**Morning AJ's story, Helen's dilemma, was published on the Microstory A Week site

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

Morning AJ penned this week's story, Helen's dilemma, a light-hearted piece about a woman and her husband wrangling over marital issues.

Check this short story out and comment on it, if you have the time. =)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

(hb; 2010: loosely linked prequel to The Last American Vampire)

From the inside flap:

"Indiana 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call 'Milk Sickness.'

" 'My baby boy. . .' she whispers before dying.

"Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

"When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, 'Henceforth, my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose. . .' Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

"While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving the Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

"Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time - all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation."


Review:

Landmark horror novel, when one considers how Grahame-Smith seamlessly, cleverly melds faux-historical and horror fiction: fictions that simultaneously manage to be mainstream and horrific, for those of us who like our inked terrors to be bloody and graphic (which Abraham Lincoln is, in effective, short bursts).

Not only that, but Grahame-Smith made this reader care about his characters, with their interwoven, character-centric, vivid-but-fast-tracked histories - when Lincoln is shot, I actually felt sad, as if Lincoln had been a real, warm-individual President in my lifetime.

Exemplary read, this. Worth reading and owning for both mainstream readers and gorehounds.

Followed by The Last American Vampire.

#

The resulting film is scheduled for stateside release on June 22, 2012.

Benjamin Walker played Abraham Lincoln. Dominic Cooper played Henry Sturgess. Robin McLeavy played Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Mary Elizabeth Winstead played Mary Todd Lincoln. Lux Hany-Jardine played "Young Abraham Lincoln".

Alan Tudyk played Stephen A. Douglas. Rufus Sewell played Adam. Anthony Mackie played William Johnson. John Rothman played Jefferson Davis. Jaqueline Fleming played Harriet Tubman. Jimmi Simpson played Joshua Speed.

Timur Bekmambetov directed the film, from a screenplay by book author Seth Grahame-Smith and Simon Kinberg.

Planetary Agent X, by Mack Reynolds

(pb; 1965: this novella originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine in two parts under the titles Ultima Thule and Pistolero)

From the front page:

"Newly accepted as a Special Agent of the star-spanning United Planets organization, Ronny Bronston found that his first assignment was one which had taken the lives of dozens of agents before him: he was to track down a man named Tommy Paine.

"'We've been trying to catch him for twenty years,' said Ronny's section chief. 'How long before that he was active, we have no way of knowing. It was some time before we became aware that half the revolts, coups d'états and assassinations that occur in the United Planets have his dirty finger stirring around in them.'

" 'But what motivates him?' Ronny asked. 'What's he get out of all the war and killing he stirs up?'

"'Nobody seems to know. But the best guess is that he's insane - a homicidal maniac on an intergalactic scale. He's dangerous, Ronny, and you've got to get him!' "

Review:

Fun, clever science fiction adventure novella with interesting, succinctly sketched characters; this novella is split into two storylines. The first: Ronny Bronston is sent out on his first mission as a United Planets agent, a mission that inspires more questions than answers; the second: Bronston's manhunt for a young, sharp assassin with impressive skills and a big vendetta takes on a whole new dimension when Bronston gets sneaky.

Planetary Agent X is an entertaining and fast-moving read that was much better than I thought it would be.

Worth owning, if you enjoy Sixties science fiction that's mildly provocative and wastes no words.

#

Planetary Agent X is packaged as a reverse-bound "Ace Double" novel, which means that if readers flip the book upside down and over, there is another science fiction novel, penned by another author, on the other side. (Considering that these books sold for 45 cents a pop, this seems like a great deal, even back in that less-expensive, Sixties economy.)

The cover for the flipside novel, Behold the Stars, by Kenneth Bulmer, follows this sentence.

Remainder of a Thursday Afternoon by John Eivaz

(pb; 2007: poetry chapbook/anthology)

Review:

John Eivaz is one of my all-time favorite poets: his love-it-or-hate-it work reads like intuitive-flow versifying, littered with look-away-&-you-miss-it sly wordplay, truly original (sometimes startling) line-crafting, and a regular emotive potency that eludes so many poets - myself included.

Being a more literal person, I don't always know what he's specifically writing about (his natural veers into abstraction sometimes blur the layers between concrete visuals/ideas and an impressed wow!), but the words he utilizes are sharply realized, and the mood(s) of his verses are effective, pervasive.

