The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

 

(hb; 1934)

Review

Postman is an excellent, no-words-wasted, twisted tale of raw sexuality, adultery and murder, with two main characters who, in spite of the seeming amorality, are relatable (at least for this reader), who aren’t evil just unhappy, and willing to do what they need to do to achieve it. Simple (but not simple-minded), entertaining and darkly clever, this is one of the best pulp novels I’ve read. Worth owning, this.

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Two film versions of Postman resulted.

The first version was released stateside on May 2, 1946. Tay Garnett directed it, from a screenplay by Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch.

John Garfield played Frank Chambers. Lana Turner played Cora Smith (in the book her married surname was Papadakis). Cecil Kellaway played Nick Smith.

Hume Cronyn played Arthur Keats. Leon Ames played Kyle Sackett. Audrey Totter played Madge Gorland. Alan Reed (who later voiced an animated Fred Flintstone) played Ezra Liam Kennedy. Jeff York played Blair.

The second version, directed by Bob Rafelson from a script by David Mamet, was released stateside on March 20, 1981.

Jack Nicholson played Frank Chambers. Jessica Lange played Cora Papadakis. John Colicos played Nick Papadakis.

Michael Lerner played Mr. Katz. John P. Ryan played Kennedy. William Traylor played Sackett. Anjelica Huston played Madge. Thomas Hill, billed as Tom Hill, played Barlow.

Star Trek Vol. 4 by various authors and illustrators

 

(pb; 1977-9: graphic novel. Collects the Golden Press-published comic book series, issues 27-35, a.k.a. Star Trek: The Enterprise Logs, Vol. 4.)

Overall review

Good, entertaining, better-than-earlier-issues collection of Star Trek comic books, worth owning.

 

Issues/story arcs

“Ice Journey” [#27]: Spock, Kirk and Dr. Krisp beam down to Floe I, a frozen planet for a Federation-ordered population survey, unaware of the civil war between its inhabitants, red masters and blue slaves. Sad, solid and clever in parts.

 

“The Mimicking Menace” [#28]: On Tactis II, a mysterious asteroid with a dormant volcano, Kirk, Spock and a landing crew encounter parasitic creatures that feed on energy and duplicate their victims physical forms. Good, entertaining story.

 

“Death of a Star” [#29]: Kirk, Spock, Lt. Uhuru and Nurse Chapel encounter an old woman who refuses to leave an about-to-explode star (Isis III). While its twist is telegraphed, it’s a fun read.

 

“The Final Truth” [#30]: Kirk, Chekov and other Enterprise personnel are abandoned on a hostile planet (Tristias) where eco-aware denizens hold them prisoner. Can Spock and the rest of the crew rescue them before it’s too late?

This story is an interesting, good remix to the usual Trek issue set-up, with a pleasant, cosmic-minded ending.

 

“The Animal People” [#31]: On the planet Hercula, Kirk and Spock try to prevent the genocide of the Yerbas, a mostly speechless, slave race who are targeted by the Herculas. Good, entertaining story with a truncated finish.

 

“The Choice” [#32]: In a little known quadrant of space (Mark I), possibly the “birthplace of the universe,” the Enterprise crew find themselves mired in a void where human will, duplication and ruminations on free will might be life-or-death events. Fun, interesting, wonky and heavy-on-science entry in the Star Trek comics.

 

“A Bomb in Time” [#33]: While checking out new technology at Research Satellite-5, a doctor working on a time machine is murdered, a bomb is hidden somewhere in time on Earth, and Scotty, Spock and Kirk must act quickly before much of Earth’s history─as well as its universe─is wiped out.

Fun, twisty and intriguing, this is one of the better issues of this series.

 

“The Psychocrystals” [#34]: During a mineral and biological survey on Planet Alpha 23-C, Bones, Kirk and Scotty encounter a race of sentient crystal beings that can not only probe their minds, but prevent them from tonctacing the Enterprise for rescue. Good, entertaining story.

 

“One of Our Captains is Missing” [#35]: While Kirk goes on a secret mission to prevent the Klingons from exploiting a possible war on planet Mobita, Captain Zarlo─a by-the-book commander replaces Kirk on the Enterprise, much to the crew’s ire. Solid, sometimes melodramatic (even for Trek) read.

