News for week ending 2012-06-30

Mystery Fanfare–Mystery Writers and their Typewriters: http://t.co/hsIKv38d #

Review: Death Wish by Brian Garfield, basis for the 1974 movie

NB: A version of this post also appears on Existential Ennui.

This week, over on Existential Ennui, I’ve been blogging about books which begat perhaps more famous films. Thus far I’ve covered two movies: Where Eagles Dare and Jaws, both of which are at least the equal of their source texts, and […]

Coming Soon: Taken 2: Electric Boogaloo

Taken 2 poster

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills–skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare […]

News for week ending 2012-06-23

Out today–the trailer for Taken 2: http://t.co/fk7FloCZ # A limited edition variant cover of Darwyn Cooke's The Score will be available at Comic-Con International this weekend: http://t.co/d5epSdEZ #

The Damsel by Richard Stark; 1968 Hodder & Stoughton first edition

NB: A version of this post also appears on Existential Ennui.

Having showcased two never-before-seen Hodder & Stoughton British hardback first editions of Donald E. Westlake’s Alan Grofield-starring Parker spin-off novels—The Dame (1969, Grofield #2) and The Blackbird (1970, Grofield #3)—it seems only fair I should shine the spotlight on the other […]

Westlake Score: The Blackbird by Richard Stark; 1970 Hodder & Stoughton first edition

NB: A version of this post also appears on Existential Ennui.

On to the second of two exclusive, never-before-seen-online Westlake Scores; and as with yesterday’s Score—a 1969 British Hodder & Stoughton first edition of Westlake’s second Alan Grofield novel, The Dame—today’s offering is also a Grofield book, and again boasts a particular […]

Westlake Score: The Dame by Richard Stark; 1969 Hodder & Stoughton first edition

NB: A version of this post also appears on Existential Ennui.

This week, I’ve a pair of very special Westlake Scores for you. Both of the books in question are incredibly scarce British first editions of Richard Stark novels; both boast strikingly psychedelic dust jacket artwork; and neither one, to my knowledge, […]

The joys of moving (really!), featuring The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski

I haven’t begun the process of moving in earnest yet. It’s going to be a long process–most of the summer and maybe part of autumn. But I have started laying down the foundation, which means sorting through my massive piles of stuff.

In one box I found something I’d been looking for for ages, […]

Westlake Score: The Split (Gold Medal, 1968), Robert McGinnis cover art

NB: A version of this post also appears on Existential Ennui.

I’m back, with a Westlake Score, and further evidence, as if any were needed, of the madness which consumes me. Because despite already owning three different editions of the seventh Richard Stark Parker novel—both under its original title of The Seventh […]

“The Morals of Parker” by Frank D. McSherry, Jr.

Frank McSherry’s article, “The Morals of Parker,” was given to me by Jesse Willis of SFFaudio. It’s from The Mystery Fancier, March/April 1984. It’s a fascinating piece, worth a close read.

One of these days I’ll transcribe it, but for now you get the PDF. I recommend downloading and printing it rather than trying […]