Controlling the Transmissions - Year Twenty-One

Books: What is Stopping Disney from Remaking Something Wicked This Way Comes?

2026-10-20T16:36:17.015-07:00

I’ve been curious for years wondering what rights Disney owns to Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes that is preventing a remake of the film. I can assume some elements of the book – the ones that made it on screen, as well as scenes that they created wholesale during the near one-year delay after tossing director Jack Clayton’s cut out (also gone was the original editor –though he does get a screen credit- and the movies score, done by French composer Georges Delerue) are part of the reason.

During filming, two differing visions emerged for the film, one where Bradbury and Clayton were trying to stay as faithful to the novel as possible, while Disney wanted to make a more accessible and family friendly film. Furthermore, Bradbury and Clayton fell out during production after Bradbury discovered that Clayton had hired writer John Mortimer to do an uncredited revision of Bradbury's screenplay at the studio's insistence.

Disney spent an additional $5 million on re-filming, re-editing, and re-scoring the picture, and new editor Barry Gordon was required to make a number of changes to Clayton and Nelson's original cut, removing several major special-effects scenes, and incorporating the new material (directed by Leo Dyer), including a new spoken prologue, narrated by Arthur Hill.

The original themes of Bradbury's novel, the suggestion of menace, the autumn atmosphere of an American Midwest township and the human relationships between characters that attracted Clayton escaped preview audiences completely, with Clayton heavily criticized. New special effects sequences were shot and a hastily composed new score by composer James Horner replaced Delerue's original music. Initial test screenings did not fare well with audiences, and Disney re-commissioned Bradbury to write an opening narration sequence and new ending. It made only about $8 million on what now was a $20 million budgeted film.

Not knowing how copyright really works, I’m guessing Disney could remake the film, but it would have to be one that hews closer to the novel, if only because there are probably certain elements, such as character traits and other situations in the re-worked screenplay that can be credited to John Mortimer. For Disney, probably, dealing with his Estate is not worth the time, effort, or costs. The same could be said of the Bradbury Estate, depending on what was put in the original contacts.

Which means keeping with the dark fantasy themes Bradbury wrote about – because, understand this, the book was never written for kids, but for adults who remember their youths a certain way, especially when the autumn people came. Maybe that’s why it’s been twelve years since it was announced a remake was in the works with Seth Grahame-Smith writing the script and to make his feature film debut as director. His take adheres to the book, and not the mish-mash of the 1983 version.

Disney is Disney. It’s seen mostly as manufacturer of kids and other family-friendly programming. And while between 1984 and 2016, they did have Touchstone Pictures, their more adult raft, it still found controversy with the content from certain conservative groups who were critical that a family-friendly studio should be releasing PG-13 and R rated films,

TV's Golden Age of Made-for-TV Horror Movies V: 'Salem's Lot

2026-10-16T17:43:08.272-07:00

Another example of classic 1970s TV movie-of-the-week was ‘Salem’s Lot, which aired as a two-part film on November 17th and 24th 1979.

After Warner Bros. acquired the rights to the Stephen King book, the studio sought to turn the 400+page novel into a feature film, while still remaining faithful to the source material. However, producer Stirling Silliphant, screenwriter Robert Getchell, and writer/director Larry Cohen all contributed screenplays, but all found it difficult to keep a screenplay at reasonable length.

Eventually, the project was turned over to Warner Bros. Television and producer Richard Kobritz. He decided that the best way to keep the spirit of the book without losing too much was to turn it into miniseries. Writer Paul Monash was contracted to write the teleplay. Monash was familiar with writing about small towns (he worked on the 1960s soap Peyton Place), and he previously produced the 1976 adaptation of King's novel Carrie.

Meanwhile, Tobe Hooper leapt to fame with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). He combined elements from a story he wrote about isolation and darkness with the inspiration of graphic news coverage of violence, with his belief that people were the true monsters being a key element for the film. It was a screening of Massacre that led producer Richard Kobritz to hire him as a director – the biggest budget Hooper had yet had at $4 million. The film differed from the source material (particularly with the violence and graphic scenes) in order to meet broadcast standards of the era. Hooper described it as 'very spooky - it suggests things and always has the overtone of the grave. It affects you differently than my other horror films. It's more soft-shelled...it has atmosphere which creates something you cannot escape - the reminder that our time is limited and all the accoutrements that go with it, such as the visuals.'

The original broadcast reviews for ‘Salem's Lot were largely positive, with critics praising the miniseries’ atmosphere, cinematography, Hooper's direction, and excellent scares. The casting was spot on, especially with a charismatic performance from James Mason. But David Soul, Bonnie Bedelia, young Lance Kerwin, some familiar character actors like Lew Ayers Elisha Cook, Jr., George Dzundza, Julie Cobb, Ed Flanders, Kenneth McMillian, and Geoffrey Lewis fill out a great cast for a horror movie.

A loose sequel called Return to ‘Salem’s Lot was released in 1987. In 2004, TNT released a remake, also a three-hour, two-part miniseries, starring Rob Lowe as Ben Mears. Then in 2021 Epix launched the series Chapelwaite, starring Adrien Brody and Emily Hampshire and is loosely based on the short story Jerusalem’s Lot (from the King short-story collection Night Shift) and serves as a sort of prequel to ‘Salem’s Lot set in the 19th century. Finally, a new theatrical version from New Line Cinema, was announced in April 2019, with Gary Dauberman set to write and direct, and James Wan attached to produce. Filming began in September 2021 and starred Lewis Pullman and Alfre Woodard. The film was originally scheduled to be released in cinemas in September 2022, but was pushed back to April 2023, before being pulled from Warner Bros. release schedule indefinitely. The original 3-hour version was edited down to less than two hours and premiered directly on Max in October 2024.

Maybe because King’s book was released in 1975, and this adaptation came only four years later, in the last months of what was a tumultuous decade, the movie unintentially tapped into (along with the rest of the Made For TV horror films that came out of the era) some sort of the uneasiness of that chaotic period. It was forcing people to always be looking over their shoulder, perhaps looking for something sinister. I think the later productions are all missing that something that made the 1979 production –even if it is a bit dated- such a masterclass in terror. It brought more fresh blood and lingering frights that is missing from those newer takes. I mean who cannot forget watching child vampire Danny Click scratching and floating outside his brothers’ window demanding to be let in.

The stuff of nightmares there.

TV's Golden Age of Made-for-TV Horror Movies IV: Trilogy of Terror

2026-10-15T16:21:26.260-07:00

Another example of classic 1970s TV movie-of-the-week was Trilogy of Terror, which aired as an ABC Movie of the Week on March 4, 1975. It features three segments, each based on unrelated short stories by Richard Matheson and all directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis. Karen Black stars in all three, playing four different roles. Black initially turned down the project, but reconsidered when her then-husband, Robert Burton, was cast in the first segment. However, she also sort of regretted the doing it later on, saying the film led to her being typecasting in a genre that forced her to accept roles in B-grade horror films. "I think this little movie took my life and put it on a path that it didn't even belong in.”

The first, Julie, is a story follows a college professor who seeks excitement with her students; the second, Millicent and Therese, is about twin sisters who have a bizarre relationship. These two segments were adapted by William F. Nolan (a prolific science fiction novelist and writer). The third -and most remembered- is called Amelia and was adapted by Matheson himself, and focuses on a woman terrorized by a Zuni fetish doll in her apartment.

To be honest, the other tales have their own charms, and the movie probably works because having Black star in all three gives the film cohesion that other anthologies sort of lack, but they can be easily skipped. But it’s Amelia that scared the crap out of twelve year-old me back in 1975. This was truly a gem of TV-horror, with a ferocious, realistic monster not very seen often during that era. It’s an iconic design that can do so much, and it’s pretty easy to see why it has such a lasting appeal.

Funny, years later, when I was older, I realized what a simple story it is, but it retains its creepiness, as well as its nifty ending. As far as TV-horror goes, this is as good as it gets.

