Wesley Britton's Blog, page 24

Book Review: IN THE PRESENCE OF GREATNESS: MY SIXTY-YEAR JOURNEY AS AN ACTRESS by Patty Duke and William J. Jankowski

IN THE PRESENCE OF GREATNESS: MY SIXTY-YEAR JOURNEY AS AN ACTRESS
Patty Duke and William J. Jankowski
Publisher: BearManor Media (February 14, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1629332364
ISBN-13: 978-1629332369
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629332364

On September 13, 2011, I had the pleasure of conducting an extensive interview with actress Patty Duke on “Dave White Presents, “an online radio show I co-hosted at the time. As I always did considerable homework for these conversations, I had read her 1987 memoir, Call Me Anna, where I learned Patty far preferred using her birth name, Anna. I was also aware of her second best-selling memoir, Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness (1992). So I was intrigued to see Anna had a third posthumous memoir coming out via BearManor Media in 2018. What could she say about her life she hadn’t already told us?

The answer is simple: this time around, the spotlight isn’t on Anna Duke Pierce (her last married name). Rather, it’s a treasure trove of character sketches, impressions of, and anecdotes about, many actors Anna knew over the decades. Some colleagues Anna knew well, others she encountered in passing. Most chapter titles are the names of the personalities Anna describes including Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, Helen Hayes, Anne Bancroft, Judy Garland, President John F. Kennedy, Helen Keller, Gloria Vanderbilt, Lucille Ball and her son, Desi Arnez Jr., Frank Sinatra senior and Frank Sinatra Jr., Betty White, Patricia Neal, Liza Minnelli, and Helen Hunt. Some stories are extremely poignant including Anna’s memories of her friendship with the doomed beauty, Sharon Tate. Anna also expresses her longtime fondness for her Patty Duke Show co-stars including William Schallert, Jean Byron, Paul O'Keefe, and Eddie Applegate. Sadly, O’Keefe is now the only surviving cast member of the show.

It’s also sad to note, even after all these years, Anna’s unscrupulous and manipulative talent managers, John and Ethel Ross, still cast a pall over so many passages covering Anna’s early years in show business. On the other hand, as Anna told her co-writer, it has been 30 years since she published Call Me Anna which meant her new memoir gave her many opportunities to express how her mind had changed regarding a number of folks. In addition, Anna takes ownership of many errors in her life while acknowledging many of them came from her once undiagnosed bipolar disorder. For me, the saddest sentences in the book were when she mentioned the sorts of roles she hoped for when she reached her 70s. When Anna Pierce died in 2016, she had a pretty deep bucket list.

So this is a book for anyone interested in Hollywood history of the past 60 years whether or not you’re a fan of Patty Duke. You’ll get nuggets and insights into many of your favorite stars from an insider’s very human perspective. It’s a book that positively glows with positive energy, as in Anna’s praise for so many colleagues like her favorite leading man, Richard Crenna. You’ll also likely learn about many of Anna’s other roles beyond The Miracle Worker, The Patty Duke Show, and The Valley of the Dolls, especially her many TV movies. You can also trace her career with the 70 plus photos from Anna’s personal collection.

In short, In the Presence of Greatness is a nice final contribution to the Patty Duke legacy. I’m glad I spent the hours reading these warm, intimate, and very personable memories. And I’d like to thank William J. Jankowski for instigating this project after hearing Anna telling him some of these tales. And he should be thanked for completing this book after Anna’s passing in march of 2016.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Jan. 1, 2018:
http://1clickurls.com/BRvaogE

Here’s an excerpt from the book posted at the “Patty Duke Fans” Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Patty-Duke-F...

Here’s a link to my 2011 interview with Patty Duke for “Dave White Presents”:
http://www.audioentertainment.org/Arc...

Book Review: Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War by Preston Fleming

Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War
Preston Fleming
Publisher: PF Publishing (October 15, 2017)
Publication Date: October 15, 2017
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B075RRR682
https://www.amazon.com/Maid-Baikal-No...

