Leslie M. Pockell, you have my thanks. Because you remain true to the second word in the collection you’ve edited, 21 ESSENTIAL AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, I can clear my shelves of several other anthologies I was keeping around for a single tale or two. You have excellent taste.

Chances are, many readers will be familiar with most of the stories in this volume; several are all-time favorites of mine since being taught them in school. I can recall being a student who didn’t particularly care much for reading, but experiencing a jolt of joy in English class when introduced to Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” Talk about an eye-opener.

Same with other stories I first ran across as assignments in our textbooks: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ever-disturbing “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Ambrose Bierce’s tense “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” O. Henry’s ironic “The Gift of the Magi” and Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger?,” which could be the only short story to get away with not having an ending.

Pockell makes some interesting choices with some usual suspects, perhaps most notably in Edgar Allan Poe, whom he represents not with a horror tale, but a detection one with “The Purloined Letter.” The inclusion of Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” makes sense, while Joel Chandler Harris’ “Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby” may catch you off-guard.

Other authors making Pockell’s cut are Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Stephen Crane, Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, James Thurber, William Faulkner and that esteemed man of letters, H.P. Lovecraft. Surprise! —Rod Lott

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A couple of years ago, while the mainstream world was posthumously discovering the science fiction works of Philip K. Dick (mostly through a slew of movie adaptations), the Library of America published its first collection of Dick’s work, FOUR NOVELS OF THE 1960S. It added Dick’s legacy to their roster of “America’s best and most significant writing” and solidified his reputation as an underappreciated author. And it quickly went on to become one of LOA’s biggest selling editions.

The third LOA edition, VALIS AND LATER NOVELS, collects four books mostly from a time in Dick’s career when religion and religious revelation went from being of his many secondary themes to a dominant concern in his fiction and his life. As with the previous editions, novelist Jonathan Lethem serves as editor, providing both the detailed chronology and text notes at the end.

A MAZE OF DEATH was actually published in 1970, but is included here because of its foreshadowing of the religious theme. A group of diverse misfits are either summoned or are transferred to the planet Delmak-O. They attempt to survive and colonize on the strange world, until they begin killing each other. The one common denominator among all the characters, however, is a theology of God the “Mentufacturer,” who seems to determine their fate. While this belief is discussed and argued throughout the novel, the nature of reality — Dick’s most celebrated theme — is more central to the narrative.
 
About four years later, Dick’s life altered dramatically when he experienced what he described as a series of mystical revelations, which he referred to afterward as “the events of 2-3-74.” His first fictional response to these revelations was 1981′s VALIS, possibly the strangest work in his entire canon. It begins with the recounting of protagonist Horselover Fat’s nervous breakdown. But suddenly, Dick intrudes and announces, “I am Horselover Fat, and I am writing this in the third person to gain much-needed objectivity.” (Horselover Fat is taken from the root word origins of Philip Dick).

The rest of the novel is a semi-autobiographical journey following Fat and his friends as they seek the meaning of God, religion and the “Vast Active Living Intelligence System” that sent a pink light stream of Gnostic insight into Fat’s brain. It is by turns a funny, infuriating, frightening and wholly unforgettable novel.
 
That same year, Dick published VALIS’ intended sequel, THE DEVINE INVASION. It is the story of Herb Asher, a loner on an off-world colony whose life is changed by a local alien. That alien turns out to be Yahweh, the God in the Judeo-Christian tradition, who impregnates Asher’s ailing female neighbor. Asher quickly marries the woman and returns to Earth to witness the birth of the child. And as the child grows, he becomes a threat to Earth’s dominant religious establishment.
 
Later that same year, Dick accepted an agreement from his editor to produce a mainstream and a science fiction novel. He completed the mainstream novel first, and THE TRANSMIGRATION OF TIMOTHY ARCHER was published shortly after his death in 1982. Based on the life of Bishop Pike, Dick’s friend for several years, it was Dick’s first non-SF work in almost 20 years. It is the story of Bishop Timothy Archer of the Diocese of California, who gives up his comfortable position within the church hierarchy to search for the hidden meaning of some sacred texts of his religion. The events are recalled in the disillusioned, but affectionate first-person narration of Angel Archer, Timothy’s daughter-in-law and one of Dick’s most memorable characters.

Dick began to doubt the significance of the revelations he experienced in what was to become the final months of his life, but he never completely dismissed them. And in these four novels, especially the last three (sometimes referred to as “The VALIS Trilogy”), we experience him struggling to make sense of it and relay it all in fiction. He incorporated the various troupes of science fiction in his efforts, and then dismissed them entirely by the time of TIMOTHY ARCHER. Ironically, this reflects the love/hate relationship he had with science fiction — the genre that made his career, but always seemed somewhat second-rate in his estimation.
 
Like its two predecessors, VALIS AND LATER NOVELS is essential reading. Dick fans should buy it and retire their dog-eared copies of the original editions. And those who were introduced to his fascinating worlds via LOA should immediately follow up with this final collection.
 
One final, semi-related observation: If the publication of Dick’s work was your first encounter with the LOA editions, please explore their catalog deeper. You’ll find that in addition to those many authors who were required reading throughout middle and high school, the editors have also included several editions of note to genre fans — in particular, the collected works of such authors like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and H. P. Lovecraft, and anthologies of crime novels from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. They are superb bargains for the money. And think of how impressive you’ll look reading such apparently academic editions of works previously dismissed as trashy paperbacks.  —Alan Cranis

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF PHILIP K. DICK:
• FOUR NOVELS OF THE 1960S by Philip K. Dick
• A SCANNER DARKLY by Philip K. Dick
 

I knew that reading those classic novels in high school and college would pay off someday. Because I was able to get most of the jokes in R. Sikoryak’s MASTERPIECE COMICS collection. Although it’s not the New York-based artist’s only gig, he’s made a name for himself marrying modern-day cartoon characters to the plots of literature’s most famous works, and the result is brilliant, brainy parody.

Having read several here and there over the years, I was pleased to see them all collected in a sturdy, handsome hardback from Drawn and Quarterly. One need not have a degree in English Lit to enjoy the contents, but those with no familiarity with the books being spoofed will be unable to grant it the deep appreciation it deserves.

“Blondie” is the first target, with Dagwood Bumstead and his lovely wife recast as Adam and Eve, with Mr. Dithers playing God, in “Blond Eve.” In the book’s first true stroke of genius, the bubble-gum groaners of Bazooka Joe are reimagined into an eight-strip journey into Dante’s INFERNO.

Hell comes to Garfield, too, in “Mephistofield,” with Jim Davis’ fat cat sprouting horns and a master who studies black magic. Old fuddy duddy Mary Worth becomes “Mac Worth” in a soap-opera version of Shakespeare’s MACBETH, and Ziggy gets the Voltaire treatment in a greeting-card-ready tour of sins titled “Candiggy.”

“The Crypt of Brontë” is unearthed next, with WUTHERING HEIGHTS turned into a dead-on EC horror tale in two parts. Little Lulu becomes Hester Prynne in the most adorable adaptation of THE SCARLET LETTER ever, while Batman is the guilty party of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, here turned into an issue of DOSTOYEVSKY COMICS. This story is perhaps the book’s masterstroke, with near-equals to follow when Charlie Brown becomes METAMORPHOSIS‘ Gregor Samsa (“Happiness is a pest-free home,” thinks Snoopy), and Superman is portrayed as THE STRANGER in a series of ACTION CAMUS covers.

No matter what the work being parodied — and on either side, book or comic — Sikoryak hits the bull’s-eye. It’s absolutely amazing how he’s able to ape each property. Not only does any given story capture its overall look and style, but the characters are dead ringers, and even the lettering is pitch-perfect. He has the fine points of parody down to an exact science.

So that’s how they look. Bonus: They read as funny as they are smart. I can imagine only the stuffiest of literature professors not finding this savage dressing-down of the classics at least amusing. Whether you love the big books or despised them, you’re apt to glean pleasure from Sikoryak’s tastefully twisted takes. —Rod Lott

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For those who followed the yellow brick road and found it led straight into their hearts, Rebecca Loncraine’s THE REAL WIZARD OF OZ: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF L. FRANK BAUM is for you. The biography of the WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ dreamer is certainly the most complete and final word on its subject, who, for whatever reason, remains infinitely overshadowed by his own creation, whereas other fantasy authors — say, C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien — never were.

While I’m generally drawn to bios of players among the entertainment industry, no matter their medium of play, I’m turned off by having to slog through names and dates unimportant to the work and the story it chooses to tell. I read REAL WIZARD to learn about L. Frank Baum, not his ancestors, which mires the opening chapters.

The book fails to take flight until Baum really starts to take up his pen, which is roughly halfway through. Then it gets interesting, shedding light not only on the creation of his world of OZ — he felt it found him, not the other way around — but also his works that are all but forgotten today, including a novel about an electric demon.

He kept the OZ reviews in a scrapbook, and only two of them were negative. That success reversed the fortunes of someone who grew up poor … but even after hitting it big, he fell into heavy debt — $12,000 worth, at a time when his assets totaled $85.

Aside from his financial problems, Baum seems like a guy on the up-and-up. That’s good for his reputation, but not necessarily good for a highly compelling read. With a life practically barren of scandal, his days and nights are a little too boring to recommend this work beyond those who already are fans of his. —Rod Lott

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From 1892, THE FATE OF FENELLA is an odd novel with something — but not much — for enthusiasts of Victorian sensation fiction; fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker; and readers interested in literary experiments.

Magazine publisher Joseph Snell Wood, who edited “a newspaper de luxe, indispensable to every Gentlewoman” called, well, THE GENTLEWOMAN, came up with a publicity gimmick that he thought would stimulate sales: He would sign 24 popular authors — 12 men and 12 women — to write a single novel, with each person writing one chapter. The writer who began the book would have no idea where the story and characters would end up.

You might think that this peculiar arrangement would result in an unreadable hodgepodge
of styles and plot directions. Yes and no. Styles, yes. If THE FATE OF FENELLA is representative, for instance, of the style of the author of chapter 23, heaven help her readers. The entire chapter of 11 pages is comprised of only nine paragraphs. A single sentence chosen at random is made up of 112 words, 12 commas, two semicolons and a dash. (Her name was Jessie Catherine Couvreur and she wrote using the pseudonym “Tasma.” Care to guess why she’s no longer in print?)

“Tasma” is only one of the 21 authors of whom you have never heard. F. Anstey might be familiar to students of Victoriana as the author of the comic novel VICE VERSA, about a father and son who exchange bodies for a week. The book was the source of the Judge Reinhold/Fred Savage movie from 1988.

But back to Fenella: “Her hair, gloves, and shoes were tan-colour, and closely allied to tan, too, was the tawny, true tiger-tint of her hazel eyes. For the rest, she was entirely white save for her dark lashes and brows, the faint tint of rose in her small cheeks, and a deeper red in her lips …”* She’s basically a nice young woman with a wealthy husband and a son upon whom she dotes. Starting to sound dull? Wait for it.

She has a German lover, while her husband has a French mistress. Fenella also has dangling after her a romantic young man named Clitheroe Jacynth (pardon the Dave Barryism but, no, I’m not making this up). The German lover is murdered, and Fenella, who didn’t do it, takes the blame and goes to trial. Before the story ends, the son will be kidnapped by the mistress and taken to America; the father will follow and end up committed in an insane asylum; the mistress’ husband will escape prison in France and come after her; the son will be given to a Dickensian band of thieves in the slums of New York; there will be a few attempted murders; and one of the major characters will die of exhaustion.

Surely, at least some of the writers involved with this project had their tongues firmly in cheek as they wrote. This stuff is so wild and wooly, it could have made an episode of RIPPING YARNS. If you think you could pick out the chapters by Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) and Stoker (author of DRACULA), I doubt you could. There is nothing particularly notable about their contributions. In fact, I wonder if they didn’t just churn something out and then wait for their checks to arrive.

I think THE FATE OF FENELLA will be enjoyed best as a pastiche of the sensation novel — a form developed in the 1860s, novels that self-consciously excited the emotional sensations of middle- and working-class readers, instead of attempting to appeal to their intellects. It was the sensation and Gothic novels that evolved into the kind of popular fiction BOOKGASM readers enjoy today. —Doug Bentin

*NOTE: This description of Fenella, taken from the first chapter, was written by Helen Mathers, a photograph of whom adorns this book’s cover. She gets high marks from me just for the phrase “tawny, true tiger-tint.”

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Nearly a year after the debut issue, SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY MAGAZINE #2 is finally available, with another 130-ish pages of mostly all-new material, perfect-bound and edited by the ever-reliable Marvin Kaye.

It begins with Kim Newman’s reviews of a handful of Sherlock Holmes-oriented books, which are welcome, but many of the titles are several years old. With so many new titles published every season, it’d be nice to see those covered instead. Holmes’ landlady Mrs. Martha Hudson returns with a faux advice column that’s more annoying than anything, especially with the inclusion of recipes.

Carole Buggé follows with an essay on radio adaptations of Holmes stories. It’s certainly informative, and if I had the patience to listen to audio plays, I’d definitely use it for reference. Then we come to the meat of the mag: the fiction section.

All of the fiction is centered around mystery and detection, although not necessarily featuring the great detective himself. Darrell Schweitzer’s “The Adventure of the Hanoverian Vampires” is one that does, and it’s an amusing little tale narrated by a cat. Gary Lovisi’s “A Study in Evil” is another, in which Holmes has been arrested for murder, which he doesn’t deny. Arthur Conan Doyle is repped by another reprint, “The Musgrave Ritual.”

In “A Reputation for Murder,” M.J. Elliott certainly hits that Sherlockian spirit with her girl-detective protagonist. David Waxman’s “Tough as Diamonds” is fine enough, but there’s no real suspense or problem-solving in its story of a missing dog. Ron Goulart’s “The Mystery of the Flying Man” is a little too muddled to be effective, but Marc Bilgrey hits “You See, but You Forget” out of the proverbial park, with a story of revenge on a landlord whose negligence results in the death of an elderly tenant. Bilgrey also contributes this issue’s lone cartoon; it’d be fun to see more of these sprinkled throughout the pages, rather than the Victorian-era clip art.

On the copyright page, Wildside Press promises SHMM to be a quarterly publication. I’ll believe that when I see it, but whenever I see a third issue, I’ll welcome it. —Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MARVIN KAYE:
• DON’T OPEN THIS BOOK! edited by Marvin Kaye
• THE FAIR FOLK edited by Marvin Kaye
• FORBIDDEN PLANETS edited by Marvin Kaye
• THE GHOST QUARTET edited by Marvin Kaye
• SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY MAGAZINE #1 edited by Marvin Kaye
• THE ULTIMATE HALLOWEEN edited by Marvin Kaye

After bringing the exploits of Arsène Lupin and Fantômas back from obscurity, Penguin Classics resurrects a whole slew of gentlemen thieves in THE PENGUIN BOOK OF GASLIGHT CRIME: CON ARTISTS, ROGUES, AND SCOUNDRELS FROM THE TIME OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Anyone who enjoys a good, smart, short, literate crime caper should snatch this anthology up … but pay for it, please.

Editor Michael Sims has rounded up a dozen examples of this all-but-dead subgenre — a lineup that includes works by the likes of O. Henry, William Hope Hodgson, Edgar Wallace and Sinclair Lewis, but mostly from authors whose reps have vanished like so many objects in their stories.

Their antiheroes use the tricks of their trade to trick the rich and gullible out of jewels — the shinier, the better — and even identities, not to mention good-ol’-fashioned cash. While not household names, some of the characters do enjoy some cult followings. Raffles is hired to steal a painting in E.W. Hornung’s “Nine Points of the Law,” while the French detective Valmont investigates the theft of 500 diamonds in a mystery by Robert Barr.

Those unaccustomed to pop-lit of this era may require a slight transitionary period getting used to its language and style — markedly different from today’s crime fiction, the stories aren’t the kind of thing to dive into with abandon. (Henry’s more comic-driven entry may be the exception.) Patience and an understanding of the times — which Sims’ intro more than supplies — are key to approaching and appreciating these fine tales. —Rod Lott

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T.T. Flynn (the first T stood for Thomas and the second for Theodore) was one of the more mature writers of Westerns to move into slick magazine and book publication in the 1950s. I know, it’s hard for you non-Western readers to imagine a story from that genre that was intended for grown-ups, but you should take a look at Flynn, Luke Short and Ernest Haycox as starters.

It’s not that their yarns never contained gunfights and saloon brawls, but those favorite elements were not the high points of their books. Stop a second and remember some of the movies based on their stories: Short’s CORONER CREEK, Haycox’s STAGECOACH and Flynn’s THE MAN FROM LARAMIE.

It’s the latter that’s our topic for today. It was serialized in the last great slick magazine to publish smart genre fiction, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. That hit the stands every week, so you didn’t have to wait too long for an entire story to run, frequently condensed to two or three installments. I can remember reading new Perry Mason mysteries in the POST. LARAMIE saw magazine print in 1954, and then made the jump to book form the following year, the same year the film went into release.

The movie was the last of five collaborations between director Anthony Mann and actor James Stewart, a teaming that began with WINCHESTER ’73 in 1950. Mann and Stewart brought the same kind of maturity to Western movies that Flynn brought to fiction.

In it basic outline, LARAMIE sounds like any another Western: Will Lockhart comes to Coronado, N.M., in the guise of a fiddlefoot who buys the right to dig salt from a quarry. He doesn’t know that, due to deal-making and -breaking, he doesn’t really have permission. When he’s discovered loading his wagons by the real masters of the salt lake, they shoot his 26 mules and beat the living crap out of him.

Young Dave Waggoman, son of fading patriarch Alec Waggoman, orders his right-hand bully Vic Hansbro to hand out the thrashing. As soon as he’s able, Will faces down Hansbro in town and returns the favor.

“With better spirit Will ran at Vic Hansbro’s bristling frenzy and dodged Hansbro’s wild blow. The huge bleeding knuckles skidded over Will’s left ear. Even that close a miss caused a numb feeling, as if the rear had almost been torn away … Will brought both fists
up fast in a sledging strike into Hansbro’s beard and throat and underjaw. He never guessed it, Will thought unbelievingly.”

Oh, yeah, Flynn can write action — never an easy thing to do.

Smaller ranch owner Kate Canaday hires Will to protect her interests from the empire-building Waggomans, and pretty Barbara Kirby — gotta have a pretty young gal — is being courted by Frank Darrah, the novel’s true snake in the grass.

What the reader learns early on — and the book’s character much later — is that Will is actually an Army officer who is working undercover to locate his missing brother, or find the people who are responsible for his disappearance and the disappearance of a load of Army rifles.

The personal relationships are complex, even if the basic plot isn’t. All does not end well. You know, like in real life.

This new edition of THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is part of Leisure Books’ “The Classic Film Collection” of Western titles. Others in the series include DESTRY RIDES AGAIN — and if you know only the film, give the novel a try and you’ll see how very different they are — THE SEARCHERS and THE UNFORGIVEN, which is not related to the Clint Eastwood Oscar-winner.

These are all first-rate samples of older Westerns that will repay your time and money. I hope Leisure continues this series and includes some titles down the road that are by writers they don’t already publish. —Doug Bentin

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Another in Papercutz’s revival of the classic comics series, CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED: THE RAVEN AND OTHER POEMS is a collection of nine pieces of verse written by Edgar Allan Poe, with illustrations by the macabre master of the inkwell, the great Gahan Wilson. If there’s anyone born to bring these lines to life, it’s Wilson, and he provides solid, consistent work throughout.

