This week's selections, reviews of the books and more cited below, include a few duplicates, whether due to review of reissues or announcement of them, or a couple of quick looks at a key, vintage fantasy anthology. Patricia Abbott will be back to hosting next week, before going on to see if she and her daughter Megan win the first parent-and-child duo of Anthony Awards at the world crime-fiction convention in Toronto, the Bouchercon...thanks to all the contributors, and all you readers...Sergio Angelini: The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
Yvette Banek: Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert
Mark Baker: Murder on Gramercy Park by Victoria Thompson
Bernadette: Plantation Shudders by Ellen Byron
Les Blatt: Cat of Many Tails by "Ellery Queen" (Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee)
John Boston: Amazing: Fact and Science Fiction Stories, October 1962, edited by Cele Goldsmith
Ben Boulden: Project Jael by Aaron Fletcher
Brian Busby: Comeback by Dan Hill
Alice Chang: The House of God by "Samuel Shem" (Stephen Bergman)
Bill Crider: Daddy's Gone A-Hunting by Robert Skinner; ReDemolished by Alfred Bester (compiled by Richard Raucci); The Winter is Passed by Harry Whittington (unpublished)
Newell Dunlap and Bill Pronzini: Wycliffe and the Scapegoat by W. J. Burley
Martin Edwards: The Pyx by John Buell
Barry Ergang: Oh, Murderer Mine by Norbert Davis
Will Errickson: The Inquistor series by "Simon Quinn" (Martin Cruz Smith)
Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook: DC war comics, August/September 1970
Curtis Evans: reissue programs for Detection Club members "Christopher Bush" (Charles Christmas Bush) and Edith Caroline Rivett (aka "ECR Lorac" and "Carol Carnac")
Barry Gardner: Corruptly Procured by Michael Bowen
John Grant: The Detective by Roderick Thorp
Christy H: The Bake-Off by Beth Kendrick (courtesy Kevin Tipple)
Rich Horton: The Octangle by Emanie Sachs
Jerry House: Keep the Baby, Faith by "Philip DeGrave" (William DeAndrea)
Nick Jones: Diamond Dogs by Alistair Reynolds (among other Revelation Space novellas)
Tracy K: Hammett by Joe Gores
Joe Kenney: Dragon Slay: Nick Carter: Killmaster #261 (and last) by "Nick Carter" (in this case Jack Canon)
Margot Kinberg: Another Margaret by Janice MacDonald
Rob Kitchin: After You Die by Eva Dolan
Richard Krauss: Suspense, Winter 1952, edited by Theodore Irwin
Kate Laity: Truth Always Kills by Rick Ollerman
B. V. Lawson: The Comfortable Coffin edited by Richard S. Prather
Evan Lewis: Bat Masterson (tv-tie-in LP spoken word album) written by Michael Avallone (read by Eddie Bracken)
Steve Lewis: Black Money by "Ross Macdonald" (Kenneth Millar); "The Holes in the System" by Marcia Muller
Gideon Marcus: Galaxy, October 1962, edited by Frederik Pohl
Todd Mason: early 1960s fantasy anthologies: The Unexpected edited by Leo Margulies; The Unknown edited by D. R. Bensen; Swords & Sorcery edited by L. Sprague de Camp; Beyond edited by Thomas Dardis; The Fantastic Universe Omnibus edited by Hans Stefan Santesson
Karin Montin: Grand Trunk and Shearer by Ian Truman
Early one morning D’Arcy Kennedy gets a call: one of his friends reports that his brother Cillian has been found dead in the canal that serves as a border between Pointe St. Charles and the rest of the city. The very brief police investigation finds that Cillian died of drowning, with a mix of drugs in his system, along with “ammoniated bleach.” It’s an accident, in other words. End of story.D’Arcy refuses to believe it was anything but murder. Cillian was a mixed martial arts fighter who followed a strict no-drugs policy. If the police won’t bring the killer to justice, he will. And so D’Arcy and his three loyal friends go on a mission. As they retrace Cillian’s whereabouts on his last night, they tour Montreal’s underbelly--the crack houses, the outdoor drinking spots, the afterhours clubs--talking to punk musicians, neo-Nazis, antiracist skinheads, security guards and many others who live by night.
Flashbacks paint a picture of the Point in the Kennedy boys’ youth, a time when Irish kids fought French kids, just because, and doubly because they hated being called English. Those were the good old days. Today the area is being gentrified, and the long-time residents have dead-end jobs that mean they’ll soon be priced out of the neighbourhood.