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of reading and reviewing a string of titles from author Preston Fleming. These books have included FORTY Days at Kamas, Star Chamber Brotherhood, Exile Hunter, Bride of a Bygone War, and Dynamite Fisherman. For each of these adventures, it was difficult or impossible for me to predict where Fleming was going to take his readers. I did know that his knowledge of history was going to provide depth and verisimilitude to his stories. In addition, he’s always had a knack for fleshing out memorable characters.

It’s been three years since we had a new Fleming novel to read, so in some ways Maid of Baikal is long overdue. But “long” is the operative word for this epic yarn. Once again, there’s no way to predict what is going to happen in this new alternative history about the Russian Civil War of 1917-1919, especially as the story opens in a battle in the Philippines. Then, events in Russia don’t go the way of actual history, even if Fleming’s settings, events, and characters are more often than not, completely believable. For the most part. That’s despite the fact the Siberian “Maid of Baikal,” Zhanna Dorokhina, is very much in the mold of Joan of Arc. She’s a young woman hearing voices that prophecy the future, give her the perseverance and charisma to take her message to Admiral Kolchak, who is the skeptical and uneasy leader of the White Russians, and provide her with impossiblely spot on military advice as she leads one of the White Russian armies against the Bolsheviks. So, in a number of sections, we’re experiencing mystical mythology as much as alternate reality.

But Dorokhina’s quest is but one plotline woven throughout the long epic. We spend much more time with Ned Du Pont, allegedly an American advisor to the undersupplied and unorganized White Russians. In fact, He’s a spy whose main mission is to find ways to help the various anti-Bolshevik armies beef up their manpower, resources, and strength while keeping his government constantly up to date with what is going on with the White Russian forces. He’s a consistent if reluctant supporter of Dorokhina, even after he learns the two of them are not likely to have the romantic connection he hopes for. At First. For a rich Russian widow sees him, likes what she sees, and a full-blown affair begins despite the rules against American/ Russian fraternization of this kind.

Such relationships are painted with subtle shadings as Ned, the Maid, the Admiral, and the widow are drawn into more and more complex situations involving a wide cast of characters. And this cast all have a large spectrum of conflicting motivations, most revolving around self-interest. From the beginning, Fleming makes it clear he has rather cerebral purposes in mind, such as his opening each chapter with a literary or historical quotation followed by a note suggesting the chapter in question be read while listening to chosen selections from specific period Russian musical compositions. I suspect few of us will take the time to leap through these hoops; still, give the man points for creativity.

In short, Preston Fleming has spun a yarn full of originality with a unique approach giving us a rather positive alternate storyline of what might have happened if the White Russians, the Yanks, the British as well as God above had cooperated in the years following World War I. I admit, there are sections that drag, as in the extended cease fire in the latter chapters. It’s a refreshing perspective in this era of dystopian fears for our future to imagine instead what might have happened if Lenin and Trotsky had failed.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 31, 2017:
http://1clickurls.com/IiOt_U3

Last Day for the 15% Off Sale of the Beta-Earth Chronicles!

Three earths. One is dominated by an ancient plague that kills three out of four male babies their first year. One is home to human pairs that share thoughts and feelings simultaneously. One is our planet 40 years in the future. One last day to get the six-book epic in a box-set for a 15% discount . (Sale ends midnight tonight, EST.)

To get the 15% discount, visit BearManor Media’s ebook store on Selz.com at:
http://bit.ly/BMboxBEC

Fill out your shopping cart, then enter the discount code:
X05RCWUZ

Happy New Year from the multi-verse and the earth of your choice!

Book Review: Inside the Star Wars Empire: A Memoir by Bill Kimberlin

Inside the Star Wars Empire: A Memoir
Bill Kimberlin
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Lyons Press (February 1, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1493032313
ISBN-13: 978-1493032310
https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Star-Wa...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

If you pick up this title expecting to learn much about the Star Wars franchise, you’ll be mightily disappointed. But if you are interested in learning more about the Lucas empire built on what Star Wars bought, you will be richly rewarded.

