Ed Gorman's Blog, page 238

Forgotten Books The American Vein; Rockford

Christopher Wicking and Tise Vahimga set out to do for American television what Andrews Sarris did for American films. Sarris had the problem of tracking down films long lost in vaults somewhere in sunny L.A. But Wicking and Vahimga had an even more difficult task. Remember when NBC decided to tape over all those years of Johnny Carson Tonight Shows so they wouldn't have to pay for new tape. Brilliant! Some shows are just about impossible to find, even among collectors.

But somehow they pe...

A Good Time Was Had

Carol and I spent a little over three and a half hours having lunch with Barb and Al Collins, Bob Randisi and Marthayn Pelegrimas, and Barbara and John Lutz. The Collins' and Bob and Marthayn are old friends; we'd never met the Lutzes before. Very nice, bright, funny people, which meant they fit right in with all the storytelling and laughs that both the Collins' and Bob amd Marthayn always supply in these quarterly get-togethers.

As I told John I was glad to meet the writer I'd lifted so muc...

New Books: Mississippi Vivian by Bill Crider and Clyde Wilson

[image error]

From Bill Crider:

Mississippi Vivian

Clyde Wilson was one of those bigger-than-life Texans that you read about in books or see in movies. You wonder if they really exist, and then you meet somebody like Clyde.
He was the most famous private-eye in Texas for a good many years, a real Houston legend. His wife used to say that whenever he introduced himself, he'd say, "I'm Clyde Wilson. Do you know who I am?" Nearly everybody in Houston would answer "yes" to that question.
Clyde did all the ...

Frank Frazatta; Lena Horne

[image error]


From Paul Kupperberg on Bryant Street this afternoon:

Word just reached me that Frank Frazetta died today. He was 82. A sad day,
that also saw the death of the great Lena Horne, at 92.

Paul

Ed here: I first saw Frank Frazetta's work in comic books and was duly appreciative of it. But I have to say appreciation turned to awe when he started doing those Ace Edgar Rice Burroughs covers in the Sixties. There had never been anything like them. Frazetta gave us a world of violence, lust and empires tha...

Websites

[image error]

As much as I enjoy The Rap Sheet, I have to say that J. Kingston's Pierce's other website runs a very close second. Each week Killer Covers deals with paperback writers and artists of various stripes. Because Jeff does so much homework I always learn something new even about people I'd been reading about for years. If you haven't logged on yet now's the time. http://killercoversoftheweek.blogspot...

--------------------------------------

Child Murdering Robot is the name of Ricky Sprague's ta...

Learning To Kill

This is reprinted from the date below. I read several of the stories in it again last night and thought I'd pass along my comments from nearly four years ago.

ED GORMAN RAMBLES

Thursday, July 6, 2006

Evan Hunter, Ed McBain and Learning to Kill.


A year or so before he was diagnosed with cancer, Evan Hunter seemed intrigued by my idea of doing a massive collection of some of his earliest tales. Intrigued enough, anyway, to have somebody make copies of sixty-some stories and send them to me.

...

The Poker Club on TV; Call Him Demon

[image error]

Johnathan Schaech was nice enough to write and say that NBC has picked up the movie version of my novel The Poker Club. Johnathan of course starred in, co-wrote and produced the film and did a great job on all accounts.

Johnathan isn't sure which NBC channel it'll be on. We're both pretty sure it won't be on the Saturday morning cartoon fest.


--------------CALL HIM DEMON

I ran cross the piece John D. MacDonald wrote about pulp writer Norbert Davis and how JDM tried to duplicate the opening of a...

At The End

[image error]

I'm having a Salute to Val Lewton in my family room. Watched the The Seventh Victim for the 343 time then The Cat People then I Walked With A Zombie. Somewhere in the middle of this I read a review of Night Creatures, a terrible B movie, over on Mystery-File and that started me thinking about Tom Conway.

As the older brother of George Sanders, he was bound to be the lesser actor in the family. He wasn't as good as his brother and his love for the bottle probably diminished chances for moving ...

A new book about Peckinpah

[image error]

Over on Cinema Retro the estimable Lee Pfeiffer discusses a new book about Sam Peckinpah:

"Entered His House Justified: The Making of the Films of Sam Peckinpah" may have one of the longest titles of the year, but anything relating to the master maverick director is difficult to summarize. The latest in a line of shelf-breaking volumes dedicated to Peckinpah is from author Jeff Slater, who has amassed an impressive list of interviewees to shed new light on one of the film industry's most analy...

Laurel K. Hamilton

[image error]

I always get to the phenoms late. Very late sometimes.

Laurel K. Hamilton is an enormous bestseller. She is largely (if not singly) responsible for the kick-ass vampire/werewolf/monster hunter/heroine who terrorizes the paranormal world in a search for justice. Or something resembling it anyway.

I was at the library yesterday and saw a collection of her stories, Strange Candy, and decided to give it a try. I ended up reading most of it at a single sitting. This woman is a world class storytell...