Eivaz, a poet's poet, is what I want to be, when I become the best poet I can be - a writer whose voice works, is distinctive, even if the (occasional) poem is merely okay, not great.

All of the nineteen poems in this mainstream anthology drew me in, some more than others, e.g., "Exodus" (a great anthology exit poem):

". . . where breath thins and bodies become beautifully hollow

"where this journey is a mourn against our stars
no more our fall slows until finally we drop
in on the next world
young again the light hurts our eyes"


Other standout poems include: "sunday drive"; "the railroad follows the river"; "My Home Town" and "Sonnet" (with their auras of abstraction and romance); "implied mantis foma" (with its strong visual metaphors); "Moth"; "poem found in an imaginary sort-of flemish painting" and "the first few minutes of mahler's ninth first movement".

Remainders of a Thursday Afternoon doesn't include many of my favorite works by him - multi-genre, lust and love transcendant work that I've been reading over the course of twelve years within a mutual writing group, Erotica Readers & Writers Association - but it is a solid worth-purchasing mainstream introduction to his consistently amazing, inked visions.

One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich

(pb; 1994: first book in the Stephanie Plum series)

From the back cover:

"Trenton native Stephanie Plum is out of work, out of money, and her car's in repo-hell. So who does a hardly working girl turn to when the going gets tough? Meet cousin Vinnie, bail bondsman. Stephanie figures it's nice work if you can get it - shagging bail jumpers for $10,000 a pop. So she joins up.

"Her first assignment: nail Joe Morelli, a former vice cop on the run from a charge of murder one. There's also a cranky ex-prize fighter dogging her and a nasty habit she has of leaping first and looking later. If Stephanie doesn't wise up fast, the first dead body she sees could be her own."

Review:

One for the Money is a funny, flirty, sometime nasty-minded and fast-moving novel that, once I picked it up, I didn't want to set it down - it works as chick-lit and an action flick read.

Excellent pop mystery genre novel. Check it out!

Followed by Two for the Dough.

#

This novel has been filmed twice.

The first film version aired on television in 2002.

Lynn Collins played Stephanie Plum. Tyler Christopher played Joe Morelli. Tim Burd and Tamara Levitt co-starred, though their roles aren't listed - and neither are any other actors who might've been in this teleflick.

David Grossman directed the film, from an uncredited author script.

#

The second version was released stateside on January 27, 2012.

Katherine Heigl played Stephanie Plum. Jason O'Mara played Joe Morelli. Daniel Sunjata played Ranger. Ana Reeder played Connie. Nate Mooney played Eddie Gazarra.

John Leguizamo played Jimmy Alpha. Sherri Shepherd played Lula. Ryan Michelle Bathe played Jackie. Fisher Stevens played Morty Beyers. Adam Paul played Bernie Kuntz.

Debbie Reynolds played Grandma Mazur. Debra Monk played Mrs. Plum. Patrick Fischler played Vinnie Plum. Rex the hamster played "Rex the Hamster".

Julie Ann Robinson directed the film from a script by Stacy Sherman, Karen Ray and Liz Brixius.

**Otis B. Driftwooed's Beautify was published on the Microstory A Week site

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

Otis B. Driftwooed penned this week's story, Beautify, about a rock singer whose classic movie star looks add to her decades-charted mystique.

Check this short story out, comment on it, if you have the time and are so inclined!

Sideswipe by Charles Willeford

(hb; 1987: third book in the Hoke Moseley series)

From the inside flap:

"Hoke Moseley, the leisure-suited Miami homicide detective. . . finally shows the world around him what a real 'burned out' cop does - he stops working, stops talking, stops thinking. . . and sits unseeing in his chair with a complete crime-induced breakdown of the highest order.

"In another part of the state: Career criminal Troy Louden - amoral, alias many other names, and reminiscent of certain reptiles - has arrived to upset the balance of nature on the city streets of south Florida.

". . . Here two sets of lives that should have absolutely nothing to do with each other collide in a spectacular and violent supermarket robbery that shouldn't have happened, but did."


Review:

Sideswipe, which takes place six months after the events of New Hope for the Dead, is, like its predecessor novels, an entertaining blend of neo-noir, relatable (and series-progressive) characters, and dark absurdist humor - reader-hooking work, this: own it, already!

Followed by The Way We Die Now.