As Bill Kimberlin admits in his “Foreword, “I was an employee at Lucasfilm, and not an especially important one . . . I did, however, work at Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) for twenty years, and ran a department for almost a decade. “He elaborates on his career saying:

“I WAS ONE OF THOSE NAMES ON THAT ENDLESS LIST OF CREDITS AT THE
close of blockbuster movies. From Star Wars to Star Trek, Back to the Future to Forrest Gump, Roger Rabbit to Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan to Jurastic Park . . . I was one of those interminable people thanked as Oscars are collected by dazed winners, clutching that surprisingly heavy gold statue as they try not to leave out anyone that helped them. “

If that description sounds like an autobiography full of hit-and-run movie tidbits and trivia centered in Kimberlin’s ILM offices as he worked on creating magical special effects, then you can anticipate much of what to expect in this lively insider’s trip down his personal memory lane.

More specifically, Kimberlin’s book is all about Bill Kimberlin, including his research into his family genealogy, his research into reformed criminals as possible subjects for his own movies, and the films that brought him to the attention of George Lucas, especially Kimberlin’s 1979 “exploitation art” documentary, American Nitro.

Not surprisingly, famous filmmakers and other performers, like Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, not to mention actors like Jim Carrey and Clint Eastwood, and producers like Joel Silver and especially Steven Spielberg parade through these pages. Perhaps more importantly, we also meet many other folks who were also part of the credit list we saw scrolling on the screen when a film is over but have never heard of before.

Of course, all of these names feature in anecdotes that reveal the hows and whys of many of the special effects that have wowed us for decades as well as many other aspects of the movie making industry. In short, this is a book that should appeal to anyone interested in inside stories of Hollywood blockbusters beginning with, naturally, 1977’s Star Wars up to Kimberlin’s forced, but not unexpected, retirement in 2002.

Ironically, while changes in technology are what made Kimberlin obsolete, he uses the internet now for other projects like giving his American Nitro a second life. As with all old-timers who look back over their experiences and have a desire to share what they learned from them, Kimberlin’s story ends with his sage advice, such as always have side projects in your creative hopper to keep you fresh and perhaps give you options when you need them. You may pick up this tome more interested in the title than the author, but you may well end up glad to have learned about one of the names you never noticed on those movie credit lists.

This review first appeared on BookPleasures.com on Dec. 25, 2017:
https://waa.ai/zMrT

New YouTube Reading from Return to Alpha!

Here’s your last Christmas gift from the Beta-Earth multi-verse—a very cool reading from Return to Alpha, book six of the Beta-Earth Chronicles, as performed by radio show host Katrina Kandas from her home studio in Corfu, Greece!

The YouTube link is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt5Iv...

For the last time in 2017, let me remind you that you can still get Return to Alpha with a 15% discount if you order the book
until Dec. 31 from BearManor Media in one of two different ways.

You can get RTA as a stand-alone volume and get the 15% discount by visiting BearManor’s ebook store on Selz.com at:
https://bearmanormedia.selz.com/

Or you can get RTA as part of the six-volume Beta-Earth Chronicles box set--
http://bit.ly/BMboxBEC

Either way, don’t go to Amazon, only BearManor Media’s own store offers the 15% off. Fill out your shopping cart, and then enter the discount code:
X05RCWUZ

You can also view the snazzy Beta Earth Chronicles book trailer at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8rrP...

And you can still se and hear Katrina’s sexy reading from The Blind Alien (still 99 cents before the discount)—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klMW7...

Merry Christmas from the multi-verse and every interconnected earth bearing such a rich variety of humanity—

Holiday Introduction to Return to Alpha!

It has been a very, very long time since I shared an excerpt from any of the Beta-Earth Chronicles. So, for your holiday reading, here’s part of Chapter One from book six, Return to Alpha.