“The Raven” is the most famous here, obviously, with “Annabel Lee” and “The Conquerer Worm” included as well. I’d rather see adaptations of stories rather than the poems, but well, that’s what GRAPHIC CLASSICS is for. This may be a good way to introduce kids to Poe’s work, but adults — other than Wilson and completists — won’t be too drawn to it, especially given the god-awful ugly typeface chosen for its guts. —Rod Lott

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Food, glorious food is our theme this time out. But I’m severely bending the rules on this one, since our second book barely fits; I would really need to add an S to the second word of the title. However, there are plenty of scenes of people eating by a campfire, so it’s covered. Meanwhile, the first book is more of a dessert, and the final book deals with a stale old muffin. Still, all three are worth searching out, that’s for sure — especially since the middle one is considered a true American classic.

THE SHARK-INFESTED CUSTARD by Charles Willeford — This 1993 novel is unlike anything else I’ve read by Willeford, since it’s not a straightforward story, but more like four vignettes whose main characters appear in each others’ stories. At the start of the book, all four friends live at the same apartment complex. The opening story is all told from the perspective of Larry “Fuzz-o” Dolman. He and pals Eddie Miller, Don Luchessi and Hank Norton are all shooting the breeze by the pool, discussing the hardest place to pick up women in Florida.

This is the type of conversation you’d expect in a Quentin Tarantino film, since it’s so honest and so normal in the sense this is how guys really act. There is no false bravado or any other bullshit; it just feels as though you are one of the gang. When it’s decided that picking up a woman at the drive-in is the place where it would be the hardest, they make a bet to see if one of them can pull it off. What happens totally throws this group of friends for a loop that will keep them bonded together for the rest of their lives, with Larry being extra careful by keeping a detailed log of all events if the shit ever hit the fan.

The second vignette mainly focuses on Hank, while the others make appearances. Hank is a drug representative for a large company and has reached his peak in the area, so the firm is trying to get him to take over a new territory. Larry explains to Hank how he has joined a computer dating service to bilk the company he works for extra expense money. But his dates have been less then stellar, with Hank taking a shine to Larry’s second date, a woman named Jannaire. But something Hank does not know is that Jannaire seems to be married to a psychopath who takes a few attempts on Hank’s life. To go further ruins the story, but like other Willeford plots, people are forced to extremes.

The third story deals with Eddie, an airline pilot always ready to help out his pals, and Don, a salesman for a silverware company who has fallen back into his loveless marriage. Don tries to escape this nightmare, but not without his daughter. Eddie tries to help him plan it all out instead of just going off half-cocked, which is exactly what Don does. You watch as Don slowly deteriorates and so believes that what he is about to do is the greatest idea since sliced bread, never taking into account what his little girl wants.

The book closes out with all four men living in Chicago, about to celebrate a birthday, which brings the whole book full circle. Going any further truly ruins the outcomes of the previous events. Willeford takes these four men and sets them on their own paths. Each vignette plays off another, but none of them really connect, except in the smallest threads. This is, without a doubt for me, Willeford’s masterpiece, and yes, I’ve read THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY and many others of his.

TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis — This 1968 story is told so simply, but don’t let that fool you. Portis created one of those books that will live on forever. Not only is it considered one of the modern classics, but one of its biggest fans is noted crime author George Pelecanos.

The story is told from the perspective of Mattie Ross, so unlike the film, the book is mainly focused on her. We only know at the start that she is retelling a tale from when she was 14 and bent on biblical revenge on the man who killed her father. For the time, she is a forerunner to the whole feminist movement, in that she is so independent in her ways and won’t be turned away just because she is a girl.

Mattie is pretty much told that her father’s killer is not a top priority for the local law enforcement. She is so enraged that she looks for a man who will help her in this crusade. That is how she comes in contact with a man named Rooster Cogburn. Anyone who knows the movie will automatically picture John Wayne with the eyepatch. But Cogburn is more ragged and rough-looking here, and also a bit of a quick draw. We are introduced to him as Mattie watches a trial proceeding, in which Cogburn is a witness. She puts forth an opportunity for him, with a promise of money to help her track down her father’s killers.

But Mattie is not the only person who wants to bring the killer to justice. Enter Texas Ranger Le Boeuf. Mattie gets to the point of trying to incorporate her religious beliefs into this manhunt, even when they have no bearing. Once it comes to the final showdown and she faces her deepest fears, we see the growth of this character to the woman she has become.

As we find out, Mattie is a much older woman relating the story of her youth, looking back at this one key moment in her life. Again, for a tale that is told so plainly, Portis plays into the readers, since we are only given the perspective from this one character. Still, it’s that simple type of storytelling that captures the reader from the start, so it’s no wonder that an author like Pelecanos champions this book so much: It’s much deeper than you would expect.

HERE COMES CHARLIE M by Brian Freemantle — Who doesn’t like a good muffin? Well, if that muffin is Charlie Muffin, then a few governments. Taking place two years after the events of the first book, this 1978 novel finds that there is no love lost for Charlie or his antics, which blew up in a few people’s faces: of course, the heads of British secret service.

Charlie, who has been living in hiding for all this time, pops his head up to pay some respects to a fallen comrade: a fellow agent who has been dead for years. Charlie visits his grave every year, except for these past two, but he figures no one would be watching it anymore and that it would be safe. But a few critical errors are made. First, Charlie is spotted coming into England and then going to a bank where he has left some money in a safe deposit box that has been broken into.

The story then follows two factions of people: the British agents after Charlie with a plan to frame that lay-about spy, and a group of Russians watching from the sidelines who don’t understand why he is risking himself. See, it was the British secret service with the help of a just-released prisoner who broke into Charlie’s safe deposit box, since the Brits were under the assumption that he probably had stored some documents that would ruin most of the agents and higher-ups.

But when it turns out to only be a storing place for a large sum of money and insurance polices, the British go even further. Their idea is to set up a few robberies with Charlie as the culprit, laying enough clues pointing at him —  namely, the theft of some Russian Fabergé eggs that are on display. But Charlie won’t fall for these traps to poke his head out, claiming his innocence. The British don’t learn and make a tragic error where Charlie not only takes out his revenge, but does it in such a way that people will finally believe he is dead.

This is a series that should be read in order. Sure, newbies will be able to follow the action, but they will be missing out on exactly the things Charlie did that are making all these people nuts in the first place. Freemantle makes his schlub spy even more sympathetic, thanks to the final few chapters. It’s totally understandable the action Charlie goes to at the end. No one is going will argue that even though it’s a bit extreme, you might do the same thing if you were in his shoes.

Next time: Action, adventure and it’s all true! —Bruce Grossman

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF BRIAN FREEMANTLE:
• CHARLIE M by Brian Freemantle

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF CHARLES WILLEFORD:
• THE BLACK MASS OF BROTHER SPRINGER by Charles Willeford
• MADE IN MIAMI by Charles Willeford
• PICK-UP by Charles Willeford

John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS is considered not only the greatest Western, but also one of the greatest American movies ever made. But how many people have actually read Alan LeMay’s THE SEARCHERS, on which that 1956 film was based? Leisure Books has reissued four classic Western books that have all been made into classic movies, in “The Classic Film Collection.”

Of course, the film took a few liberties with the 1954 story — some minor, like the name change of the main character, and some huge, which would lead into major spoilers. The plot is that of a family destroyed by an Indian raid with the lone survivor taken as a prisoner by the Comanches, with her only blood kin — Civil War veteran Amos Edwards — knowing the only left to do in his life is to track down his niece.

Amos is a complex character who will always resemble John Wayne in my mind, since the actor truly captured the essence of this man who knows fully well he is not welcome anywhere — even in his own homestead — anymore, thinking the recovery of his niece will be the final good thing he can do, no matter how long it takes.

Early on in the book, one of the points that people have discussed about the movie is made crystal-clear by LeMay: Amos was in love with his brother’s wife. Why this was cut from the film is just a shame, since it adds another layer to this complex man who, from the outset, just seems like a man bent on revenge and filled with racism. Amos makes no bones about killing any Indian his way (brutal scalping), but he is not alone in his search, being joined by Martin Pauley, who has his own ideas of why he wants to find this girl.

Martin slowly grows through their years-long hunt, even to the point of losing out on a future with another woman since he is so engrossed. These two men never falter in their search; we witness years pass by, with LeMay putting them through grueling encounters, sometimes only to be a few steps behind the Indians they believe have the girl.

For someone who only knew the movie, there were plenty of moments in the book which are just eye-openers that could never have been filmed in their time: suicides, brutal scalping, the results of an Indian attack and a vastly different ending. It’s no shock to see what drew people to turn this into a movie, since it’s such an expansive tale of redemption and guilt. Hopefully, people will grab this reissue and get the complete story that should be read — not only by fans of Westerns, but of great fiction. —Bruce Grossman

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Classic authors whose works fall into the public domain enjoy elongated lives via reissue after reissue, often under more than one publisher. Occasionally, someone gets the bright idea to do something a little more special than just slapping a new cover around the same old words. With MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA PRESENTS IN THE SHADOW OF THE MASTER: CLASSIC TALES BY EDGAR ALLAN POE, Michael Connelly is that person, and his subject is, of course, Poe.

With Poe’s 200th birthday on the horizon — Jan. 19, 2009, to be exact — Connelly has collected 16 of the horror/mystery maven’s best works, and asked 20 of his MWA friends to contribute new essays related to the selections. Depending upon your familarity with Poe, they’re likely to reignite your passion for him or grant you a new perspective.

None of the selections is surprising; anyone who’s read Poe could probably rattle off several titles at random and they’d all be here. But the point is why they’re here, and for that, today’s mystery writers do the talking with brief tributes. Some — T. Jefferson Parker and S.J. Rozan — talk about how their mothers got them into reading Poe, while others — Tess Gerritsen and Peter Robinson — were introduced to his macabre oeuvre via Roger Corman’s string of adaptations starring Vincent Price and Ray Milland. Nelson DeMille remembers catching a scary 3-D film version of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” as a kid, and taking an ill-fated shortcut through a dark graveyard on his way home.

Lawrence Block amusingly explains how crediting “The Cask of Amontillado” to Robert Louis Stevenson cost him several Edgar Awards over the years, and Laurie King employs the same kind of mocking humor to expose Poe as a literary thief of the highest order: one who steals from her. Meanwhile, Joseph Wambaugh displays an uncharacteristic light touch with an all-verse piece related to “The Raven.”

Stephen King deconstructs why and how “The Tell-Tale Heart” is one of the two works of fiction that truly frightens him. P.J. Parrish remembers the one-eyed feline she adopted from a homeless man, and named it after the title puss of “The Black Cat,” and Laura Lippmann tells about the mysterious figure who shows up at Poe’s grave every year to leave three roses and half a bottle of cognac.

Connelly himself recalls the time he researched Poe heavily for the eventual novel THE POET, and scared the hell out of himself in a hotel room one night while re-reading “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Finally, Sue Grafton bravely admits she never liked Poe until she gave his only novel — THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET — a try.

Others giving their two cents include Edward D. Hoch, Lisa Scottoline, Laura Lippmann and Sara Paretsky. One of SHADOW’s greatest contributors, however, is artist Harry Clarke, who died in 1931; his disturbing drawings that interpret Poe’s stories add an extra layer of gruesomeness to the proceedings.

Connelly writes that with this anthology, he’s calling it quits as an editor. That’s a shame, because between this, MURDER IN VEGAS and THE BLUE RELIGION, it’s something he does quite well. —Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE BRASS VERDICT by Michael Connelly
• CRIME BEAT: A DECADE OF COVERING COPS & KILLERS by Michael Connelly
• ECHO PARK by Michael Connelly
• MURDER IN VEGAS: NEW CRIME TALES OF GAMBLING AND DESPERATION edited by Michael Connelly
• MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA PRESENTS THE BLUE RELIGION: NEW STORIES ABOUT COPS, CRIMINALS, AND THE CHASE edited by Michael Connelly
• THE OVERLOOK by Michael Connelly

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1902 novel THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, then by all means don’t read Pierre Bayard’s SHERLOCK HOLMES WAS WRONG: REOPENING THE CASE OF THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, because its very concept depends upon revealing each and every twist. In the style of his Agatha Christie exploration WHO KILLED ROGER ACKROYD?, the literature professor tackles one of crime’s sacred cows and arrives at an alternate solution.

Here, Bayard’s switcheroo of culprits hinges largely on Dr. Watson’s reciting “facts” that have been told to him, rather than those he witnessed, thereby calling their verification into question. Add to that Holmes’ grave error of abandoning common sense that, the author says, “can only leave us baffled at the extent of human credulity.”

WRONG reads rightly like an extended essay, albeit one with more spark than the average academic thesis. Die-hard Holmesians aren’t likely to be bored; they may even be riled up and itching for an argument. I’m more pleased to see that a novel written more than 100 years ago still enjoys enough life to be the subject of a lively, good-natured — not to mention book-length — debate. —Rod Lott

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Just wondering: How many editions of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA do you already own? At least two or three, I’m betting … maybe even one you’ve completely forgotten about. Thanks to the story being in the public domain, publishers never stop slapping a new cover on the classic 1897 tale to wring a few more dollars out of it.

But Leslie S. Klinger’s THE NEW ANNOTATED DRACULA is something rather special: probably the Drac edition you’ll cherish most. What the editor has done here is no surprise to anyone who marveled over his recent ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES volumes, because he does the same thing: crafted a definitive work.

As both Neil Gaiman and Klinger himself note in their introductions, the editor is not the first to tackle a thorough annotation of Stoker’s groundbreaking novel; previous efforts are mentioned, and even referenced throughout. But I don’t think you’re going to find one as entertaining and plugged into pop culture as this mammoth undertaking. It’s at once serious, scholarly and so much fun.

In a single, heavy, 600-plus-page hardcover, you get Stoker’s full text, of course, and so much more — primarily in the form of Klinger’s exhaustive, 1,500-ish footnotes which cast new light on the meaning of the story, how it related to its times and even inconsistencies and occasional screw-ups on Stoker’s part. Sometimes the footnotes are so thorough, not a single word of the actual DRACULA appears on the page.

In that aspect, you’re going to be learning a lot about the novel that you never knew before. It’s an undertaking, sure, but a wholly rewarding one, like an in-depth college elective you can’t wait to get to every week, but here you don’t have to pay tuition or even haul your ass out of bed.

Making the proceedings even better is a litany of illustrations — nearly 450, including period playbills, covers of the book from various countries, movie stills and the occasional oddity, such as a depiction of a Victorian doctor “examining” a young woman under her dress, without even looking at her, driving home a point made in one offhanded reference from Stoker. Some pictures are decorative, some are supplementary, but all are appreciated, bringing visual richness to an already multilayered experience.

The so-called “lost chapter” of DRACULA, “Dracula’s Guest,” leads off the appendices, which also feature a chronology of the novel and a glossary of the antiquated slang used. A handful of additional essays explore Dracula on the screen, in print and as part of academia’s hallowed halls. These pieces are brief and by no means the final word on their respective subjects, yet their inclusion helps make the book as a whole authoritative.

Children of the night, hop to it! —Rod Lott

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When the title of the forthcoming James Bond film was announced, the Internet simultaneously asked, “WTF is a QUANTUM OF SOLACE?” Die-hard 007 fans knew exactly what it was: a short story in the Bond canon. The movie takes it title from the tale, and presumably nothing else. That’s good, because otherwise, it could kill the franchise.

Nevertheless, a tie-in is a tie-in, and so Penguin has issued QUANTUM OF SOLACE: THE COMPLETE JAMES BOND SHORT STORIES (there are 009 of them), complete with the exquisite Richie Fahey cover art that adorns the rest of its reissues of Ian Fleming’s superspy.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with “Quantum of Solace.” It’s just that Bond is barely in it at all; his action is limited to sitting quietly and listening. It’s essentially a story within a story, as “the Governor” gives 007 an account of one Philip Masters, a one-time fellow member of Her Majesty’s Secret Service who married a really hot chick — well above his average looks — and ended up paying for it.

At first, I wondered, “Where is this going? What’s the point?” but as the pages progressed, all my reservations disappeared and I was hooked. There’s no adventure to it, no daring feats, no exercising one’s license to kill. It’s merely a moral, and yet oddly intoxicating.

I can’t say the same for the seven-page “007 in New York.” It seems to exist simply to appease citizens of that city whom Fleming had managed to piss off by dissing the Big Apple in an essay. In this brief peacemaker, Bond does little more than wander the streets, visit the zoo, make some love and scramble some eggs — recipe included.

“The Hildebrand Rarity” is another comparatively little-known shortie, which I’d first encountered in the recent NEW BEDSIDE PLAYBOY anthology. The title refers to a rare specimen of the squirrel-fish family, and the plot involves a man who’ll stop at nothing to acquire it.

However, the better of the water-drenched narratives is to be found in “Octopussy.” (It, too, has nothing to do with the hit film whose title made me and my brother snicker back in 1983.) This “Pussy” is the pet octopus of a retired major with heart problems, whom Bond comes to interview about his time in the service. The end is pretty twisted.

Three other entries — “From a View to a Kill,” “For Your Eyes Only” and “The Living Daylights” — found their titles co-opted by the movies, and their plot elements to varying degrees. However, they offer more of the exciting exploits for which Bond is known and loved.

To the Fleming newcomer, adjusting to his style make require a transitory period. He writes in paragraphs that dawdle too long, yet are peppered with British phrases like “the old snip-cock.” Fleming was no literary master, but there’s a peculiar poetry to his sentences. —Rod Lott

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“It was perhaps five minutes later that Major Smythe felt a curious numbness more or less in the region of his solar plexus.”

and

“He measured the distance to Mr. Krest’s solar plexus.”

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE DIAMOND SMUGGLERS by Ian Fleming
• FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE by Ian Fleming
• OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS by Ian Fleming
• ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE by Ian Fleming

By now, the story of the dark and stormy night that spurred Mary Shelley to pen FRANKENSTEIN is known even to those who’ve never read the novel. But raise your hand if you know how CASINO ROYALE came to be, or how THE CATCHER IN THE RYE got started. You’ll know the answer — and 47 more — after reading Jenny Bond and Chris Sheedy’s WHO THE HELL IS PANSY O’HARA?: THE FASCINATING STORIES BEHIND 50 OF THE WORLD’S BEST-LOVED BOOKS.

To be honest, these stories aren’t so much about the books, but their authors. Each chapter is like a mini-bio, and sometimes Bond and Sheedy have no info to deliver on what sparked the idea for a particular book. Sometimes, it just is. Even still, WHO THE HELL is quite entertaining, especially for trivia buffs and people too lazy to read full-length biographies.

The book is arranged chronologically, moving from Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE to Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCI CODE. Then at the back, a few nonfiction titles are included as well, from Samuel Johnson’s THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY to Stephen Hawking’s A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME. Hey-didja-know facts are doled out for each. For example, Brown turned to writing only after trying his hand (and failing) at creating synth-driven kids’ albums with song titles like “Happy Frogs.” And Hawking only wrote BRIEF HISTORY for a quick buck, because full-time caretakers don’t come cheap.

For WAR AND PEACE, you learn that Leo Tolstoy had his wife hand-copy that 1,000-plus-page manuscript seven times. What an ass! An early, accidental childhood act of violence on William Golding’s part may have helped shape LORD OF THE FLIES, and Frederick Forsyth’s work as a journalist in Germany and France definitely informed his hit assassination thriller THE DAY OF THE JACKAL.

In wisely choosing to cover influential and popular books rather than just the so-called “classics,” the authors open their book to a wider breadth of works and readers. While I’d like to know the backstory to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, I’d also like to know the one for, say, Peter Benchley’s JAWS or Stephen King’s CARRIE. Happily, this project does both.

Whether you like H.G. Wells or J.K. Rowling, Margaret Mitchell or Jackie Collins, Charles Darwin or Dr. Seuss, WHO THE HELL is bound to satisfy your particular brand of curiosity. —Rod Lott

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No matter how many bios of Franz Kafka you’ve read, you’re guaranteed to have read none quite like James Hawes’ WHY YOU SHOULD READ KAFKA BEFORE YOU WASTE YOUR LIFE, and certainly you can tell from that title. The Oxford alum and Kafka scholar discusses the German writer’s life not as a thesis, but as a conversation, as if you and he were sitting at the pub, talking literature over a beer.

