Friday, September 22, 2017

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: the links to the reviews and more...added links and images

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Robert Skinner; ReDemolished by Alfred Bester (compiled by Richard Raucci); The Winter is Passed by Harry Whittington (unpublished)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")
Paul Fraser: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1962, edited by Avram Davidson

 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

George Kelley: Swords & Sorcery edited by L. Sprague de Camp

 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)
 






































ISFDB index: (cover painting by Ed Eshmwiller)
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8 comments:

  1. Jerry HouseSeptember 22, 2017 at 1:05 PM

    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.

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  2. Todd MasonSeptember 22, 2017 at 1:09 PM

    And I'm still adding entries...thank you!

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  3. ktfordSeptember 22, 2017 at 4:03 PM

    And with continuing adds to the tbr tbr lists !
    thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Todd MasonSeptember 22, 2017 at 4:08 PM

    We do our best, or at least what we do...thank you, too, for looking in...and glad we're doing something useful thus!

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  5. Prashant C. TrikannadSeptember 23, 2017 at 6:04 AM


    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.

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  6. Todd MasonSeptember 23, 2017 at 9:08 AM

    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.

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  7. Elgin BleeckerOctober 4, 2017 at 12:04 PM

    Todd – Thanks for compiling this list. That link to GRUMP was a hoot.

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  8. Todd MasonOctober 5, 2017 at 10:30 PM

    Glad you liked it, Elgin. I'm surprised that the magazine, even given its short run, isn't better remembered.

    ReplyDelete

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