In the holiday spirit, you can get Return to Alpha with a 15% discount until Dec. 31 from BearManor Media in two different ways. You can get RTA as a stand-alone volume and get the 15% discount by visiting BearManor’s ebook store on Selz.com at:

https://bearmanormedia.selz.com/

Or you can get RTA as part of the six-volume Beta-Earth Chronicles box set--
http://bit.ly/BMboxBEC

Don’t go to Amazon, only BearManor Media’s own store offers the 15% off. Fill out your shopping cart, and then enter the discount code:
X05RCWUZ

To whet your appetite, here’s a bit of RTA for your Christmas reading set on our planet some 40 years in the future --

Arrivals

In the year 2044, large crowds had become an uncommon site on Alpha-Earth. After decades of devastating waves of killer epidemics and the rising of waters that eroded coastlines, sank coastal cities, and left rivers and lakes swollen far beyond their former banks, humanity had endured too many inconceivable losses to leave many hoping their world could ever recover. Not after forty years of famines, quarantines, evacuations, and the shunning of possibly infected survivors by even their own families.
That hopelessness had fueled the sometimes complete break-down of social order, the retreats of nations closing themselves off from the rest of the world, and of course the unleashed murderous rage of young men who went out to punish fellow survivors for reasons that often defied comprehension. Too many believed rumors that other places were getting aid denied them. Too many refused to believe there was anywhere on the planet unaffected by what had reduced earth’s population to perhaps a third of what it had once been.
It was that rage that had long made gathering in large crowds so risky. So fatal. But not everywhere. In lands like the island country of Jamaica, where no power brokers ever pulled the levers of international relations, there was far more sorrow than anger. There was no one there who could be blamed for the loss or unfair distribution of resources. Like many such countries, only victims survived. So when the islanders returned to hosting their colorful, very musical festivals and international travel was permitted again, Jamaica became a magnet for visitors who desperately needed respite from the turmoil of their homelands. Humans needed reminders of what their world had once been.
So, on that February day, when six aliens in the Marivurn spaceship touched down on the white sands of Doctor’s Cave Beach, they landed at the most ideal location possible. In less populated places, local law enforcement and other government entities would have immediately done everything possible to suppress the news of an alien landing. Such matters, most governments would have felt, should be cloaked in secrecy, fearing how the public would react.
But there was no way there could be any secrecy with the arrival of the Marivurn. From the moment it appeared in the bright, clear sunny skies over Jamaica, for miles video-phones and cameras began recording the strange craft’s descent. Almost immediately, videos of the unexpected sight were sent to online sites all over the Internet.
At Doctor’s Cave, even more recorders focused on the ship when it glided down for its landing. The only time the ship was hidden from view was when it approached the ground and thick, white beams coming from its bottom kicked up clouds of beach sand and debris into the air. It looked nothing like anything anyone had seen before. With its pulsating, throbbing, rumbling hum that quickly went away once the craft settled on the sand, it sounded like nothing ever heard.
The triangular hull was a deep-black, corrugated metal that shimmered and rippled in the sunlight as if it was a living thing. Its edges looked rough and sharp. There were no obvious windows, lighting, or hatches. That part of the ship was around thirty feet long with a flat middle peak running front to back around seven feet tall towards its back end. Behind the triangle were two large, round metal bulbs that looked about twelve feet in diameter. “That Thing is kind of eerily beautiful,” one onlooker whispered into his camera’s microphone. “It’s kind of menacing, all black on this white beach.”
Interest in the craft grew even more when a side hatch opened and six passengers slowly stumbled out onto the sand. As the aliens became visible, many amateur photographers climbed onto chairs and tables to shoot over the heads of the scattered groups of the beach-goers. Gasps of surprise burst from all over the beach, especially from so many amazed children who raced away from their water sports to join in on the excitement. In particular, those who saw the large-chinned Hamed pilots didn’t know if they should be startled, frightened, or laugh out loud. The other four bodies, looking so normal, didn’t get as much attention. Mostly, the people watched how the two men and two women had difficulty standing up.