Amy Girl by Bari Wood

 

(pb; 1987)

From the back cover

“Eight-year-old sweet and irresistible Amy is an orphan. Reach out to her with warmth and she’ll love you. But cross her and she’ll destroy you.

“It begins with a cold yet intimate breeze, like a shiver of fear. A whisper of death. And as it swirls into the innocent mind of beautiful young Amy Kaslov, she becomes the master of a terrifying power: Amy can make people do things very much against their will. She can make strange and violent things happen. Even death.

“Someone must save Amy from her awesomely destructive power. . . someone must uncover the evil secret that hides behind her beautiful young face.”

 

Review

Set in 1973, Amy is a solid, if sometimes chatty, thriller that sidesteps the cliches of its psychic child/monster subgenre, with characters that are relatable (warts and all), a mostly well-paced and suspense-build-up storyline, and an effective climax and denouement that are distinctive and character-true. This is a good read by an excellent writer, not Wood’s best work but often unputdownable, especially in its last third.

For her best works, check out: Twins (1977, with Jack Geasland); The Tribe (1981); and Lightsource (1984).

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child by Joseph Locke (a.k.a. Ray Garton)

 

(pb; 1989: movie tie-in novel. Sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.)

Review

Freddy Krueger has found a clever loophole through which to return to torment Alice Johnson (from Elm Street 4) and her friends, one that’s initially a mystery before it becomes horrifying reality.

As with the fourth Nightmare script-based book (which Locke/Garton also wrote), he mostly follows the screenplay but expands on the characters’ backstories and actions, resets some of the action (e.g., one of the early sequences in the book involves Alice taking a bath instead of the movie version’s shower), gets grislier with some of the nightmares (especially Dan Jordan’s), etc.

Locke/Garton’s writing is again lean, immediately involving, fast-moving, and entertaining within its surreal swirl structure of dream logic, returning characters and all-around solid writing. If the means of Krueger’s defeat seem paper-thin and almost laughable, it’s not Locke/Garton’s fault (blame the screenwriters and the producers who pushed them), an okay whatever (anti-)climax that is almost remedied by the emotional efficacy of Locke/Garton’s final, character-centric scene in the book.

Garton, whether he’s writing under his real name or Joseph Locke, is a consistently excellent and entertaining horror writer.

If you’re curious what was changed between this solid, mostly dreamtime sequel’s book and film versions, check the reviews on Amazon (there’s a nice person who thoroughly listed the differences).

Nightmare 5 was published later in 1989 with its prequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master in one volume, titled The Nightmares on Elm Street: Parts 4 & 5. It’s out of print, so if you can get it for a reasonable price (the current price hovers between $50 and $80 online), you might want to consider picking it up if you’re even slightly interested in it.

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The counterpart film was released stateside on August 11, 1989. Stephen Hopkins directed the film, from a screenplay by Leslie Bohem, based on a story by her, Craig Spector, and John Skipp.

Robert Englund played Freddy Krueger. Lisa Wilcox reprised her role of Alice Johnson. Nicholas Mele, billed as Nick Mele, also returned as Dennis Johnson (“Johnson” in the last film), Alice’s father. Danny Hassel reprised his role of Dan Jordan, Alice’s boyfriend. Whit Hertford, billed as Whitby Hertford, played Jacob.

Kelly Jo Minter played Yvonne. Joe Seely played Mark. Erika Anderson played Greta Gibson. Beatrice Boepple played Amanda Krueger.

Valorie Armstrong played Mrs. Jordan, Dan’s mother. Burr DeBenning played Mr. Jordan.

The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett

 

(pb; 1931)

From the back cover

“Paul Madvig was a cheerfully corrupt ward-heeler who aspired to something better; the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds. Did he want her badly enough to commit murder? And if Madvig was innocent, which of his dozens of enemies was doing an awfully good job of framing him?”