The Haunting Hour, by R.L. Stine

(hb; 2001: kid's horror anthology)


Overall review:

Okay anthology from Stine - a few of these stories ("Revenge of the Snowman"; "How to Bargain with a Dragon"; "Take Me with You") feel too-predictable, lazy, hackish, even for a young audience like Stine's: these are not the worthwhile works of a writer of Stine's publishing stature.

On the other end of the spectrum, these are standout stories: "Can You Draw Me?", "Are We There Yet?" and "The Bad Baby-Sitter".

Not a complete waste of time, this anthology is disappointing, at best.

The Haunting Hour - not these particular stories in their published forms - became the basis for a children's horror series, which began airing on October 29, 2010.


Review, story by story:

1.) "The Halloween Dance" - Two boys, bored at home, go out for kicks n' giggles, and discover how sinister Halloween night can be. Decent story.


2.) "The Bad Baby-Sitter" - Fun, excellent tale about a voodoo-minded babysitter (Lulu) and her two young charges.


3.) "Revenge of the Snowman" - A prank backfires in a big, terrifying way for one of the pranksters (Rick Barker). Decent set-up, plot-lame finish.


4.) "How to Bargain with a Dragon" - Interesting story about a peasant boy (Ned) who must capture a dragon in order to work for a cruel (but infamous) wizard.

This would have been a good story if Stine had provided logical foreshadowing for its end-twist. Disappointing, at best.


5.) "The Mummy's Dream" - A boy (Connor Franklin) suffers from a serious case of mistaken identity. Decent story.


6.) "Are We There Yet?" - Oddball, engrossing tale about a family road trip.


7.) "Take Me with You" - A girl (Kat) is given a musty, haunted trunk. This otherwise solid, mood-effective story is marred by a predictable, lazy ending that easily could have been improved with a mini-twist sentence or two. Disappointing, at best.


8.) "My Imaginary Friend" - Shawn, a boy with an imaginary friend (Travis), gets into big trouble because of Travis. Solid work.



9.) "Losers" - Two judgmental brats at the carnival get their comeuppance. Solid morality tale.


10.) "Can You Draw Me?" - Excellent, fun story about a young artist whose talent abruptly, mysteriously takes a disturbing turn.

John Dies at the End, by David Wong (aka Jason Pargin)

(hb; 2009: prequel to This Book is Full of Spiders)

From the inside flap:

"STOP

" • You should not have touched this book with your bare hands.

" • NO, Don't put it down. It's too late.

" • They're watching you.

"My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours.

"You may not want to know about the things you'll read in these pages, about the sauce, and Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye.

"THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THIS:

" • The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension.

" • John and I never had the chance to say no.

" • You still do.

"Unfortunately for us, if you make the right choice, we'll have a much harder time explaining how fight off the otherworldly invasion currently threatening to enslave humanity.

"I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about the terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind:

NONE OF THIS IS MY FAULT."


Review:

Good, gory, zinger line-laden apocalyptic and imaginatively funny novel that would have been excellent, if the author had tightened up the rambling storyline, whose bizarre thrills threaten to peter out in the third quarter of the book. The ending redeems John with its intriguing and (like the rest of the novel) funny finish, which promises a sequel.

Worth reading, despite its excessive length.

Followed by This Book is Full of Spiders.

#

The resulting film is scheduled for "wide" stateside release on January 25, 2013.

Chase Williamson played Dave. Rob Mayes played John. Fabianne Therese played Amy. Paul Giamatti played Arnie. Clancy Brown played Dr. Albert Marconi.

Glynn Turman played Detective Lawrence "Morgan Freeman" Appleton. Doug Jones played Roger North. Daniel Roebuck played Largeman. Jonny Weston played Justin White. Jimmy Wong played Fred Chu. Tai Bennett played Robert Marley.

Angus Scrimm is listed as one of the film's actors, but his role isn't named.

Don Coscarelli scripted and directed the film.

*T F Rhoden's Drywall was published on the Microstory A Week site

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

T F Rhoden penned this week's story, Drywall, a warm-hearted suburban piece about a musing, home improving soccer coach.

Check this short story out, comment on it, if you have the time and are so inclined!

**Sarah Gamutan's New weather was published on the Microstory A Week site

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

Sarah Gamutan penned this week's story, New weather, where a vacationing woman struggles to come to terms with her marital failure.

Check this short story out, comment on it, if you have the time and are so inclined!