But only for a few moments. It didn’t take long for two of the humans, the pair carrying black satchels over their shoulders who looked very much like average teenagers, to rise wobbly to their feet and start looking around. After they said a few words to each other, the young man raised his right hand in greeting and called out, “Greetings, my fellow humans of Alpha-Earth! My name is Malcolm Renbourn III and me and my sister”—he indicated a smiling Olrei beside him—“come to you from our home planet which we call Cerapin-Earth!”
“And the others behind us,” Olrei called out, stepping forward towards the crowd, “include our brother and sister from another earth as well, their home planet called Beta-Earth! All our earths are part of our shared multi-verse which we have come to tell you about! All our planets, including yours, share the spaces in between the swirling masses you call atoms!”
Malcolm III and Olrei looked around them, not certain how far their voices had carried considering how loud the rhythmic music of the synthesized horns and guitars, thumping bass, and the melodic pounding on the steel-pan drums was in the background. They needn’t have worried. They had everyone’s undivided attention, to put it mildly. Some people were even applauding, thinking the show was some sort of creative entertainment.
By this time, Malcolm II and Kalmeg had staggered to their feet, their eyes also looking all around them. They couldn’t have known it, but many cameras carried by male watchers were tightly focused on Kalmeg’s perfectly sculpted hour-glass figure. Instead, the Betans heard Olrei call out, “Oh, before I forget, let me introduce you to our Cerapin pilots back there, the Hamed brothers! I know they might not look it, but they too share our common humanity, the humanity that populates all our worlds!”
While Malcolm III and Olrei began walking towards the gawking people who stared at them with open mouths and wide eyes, Malcolm II and Kalmeg simply looked back at the onlookers. If the aliens intrigued the local folk, well, the Jamaicans and their guests were equally interesting sights for the Renbourns. Under the coconut trees that dotted the beach, people were sitting beneath large shading umbrellas or were walking around wearing sunglasses, hats, and wildly colorful shirts and shorts. Without question, the most eye-catching sights were the swimsuits and the bodies wearing them.
“Father’s people,” Malcolm observed happily, his eyes drinking in the tan and dark-skinned women displaying all that human flesh in those swimsuits.
“It would be nice to think,” Kalmeg replied, her own eyes appreciating the hard-bodies of the other gender, “they arranged this party just to welcome us!”
However, it was quickly evident the aliens weren’t as welcome as they hoped. Suddenly, several official vehicles pushed their way through the crowds. Four and then six uniformed men came running at them. Holding out pistols gripped in both hands, five of them wore white and blue striped short-sleeved shirts and black serge trousers with red stripes down their seams. The one in front, the obvious leader, wore a khaki jacket, shirt and trousers, with epaulettes on his shoulders. He wore a deep blue peaked cap with a black band and silver braiding on the peak.
He was the one to call out, “All of you, down on your knees! Now! Toss those satchels away from you, away from the crowd! Now!”
The four Renbourns looked surprised, but slowly dropped to their knees. Not understanding a word they heard, the Hameds followed suit.
The officer who had called out the commands came closer. “Now, let me see your papers!”
“Papers?” Malcolm III looked up. “Papers?”
“Your entry visas, your passports, your official permission to land that craft over there!”
“Ah, I guess you didn’t hear. We are from other planets. That spaceship just jumped across three universes. These are our very first minutes on your earth.”
“Ah ha. And I’m Bob Marley’s ghost. Flat on the ground, all of you! Put your hands behind your backs!”
In short order, one group of very worried looking officers gave the satchels special attention, sending over two wheeled box-shaped robots that pulled the satchels into their metal bellies. At the same time, other policemen went behind the six aliens and secured their wrists with hand-ties.
“Be careful with those satchels!” Malcolm III cried out. “They contain all our records and files we brought to share with your planet!”
“Ah ha,” the one in charge responded. “Maybe some bombs to create a bit of havoc here?”
“Oh no, oh no,” Olrei cried out. “We have no weapons! We need no weapons!”
“Enough talk!” The officer looked over his shoulder as two quarantine-vans approached. Kalmeg looked up from her now very uncomfortable vantage point and sighed. Was it just this morning she was on her home earth, standing up, her wrists free? Then, looking at the faces of the people not wearing police uniforms, she decided what was happening now might be a very good thing. The faces now looked stunned, serious, uncertain. Perhaps all this wasn’t a show after all.
As two officers hauled Kalmeg to her feet and roughly hustled her to the quarantine-van, her mind went back to how her day had begun. Before the world, well, worlds completely changed not just for her but for her entire family once again.