 

Review

Glass is an excellent, twisty, fast-moving, and character-interesting read─no shock, considering its author. This is one of Hammett’s easier-to-follow novels (some of the sharp plot turns in his Continental Detective Agency works and The Maltese Falcon can be hard to follow). Not only that, Glass is perhaps my work of his thus far, with characters who are corrupt but relatable, even the more cruel ones (e.g., Shad O’Rory─called Nick Varna in the superb 1942 film─and Jeff Gardner, an apish thug). Worth reading and owning, this.

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Two film versions have been made.

The first version was released stateside on June 15, 1935. Frank Tuttle directed the film from a screenplay by Kathryn Scola, Kubec Glasmon, with additional dialogue provided by Harry Ruskin.

George Raft played Ed Beaumont. Edward Arnold played Paul Madvig. Claire Dodd played Janet Henry. Rosalind Keith, billed as Rosalind Culli, played Opal Madvig. Emma Dunn played “Mom” Madvig.

Robert Gleckler played Shad O’Rory. Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, billed as Guinn Williams, played Jeff Gardner.

Charles Richman played Senator John T. Henry. Ray Milland played Taylor Henry. Tammany Young played Clarkie. Ann Sheridan played “Nurse.”

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The second version was released stateside on October 23, 1942. Stuart Heisler directed the film from Jonathan Latimer’s screenplay.

Alan Ladd played Ed Beaumont. Brian Donlevy played Paul Madvig. Veronica Lake played Janet Henry. Bonita Granville played Opal Madvig.

Richard Denning played Taylor Henry. William Bendix played Jeff Gardner. Francis Gifford played “Nurse.” Joseph Calleia played Nick Varna.

Light Source by Bari Wood

 

(pb; 1984)

From the back cover

“A physicist makes a great energy discovery─and disappears. Her research partner dies in a plane crash. And a brutally ambitious oil executive plots his last lethal strike.

“Torture. Blackmail. Even murder. There was nothing David Lucci wouldn’t do to stop Emily Brand from going public with her plans for an inexpensive, safe source of unlimited energy.

“Because of what Emily Brand had done to him, over twenty years ago, David was going to use all of NARCON’s vast resources to see that she paid for it─with her life.”

 

Review

Light is an excellent, tight-prosed and character-interesting thriller set in the then-future 1990, that’s as timely as it was in 1984 (when Light was published). Wood deftly avoids the usual cliches, while providing a familiar yet fresh suspense tale, one that easily could translate into a satisfying movie if the producers and filmmakers didn’t tamper with the characters, storyline and pacing too much. This is one of my favorite books by her, a consistently standout writer.

The Missouri Breaks by Thomas McGuane

 

(pb; 1976: screenplay)

From the back cover

“Marlon Brando is a hired gun.

“Jack Nicholson is a horse thief.

“One of them is out to kill─and the other is not about to die.”

 

Review

McGuane’s screenplay is simple, offbeat, character- and genre-resonant, one that is true to the spirit of iconic Westerns, paced by its familiar-but-memorable character’s actions and personalities, especially its two leads (Tom Logan and Robert Lee Clayton).  While there’s a dark thread running through it, there is little onscreen violence, and its dialogue is often sly (especially between Logan, Clayton, and Lloyd). This is a great script for a movie that was mostly faithful to its written scenes. Worth reading and seeing, this.

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The PG-rated film was released stateside on May 19, 1976. Arthur Penn directed it from, as indicated above, a screenplay by Thomas McGuane and, according to IMDb, an uncredited Robert Towne (who may’ve edited the screenplay during shooting).

Jack Nicholson played Tom Logan. Marlon Brando played Robert Lee Clayton. Kathleen Lloyd, in her theatrical film debut, played Jane Braxton. John McLiam played David Braxton.

Harry Dean Stanton played Calvin. John P. Ryan, billed as John Ryan, played Si. Randy Quaid played Tod La Frambois (a.k.a. “Little Tod”). Frederic Forrest played Cary.

Sam Gilman played Hank Rate. Richard Bradford played Pete Marker. Hunter von Leer played Sandy. Virgil Frye played Woody. R.L. Armstrong played Bob.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master by Joseph Locke (a.k.a. Ray Garton)

 

(pb; 1989: movie tie-in novel. Prequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Master.)

