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Showing posts from August, 2011

Closed on Account of the Plague

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Probably won't hear much from me anywhere this week. This is the start of classes at the university and, typically, one of our busiest times of year. To complicate things even more, I currently have what I'm hoping is just a summer cold. I usually don't get sick. I really don't. Despite presisting with smoking cigarettes, I stay in decent health and keep in good shape. The problem is: when I do get sick, it knocks me on my ass. I'm hoping to kick this thing before the weekend, but, either way, don't think I'm going to be communicating very much the rest of the week. There are a couple of people that I owe e-mails. I haven't forgotten you, honestly.

Fright Night

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Last Saturday, we went to see Fright Night . Normally I try to avoid remakes, especially if I like the original but the trailer sold me on giving this one a chance. The new version actually looked promising, like an interesting remake that didn’t seem hell-bent on murdering another pleasant memory from my youth. Okay, well, that’s not entirely true. It was the trailer…and David Tennant. I’m a huge Doctor Who fan. Tennant is easily my favorite Doctor of the current run. Besides being my favorite Doctor, he’s one of Maria’s biggest crushes. So it was win-win. I was surprised how much the new film retains the premise of the original. Briefly: Charley Brewster, a high school kid, watches his neighbor out the window. Brewster learns the neighbor is a vampire responsible for a recent rash of disappearances. No one believes Brewster so he tries to enlist the aid of someone he thinks knows about vampires and can help his battle against the undead. Complications ensue when the vampire

Shane Stevens Update

Work continues on my Shane Stevens biographical investigation. It's currently at 40+ k and includes twenty photographs. I've recently come across some new sources of information that I've been looking into. I know a few people, some fellow Shane Stevens fans, are a little frustrated by the delay. I can, however, assure you no one wants to see this finished and circulating more than I do. Shane wrapped himself in a lot of shadows and I'm still learning to see in the dark.

Riddick

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A transport ship crashes on a distant planet after being struck by debris from a comet’s tail. Most of the people onboard die. Only one crewman survives, a woman named Carolyn Fry who panics during the landing and almost kills everyone. A few passengers crawl out of the wreckage: a runaway, a holy man and his charges, an antiquities dealer, and two settlers. Then there’s the bounty hunter. A man named Johns, a merc with a drug habit he feeds by shooting spikes of morphine into his eyeballs. Most of the cargo is destroyed. However, the most important cargo? The most valuable and dangerous piece is missing. Riddick. Riddick is Johns’ prisoner. He’s an escaped convict, a murderer with a large bounty on his head. Johns tells the survivors that Riddick is a human predator who can see in the dark and he’s capable of anything. Like skull-fucking you in your sleep. Luckily, Johns recaptures Riddick before anyone needs a nap. While Johns is tracking Riddick, the others survey the

I've Never Been Able To Put My Finger On It Until Now

For a short time there's a great essay on CSI over at Smart Pop Books. The always insightful and immensely talented Nick Mamatas managed to explain in a single paragraphy why I never liked CSI: " CSI and the inevitable knock-offs ( Bones , Crossing Jordan , and to a lesser extent the medical mystery show House ) are the ultimate in wish-fulfillment. For all of us good American taxpayers, there is a nanny police state that uses nothing but objective and infallible means to keep society from falling into chaos. With infinite resources at its command, but no special demands made upon anyone except for the guilty, the nanny police state (staffed not by evil storm troopers or soulless technocrats, but sexy, if flawed, individuals) keeps us safe." Read "You Care Who Killed Roger Ackroyd" before it's gone.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas: Spam Phishing

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I don't think there's anyone who hasn't received a "Nigerian Letter" at least once. I get them delivered frequently to my work e-mail. Yesterday, I received an interesting one. It was a nice variation on the letter's conventions with the additions of shady business partners, murder by poison, and a young girl desperate for a savior. Below is the text of the spam/phishing attempt. The only thing I've done is truncate the sender's name to its first letters. Greetings from S-- K-- With all due respect, I want you to read my letter with one mind and help me. I am S-- K--, The only child of late Mr. and Mrs. K--, My Late father was a very wealthy cocoa dealer in in Lome Togo before he was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outing to discuss on a business deal. When my mother died when she was given birth to me, my father took me so special because I am motherless. Before the death of my father on 22nd September, 2010 in a priv

Left To Memory

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I’ve been re-reading a bunch of The Destroyer books to get in the correct headspace for something I’ve been working on. The Destroyer books, in case you’re not familiar with them, was an action adventure series that ran for a number of years and authors. The main character is a man named Remo Williams. He’s a NYC cop when he’s forcibly recruited into CURE, a secret organization that answers only to the president. You see, Remo grew up an orphan and as an adult he still has no family of his own, so he's the perfect target. CURE fakes his death and hands the unwilling Williams over to Chiun, the Master of Sinanju (the source of all martial arts; the art of which all others are but shadows), to be trained as their newest weapon—The Destroyer. During the course of the series, Remo and Chiun travel the globe and fight evil geniuses, maniacal warlords, masters of mind control and other deadly assassins. The books have tons of action, some sex, and a good bit of comedy (mostly from Chi

F. Paul Wilson Interview in Crime Factory # 7

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Crime Factory # 7 is now live. It's a massive issue. So large you'll be thankful it's in electronic format, thus sparing you the back trouble. It's full of a lot of good stuff, tons of fiction and feature by writers like Sean Doolittle, Todd Robinson, Matthew C. Funk, Derek Kelly, The Nerd of Noir, Richard Thomas, Don Lafferty, Joelle Charbonneau, and Edward Grainger. It also includes an interview I did with F. Paul Wilson, the author of the long-running Repairman Jack series (one of my favorites). I conducted the interview a while ago, but its appearance was, understandably, delayed due to the computer theft that led to Cam cancelling the planned Horror Factory issue. The delay, I don't think, in no way makes the interview less relevant or timely. It was a treat to speak to Mr. Wilson. I can honestly say he was one of the nicest and most understanding people I've ever met. If there is anything awkward with the interview, I can assure you--it's my fault