Go.

Anyway, I just wrapped up Bank Shot, a caper in the Dortmunder series (which is under Westlake, not Stark) from awhile back. Another great caper with familiar characters doing their jobs and hanging about at the O.J. Bar .. and some truly amazing scenes. Few 'comedy' books have ever evoked an actual real world laugh from me before, but this one had it.. action, dialog and a couple so well crafted scenes I had to tell my wife about them. I'm going to tell non-reader folks around my office about them. I'm going to look in a mirror and tell yself about them for Crom's sake.

Oh, I suppose I should summarize a little.. in Bank Shot, the gang comes across a bank that is being rebuilt, so for a short time the bank operation is being run from a heavy mobile home across the road while the main building is under construction. Suffice to say the mobile bank is locked down.. security guards, no wheels under the home, cement walls to hold up the unit and so on. But the gang is going to steal it. The whole bank.

As readers, we are in a lucky position.

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Literature: Pale Gray For Guilt
Tue, 06 Nov 2007

So many topics have come to mind the last few weeks, but just as easily drifted away. On the rough nughts when the baby is gnashing through her growth spurts and clawing her way through the rising waves of inputs, time goes quickly as we cheer her. On the easy nights when she plays away and giggles with fascination at her new found skills, what stone-hearted scoundrel could avoid playing with hose tiny probing fingers? So either way the days tumble by, rocks in a slide. (Last night was a funky night, so I will cop out on the rest of this posting :)

A very good friend of mine who had comforting thoughts a year ago when they were welcomed, resent an excerpt from a novel that was timely then. It is excellent stuff, clear and precise and binding. So I rcord it here for when it might be needed again, and as a mini review .. I've not read the novel but I think I must based on these few paragraphs. Perhaps they will entice you as well. (And if not, go read some Neal Stephenson. He'll mess you up.)

...too many others were gone, and I sought chill comfort in an analogy of death that has been with me for years. It doesn't explain or justify. It just seems to remind me how things are.

Picture a very swift torrent, a river rushing down between rocky walls. There is a long, shallow bar of sand and gravel that runs right down the middle of the river. It is under water. You are born and you have to stand on that narrow, submerged bar, where everyone stands. The ones born before you, the ones older than you, are upriver from you. The younger ones stand braced on the bar downriver. And the whole long bar is slowly moving down that river of time, washing away at the upstream end and building up downstream.

Your time, the time of all your contemporaries, schoolmates, your loves and your adversaries, is that part of the shifting bar on which you stand. And it is crowded at first. You can see the way it thins out, upstream from you. The old ones are washed away and their bodies go swiftly by, like logs in the current. Downstream where the younger ones stand thick, you can see them flounder, lose footing, wash away. Always there is more room where you stand, but always the swift water grows deeper, and you feel the shift of the sand and the gravel under your feet as the river wears it away. Someone looking for a safer place can nudge you off balance, and you are gone. Someone who has stood beside you for a long time gives a forlorn cry and you reach to catch their hand, but the fingertips slide away and they are gone. There are the sounds in the rocky gorge, the roar of the water, the shifting, gritty sound of sand and gravel underfoot, the forlorn cries of despair as the nearby ones, and the ones upstream, are taken by the current. Some old ones who stand on a good place, well braced, understanding currents and balance, last a long time. A Churchill, fat cigar atilt, sourly amused at his own endurance and, in the end, indifferent to rivers and the rage of waters. Far downstream from you are the thin, startled cries of the ones who never got planted, never got set, never quite understood the message of the torrent.

-- John D. MacDonald, _Pale Gray For Guilt_

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Literature: Eragon.. defaced :P
Sat, 30 Dec 2006

Having just seen the Eragon film, I thought I'd hit up the IMDB and see what rating it got, then head to wikipedia to find out something about the author. Turns out the Eragon page itself had been defaced, but was fixed moments later. To ensure the survival of the defaced site, I saved a copy which you can see here. (No, I didn't do the defacement, but I am a fan of the opening paragraph :)

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Lit: Retrogamer Returns from the Dead
Tue, 06 Dec 2005

You might remember from an earlier post of mine that the much adored Retro Gamer magazine went out of business; more specifically, Live Publishing went bust due to losses against numerous magazines despite RG itself being a money maker. Well, like the content it describes, Retro Gamer is making a comeback.

