Friday Leftovers

Anonymous-9 recommended Fade to Blonde by Max Phillips. The main character, Ray Corson, is a failed screen writer turned hired muscle. The femme fatale, Rebecca LaFontaine, is a stag movie starlet who hires Corson to protect her from a man threatening her life. The plot is standard, but Phillips has a Chandleresque way with words and the climax is rousing. Excellent read...

My education continued with The Sinister Sphere by Frederick C. Davis reprinted in Black Lizard Big Book Of Pulps. It is a modern day Robin Hood short story where the protagonist dons a dome of argus one-way glass over his head and becomes the Moon Man. The story was rather impractical and it's punctuated with plenty of exclamation points to drive home the thrilling action as it unfolded! "Moon Man" is frequently repeated less we forget who we're reading about. I still found it enjoyable in the “they don’t write like that anymore” category. According to the Big Book Of Pulps, there were thirty-nine Moon Man adventures from 1933-1939…

The hotel where I’m staying delivers the colorful USA Today every weekday to my door. Thursday's paper featured an article on Larry McMurtry. I’ve always admired McMurtry, but unfortunately, he comes across seriously antiquated in the interview…

My Net travels: Laurie Powers began a research paper on a grandfather she never knew and, in turn, uncovered an unsung writer of the pulp era -- Paul S. Powers. After reading about him in the SGVTribune, I added Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street to my book list…

Stephen King makes a case that the best horror movies are low budget, and other than the original Psycho, I have to agree with him…

Sherlock Holmes has been played by many actors over the years. I loved Basil Rathbone in the first two Holmes films and when Jeremy Brett took on the role in the mid-eighties, I felt the definitive Holmes was filmed. However, with yesterday's announcement of Robert Downey Jr. assuming the role, knowing his ability to become possessed by the characters he plays, he potentially can eclipse them all. The downside: Madonna's hubby, Guy Ritchie, is set to direct. Let’s just hope he doesn’t ask Madge to play Irene Adler.