From the back cover

“Freddy’s back, looking for some ‘soul’ food. And he won’t stop even when Kristen Parker─the last child of Freddy’s killers─takes a deep sleep that puts her six feet deep. Now the fiendish phantom is using other kids’ dreams to produce his victims─and to slaughter them in new and ingeniously gory ways.

“His blades are razor-sharp, and his bloodthirst can’t be stopped. Freddy Krueger is eternal.”

 

Review

Nightmare 4 is a worthwhile read for fans of the franchise who are looking for a well-written, if story-thin (blame the screenwriters and producers who rushed them) continuation of Freddy Krueger’s stalkings, with quite a few variations of how things happen. The ending is slightly tweaked but mostly the same (I’m guessing Locke/Garton worked from an earlier draft of the script). 

If you’re curious what was changed between this solid, mostly dreamtime sequel’s book and film versions, check the reviews on Amazon (there’s a nice person who thoroughly listed the differences). A few of the notable differences include: more waking-time interactions between some of the characters as well as more backstory for them, and Rick Johnson─prior to his kung fu nightmare demise─fights back against Krueger (he doesn’t in the movie). After Rick’s funeral, there’s a book-only scene with Dan, Debbie, and Mr. Bryson, their English teacher.

One of the things I liked about Nightmare 4 is how Krueger might be tied to Aristotle’s notions about positive/negative soul gates. I don’t remember if it’s in the film version, but it’s in Locke/Garton’s entertaining, fast-moving, and waste-no-words writing.

Nightmare 4 is a lean, ninety-eight-page read. It’s also out of print, so if you can get it for a reasonable price (the current price hovers between $50 and $80 online), you might want to consider picking it up if you’re even slightly interested in it.

Nightmare 4 was republished later in 1989 with its sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, in one volume, titled The Nightmares on Elm Street: Parts 4 & 5.

Garton, whether he’s writing under his real name or Joseph Locke, is a consistently excellent and entertaining horror writer, one who’s worth your time.

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The counterpart film was released stateside on August 9, 1988. Renny Harlin directed the film, from a screenplay by Brian Helgeland, Jim and Ken Wheat (both billed as Scott Pierce).

Robert Englund played Freddy Krueger. Tuesday Knight played Kristen Parker. Ken Sagoes played Kinkaid. Rodney Eastman played Joey. Lisa Wilcox played Alice Johnson. Brooke Theiss played Debbie. Andras Jones played Rick Johnson. Danny Hassel played Dan. Nicholas Mele played "Johnson," Alice and Rick's father.

Scream queen Linnea Quigley played “Soul in Freddy’s Chest.” An uncredited Renny Harlin played “Student in Classroom.” New Line producer Robert Shaye, billed as L.E. Moko, played “Lecturer.”

Masters of Time by A.E. van Vogt

 

(pb; 1950, originally published in 1942 and 1944 by Street and Smith Publications, Inc., for Astounding Science-Fiction magazine)

From the back cover

“Norma was a helpless victim of the masters of time; Jack, who loved her, went willingly into slavery, hoping to find a way to release her from bondage. Both of them should have been destroyed, yet somehow, gaining strength from each other, they managed to retain some measure of their free will.

“But was it enough to save both of them─and, more important, to save Earth from the monstrous fate that the masters of time had decreed for it?”

 

Review

Masters, a hectic-paced science fiction novel, is a sometimes fun if chatty book. In it, two humans─Norma Matheson, an ambitious, depressed woman, and her ex-college boyfriend, Professor Jack Garson─are pressed into war service by Dr. Lell, a self-proclaimed “master of time” alien and one of the Glorious. Lell’s tentacled Observer machines take humans from Earth’s past and present eras to fight the Glorious’ future conflict for them.

This is not one of Vogt’s better works. It has his trademark, constant twists and turns as well as sudden shifts in locations and perceptions, so many that it becomes overly convoluted, talky and hard to follow at times.

Readers who are sensitive to briefly less-than-“woke” language and typically-1940s-sexist attitudes might want to skip this one. Most of the male characters, including Jack, are condescending toward Norma and her “emotional” state, even as she finds a way (with help) out of her bad situations. As for the less-than-“woke” language, one of the alien villains (Dr. Lell) is briefly described having “Chinese” and “Negro” attributes in his unsettling features. This is not a surprising element in science fiction during this time (the 1940s)─it was sometimes lazy shorthand for adding exoticism to characters─but it is surprising that Vogt, usually better than this, fell prey to the negative, lazy stereotyping of his era.