TV's Golden Age of Made-for-TV Horror Movies III: Gargoyles

2026-10-14T16:34:25.194-07:00

Another example of classic 1970s TV movie-of-the-week was Gargoyles. The story involves an anthropologist/paleontologist and his daughter (Cornel Wilde and Jennifer Salt), while travelling through the southwestern U.S., stumble upon a colony of living, breathing gargoyles. It originally aired, November 21, 1972 for the CBS series The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies.

Written by Stephen and Elinor Karpf and directed by prolific TV director Bill F. Norton, Gargoyles is a sort of throwback 1950s atomic monster flick, where ignorant townsfolk refuse to believe meddling outsiders or teenagers trying to warn them of strange goings-on afoot in their sleepy little boondocks. Still, what is unusual here is, the creatures are presented as far from unsympathetic light, and boasting a clearly defined culture and sense of purpose. So the real stars of this TV movie were Gargoyles, as director Norton uses the darkness of location night filming very effectively: only giving the audience fleeting moments of atmosphere and moodiness that breaks through some of the more pedestrian aspects that include police chases and some clunky dialogue choices. The gargoyles are shot in slow motion, and when they speak, their voices are electronically treated to create a further sense of eeriness.

Beyond this, veteran Dark Shadows actress Grayson Hall is a hoot, mainly for her sometimes shrill and often quirky performance as Mrs. Parks –a role she played completely and undeniably straight. The lead Gargoyle is played with commanding appeal by Bernie Casey, even if his voice was dubbed by Vic Perrin. Scott Glenn pops up in a supporting role.

This was also the first Hollywood job for Stan Winston, who a year later formed his Stan Winston Studios. For the make-up work and mechanical effects (those gargoyles fly) here, he shared the 1973 Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup.

Watching it today (Youtube), on a modern TV, the costumes don’t look that great, but the make-up holds up and it’s worth a watch – a freaky delight during the Halloween season.

TV's Golden Age of Made-for-TV Horror Movies II: The Night Stalker

2026-10-13T17:57:46.355-07:00

Another example of classic 1970s TV movie-of-the-week was The Night Stalker. When ABC aired the film originally on January 11, 1972, as their ABC Movie of the Week, it garnered the highest ratings of any TV film at that time.

The plot concerns a series of murders plaguing the Las Vegas Strip. All of the victims had their bodies drained of blood. Carl Kolchak, a veteran reporter who has been fired from newspapers across the country due to his tenacious and unprofessional approach, thinks the killer believes himself to be a vampire. His managing editor, Tony Vincenzo, refuses to run the story under the vampire angle without proof, arguing it could cause a panic and soil the paper's reputation. But of course, there is a real vampire in Vegas and Kolchak is –seemly- the only one that believes it.

Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey (a veteran of theatrical and television films), who shot the film over 12 days, with an adaption done by Richard Matheson, and produced by Dan Curtis (best known at the time for Dark Shadows), The Night Stalker became the highest-rated original television film on US television, earning a 33.2 rating and 48 share. The television film did so well that it was released overseas as a theatrical film. It inspired a sequel television film titled The Night Strangler, which aired on January 16, 1973. A third film was in the works, when ABC decided to turn the film series into a TV series. And that’s when things got complicated.

It seems neither ABC nor Universal had obtained Carl Kolchak creator Jeff Rice's permission to use the characters and situations as TV series and so he sued the studio. The suit was resolved shortly before the series aired in the fall 1974 season. ABC maintained ownership of the two movies, the rights to the main character –Carl Kolchak (as well as the short lived 2005 reboot), Universal Studios held the rights to all twenty episodes of the weekly series. Meanwhile, Jeff Rice (1944 – 2015) retained the literary and publishing rights to the original written Kolchak works and The Kolchak Papers. Rice also received an on-screen credit as series creator, and after some negotiation, McGavin agreed to return as Kolchak and also serve as the series' executive producer, though he was never credited as such (and something that irked him). Simon Oakland also returned.

But basically the TV movies and TV series exist in two separate universes. Which meant the series could not reference the previous films in anyway, and side characters played by Carol Lynley in The Night Stalker and Jo Ann Pflug in The Night Strangler were never mentioned. However, the series did get away with doing a sequel episode to The Night Stalker. In The Vampire, an overlooked victim of the vampire Janos Skorzeny (not mentioned by name, but subtlety suggested) from Las Vegas named Catherine Rawlins, who makes her way to Los Angeles and begins killing anew.

Beyond the legal woes, the series was plagued with problems from the start, including budgetary issues and McGavin constantly struggling with the series' producer Cy Chermak over the direction. The show's ratings were mediocre and McGavin was growing dissatisfied, even as he found himself rewriting scripts and doing much of the work of a producer, but without getting either the full credit or the full compensation of one. McGavin had been unhappy with what he felt was the show's "monster of the week" direction, and an exhausting filming schedule. He asked to be released from his contract with two episodes remaining to be filmed, which the network granted in light of the show's dwindling ratings. The series was soon cancelled.

As an addendum, the series gave the world a multiple Emmy winning writer David Chase (The Sapranos), who started his career in Hollywood as a story editor for the series, as well has launching the careers of Back to the Future writer Bob Gale and writer and Oscar winning director Robert Zemeckis, who sold their first story to the series, the late season entry Chopper.

TV's Golden Age of Made-for-TV Horror Movies: Duel

2026-10-12T16:30:10.702-07:00

The 1970s was a golden age for made-for-TV horror movies, often broadcast as network "Movies of the Week" (such as the ABC Movie of the Week). Because broadcast television had strict censorship rules regarding graphic gore, these films relied heavily on psychological terror, claustrophobic atmosphere, and ordinary settings turned sinister.

While all three broadcast networks dabbled in the genre, it was mostly CBS and ABC that produced the lion’s share of these ninety –minute films. Some of the most well-known films still resonate today, surprisingly after nearly 50 years after they aired.

1971’s Duel (based on a legendary writer Richard Matheson short story, which he adapted here) starred Dennis Weaver as David Mann, a mild-mannered electronics salesman, who is driving cross-country on a two-lane highway where he encounters an old oil tanker driven by an unseen driver who seems to enjoy annoying him with dangerous antics on the road. Unable to escape the demonic big rig, David finds himself in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the monstrous truck. When the pursuit escalates to deadly levels, David must summon his inner warrior and turn the tables on his tormentor.

What is unique about this TV movie was that it was 25 year-old Steven Spielberg’s second feature-length film (he made a 1971 episode of NBC series The Name of the Game called L.A. 2017 first). Already on Universal Studios radar after helming an acclaimed segment of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery (at the age of 21) that starred the iconic actress Joan Crawford and having seen a rough cut of the premiere episode of Columbo, Murder by the Book, to air in September of 1971, this film showed them that he was worth the extra three days of filming that was needed to complete it. While Unit Production Manager Wallace Worsley felt filming the entire production outside and on location on what was then a normal 10-day shooting schedule for TV movies of the week, was impossible (which turned out he was right), the studio had enough confidence with their young director. (and as a compromise, Worsley allowed Spielberg to start the filming on location for the first three days to see if it really could be done on an efficient level. To help with plotting, he made an overhead map to help plot out the camera shots).

Duel was initially shown on television as an installment of the ABC Movie of the Week. It was the 18th highest-rated television movie of the year, with a Nielsen rating of 20.9, and an audience share of 33%. After the successful broadcast, Universal decided to release the film theatrically over seas (with a limited release here in the US). At 74 minutes, however, it was not long enough for this purpose, so Universal had Spielberg spend two days filming several new scenes to expand it to 90 minutes. A longer opening sequence was added with the car backing out of a garage and driving through Los Angeles traffic, and out into the desert. Additional scenes shot to lengthen the movie included Mann's telephone conversation with his wife in the laundromat, the encounter with the broken-down school bus, and the confrontation at the railroad crossing. Some voice over dialogue from the television version was re-written and re-recorded, changing the "tone" of some scenes, and some alternate takes were used as well. Mild expletives were also added to the script, to make the film sound less like a television production.

