FREE Pre-Paid Cremation! (Details Inside)

FREE Pre-Paid Cremation! That's what it said on the envelope I got from outfit called Nepture Cremation Service. Hot damn, I thought, just the opportunity I've been waiting for!

I was already getting my affairs in order, and down to debating to whom I would leave my collection of autographed Robert S. Napier novels, when I spotted the fine print on the order card. WIN a pre-paid cremation, it said. Return your completed card today to be entered. What a letdown.

The only bright spot was this lovely and profound quotation (above) from Eleanor Roosevelt. When the time comes (assuming I win) I may have it decoupaged on my urn.

Musical Neckties

Well, not exactly. I wouldn't put it past me to own ties that actually make music, but these merely represent music. Got the Blues Brothers tie at the House of Blues in . . . Orlando? Probably.

The Edgar Awards, Part 6: Best Paperback Originals

The nominees. Presumably NOT in attendance were 

Catherine O'Flynn (The News Where You Are) and Frank Tallis (Vienna Secrets).

L.C. Tyler (Ten Little Herrings).

That's Robert Goddard at right. 

Two very nice folks: Duane and Meredith Swierczynski. 

His nominated novel, Expiration Date, is a cool book!

The Swierczynskis at the baquet. 

That's Duane's agent David Hale Smith in the foreground.

The Winner! Robert Goddard, author of Long Time Coming. That, too, is a great read.

At left, Inkwell Management agent George Lucas digs into his mushroom bisque.

Photos thanks to Matt Peyton Photography. More pics to come.

Overlooked Films: A Western Trio

Some years back I picked up the entire Great American Western series of public domain Westerns on DVD, including the separate John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry sets issued by the same outfit.

Since then, every time I’ve seen a new, affordable (meaning cheap) collection of Westerns, it’s been a repackaging of those same films. Until now. I recently came across this 50 movie set called The Way West, and near as I can tell, only one of those 50 films - the Roy Rogers oater Hands Across the Border - was already in my possession.

The guy pictured on the cover is Bob Steele, and rightly so, because he stars in eleven of the 50 flicks. Ken Maynard is featured in five, Bill Cody and Tom Tyler in four each, Jack Randall and Tex Ritter in three. Most stars, including some of my favorites like Tim McCoy and Clayton Moore, appear only in one.

Anyway, I couldn’t resist popping in disc 1 (of 12) and checking out the films. Skipping over Hands Across the Border, first up was Bob Steele in Arizona Gunfighter (Republic, 1937). Nothing wrong with this one. Steele hooks up with a bandit leader, who - to the disappointment of his gang - turns out to be sort of a Robin Hood. It took a while to get used to the lack of musical soundtrack, though they did play some dramatic music during the climactic fist fight.

Next comes Tex Ritter in Hittin’ the Trail (Grand National, 1937). Though I still listen to a Tex record now and then, it’s been a while since I’ve seen him on screen. Interesting to compare his looks to that of his son, John Ritter, and grandson, Jason Ritter of The Event. Tex’s sidekick in this one is long, tall, slow-talkin’ Hank Worden (here billed as Heber Snow), who is more familiar for his later roles in The Searchers, McLintock, Red River and The Alamo. Again, no musical soundtrack, but thanks to Tex and his Texas Tornados, The Range Ramblers and The Phelps Brothers, we’re treated to plenty of tunes, including some Western swing. This film just happened to be directed by Bob Steele’s father, R.N. Bradbury.

Finally, we have the Three Mesquite’s (Robert Livingston, Ray “Crash” Corrigan and Max Terhune) in Come On, Cowboys! (Republic, 1937). Finally, a film with a real soundtrack. Made it go down easier. And this one had a lot more humor, including a scene where Tucson dresses up in a gorilla suit to scare a bad buy. This film is set in that magical Old West of 1937. In the beginning, as Tucson, Stony and Lullaby are performing in a circus, we see men in fedoras in the audience. And when the circus owner’s niece comes to town, she arrives on a bus instead of a stage. But from there on in it’s all horses and buckboards and Stetsons and six-guns. Has anyone read the William Colt MacDonald story that introduced these guys? Was it set the real Old West or not?

More Overlooked Films on display at Sweet Freedom!

The Edgar Awards, Part 5: Best Novelists

The nominees for Best Novel. For an earlier photo of All Nominees, Steve Hamilton and I were in the back row, where I shook his soon-to-be winning hand, but I failed to meet these other folks. Far as I know, the sixth Best Novel nominee, Tana French, was not in attendance.

