Tatum Knight is a former contract killer. Ruthless. Conniving. And he's Jack's newest client. Tatum is the older brother of Jack's best friend, Theo. Theo himself spent time on death row until Jack found the evidence to prove him innocent. Jack isn't so sure about Tatum. A gorgeous young woman has been shot dead in her Mercedes on a Miami street. Tatum denies that he had anything to do with it, but he admits to Jack that he did meet with her in Theo's bar, where she tried to hire him. Sally Fenning was worth forty-eight million dollars when she died. Money had never made her happy, so she left it all to her enemies – left it for them to fight over, that is. She named six heirs in her will, but there's a catch: No one gets a penny until all but one of the heirs are dead. It's survival of the greediest. Quickly the lawyers gear up for a bitter legal battle, but Jack braces himself for much worse. He alone knows that heir number six – Tatum Knight – is a professional killer. As the heirs begin to fall, Jack and his unforgettable sidekick, Theo, are in a race against time to discover if Tatum is behind all the killing. Or is someone even more frightening, more dangerous, the odds-on favorite to be the last to die? Views: 41
From Publishers WeeklyFriedman sends a slumping, unfulfilled novelist off on a wild criminal adventure with a couple of con artists in his latest, an engaging but erratic caper novel that begins when mid-career fiction writer Walter Snow meets the woman of his dreams, Clyde Potts, at a bank in Manhattan. Potts already has a companion, an oddball named Fox Harris who accompanies Clyde on her various criminal ventures, and the pair quickly take advantage of Snow's lust for Potts to convince him to play a role in a smalltime con at a New York bar. Their next escapade takes them to a mental hospital, where they liberate an African-American acquaintance who believes himself to be the king of an African country. The criminal stakes go up when Potts manages to steal Donald Trump's credit card number, and the trio throws a lavish party for the homeless at a New York shelter, but the plotting turns downright bizarre when Potts and Harris sabotage a major coffee cafe after the company that owns the chain evicts the owner of a dive bar called the Unicorn. Friedman's usual off-kilter charm prevails throughout, particularly in the characterization of Snow, a sincere but befuddled writer who uses his lust for Potts to overcome a continuing case of writer's block. Potts and Harris have their endearing moments, but the criminal subplots range from the solidly effective to the over-the-top wacky, particularly the coffee caper, which is designated "Operation Diarrhea" and involves the trio adding a mix of diabolical chemicals to the local brew. Friedman fans will enjoy the antics, but this falls short of top-shelf Kinky.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalFriedman abandons his eponymous hero for this standalone story about a down-and-out writer whose new buddies introduce him to a life of crime. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 41
TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE TEXAS WAYReformed-bad-boy-turned-rancher Bart Rawlins had been accused of a murder he hadn't committed, and only the best lawyer in Texas could prove that he hadn't. So when newcomer Lindsey Wellington walked in with promises of acquittal, Bart suppressed his libido and focused on Lindsey's every word....Proving Bart was innocent was not the kind of first case Lindsey thought she'd handle. And trying not to fall for her sexy client was one lesson they'd overlooked in law school. But with Bart's future up in the air, Lindsey had to ignore the secrets of her heart if she didn't want to risk losing it.... Views: 41
They called him Sundance. A big man with the bronzed face of a Cheyenne and a mane of yellow hair. He had ranged from Canada to Mexico, from the Mississippi to the Shining Mountains and west to the Pacific. He could take any man apart with rifle, pistol, knife—or Indian-style with bow, arrows, lance and tomahawk. He was a professional fighting man and no job was too tough if the price was right. So when a rich banker met his price of $10,000 to rescue his daughter from the Cheyenne—Sundance bought it. He didn't know that before it was over he would have to take on a gang of vicious renegades, part of Custer's Seventh Cavalry and a hot-blooded eastern woman. Views: 41
What if the post-apocalyptic world was inherited by the android avatars of a famous duck, mouse, and dog? What if every '50s Bugarama monster-movie nightmare came true at once? What if Cloudbuster pioneers had transformed the arid American Southwest into a subtropical paradise? What do you mean, what if? They're real, they're here, a life-giving downpour in a desert of mundanity, right from the cranium of Howard Waldrop, one of the best, most original writers in America. For the first time, the greater part of Howard's media-related tales are brought together in one place. TV, radio, movies—they're all right here. Plus original essays by the author and a never-before-published novelette: "Major Spacer in the 21st Century," about the triumph of McCarthyism over a space-opera serial, the subsequent death of democracy, and the country's eventual second shot at freedom. In this collection, Howard brings to life the kind of historical trivia nobody else can imagine. Oh sure, you can laud his insights into the technical and social development of our dream factories and radio pictures. But what will blow you away are his wacky ideas—the way he brings together things that you'd never imagined on the same bookshelf, much less the same page of the same story. And yet, once he lays them out, you wonder why no one else thought to see it that way—his quirkiness exposes the romance of it all better than any cinéma vérité ever could. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show—you're about to see the world in a whole new aspect ratio.