Books: Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect (Ernest Cunningham #2) By Benjamin Stevenson (2023)

2026-10-10T10:55:18.533-07:00

“After the overnight success of his first book –the recounting of that tale, which in book is seen as non-fiction than a true whodunit, Ernest Cunningham has been asked, along with five much-better-known authors, to be a panelist aboard the Ghan, a luxury train whose route bisects the Australian desert for the 50th Australian Mystery Writers’ Festival. Soon after the journey starts, one of the writers turns up dead, and each of the train’s other panelists—including Cunningham himself—becomes both suspect and sleuth.”

Much like the first book, Ernest breaks the fourth wall to a talk about what is transpiring here - he reveals that a comma will be a crucial clue, and that there will be more than one victim. There is pretty good dashes of humor, all while poking fun at the publishing industry. There are plenty of red herring’s; including a Misery loving girl who has discovered her favorite mystery author is killing of his main character. While this also no Murder on the Orient Express, it will remind readers –especially those who love the Golden Age of Detective Fiction (roughly, the 1920s to early 1930s) of age when creative and clever writers took the time to create viable locked-room and closed-circle murder mysteries.

Books: Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone (Enrest Cunningham #1) by Benjamin Stevenson (2023)

2026-10-03T19:08:36.062-07:00

Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.

I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it?

Let’s get started.

With the success of the Knives Out series and probably The Thursday Murder Club, publishers are looking for more unique and quirky whodunits that follow the traditional cozy murder tales from the last 150 years and give them an update for the modern reader.

Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone by Australian writer Benjamin Stevenson, our narrator is Ernest Cunningham, who writes books about how to write books – or more specifically on how write murder fiction. As the informal, reliable narrator, he assures us that the title is not a lie— everyone really has killed someone, including himself.

The early part of the book sets up the different family members who come to snowy resort area in Australian mountains (I’m today years old finding out it snows in Australia) for a family reunion. It takes a bit as Ern has to explain some of the back story on his family members.

I did enjoy the book, as it has a dark sense of humor (and I liked the bingo card game between Ernst and Sofia) and while it took a bit to like the narrator, in the end I found his voice a bit irreverent. There were some parts I found hard to follow, if only because Ernst was sort of asking you to read between the lines, but for fans of modern whodunits that also tries to pay homage to the Golden Age of Murder Mysteries, should enjoy this take on the classic genre.

Books: Black House (Book Two) by Peter Straub and Stephen King (2001)

2026-09-20T09:45:27.263-07:00

“Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer traveled to a parallel universe called The Territories to save his mother and her Territories "twinner" from a premature and agonizing death that would have brought cataclysm to the other world. Now Jack is a retired Los Angeles homicide detective living in the nearly nonexistent hamlet of Tamarack, WI. A few years earlier, Jack cooperated with the local cops in French Landing (a fictionalized version of Trempealeau, Wisconsin) involving a farm insurance salesman who was also a killer. While in Wisconsin, Jack is irresistibly enraptured by the natural beauty of the Coulee Country, echoing his reaction to The Territories as a child.

When a series of gruesome murders begin occurring that are reminiscent of those committed several decades earlier by a real-life madman named Albert Fish, the killer is dubbed "The Fisherman" Jack's buddy, the local chief of police, begs Jack to help his inexperienced force find him. But is this merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a mysterious and malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What causes Jack's inexplicable waking dreams –if that is what they are- of robins' eggs and red feathers? Is there a connection, as well, to the events that forced him leave Los Angeles? Quickly it becomes clear there is more to these cases than murder, and Jack must retrieve his childhood memories to rescue the latest victim, someone who is coveted by the killer's evil overlord, a powerful entity from End-World, in the Dark Tower continuity. And someone King’s Constant Reader has encountered before.”

As I mentioned in The Talisman re-read review, that 1984 book was never intended to include the Dark Tower, mostly because King really had not started to connect the dots (and he would recton some stuff, like Pennywise the Clown in IT). The Black House does work as a standalone sequel, though, but in the seventeen years between them, the Dark Tower universe began thread its way through King’s book regular titles, most notably 1994’s Insomnia (here is the unseen overreaching antagonist in 1982s The Gunslinger, Wizard and Glass, The Song Susannah, as well as the novella Low Men in Yellow Coats in The Hearts in Atlantis collection). What makes this work as standalone sequel is that the Territories has very minor role in this book, serving as both a Red Herring to Jack before the larger the full plot is revealed, with the Fisherman's significance is explained to him. The authors’ drop enough information so reading The Talisman is not a huge necessity (though is highly recommended).

While I remembered some of this books actions – especially the motorcycle club and the connections to the Dark Tower- I forgot the ending. It’ll be interesting to see how this now plays out in the upcoming third and final book, Other Worlds Than These.

Beyond the Crimson King –spoken about, but not seen and the Territories -the books other DT references include Little Sisters (Little Sisters of Eluria) The Beams, Ka, Gilead, Ted Brautigan, Roland Deschain, and Roland's ka-tet are all explicitly mentioned. How Black House is connected to the Dark Tower universe is that The Furnace Lands are located in End-World, possibly implying that the Territories (also called the Borderlands) may exist on the same level of the Tower as Mid-World. The Territories are said to be in the Inner Baronies, suggesting it is part of In-World. The Big Combination is the Forge of the King that Susannah sees glowing red in the sky from the ramparts of Castle Discordia. When Susannah and Roland and Oy near the Tower, they see that the glow from the Forge has gone out now Finally In The Dark Tower, Walter/Flagg dons the same metal cap as he one the Fisherman puts on Tyler Marshall. Flagg describes the cap as having been "borrowed from a certain deserted house in the town of French Landing, Wisconsin."

Books: The Talisman by Peter Straub and Stephen King (Book One) 1984

2026-09-11T20:28:15.725-07:00

“On a brisk autumn day, a thirteen-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: his father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America–and into another realm.”

The Territories, for the few who’ve not read this book in the last forty-two years, is a parallel world physically smaller than the world from which Jack comes. Throughout the novel, Jack uses the size differential to travel quickly across the country. The eastern region, corresponding to the Eastern Seaboard, is the most densely populated and is governed under a feudal system headed by the Queen. The central regions, roughly corresponding to the American plains, are a grain growing area known as "the Outposts." Beyond them, the western region of the Territories is a destroyed area known as "the Blasted Lands" (analogous to the American Southwest – primarily New Mexico, where the atomic bomb was tested). It was apparently wrecked by radioactivity and has dangerous mutants and occasional fireballs.

Jack begins his quest at the New Hampshire hotel called the Alhambra (a notable location in King's novel The Tommyknockers), where he meets Speedy Parker who tells him he must go on this quest to save both his mother and Queen Laura. So Jack sets off to seek the mystical Talisman in this parallel world, with help and encouragement from Speedy Parker. Parker warns young Jack that Morgan of Orris, the enemy of the free people of the Territories, will be after him, as will his uncle in the real world, Morgan Sloat, the business partner who probably caused Jack's father's death, who wants Jack dead. So both versions of Morgan are hunting for Jack, and both are aware of his nature, as well as their own.

Back when King and Straub wrote The Talisman, I do not think King intentionally connected this book to the wider DTU. The Gunslinger had been released in 1982 (which was a combination of five short stories he wrote between 1978 and 1981 and The Drawing of the Three was still five years away). However, there are many things within this book that would be revisited in many of King’s other books, just not the Dark Tower (the idea of the train and the blasted lands would be reused in King’s fourth Dark Tower Universe book Wizard and Glass).

Consciously or not, there are many references throughout the book that make rereading this novel feel like The Territories is just a small part of some bigger multiple universes.

Even Jack’s Dad notes to his brother-in-law Morgan Sloat:

“And should I tell you another crazy thing?”

“Why not?” Sloat answered.

“That’s (the Territories) are not the only world out there.”