How else to explain so much hubbub over Kafka’s porn collection? So terrified was the celebrated novelist over its discovery that he hid it in a locked case and left instructions for its destruction upon his death. Obviously, someone didn’t follow them to a T. Oops!

The pornography is not comprised of photos, but absolutely twisted drawings that nonetheless are sick and disturbing, even by today’s comparatively lax standards. Several are reprinted here.

On the actual sex front, letters from Kafka portray a bizarre, tortured courtship of a woman he had absolutely zero interest in, as well as his first sexual encounter, which was with a prostitute. Whatever went down (no pun intended), something about its “vile” nature and, um, its smell haunted Kafka for the rest of his life.

Hawes spends a great deal of time debunking famous myths surrounding the author, such as that his work went unknown during this lifetime, that he was poor, that his father was a tyrannical parent. And he does this all without sounding like a boring academic or pompous English professor.

Two things, however, with which I take issue:
1. Hawes uses too many absolutes — such as “There is no debate” and “There’s simply no way around ths one” — as if to discourage challenges, when ….
2. …. I challenge a point he makes on the very first page: “Apart from Shakespeare, there’s simply no writer whose image is so well known to so many people who have never read a word he wrote. The face of Kafka has become virtually a brand.”

On that point, I disagree. I’ve read Kafka in high school, college and on my own time, and I don’t think I’d ever seen his photo until now. In fact, I’d float the theory that Edgar Allan Poe enjoys this “brand” recognition far more.

Despite this pair of objections from the bench, I found this unconventional bio to be unique. After all, very little is devoted to Kafka’s output — it really is all about Kafka, the man. Big points to Douglas Smith for the excellent cover illustration as well. —Rod Lott

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In naming his THE BEDSIDE, BATHTUB & ARMCHAIR COMPANION TO DRACULA, author Mark Dawidziak forgot one important reading destination: the toilet. To make the most of every minute of every day, what better place is there to read issues of ESQUIRE, chapters from cheap paperbacks and books like this, filled as it is with bite-sized articles?

A lifelong fan of Bram Stoker’s horror classic, Dawidziak takes the short-attention-span approach to covering nearly every aspect one could think of surrounding the book and its litany of spin-offs, imitators and spoofs. Corny pun ahead: If you’re at all into vampire lit, you’ll wanna sink your teeth into it. (Bah-dum-dum.)

Initial chapters — or “chapterettes,” as the case may be — focus on Stoker’s life, DRACULA‘s publication and other bloodsucker books of the era that may have inspired him. As with the rest of this work, these portions are filled with fascinating bits of trivia that casual readers may not already have known, including the theory that Stoker died from syphilis, having sought sex outside his sexless marriage, and that the novel almost was issued as THE UN-DEAD.

Then you get a little more history lessons, including info on Vlad the Impaler, Shakespearean references in DRACULA and a map of all the locations involved in the story. I could do without the chapter-by-chapter summary of the novel, and did, quickly skipping to several brief essays examining its themes — primarily of a sexual nature, of course.

Dawidziak dispels the notion that Stoker’s short story “Dracula’s Guest” was the excised first chapter of DRACULA (intended second chapter was more like it), and then gets into the various multimedia incarnations of the world’s most famous Transylvanian, from stage to screen (and records and radio and comics and Aurora models).

Two of the must-read pieces count down 10 “landmark” TV vampire portrayals and name the 10 “best Dracula movies.” You may be able to guess half of them, but some of his other choices are surprising. To top things off, there’s even a crossword puzzle, but being drawn and numbered by hand, it looks rather amateurish, and that’s too bad, given how professionally illustrated the rest of the book is, full of period drawings and still photographs.

Continuum Books has applied the BEDSIDE, BATHTUB & ARMCHAIR formula to several beloved books and authors, and they’re a lot of fun for fans of any given volume’s particular focus. It helps when an author like Dawidziak harbors enormous enthusiasm for the subject, because it’s infectious. —Rod Lott

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“Soylent Green is …” Well, most of us know how that cry ends, thanks to the 1973 sci-fi film. What is often forgotten is that the movie took prolific author Harry Harrison’s dystopian novel MAKE ROOM! MAKE ROOM! as its basis. And after all the liberties taken with the screenplay adaptation (Soylent Green is not even in the novel), it’s not surprising that Harrison’s book got lost in all the shouting.

But Orb apparently wants to correct that with this new trade edition reissue. The often playful Harrison (with series and stories featuring Bill the Galactic Hero and The Stainless Steel Rat, among others) turned dead-serious in 1966, envisioning the world of 1999 suffering under the weight of overpopulation.

Natural resources are all but extinct. Crowds dwell in the streets or wander aimlessly shoulder-to-shoulder at all hours. Drinking water is tightly rationed and food is processed from plankton into dry crackers.

New York police detective Andy Rusch and his fellow officers try to keep the peace among the city’s 35 million inhabitants. One of these is Billy Chung, a young street hustler who steals food, or whatever else he can grab, and resells it for cash. One afternoon, Billy takes a part-time job delivering telegrams and forwards a message to the opulent apartment of Mike O’Brien. The sight of O’Brien’s riches, along with a glimpse of O’Brien’s girlfriend in bed, inspires Billy to brake into O’Brien’s apartment later than night. But O’Brien catches Billy in the act. Billy kills O’Brien in a brief struggle and flees into the crowded streets.

Rusch is called in to investigate and is close to filing the usual routine report when it is revealed that the victim is actually “Big Mike” O’Brien, a racketeer with powerful political connections. His murder might mean a rival is muscling into his territory. Suddenly, Rusch is ordered to devote more than the obligatory 48 hours to investigate a murder in a city where multiple killings are a daily
occurrence. But when it is confirmed that the murder was random and not politically motivated, the police department quickly loses interest. Rusch is then reprimanded for firing his gun in self-defense and demoted to a uniformed beat cop.

Sadly, the passing time has dulled Harrison’s urgency and highlighted the flaws of his approach. Far too many scenes and often whole sections of dialogue have no other purpose than to express Harrison’s polemic. This is especially true of “Sol” Solomon Kane, Rusch’s elderly but resourceful roommate, whose every other sentence sounds like propaganda.

But when Harrison steps down off his soapbox, turns down the amplifiers and lets his fiction do the work, the results are far more persuasive. Such as when a rainstorm threatens to drown infants who can’t find shelter; or when Billy takes temporary refuge among those living in forgotten lots of abandoned or impounded cars; or the court-mandated, forced tenancy “squat-orders” issued immediately after the death of a building occupant. These moments lurk in our memory with frightening and prophetic imagery far more effectively than, by comparison, the overbearing sermon that serves as the novel’s prologue.

The depletion of natural resources is still very much a concern in today’s reality (expressed via concerns of global warming and pleas to “go green” rather than control the world’s population). And while it’s great to see Harrison back among the selections in the science-fiction section, this particular work is recommended more as a curiosity of how an otherwise creative and obviously concerned author frantically warned of what might happen. —Alan Cranis

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SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY MAGAZINE: Why did no one think of this before? No offense to Ellery Queen, but if you were name a periodical of mystery fiction after anyone (even if it’s more of a paperback book), why wouldn’t you choose the genre’s most famous character?

That doesn’t mean that the mag is filled with Holmes pastiches and parodies — quite the opposite, writes editor Marvin Kaye in his introduction – but the contents certainly honor the spirit of the sleuth as created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That goes for the short stories and the mix of nonfiction pieces, making it a must for Sherlockians.

One beef before we peruse its pages, though: SHMM is published by Wildside Press, yet you wouldn’t know it if you visited their website. Search “Sherlock Holmes” there and this won’t even come up. Click on the “Magazines” link and this won’t be among the offered goods. Indie presses have it harder than the big boys in earning readers’ nickels, so why make it so difficult to even acknowledge its existence? That makes me awfully leery of turning over my hard-earned money for a subscription I otherwise very much want.

Marketing 101 lesson over. The nonfiction material is all concentrated up front, starting with “Baker Street Browsings,” a book review column by author Kim Newman. His inaugural selections are the Michael Kurland-edited anthology SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE HIDDEN YEARS and the behemoth that is Leslie S. Klinger’s THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES. Newman’s opinions are informed, knowledgeable and appreciated, but why does it call Klinger’s third volume as “as-yet-undelivered,” when it’s been out since November 2005? As with any new venture, I can understand if a considerable delay existed between this premiere issue’s deadline and actual printing, but that left plenty of time for an update.

Next is a film column titled “The Screen of the Crime,” by Lenny Picker, who argues why THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is “unfilmable.” Even if you’ve caught just one of the movies, this will be of interest. Personally, I rather enjoyed Hammer Studios’ version starring Peter Cushing.

“Ask Mrs. Hudson” is a faux advice column purportedly by Holmes’ landlady. It’s played for laughs, but aside from a couple of one-liners, it’s not particularly funny. If any feature gets nixed in future issues, it should be this one. And finally, author Carole Buggé interviews fellow author Ron Goulart about his career. What’s he have to do with Holmes, you ask? Well, not a lot, but he’s one of the six writers debuting new short stories here — as is Buggé, to make the Q&A incestuous. (Another strange date lag here: Goulart refers to his novel GROUCHO MARX: KING OF THE JUNGLE as coming out “this July,” whereas it’s now been available for three years.)

Goulart’s contribution is a Henry Challenger mystery titled “The Mystery of the Missing Automaton.” Curiously, it’s not the only tale centered around automatons, as Edward D. Hoch’s “The Automaton Museum” attests. This latter whodunit centers around the murder of an inventor of automatons, and while not Hoch’s best, at least it continues his streak of never writing a bad story that my eyes have seen.

Marc Bilgey’s “The Bet” involves a unique proposition between a captain of industry and a crime novel fan, and a high-stakes murder-for-profit competition between them. Meanwhile, Hal Blythe’s “On the Heir” has a detective consult his anchorwoman daughter on a puzzling planned felony mere minutes before she is to deliver the headlines — and, humorously, while she is doing just that.

Doyle himself gets his due in a reprint of “The Gloria Scott,” presented as a “Sherlock Holmes Classics” to close out the contents. Even though the Holmes tales are available in infinite editions, it’s nice to see one handpicked for inclusion, and not just to justify to magazine’s moniker.

SHMM isn’t much to look at, but it’s a ball to read. NEW YORKER-esque cartoons from Peter Arno and Bilgrey are sprinkled throughout to help spruce up the layout, and adhere to the magazine’s theme. If you consider yourself a fan of Holmes, by all means I recommend picking this up … despite how tough Wildside apparently wants to make that. —Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MARVIN KAYE:
• DON’T OPEN THIS BOOK! edited by Marvin Kaye
• THE FAIR FOLK edited by Marvin Kaye
• FORBIDDEN PLANETS edited by Marvin Kaye
• THE ULTIMATE HALLOWEEN edited by Marvin Kaye

With its fairly large print, Bruce Wexler’s THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES may appear “elementary,” but it’s a big book (in width if not depth) whose pages that fans of literature’s detective icon will delight in turning.

Separated into a handful of heavily illustrated chapters, the volume opens with a brief biography of Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Much of it will be old hat to anyone who’s ever read about his life, save for the occasional offhanded nugget (such as the flop play he co-wrote with PETER PAN‘s J.M. Barrie), but as with the entirety of the contents, it’s really what surrounds the text that counts.

And by that, I mostly mean vintage covers of COLLIER’S magazine sporting Dorr Steele’s illustrations, and Sidney Paget’s prized drawings from THE STRAND. Yes, the latter are often reprinted in various collections of the Holmes stories, but to see them in full-color instead of the same-old black-and-white is a treat.

Following the Doyle info, Wexler’s work starts focusing on Sherlock’s life in print, whether serialized in the aforementioned magazines or rounded up in books, on both sides of the Atlantic. To give readers a more informed perspective of the series’ Victorian setting, subsequent chapters spotlight the London look (including several shots inside the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221-B Baker St., where I really want to visit), the medical and forensic sciences at play at the time (with an unsettling peek into Dr. Watson’s bags, full of terrifying surgeon’s tools), police equipment and the Whitechapel scourge of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.

Period photos and illustrations dot each page, which makes the later chapters on film and TV adapations and various memorabilia — from British commemorative stamps to chess sets and cigarette cards — so much fun to look at. (Note that one of the movie poster images still bears the watermarked URL of the site from which it was taken.) Wexler’s book won’t set you back many bucks, so if you’re one who’s read the Holmes canon more than once, logical deduction assumes you’ll enjoy this diversion. —Rod Lott

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Richard Matheson’s BUTTON, BUTTON: UNCANNY STORIES may only exist because the title story soon will be a movie titled THE BOX – starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden – but that’s okay. Any excuse for a Matheson release is a good one.

You’d best revisit 1970′s “Button, Button” beforehand, anyway. Its premise is classic: If a box appeared that would give you money for pushing its button, yet take away the life of a stranger, would you be tempted? It’s a chilling idea – one well-executed by the author, even if the last line merits a ba-dum-dum to drive home what is essentially a joke.

That’s not to deny “Button, Button” its power, of which it has plenty. It will be most interesting to see how writer/director Richard Kelly is going to turn a story that’s all of 10 pages into a feature film. Matheson’s idea of moral dilemma is extremely effective in short form, but can it translate to 90 minutes or more?

We’ll know soon enough. In the meantime, UNCANNY STORIES carries many more excursions into Matheson’s world of sharp suspense. “Pattern for Survival” illustrates one unsettling process of a writer getting his story to sell, and “Clothes Make the Man” tells a tale of a man who’s devoted to fashion to a seemingly impossible extreme. “‘Tis the Season to Be Jelly” finds Matheson at his most playful, while “The Jazz Machine” has him experiment with relaying a story in verse.

Fans will be pleased to see the inclusion of “No Such Thing as a Vampire” and “The Creeping Terror,” among others. And newbies who will give this slim but satisfying collection a whirl are sure to join them. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BLOOD LINES: RICHARD MATHESON’S DRACULA, I AM LEGEND, AND OTHER VAMPIRE STORIES by Richard Matheson
• I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson
• RICHARD MATHESON’S THE TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS: VOLUME TWO edited by Stanley Wiater
• WOMAN by Richard Matheson

We hit a milestone today, as this column marks the 100th in my never-ending run through old paperbacks. To celebrate, we’re covering three books from one certain author who also would be celebrating his 100th birthday. Regular BBB&B readers know I’ve taken many a potshot at Ian Fleming’s creation of James Bond, but actually, I’m a big fan of the books and films. So let’s don our tuxedos, get us some shaken-but-not-stirred martinis, and delve back into the world of 007.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE by Ian Fleming – I’ve replaced all my beat-up Bond books with Penguin’s recent reissues, and this 1957 novel – the fifth in the series – is my favorite of the whole run. Don’t just take my word for it; it’s considered one of the best by most fans of the series.

This is a different type of Bond story, since he does not make an appearance until after the first third. The plot details the operations of the Russian organization of SMERSH and its go-to killer Red Grant. SMERSH figures it needs not only to kill Bond, but to embarrass him in a huge scandal using lowly clerk Tatiania Romanova as bait, setting it all up in the lovely country of Istanbul.

Chapters of action after action follow of Bond just laying waste to all these Russkie agents who come after him. There’s also the over-the-top fight scene of two women at a gypsy camp – oh, the good old sexist ’50s! – but all of this is just a lead-in to the climax, when Bond finally meets up with Red Grant for the final showdown on the Orient Express, of all things.

Now if I ruined this book for anyone, where the hell have you been? The movie follows the plot of the book fairly well, which is rare. Everything you know from the film is pretty much there, including the deadly shoes of one Rosa Klebb. The novel still holds up, with Fleming not only giving us a top-notch story, but never settling for a travelogue approach like DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER.

There’s a simple reason why Fleming’s books have lasted this long in our consciousness: They are that good. If you’ve never read any, do yourself a favor and read them all in order. Plus, if this book was good enough for John F. Kennedy, it’s good enough for me.

ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE by Ian Fleming – If you’re not in the camp of FROM RUSSIA being your favorite Bond, most likely this 1963 one is your pick. The 11th book in the series more than makes up for what many consider the misstep of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. That was a daring idea for its time, having a Bond story all told through the eyes of a girl at the center of it, with 007 only being a secondary character who shows up halfway through it. I liked it, but you can see how it must have pissed off Fleming’s fans back in the day, so he had to come back with one that would straighten the ship in a big way.

This is the story of Bond’s true heartbreak. Sure, he was double-crossed in CASINO ROYALE, but in this story, his heart is ripped out by his enemies. Again, the movie that was made from SERVICE is pretty on-target, which is truly amazing, considering how over-the-top the plot gets.

Bond is all set to quit the service at the start, but a chance meeting with a self-destructive woman changes him in a major way. Tracy is the daughter of one of the largest European crime families, whose father figures he can pay off Bond to marry her and straighten her out. But 007 doesn’t take him up on it just yet.

He follows Tracy around, hoping to help her out of this destructive path, leading to him finding out that one of his biggest enemies is living in Switzerland: Ernst Starvo Blofeld, head of SPECTRE. Going undercover as an expert in genealogy and coats of arms, Bond gets a foothold into Blofeld’s world, where our hero finds out the devious plot Blofeld has planned: unleashing biological warfare on England.

This is truly the high point in the whole Bond canon. It might get a bit outrageous, but Fleming counters it all with the introduction of Tracy, with Bond finding his one true love in a headstrong woman, only to lose her so soon after the wedding. Again, if I just ruined it for you, move out from under that rock. Hell, the movie version of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY opens with Bond at her gravestone.

OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS by Ian Fleming – From 1966, the final James Bond book by Fleming is comprised of four short stories that fit perfectly in between SERVICE and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. Only one of them has ever being filmed (although others have had their titles incorporated for the big screen).

First up is “Octopussy,” which tells the story of Major Dexter Smythe, who steals a cache of Nazi gold during WWII. It’s all told in flashback as Smythe is snorkeling, looking for his precious octopus he discovered. Bond shows up at the tail end to set things right.

The second story is “The Living Daylights,” in which 007 is ordered to kill a Russian sniper. Except Bond can’t do it when he discovers the target is a woman he admires. He hopes this will cause him to get fired. The third story is “The Property of a Lady,” dealing with a Russian double agent being paid through an auction, with the object of desire being that of a Fabergé egg. Yes, this was all used in the movie titled OCTOPUSSY.

Closing out the collection is pretty much a throwaway story, plain and simple. “007 in New York” deals more with his eating habits than any kind of villain taking over the world. The reason for his trip is to warn a fellow agent that her boyfriend is playing for the bad guys. This collection and FOR YOUR EYES ONLY are being reprinted in England as one volume, just in time for the next Bond film, since “Quantum of Solace” is a story in that collection (and FYI, the story has nothing to do with the plot of the movie, either).

FOR BOND LOVERS ONLY edited by Sheldon Lane – This 1965 collection of essays is exactly what it states on the cover. This is not some critical analysis of the series, but more in the vein of some big-name fans professing their love for Fleming and his character.

The first essay is “007 and Me,” which will totally thrill fans, since it’s Fleming explaining to the writer the history of coming up with Bond and the decisions he made throughout the series. Chief among them: Why did he kill off Bond’s bride so quickly? Simple reason: Fleming didn’t want to be saddled with writing for her again.

Three pieces about Sean Connery are spread out over the course of the book. “The Blood, Guts and Girls’ Man” deals with how Connery and his wife dealt with all the sudden attention of his newfound stardom and sex appeal. The aptly tilted “Bond’s Broads” tells of all the actresses’ experiences with their leading man. (THUNDERBALL had just finished shooting at this point. It’s also made clear Connery was actually signed to do ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE originally.) The final Connery essay is a puff piece on his rise to stardom: “The Man Who’s Got 007′s Number.”