Explore the Beta Earth Chronicles website:
https://drwesleybritton.com/books/

Follow Wes Britton’s Goodreads blog:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Follow Wes Britton’s Beta Earth Chronicles Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/BetaEarthChr...

View the snazzy Beta Earth Chronicles book trailer at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8rrP...

See and hear the sexy brand-new reading from the opening pages of The Blind Alien, Vol. 1 of the Beta-Earth Chronicles, at YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klMW7...

Read the brand-new first Amazon review for RTA at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

Book Review: The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes: A Mystery by Leonard Goldberg

The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes: A Mystery
Leonard Goldberg
Series: The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes Mysteries (Book 1)
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition (June 6, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1250101042
ISBN-13: 978-1250101044
https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Sherl...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton.


Perhaps you’re like me. Whenever you see the name “Sherlock Holmes” in the title of a new book from yet another new author, your curiosity is immediately piqued. Many times, perhaps too often, that’s all it takes to get us to try out the book to see if there’s anything of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle magic in the new pages. Sometimes, readers strike gold. Sometimes, we merely strike pyrite. Sometimes, we curse the deceptive marketing of a would-be contributor to the Holmes/ Watson canon.

So I was pleasantly pleased to read Leonard Goldberg’s new entry in the Sherlock Holmes afterlife, especially as he gives us a rather clever cast of characters we could call “The Holmes/Watson Mythos: The next Generation.” For one thing, we meet Joanna Blalock, the unmistakable daughter of Sherlock Holmes and mother of his grandson, even if she doesn’t know it. Our narrator is Dr. John Watson Jr., a skilled pathologist who is the book’s narrator. Holmes might be dead, but his John Watson isn’t. He’s still living at 221b Baker Street, and is an indispensable lynchpin in this yarn as the father and son doctors hook up with the daughter of Sherlock Holmes. But the “Next Generation” also includes a new Inspector Lestrade, yep, son of the old Holmes foil, and even a new Toby, the son of the bloodhound Holmes used in Conan Doyle’s Sign of the Four. Even if it takes most of the book before Watson Sr. realizes it, the villain of the tale, Dr. Christopher Moran, is clearly the offspring of Sherlock’s old foe, Col. Sebastian Moran.

It takes no deductive reasoning at all to see the coming romance blossoming between Watson Jr. and Blalock. For me, one of the best pleasures in this mystery is watching how Blalock, by sheer force of personality, intuition, voluminous reading, and quick logical reasoning takes center stage and drives a complex investigation into first one, then two, and potentially three murders. Blalock demonstrates deductive gifts that not only rival but often supersede her father’s use of observation and analysis of details others miss. At least, that’s Watson seniorr’s opinion. Goldberg doesn’t tell us this, he shows us. The author’s medical knowledge is also more than evident on almost every page. And so too is his ability to capture the atmosphere in the settings where we witness Blalock’s triumphs over cultural attitudes regarding women.

I’ve seen reviews that comment on a lack of character depth in the book. It’s true the emphasis is on the cerebral and the pace is so quick, there’s not much in the way of character back-stories or emotional responses to any of the events beyond the love story between Blalock and the younger Watson. Then again, this tale is designed to be a page-turner, not an in-depth look into the feelings and sensitivities of the Holmes’ family circle.