Although the new company has nothing to do with Live Publishing, the new boys are trying to get back their former customers - a wise plan; how many people were in the same boat as I.. renewing just before Live unknowingly tanked? Being out an entire years sub-money wasn't really cool, so getting a free 3 copies of the new rag means I'll pay attention. If this first new issue (issue 19) is anything to go by .. I may well be a subscriber again.

I've not had this issue long enough to make good commentary (notice a trend in this blog yet?), but it looks sharp and professional, yet maintains its retro-cuteness -- lots of big glossy photos of R-Type, Ms. Pacman, Leisure Suit Larry.. whats not to love? I even hear they'll not be so UK-oriented this time around.

Loverly.

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R.I.P. Retro Gamer Magazine UK
Tue, 27 Sep 2005

(Updated) Retro Gamer (RG) was a great magazine published in the UK for a year or two. With heavy heart I say this in the past tense for it would seem that Live Publishing is no more. Apparently RG-itself was doing pretty well but the other magazines Live was publishing didn't fare so well and dragged the company down. Quite a shame, as RG stood as one of the few retro-oriented magazines. At least some of the writers (who got stiffed!) are pooling together unpublished articles to print up a CD of the now missing issue 19 - check it out here. Also see this new retro magazine rising from the ashes, here

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Literature: The Greenbacks of Shannara
Fri, 22 Jul 2005

Do I plead the fifth or actually make this post? I debated this for a week, but in the name of bloganistic integrity.. here goes, and to heck with my reputation as sensible human being. I'm not really a literary elitist, but life is too short to read a lot of the bad and cheesie stuff out there IMHO, so I traditionally stick to known good authors or new (to me) authors recommended by friends. I wish I had more time and budget for just picking up random books (which is how I cam across so many great authors in the past, such as Steven Brust) but alas I do not. Still, sometimes you need to turn off your cynic and jump into some Robert Jordan or David Eddings and be done with (though usually its safer to just hit up some Phillip Jose Farmer instead :)

Anyhoo, Terry Brooks' Shannara series is undeniably one of the most popular (and profitable) series around. I believe I read some of it as a kid, but a couple months back I found myself in the mood for some so-called high fantasy (which I usually refer to as wank fantasy) - a term that seems to imply a high density of Tolkien-esque elements such as tall whispy elves who are friends to the forest and great in AD&D, short sturdy dwarves, a single world-saving artefact to be chased down and a great evil slowly sweeping across the playfield. Of course, Tolkien pretty much invented the modern fantasy genre and needs no description here, Terry Brooks series is essentially a formulaic knock-off. But thats okay, I knew that going in and so did manage to enjoy the first two volumes so far. (A note to my friends -- please keep talking to me ;)

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Literature: Bruce Campbell, If Chins Could Kill
Fri, 22 Jul 2005

Alright, I'll say it -- I'll out myself -- I'm a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess fan. And not just the Callisto (Hudson Leick) kind of fan, but a fan of hammed up acting and mythos-mixing goofy plot television.

Remember, the measure of a man is not the value of his zipped ebook collection (ebooks do not collectibles make), but the weight of his paperback and hard cover collection -- and my collection now includes two vitally important volumes: If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a "B" Movie Actor and Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way

(I had other posting titles in mind, but really.. how can you top that actual book name?)

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Literature: Reviewing (or drooling over?) the latest Parker, Nobody Runs Forever
Fri, 17 Jun 2005

If you're looking for books that are difficult to describe to someone whose not dipped into the crime noir fiction genre before, these are your best bet. Parker is the hardened (or hard-boiled) lead character in this series of books by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake being the authors real name) -- novels that are nearly impossible to put down once you've cracked them open. Literary cocaine, these are fast paced heist stories full of the sorts of characters you'd find (or love to find) in the underbelly of New York city..

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