A luncheon date between Fleming and author Len Deighton is included, in which Fleming admits to liking Deighton’s spy a little more. This all takes place around the same time Fleming has just finished writing YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, which would become the last book of his he would live to see published. There is an essay which held none of my attention, all about some of the real-life weaponry used in the novels.

“The Thriller Buisness” is another meeting of the minds, in which Fleming and fellow writer Georges Simenon discuss their techniques and how neither of their wives ever have anything to say after reading their finished manuscripts. They also both go into detail about some of the traps they fall into while writing.

“Talking About Spies” and “The Spy Boss Who Loves Bond” showcase two former spy masters discussing their love for the series, with the then-CIA chief being given a copy of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE by Jacqueline Kennedy, who said her husband thought he might like it. Then there is the Raymond Chandler piece “Iced Water and Cool Customers,” where we learn that Chandler thought of Bond as too tough of a hero, yet that CASINO ROYALE was his favorite book. He reveals he was jealous of how Fleming could absorb information and details so well, but when push came to shove, his favorite writer was himself.

This is a fun little collection of pieces, but nothing to spend a ton of money on. Well, maybe for all the lovely cheesecake photos of all the pretty ladies that were in the movies to the point, including the girl from the GOLDFINGER credits.

Next time: I’m scared! –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF LEN DEIGHTON:
• THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN by Len Deighton
• AN EXPENSIVE PLACE TO DIE by Len Deighton
• FUNERAL IN BERLIN by Len Deighton
• HORSE UNDER WATER by Len Deighton
• ONLY WHEN I LARF by Len Deighton

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF IAN FLEMING:
• THE DIAMOND SMUGGLERS by Ian Fleming

Did you hear the one about LOLITA‘s pedophiliac Humbert Humbert being confronted by DATELINE’s “To Catch a Predator” segment? If not, consult THE MCSWEENEY’S JOKE BOOK OF BOOK JOKES pronto. This slim but satisfying anthology pokes a number of holes into the often-inflated world of self-important literature and writing with dozens of brief biting bits.

From the start – namely, the introduction by John Hodgman – you can tell you’re in for a good time. “It is hilarious that Herman Melville wrote MOBY-DICK,” he writes. “It is hilarious that it has a tattooed cannibal in it named ‘Queequeg’ and also a guy with a peg leg, and what’s more, it’s GODDAMNED TITLE IS MOBY-DICK. Priceless. I know, as we all do, that MOBY-DICK is hilarious, and I HAVEN’T EVEN READ IT.”

If that at least put a crooked smile on your face, dig in; there’s plenty more where that came from. Matthew Kennedy offers a sexually explicit “The Dick and Jane Reader for Advanced Students,” while Jim Stallard goes meta with a RASHOMON-style look at the exploits of Highlights for Children mainstays Goofus and Gallant.

John Moe has a diary of what it’s like when “Winnie-the-Pooh Is My Co-Worker” (“Winnie’s friends came by to take him out for lunch today … a tiger that had to be on coke”), and Jared Bloom presents a two-page excerpt from Steven Seagal’s “very authorized biography,” in which the actor struggles to come up with titles for what eventually became the film HARD TO KILL (discarded monikers include DIFFICULT TO BEAT UP; SERIOUSLY, TRY PUNCHING THIS GUY IN THE FACE AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS; HOWARD’S END; and SEX FIGHTING).

Franz Kafka’s man-turned-cockroach Gregor Samsa is the subject of two pieces: one by Alex St. Andrews, taking form of a Social Security notice denying his disability claim, and another by Will Layman, imagining him as a sports coach.

There are lots of short lists, including:
• “Klingon Fairy Tales” (example: “Mary Had a Little Lamb. It Was Delicious”)
• “Ikea Product or LORD OF THE RINGS Character?”
• “Twist Endings”
• “Thrilling Chapter Endings You May Use in Your Next Novel” (example: “Suddenly, {PROTAGONIST} noticed darting shadows in the corner of the ballroom. Ninjas!”)
• “Possible Titles for Future Sue Grafton Novels After She Runs Out of Letters” (example: “‘,’ IS ALMOST FOR COMA”)
• and perhaps most hilariously, Dan Wiencek’s “Thirteen Writing Prompts” (example: “A wasp called the tarantula hawk reproduces by paralyzing tarantulas and laying its eggs into their bodies. When the larvae hatch, they devour the still living spider from the inside out. Isn’t that fucked up? Write a short story about how fucked up that is.”)

Like ye olde Spy magazine – without which McSweeney’s would not exist – some pieces are better as a concept than in execution (“Lady Macbeth on Ambien,” “Jane Eyre Runs for President”), but if there’s something you don’t like, simply turn the page. It should be noted that McSweeney’s sometimes is responsible for the very brainier-than-thou attitudes they’re making fun of here, but at least their hands of parody are quite deft ones. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF JOHN HODGMAN:
• THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE by John Hodgman

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MCSWEENEY’S:
• NOISY OUTLAWS, UNFRIENDLY BLOBS, AND SOME OTHER THINGS THAT AREN’T AS SCARY, MAYBE, DEPENDING ON HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT LOST LANDS, STRAY CELLPHONES, CREATURES FROM THE SKY, PARENTS WHO DISAPPEAR IN PERU, A MAN NAMED LARS FARF, AND ONE OTHER STORY WE COULDN’T QUITE FINISH, SO MAYBE YOU COULD HELP US OUT

Who knew the works of H.P. Lovecraft would one day be so ripe for plundering by DIY filmmakers? Lurker Films has made a cottage industry out of primarily releasing compilations of these features and shorts onto DVD, and the fifth now is available in THE H.P. LOVECRAFT COLLECTION: VOLUME 5 – STRANGE AEONS: THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP.

The centerpiece of the disc is 2005′s feature-length STRANGE AEONS: THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP, based on Lovecraft’s well-known – but not always well-liked – 1937 story “The Thing on the Doorstep.” I was looking forward to seeing the adaptation, but that’s because I had it confused with “The Outsider,” for some reason.

Once that misunderstanding was cleared up, it was obvious that director Eric Morgret’s film follows the original plot pretty closely, even retaining the occasionally odd character names – Asenath, anyone? – despite being set in the present day. Its hero is bearded, mild-mannered college professor Dan Upton (J.D. Lloyd), whose graduate assistant Edward Derby (Erick Robertson) falls under the spell of the mysterious and beautiful Asenath (Angela M. Grillo).

And no wonder: He has magical sex with her, during which she implants all sorts of weird-ass thoughts and tentacled visions directly into his brain. That kind of thing tends to set a girl apart from the rest of the pack, especially when she does so while naked.

Seriously, though, this relationship marks changes in Derby’s personality, thus driving a wedge in his friendship with the professor, thus creating a bizarre love triangle that can’t end well. At all. (And you know that even without the appearance of that infernal Necronomicon).

While DOORSTEP has no shortage of freaky-deaky imagery, it also sports a few sound issues and performances that bend toward the amateur level. Its main problem, however, is even with the benefit of variances from the source material, there are simply not enough ideas to sustain it for an hour and a half.

It might help if its characters seemed more real. For instance, when someone shambles into your house on a dark and stormy night, saying nothing, their head tucked down and hidden under a hat, hell, yes, something is wrong! Be. Fucking. Scared!

AEONS’ strengths lie in the handful of bonus shorts. The German-language MARIA’S HUBRIS is a companion piece to AEONS, taking up the same theme of body transference, but in one-sixth the running time. Its narrator relates his friend’s telling him of “experiments” from a strange book that he and his gal Maria did. You can guess just what tome they’re referring to, can’t you?

Michael Granberry’s FROM BEYOND is a 10-minute stop-motion animation that’s absolutely cool, genuinely freaky and more effective than the beloved (included by me) Stuart Gordon movie. But even brevity can’t help the super-short preview for LET SLEEPING GODS LIE, which shows nothing but footage of computer-animated Lovecraftian creatures.

Also really brief and animated – this one via Flash? – is DON’T FEED THE BOOK, a comical short taking place in a bookstore. It’s not based on Lovecraft, but certainly couldn’t exist without him, as a customer browses at a tabletop copy of the Necronomicon and gets more than he bargained for. It’s a one-trick pony, sure, but nicely done.

In the extra features, there’s a trailer for an upcoming Lovecraft documentary, featuring notable talking heads Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Guillermo del Toro and Ramsey Campbell. And for more well-respected artists paying tribute to ol’ H.P., check out the interview with John Carpenter singing the author’s praises for about six minutes. (Too bad he couldn’t put that much enthusiasm into his Lovecraft homage IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS!)

Among the choice bits, Carpenter reveals he tried to set up a miniseries based on “The Colour out of Space” for NBC – shame on you, peacocks – and thinks that Lovecraft must’ve had a real problem with fish. If that observation doesn’t elicit even an internal, knowing laugh, this disc is not for you. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER RECENT BOOKS 2 FILM REVIEWS:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Beowulf
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Jumper
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Masters of Horror: The Damned Thing

Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

About all I remember from the 1983 miniseries V of my childhood: 1) Faye Grant looked hot, 2) Freddy Krueger was in it, and 3) that lizard baby. V’s writer/director Kenneth Johnson revisits the loose ends of the resulting 1984 weekly series with the novel V: THE SECOND GENERATION. The reptilian alien “Visitors” have wrestled control of Earth by tricking its residents, except for the small splinter group of resistance fighters. Your enjoyment will help tremendously if you’ve revisited V on DVD, as several characters and storylines either are referenced or still in play. Everyone else may be working at a disadvantage, and may be better suited to awaiting the eventual screen adaptation, even if Johnson’s ever-thriving imagination is still in full force.

For THE FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES: ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF CHINESE FOOD, Jennifer 8. Lee traveled the globe to find the very best Chinese restaurant. I won’t spoil the surprising winner for you, but the real charm of the book comes in the other chapters, in which she laments the dangers of being a Chinese food deliveryman, explores the origins of chop suey, visits the manufacturers of those white takeout boxes (a wholly American thing, by the way) and recounts a 2005 Powerball mishap when there were more payouts than usual because a fortune cookie string of lucky numbers actually was. Lee writes so friendly, you want to take her out for a bowl of hot-and-sour soup. This engaging buffet of travel, history and popular culture will put a smile on your face and a pang in your stomach. And no MSG!

Gonzo cruciverbalist Ben Tausig attempts to hook kids into pencil games instead of video games with MAD TAUSIG VS THE INTERPLANETARY PUZZLING PEACE PATROL. You’re supposed to stop madman Mad Tausig by doing crosswords, cracking codes, unscrambling words and tackling a variety of logic, word and other puzzles. The quasi-mystery is a lot of fun, with something to do on every page, and the cartoony illustrations by Goopymart – an alias, I’m assuming – help make the book irresistible. Buy one for your kids … and one for yourself. It’s not the most fiendishly clever puzzle book out there – that’d be Lemony Snicket’s THE PUZZLING PUZZLES – but it’s darn close.

The whole of our country’s cinema criticism is chronicled in AMERICAN MOVIE CRITICS: AN ANTHOLOGY FROM THE SILENTS UNTIL NOW – EXPANDED EDITION, edited by Phillip Lopate. Among its earliest entries are poet Carl Sandburg’s awkwardly phrased reviews (“Then it is for you this Caligari and his cabinet”) and Cecilia Ager’s take on KING KONG, which focuses solely on Fay Wray. Film criticism got better as the decades progressed, as Jonas Mekas’ all-question review of Andy Warhol’s SLEEP shows, or the rightfully praised works of Andrew Sarris, Pauline Kael and Vincent Canby. More recent pieces of note include J. Hoberman’s bad movies essay/tribute and screenwriter Paul Rudnick’s take on DANCES WITH WOLVES, albeit under the satricial guise of Libby Gelman-Waxner, the über-yuppie columnist from the late Premiere magazine. At more than 750 pages, there’s a wealth of material here for serious film enthusiasts.

THIS MAY HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORLD, goes Lawrence Potter’s slim little volume, which serves as an FAQ for this current crazed earth of ours. It seeks to tackle – through both commentary and good ol’ hard facts – many of the trickiest hot-button issues of today, including “Is Bush actually stupid?,” “Is it possible that global warming is not taking place?” and “What is Iran up to?” (The short answers, respectively: His IQ equals John F. Kennedy’s, not likely, it ain’t pleasant.) Chapters are divided amongst topics like China, Darfur and Russia. That Potter offers concise, easy-to-follow explanations justifies the book’s title; unfortunately, those in most need of knowing the answers may not even care.

‘Tis easy to see why they call New York “the city that never sleeps”: Because when you have a thousand-plus-page book like WRITING NEW YORK: A LITERARY ANTHOLOGY, you’d better be planning on some long nights. Edited by Phillip Lopate, the book originally was published in 1998, but this 10th-anniversary edition from Library of America is much more relevant with the inclusion of post-9/11 material, like a chilling excerpt from Don DeLillo’s FALLING MAN novel. A wealth of classic writers are here – F. Scott Fitzgerald, William S. Burroughs, Henry Miller, Edgar Allan Poe, Tom Wolfe, O. Henry – paying tribute to (and sometimes knocking) the Big Apple. If you’re a fan of the metropolis, or a New Yorker subscriber, this belongs on your bedside table. –Rod Lott

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Here’s how little I understood BEOWULF when I had to read it in English class in junior high and again in high school: I thought the title referred to the monster, and that the monster was a wolf. Laugh all you want, but Anglo-Saxon epic poems of the 8th century aren’t the easiest things to decipher.

Luckily, Robert Zemeckis’ BEOWULF is different, and I don’t just mean because it’s animated. It’s his “no-bullshit” version of the epic poem, as he promises on the making-of documentary featured on the DVD’s extra features: “This has nothing to do with the BEOWULF you were forced to read in junior high school. It’s all about eating, drinking, killing and fornicating.”

Actually, as scripted by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, the movie doesn’t stray all that far from the story of its source. It’s just that it ditches much of the boring elements and amps up the saucy ones, leaving an action-oriented, sometimes ribald and unapologetically over-the-top experience. Should Beowulf really be shown punching his way out of sea monster by going through the eye? Sure, why the hell not?

Getting a CGI slimdown in the process, THE DEPARTED heavy Ray Winstone assumes the lead role of Beowulf, a hero – here, made flawed, in direct opposition to the poem – who arrives at the castle of King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) to slay the monster Grendel (Crispin Glover), a giant deformed beast from a nearby village who doesn’t like all the noise their merriment makes.

Beowulf agrees, Grendel attacks and – while stark naked and opting to use no sword – our hero kills the creature. That doesn’t sit well with his serpentine mother, who takes the form of Angelina Jolie, whose breastastic reveal sent the tongues of Internet bloggers a-wagging when the scene was leaked just prior to its theatrical release. She offers Beowulf a truce: He can say he killed her if he promises to leave her be. Because she looks like a nude Jolie, he agrees.

Women are known to change their minds, however, which results in Beowulf having to engage in the fight of his life with a huge, fire-breathing dragon. Like much of the movie, this sequence is a thrill to watch. Even when the narrative lags – and at nearly two hours, it does here and there – the visuals are something to behold. While I’ve never been a fan of motion-capture animation, BEOWULF represents a huge leap for the medium; it’s difficult to imagine Zemeckis being able to make it live-action.

While I haven’t compared, I don’t have to see the theatrical cut to know that the unrated director’s cut is the one to watch. Laden as it is with violence, gore and nudity, it makes the ages-old story more exciting and accessible (Seamus Heaney or no Seamus Heaney) than it ever has been, or could ever hope to be.

For a more trash-oriented but still vastly entertaining take, don’t overlook 1999′s BEOWULF, from ALIEN NATION director Graham Baker. It plays fast and loose with the source material, as you’d expect a straight-to-video Christopher Lambert vehicle would.

Here, the inhabitants of a big, spooky castle are under constant threat of being made a meal by a ghost demon named Grendle. Their saving grace comes in the form of visiting mysterious stranger Beowulf, played by Lambert, the HIGHLANDER refugee and graduate of the Angry Whisper School of Acting.

Beowulf has a gift of sensing danger, so he knows when the monster is near. The beast is mostly a CGI creature given a wavy effect that looks like someone dragged a big magnet across your TV screen. The fight scenes – set to a techno score by Juno Reactor – alternately ape those found in MORTAL KOMBAT, THE MATRIX and EVIL DEAD II, and Beowulf himself busts out some GYMKATA moves. Assisting Beowulf is a foxy brunette (played by Rhona Mitra of HOLLOW MAN) who has a name, but I didn’t catch it because her boobs hang out the entire film.

How faithful is it to the poem? Again, it was a chore to read, but I’m pretty sure if the castle dudes were being visited in their dreams by a horny Playboy Playmate, I would’ve remembered, and maybe even aced the test. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER RECENT BOOKS 2 FILM REVIEWS:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> 300
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Jumper
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Masters of Horror: The Damned Thing

Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

FIVE STROKES TO MIDNIGHT is a handsomely made and handsomely written hardcover edited by Gary Braunbeck and Hank Schwaeble, with an introduction by Tim Lebbon. Authors Tom Piccirilli, Deborah LeBlanc, Christopher Golden and both editors contribute fine pieces of horror, although not the category horror of too many anthologies. And since each writer has two or three stories included, the reader gets a range of forms and styles. Highlights for me include Piccirilli’s “Berveavement,” one of his most powerful pieces; Braunbeck’s cleverly conceived and perfectly executed “Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway,” about the mercurial and confusing elements of relationships; LeBlanc’s “Bottom Feeder,” a great old-fashoned/new-fashioned take on magic; and Schwaeble’s “Midnight Boogie Blues,” the barn-burner of the book, and a tough tale; and Golden’s extraordinary “Breathe My Name,” a fusion of fabulism and folk tale. This is a collectible and a keeper in all respects. –Ed Gorman

Personally, I’ve never cared for them (it’s a texture thing; you wouldn’t understand), but journalist Dan Koeppel is simply, er, bananas over bananas. He pays tribute to and explores the mysteries of the ap-peel-ing food in BANANA: THE FATE OF THE FRUIT THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. He chronicles their beginnings – they were the true “apple” in the biblical Garden of Eden, he suggests – to the subjects of science they are today. I wasn’t as interested in the country-by-country history he details as I was the various cultural aspects, such as the original Chiquita banana theme, whose lyrics appear here, or the 2001 suicide of a leading banana scientist. Even during the brown slow spots, the chapters are so short that each can be read in the time it takes to eat a … well, you know.

Lower those expectations for THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: BLACK DOSSIER, kids. Although it’s not bad, it’s nowhere near the kick offered by its pair of predecessors. More of a transitionary tale, it follows younger versions of Allan Quatermain and Mina Harker as they play spy games, struggling to keep possession of a folder full of files on the League’s history. This includes pieces of rambling period fiction that utterly bore (yes, Alan Moore, we get it – you’re oh-so-clever), but also the occasional spark, such as a stitched-in Tijuana bible with Orwellian overtones. The end is in 3-D for no good reason, other than maybe to disguise the fact that the narrative has gone completely off the rails. Kevin O’Neill’s art still astounds, however.

After FANTÔMAS and ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-THIEF, Penguin Classics continues to show it’s open-minded when it comes to determining what’s a classic by issuing the anthology DASHING DIAMOND DICK AND OTHER CLASSIC DIME NOVELS. Forerunners to the pulps, the late-19th-century dime novels were serial-style publications covering a wide variety of genres. As compiled by J. Randolph Cox – who provides an informative intro – so does this collection of five short novels. The titular Dick tale is a cross between a Western and a swashbuckler, but also included are a baseball story, an airship adventure, a historical war story and an early mystery featuring detective Nick Carter. While some are clearly better than others, none are that particularly well-written. But that’s not the point; this one’s all about having it for posterity. Bonus points for including the original covers. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• ALBION by Alan Moore, Leah Moore and John Reppion
• BERSERK by Tim Lebbon
• BLOODSTAINED OZ by Christopher Golden and James A. Moore
• THE EVERLASTING by Tim Lebbon
• THE FEVER KILL by Tom Piccirilli
• FOUR DARK NIGHTS by Bentley Little, Douglas Clegg, Christopher Golden and Tom Piccirilli
• KEEPERS by Gary A. Braunbeck
• THE MIDNIGHT ROAD by Tom Piccirilli
• MR. HANDS by Gary A. Braunbeck
• THE MYTH HUNTERS: BOOK ONE OF THE VEIL by Christopher Golden

Michael Dirda is a book critic after my own heart. In his one-hair-shy-of-joyous tour of lit CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE, he sympathizes with the commonly held view that classics are “difficult, esoteric, and a little boring. … Really, after a hard day’s work, who wants to settle down with more … work?”