Truman has a knack for dialogue and vivid descriptions of streets. You can get to know the Point by following D’Arcy’s movements on a map and picturing the buildings he visits. He also tells a coherent story.
Unfortunately, the book is marred by dozens of errors of every possible kind, in French, English and even Irish Gaelic.
As I wrote in my review of Truman's self-published The Factory Line, I had hopes that Down & Out would have a copy editor. Apparently they don’t. And that's why I haven't given it four stars.
Neeru: A Revolutionary's Life by Bandi Jeewan
Steven Nester: Where Murder Waits by E. Howard Hunt
Juri Nummelin: Rafferty's Rules by W. Glenn Duncan
John ONeill: The Spell of Seven edited by L. Sprague de Camp
Matt Paust: Seldom Disappointed by Tony Hillerman
Mildred Perkins: Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
James Reasoner: The Wench is Wicked by "Carter Brown" (Alan G. Yates); Exciting Western, September 1952, edited by David X. Manners
Gerard Saylor: Fender Lizards by Joe R. Lansdale
Victoria Silverwolf: Fantastic: Stories of Imagination, October 1962, edited by Cele Goldsmith
Doug Skinner: Grump magazine, edited by Roger Price
Kerrie Smith: The Good People by Hannah Kent
"TomCat": The Perfect Murder Case by "Christopher Bush" (Charles Christmas Bush)
Prashant Trikannad: "Booty for a Badman" by Louis L'Amour (The Saturday Evening Post, 30 July 1960; reprinted in L'Amour's War Party)
- 4 • According to You ... (Fantastic, October 1962) • letter column by uncredited
- 5 • Editorial (Fantastic, October 1962) • [Editorial (Fantastic)] • essay by Norman M. Lobsenz
- 6 • The Unholy Grail • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • novelette by Fritz Leiber
- 6 • The Unholy Grail • interior artwork by Ed Emshwiller [as by Emsh]
- 32 • The Double-Timer • short story by Thomas M. Disch
- 32 • The Double-Timer • interior artwork by Dan Adkins [as by Adkins]
- 53 • Any Questions? • short story by Leo P. Kelley
- 53 • Any Questions? • interior artwork by Dan Adkins [as by Adkins]
- 61 • Nor Iron Bars a Cage • short story by Ron Goulart
- 63 • Nor Iron Bars a Cage • interior artwork by Leo Summers [as by Summers]
- 74 • Presence of Mind: Introduction • essay by Sam Moskowitz
- 74 • Presence of Mind • interior artwork by Leo Summers [as by Summers]
- 76 • Presence of Mind • (1934) • novelette by Martin Armstrong
- 108 • The Teachers Rode a Wheel of Fire • short story by Roger Zelazny
- 108 • The Teachers Rode a Wheel of Fire • interior artwork by Leo Summers [as by Summers]
- 113 • Autogeddon • short story by Geoffrey Wagner
- 113 • Autogeddon • interior artwork by George Schelling [as by Schelling]
- bc • Presence of Mind [bc] • interior artwork by Leo Summers (variant of Presence of Mind) [as by Summers]
8 comments:
Another great assembly of Forgotten Books, Todd. Every week my wanna read list grows and I've just added seven more books today. Thanks for stepping in.
And I'm still adding entries...thank you!
And with continuing adds to the tbr tbr lists !
thank you!
We do our best, or at least what we do...thank you, too, for looking in...and glad we're doing something useful thus!
Todd, thanks for compiling this fine list of FFB reviews, including mine along with the TSEP cover. The covers, cast (of writers) and content of The Fantastic Universe Omnibus, Swords & Sorcery, The Spell of Seven, and Beyond got my full attention.
Thank you, Prashant. As noted in the review, the FU OMNIBUS isn't quite the anthology it could or should be, but is still a reasonable representation of the magazine often referred to during its run as "the poor man's F&SF"; the BEYOND selection is also not by any means all the best that fantasy (and not really science fiction at all, back in the days when "fantasy" wasn't a selling label on most paperbacks) magazine ran, but gives a good sense of it.
Todd – Thanks for compiling this list. That link to GRUMP was a hoot.
Glad you liked it, Elgin. I'm surprised that the magazine, even given its short run, isn't better remembered.
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