I doubt any reader can anticipate all the surprises that are revealed in the final chapters. I think it very good news that this adventure is the first in a projected series and I plan on going on this ride with Joanna, John Watson Jr. and who knows who else in the next entry in the saga. See you again when that sequel comes out—

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 15, 2017:
https://waa.ai/zdHO

Brand new YouTube reading from the opening of The Blind Alien!See and hear the sexy new reading from the opening pages of The Blind Alien at YouTube:

See and hear the sexy new reading from the opening pages of The Blind Alien at YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klMW7...

If you missed the trailer for the Beta-Earth Chronicles at YouTube:
https://youtu.be/m8rrP2warHc

Book Review: Long Distance Voyagers: The Story of the Moody Blues 1965-1979 by Marc Cushman

Long Distance Voyagers: The Story of the Moody Blues 1965-1979
Marc Cushman
Hardcover: 810 pages
Publisher: Jacob Brown Media Group; Unabridged edition (January 15, 2018)
ISBN-10: 0998866393
ISBN-13: 978-0998866390
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Distance-...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

I’ve begun most of my reviews of Marc Cushman’s exhaustive studies of his various subjects noting his propensity for TMI. Comparatively speaking, I wasn’t hit over the head with quite as much detail in his new history of the Moody Blues. I think that’s because his indispensable three volume exploration of Star Trek (These are the Voyages) and then his massive Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space series provided everything any fan would want about each and every nook and cranny of every televised episode of those shows. For a rock band, there’s no need to delve into so many supporting cast players, script writers, production details, media reviews etc. etc.

Still, 800 pages, including around 100 or so full of research notes and other back-matter, makes for a hefty tome. But for Moody Blues fans who’ve had a 50 year drought waiting for a full-length appreciation of this often neglected but significant group, there’s really nothing to complain about. Especially when potential readers learn the first edition is also a limited edition with a somewhat slimmer mass-market paperback version scheduled for later in 2018.

Appropriately, Cushman devotes about 100 pages to the “Mark One” incarnation of the band that included Denny Laine (vocals, guitar) and Clint Warwick (bass) along with mainstays Mike Pinder (keyboards, vocals), Graeme Edge (drums) and Ray Thomas (vocals, harmonica, woodwinds.) For most of us, this was a band largely remembered as a one-hit wonder for the single, “Go Now.” But did you know of the many close associations this band had with The Beatles including having Brian Epstein managing the Moodies during his final year? Readers will also learn, likely more than they wanted to know, about the rock scene in the early ‘60s in British towns like Birmingham, especially all those groups who were only local favorites.

Then, we have a detailed history of the “Mark Two” incarnation of the band without Laine or Warwick who had been replaced by Justin Hayward (guitar, vocals) and John Lodge (bass, vocals). Everything about the Moody Blues sound completely changed, notably Pinder’s use of the mellotron (an instrument Pinder introduced to the Beatles during their Sgt. Pepper period) giving the group an orchestral sound first heard on the concept album, Days of Future Passed, and the hits “Nights in White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon.” We learn about a rich investor named Derek McCormick who saw the Moody Blues as a wise investment and pumped in a much needed shot of cash while becoming their troublesome manager. We also learn about the contributions of long-time producer, Tony Clarke and cover artist, Phil Travers.

For the bulk of the next three hundred pages or so, we get a very itemized analysis of the seven most important Moody Blues albums from Days of Future Passed (1967) to Seventh Sojourn (1972). Here, the TMI material is clearly the many notes on chart positions not only internationally but in local U.S. markets. Here, Cushman has a point to make, that national rankings in publications like Billboard or Cashbox didn’t always reflect how successful singles or albums were in more regional markets. Here, readers might see other matters that might be trimmed as with all the notes on tour dates and warm-up bands as well as repetitive contemporary reviews, even if they contribute to the cultural contexts the Moodies flourished in. In fact, perhaps 50% of the text in these sections is long strings of review reprints that might be better posted at a companion website rather in the book’s text.


Seventh Sojourn might have been a logical stopping point for a good volume one. No, Cushman carries on with the Moodies discussing their unhappy first American tour, the formation and dissolution of Threshold Records, their responses to the many charges of “pretentiousness,” their hiatus in the ‘70s, the career of Denny Laine in Wings, the Hayward/Lodge Blue Jays and other solo projects, the reunion of Octave (1978), the departure of Pinder and the introduction of his replacement, Patrick Moraz. Any wonder the book goes to 800 pages?