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Preface by Howard Waldrop [Publisher's note: This preface was written for the electronic edition of Dream Factories and Radio Pictures published by Electric Story, 2001.] What you are about to read is a collection of all my stories about movies (dream factories) and television (radio pictures) from my first four collections, plus an unpublished article and a new story. There'll be an introduction to each category. The movie part's divided into Dream Factories: The Past, stories about motion pictures from the beginning circa 1895 to one set in an alternate 1970s. Dream Factories: The Future is a couple of my 1980s stabs at where films and (well . . .) famous characters were going or could go. There's an Interlude for the new article; then we plunge together manfully forward into Radio Pictures, three stories dealing with television since before the beginning in the 1920s to now. (Well, June 2000 anyway, one that didn't happen.) There'll be a new introduction to each story (I always do that, usually to give people who've read all the stories a reason to buy a collection of mine). My introductions usually deal with the actual writing, Strange But True facts uncovered while researching them; you know, writer stuff. . . There'll be some of that here; mostly the new intros will be about the stories as they fit into (or outside or alongside) the history of motion pictures and television. Why am I telling you this up front? First, I'm an upfront kind of guy. Second, this is my first eBook (and the far-seeing and astute Robert [Bob] Kruger at ElectricStory.com should be congratulated on his taste [and his quick contract and check]).. .). This is also the first (mostly) retrospective collection of mine. Stories here come from all four (Howard Who?, Doubleday 1986; All about Strange Monsters of the Recent Past, Ursus 1987; Night of the Cooters, Ursus/Zeising 1991; Going Home Again, Eidolon Press, Perth, Australia 1997/St. Martin's 1998, with various American paperback and foreign regroupings and additions and subtractions) of my previous short-story collections. Most readers have the general impression of me (if they have any at all) of being a guy who writes about extinct species (only two stories), rock and roll (only three and a half stories), or alternate history (well, touché a lot, including some overlap in all the other categories, including this one). But as this collection shows, a lot of my stories have been about film and television; their evolution, their heights and depths, some side channels they could have or should have taken but didn't; actors, directors, technicians, hangers-on, all that Raymond Chandler/Nathaniel West Southern California stuff; other places, too, where movies and television evolved; what effect they have had and will have on us. These kinds of things will be in the individual sections. There's more stuff from film, TV, etc., popping up in other stories of mine that aren't here. "The Sawing Boys," for instance, which is essentially the Bremen Town Musicians partly told in Damon Runyon style, set in the early 1920s, which allows a backwoods Kentucky musical-saw quartet to come on like a bunch of Beirut klezmorim because of the spread of mass communications (radio). But that's buried so deep in the story that when I tell most people what it's really about, they look at me funny. It's the Bremen Town Musicians, with musical saws, they say. They could be right. Anyhow: These are the stories that are directly (or mostly see the individual intros) about movies and television; personalities, history, projections, alternatives, guesses, and the effects they had on everybody, especially me. And, as John Barrymore said, after staggering up the center aisle, still in his street clothes, after they?d held the curtain for him thirty minutes, turning to the audience: "You sit right there. I'm going to give you the goddamndest King Lear you've ever seen. . . ." Views: 41
The return of Rona ParishRona Parish is ready to embark on a new assignment. She is to write a series of articles for the 600th anniversary of the local market town of Buckford, looking at its churches, schools and celebrated inhabitants. But her first encounter with the elderly Edna Rosebury raises unresolved questions about a recent tragic murder and Rona's investigative antennae are instantly on the alert . . .From BooklistFreelance journalist Rona Parish is writing a series of articles on the quaint English village of Buckford, which will soon celebrate its 800th anniversary. She figures that, rather than reviewing Buckford's history, she'll try the quirkier approach of looking at unusual characters who have lived in the village. To get a flavor of the village, Rona takes a room with local resident Nuala Banks and is soon caught up in interviews and the ins and outs of local life. Nuala is quick to introduce Rona to her aunt--and local eccentric--Miss Edna Rosebury, who is a bit gaga but is sharp enough to confide that she knows more than she's telling about the death of a four-year-old girl years earlier. When a stranger attacks Rona, and Edna is found dead, Rona begins to look for the dark secrets lurking behind Buckford's pleasant facade. Clever plotting, appealing characters, and a dash of suspense make Fraser's latest a fine choice for fans of the traditional British village mystry. Emily MeltonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedAbout the AuthorFraser announced at the age of five that she wanted to be an author. Views: 41
Review"(The) ruthless mobsters, dirty cops, shades-of-gray hero ring with authenticity. A clever setup and neat, twisty plot, and you have a gritty, action-packed read." --Edgar Award winner Julie Smith"Hustmyre brings to life the dark underworld of The Big Easy reminiscent of Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles. Detective fiction doesn’t get any better than this!" --Gary C. King, author of Rage and An Almost Perfect Murder"House of the Rising Sun is a great ride. Grab this book and head down to the wrong side of New Orleans. You won't regret it." --Criminal Profiler Pat Brown, author of The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths"The hard-boiled tale, the disgraced ex-vice cop, the bloody, filthy underworld of the New Orleans French Quarter. This is classic gritty crime fiction." --Matthew Randazzo V, author of Mr. New Orleans: The Life of a Big Easy Underworld Legend"House of the Rising Sun is lean, mean, and nasty. Hustmyre's spare, hardboiled prose instantly grabs hold and takes you on a great ride. A book for those who like their thrillers grim and dirty." --Simon Read, author of War of Words: A True Tale of Newsprint and MurderProduct DescriptionRay Shane is an ex-New Orleans vice cop who just finished a five-year stretch in federal prison for corruption. Now he's back home in the Big Easy and looking to stay out of trouble. But trouble is exactly what he gets when four masked gunmen rob the House of the Rising Sun, the mob-owned illegal gambling hall and brothel where Shane is in charge of security. On their way out the door, the gunmen also blow away the mentally handicapped adult nephew of the New Orleans Mafia boss. Now Shane has to find the killers, but as he tracks them down one by one he relearns an old lesson—in New Orleans nothing is ever what it seems. Views: 41
