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.
[click to continue…]
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.
[click to continue…]
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.
[click to continue…]
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.
[click to continue…]