Another example comes from Wizard and Glass book again; where Roland’s ka-tet visits a version of the world has been depopulated by the influenza from the novel The Stand. As Jake points out in that book, in his version of 1980’s New York from which he comes from, they never encountered Captain Trips (this is also a clever way to explain the differences between King’s original version of the book, which is set in the late 1970s and the updated, extended version, which moved the dates up to 1986). Roland ponders that Jake’s universe is "another when. Then adds, “There are other worlds than these.”

Books: The Talisman Series comes to a Close this October

2026-08-30T15:36:04.771-07:00

Back in 1984, when writers Stephen King and Peter Straub released The Talisman, I was in the height of my fantasy reading. But I was also reading both authors novels. This book combined a lot of King’s style of pop-cultural reference and teen-age angst with Straub’s sometimes literary style and scholarly attention to detail. Yes, in some way, this should’ve not worked. Both writers, while long time friends, approached their work differently. King was already working on another High Fantasy series, what became the Dark Tower universe and what he often called a mixture The Lord of the Rings with Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone’s Man with No Name trilogy from the 1960s.

At the time, Straub had never appeared interested in this sub-genre. As a matter of fact, in his life time, he never wrote anything close to High Fantasy beyond this book and its 2001 sequel.

So in the Talisman, we get the staple of most fantasy, where someone needs to make an epic quest to save the great land. Here, 12 year-old Jack Sawyer (another King trope of a kid with some sort on unknown power) must try and save his dying mother in our world and her twinnner, in The Territories.

The Territories is a parallel world, a sort of pocket universe, which is physically smaller than the world from which Jack comes from. Throughout the course of the novel, Jack uses the size differential as a method to travel quickly across the country. The eastern region, corresponding to the Eastern Seaboard, is the most densely populated and is governed under a feudal system headed by the Queen. The central regions, roughly corresponding to the American plains, are a grain growing area known as "the Outposts." Beyond them, the western region of the Territories is a destroyed area known as "the Blasted Lands" (analogous to the American Southwest – primarily New Mexico, where the atomic bomb was tested). It apparently was wrecked by radioactivity, and has dangerous mutants and occasional fireballs.

Jack begins his quest at the New Hampshire hotel called the Alhambra (a notable location in King's novel The Tommyknockers) where he meets Speedy Parker (another King trope, the unassuming older black man who seemly has the same type of powers as the protagonist –think of Scatman Crothers Dick Hollorann from The Shinning), who tells him he must go on this quest to save both his mother and Queen Laura

So Jack sets off to seek the mystical Talisman in this parallel world, with help and encouragement from Speedy Parker. But Parker warns young Jack of Morgan of Orris, the enemy of the free people of the Territories, will be after him, as well his uncle in the real world, Morgan Sloat, the business partner who probably caused the death of Jack's father, wants Jack dead. So both versions of Morgan are hunting for Jack, and both are aware of his nature, as well as their own.

While the 2001 Black House is very much a standalone tale and the writers do a great job explaining some of backstory of The Talisman, the novel also serves as a small stopover to King’s Dark Tower Universe, which by 2001 had become extensive, with certain books and short stories serving as bits of new information. As an example, 1996’s Insomnia actually introduced the main villain to the Dark Tower, and here in The Black House we are introduced to other aspects of that universe.

Meanwhile, back in ’84, The Talisman was not really designed to be connected to the DT, though it became clear to King fans much later that The Territories must be connected, and The Black House does expose certain things that now make it clear that 1984 book is connected.

In The Black House, decades after the events in The Talisman, Jack has grown up to become a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department, where his professionalism and uncanny talent have helped him establish a nearly legendary reputation. He has repressed the memories of his adventures in "The Territories" and his hunt for the Talisman, but the residue of these events has served to subtly affect his life even after he has forgotten them. When a series of murders in Los Angeles are traced to a farm insurance salesman from French Landing, Wisconsin (Straub’s home state; and French Landing is fictionalized version of Trempealeau, Wisconsin), Jack cooperates with the French Landing police to capture the killer. While in Wisconsin, Jack is irresistibly enraptured by the natural beauty of the Coulee Country, echoing his reaction to The Territories as a child. When he later intrudes upon a homicide investigation in Santa Monica, certain aspects of the crime scene threaten to revive his repressed memories. He subsequently resigns from the LAPD, moving to French Landing to enjoy his early retirement. When the Fisherman begins to terrorize French Landing, the police all but beg "Hollywood" Jack Sawyer for his assistance; they are surprised when Jack flatly refuses. Memories of the Santa Monica event threaten to overwhelm Jack, and he fears that involving himself in the investigation may affect his sanity. When a fourth child is taken by the Fisherman, events no longer allow Jack to remain aloof. It quickly becomes apparent to him that the Fisherman is much more than a serial killer.

In the last two-and-half decades, both writers said that a third book would come. In 2006, Straub said “Steve and I agreed years back that we would do a third one, and that would be it, because Black House virtually sets up, and all but promises a follow-up. And then we would have a three-volume fantasy novel. That's perfect. That's probably what it wanted to be from the beginning” Then in 2009, in another interview he said “We were going to start right about now, but King got sidetracked by a Broadway musical that he was writing with John Melencamp. So that's been taking shape. And I think they were having out-of-town tryouts this autumn. Then we'll see what happens. But at some point we'll get back to it, because we have to. It's like two-thirds of a long, long story, and the other part really should be done.”

Then in 2010, he told Youtube “Steve and I agreed [...] three years ago that we would in all likelihood write a third book, the last of the Jack Sawyer novels. In a way, though, it was there from the beginning, at least the ending of Black House, because the ending of Black House opens up into another narrative altogether. The protagonist is given a wonderful but profound problem, and he will have to cope with that problem. And it practically writes another book by itself. It doesn't, I assure you, but it does kind of tell us what one of central issues of that novel will be. I think we'll begin in a year or so. It doesn't have a title”

From then on, both of their assistance kept saying a book was coming, but schedule coordination was very difficult. Then Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. Asked once again about a third book, Kind said in 2023 expressed the possibility of finally writing the third installment of The Talisman series despite the passing of Straub, saying: "Before he died, Peter sent me this long letter and said we oughta do the third one, and he gave me a really cool idea and I had some ideas of my own.”

Now four years after Straub’s passing, on October 6, 2026, we’ll be getting the finale of The Talisman trilogy. Called Other Worlds than These, and what is has in store for Jack and (probably The Dark Tower) is yet to be revealed.

But in the meantime, I’m rereading both The Talisman after 42 years and The Black House after twenty-five years. So by the time the book hits my doorstep, I’ll be all caught up.

Books: The Lighthouse At The End Of The World by Philip Suggars (2026)

2026-08-29T10:43:21.286-07:00

“Oyster McLellen has spent his life causing mischief. Running with a small-time gang and fleecing money from tourists in Hyde Park to support his struggling family in the absence of his father, who abandoned them years ago. When a simple money drop for his boss, Big Mickey, goes wrong, Oyster's future looks bleak. His only chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Mickey is to get the money back, but as he pursues the thieves across South London he suddenly finds himself washed up on a beach, surrounded by broken phones and shattered office furniture. His new world: Greater London. A city built on the detritus of our own, where leviathans crafted from broken skyscrapers roam the seas, where ink beetles nestle beneath the skin of its residents and where Oyster's father, Lucas, may well have escaped to all those years ago. But there are bigger things at stake. Oyster's allegiances are torn between the enigmatic Nonesuch, the eccentric escapist Marya Petrovna, and the terrifying Mr Primrose - and he will have to choose who to align himself with quickly. Because plans are afoot: something ancient is brewing, and a choice needs to be made, the consequences of which will determine the fate of Londons, and life, everywhere.”

While The Lighthouse at the End of the World has nothing to do with Jules Verne’s 1901 tale of the same name, Philip Suggars does give another in a long line of fantasy novels set in London, or alternative London, one where magic works and peoples alliances are always suspect. It is not a horrible debut (and a beginning of series) but the book did frustrate me from time to time.