Exactly. But some classics aren’t work. Some can be enjoyed as much as a speedily paced thriller. Heck, some could be classified as speedily paced thrillers, at least comparatively for their time. And it’s these enduring books that Dirda revisits, hoping to introduce old-tome-shy readers to new-for-them stories, like BEOWULF, Jules Verne’s TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and Philip K. Dick’s THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE.

Smartly, Dirda – a Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic – separates the book into sections by genre or some overall loose theme. This is great because if you categorically hate all romance, you can steer clear of that portion – but then you’ll miss his essay on Arthurian romances, heavy on the derring-do, not so much on the lovey-poo.

Two sections appealed to me – and likely you, dear member of the BOOKGASM faithful – most: “The Dark Side” and “Realms of Adventure.” The former addresses the giants of monster lit – Bram Stoker’s DRACULA and Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN – but also the ghost stories of M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu, and H.P. Lovecraft’s AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS.

The latter find Dirda poking around the works of H.G. Wells and H. Rider Haggard, but also Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes canon, Agatha Christie’s detective mysteries and even Dashiell Hammett’s THE MALTESE FALCON.

No essay is more than a few pages, and even if you disagree with Dirda, you still respect his views because they’re well-informed and not coated in dryness. The man knows literature, pure and simple; he’s intelligent, but not arrogant. That he’s attempting to make more of it accessible to today’s audience should be lauded; that he succeeds more often not, ditto.

For those looking to build a library of the greats or simply revisit them in lieu of a conversation with a like-minded friend, CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE is a gratifying start. –Rod Lott

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Will Smith’s latest paycheck has made a bestseller out of Richard Matheson’s classic 1954 novel I AM LEGEND, so whether the movie is awful or awesome, at least one good thing has come from it.

Even most who’ve never read it or seen the various movies are at least familiar with its now-famous plot: Robert Neville leads a structured but solitary life, since he is – as far as he knows – the last man on earth. Oh, but there are vampires, and every night they surround his home and yell at him to come out, to give up, to become one of them. It’s enough to drive a man insane.

But Neville is a fighter, not about to go down easy. He pines for his lost love Virginia while enduring the taunts of the vampires, led by one Ben Cortman. Attempts to make pals with man’s best friend goes awry, another victim of the bacteria that has turned the population into monsters. He’s not as alone as he thinks, but ensuing events only will heighten his feelings of isolation.

It’s easy to see why I AM LEGEND is, well, legendary: It’s short, tense and frighteningly relevant, perhaps more so today than ever. Mass-extinction and bioterrorist themes equal longevity these days. If you’ve never picked up this novel before, the current tie-in releases from Tor give you ample reason in a couple of formats; all come loaded with nearly a dozen of Matheson’s short stories from the era, including the famous woman-vs.-doll “Prey,” best known as the basis for the good third of the ’70s TV-movie TRILOGY OF TERROR. It’s one of his best. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BLOOD LINES: RICHARD MATHESON’S DRACULA, I AM LEGEND, AND OTHER VAMPIRE STORIES by Richard Matheson
• RICHARD MATHESON’S THE TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS: VOLUME TWO edited by Stanley Wiater
• WOMAN by Richard Matheson

According to S.T. Joshi, editor of Penguin Classics’ AMERICAN SUPERNATURAL TALES, the genre has its roots in Greek mythology. Sounds logical. He also claims that H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce sit atop the pinnacle of its practitioners. Sounds reasonable. And he compares Dean Koontz to Judith Krantz and Danielle Steel, “whose work will be deservedly forgotten in the next generation.” I disagree … on the Koontz part, that is.

That left-field slam aside, Joshi is as good a guide as any to trace the history of the supernatural short story in these United States, and this volume 26 examples in a mix of classics and lesser-known gems, arranged chronologically from 1824 to 2000.

A brief piece from Washington Irving kicks it off; rather than the expected “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” we get “The Adventure of the German Student.” Although oddly titled, it’s a quick kick – or at least for me, seeing how it’s the source material for a ghost story I was told as a young boy that has haunted me ever since.

Among other 19th-century authors included here are Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert W. Chambers, Henry James and Clark Ashton Smith.

Getting into the 20th century, Conan creator Robert E. Howard offers “Old Garfield’s Heart,” a quasi-Western about a man who cannot be killed by any old-fashioned way. Robert Bloch makes a “Black Bargain,” with a drugstore pharmacist who meets a man with a shadow with a mind of its own, and Fritz Leiber takes on the then-burgeoning field of advertising with 1949′s “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes.”

After Ray Bradbury’s oft-anthologized “The Fog Horn,” Shirley Jackson makes “A Visit” and Richard Matheson places a “Long Distance Call,” the latter with a chilling twist ending for which he’s known. Ditto for Charles Beaumont, here with “The Vanishing American.”

Representing the current crop of horror writers are Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti and the late Karl Edward Wagner, among others – such as Dennis Etchison and David J. Schow, both of whose work continues to elude my attention. This section also contains two of the collection’s highlights: Joyce Carol Oates’ short and sour “Demon,” proving that even the literary can get ugly when need be, and T.E.D. Klein’s “The Events at Poroth Farm,” an outstanding narrative of a student renting a room from a Mennonite married couple. Needless to say, strange things are afoot! It’s the book’s true great find, and it alone makes TALES worthy of a purchase.

Although I wish Joshi didn’t spoil the endings of some of the stories in his author intros, AMERICAN SUPERNATURAL TALES could prove to be one of the few definitive studies on the subject. And on the heels of FANTÔMAS and ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-THIEF, it’s also nice to see Penguin Classics continue to recognize more oddball fiction as worthy of attention, whereas others dismiss it outright as trash. They don’t know what they’re missing. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF RAY BRADBURY:
• THE DRAGON WHO ATE HIS TAIL by Ray Bradbury
• MATCH TO FLAME: THE FICTIONAL PATHS TO FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
• NOW AND FOREVER by Ray Bradbury
• SOMEWHERE A BAND IS PLAYING by Ray Bradbury

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF CLARK ASHTON SMITH:
• THE END OF THE STORY: THE COLLECTED FANTASIES OF CLARK ASHTON SMITH, VOLUME 1 by Clark Ashton Smith

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD:
• BLOOD & THUNDER: THE LIFE & ART OF ROBERT E. HOWARD by Mark Finn
• BOXING STORIES by Robert E. Howard
• THE COMPLETE ACTION STORIES by Robert E. Howard
• LORD OF SAMARCAND AND OTHER ADVENTURE TALES OF THE OLD ORIENT by Robert E. Howard

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF STEPHEN KING:
• CELL by Stephen King
• THE COLORADO KID by Stephen King
• CREEPSHOWS: THE ILLUSTRATED STEPHEN KING MOVIE GUIDE by Stephen Jones
• CUJO by Stephen King
• THE SECRETARY OF DREAMS: VOLUME ONE by Stephen King
• STEPHEN KING: THE NON-FICTION by Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THOMAS LIGOTTI:
• THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY by Thomas Ligotti

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF H.P. LOVECRAFT:
• THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
• THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft
• THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM by H.P. Lovecraft
• THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF JOYCE CAROL OATES:
• AMERICAN GOTHIC TALES edited by Joyce Carol Oates
• THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE by Joyce Carol Oates
• THE MUSEUM OF DR. MOSES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE by Joyce Carol Oates

Ever since the 1940s, there have been discussions about which collection of stories best gives a real idea of what pulp magazines were like in breadth and scope. THE HARD-BOILED OMNIBUS edited by Joseph “Cap” Shaw has always been the most prestigious because Shaw was for years the editor of Black Mask, the magazine both Hammett and Chandler called home.

There since have been many others; I’ve even co-edited a few pulp collections myself. Each book has its own merits – particuarly Ron Goulart’s THE HARDBOILED DICKS– but nothing, nothing even approximates the just-released THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF PULPS, edited by Otto Penzler.

More than 1,000 densely packed pages. Reprint of pulp illustrations. Fascinating biographies of each writer. Commentary by Harlan Coben, Harlan Ellison and Laura Lippman. The huge sections: “The Crimefighters,” “The Villains,” “The Dames.” And again, more than 1,000 densely packed pages.

Yes, Dashiell Hammett is here and with an original story. Raymond Chandler is here, too. So is James M. Cain. So is Horace McCoy. And so are some of lesser names still familiar to readers of the pulps: Carroll John Daly, Frederick Nebel, George Harmon Coxe and Frank Gruber, among others. My favorite of the lesser-knowns, Norbert Davis, has two stories; Chandler, Hammett and Woolrich have three each. All well and good. Great, great stuff.

But what makes this collection notable for me is the inclusion of many writers I’ve never heard of before and the diversity of story material they chose. Most hardboiled anthologies leave the impression that the magazines were filled with straightforward private-eye and police-procedural tales. Not so. And this anthology proves it.

The material ranges from the waterfront to the newspaper office to outré chambers that may be under supernatural assault. In other words, if you went to a newsstand in 1935, you could buy seven or eight crime-fiction magazines and get everything from The Saint (included here) to those in touch with the dead.

This is the one and only, no doubt about it. A true masterpiece. And more than 1,000 pages for only $25 in an extremely handsome package. With the holidays sneaking up on us, I don’t have to tell you it’d make a perfet gift. It’s the only such book that gives the reader a real sense of what pulp fiction was really like, because it includes so many different types of stories. Not just Chandler and Hammett, but a cross-section of worthy lesser-knowns who wrote just about every kind of suspense story a feller could think up. –Ed Gorman

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• MURDER AT THE FOUL LINE edited by Otto Penzler
• MURDER IN THE ROUGH edited by Otto Penzler
• PULP FICTION: THE CRIMEFIGHTERS edited by Otto Penzler

Welcome to the super-sized version of BBB&B. What looks like three books are really some old two-in-one editions, all written by great authors, including the return of a pulp hero and two from the tag team that is Ellery Queen. But to start it all off is one from that ’60s-looking garage rocker.

TOUGH TENDER by Max Allan Collins – There is only one Hard Case Crime book that’s sat on my shelf for a long time because its girth scares me – which is pretty funny since this 1991 book is about the same length. Also it’s a continuation of those characters. Yes, if you’ve read TWO FOR THE MONEY, here’s the follow-up.

Picking up after the events of those two books, these two novels go hand-in-hand together: HARD CASH (1982) and SCRATCH FEVER (1982). The former starts out with Collins’ version of the Parker archetype: Nolan, a now-retired robber. Well, that is until someone pops up from his past with a blackmail scheme.

Spoiler warning: The bank president from the previous book wants to hire Nolan and his partner Jon to rob his bank again. It seems the president has embezzled funds and figures he can cover it up with Nolan’s robbery help. But the president has ulterior motives, since he plans on running off with his 20-years-younger mistress Julie.

For fans of the Parker novels, you know this book is for you right away. It’s a great read throughout, with Collins throwing in some unexpected surprises which to go into would ruin TWO FOR THE MONEY for those who have not read it.

Onto its companion piece SCRATCH FEVER, which picks up a few months later, with Jon and Nolan living separate lives. It opens with Jon and his band playing their final club show when he notices someone in the crowd who he thought was dead. But the problem is the person in question recognizes Jon as well and sets a plan into action to get rid of him and Nolan together.

To say more would give away major plot points, so excuse me for glancing over the details. But there is one thing you should know: Never cross Nolan. Collins writes this book so well, you’re going to be mad when it all finishes up, since you want to see what else these characters can get into. Even though I know some of the outcome of TWO FOR THE MONEY, it won’t stop me from reading it now. He’s that good of a writer.

To compare Nolan to Richard Stark’s Parker is not a diss of Collins’ writing; it’s just that these characters very much fit the same profile. Whatever you do, try and find this version of the book, and not just the novels on their own. They flow very well together, and the second one ties up all of the first one’s loose ends.

THE DRAGON’S TEETH / CALAMITY TOWN by Ellery Queen – Back in the early ’80s, Signet was all about more-bang-for-your-buck reading when it started to package various Ellery Queen novels together as “A Signet Double Mystery by Ellery Queen.”

Up first in this 1980 compilation is THE DRAGON’S TEETH from 1939. It’s not your typical puzzle mystery that you’d expect from early Queen. Plus, it adds in a romantic side to the proceedings. It deals with one of Ellery’s pals Beau Rummell – yes, they make the obvious joke about what name his closely resembles – wanting to start up a detective agency with Ellery’s name on the door.

They are visited by an eccentric millionaire named Cadmus Cole, who makes Howard Hughes seem like the life of the party, since he lives most of his life on a yacht, only coming ashore when necessary. Cadmus wants to hire Ellery, but won’t tell him what the job is and that Ellery will know when to start investigating. Sure, that’s puzzling, but it’s explained fairly quickly once the old man passes away.

The case is to find the two living heirs to his will – two women who have had nothing to do with Cadmus his entire life. It seems Cadmus was a total ass to his family and those around him, to the point that in his will, there is a condition that the only way the two women can inherit the money is to never get married and live in the same home for a year. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Since Ellery comes down with appendicitis, it’s up to Beau to track down one of the women first, posing as Queen himself. He finds Kerrie Shawn out in California and she is happy about the money, but also wants nothing to deal with anything Cadmus has ever done. Then the other woman, Margo Cole, who came back to the states from France, wants nothing but her share and anything else she can grab.

The book plays out more thriller-like at this point, with multiple attempts made on Kerrie’s life, with Beau in Ellery mode for most of the story. This won’t come as a shock to anyone, but at the halfway mark, there’s a surprise you won’t expect and from there on out, it goes into full-Queen mystery mode, with a giant red herring throwing you off the whole time. The romance angle is a nice touch to this atypical Queen mystery.

As the second half of this Queen double feature is CALAMITY TOWN, a 1942 effort that’s the first of the books involving Wrightsville – a picture-perfect small town never fully defined as to where it’s located. Ellery has come there to write another book, figuring the new setting will give him some fresh ideas.

He rents a home under the assumed name of Ellery Smith, with his new neighbors being of the more influential set. But as nice as the Wrights come off, every family has issues, of course. The Wrights’ daughters have a laundry list of problems, with eldest Lola a divorcée who is considered a town scandal and lives in the seedier area, wanting nothing from the family. Then there is Nora, who was left at the altar years ago and has never been the same. Finally, there is Pat, who comes across as a Katherine Hepburn type: extremely strong-willed and a beauty to match.

Things move along swimmingly for the family, when out of the blue, Nora’s old fiancé Jim comes back, begging forgiveness. After a whirlwind marriage and honeymoon, the happy couple settles back into Wrightsville … until the discovery of three letters hidden in one of Jim’s books, all addressed to his sister and all dated for the future of how Nora was becoming sicker and sicker, only to be dead on New Year’s.

What’s Ellery to do? Especially when Jim’s sister shows up and ends up dying of a poisoning. With the town abuzz and the family all throwing its support behind Jim, how will Ellery hide his true identity and figure out this crime?

This book is more about the scene and characters. Never before are we given such a rich backdrop and people to study. It’s truly a classic that should be read by all mystery readers. Sure, it becomes apparent that the clues are a little easy to figure out, but with the way this book is written, you won’t mind a bit. This is truly pitch-perfect storytelling.

TARZAN: THE CLASSICS – TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION / TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN by Edgar Rice Burroughs – Closing out this overflowing column is the return of Tarzan. The great thing about this 1995 collection is that it marks the creative high point of the long-running series. After ANT MEN book, it took a shift, losing main characters and Tarzan becoming more of a traveler with characters just popping in to help out.

First up is TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION, which deals with a perfect double for Tarzan coming to Africa with a group of fellow treasure hunters whose use the resemblance to their advantage and to Tarzan’s trouble. Yes, the series is still un-PC, but it was written in 1922, so deal with it.

It starts off easily enough with Tarzan and family rescuing a lion cub who just lost its mother. Tarzan raises the cub himself. This is told in, like, a chapter. All of a sudden, the lion is full-grown with a long name – Jad-bal-ja – that will confuse most readers, since 70 percent of the characters’ names are that confusing. This is not a knock of Burroughs’ style, but you’ll feel like you need a scorecard to keep track of who is who.

The great thing about this novel is that it ties in with TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR, since the group of treasure hunters led by Esteban Miranda the Tarzan look-alike goes through the jungle with people and super ape-like creatures thinking it’s really the Lord of the Jungle. On the hunt for jewels, these guys kill anything in their path, which upsets many and with Tarzan bearing the blame for their actions.

That leads to Tarzan being drugged and taken to Opar, where there is a bit of unfinished business with the high priestess there. All the while, Tarzan’s lion pal is on the hunt for his master. Tarzan comes across a new area of the mysterious land, running into an even more ferocious type of gorillas who are war-like and deadly.

This is just pure escapism, at which Burroughs is a master. There is nothing like being sucked into this world, so packed with action and pulp heroics, you can see why these books are always in print.

I think 1924′s TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN easily could have been called JOHN CARTER AND THE ANT MEN, since it delves more into the science-fiction element than other books in the series – not heavy sci-fi, but enough of an element to be obvious.

It starts with Tarzan flying a plane by himself. (Yeah, Tarzan the pilot – I’ll buy it and block out all reason.) The plane crashes in a land Tarzan has never been, where he runs into an Amazonian-type race where female giants treat men lower than dirt. Like I said, science fiction, but the tables will change.

Tarzan is captured and the men of this land have never seen anyone like him – meaning someone who can fight back and is powerful enough to take the women on. So after Tarzan rallies the men to revolt, he then comes across the title characters of this book. They are called ant men for their height: all of 18 inches. These ant men live in the land of Minuni, where all the cities are in a constant battle against others.

Once there, Tarzan makes friends with one of the kings, only to be shrunk down to their size by one of the scientists. Then Tarzan is captured again and made to work as a slave, with an over-the-top escape to follow, of course. This is what makes reading so much fun, since you totally are just indebted with bizarre races and preposterous plots, you’ll grab the next Tarzan book off your shelf to see what else Burroughs has in that head of his.

Next time: How to be a crook in three easy lessons. –Bruce Grossman

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS:
• THE CHESSMEN OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• THE GODS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• A PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• THUVIA, MAID OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs
• THE WARLORD OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MAX ALLAN COLLINS:
• BLACK HATS by Patrick Culhane
• DICK TRACY by Max Allan Collins
• A KILLING IN COMICS by Max Allan Collins
• THE LAST QUARRY by Max Allan Collins
• MY LOLITA COMPLEX AND OTHER TALES OF SEX AND VIOLENCE by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens
• QUARRY’S LIST by Max Allan Collins
• ROAD TO PARADISE by Max Allan Collins
• THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER by Max Allan Collins

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ELLERY QUEEN:
• COP OUT by Ellery Queen
• THE COPPER FRAME by Ellery Queen
• THE FOUR OF HEARTS by Ellery Queen
• A ROOM TO DIE IN by Ellery Queen
• THE SPANISH CAPE MYSTERY by Ellery Queen

The damned thing is that MASTERS OF HORROR: THE DAMNED THING has the nerve to call itself an adaptation of Ambrose Bierce’s classic short story. In that 1894 tale, a group of men in a cabin hear a chilling account of the death of a man by an unseen force in the forest that ripped him to shreds. In this one-hour episode … well, at least someone gets ripped to shreds. Similarities, you end there.

