Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

This will be the last regular novel I read for GarbAugust. I'm going to read a few graphic novels for the challenge, especially Blade II. Meanwhile, the last Campbell Gault novel I read was Vein of Violence, and we're hoping for something a bit better than that. One more film for GarbAug.: I think now it will be The Parallax View for 'Conspiracy Theory', not Capricorn One. Not sure. But it fits, and it's a favourite.

I can tell this is going to be a peculiar reading experience. Sex and/or Violence Week of GarbAugust trundles along. The Daredevil Comics are serving up the violence, but I’m assuming The Diamond Bikini is gonna bookend me with sex. We’ll see, though. Maybe just more violence.

I’m having fun! I know this is not any kind of beloved phase in this hero’s series - but I have enjoyed the 1970s vibe, and there are so many different artists in play here that I’m revisiting about 20 various styles here (probably didn’t help cement a fan base, at the time). I’ll take a small break, before tackling what is DD #s 141-150. They picked the cover from #154 to be this book’s cover; a fave of mine.

I just finished the multi-issue Jester storyline - and it was weird revisiting this plot hook from the 1970s, in 2024. The Jester creating "fake news" broadcasts - by using what we would call phoney but convincing motion-capture images of politicians, all the way up to Pres. Gerald Ford - to manipulate the masses, who saw it on TV, so it must be true. Next will be the Ghost Rider/DD crossover, with John Byrne art!

Okay! So, I’m off and running with this - probably going to issue #140 before I take a break for The Diamond Bikini. That means I’ll get some early John Byrne art, Ghost Rider and Black Panther guest appearances, the Jester’s “Fake News” saga (already percolating in what I just read), and the first of the Gladiator’s fights with DD in this volume. Most of DD’s major foes up to this time do show up in this collection.

I picked this up off a display table, not wanting to add one more book to my purchase plans that day, just to make sure there were no Fredric Brown stories in it. Well, there is one, and the weird thing is, I don’t recognize the title. Anyway…welcome to my world, book. First tale was fun; there’s room to grow. Anthony Boucher next, and then Fredric.

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Just for Sex and/or Violence Week, not for a Bingo Card Prompt (most of which I’ve read for). This was a good one for the Week.
Assessment: Overall, I seem to have enjoyed this more than some. Some of the dialogue has not aged well - which was interesting, because everything but the dialogue was not cringe-y. This book seemed full of realistic scenarios, and the whodunit was pretty cool.

My usual spiel at this point: "should finish it tonight". The last section will help determine the rating. GarbAugust activity left for me: watching Capricorn One again, this time to satisfy the Conspiracy Theory Prompt. The Diamond Bikini, Come Die With Me, and Daredevil comics will round out the week. For the final week, I will be reading the graphic novel version of Blade II, the one with some earlier Blade stuff.

It’s actually turned out to be a perfect choice for GarbAugust’s Sex and/or Violence Week - I mean, short of being an Action Thriller with bodies dropping all over the place. Meanwhile: if I’m in the afterlife, and put in charge of the Biology Dept., there will be changes. Everyone gets both sets of sex organs, so we can all understand each other better. Or reproduction without sex. I hate touching, or being touched.

This will be part of GarbAugust Week, for me. Kind of alright for Sex and/or Violence Week...mostly because fights are a staple of superhero comics (to the point where it became easy, eventually, to stop buying new superhero stuff). This is a nostalgia read, and I have a weird affinity for series when they were struggling, but still interesting. I am a fan of the Gladiator, Paladin, even the Torpedo, and Chameleon.

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Read for the Bingo Card Prompt: Kinky Sex (a re-read)
Sex and/or Violence Week.
Assessment: I was tracking most of Peter Milligan's stuff when I bought this, and had no idea what I was getting into. Some of the art is really stupendous...but overall, it's hard not to get creeped out by the whole thing. A bit of a disturbing misfire, but perfect for the GarbAugust Prompt. I'm done with it.

This book was part of my original plan for GarbAugust - not worrying so much about Bingo Card Prompts or weekly themes, but reading only, or mainly books I owned that had average ratings of less than 3 stars. This sudden pick is a nod toward that original idea, but I think it will be at least an okay pick for Sex and/or Violence Week. I have enjoyed other books by this author, wondering about the low star-ratings…

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Read for ‘Sex and/or Violence Week’.
Assessment: There is sex, there is violence - but this is a fairly tame novel to apply to a Sex and/or Violence week. Which is fine with me in one sense; I don’t think I’ll be getting to too many extremes this week. This was a nice way to ease into the week’s themes, and we’ll see where we go from here.

I like it - shall finish it tonight.

This will be a re-read for the GarbAugust Prompt called Kinky Sex. I’m not sexual - it’s conformist programming we’re supposed to do, and I don’t like wiring that dictates behaviour, even if there’s a pleasure principle gone wrong in our bigger brains. I don’t consider myself a prude; I consider myself free of something many males have trouble with. Anyway, I’ve read this before; it’s..,not great. Fits the prompt.

Read a werewolf story and a ‘jungle terror’ story - Robert Bloch, and Mary Elizabeth Counselman - very entertaining. Nice to be back to this, sort of honorary GarbAugust reading, even though I’m not flagging it for the event because I started it so long ago.

I love this book. It has taken me a while to realize that this book’s stats are all snarled up - at Goodreads - with a similarly titled book of the Horror genre by Graham Masterton. I’ve stopped waiting for some frigging development involving Czech legends or whatever. That’s the other book!

I’m very happy with this, so far.

Final GarbAugust Notes:
Read for the Bingo Card Prompt: Moral Panic
Hmm. An okay collection of stories; many of them were not actually weird, unfortunate since the collection is billed as Weird. Plus, I got stuck in the Stock Exchange for a while, which can be confusing - and humorous tales can be hit or miss. The Rudyard Kipling story needed its own offensive-content warnings, even though the book starts with that.

I need a palate cleanser strong enough to get paint off a frog (metaphorically). It must be fiction, not the Nonfiction I had planned, but am suddenly not quite adjusted to. It cannot be overtly trashy, apologies to GarbAugust. In fact, I need something off a “Best of “ List, any “Best of” list, I don’t care which one. I’ve gone to the list of 25 top picks in the Brit Noir reading guide, and picked this. Goin’ in!!

Aww, I’m so disappointed. You have no idea. This was obviously a niche read, but I thought that it would at least be a hidden gem for fans of the movie that inspired it. It just arrived, and I went right to it, sequestered myself to check it all out in one go…but oh it was just a profound letdown. I didn’t realize that it was self-published; I’m reminded of why I’m leery of such books. Bummer of BUMMERS, man!

Plans have changed, because this little fellow showed up. (a) I'll be going to this, just ahead of Dangerous Rhythms, instead of Round the Clock at Volari's, because I simply cannot put this book off for a second; Volari's does seem like a great pick for right after Dangerous Rhythms, though. (b) A Tingler re-imagining would be great for Novelization Week of GarbAugust, but I have Blade II as a backup.

This could get seedy...but I'm actually taking a bit of a break from GarbAugust with this, as I did with the Kempadoo book. I need some Nonfiction, and this sounds right up my back alley (where I hear a lilting voice and maybe a saxophone...plus some kind of deal or intimidation going on...).