The book started well, with Oyster trying to provide for the remnants of his small family (his sister, his disengaged mother, and himself) since his father left them, which shows the empathy he has despite his exterior roughness he constantly needs to show. Because in the London writer Suggars created is one that is grey, gritty, and grimy, where our Oyster is trying his best (and failing somewhat at it), despite the odds being stacked against him. This seemly Dicken’s inspired supporting casts are well drawn, with the only flaw being we seen this all before.

While Suggars paints a reasonably odd and weird Greater London, once Oyster arrives, we get whole other set main and side characters, all with their motivations, at times, it was hard to keep them all straight. The ending was somewhat disappointing (because it becomes very clear early on, his Oysters Dad was somehow apart of all this), because it all felt rushed and then it was over and somehow Oyster survived.

I really liked the weirdness of Suggar’s Greater London and those who dwell there, but the book could’ve cut certain things and enhanced others (like his Mother’s role in all of this). It probably could’ve been about twenty pages or so shorter, but that theme seems to run through a lot of books I read –overlong with too many superfluous sub-plots.

Books: London Match (Bernard Samson #3) by Len Deighton (1985)

2026-08-19T19:55:30.559-07:00

“Samson suspects that there is a traitor within his department of MI6, due to the appearance of a memorandum which was leaked to the KGB. It transpires that it is part of a plot conducted by his wife—now working for East German intelligence—to frame his superior, Bret Rensselaer, as a KGB agent. When Samson's old friend Werner Volkmann is arrested by the East German police Samson organizes an unauthorized exchange of defector Erich Stinnes for him, but the operation ends in a shoot-out on the Berlin U-Bahn.”

A lot of London Match gets bogged down by the domestic lives of its characters – everyone seems to be having affairs with someone else and expecting Bernard to deal with it – and it gets a little tedious after a while. The episodic structure of the novel is something some readers will have a problem with, mostly because of the issues with who is screwing who and wringing of hands about Fiona’s defection and how it effects Bernard and her children. It does have some good action sequences, especially the final shoot-out around the Berlin Wall. It also has plenty of twists and turns required in this genre, but some younger readers will find the internal maneuverings of MI6 and the chess match between the West and East intelligence services of the Cold War a bit tedious.

Interestingly, Granada Television produced a twelve-hour version of this trilogy in 1988, which starred Ian Holm’s as Bernard Samson while Mel Martin played Fiona. Entitled Game, Set and Match, it was filmed on location in Berlin and Mexico, that included a large international cast with 3,000 extras and a budget of $8 million. While critically acclaimed, the ratings for the series were a disaster.

I’m intrigued enough that I will continue with the second trilogy Spy Hook, Spy Line, and Spy Sinker down the line –September through the end of 2026 is pretty well set. So I might not start them until January. I’ll probably read Winter first, which is, more or less, a prequel to the first trilogy as well as setting up the second and third –I think…

Passages

2026-08-16T11:28:10.736-07:00

Mark Rydell was director, producer and actor, who helmed several Academy Award-nominated films including The Fox (1967), The Reivers (1969), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Rose (1979), and The River (1984). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for On Golden Pond (1981). He passed away at 97 on 13 August.

He started as an actor in the mid 1950s, appearing on the soap operas The Edge of Night and As The World Turns. In the early 1960s, he turned to directing (he did act on occasion, including giving a striking performance as a violent Jewish mob kingpin in Robert Altman's 1973 film The Long Goodbye and in the 2002 Woody Allen film Hollywood Ending), mostly episodic TV that included Mr. Novak; Ben Casey; The Reporter; Slattery's People; I Spy; The Wild Wild West; The Long, Hot Summer; and Gunsmoke. His first feature film was 1967’s The Fox, which was hit and led to The Reivers in 1969 with Steve McQueen. He made a string of films in the 1970s, but it was 1979’s crowd pleasing The Rose and the film introduced the world to Bette Midler, who won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, that became his first well known film. In 1981, he was nominated for Best Director for On Golden Pond, the film that scored both Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn’s their final Oscar wins. He followed up that with The River starring Sissy Specek and Mel Gibson. While that film was not a success, he continued to make various films and would work with Midler again, along with James Caan, for 1991’s For the Boys. He directed the 1993 TV movie McBride and Groom, and the feature films Intersection (1994) and Crime of the Century (1996), and the 2006 film Easy Money.

American poet, novelist and writer of children's books, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, passed away on July 28^th at 71. While he wrote 5 books of poetry, multiple children’s books, he also published six YA titles, two which he is more or less known for, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and its sequel Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. Both books won accolades for their portrayal of two Mexican-American teenagers, Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza and Dante Quintana, and their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships. Since its publication, the novels have received widespread critical acclaim. A film version of the first book was released in 2022.

Books: Mexico Set (Bernard Samson #2) by Len Deighton (1984)

2026-08-09T09:39:22.628-07:00

“Bernard Samson is under suspicion because his wife Fiona, a spy like her husband, defected to the Soviets, leaving the London Central people suspicious of his own intentions. It seems that Samson is on the run not only from the KGB but his own people. Now on the shadowy East-West battlefield of Mexico City. British intelligence agent Bernard Samson must entice his opposite number, a disaffected KGB major, to take the final, dramatic step -- and defect. But the price of one Russian's freedom must be paid in blood -- blood that Samson unexpectedly and incriminatingly finds on his own hands. On every side, he becomes dangerously enmeshed in an intricate web of suspicion and hatred. Yet how can he fight when he doesn't know where to find his most determined enemies -- or even who they are?”

This is the middle book in a trilogy and very much feels like it. Well worth the read, even if a bit talky. There's something irresistible about such a low-key approach to spy fiction, but it feels grounded in more a reality than other works of this genre. Again, it’s not fast paced as Le Carre, but that does not mean Deighton is less talented or lesser writer. The two authors simply work in different styles, as one might expect of two separate talents. Deighton does not need to imitate Le Carre to produce works of equal stature in this genre. The gist of this novel is fallout from Bernard’s wife defection. The reveal of a mole within in MI6 has drawn a dark curtain over Bernard, as some with the British Intelligence (probably rightfully so) Fiona was an enemy agent, if only because they were married for so long. On his latest mission, Bernard can’t help but feel he’s being set up. His bosses send him Mexico City is as much a test of his loyalties as it is a test of his abilities to get Erich Stinnes, a KGB spy to defect. And Bernard will have to keep on his toes to avoid getting the blame if all goes wrong.

As I noted, this is an enjoyable novel that surprisingly gives plenty of room for the domestic drama/comedy of a secret agent suddenly forced into single-parenthood (imagine James Bond raising two kids all on his own). But he still has his best friend from Berlin, Werner, at his side, and he starts to unravel the plot against him just as the clock nears midnight on his ability to stay at his job.

Bernard Samson isn't a sleek super-spy; there are not a lot of action set pieces and I still feel the character remains a somewhat unreliable narrator here –and for someone who so clever misses a few things that should’ve been red flags. In the end, it’s spy fiction with some very good grounding in the humdrum real world, and very entertaining.

Books: The Avengers: Death in Downing Street by David Crighton (2026)

2026-07-25T10:05:49.455-07:00

"It’s May 1967. Prime Minister Harold Wilson is determined to take the UK into the European Economic Community – a move that’s divisive amongst politicians, the trade unions and the man and woman on the street. But there’s a problem: Mr Wilson can’t remember his own name – let alone ever having been Prime Minister. With only days to go before the Government’s application deadline, the Ministry must call upon two of its most trusted assets: Mr John Steed and Mrs Emma Peel. Who, together, must find the diabolical masterminds behind the plot to bring down Downing Street and answer the many questions surrounding the case: Why does the Prime Minister think he’s an eight-year-old boy? Is there a traitor in the Cabinet? And who’s to blame for recent events: the anti-European trade unions or the militant Europhiles?