This THING opens 24 years ago, when – shortly after black goo drips from the ceiling – a dad goes nuts, shoots his wife dead and almost kills his son, too, but he gets eviscerated and does whirly-loops as his guts spill out on the ground.

Surviving Kid grows up to be a small-town sheriff with a permanent limp, played by Sean Patrick Flanery (THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES), and his obsession with events of the past have driven off his button-cute wife (Marisa Coughlan of TEACHING MRS. TINGLE) and their only child. At least he has a right to be, because with the anniversary of That Night coming up, the people around town are starting to act crazy.

How crazy? Oh, like kill-yourself-with-repeated-blows-of-a-hammer crazy.

With a script by Richard Christian Matheson, THING errs in many ways, including trying to find a credible explanation for the monster. Bierce’s was ingenious, revealing only that it exists in a plane of color human eyes cannot see, but this show leaves nothing to the imagination, giving us a Sandman-style petroleum-based beast.

Director Tobe Hooper – responsible for two certifiable scare classics (POLTERGEIST and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, of course) and other flicks on the other end of the quality spectrum – is not at the top his game here, although production values are strong. His camera forever swirls about, scenes go on too long and – worst of all – it isn’t the least bit frightening. He gets off a couple of good gross-outs – the aforementioned toolbox murder and an encounter with a car-crash victim – but that’s about it.

Bierce’s story would be challenging for anyone to adapt without going into it knowing it’s all in the suggestion. But the MASTERS OF HORROR team has made so many alterations, the title no longer fits. Even if it weren’t based on a pre-existing piece of literature, the THING has little life to it. –Rod Lott

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OTHER RECENT BOOKS 2 FILM REVIEWS:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> 1408
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 4 – Pickman’s Model
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Hannibal Rising

In Mary Shelley’s classic FRANKENSTEIN, there’s a scene in which Victor Frankenstein begins making a mate for his monster, before wising up and destroying it. But what, asks Hilary Bailey’s FRANKENSTEIN’S BRIDE, if he didn’t put a stop to his own experiment?

First published in the UK in 1995 and new to these shores from Sourcebooks, BRIDE is an unofficial sequel that finds Victor remarried and a father, following the tragic events of the original. As narrated by Jonathan Goodall – a young man of means whom Victor befriends – the story notes that Victor harbors an unnatural interest in a girl named Maria, even though he’s devoted to another.

Strangely, she’s a one-of-a-kind opera singer: mute when she tries to speak, but a bird in song. One night, Victors is nearly murdered, slashed with a knife some 30 times, and Maria is the only witness to the crime. As the matter is investigated – and a rather tall, ungainly fellow is spotted lurking in the shadows – dark secrets begin to surface.

I’m naturally drawn to “what if?” plays on classic genre literature, and Bailey’s story – more mystery than horror – is a hair better than the just-average entry. In staying true to Shelley’s voice, she offers the same Gothic feel, as well as its trappings, like more detail than sometimes need be.

But points to her for not taking the story exactly where I expected it to go – after all, this is not Universal’s THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, except for sharing a germ of an idea. It’s not very long, which bodes well for those unaccustomed to the Gothic style, and includes Shelley’s original novel in the back, both for posterity and added value. –Rod Lott

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Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

In Camille DeAngelis’ debut novel, the character of MARY MODERN is the carbon copy of Lucy’s grandmother from the 1920s, brought to life in modern times. The story really isn’t Mary’s at all, but Lucy’s – a 20something researcher who decides to impregnate herself using the DNA of her grandmother in the basement of the mansion where Mary once lived. When she gives birth to Gramma – albeit in the form of a 4-year-old toddler – you have solid proof that what you’re reading is certainly original. The book is part science fiction with soft suspense and the feel of a time-travel story, due to Mary trying to get used to all the technology and modern conveniences of today, such as the “upright coffin” we call a refrigerator. Initially, there are too many details and Lucy is not a likable character – purposely, I believe – but midway through, it picks up greatly and keeps you going with one great plot twist after another. The novel doesn’t given an answer as to whether cloning is good or evil, but it does hint at the problems it can create for love and the history of a family, a la FRANKENSTEIN. Prepare yourself for a big shock at the eerie but satisfying end. Comparisons to THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE are not out of the question. –Malena Lott

Six previously published short stories by Stephen King collected in an oversized hardcover with large print – so what’s the big deal? Well, quite a bit, actually. In Cemetery Dance’s THE SECRETARY OF DREAMS: VOLUME ONE, illustrator Glenn Chadbourne (BLOODSTAINED OZ) supplements King’s chilling text with gruesomely detailed, black-and-white ink drawings. Three of the six stories carry these generous spot illustrations, which wouldn’t be all that special … until you hit the full two-page spread of an astronaut in space disintegrating into maggots. But it’s the three other stories that make this SECRETARY worth the attention, as they’re rendered in comic-book form. Every. Single. Word. Chadbourne’s lettering leaves a lot to be desired, but his art is über-creepy, especially in “The Road Virus Heads North,” with the carnage in “Uncle Otto’s Truck” meriting a close second. The non-comic stories are such favorites as “The Reach,” the zombie-fied “Home Delivery” and the precursor to ‘SALEM’S LOT. With the slipcased packaging, this one is for collectors, and will be highly valued by such, impressive as it is.

I’ve now moved my bowels enough to finish THE AREAS OF MY EXPERTISE by “professional writer” John Hodgman, perhaps best known representing PC computers in that series of Mac ads. It’s a parody of an almanac that’s so tongue-in-cheek, the tongue has broken through. Separated into section dealing with the future, the past, the present and hoboes – each prefaced with a handy timetable for seasonal werewolf transformations – the book tackles such gripping topics as alternatives for asthmatic kids who can’t play in the snow like other children, terrible haircuts throughout history, and nine presidents who had hooks for hands. The list of 700 hobo names – yes, 700 – is much more digestible than you’d think, but the state-by-state section on America gets to be tiresome. Pick a page at random, and you’re bound to find a gag that makes you laugh out loud. With photos, charts and graphs that recalls a heavy Spy magazine influence, this book is best read in, um, short sittings.

Two or three times in my childhood, I started Ellen Raskin’s kid-lit novel THE WESTING GAME, only to never finish it. Since it recently was reissued in a Puffin Modern Classics edition, I thought I’d give it a final shot, nearly three decades later. I can see why I never stuck with it so long ago: too many characters, too-precious dialogue. The setup is intriguing enough: six floors’ worth of tenants in a new apartment building are named as beneficiaries in the will of a mysterious multimillionaire. But it’s not as simple as receiving a check: The deceased’s will claims he was murdered – by one of them, no less – and whoever figures out whodunit gets the entire take. He gives them each clues to help them out. I think it’d make an awesome mystery if only it were “written up” for adults. –Rod Lott

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This week we deal with the wonderful world of the post-apocalypse, where books depict the future as a lawless wasteland, where only the strong survive. Hell, if Oprah can tackle the subject, why can’t we? Thanks to Matt Baker for contributing one of this week’s covered titles; donations are always welcome here.

TRAVELER #1: FIRST, YOU FIGHT by D.B. Drumm – I only can imagine the pitch meeting for this series, which began in 1984: “I know, we’ll have world destroyed in a horrific nuclear war and set the books 15 years after the fact, with our hero being a guy we know only as ‘Traveler.’ He’s some sort of special ops soldier who’s infected with a mysterious chemical combination which makes him feel all the pain around him. Then we’ll throw in enough stuff from the MAD MAX movies to keep the kids entertained.”

For what it is, this book was better than expected, but – and there is a but – the plot is about 90 percent of a movie most people have seen: A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (or YOJIMBO for the arthouse crowd). Yep, Traveler enters a town with two dueling bosses both hellbent on being the top dog, with Traveler playing them off one another throughout, with a big score being a mysterious, victory-guaranteeing shipment of guns making its way through the wastelands. Words can’t quite do it justice.

Now, there is some discussion about who actually wrote this book. The series was written by two writers: Ed Naha and John Shirley. Shirley wrote the bulk of the early adventures, so one would assume he wrote this one, too. But on the copyright page its credited to Naha, so it’s anyone’s guess. I’m leaning a bit toward Naha since there were no long passages about Traveler’s male member. Still, this book was about a subtle as a Ken Russell film.

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS by John Wyndham – Years ago in my teens, I watched a cool miniseries on PBS based on this 1951 novel. Now I’m finally reading it – a total sci-fi classic not of the post-apocalyptic kind, but it does feature some of end-of-society motifs. For anyone who has seen 28 DAYS LATER, some portions of this title will seem very familiar, as that film took a few nods from this book.

It starts out with our narrator Bill Massen waking up in a hospital to complete silence. He’s been patiently waiting for the bandages to come off his eyes, but there is no one around to help. When he removes them himself, he views a whole new world  –  one where everybody has gone blind, due to a comet shower the night before.

But if only blindness were the only problem. There’s also these strange plants called Triffids. First looked upon as a freak of nature, the plants are able to walk and whip out a stinger tinged with a deadly poison. Bill rescues a girl named Josella from an abusive blind man who has captured her. She wrote a book that haunts her reputation throughout the story, including with a paramilitary group with its own idea of survival.

The great thing about this DAY is how it’s not dated. Who knows? It might happen one day. I could go on about Bill going from one group of people to another until he reunites with his love, all while the Triffid problem gains a foothold on the world. But it would really take away from the enjoyment of the read. TRIFFIDS stands as a science fiction novel that could go up against some of that high-falutin’ literature out there. I know there was a sequel written by a different author years later, so make sure you first read Wyndham’s original first.

SURVIVAL 2000: BLOOD QUEST by James McPhee – This 1991 novel is the story of a man and his son on a road trying to get home. It’s not the Pulitzer-winning THE ROAD, but boy, I would call it a low-rent version of it, if only it hadn’t come out 15 years earlier.

It’s two years after the huge asteroid hit earth, sending the population into a panic. David Rand and his son Lee are camping out in New Mexico for survival. Throughout the book, this twosome is approached by killers, cannibals and just plain psychos. With no idea of what to really do with their lives, they are armed to the teeth with guns that would give NRA members hard-ons, as they travel back to home in California, trying to avoid all confrontations if possible.

Their morals and beliefs have been changed severely, because if it comes down to killing a intruder or being killed, David is leaning toward the first option, with no remorse whatsoever. Once they arrive home, they find out that the rest of the family is still alive, having run off to Montana to sit out the hit. This trip to Montana is the second part of the novel.

Now for a bit of criticism: When I started this book, I had no idea it was a trilogy, and not every question is answered. You’ll have to look for the other two books for any real closure. But they’re not so easy to find, so if anyone actually has those two books, please contact me. The story reads super-quick and is packed with gun porn and violence, with a little sex thrown into the mixture.

Next time: Oh, the places you’ll go! –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• IN DARKNESS WAITING by John Shirley
• THE OTHER END by John Shirley
• THE SPECIALIST #1: A TALENT FOR REVENGE by John Shirley

I’m glad there’s no Half Price Books anywhere near my Oklahoma City home, because I might be broke if there were.

Earlier this spring, while in Austin, Texas – auditioning for a game show with friends in a desperate and ultimately failed bid at easy fortune –  we went not once, but twice, to Half Price Books. I’d been to an HPB only once before, a couple summers ago in Dallas, and it was like book heaven.

Granted, they have tons of used books that are mutilated and sticky like everyone else, but what I like are the stacks of publisher’s remainder books, usually in perfect shape and marked down to criminally low prices. Luckily, I found a bunch of virtual steals…

Upon walking in, something called THE WIDE WORLD: TRUE ADVENTURES FOR MEN caught my eye from its prominent center display. It’s a nice hardback that reprints stories – all ostensibly real – from a pretty-much-forgotten pulp magazine of the same name from the 1890s through the 1960s. Brave he-man exploits of lion wrasslin’, mountain climbin’ and sea divin’ abound. Wisely, compiler Paul Safont chose to include the pages as they appeared, retaining the charm of the antiquated layout – outlandish illustrations, suspect photos, ridiculous ads and all. This is more of a book to be glanced through than actually read, because the article titles – including such memorable monikers as “Bandsaw Amok,” “Over Niagra Falls in a Rubber Ball!,” “A Fight with a Leopard,” “The Professor in a Bear Trap” and, perhaps best of all, “Buried Alive by a Dead Elephant” – are always better than the account that follows. Still, it’s the kind of hidden gem – imported from the UK – you only find at closeout, and for that, I’m grateful.

I had seen CREEPSHOWS: THE ILLUSTRATED STEPHEN KING MOVIE GUIDE by Stephen Jones on many a Barnes & Noble shelf over the years and never seriously considered buying it, but seeing HPB’s stack of them – all mint, all eight bucks – I couldn’t pass it up. And I’m glad I didn’t. For King fans, this is essential. Jones covers each King adaptation in detail, full of juicy behind-the-scenes stories, candid gossip and tons of cool photographs, from stills to posters. For every great King flick (say, SALEM’S LOT), there’s a wretched one (say, RIDING THE BULLET), and it’s equally a blast to read about either. There are many I hold dear to my heart (CREEPSHOW, CAT’S EYE), some I’ve grown to love (PET SEMATARY, CHRISTINE) and others I want nothing to do with ever again (THE LAWNMOWER MAN). Personally, I think once they started being adapted for TV, they pretty much went to shit. If nothing else, reading this book will increase your Netflix queue.

I’m told that finding perfect-condition copies of DRAWN & QUARTERLY volumes 3 and 5 – at $6.98 and $7.98, respectively – was the steal of the trip, as well as the century. I have to agree. These erratically published, oversized anthologies highlight some excellent comics artists from the other side of the world. The highlight of both volumes are the lengthy “Monsieur Jean” stories by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian. It’s slice-of-life-and-love stuff that has a sense of realism about it, elevates the graphic format, and is heartbreaking without being depressing. Jason Little’s “Safety Instructions” is a stroke of genius, as is R. Sikoryak’s “Dostoyevsky Comics,” which recasts the Russian author’s classic CRIME AND PUNISHMENT as a Golden Age-era Batman comic. (His TALES OF THE CRYPT version of Brontë’s WUTHERING HEIGHTS is less successful.) There are some nice full-page sketches from Seth, and two excellent pieces by Michel Rabagliati about a boy named Paul. Volume 3 has a tribute to GASOLINE ALLEY creator Frank King; I always thought that strip was lame, but the early Sunday ones reprinted here reveal it to be a direct descendant of LITTLE NEMO.

Scattered throughout the horror and mystery sections were these black-spined paperbacks from Britain’s Wordsworth Editions’ “Tales of the Mystery & The Supernatural” line, all reprinting classic chill-lit from long ago. I found several, but at the risk of maxing out my Visa, I had to settle for three: THE CASEBOOK OF CARNACKI – GHOST FINDER by William Hope Hodgson, THE HAUNTED HOTEL & OTHER STORIES by Wilkie Collins and RETURN FROM THE DEAD edited by David Stuart Davies. The latter is a collection of short stories all dealing with mummies, from authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe. I have probably a majority of the tales already in other volumes, but with me loving mummy fiction of yore, I couldn’t turn it down. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• THE BEST HORROR FROM FANTASY TALES edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton
• THE BEST HORROR STORIES OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE edited by Frank D. McSherry, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh
• HORROR: ANOTHER 100 BEST BOOKS edited by Stephen Jones & Kim Newman
• H.P. LOVECRAFT’S BOOK OF THE SUPERNATURAL edited by Stephen Jones

Unlike the other DVDs in Lurker Films’ series, THE H.P. LOVECRAFT COLLECTION: VOLUME 4 – PICKMAN’S MODEL easily could have have been tagged as variations of a theme, since the bulk of the disc is comprised of three movies all based on the same short story: “Pickman’s Model.”

Up first, you have CHILEAN GOTHIC, which has an interesting take on the story, starting with a investigative reporter trying to find out what happened to a fellow reporter and friend. This brings him to an odd painter named Pickman and the dark secret behind his work.

This adaptation is the longest of the three and interesting in how the story is told. Even with its limited budget, the filmmakers work with the source material really well.

Next is the Italian version of “Pickman’s Model,” and also the best of the three and – perhaps not coincidentally –  closet to Lovecraft’s actual story, right down to the great reveal at the end. This version is filled with great atmosphere, as opposed to the histrionics of CHILEAN GOTHIC.

Rounding out the trio is Cathy Welch’s “Texas version,” as it’s listed, and it’s the weakest of the three. To me, this 1980 black-and-whiter felt much like a student film. It sticks somewhat to the story, but just drags on and takes one too many detours from Lovecraft’s plot, instead focusing on an art historian who is writing a book, and Pickman being one of his subjects. It looks like Welch was influenced heavily by the French New Wave, and not for the good of the piece.

Beyond that, two non-”Pickman” shorts are included. One is BETWEEN THE STARS, which I couldn’t make heads or tails of; even its own director Djie Han Thung admits he doesn’t know what it’s about, either. The other is a little computer-animated number called IN THE VAULT, about a gravedigger who sees the error of his ways. Why no one else has done the computer route for H.P.’s stuff is anyone’s guess. Come on, Pixar, if you really want to show how talented you are, adapt some Lovecraft!

Only one special feature is included: a 10-minute interview with authors Ramsey Campbell and Bob Price, who discuss Lovecraft’s work. This fourth volume makes a fine addition to the other DVDs in the series – even if you hate subtitles. Deal with it, since otherwise, you will miss out on some interesting visions from different sets of eyes. –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon or Lurker Films.

OTHER RECENT BOOKS 2 FILM REVIEWS:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Michael Shayne Mysteries: Volume 1
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Silver Bullet

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 2 – Rough Magik
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 3 – Out of Mind

Jack London is one of those authors you were “forced” to read as a kid in school, and then later in life, realized how great his books really are. This new collection – JACK LONDON’S TALES OF CANNIBALS AND HEADHUNTERS, edited by Gary Riedl and Thomas R. Tietzefurther – only further expands his greatness, showcasing stories not as well-known as his other output.

This anthology gathers nine of his SOUTH SEA TALES, with a detailed introduction for each story and endnotes that follow. A must-have for the adventure fan in all of us, the collection is printed chronologically. The stories’ age doesn’t show, as all of them click into a groove right away. You don’t feel as though London is getting his feet wet with the first stories and then improving as he goes.

Now, a word of warning for the PC police out there: Yes, there are racist terms used for the natives throughout the stories. If you can’t deal with that fact, it’s your own loss. The stories here range from colonialism-gone-bad themes in “Yah! Yah! Yah!” and “The Inevitable White Man” to a mistaken-identity-like story called “The Chinago,” where the single spelling of a name proves to be one character’s downfall.

There is also a bit of bridging the gaps between races in “The Heathen,” which is a bit like the forerunner to THE DEFIANT ONES, in which two shipmates are the only survivors of an accident and bond while drifting at sea. There is also a great character study called “Mauki,” which is based on a real-life person London and his wife met in their travels.