What works in Masters is Vogt’s initial set-up, editing and pacing, before it goes into the melodramatic weeds for a while. It’s best not to think too hard about the pseudo-science time-travel dialogue spouted by various characters and try to enjoy the ride (if you stick with it). Its ending is an effective, impressive bookend that almost saves the book from its other excesses and unfortunate, antiquated attitudes, but not quite. While not a terrible read, it’s one I’d only recommend to Vogt completists. If you are a first-time reader of Vogt, I’d suggest Slan (1940), The House That Stood Still (1950) and Mission to the Stars (1952, a.k.a The Mixed Men).

Resident Alien: The Sam Hain Mystery by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse

 

(pb; 2015: graphic novel, collecting issues 0-3 of Resident Alien Volume 3 of the six-volume Resident Alien graphic novel series, published by Dark Horse Comics.)

From the back cover

“Dr. Harry Vanderspiegle is actually a stranded alien explorer hiding out in a sleepy town in the Pacific Northwest. His short time as a doctor in Patience, Washington, has kept him busy solving mysteries, though. With a few successes under his belt. Harry tackles another one after the contents of an old briefcase hint that a murderer could be hiding in town in plain sight-using an alias!”

 

Review

The intriguing, fun, character-interesting charm of the two previous Resident Alien graphic novels is in evidence in the third volume, where Vanderspiegle’s black-suited pursuers─thus far unknown to him─get closer to locating him, and his interest in a local 1960s men’s-adventure action writer (the cleverly named Rex Monday) leads him to dig into a possible long-ago murder mystery when an unpublished manuscript lands in his possession. This is a nice, well-foreshadowed continuation of The Suicide Blonde (when he discovered the writer’s books), with a finish that promises more relatively quiet excitement to come. Followed by Resident Alien: The Man with No Name.

Mentats of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(pb; 2014: second book in the Great Schools of Dune trilogy)

From the back cover

“Gilbertus Albans has founded the Mentat School, a place where humans can learn the efficient techniques of thinking machines. But Gilbertus walks an uneasy line between his own convictions and compromises in order to survive the antitechnology Butlerian fanatics, led by the madman Manford Torondo and his Swordmaster Anari Idaho. Mother Superior Raquella attempts to rebuild her Sisterhood School on Wallach IX, with her most talented and ambitious student, Valya Harkonnen, who also has another goal─to  exact revenge on Vorian Atreides, the legendary hero of the Jihad, whom she blames for her family’s downfall.

“Meanwhile, Josef Venport conducts his own war against the Butlerians. The VenHold Spacing Fleet controls nearly all commerce, thanks to the superior mutated Navigators the Venport has created, and he places a ruthless embargo on any planet that accepts Manford Torondo’s antitechnology pledge, hoping to starve them into submission. But fanatics rarely surrender easily.

“The Mentats, the Navigators, and the Sisterhood all strive to improve the human race, but each group knows that as Butlerian fanaticism grows stronger, the battle to choose the path of humanity’s future─whether to embrace civilization or to plunge into an endless dark age.”

Review

Set immediately after the events of Sisterhood of Dune, Mentats shows the widespread fallout of the massive conflicts that have begun to tear the Imperium apart. The characters from the first Great Schools of Dune book are back, doubling down on their mixed-solutions resolve to save humanity from its worst aspects, many of which they embody or most touch upon from time to time─few people (human or otherwise) are innocent in Dune books, and Sisterhood is no exception. This is one of the strengths of the series, its relatability.

Like previous Dune books, there’s plenty of storyline/character set-up, drama, references to other Dune events and characters (past and future), dry and sometimes dark humor, and of course sometimes-horrific action, resulting from the clashes of polar-opposite characters and even friends. Mentats jumps into the action quicker than Sisterhood does (the benefits of having everything set up in the first Great Schools novel) and its end-twists are particularly effective, bordering on masterful and shocking. This is an excellent entry in the Dune series, one worth reading.

Followed by Navigators of Dune.