I'm always on the lookout for books and poetry related to Michigan, and I chanced upon 'Sheer Joy in Detroit' this past weekend. I was attracted to the tale set in my old stomping grounds where I once toiled as an ink-stained wretch for the automotive industry, worked at the Detroit Athletic Club (the setting for a crucial scene in the novel), and witnessed firsthand the devastation of the once-great city of Detroit and many of the family businesses that once thrived there. 'Sheer Joy'…
The Nero Wolfe detective story series of Rex Stout (1886-1975) is, deservedly, one of the most famous American contributions to the genre. Wolfe is a classic genius detective, modelled in part, perhaps, upon Mycroft Holmes, the brilliant, corpulent elder brother of Sherlock. He is a man of strong views and has decided ideas of the sort of life he wants to live. While often an insightful observer of human beings and not exactly a misanthrope, he, unlike Agatha Christie’s Jane Marple, for example, has little…
James M. Cain, a prominent crime-fiction novelist in the 1920s and ’30s, is enjoying a bit of a revival these days, thanks largely to the recent HBO miniseries based on his novel Mildred Pierce. The interest in Cain and his writings may soon increase, as a previously unpublished novel, The Cocktail Waitress, of his has been discovered and will be published next year by Hard Case Crime. There may well be good reasons that this manuscript disappeared and was not published (meaning, poor quality), but…
By Shmuel Ben-Gad Spy stories are, at least sometimes, a secular equivalent of ghost stories, tales of mysterious menace. (Note that spies are sometimes referred to as spooks.) Eric Ambler (1909-1998) is unquestionably one of the best writers of spy stories in English. His stories are filled with mystery and menace and are distinguished by an air of realism, sophisticated plots, and polished prose. Ambler’s first tales appeared in the 1930s, and they reflect the tensions of European politics of the time. Ambler was then…
For an idea of how extensive, comprehensive, and just plain fascinating Jon Saboe’s latest novel, The Days of Laméch, is, read the following chapter headnotes: Chapter 1: Abduction “The irony of what brought about the end of the Family Wars was the realization that the abhorrent dehumanization inherent in those wars would be replaced by a surreptitious scheme to redefine humanity itself.” Chapter 2: Discovery “The savaged, broken masses who survived the Family Wars welcomed the civilizing philosophies of the Semyaz as a drowning man…
By Mike Gray Voyage of the Mind Carriers — By Gary Wolf — iUniverse — 2011 — Philosophical science fiction novel — Trade paperback: xv + map + 189 pages — ISBN: 978-1-4620-0433-1. Gary Wolf doesn’t write conventional fiction, and more so for his science fiction. He may occasionally use a common SF trope, but you can bet he’ll put his own unique spin on it. You almost never know where his stories will go. Wolf’s science fiction trenchantly explores the same territory that many…
By Mike Gray (4) The Day the Earth Stood Still — U.S. release: September 1951 — 20th Century-Fox Studios — Runtime: 92 minutes — Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier, Lock Martin (as Gort), Elmer Davis (uncredited), Gabriel Heatter (uncredited), Drew Pearson (uncredited), Lawrence Dobkin (uncredited), James Dean (uncredited), Roy Engel (uncredited), Harry Lauter (uncredited), Olan Soule (uncredited), Stuart Whitman (uncredited). I am leaving soon, and you will forgive me if I speak bluntly. The universe grows smaller…
By Mike Gray Sixty years ago: The world has just lurched past the middle of the 20th century. There is both a cold war being waged between the two major power blocs on the planet — the Communist sphere of influence stage-managed by Soviet Russia and “the West” led by the United States — and a hot war (a “police action” they call it … seriously?) being fought on the Korean Peninsula, with an unpredictable Red China right next door. General MacArthur has drafted plans…
The American Culture stalwart Lars Walker, author of several acclaimed novels about Viking life, has produced a video trailer for his book West Oversea, and the video is quite interesting and entertaining in itself: Additional information about West Oversea is available here.
By Mike Gray Valentino: Film Detective — By Loren D. Estleman — Crippen & Landru Publishers — 2011 — Trade paperback: 210 pages — Short story collection: 14 stories — ISBN: 978-1-932009-96-5. He dreamed he was riding in a beer truck with a pistol under his arm. The cases in the back contained reels of film, not beer. He was bootlegging them across the border between the past and the present, and Father Time was waiting for him at a roadblock with a tommygun that…
File this one under “Easier Said Than Done”: A skillful artist has constructed a tale. He has not fashioned his thoughts to accommodate his incidents, but having deliberately conceived a certain single effect to be wrought, he then invents such incidents, he then combines such events, and discusses them in such tone as may best serve him in establishing this preconceived effect. If his very first sentence tend not to the outbringing of this effect, then in his very first step has he committed a…
By Lars Walker “The pages [of the original Frankenstein] reek with your bottomless self-pity so poorly disguised as regret, with the phoniness of your verbose self-condemnation, with the insidious quality of your contrition, which is that of a materialist who cares not for God and is therefore not true contrition at all, but only despair at the consequences of your actions. For centuries, I have been the monster, and you the well-meaning idealist who claims he would have undone what he did if only given…
By Mike Gray They had what they called laissez-faire, and it worked for a while until they got to tinkering with it. They demanded things called protective tariffs, tax remissions, subsidies — regulation, regulation, regulation, always of the other fellow. But there were enough bankers on all sides for everybody to be somebody else’s other fellow. Coercion snowballed and the Government lost public acceptance. They had a thing called the public debt which I can’t begin to explain to you except to say that it…
By Mike Gray I have just been reading Agatha Christie’s short stories. But to enjoy her fully today, I suspect, you need to be a social historian — or a novelist. In everything she wrote, she employed one deep secret of her craft. But she may not even have been conscious of it. It took 70 years of cultural change to reveal it. That secret is, simply, that she shocks the reader with endless social transgressions. Her every story is coded with social prejudice and…
In the 21st century science reigns. Some, however still believe magic exists in words. Computer scientist, Anu Garg is one of them. He’s fascinated by the magic of words and created a website dedicated to the “world of words.” He and hundreds others explore such questions “Where do words come from? Who made them up? Who dictated that a rectangular opening in a wall was to be called a window?” His love for words and belief in their magic led him to create Wordsmith.org. You…
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