Actually, from most of the introductions, it appears London used a lot of people from his travels as the basis for his tales. The book closes with one of the better-known stories: “The Red One,” which no one soon will forget. To be really blunt, if I was given these stories as a child instead of the two I was made to read, I might have devoured more London earlier on. Complete with supplementary maps, this University of New Mexico collection is a top-notch effort and wish there were more in the pipeline. –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

Declared by a boyfriend as being “pornophobic,” Ayn Carrillo-Gailey immerses herself into all things X-rated in — take a deep breath, preferably from the diaphragm — PORNOLOGY: NOUN—1: A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO PORN; 2: THE MISADVENTURES OF THE WORLD’S FIRST ANTHROPORNOLOGIST; 3: A HILARIOUS EXPLORATION OF MEN, RELATIONSHIPS, AND SEX. First, she makes a 12-item to-do list which includes such things as visiting a sex store, enrolling in a blow-job class and going to a brothel. The ensuing chapters detail just that, with the author’s private life constantly getting in the way. From start to finish, she goes through a few boyfriends as she becomes more in touch – so to speak – with porn. Carrillo-Gailey’s writing style is breezy and humorous, even if some chapters are far stronger than others. And while I don’t buy for a second that all of what she says transpired actually did – some episodes smack of being too convenient – PORNOLOGY is good for 230-ish pages of amusement.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a short story by Joyce Carol Oates that I didn’t like. In that form, she’s an absolute master. That’s not to slight her novels, but all bets are off in short fiction, and she uses that to her advantage, as evidenced in her latest collection, THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE. As the title suggests, the nine pieces all center around women – broken, warped, victims one and all. And as the subtitle suggests, Oates is working mostly in the Gothic genre here, proving one page after another that she’s America’s living successor to Edgar Allan Poe. From the fractured first-person of “So Help Me God” to the appearance of symbols in “Angel of Mercy,” she’s not afraid to get experimental. I think it contributes further to granting us a sense of palpable unease as we devour her desserts. As expected, highly recommended.

Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series has to be one of the longest-running in the mystery market, as TOMB OF THE GOLDEN BIRD – now in mass market paperback – marks the 18th installment. Eighteen! Light and fluffy but undeniably comfortable, TOMB has a slight “cozy” aspect to it, but since it’s not dealing with knitting or cats, I’m cool with it. In this one, Amelia and her husband are party to the opening of the tomb of King Tut, which brings out all sorts of bad guys. The plot gets wrapped up in kidnappings, secret documents and other reliable elements that make for good old-fashioned intrigue. That it’s wrapped in an archaeological shell of all things Egyptian makes it all the more appealing. It kinda makes me want to dive in to the rest of the series, but the sheer number of previous novels is overwhelming; thankfully, the back of the book includes summaries for each to help newcomers find their way.

Just as it promises, PHILIP K. DICK: FOUR NOVELS OF THE 1960S gathers up a quartet of the über-influential sci-fi writer in a handsome Library of America edition: THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRICH, DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? (better known as the basis for BLADE RUNNER) and UBIK. Personally, I’ve never been able to get into Dick’s style. But I’m obviously in the minority. His fans love how he toys with mind-bending plots, alternate realities and hallucinogenic events. Among them is Jonathan Lethem, who edited and provides the notes for this edition. It’s nice to see a sci-fi author being treated with such reverence from a line known for its emphasis on the literary. Presentation-wise, this is a must for the cult of P.K.D., printed on paper that will outlast you. It even comes with a built-in cloth bookmark. Classy!

Enough already. After reading SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: DR. DEATH AND THE NIGHT OF THE BUTCHER – the fifth collection of the Vertigo comic –  I’m ready to declare I’d put the ’90s title up against any mystery novel. It’s just that. Damned. Good. This SMT book encompasses two complete story arcs of four issues apiece, though both fit together snugly with an underlying theme of living two lives. Wesley Dodds is the mild-mannered man who dons gas mask at night to bring down public enemies with his gas gun. This puts a serious cramp on the evolving relationship with his long-suffering gal pal, Dian Belmont, whose suspicions of Wes’ double life are raising more questions she no longer can stand to let go unanswered. Amdist all the sex and scandal, there are two strings of diabolical serial killers, as sumptuous as period mysteries should be. If you aren’t reading this, your life is worse off. You just don’t know it yet.

With Anne Rice off writing Jesus books, who will provide America with its erotic-tinged Gothic fiction? Natasha Mostert steps forward with hand raised and SEASON OF THE WITCH, about Gabriel Blackstone, a psychic hacker who falls hard for two witch sisters while investigating the disappearance of a banker’s son. The novel is an uneasy mix of magic, murder, technology, love and death – different, if nothing else. Set in the present day – witness references to everything from Guns ‘N Roses to Pringles – its self-aware hipness is off-putting, with dialogue like “whatever rubs your Buddha” rubbing the wrong way. With Gothics, the reader wants to be immersed in the world, rather than constantly jarred out of it. At least I do.

Freelance journalist Marlise Elizabeth Kast recounts her tour of duty at scandalous supermarket rag The Globe in TABLOID PRODIGY: DISHING THE DIRT, GETTING THE GOSSIP, AND SELLING MY SOUL IN THE CUTTHROAT WORLD OF HOLLYWOOD REPORTING. What’s most interesting is how tabloid “journalists” get the scoops, interviews and photos they get, which Kast details through numerous good stories, including crashing a soap star’s wedding, calling Carrie Fisher to ask about her trip to the “psycho ward,” catching Morgan Freeman with his alleged mistress, tracking down the dish on Leonardo DiCaprio’s “kinky sex life,” learning how Dolly Parton supposedly once had an affair with a 15-year-old boy. As fun and fearless as those tales are, the stress of churning out these celebrity features took their toll on Kast, and she even remains apologetic about some of her bylines. That kind of approach is refreshing, especially compared to other, far lesser tabloid tell-alls like the execrable, “funny” RABID NUN INFECTS ENTIRE CONVENT. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS BY THESE AUTHORS:
• SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: THE SCORPION by Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle and Guy Davis
• A SCANNER DARKLY by Philip K. Dick

Since next week’s column will mark my one-year anniversary at BOOKGASM, I figured it was about time to read three books by authors that just flat out rule. I’m talking not a bum book in the lot. I’ve read a good amount of each of today’s triumvirate – too many to list, but let’s just say all the major stuff sits proudly on my shelf. Pick up something by these guys and you won’t be disappointed at all. Well, except maybe CUBA LIBRE, which is just a little too confusing for some.

PICK-UP by Charles Willeford – Charles Willeford wrote some great stuff, some of which reads like a Cassavettes movie – like this 1967 novel. Harry Jordan is a down-on-his-luck artist trying to scrape by, working counter jobs at dinners and such, until Helen enter his life. She shows up out of the blue – drunk – and Harry falls for her hard, quitting his job so they can paint the town red together, drinking as if their lives depended on it.

The first half of the book focuses on this relationship, which fills both the voids in their lives. Harry feels rejuvenated with Helen in his life, taking up his art again – even painting her in the nude. But what frustrates Harry is that Helen won’t stop drinking, even when he finds work to support them. Helen can’t survive without him around and will drink with anyone and anywhere.

Now, during this portion of PICK-UP, Willeford tips his hand a little, so I was able to figure out an important part of the story. So when it came to that part, I was like, “I knew it!” But Willeford gives us such a great psychological portrait of Harry, it didn’t matter.
where they unsuccessfully try suicide, leading them to a hospital stay, all leading to the point where Harry believes what he is about to do will settle all their problems.

But sadly, it doesn’t, and just leaves Harry dealing with the consequences. This is such a great read that you could fly through it in a lazy afternoon. Just don’t feel bad if you see something coming from a mile way. You’ll enjoy the trip nonetheless.

NIGHT SQUAD by David Goodis – What happens to a cop who’s been thrown off the force and is no use to anyone? Meet Corey Bradford, the protagonist of this 1961 number. He’s not a bad cop, mind you, but one who works more in the gray area. Corey is just oblivious to things happening around him at all times, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, like watching old men get rolled, then telling the criminals to give him the cash so he can drown his sorrows at a bar.

Corey tries to get into the weekly card game run by the local big shot, but is told no, for no other reason than who he is. As the game goes on, two masked robbers enter the room, not wanting money, but the local big shot himself: Grogan. Corey takes out one of the robbers, while the other is killed by one of Grogan’s men. An appreciative Grogan offeris Corey a job to find out who was behind the attempt.

This throws Corey into the light of the toughest division on the police force: a group of men called the Night Squad, who let no one stand in their way. They figure they can use Corey to help them finally bust Grogan.

Who is behind the attempt will come as no shock since Goodis gives you enough clues that Helen Keller can figure it out. But that’s not the issue with his writing; it’s more about the atmosphere and the people who populate this treacherous world of crime. And Goodis paints us such a dark world of the criminal element, you’ll want to eat it up with a big old spoon. The city in which this takes place is never mentioned, but you won’t ever want to visit.

THE SWITCH by Elmore Leonard – Can you believe this is the first Leonard book covered in this column? Being a huge fan of JACKIE BROWN, and knowing this 1978 book was the first adventure of Ordell and Louis, it was about damn time to read it. As you do, you will picture Samuel L. Jackson and Robert DeNiro in their younger days as these characters, plain and simple.

We get the history of how Ordell and Louis became partners back in the day. Ordell has a plan to kidnap the wife of Frank Dawson, a man who has some shady dealings with Ordell and an offshore bank account bursting with bucks. Little does Ordell or anyone else know that said hubby is about to divorce the little lady.

This book is packed with all that great Leonard dialogue I’ve come to love with a passion. You can see all the action happening in your head with such clear character voices. When Ordell and Louis do the kidnapping job and are waiting for the payoff, they have to deal with the third member of the kidnap team by the name of Richard, a Nazi-loving out-of-work security cop. Even when the team realizes Frank’s not going to pay, they try another option that becomes one big clusterfuck.

Throw in the appearance of Melanie Frank – later to become Ordell’s little surfer-girl mistress later in RUM PUNCH – and you’re treated to another one of Leonard’s little wonders. For me to recommend Leonard is kinda of pointless. I think most people know the man knows his stuff and that’s why he is still one of the best out there still writing.

Next time: Happy anniversary to me! –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• NIGHTFALL by David Goodis
• STREET OF NO RETURN by David Goodis

Hey! Where are the guns? Or the double-crossing women? What – you mean Stark House Press puts out other genres besides noir? My bad.

Yes, Stark House also puts out a supernatural line, and JIMBO / THE EDUCATION OF UNCLE PAUL collects two novels from Algernon Blackwood, who many consider to be one of the greatest storytellers of this kind. After a very informative essay about Blackwood’s early days and his pitfalls while living in North America, we are treated to two of his earliest creepy tales of wonder.

From 1909, JIMBO is a strange bird to describe, since 90 percent of it happens while the main character has blacked out. It begins with a family in need of a nanny for the children, especially for their son Jimbo, who lives in a life of fantasy, while his father just wished to buckle down.

They hire a woman by the name of Miss Lake, who causes even more problems. She tells the children that the abandoned house near them is evil and is populated by monsters. This terrifies Jimbo to a point that Miss Lake is let go right after the fact, soon leading to Jimbo getting knocked out.

Jimbo awakes in a state in which he is conscious of his surroundings, but can’t move. This just adds to the fantasy in his mind, in which he meets Miss Lake, who guides him through this bizarre world. The story follows through Jimbo’s flight as he learns to fly and grow wings, all while Miss Lake helps and even admits to atoning for her sins against the young boy. She teaches him creepy nursery rhymes and shows him that he can survive on his own.

The story continues on until Jimbo awakens, and we learn the story’s surprise. All in all, JIMBO isn’t scary, but it might be if you’re a little one.

Then there’s 1909′s THE EDUCATION OF UNCLE PAUL, which seems a bit autobiographical in the sense that the main character of Paul Walters returns to England after a 20-year stay in the Canadian wilderness. This matches Blackwood’s own history.

Walters returns to live with his widowed sister and her three children. He’s still a child in his own mind, in that he gets along better with kids and is more himself around them than people his own age. Margaret, his sister, tries her hardest to make Paul comfortable in his new surroundings, but it’s her children who chip away at his armor by taking their Uncle Paul on “aventures.”

These “aventures” happen in the world of yesterday and tomorrow through a crack the kids can only see. In this wonderful world, all their broken toys and pets that have died are there. This introduces Paul into a wondrous way of life, and his own wishes seem to come true in this world, letting him be the child that he always wanted to remain.

Paul starts writing stories about these experiences and reading them to the children, making the whole thing even more believable for their tight-knit group. The best way to think of EDUCATION is as an adult fairy tale, since it can be read to older children and adults, both of whom would relate and take something from it. You get the feeling that Blackwood has inspired many with this tale of wonder; I’m guessing Guillermo del Toro probably might have read this as a youth.

This twofer is yet another fine addition to the Stark House pantheon, and one that shows not everything they put out needs a gun. –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

If Penguin Classics’ recent reissue of FANTÔMAS left you thirsting for more classic French pulp, the publisher extends an ice-cold glass of lemonade in the form of Maurice LeBlanc’s ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-THIEF.

Like the anti-hero known as Fantômas, Lupin isn’t exactly on the right side of the law. However, as Michael Sims points out in his pitch-perfect introduction, he’s not a bad guy. Instead, he’s morally aligned with Robin Hood, stealing only from the rich, often benefiting the poor.

Rather than a novel – though a few came into being thereafter – Lupin was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century in a long series of short stories. Five collections were produced, and Penguin Classics’ edition rounds up the best from each, with Sims providing notes that explain and fill in gaps when needed.

The first story – “The Arrest of Arsène Lupin” – is just that, but that trick is determining which of the people onboard a cruise ship is the wanted criminal. Lupin’s a master of disguise, you see, and often the reader is left is the dark as to his identity. But not always.

Immediately following are the serialized “Arsène Lupin in Prison” and “The Escape of Arsène Lupin,” which combined make for perhaps the most clever pages in the collection, for reasons you’ll discover on your own. Starting with the fourth tale, “The Mysterious Railway Passenger,” the adventures take on a more detection-style bent, which Sims notes were directly influenced by Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes canon.

That influence is evident, even if LeBlanc’s work is inferior. However, that’s not a knock against it, because it’s still a lot of old-school mystery fun. LeBlanc simultaneously pays tribute to and parodies Doyle in “Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late.”

A missing necklace, a mysterious clock, a young woman’s murder – these are the stuff of the Lupin stories, many of which take on a locked-room aspect or otherwise impossible circumstances, from which much of their appeal is generated. These tales aren’t for everyone – the mannered language and pacing will take some getting used to if you’ve never been exposed to it – but those who crave classic detection with wit and wonder will warm to them instantly. –Rod Lott

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Except for two misfires in the extras department, THE H.P. LOVECRAFT COLLECTION: VOLUME 2 – ROUGH MAGIK is another treasure trove of visual delight from the fine folks of Lurker Films.

The main feature of this compilation is a failed British TV pilot titled ROUGH MAGIK, starring Paul Darrow of BLAKES 7 fame and based on overall Lovecraft themes. The best way to describe it is like X-FILES, but more focused on the occult angle instead of aliens, with a shadowy organization called the Night Scholars who are tracking down the Dreamers.

Fans of Lovecraft will be delighted by what would have been a promising show. But since it was filmed years before LOST and HEROES – not to mention the resurgence of British sci-fi with the new DR. WHO and TORCHWOOD – it fell on deaf ears. The show definitely was ahead of its time in way of ideas and plot.

It opens with a woman placing candles on a cake and telling her kids to come down for a big surprise. The cake has a Cthulhu statuette on top, which freaks the kids out, and the mother brutally kills them. Enter Darrow as Mr Moon, who is there to investigate. He brings the statuette to an artist friend who has a connection to the Dreamers.

With a story that takes us to the Falklands invasion and a reveal at the end that probably will have grossed out most of its audience, the ROUGH MAGIK pilot is low-budget, with some computer effects looking as though they were rushed. This is actually touched upon in the commentary from writer/producer Stephen Parsons, who pulls no punches in his highly informative track, from the clashes he had with the director Jamie Payne to how the original director had to drop out a few weeks before production. Parsons goes into how he had the whole series mapped out, but when shown to the BBC, they just passed on it.

The next two films are both from director Bob Fugger. The first – and the better of the two – is a modern-day take on TERRIBLE OLD MAN. Changing Lovecraft’s historical setting to the Canada of today works wonderfully. The three men from the original story have been changed to burglars on the run since their last job did not go so well. These three men are at a diner when a creepy old man pays for his coffee with a gold coin, and they figure this elderly fool will be an easy mark. This sticks extremely close to the story and works quite well, even in the contemporary setting.

The second of Fugger’s two films is FROM BEYOND, which is basically a two-person piece. The problem with this film is that one of the actors is really good, while the other is more wooden than a Thunderbird. The story follows a man visiting a friend who has discovered a way to communicate with the elder ones through ultraviolet light. And since it’s just two men in a room, it doesn’t stray far from Lovecraft’s original tale.

Interviews with the filmmakers include discussion both of these shorts. Rounding out the extras are two “music” videos by some band called The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. I could spend a whole page about this so-called music, but I won’t. Trust me: It’s best not to play either unless you really like sub-par musicianship.

Also included is another interview with S.T Joshi discussing Lovecraft on film. A trailer for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival pokes fun at a certain indie horror hit from a few years ago. Finally, the booklet inside is all about ROUGH MAGIK, detailing the history of the Night Scholars organization and its purpose. Also it sheds light on what would have happened if the series were picked up.

For those who want more Lovecraft to watch, you’ll be hard-pressed to pass up this collection of interesting short films. –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon or Lurker Films.

MISS EARLIER INSTALLMENTS OF ‘BOOKS 2 FILM’? REGASM THESE:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Call of Cthulhu
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Casino Royale
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Da Vinci Code
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Derailed
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Edgar Allan Poe Collection: Volume 1 – Annabel Lee & Other Tales of Mystery and Imagination
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 3 – Out of Mind
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Poseidon
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Prestige
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Ten Little Indians

Armchair sleuths will be drawn to THE BAFFLE BOOK: FIFTEEN FIENDISHLY CHALLENGING DETECTIVE PUZZLES like flies to a rotting corpse. Originally published in 1913, Lassiter Wren and Randle McKay’s book offers 15 mini-mysteries and asks you to determine the solution.

The clues are there, sometimes seen in maps, diagrams and other bits of illustrated evidence. The onus of figuring out whodunit and why falls on you, the reader. They suggest taking five to 15 minutes’ time in using your noodle; the answers are printed upside-down at the other end of the book.

Intrigued by this once-popular newspaper feature and party game, I approached THE BAFFLE BOOK as a novelty. The first puzzle – a good-ol’-fashioned murder mystery – was fun and relatively simple to solve once I thought about it. Ditto with the second – in which you are to determine the theft of an item by comparing fingerprints; same with the third, involving a dead body that plummets from an elevated subway train. I could see why this crap caught on about a century ago.

But then things started to get tough. And not tough as in “fiendishly challenging” as the cover boasts, but tough as in you’d have to have been alive in 1913 to be able to solve them. Because some crimes hinge upon things like knowing what the tread of “Vacuum Cup Balloon Tires” looks like or what a “Venita” brand of hairnet is. After several “solutions” like these, I stopped caring about murdered sculptors, forged signatures, runaway horses and Morse code embedded in pantyhose.

Fun at first, then just frustrating once its age starts to show. –Rod Lott

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Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

A companion piece to Gauntlet Press’ recent MATCH TO FLAME: THE FICTIONAL PATHS TO FAHRENHEIT 451 anthology, the chapbook THE DRAGON WHO ATE HIS TAIL rounds up some miscellanea for the Ray Bradbury completist. The title story – all three pages of it – has never been published before, though Bradbury fans will recognize his patented brand of speculative nostalgia right off. A vacationing couple time-travels in “To the Future,” here reprinted with its original (read: awesome) Collier’s illustrations, and Bradbury’s screenplay adaptation also appears. Lastly, there’s “Sometime Before Dawn,” both in story and typewritten/hand-edited format. All of this is supplemented with simple but charming doodles. It’s not essential Bradbury, but it’s good Bradbury.

Right from the start, William Dietrich’s new thriller NAPOLEON’S PYRAMIDS reminded me of James Morrow’s THE LAST WITCHFINDER – one of my 2006 favorites – with its intoxicating mixture of the historical, the fantastic and the literary. Set in revolutionary France in the late 18th century, it follows the trouble that befalls American adventurer Ethan Gage when he acquires a cursed medallion. In other words, his life immediately is placed in danger. More high-minded than most, Dietrich’s novel has a real wit about it as it jumps from location to location, but does get bogged down in archaic language – shades of Neal Stephenson – that detracts from the action and ultimately underwhelms. Soon I’m going to give it another try, however, because I’m that intrigued. Given I rarely ever reread books, that’s saying something.

