**Nick Nicholson's Santiago published on the Microstory A Week site

A new story is up on the Microstory A Week site.

Nick Nicholson penned this week's story, Santiago, the sixth part of his multi-character, loosely-linked eight-part series that traverses various themes and continents.

Be sure to check this 200-word story out, maybe even comment on it, if you're so inclined. =)

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I am in serious need of new story for the Microstory site, if you or anyone you know is looking to get published. Here's the guidelines.

Oktoberfest, by Frank De Felitta

(pb; 1973)

From the back cover:

"This was no ordinary Oktoberfest.

"The 16-day Munich celebration was usually a time of hedonistic abandon and sexual reverlry. But his year was different. This year there was a deranged killer on the loose, hacking his victims to death with a meat cleaver.

"Fear and terror were spreading like wildfire through the city when Police Inspector Bauer tackled the case. As he followed the murderer's bloody trail. Bauer developed a very bizarre theory, one he had to pursue, even if it took him to Paris, to Israel. . . and to Hell."

Review:

Compelling, fast-moving, grim (largely because of its haunted-by-Nazi-history setting) and straight-forward crime thriller. There's no frivolity in this novel, only horror, history and, for some of the characters, small semblances of redemption.

Good read, worth your time. Check it out.

Unfamiliar Fishes, by Sarah Vowell

(hb; 2011: non-fiction)

From the inside flap:

"Many think of 1776 as the most defining year of American history, the year we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self-government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as crucial to our nation's identity, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba, and then the Phillipines, becoming a meddling, self-serving, militaristic international superpower practically overnight.

"Of all the countries the United States invaded or colonized in 1898, Vowell considers the story of the Americanization of Hawaii to be the most intriguing. From the arrival of the New England missionaries in 1820, who came to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d'état led by the missionaries' sons in 1893, overthrowing the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling if often appalling or tragic characters. Whalers who will fire cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their god-given right to whores. An incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband. Sugar barons, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode 'Aloha 'Oe' serenaded the first Hawaiian-born president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.

"With Vowell's trademark wry insights and reporting, she lights out to discover the odd, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state. In examining the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn, she finds America again, warts and all."


Review:

Sad, informative and theme-familiar (for Vowell's return readers) non-fiction book about how con men, American patriots, corporations and missionaries illegally forced Hawaii into the American statehood, in the process stripping the islands' denizens of their rich, long-standing culture.

Vowell's writing, moving quickly through events, personalities and their long-term consequences, educates, amuses, infuriates and astounds.

Excellent read, this: it's heavier, stylistically and subject-wise, than The Partly Cloudy Patriot and Assassination Vacation.

**Richard Cody's story, The Thing on the Beach, published in Eclectic Flash magazine

Richard Cody, an all-around excellent writer/poet, just had one of his stories, The Thing on the Beach, published in the latest issue of Eclectic Flash magazine - it's on pages 104 - 106.

The story's a mix of H.P. Lovecraft, sea monstrousness and oceanic/environmental concern, lensed through a G-rated filter.

Loved this piece!

**Nick Nicholson's Rotterdam published on the Microstory A Week site

A new story is up on the Microstory A Week site.

Nick Nicholson penned this week's story, Rotterdam, the fifth part of his multi-character, loosely-linked eight-part series that traverses various themes and continents.

Be sure to check this 200-word story out, maybe even comment on it, if you're so inclined. =)

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I am in serious need of new story for the Microstory site, if you or anyone you know is looking to get published. Here's the guidelines.

The Black Train by Edward Lee

(pb; 2009)

From the back cover:

"Welcome to the Gast House.

"A historic bed and breakfast. . . or a monument to evil and obscenity? Justin Collier didn't know the house's lurid, shocking history when he arrived for a relaxing stay. He knew nothing about the train tracks that run behind the house, or that they once led to a place worse then hell. But he's learning. . .

