Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

Jaclen Steele? "Who is this Jac-len Steele??". All I could find out is that apparently 'Jaclen Steele' was actually a duo, Jack and Helen Steele. I would guess married couple, although brother and sister is not out of the question. So, far this story is focused on a 4th-grader, young girl named Vaughn - but it's clear that some of the adults around her are ripe to get us deep into some kind of Crime story.

So, this is my last hurrah when it comes to GarbAugust...reading event created by CriminOlly, who is suddenly reading one of Fredric Brown's best novels! We'll see how he does with that - but it's an unexpected surprise. Meanwhile, I've read the graphic novelization of Blade II, but the reason I own this edition is for the bonus content, Tomb of Dracula #s 45-53. The Forbidden Room first, though.

Alright, Harrison, here’s how it is - you got 50 pages to ruin things and make it less than a 4.5 or 5 star book. All I can suggest is…don’t do it!!

This will be a troubling read...

So, I’m gonna be reading for ‘Shorty September’, but we don’t know how much, yet. Quite a bit, probably - but I won’t be trying to fulfill specific prompts. I’m just going to read a lot of stuff that’s 220 pages of less. Plus, probably two Fantasy novels - one a Conan book, the other a Bk 6 in a series I must wrap, finally! If I do one Nonfiction book, I don’t think that’s gonna be thin. But overall: Short is in!

This is like The Americans infused with Burn After Reading.

Interesting story. Soviet illegal in the USA has stolen top-secret documents, but the unforeseen happens, shady but regular civilians end up with the documents and make a decision about what to do with them. This has led to a complex ‘mole hunt’, one murder so far, and both sides trying to understand what is going on, and why the classified material has been moving around in weird directions. I like it.

This is fun. I’m used to the fact that, so far, we jump back in time a lot to fill in many characters’ back-stories. I think this is probably to give some clues about certain things. So I have to try and assemble all the time-flung shards. This book is very good at suddenly slipping in something very shocking, as if it’s no big deal. It’s kind of cool, actually. Finally, the main plot is solid.

I'm very happy with this, at the outset. It's from 1984...so the gender politics in the workplace are...too arrogant and grabby, which is hard to take and still like the male characters. But overall, I like the 'Ludlum meets More Down to Earth' opening hook.

Getting back to a pick from all the books mentioned in the reading guide 150 Exquisite Horror Novels. This is not part of the main 150 recs, but is on one of the bonus, shortie lists - specifically Ellen Datlow’s Top 10 suggestions/Horror from 1986-2020. Had to flip through the reading guide, because the master list at the back that supposedly corrals all the recs ignored this one. But now I know why I own Exposure!

I like it. The structure is kind of rigid, and conveyor-belt-esque. And, lots of talking. But overall, I do like it.

I have a bias against chessplayers. It's weird. It has to do with the personalities I have encountered, who really love chess. Plus, people who offered to teach me chess seemed more interested in showing off, and kicking my ass around the chessboard. Some kind of thrill. I don't know if chess figures much in this book - it could just be a spy code-name or some-such. They've made the cover chess-related...

Off and running! I like cold cases - someone got away with something, then has to start worrying. My Agatha Christie reading began around 1980, when I selected And Then There Were None as my first. Then I read quite a few in a short amount of years - mostly Poirot, but not just. For some reason, I started both Towards Zero, and Passenger to Frankfurt, but did not finish them (well, one is considered kind of bad).

Finished 'The Moon Era' by Jack Williamson, and it makes me want to focus on more of Williamson's earliest stuff. Having read the last story in this book first, I will now read everything in order. It seems like this will be a terrific anthology, allowing for the kind of science that will be on display, in 1930s SF.

So I read the introductory, autobiographical material that Asimov indulges in before presenting the stories. That was okay….but that ego! Anyway, I jumped to the last story in the book, simply because it’s by Jack Williamson, and I wanted to go from a Fredric Brown story, to a Jack Williamson tale. The story is from 1932, called ‘The Moon Era’. I love it - shall save the ending for tomorrow.

Despite all the Fredric Brown short stories I have read - especially in the last few years - I think this was my first time reading ‘Crisis, 1999’. It’s not really a whodunit, which makes it a dubious inclusion here. I liked it; it’s part of his SF output, and it does have a Crime angle. Not my favourite by him, but it was the reason I committed to buying the book. Lots more great writers ahead, of course.

So this will be how I see out the GarbAugust reading event, at least in terms of books. This is Novelizations Week (I think it’s also ‘Read Something that Got Turned Into a an Eighties TV Mini-Series’ Week, but I’m leaving that alone). This is the graphic novel adaptation of a movie…but the real reason I love this book is because it includes Tomb of Dracula comics, #s 45-53, early and key Blade stuff.

Okay, let’s get down to business, here; I have got to get going again with women authors. The situation has become abysmal…though the ladies should perhaps proud they were massively absent from GarbAugust (trashy books). Nevertheless, something gotta change. So! It’s gonna be a female author, every second book, until first day of November - leading off with the Queen of Crime.

I’m in the home stretch - just Daredevil #s 153-154 left, and then, rather surprisingly, a two-part Torpedo story, followed by a one-issue Paladin tale. It is valid to question why these comics are included here, since they have nothing to do with Daredevil, other than the fact that Torpedo and Paladin debuted in Daredevil not long before - but I don’t really mind, since it’s all a nostalgia trip for me.

Okay, well at least the musicians weren’t actually gangsters, in most cases - they just had to learn to co-exist with them, not accept too many favours to end up in a pocket, etc. Meanwhile, we’re heading into the Sinatra focus. I’ve avoided Sinatra biographies thus far - partly because of the reputation…but also because I’ve never been that much of a fan. That’s sacrilege, I know. Anyway, time to learn about him.

I didn’t really think about how cynical and disillusioned I might become, by reading this. Organized crime, IMO, exists because the regular people earn honest livings within the law, but for many, there’s not enough money in an honest day’s work. Then, what you want to organize, is control of the systems and powers that would shut down illegal gain, if they stayed uncorrupt. I hate seeing jazz in this light.

The Purple Man comes out into the open. Jim Shooter writing now, finishing up some long-standing dangling plot hooks. Some things work, other things seem rushed, as one writer closes out storylines, while trying to move on to his own ideas. The series was flirting with cancellation, but the compromise was to go from monthly, to bi-monthly publication. The Frank Miller era was coming, and would change everything.

The Anthony Boucher story was solid, and gosh did I miss something that was staring me in da face. Fredric Brown next - and I think it’s one I haven’t read. I mean, considering that I collected the entire Fredric Brown in the Detective Pulps series, I’m a little flummoxed by that, but it looks like this story comes from the SF side of Brown’s output, in terms of where it was published previously. SF whodunit!

This should be a real treat. Many of the SF novels I read over the last few years were from the 'Radium Age' (1904-1933), and this will be an extension of that. I may read the Jack Williamson story first, before I just go in order.

Cool ride, early. It's funny...by reading this and some Daredevil comics at the same time, I'm dealing with two ex-football players named Brock. Patterns of force? Who knows. This novel will see out GarbAugust's Sex and/or Violence Week. Blade II graphic novel will be my only read for Novelizations or 3D Movie Week. GarbAugust has been a blast - a couple of turkeys, but mostly entertaining reads.

Back to this. Tonight I took it to DD issue #143, which sees Marv Wolfman leaving the series. Not his best work, but I still had a great time, for the most part. The Man-Bull and the Owl are just around the corner; I’d forgotten the Man-Bull was in here, so we really do have a full rogue’s gallery in this collection. Paladin will make his debut up in #150, in the original costume, which I preferred.