I believe it has been close to 36 years since the last original The Avengers novel was published (mostly by John Garforth, who some later fans criticized those books for being too class consciousness, but they did follow the series somewhat), so imagine my surprise when I saw this David Crichton novel pop out almost out of nowhere. There is not much information on Crichton, though the Titan web page claims: “David is a professional writer who spends most of his time crafting marketing copy for clients in his role as Creative Director at an award-winning brand and digital agency. He’s a published non-fiction author, who’s turning his hand to novels with the release of Death in Downing Street. Dave wasn’t even born when The Avengers finished its television run in the 1960s, but like many others, he fell in love with the programed during repeats in the 90s.” And Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, but the current holder of The Avengers TV show is Studio Canal. Then the Warner Bros logo is on the back of the book (they released the 1998 Ralph Fiennes/Uma Thurman theatrical film), so I’m, curious how this book really came about and if it’s a one-off or start of a new series. Because, why after the last book was published in 1990 do we get this.

This novel mixes real people – such as Prime Minster Harold Wilson- with fictional political agendas. It’s also, somewhat, of Wikipedia history of the UK over the decades, making it even more British-centric and realistic and less fantastic and odd. So this book is more a political thriller, a dose of British history, and other odd tangents than “spy-fi” the show was uniquely known for. If this is a start of new series, it doesn’t really lean into the ridiculous plots and eccentric character traits the show latter years delved into. I was –perhaps- hoping for that than a book that is close to the show’s original premise from 1961, where it was just sort of a spy series and where the fantastical elements would come out in later years.

Well written – Crighton has a good grasp of balancing the history with the modern world - mixes some the shows humor with drama, but I found it lacking. As matter of fact, it didn’t even need Steed and Emma Peel – as the book is just seemly using them to get published.

Books: Berlin Game (Bernard Samson #1) by Len Deighton (1983)

2026-07-21T18:50:11.976-07:00

“It’s the early 1980s, and a highly placed agent in East Germany codenamed "Brahms Four" (one of Britain's agents behind the Iron Curtain), demands that he needs safe passage to the West. This request sends a ripple of panic through the SIS, and Bernard Samson (a former field agent now working behind a London desk) is tasked with assisting in the escape. Early on, Samson is confronted with undeniable evidence that there is a traitor among his colleagues working for the KGB. A number of suspects are presented: Dicky Cruyer, his incompetent supervisor (whom Samson despises); Bret Rensselaer, an American who has built his entire career around the work of Brahms Four, and who had been spending an inordinate amount of time with Samson's wife, Fiona (also an intelligence officer)and Frank Harrington, the 'rezident' (head) of the Berlin field unit. Then again, it could be any member of the senior staff at London Central, including the Director-General himself.”

I was not planning to read this yet, but I’ve had copies of the trilogy for a while, and placed them in a more prominent space on my TBR pile. Had not Amazon taken all day to deliver my package containing The Avenger’s book, I would’ve gotten to it sooner, but here we go.

Berlin Game is part of the Game, Set and Match trilogy, being succeeded by Mexico Set and London Match, and followed by the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy and the final Faith, Hope and Charity trilogy. Deighton's novel Winter (1987) is a prequel to the nine novels (though released before the second trilogy began), covering the years 1900-1945 and providing the backstory to some of the characters.

I do have intentions of getting through these books over the next several months.

One thing I noticed as I read this excellent thriller is the main character of Bernard Samson, who seemly Deighton later said was “inclined to complain and exaggerate so that we have to interpret the world around him". This makes him and unreliable narrator, and the author added that "Readers who take Bernard’s words are missing a lot of the intended content".

Anyways, Berlin Game is a classic Cold War era spy fiction, maybe not on par with John le Carre, but a well paced, not too dark look at 1980s Cold War (in some ways, Mick Herron’s Slough House series could be a sort-of sequel/parallel universe of this series, his set in the 21^st Century but with obvious implications that Jackson Lamb was a young agent back in the early 1980s and would’ve slotted easily here in Deighton’s universe).

Also, there is very little in the way action, but the last quarter or so makes up for that. I like Samson a lot, but he seemly understands than he’s been sitting at desk too long and missing some obvious stuff (like figuring out who the mole was). Deighton chose to focus on the difficulty of getting anything done when all the players are essentially independent operators, pursuing their own goals, rather than a well-oiled team. This is especially difficult in a profession where silence and/or misdirection are highly prized. And it’s also here where it’s revealed that this Brahms Four had saved Samson’s life nearly twenty years earlier.

It’s got a lot of atmosphere, but unlike Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal, not much in the way action set pieces. But still a fine book.

Books: Dead Ringer (Jacob Asch #4) By Arthur Lyons (1977)

2026-07-18T11:33:01.210-07:00

“Jacob Asch is called in by boxing promoter Jack Schwartz to help out Carlos Realango, an Argentine heavyweight whose career is on the skids. Carlos has been receiving threatening phone calls, and his manager and mistress, brassy blonde Susan Mezzano, thinks her husband is responsible. It seems a routine case until the down-and-out boxer is shot at Moonfire Ranch, a fancy brothel owned by Susan's husband. The police are calling it justifiable homicide, but Asch smells murder and something more than a lovers' quarrel.”

The fourth Jacob Asch novel follows the same sort of set-up the three previous has, which has him be hired to investigate a person who generally ends up dead. And while investigating, Jake not only seemly gets beat up a few times, but as well, the murder becomes less important (though it’s still front and center) as writer Lyon’s leans into all the “guest-cast” so to speak, and their dark and mostly icky moral codes.

But here, in Dead Ringer, the story is a bit overspun and goes on longer than seemly necessary. Yes, we get long-winded takes and Chandler-esque prose, but a lot of it seems designed to make the tale longer and much deeper than it really is. The problem with some of these nior thrillers is everyone are just horrible, trope filled people. Take the city of Reno, which is seems like a dead end town, mashed with potential mob influences and dirty cops who can (and probably do) get away with falsifying records, arresting and beating up people they don’t particularly like – it’s all something we’ve seen before.

In Lyon’s universe, there is not much good, which sort of puts Asch above everyone. It’s a little odd that no matter where Asch goes, who he investigates, he is the Angel among the dirty devils of the world.

Since this was the last book I owned, I may be a while before I revisit and purchase the seven remaining volumes. But this is not a happy world and maybe it’s time to find something a little less nihilistic.

Books: The Killing Floor (Jacob Asch 3) by Arthur Lyons (1976)

2026-07-12T15:31:55.283-07:00

“David Fein has a problem -he's a compulsive gambler. Lately, gambling has completely taken over his life. By the time he takes in Tortorello as a business partner, he is in big trouble. Like all men who are like this, he’s taken out a "quick loans" but even that has gotten out of control and now he can't cover his debts. Jacob Asch is contacted by Fein's wife, who hasn't come home for four days and she's frantic. Jacob figures Fein's probably sleeping off a four-day drunk. What he hadn't counted on was the body on the killing floor”

All is not what it seems here in the third book featuring Asch. We open with a visit to the city of Vernon, a town five miles south of Los Angeles proper and id the nearest separate city to downtown Los Angeles. The population was 112 at the 2010 United States census, the least of any incorporated city in the state. Its population nearly doubled to 222 by the 2020 census, making it the second least populous city in the state, after Amador City. This makes me wonder how many people lived there in the mid-1970s when this book was written. The city is primarily composed of industrial areas and touts itself as "exclusively industrial". Meatpacking plants and warehouses are common. “Vernon stinks. It always stinks,” Jacob muses as he drives into the town in the opening chapter.

Anyways, I know the publishers continued to sell Lyons as a more modern Raymond Chandler and with a panache style of Ross MacDonald, but I still see Jake as Jim Rockford – well, the R rated version of The Rockford Files. There’s just something about our smart, empathic hero with a wisecrack here and there that makes me feel this is more Rockford than Travis Magee. It’s all sexist as well – the women are drawn pretty horrible here, both the bad and the good ones, and that can be distracting. But Asch’s work is through, smart, and more logical than the way the police approach these crimes. Even the plot is plausible, but then there is another scene, like in book two, where two thugs (and a half a dozen from book two) are easily defeated by a wispy 180lb private investigator. So, somewhat plausible.