Helping to make our world smaller — even if only in the literary sense — is WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS: THE WORLD THROUGH THE EYES OF WRITERS, an anthology of 28 foreign writers and their work, which has never been published in English before. Editors Samantha Schnee, Alane Salierno Mason and Dedi Felman selected short stories, poems, essays and excerpts from novels to show Americans that authors the world over can be just as skilled and talented. And, unfortunately, just as pretentious. Of the works I read — and I’ll admit I couldn’t finish them all — I found them rather stale, more interested in the construction of this pretty word with another than in telling a great story. Part of this could be due to the translation process, but I’m doubting. Awesome cover, though.

Speaking of worlds, Eric Fogle covers not only ours but also that celestial one where the gods reside, in his debut novel FORGE OF THE GODS: THE LAST KNIGHT. The fantasy details what happens when time in the heavens comes to a stop, threatening its existence, and a handful of warriors are sent to stop it. Pieces of FORGE reminded me of recent great sci-fi novels like Neil Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS and Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter’s TIME’S EYE (much moreso the latter), even if it doesn’t quite sit at their level. But Fogel’s story is engaging, combining various elements of high adventure to ensure readers come back for the rest of the series. As a first-time author, he makes some missteps here and there – one being an overreliance on impossible-to-pronounce names, which often prevented me from fully wrapping my head around the narrative – but this has real potential to become a small-press fave.

Truth in advertising: THE PICASSO FLOP by Vincent Van Patten and Robert J. Randisi is indeed a flop. Set in Las Vegas, this “Texas Hold ‘Em mystery” follows an ex-con in a high-stakes poker tourney, where he’s coaching a young woman on knowing when to hold ‘em and knowing when to fold ‘em (ignite, sparks!). He gets to play detective when dead bodies start turning up with playing cards on the corpses, as if communicating a message. Call it THE DA VINCI CARD. The mystery is so-so, but what really lost me was all the poker talk. I don’t play poker, I don’t know poker, so it’s like a foreign language to me. Van Patten is a horrible actor (MASTER NINJA), so his fiction debut was destined to be a step up regardless. That this comes branded with the World Poker Tour logo suggests quality wasn’t necessarily an issue as much as just getting something out before the craze plays itself out. I expect better from Mysterious Press; CASINO ROYALE it ain’t.

One of the better books I’ve ever bought off of Barnes & Noble’s bargain rack was H.P. LOVECRAFT’S BOOK OF HORROR, edited by Stephen Jones and Dave Carson. It made jury duty fly by. Now, a dozen years later, Jones has produced a sequel, H.P. LOVECRAFT’S BOOK OF THE SUPERNATURAL. The concept remains the same: Utilizing excerpts from Lovecraft’s own critical essays of various writers, Jones has the author unwittingly “host” an anthology of classic scare stories, from such lit luminaries as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Ambrose Pierce, Rudyard Kipling and Washington Irving. Even Henry James is here with his classic novel THE TURN OF THE SCREW printed in full. Grab it.

Don’t have a Playmate-worthy woman sharing your sheets? Look at it this way: At least you can spend your nights catching up on your reading; may we recommend THE NEW BEDSIDE PLAYBOY: A HALF CENTURY OF AMUSEMENT, DIVERSION & ENTERTAINMENT? Edited by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, the anthology covers 50 years of the mag’s non-pictorial contents – namely, short stories and commentary from some of literature’s brightest lights. We’re talking Ray Bradbury, Saul Bellow, Ian Fleming, Michael Chabon, Joyce Carol Oates, Arthur C. Clarke, Donald E. Westlake, Mario Puzo and many, many more. But don’t think they’re ignoring sex altogether – there’s a funny piece on bachelor stories that went awry and an eye-opening transcription of several women sitting around talking about what gets them off. The color section of cartoons and other pages of whimsical filler may do the trick for you.

Attention, Jerry Bruckheimer: Robert Liparulo’s GERM looks readymade for you. This virus thriller begins with a frenetic car chase – one of many – and even when it ends, the story doesn’t. In fact, that may be part of the problem: At nearly 500 pages, it’s far too long for the plot Liparulo has crafted. In creating a biological bug that hunts down victims according to their DNA, it’s clear the author wants to be an evangelical Michael Crichton, and – given an editor with more red pens – he could be. But for a big breakthrough, he needs to know when to ease off the pedal; his equally lengthy apocalyptic debut, COMES A HORSEMAN, also suffered from keyboard diarrhea. Tighter reins would result in a more pleasurable, credible time-killer.

The super-cool first-issue cover of the comic HERETIC: THE TEMPLAR CHRONICLES promises great things, and mostly delivers on them. Based on the BOOKGASM-approved novel of the same name by Joseph Nassise, the six-issue series follows Templar Knight-cum-ghostbuster Cade Williams, and remains pretty true to its source material, even if Cade doesn’t look a lick as I imagined he would. But what the title does right is bringing out the details of the horror-fantasy adventure in lurid, eye-popping detail. We’re talking like blown-away-kneecaps detail. Chuck Satterlee is responsible for the faithful script, while Bruce McCorkindale provides the visuals. Sometimes his characters look ridiculously out of proportion, but for this kind of he-men hoo-hah, exaggeration is not necessarily a bad thing.

Now that Darwyn Cooke has resurrected Will Eisner’s signature character, it’s as good a time as any to get acquainted with – or revisit – the source. DC Comics makes this easy with THE BEST OF THE SPIRIT, collecting 22 memorable tales. These originally appeared as multipage newspaper supplements, and it’s fun to see how Eisner used that now-dead format to his advantage. The Spirit is a unique comics character: Though a masked detective, he’s no superhero, and to be honest, he usually takes a backseat to other players of the story. Two of these stories I first read in grade school and have been singed in my memory ever since. Perhaps they’ve even haunted me, and that’s the key to Eisner’s genius: Making what’s considered inferior kid’s stuff into a groundbreaking art form that can stand up to the best hard-boiled crime novels. Neil Gaiman pays tribute to Eisner and his creation in the intro to this must-have for any serious “Action! Mystery! Adventure!” comics fan. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• THE BEST HORROR FROM FANTASY TALES edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton
• HERETIC: THE TEMPLAR CHRONICLES by Joseph Nassise
• HORROR: ANOTHER 100 BEST BOOKS edited by Stephen Jones & Kim Newman
• LONE STAR LAW edited by Robert J. Randisi
• THE PLOT: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION by Will Eisner

Lurker Films’ first two H.P. Lovecraft DVDs gathered up short films based on the author’s work, but this one – THE H.P. LOVECRAFT COLLECTION: VOLUME 3 – OUT OF MIND – features an interesting take on his writing.

Originally shot for the Bravo channel in Canada, OUT OF MIND: THE STORIES OF H.P. LOVECRAFT – the disc’s centerpiece – is a quasi-biography program about Lovecraft, in which the author interacts with one of his fictional characters. What starts out looking like archival footage of Lovecraft speaking into a camera is actually from now, just made to look old-timey.

We watch as Lovecraft walks in the woods, working out some of the names that will become some of his most important creations. Cut to today, where we are introduced to a man named Randolph Carter, who meets an lawyer with a package that’s been waiting for him for some 30 odd years. That package contains a mysterious book that will rock Carter’s world in a huge way.

The movie takes various themes from Lovecraft’s work and combines them in this interesting overview of his work. If you’re familiar with “The Statement of Randolph Carter” and “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” you’re in for a treat. Despite an obvious low budget, they get it right, even getting in a few jabs at other movies made out of Lovecraft stories.

The acting in the film is top-notch; portraying Lovecraft, Christopher Heyerdahl will make you think he is the real deal. My only gripe – and it’s a big one for me – is that there is a scene at the end where Lovecraft walks around a cemetery and comes across his own headstone, large and ornate. Sorry, but Lovecraft’s actual headstone is a lot smaller and is just a granite-type brick with his name and a quotation.

But I’m just nitpicking. Included with OUT OF MIND are two audio commentaries. Both feature Heyerdahl and director Raymond Saint-Jean, while the second also has cinematographer Serge Ladouceur with them. Expect long pauses, even for a film that is just 55 minutes long.

Also included on this DVD compilation are three Lovecraftian shorts. THE OUTSIDER gives away the surprise of the story right away, but for a five-minute flick, it will make readers of the story pleased. The second – a really short piece titled MY NECRONOMICON – shows a man rushing home to read his new book, with dire consequences. Both feature audio commentaries.

The final short film is the real treat of the package: THE MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN, which looks exactly like you would imagine it. Yes, it’s a low-budget student film, but wow! Lovecraft’s story is captured so well, it will make you wonder why no one ever tried to redo it, especially with the technology today that could really go to town with the climax. For this alone, the DVD would be worth grabbing. Following the movie, you get interviews with the ZANN filmmakers; it’s really informative and shows their love for the project.

Also included is an interview with Lovercraft historian S.T. Joshi, who discusses the stories that were adapted for this collection. If you’ve read Joshi’s introductions to the Penguin Classics editions of Lovecraft’s work, some of the info will repeat itself. Still, this is a great collection of films that makes me itching for the previous two volumes. –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon or Lurker Films.
Discuss it in our forums.

MISS EARLIER INSTALLMENTS OF ‘BOOKS 2 FILM’? REGASM THESE:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Call of Cthulhu
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Casino Royale
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Da Vinci Code
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Derailed
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Edgar Allan Poe Collection: Volume 1 – Annabel Lee & Other Tales of Mystery and Imagination
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Poseidon
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The Prestige
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Ten Little Indians

Flip open your newspaper to the bestseller lists any week and you’ll see the fiction one rife with – if not outright dominated by – thrillers. But it wasn’t always that way, and Patrick Anderson charts the genre’s birth and upward climb ever since in THE TRIUMPH OF THE THRILLER: HOW COPS, CROOKS, AND CANNIBALS CAPTURED POPULAR FICTION.

It may be no more than a lengthy essay, but it’s to Anderson’s credit that, at times, it’s as much fun to read – and in some cases, even more so – than the titles he discusses. A thriller writer and reviewer himself, Anderson knows of what he speaks, and with very little exception – his statement that John Grisham is a better scribe than Stephen King, for example – it’s hard to disagree with him.

After all, see if this quote from Anderson doesn’t sound an awful lot like the credo of a popular Internet book review site: “A lot of people have a hard time making the leap from officially approved ‘literary’ fiction to novels that are fun. … There is time for, say, Elmore Leonard and Dennis Lehane along with Dickens and Shakespeare. … Let us be wary of literary elites. They are not that different from political elites or sorority-house elites; they seek to accumulate and keep power, and they favor their friends.”

Amen, brother! Thrillers have come a long way from being considered the morass of the publishing world to the reliable tentpoles and sales behemoths they are today. But before they could make that transformation, they had to be invented, and Anderson cites Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” as not only the birth of the detective story, but the genesis of the thriller – reins quickly taken up by Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins and Agatha Christie.

From there, the genre gained a hard edge – not to mention a salacious rep – in the ’30s and ’40s pulp offerings of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, as well as a well-schooled pool of immediate followers – prolific Ed McBain and Mickey Spillane among them.

The ’80s saw authors moving away more from the gumshoe aspect into high-concept waters, and that’s when the modern-day thriller as we know it took off. Tom Clancy kicked it into high gear with the 1985 publication of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, and the chapter devoted to him easily finds Anderson at his most entertaining, taking Clancy to task for outright ridiculous prose like this amazing – and amazingly racist – snippet of dialogue from THE TEETH OF THE TIGER, told by a Marine to a dying terrorist: “Hey, raghead, I’ve got something for you. I want you to carry this to hell with you. It’s a football, asshole, made from the skin of a real Iowa pig.”

Anderson saves high praise for Scott Turow, whose PRESUMED INNOCENT bore the legal thriller and marks “a remarkable marriage of craft and commercialism,” and Thomas Harris, whose landmark THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS he calls “the greatest of modern thrillers. It does not transcend the genre but defines it. More than any other single novel, it is the triumph of the thriller.” But HANNIBAL? Not so much.

Michael Connelly, Robert Littell and Alan Furst are among Anderson’s current favorites, and he sees Charlie Huston and Karin Slaughter as rising stars. However, he holds well-placed disdain for James Patterson (“the absolute pits, the lowest common denominator of cynical, scuzzy, assembly-line writing”) and David Baldacci, and his Washington Post reviews of such are riotous and reprinted here in full.

Few female authors are covered in TRIUMPH, but that’s because most choose to delve into the romance side of things, which he dubs “nitwit lit.” Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton and Patricia Highsmith are among the few ladies making the grade. Don’t get him started on Patricia Cornwell.

TRIUMPH is not an exhaustive overview of the genre. At less than 300 pages, it can’t be, and especially if a thriller superstar like Michael Crichton remains suspiciously absent. It’s the views of one man and one man only, but that man has the benefit of authority and good taste.

I walked away from this nonfiction delight with several titles to add to my already overflowing reading list: Lawrence Sanders’ THE FIRST DEADLY SIN, Frederick Forsyth’s THE DAY OF THE JACKAL and John Burdett’s BANGKOK 8, et al. You should add THE TRIUMPH OF THE THRILLER to yours. It’s a sheer treat to read someone speak about thrillers with such infectious passion, thorough understanding and barbed wit. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• ALREADY DEAD by Charlie Huston
• THE AMATEUR by Robert Littell
• THE ANDERSON TAPES by Lawrence Sanders
• THE BEST HORROR STORIES OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE by Arthur Conan Doyle
• BLACK ALLEY by Mickey Spillane
• CORONADO by Dennis Lehane
• DAME AGATHA ABROAD by Agatha Christie
• CRIME BEAT: A DECADE OF COVERING COPS & KILLERS by Michael Connelly
• THE DELTA FACTOR by Mickey Spillane
• ECHO PARK by Michael Connelly
• THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE by Ed McBain
• HANNIBAL RISING by Thomas Harris
• THE KILLING MAN by Mickey Spillane
• THE LAST COP OUT by Mickey Spillane
• LEARNING TO KILL: STORIES by Ed McBain
• LEGENDS by Robert Littell
• LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE DEAF MAN by Ed McBain
• THE LONG WAIT by Mickey Spillane
• MURDER IN VEGAS: NEW CRIME TALES OF GAMBLING AND DESPERATION edited by Michael Connelly
• THE PUSHER by Ed McBain
• TRANSGRESSIONS edited by Ed McBain

As you can tell – with this column’s title swiped from the fine folks at the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society – I figured it was time to revisit an author from my youth. Plus, the 70th anniversary of his death is coming up in March, so what the hell.

Lovecraft’s books are a tricky thing sometimes – not the writing, mind you, but the sheer amount of his collections. Del Rey has put out countless anthologies of his short stories, with tales being used more than once. But I’m here to clean up the mess and just suggest the following three books, since they have all of the Lovecraft you’ll ever need, minus his poetry.

I’m talking about the exhaustive Penguin Classics editions. Not only are these the final say on the texts, but all the stories are annotated by Lovecraft expert S.T. Joshi. I actually met Joshi at the 50th celebration of Lovecraft’s death, when there was a get-together at his gravesite in Providence, R.I. (It helps I lived all of a 10-minute walk away.)

THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft – From 1999, this is the first of the Penguin reissues, with all the bells and whistles. Think of these as the Criterion Collections of Lovecraft books – they are that detailed. They each start out with the lesser-known short stories and build to the longer, better-know tales. (I know I may catch grief for that statement, but most people who are not familiar with the man will recognize a few titles.)

Probably one of the nicest surprises in this collection is to finally have “Herbert West: Reanimator” in a book. Also included is what could be considered a cautionary tale: “The Picture in the House” – the moral being, don’t go into strange houses if you are not familiar with them.

There is also “Cool Air,” a bizarre tale of air conditioning, to say the least; we get a helping of the Cthulhu mythos in this one. In “Dagon,” a sailor witnesses a ceremony he wishes he hadn’t. “The Call of Cthulhu,” the biggest of them all, is a tale of the Cthulhu cult and what becomes of people in it.

Then there is one of my favorites: “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” being the real selling point of the collection. If you’re ever in Massachusetts and most of the townspeople smell of fish, I have one word for you: run. You also get “The Colour out of Space,” a story about a meteorite of some sort that crashes into a farm, causing the all kinds of problems, like animals dying off, the water being changed and the family slowly going mad.

Not everything in this collection is a home run; there are a few clunkers. If you’re really only looking for the best bet for your money, may I present you the second collection…

THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft –  For me, this 2001 reissue is the best of the three. It has some of my favorite stories and only one true miss: a story ghostwritten for Harry Houdini about a trip to Egypt that does nothing for me. But pretty much every other story here is just pitch-perfect Lovecraft.

“The Music of Erich Zahn” is a tale of a boarder in Paris with a musician neighbor who is playing for the elder ones. (Think avant garde violin music played by a speed freak.) “Pickman’s Model” is a story of an artist who knows how to really capture the moment, even if his art is not for everyone with depictions of monsters that no mere man could fathom in acts of brutality. But all artists have a price to pay for their art, and Pickman is no exception; this was one of the few stories done justice by Rod Serling on NIGHT GALLERY.

“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” is the story of an overanxious student who finds out that some things should best be left undisturbed, when it comes to family history. This one holds a special place in my heart since it’s based all around Providence and I know all the locations that he writes about.

Then there is the best Lovecraft story, bar none: “At the Mountains of Madness,” about an Antarctic expedition that ends in the discovery of an ancient city of the Old Ones. The story is part Indiana Jones adventure, part horror film. Hopefully one day, someone can do justice to this story cinematically, because it would kick so much ass on the big screen. (Yes, I know Guillermo del Toro is working on it.)

Sandwiched in between those two great stories is “The Dunwich Horror,” a no-slouch account of a family that lives on the outskirts of town, with a daddy who is not human. If you’ve only seen the cheesy film version of this story, you’re in for a shock since there is no love interest in the story. It’s just about the brothers and their quest to get their hands on a certain book.

THE DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES by H.P. Lovecraft – From 2004, the third and final volume of the Penguin editions is a big mixed bag, especially since I never really cared for the “dreamland”-type stories Lovecraft wrote: “The Silver Key,” “The Doom That Came Saranth,” “Polaris” and the list goes on. These were stories mainly influenced by Lord Dunsany’s writings.

The longest piece in the book is “The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath,” just another in the long line of Lovecraft’s dreamscapes, featuring Randolph Carter, who dreams of a fantastical city called Kadath. It’s a place no one has ever been to or really has seen, but home to the gods. To me, it goes on too long.

If you’re asking, “Where, oh, where is the horror?,” don’t worry – you get some, with “The Nameless City” being a huge standout. You can tell Lovecraft would incorporate ideas from this story to his much longer “At the Mountains of Madness,” since it’s the story of a man finding a now-forgotten city in the desert. Then there is the great little story of “The Terrible Old Man,” which shows that not all senior citizens are feeble and weak.

Then we finally get the corrected text to another of Lovecraft’s space fantasies: “The Shadow out of Time,” which tells the story of an alien race called the Yith. These aliens can posses anyone or anything; they do so to find out about other species in the galaxy. The story revolves around a man who was possessed by these creatures and his work to find out more about them.

With this collection, just be forewarned: There are some diamonds, but they are just stuck in the rough. However, the notes that follow the stories are so thorough and informative, you won’t feel like you’ve been cheated.

Next time, we’ll cast an eye on Lovecraft’s best pal. –Bruce Grossman

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BOOKS 2 FILM: The Call of Cthulhu
• THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE: TALES OF COSMIC HORROR edited by D. Thin
• DON’T OPEN THIS BOOK! edited by Marvin Kaye
• INTO THE MUMMY’S TOMB edited by John Richard Stephens
• THE 13 BEST HORROR STORIES OF ALL TIME edited by Leslie Pockell