Despite the length, I think every serious Moody Blues fan will want this one. Pretty much every fan of ‘60s and ‘70s music will want this one as well, especially as nearly every page presents information not readily available elsewhere. More casual readers may prefer to wait for the edited version. You don’t need to. The book is easily skimmed. And it’s a serious pleasure to read the story of a band that was all about the music with minimal personal conflicts or musical turf wars. That was, and is, a rare thing.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 14, 2017
http://bit.ly/2zdXNK2

Book Review: Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes by Michael Sims

Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes
Michael Sims
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (January 24, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1632860392
ISBN-13: 978-1632860392
https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Sherloc...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

While I’ve read, seen, and heard more than my fair share of fictional Sherlock Holmes stories, I haven’t spent much time reading any histories or biographies of the creator of Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. So I can’t say anything credible about whether or not Arthur and Sherlock presents anything new for Holmes devotees or breaks any new ground or sheds any new light for Doyle scholars. But I can report those of us who haven’t spent much time in the company of the actual good doctor/author should know that Michael Sims’ Arthur and Sherlock reads like a very fine introduction to pretty much everything that shaped the origins of the Sherlock Holmes mythos. In addition, I suspect even the most serious Holmes experts will find revelations they haven’t seen before, especially in the second half of the book.

Happily, the first chapters of Arthur and Sherlock don’t just cover the biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, describing his family background, his medical education—especially the mentoring he received from a long acknowledged model for Holmes, Dr. Joseph Bell, to Doyle’s early apprentice years and his time seeking to establish his own surgical practice. Sims also chronicles Doyle’s lifelong reading and his first stabs at getting published. Sims’s discussions of Doyle’s reading and his awareness of popular novels focuses on fictional precursors to Holmes featuring characters and storylines created by Poe, Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and even the Book of Daniel from the Old Testament.

Equally of interest is Sims’ overview of the times in which Doyle grew as a young man including the great shifts in scientific and medical knowledge as well as the surprisingly recent developments in police work. For example, the term “detective” was a relatively new term in the middle of the 19th century and the Metropolitan Police force and Scotland Yard had only been established in London in 1829.

The second half of the book is where Holmes takes center stage, and this part of the book is essentially literary analysis. Sims breaks down nearly every element in A Study in Scarlet (1887) including the possible origins of the names of the primary characters, the structure of the novel that introduced us to the residents of 221b Baker Street, Sims’ evaluations of the characteristics of Holmes and his erstwhile companion, Dr. John Watson, as well as a detailed publication history of the novel. A bit of trivia I never knew was how Doyle’s artist father, Charles, was institutionalized for depression and alcoholism and did artwork for the first stand-alone publication of A Study in Scarlet.

Here, it’s likely even the most knowledgeable of Doyle/Holmes aficionados will benefit from Sims insights and perspectives. For example, Sherlock Holmes is known as a proponent of “deductive reasoning” (a form of logic employing a syllogism that moves from the general to the specific using a major premise, minor premise, and conclusion) when, in fact, Holmes was more often using inductive reasoning (building a case by moving from the specific to the general, adding up small details to reach a conclusion.)

Then, Sims discusses the publication history of the first years of the Holmes series with rather quick hit-and-run descriptions of The sign of the Four (1890) and the short stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). Clearly, anyone interested in the creation of the world’s first fictional consulting detective should not only enjoy Arthur and Sherlock, but also put the book down feeling educated in 19th century literature as a whole, not to mention life in London in that century. Sims’ writing style is often quite personable as he takes us on walks with Doyle, peeks behind the doctor’s curtains, pokes around Doyle’s bookshelves, and finally explores the first adventures of Holmes and Watson in an analytical fashion Holmes would have approved of. What more can you ask for?

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 8, 2017:
https://is.gd/FZQwS4