"At night he can hear the mansion whisper. He hears little girls giggling where they are no little girls. And if he listens closely he can hear the haunting whistle of the train and the cries of the things chained in its prison cars. Each room of the house holds another appalling secret, but the great secret of all rides the Black Train."

Review:

When Justin Collier comes to Gast, Tennessee, a town with an especially violent and sick past, he has no idea what he's in for. He checks into a landmark, immediately creepy hotel (Branch Landing Inn, haunted by its previous owner, Harwood Gast, a Civil War-era plantation owner with a penchant for depravity, cruelty and slaughter, and his slightly less depraved family - a rapacious nymphomaniac wife and her two like-minded teenage daughters.

Lee's works joyously, unabashedly traffic - heck, revel - in b-movie grue, lust and other social taboos, and The Black Train is no exception. Those who find Stephen King or Dean Koontz "shocking" (as one of my friends claims they are) probably won't enjoy this gleefully gory, sometimes sexually explicit work: this is not a read for the faint of heart.

There's not a lot of plot twists here, but this is a fun, nasty and twisted blast of a b-movie novel (which screams to be shot as a film), that put me in the mindset of Herschell Gordon Lewis' Two Thousand Maniacs! - only with (slightly) smarter characters and a more salacious tone.

Good read, this, if you're a b-movie buff, looking for a grisly demonic thrill ride.

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There is one film out right now, based on Lee's work: a lower-budget, above-average Header (2006).

Header is a hillbillies-from-Hell sexually nasty work that's liable to put off anybody who cringes at brutal meldings of libido, revenge and humanity-based horrors.

If you see it, make sure to watch for Edward Lee's cameo as "State Trooper #1", as well as a cameo by Lee's real-life friend and fellow horror writer, Jack Ketchum, as "State Trooper #2".

**Gary Russell's Nikkatsu. published on the Microstory A Week site

A new story is up on the Microstory A Week site.

Gary Russell penned this week's story, Nikkatsu., a gentle, Asian fairy tale.

Be sure to check this short story out, maybe even comment on it, if you're so inclined. =)

Am always on the lookout for new writers for the Microstory site, so if you have a story that fits these guidelines feel free to send your work - am also open to series, also, as long the individual pieces work as stand-alone works, as well.

The Terrorists, by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö

(pb; 1975, 1976: tenth/final book in the Martin Beck Police Mysteries. Translated from the Swedish by Joan Tate.)

From the back cover:

"First Detective Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm National Police is in charge of security for a visiting U.S. senator whom a group of international terrorists is determined to assassinate. At the same time he becomes involved with the murder of a millionaire porno filmmaker and the misadventures of a young Swedish girl caught in the toils of bureaucratic red tape. As the terrorists move closer to their goal. . . Beck himself is faced with what appears to be imminent death."

Review:

One year after the investigations of Cop Killer, Martin Beck is faced with an unfamiliar task: protecting a visiting, highly unpopular American Senator from being assassinated, as well as investigate the murder of a pornographer.

Like the rest of the books in the Martin Beck Mysteries, The Terrorists deftly balances multiple, returning characters - including Åsa Torrell (first seen in The Laughing Policeman) - and multiple storylines that may or may not be connected.

Sjöwall and Wahlöö's balancing act also extends to the pacing of The Terrorists, as well as the plot-twisty moods of it: edge-o'-your-seat suspense, familiar-character warmth, Keystone Kop-esque quirkiness, gripping action, and tight writing-plotting.

The Martin Beck Mysteries are worth owning. This police procedural series is easily one of my all-time favorite series - mystery and otherwise - and I'm sad to have finished reading them.

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The resulting direct-to-video film, Stockholm Marathon, was released in Sweden on July 1, 1994.

Gösta Ekman reprised his role of Martin Beck. Kjell Bergqvist reprised his role of Lennart Kollberg. Rolf Lassgård reprised his role of Gunvald Larsson. Niklas Hjulström reprised his role of Benny Skacke. Jonas Falk reprised his role of Stig Malm.