I will add that I think a pattern is developing here in Lyons writing. We get the set up, then the investigation, have Asch ask all sorts of questions, go up avenues that seem to point in the right direction, only to find out what you thought was connected, really isn’t. He pulled that in book two and did it again here. We’ll see what happens in book four (and the last one I currently own) to see if he continues this style.

Books: All God's Children by Arthur Lyons (Jacob Asch #2) (1975)

2026-07-09T17:21:47.794-07:00

“Jacob Asch, the out-of-work reporter turned detective. Asch is hired by Robert Haynes to find his eighteen-year-old step-daughter, Susan Gurney. The search for her leads Asch into Los Angeles' fringe population: first to the Word of God commune where Susan lived among "Jesus Freaks," then to the man who "deprogrammed" her and brought her home just a few days before her disappearance, finally to her boyfriend and the members of his motorcycle gang known as "Satan's Warriors."

When I read the first book in this series, The Dead Are Discreet, back in November 2024, I assumed that 2025 would be filled with reading all eleven books in the series. But it’s July 2026 and I’m finally getting to the second book (and own two additional ones as well).

A quick recap: The Dead Are Discreet introduced readers to 34-year-old Jacob Asch, an embittered but nonetheless witty and compassionate, half-Jewish former investigative reporter for the (fictional) Los Angeles Chronicle. After being jailed for six months because he refused to rat out a story source, Asch drifted reluctantly into a gumshoeing career, and found that it fit him.

As I read, (and not sure I saw this with the first book), I was struck by how much Jacob Asch in All God’s Children could be a cousin to Jim Rockford –well, a more put together and less snarky Jim Rockford- if only because the plot borrows a villainous trope that most cop and detective shows of that era used as storylines from the mid -1960s through the 1970s: the dangerous, murderous outlaw biker gangs and religious cults (which sprung up in California due its cooperative weather). Asch is a fairly ordinary guy working as a private investigator, but is also somewhat out of depth and when you mix a rich family searching for a runaway child, along with a cultish commune, and a thuggish motorcycle gang (the sequence at the Chop Shop set in Culver City is a prime example of Asch being a bit naïve and outright dumb – something James Gardner did in The Rockford Files for six seasons. That action sequence alone shows you how much Asch is more a thinking detective) things are bound to go sideways.

Asch is also cynical (perhaps why I like him), does hard work, has the somewhat required smart mouth, but ultimately he is a detective who stumbles along as the clues dictate until, finally, something begins to break and the picture comes into focus.

There’s a bit more violence than I generally like, and even in 1975, foul language rolled off everyone’s tongues easily, but despite the sort of trope-filled story, it’s still worth a read.

Books: The Hook By Donald E. Westlake (2000)

2026-07-04T18:10:55.935-07:00

“Wayne Prentice is a midlist author who must face the hard fact that the world no longer values his work. He has watched a pseudonym, two careers, and his sales disappear and feels like it may be time to quit writing for good. On the other hand, Bryce Proctorr fires out one bestseller after the next and has a multi-million dollar deal for his next book. Unfortunately, his divorce has given him writer's block and Bryce cannot solve his dilemma as his deadline rapidly approaches. So, Bryce proposes a partnership to Wayne: give Bryce his unpublished manuscript and the two of them can split the advance 50/50. There's just one small catch -- Wayne has to put Mrs. Proctorr six feet under.”

The Westlake Reader points out, The Hook is essentially a stripped down version of Patricia Highsmith’s Stranger On A Train. While this book was released in 2000, they speculate that Westlake probably read –or reread- that tale (Highsmith had also died in 1995, so it’s fairly possible he did one or the other). Or they take another speculative stab and mention –though there is nothing to back this up- Westlake may have already been approached to write the screenplay for Ripley Under Ground, which was Highsmith’s second novel featuring the demonically complicated and murderous con artist. The thing with screenplays, though, they usually go through a longer gestation period, mostly through revisions and re-writes, so it possible between 1997 and 2000, he was also working on adapting that novel and reread Train (and eventually a movie was made, and while Westlake got a screen credit for that troubled production -it was made in 2003, but not released until 2005- most if not all, was re-written by William Blake Herron).

As I read The Hook, I could not get over the feeling this book and The Ax are connected. Yeah, they have similar titles and (theoretically) take place near enough to each other that they could share a related universe, but more so that Burke Devore in The Ax and Bryce and Wayne here are all desperate people doing terrible things because the world around them regards them and their fortunes with complete, and very brutal, indifference.

And while The Hook is not as a vicious take down on publishing industry that was the more humorous A Likely Story, it was decided that a follow-up book to The Ax (which was well received and well reviewed) could not go back to what he was more well-known for - a humorous capers. As the Westlake Reader adds, “his editors, publishers, agents, spouse, etc, all told him that whatever book came out after The Ax under his own name had to be special, couldn’t be humorous, couldn’t be Dortmunder, couldn’t be some sexy tropical romp. It had to be bloody, hard-edged, suspenseful, and thought-provoking. In other words, they wanted him to prove The Ax wasn’t a fluke. The general sentiment was something along the lines of ‘This was your greatest commercial and critical successes ever; now go do it again.’”

Now that was something typical with the publishing industry – just rework what worked before.

What works here is not the murder itself –which becomes almost insignificant, with only brief mentions and police detectives investigating it here and there –but the relationship between Bryce and Wayne and psychological toll that it has on both men's lives. They are two men connected by a bond that neither wants to break (but probably should). The ending I sort of saw, but I’m not happy with it. But then again, that may be the point. The books themes of desperation, jealousy and the morality within the book industry abound here. You end up not really rooting for anyone here; even the secondary character will evoke little sympathy.

But it also just another example of the gifts that Westlake was – that despite the cruelness and darkness, the fact that a murderer with go unpunished- I had to see how it all played out.

Books: Children of Time By Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)

2026-06-30T16:54:05.098-07:00

"In the far future, Dr. Avrana Kern is the head of a science team orbiting a terraformed, previously uninhabitable, exoplanet that she hopes will be named "Kern's World." The team is preparing to release a genetically designed nanovirus onto the new world to accelerate the evolution of a group of monkeys –designed to become “a race of uplifted sentient aides and servants [who] would welcome their makers.” However, the troubles of Earth have followed Kern, and when the agent of an anti-technology group try to stop her, and she flees aboard an escape pod before anyone else can get to her. The payload of monkeys is jettisoned from the ship in a landing craft, yet it burns up in atmospheric entry. With no monkeys on Kern's World, and its ecosystems originally seeded with a minimum of possible competitor species for Kern's experiment, the nanovirus spends its time infecting and altering a multitude of living creatures, a notable example being jumping spiders (Portia labiata)—referred to in the book as Portiids. Dr. Kern is left stranded in orbit awaiting rescue, where an imprint of her mind is stored with the pod’s AI system, waking periodically from stasis of several millennia. But that opens the doorway to madness.”

When it comes to hard science fiction, I generally have found myself avoiding them if only because the real science used in these books sometimes slows down the books narrative (The Expanse series based is science in real terms, but it was also an action/adventure series with cartoonish villains). But I was challenged by a co-worker to read at least the first book. And Children of Time, which has three tomes released over the years, has a lot of real science and epic world building. Its premise is actually intriguing; though using spiders as characters fills out arachnophobia pretty well.

There is some predictable stuff here as well, with humanities constant squabbles with those who see technology helping the world versus those that would see it destroyed (Genocide was genocide. He thought of the Old Empire, which had been so civilized that it had in the end poisoned its own homeworld. And here we are, about to start ripping pieces of the ecosystem out of this new one.”). The evolution of the jumping spiders is fun, and its clear Tchaikovsky wanted to make them three-dimensional and not just scary monsters. But it’s here where the world building begins to crumble for me –as well the timescale for this all to happen. How do they become scientists? How do they create the ability to see Kern’s orbiting ship and the stars beyond? There is uplifting a species then there is creating something for a plot point.