Laura Lippman, author of I'd Know You Anywhere, with agent David Hale Smith, there to support his client and Best PBO nominee, Duane Swierczynski. I was pleased to make the reacquaintance of Mr. Smith, whom I met in Portland a few years back.

Timothy Hallinan (The Queen of Patpong), center. 

That's Best First Novelist Bruce DeSilva at left, and David Morrell at right.

Tom Franklin, author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter.

Harlan Coben (Caught), with Ann Armstrong Coben and Shelley Costa.

Steve Hamilton (The Lock Artist) with that coveted statue of Ed.

All pics by Matt Peyton Photography. Coming soon: More nominees, more winners. Hey, the MWA sent me about 800 pictures. I might as well share a few of them.

Conan of Pastichia

1988

1991

1996

The Spider Goes to the Movies: The Spider's Web (1938)

Forgotten Books: Two-Gun Gerta by C.C. Waddell and Carroll John Daly

Last Friday, the Edgars over, Irene and I had half a day to kill in New York. So after a stroll across Central Park, we rode the subway down to Otto Penzler's legendary Mysterious Bookshop. An amazing place. It would be just fine with me if Mr. P chose to relocate to Portland.

Among the many tempting books was one I had been craving for at least 25 years. And it wasn’t even a mystery. It’s a western. Sort of.

Two-Gun Gerta (1926), co-written with C.C. Waddell, was the first book to bear Carroll John Daly’s name. The story originally appeared in two parts in People’s Story Magazine in October, 1923.

At the time, Daly had been selling stories for a year and half, and his seminal hardboiled detective tales, “Three Gun Terry Mack” and “Knights of the Open Palm” had already appeared in Black Mask.

Having never read C.C. Waddell, it’s hard to guess how much of Two-Gun Gerta should be attributed to him, and how much to Daly. Waddell was a far more experienced writer, and had been selling his stories since at least 1901.

I have, though, read a ton of Carroll John Daly, and his presence here is strong. The book’s hero - and narrator - Red Connors, sounds very much like the early Race Williams, and Two-Gun Gerta is sort of a prototype for Race’s femme fatale, The Flame, the Girl with the Criminal Mind. One moment she's ready to blast the hero to hell, and the next she's melting in his arms.

The novel is billed on the title page as “A Western,” and I suppose that’s true, but the label seems almost tongue-in-cheek. The story takes place in present-day (circa 1923) Mexico, and hero Red Connors is a silent movie stuntman on a brief sabbatical from New York. All he knows about the West is what he’s learned from the studio’s resident technical expert, an old time cowpuncher.

The narration, then, is a strange blend of New York wise guy slang and silent movie cowboy lingo. What makes it work is Daly’s exuberance. Like his early Race Williams stories, Two-Gun Gerta is more than an adventure - it’s an adventure in reading. Daly is having fun and doesn’t care who knows it. You never know what surprises are laying in wait in the next paragraph, but you can count on finding some.

Daly was by no means a good writer. In this book, the characters are cardboard thin, the plot is pure melodrama, and the narration shifts from present to past tense and back again. But Daly's writing is always FUN, and it was his joyride storytelling style that made him more popular then Hammett and the other Black Mask writers of the 20s and early 30s.

The main problem with this book (aside from what some folks would term atrocious writing) is the heavy use of racial slurs and derogatory stereotypes. That stuff was not  uncommon in 1923, but I don’t recall seeing it in Daly’s other work, so I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and lay the blame on Mr.Waddell.

Bottom line: This book isn’t for everybody, and maybe for very few. But if you’re a Race Williams fan, it’s a must. If you like Westerns, and you’ve sampled other authors from this era - like Zane Grey, Max Brand, Charles Mulford or Johnston McCulley - you’ll find this a bit of a shock. It’s nothing at all like them. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Two-Gun Gerta is nothing like anything anyone has read before, or ever will again.

If you’re interested, you won’t have to wait 25 years like me. For better or worse, this book is now available as a PDF download from Vintage Library, for a measly five bucks. (The hardcover cost me $35, and that was a bargain.) Check it out HERE, if you dare.

The Vintage Library page quotes the first four paragraphs, offering a hint of the style, and I notice that the first of the slurs, "greaserland," has been changed to "Mexico." So it's possible the whole book has been cleaned up. On general terms, I disagree with that practice, but I suppose if it makes this novel palatable to more readers, I really shouldn't kick. Two-Gun Gerta, after all, is a far cry from Huckleberry Finn. I just hope that if the Vintage Library folks have censored the book, they're honest enough to acknowledge it. 

The above pic of Daly appeared in Black Mask. I disremember the year. "About that photo you have," Daly said. "It was taken some time ago. I have since tucked in my shirt."

More Forgotten Books at pattinase!