Corinna Harfouch played Monica Lundin. Mats Huddén played Hellström. Thomas Anders played Ypsilon. Kjell Lennartsson played Walter Petrus. Anna Godenius played Mrs. Petrus.

An uncredited Maj Sjöwall, who also co-wrote the novel and the screenplay, played the uncredited role of "Woman with starting pistol".

Peter Keglevic directed the film, from a screenplay by the aforementioned Maj Sjöwall, Rainer Berg and Beate Langmaack.

**Sam Baker's My Father's Bones published on the Microstory A Week site

A new story is up on the Microstory A Week site.

Sam Baker penned this week's story, My Father's Bones, a mood-effective piece that briefly charts the latter stages of grief and its expectations.

Be sure to check this short story out, maybe even comment on it, if you're so inclined. =)

**Nick Nicholson's Havana published on the Microstory A Week site

A new story is up on the Microstory A Week site.

Nick Nicholson penned this week's story, Havana, the fourth part of his multi-character, loosely-linked eight-part series that traverses various themes and continents.

Be sure to check this 200-word story out, maybe even comment on it, if you're so inclined. =)

Cop Killer, by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö

(hb; 1974, 1975: ninth book in the Martin Beck Police Mysteries. Translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal.)

Review:

Warning: possible series spoilers in this review.

The year: 1973.

Martin Beck, now a happy boyfriend to Rhea Nielsen (first seen in The Locked Room), has been assigned to investigate the disappearance of a thirty-something divorcée, Sigbrid Mård, in a border town (Domme).

Beck's boss (the ineffectual Malm) gives Beck this case because its main suspect is familiar to many cops in Beck's Stockholm unit - Folke Bengtsson.

It's been nine years since Beck and his men arrested Bengtsson for the murder of Roseanna McGraw, and it looks like Bengtsson, who spent seven and a half years in prison, may have kidnapped - probably killed - Sigbrit Mård.

With the help of Herrgott Allwright, an easy-going local cop, Åke Gunnarson (now working under the name Åke Boman, and last seen in The Fire Engine That Disappeared), and his home-based Stockholm unit, Beck begins the tedious process of sussing out who made the divorcée disappear.

Authors Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö inject, as they often do, a second storyline into this work: a cop has been shot, and another inadvertantly killed, by two suspects, one of whom escaped.

Malm (Beck's PR-obsessed, pompous boss) heads up a task force to find these killers, a task force that includes Lennart Kollberg (Beck's best friend and fellow cop), who's having a crisis of conscience about his job.

All the dynamics that make this police procedural series rock - timely politics, involving/evolving characters and situations, lean yet warm writing, and underlying philosophical/morality issues -- are present in this work, imbuing this Martin Beck entry not only with charm and smarts, but series-changing events.

Worth owning, this, as is the whole series.

Followed by The Terrorists.

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The resulting direct-to-video film, The Police Murderer, was released in Sweden on January 12, 1994.

Gösta Ekman reprised his role of Martin Beck. Kjell Bergqvist reprised his role of Lennart Kollberg. Rolf Lassgård reprised his role of Gunvald Larsson. Jonas Falk reprised his role of Stig Malm.

Tomas Norström played Herrgott Nöjd (the film equivalent of Herrgott Allwright?). Johan Widerberg played Kaspar. Anica Dobra played Kia. Heinz Hoenig played Captain Mård. Agneta Ekmanner played Greta Hjelm. Stig Engström played Kaj Sundström. Anne-Li Norberg played Sigbrit Mård. Pia Green played Cecilia Sundström.

An uncredited Maj Sjöwall, who also co-wrote the novel and the screenplay, made a cameo in the film, though the IMDB link doesn't name her role.

Peter Keglevic directed the film, from a screenplay by the aforementioned Maj Sjöwall, Rainer Berg and Beate Langmaack.