We’re not given any direct references to when this series set. It has to be far in advanced centuries that the (apparent) multiple Arks sent from Earth (which brings up another problem I thought about –if the planet was so devastated because they had no tech or raw material, how did they launch the Arks to begin with?) with people can be put in cold storage, woken up, and then put back in cold storage. Our human bodies are rather fragile and it seems very odd that people can be put in suspended animation for something like 1,800 years and wake up like they’ve taken a nap and no ill effects on tissue, the brain, and our muscles.

I could find myself reading the further books, if only because Children of Time reads like 600 page prelude, and while I’m ambivalent about the ending, it still has a fascinating premise.

Books: Canary (Valentine and Lovelace #4) By Nathan Aldyne (1986)

2026-06-20T08:52:20.833-07:00

“Slate, once the darling of Boston’s gay brigade, is losing money like crazy, largely because someone keeps insisting on leaving dead bodies around. Do that often enough, and people start to stay away. And even though Valentine and Lovelace solved the murders in the previous months, it has not helped the business. When more of the clientele are turning up dead -strangled with neckties- turn up at the disco, even Donna Summer's music may not be enough to bring patrons back. The cops, of course are somewhat indifferent, even though there a precinct across the street. So once again, Daniel and Clarisse plunge into an investigation, and once again, it’s only them that can find the killer.”

“I’m a commercial writer and I’m proud of that,” Michael McDowell was once quoted as saying. “I think it is a mistake to try to write for the ages. I write so that people can read my books with pleasure.” McDowell graduated with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in English from Harvard in 1972. In 1978 he was awarded his doctorate degree in English and American Literature from Brandeis. He wanted to be a teacher, but sort of stumbled into writing, finding the genre field of horror, male adventure, detective, and thrillers. He admitted that the numerous pseudonyms and collaborations permitted him an opportunity to embrace the challenge of writing in genres that he might not have tried on his own.

Anyways, when it came to this series, as successful as they were, real life apparently was the factor that he and his writing partner Dennis Schuetz stopped after four books. Apparently, they didn’t feel right about writing about the characters carefree lifestyle as AIDS was ravaging the gay community. That may explain, as well, why the guilt-free promiscuity is less here, than in the first two books.

Also, for a while, I wondered exactly when he and Schuetz wrote the books, so fortunately, all of his papers and other correspondents have been curated at Bowling Green State University. Notes there indicate that the books were written within a year of their publication, meaning Canary was penned in 1985 when the AIDS epidemic was in high gear.

As with the previous books, Canary has the rapid-fire dialogue of the Nick and Nora variety, a sort of 1930’s Thin Man series set in the 1980s, in a world populated by drag queens and the women to whom they give make-up tips. They mystery, at times, takes a back seat to issues Daniel and Clarisse’s (who is more predominate here) they have with their friends, but it’s still a fun book and wonderful time capsule to a time when life was still a struggle, but because you had friends –those chosen family members- all was forgotten for a weekend of dancing, drugs, sex, and alcohol

A time before a disease designed to wipe out the homos changed everything.

Books: Slate (Valentine and Lovelace #3) by Nathan Aldyne (1984)

2026-06-14T09:31:57.665-07:00

“Daniel Valentine and Clarissa Lovelace are back in Boston after the summer in P’Town. When Clarissa is gifted a run-down building by her gay uncle Noah, she and Daniel decide to make a dream come true: opening their own gay bar. While Clarissa heads off to law school, Daniel gets busy turning their new bar into Boston's grooviest bar. Everything is seemly going their way, with the remodel of the bar and Valentine dating a new man who just happens to be in construction. Then there is the new (and free apartment) to renovate as well. But when a particular writer of local gay rags, who knows a lot about everyone and is going to spill the tea in the next edition, ends up dead in Clarissa bed, the clock begins to tick to finish the bar plus try and solve another murder.”

Odd, there is some continuity from the last book to this book but not from the first book to this book. Like the two previous titles, this is set in an exuberantly pre-AIDS world (though the Gay Men’s Choir gets a shout-out about doing a function that is related to AIDS, and then the book opens with Valentine in the hospital suffering from double-pneumonia, which where he meets Linc, who is suffering from some vague infection. It made me think that McDowell was trying to say something, but those sub-plots are dropped). And unlike the first two, there is only one murder here and which makes this third novel suffer the most from listlessness.

There is a lot of convenience and coincidence here, especially with the set up of the bar, which takes up a lot of the first half of the book. Maybe forty plus years ago it was easy to open a business, but even though Slate was given to Clarissa (and Uncle Noah seems fine with the costs), everything thing goes their way (including Loverlace’s classes to become a lawyer).

What works here, and really the oil that makes this book series run smoothly, is the refreshingly relaxed friendship between Daniel Valentine and Clarisse Lovelace. They would be fun people to be around and I wouldn’t mind being friends with them.

Slate maybe the weakest entry so far, but even if the usual zaniness has been reduced here, there is a fun time to be had here.

Books: Q Clearance by Peter Benchley (1986)

2026-06-12T17:25:51.216-07:00

"Timothy Burnham works as a speechwriter to the President. He has been in the same room as the great man, but only with a lot of other people, and he likes it that way – he is that rarity in Washington, a man with no appetite for power. By a quirk of bureaucracy Burnham is given Q Clearance, which means that every day he receives documents crammed with the highest atomic secrets of which he understands not a word, and which he has to shred every night. Big joke, thinks Burnham – but he does not laugh when for unfathomable reasons he suddenly becomes the President's blue-eyed boy. That, he knows, is more than he can cope with – except that, exhilaratingly, the terrifying old man seems to bring out in Burnham more than Burnham knew was there. While this nerve-racking relationship is developing, Burnham meets a lovely blonde. It does not occur to him that a lovely blonde might show obvious interest in a man with Q Clearance, who enjoys the confidence of his President, for some reason other than their enjoyable compatibility.”

Before Peter Benchley became the mega-successful writer of Jaws, The Deep, and The Island, he was writer for The Washington Post and Newsweek before becoming President Lyndon B. Johnson’s speechwriter and it be interesting to know how much that goes down in the West Wing while he was there made it into this book. Of course, names had be changed, as well as certain situations, but still. Benchley, of course, came from powerful dynasty of writers in the 20th Century (both his grandfather and father were founders of the Algonquin Round Table), and while he’ll always be remembered for Jaws and other popular fiction titles, Q Clearance comes close to being a tale to fall under the same umbrella as John Le Carre (which he is safe from). It’s a bit dated novel if only because I think Benchley used 1960s early 70s politics instead of mid-1980s when Ronald Reagan began to destroy the American way. Also, the (Russian) spies seem a bit old-fashioned, as well. I think it works more as a merciless send-up of government bureaucrats than anything else. While this book was released in 1986, I’m guessing not much has changed when it comes to the power structure of DC.

Other subplots involve a White House cleaning lady from Bermuda who is desperate to procure for her son a certificate of graduation from high school; an enigmatic caterer whose past is known to nobody (or at least, to nobody in the United States); and several members of the President's Cabinet (one who has unfortunate name of Epstein and I couldn’t help be be a distracted by that. There is a tacky plot device about Burnham’s marriage falling apart over a microphone bug found in their car. She wants him to quit because she hates the idea that her own government is spying on her and their two kids (who are more ciphers than characters), but that seems a bit overkill, and seemly just designed to get Tim to live at the Y and thus get involved with Eva, a Russian vitamin salesperson with questionable issues with her job.

I liked it, and Benchely can be a funny. And Q Clearance is entertaining, but light and breezy like a few of his other novels. It’s a spy novel for folks who might find Le Carre, John Forsythe, Ken Follett, or Len Deighton a bit too deep.