Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

Another Doctor Who re-read (I had a Perry Rhodan re-read cued up, but have decided to bounce back and forth between the two series, as breaks from a lot of Horror and Crime this Fall). I know when the BBC allowed Virgin Books to put out new Doctor Who novels, the Daleks and the Valeyard were basically off limits. The Valeyard sort of cheated an appearance...and the Daleks did get mentioned now and then...

Very much like reading one of the better Inverted Mysteries by Freeman Wills Crofts.

It’s quite entertaining. Turns out it’s an Inverted Mystery - we know who the killer is - and I’m glad I skimmed a few of the reviews to learn at the last minute that it’s an Inverted Mystery, because like at least one reviewer says, a synopsis on the back of a certain edition (mine!) doesn’t tell you it is. I did want a traditional whodunit after Blue City, and now I’ll be even hungrier for one. But, I like this.

I recall this being quite an intense read, for a cheesy, hastily-translated piece of schlocky space-opera. It’s scary being trapped with Perry and a lot of supporting characters on a planet being saturated with nuclear bombs. Perry’s actual demise is teased, while he is at a psychological low point from the last book. Another forgotten novel with an intense nuclear “ground zero” scare was Fire Lance, by David Mace.

No Tears for Hilda - by the same author but under a different name - started strong, but then turned into such a lousy book (someone decided to read it, after I raved about its first several chapters…I was so embarrassed!), that I could be forgiven for avoiding the author for the rest of my days. But seconds chances are a polite move in bookland, and so I picked this up because I knew at the time it was a rare find.

‘Dear Froggy’ and ‘The Last Flight from Llano’ - back to back - were my favourite experience delving into this collection, thus far. ‘Dear Froggy’ reminded me both of Lindsay’s The Haunted Woman, and even Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell - plus I tend to enjoy stories that make it to 30-40 pages - so it’s no surprise that it was a highlight for me.

This seems to have almost nothing in common with the 1980s movie version starring Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy. Which is fine with me. I thought the character relationships - who knows who, and from when - would be at least slightly similar…but no. Now, it has been a while since I watched it (I have it on disc, for Sheedy Infatuation Nostalgia Night Every Ten Years Or So), but they changed a lot, says my memory!

A good start. Obviously I'm immersed in the 1940s, where the 1980s film version (of some obscurity) modernized everything. I remember the solution to the whodunit, in the film...so unless this is one of those very rare instances where they actually change who the killer is - and I don't like that sort of move - I can't be surprised. But Ross MacDonald novels offer more than just a final reveal. Style, for starts.

The time has come to re-read Perry Rhodan #s 71-75. Earlier this year, I revisited #s 76-80. I’ll pick another five early next year, probably - 86-90? 101-105 (well, 100 to 108 would make more sense!)?

The rumors are true - this one is quite good! I thought his book Pressure kind of lost its way near the end. The creature suddenly took a back-seat to some guns’n ammo, humans versus humans crap…and if that doesn’t happen here for the finale, we’ve got a much better book.

"What's going to happen to that box of Ross Macdonald paperbacks?" - "We're gonna put them out on the floor at $5 each." - "Oh, you know what price you're going with, already? Can I look through the box now...or do you need to--" - "Of course! Go ahead." ----- "These four are in the best shape, I will take these, if I may." Oila-vay! I liked these covers when they first came out, and am happy to have a few.

Made it to Part II. This is sort of one shard The Mist (but it probably ain't gonna be THAT good), one shard Tremors, one shard I Am Legend. And the rest is worms. It felt a little like the movie Squirm, or From Below by William Essex, at first - but there are too few people, and the worms are generally bigger.

The big worms on the cover of my beat-up copy of this novel kind of creep me out. The last time I had to hold a book this worm-icky was the Doctor Who novel Damaged Goods (in worse shape, but somehow it held together, so hopefully this book will too!). Most flood scenarios I've dealt with in novels have been in SF novels: Flood, Deluge, even New York 2140. A flood starting a Horror novel with worms is bleak...

Right, so, Ally Sheedy was a huge early celebrity crush for me. Now the legal drinking age here is 18 years old, and I didn’t drink booze till age 24. BUT. I did go to my first Restricted movie, like, a day after turning the required 18 for that…because Ally Sheedy was in the 1986 film release of the film version of Blue City. The rest, as they say, was more Claire Forlani. Fickle me. Excited to read this, finally!

Quite the gripping read, and multi-faceted. Czech history mainly from the 1960s and 70s, dolls and puppets, road trips all over beauty spots in France, murder, moms, and revenge, fire and mutilation, no see, no hear...and clearly at least one puppeteer. I think there could be two. This is a fun one to get to, so soon after the tales in Deadly Dolls.

The Crime & Mystery genre is the only genre where I have a problem picking one absolute favorite book - I can't decide between Lovesey's The False Inspector Dew, or Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi. Of two minds...and they say "Both!". Anyway. Lying in Wait - of the several by Bussi I have read - seems the most like Black Water Lilies: tricky layers and fascinating intricacies somehow linking much...

Geez, I’ve got three Horror novels with ‘Worm’ or ‘Worms’ in the title. Not my favourite word, not my favourite beings - but Horror won’t leave worms alone, apparently. Time to get at least some worms crossed off my TBR.

Oops. I said last time that I was in for one of her slightly longer stories, but actually, ‘Blue Woofers’ - which I just read - still wasn’t very long, and it’s the next one that stretches itself a bit…’The Secret Language of Old White Ladies’. Title is long, too…and strange…