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Manifesto

I’m a writer. I don’t review books, I recommend them.

Gun Honey

You may know Hard Case Crime. They do reprints of pulp gems and originals of the best crime writers working today. Stephen King goes over to Hard Case when he wants to step out of the Horror lane. Needless to say, if you see a book with the Hard Case logo, it’s a safe bet. […]

On Basilisk Station

I can’t remember what prompted me to read David Weber’s 1993 novel. It was likely on a “Best Science Fiction” list somewhere. Honor Harrington just got her first captaincy, but some petty politicking has her and her ship, The Fearless, overseeing Basilisk Station, the worst assignment in the Queen’s Navy. But when Honor insists on […]

The WHEELMAN

It’s difficult to describe Duane Swierczynski’s THE WHEELMAN without giving too much away–and saying as much, I’ve probably given too much away.. McKenna at MURDER BY THE BOOK recommended THE WHEELMAN, and for whatever reason, I allowed it to sit on my shelf for a decade before cracking it open. I ought to have had […]

DARK HORSE

It seems Gregg Hurwitz takes pains not to write the same novel over and over again. He also allows his serialized characters and relationships to evolve and change. It is thus that Evan Smoak, also known as Orphan X, stands out in the modern landscape of preternaturally capable hard-boiled heroes. Much like John D. MacDonald’s […]

Top 10 Action Films 2020

Written by Eric Bromberg & Paul Taegel, The 2nd ranked in the top 10 action flicks of 2020! …according to this guy.

Books #2020

In random order. Some audio. Some analog. Some missing. As You Like It — William ShakespeareWhat the Buddha Taught – Walpole Sri RahulaTotal Power – Vince FlynnVicious – V.E. SchwabShibumi – TrevanianThe Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires – Grady HendrixGideon the Ninth – Tamsyn MuirThe Infinite Game – Simon SinekRules For Radicals – […]

Destry Rides Again by Max Brand

Max Brand’s 1930 novel embodies one of the aspects of pulp novels that has always drawn me to them: humans struggling with or against morality in an amoral universe. The harsh, dangerous, and unforgiving landscape of the American frontier crushes the weak or merely naive, exposing bourgeois morality as a dish only those well insulated […]