At the beginning of this excellent crime novel, Parker is actually runing uphill from the law dogs that have been chasing him since the authorities found his trail. Helicopters sweep overhead as he keeps moving. Parker and his crew had a bank robbery go bad in the last Parker novel 2004’s Nobody Runs Forever. At the top of the hill, his luck changes when he meets a townie who will help Parker get away if the criminal helps him with a job of his own.

The prose by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark is sharp and zips right along. Since Parker is the consummate professional and without emotion, the townie gets a lot of time to explain how the owners of the racetrack screwed him over and why he wants revenge on his former employer. He has a simple job planned which is complicated when a pair of local hicks want in on the big payday. The story really shines when Parker has a bad day.

The odd title comes from a silent parrot owned by the townie that bribes Parker into a partnership. Sure enough, there is a chapter from the bird’s point of view when the parrot finally chooses to speak. This is excellent work and Stark is a must read for noir fans.
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Steve Martin uses this wonderful biography to chart the development of his stand-up routine. It starts with his first job selling guidebooks at Disneyland and ends with him walking away from that life on the road to make The Jerk. He is by turns harsh to the people that never followed through on showbiz promises made and kind to comedy giants such as Johnny Carson and Carl Reiner. His relationship with his Dad and women on the road are a little too intimate for me, but this is a fascinating book.

The wonderful thing for me was discovering the genesis of his act and seriousness required to make it hum. His stories of failed attempts and stumbles are as entertaining as his impressions of Saturday Night Live alum like John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd. His anecdotes and clever approach to being silly really makes me want to go back and listen to that old vinyl. This should be a primer for anyone considering a life in entertainment.
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Brick is a hard-boiled detective story set in and around a High School. Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) our noir hero of the suburbs is a wiseguy who knows all of the angles and all of the players. When his ex-girlfriend calls him asking him for help, it sets a chain of events in motion that end in murder. There is a load of violence and snappy detective patter. The old school words coming out of the mouths of teens made me laugh. I love Lukas Haas’ Dark Shadows look in the movie. This is a delightful surprise of a whodunit so go find it on DVD.

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Daryl Gregory’s first novel is a work of daring and brilliance. The prose is crisp and the observed world around him is well drawn. In the world of Pandemonium, demon possession is common enough to have various strains identified. A pistol-wielding demon named The Truth guns down liars. A shield-slinging hero nicknamed The Captain possesses soldiers in their darkest hours. And a puckish demon named The Hellion possesses little boys and has adventures that are a series of boyish pranks.

In the story, young Del is posessed by a demon when he is five and to his horror, the demon never leaves. Now, Del is in his twenties and the demon has re-awakened. The Hellion wants out so that he can spread his brand of mischief. Del wants him dead. As Del races to find a cure, The Hellion in his head starts throwing up roadblocks including a murder. Pandemonium is a clever and compelling read.

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Our first issue of ANGEL sold out and is getting a second printing.

So look for ANGEL #28 (2nd print) in January.

Thanks to all of the fans who bought the book. We’re just getting started.

Probably the least popular of Jack Kirby’s many creations, Devil Dinosaur is a bit of a punchline. The series deserves it. Make no mistake, these are some weak comics. They are goofy without being funny. If the introduction by Tom Brevoort is accurate, this series was created because there was a bit of interest in turning his Kamandi series from DC into a Saturday Morning Cartoon. Kirby wanted to create something like that for Marvel, so he went back in time instead of forward. It took courage and daring.

Consider the challenges of writing the adventures of a proto-human named Moon Boy and his non-speaking bright red T-Rex-shaped buddy Devil Dinosaur. They fight the big three of 1970’s pop science fiction: spiders, ants and robots. So, Moon Boy narrates their adventures in that Kirby-speak. That is a tall hill to climb and Kirby does his best, but the project seems doomed from the start. It is a failed bold experiment, but I salute the effort.

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Sturges’ logline for the book is essentially that it is ‘The Dirty Dozen with Elves’ which is a little misleading. Midwinter is an action and adventure story in the time of war placed in a fantasy setting. The story follows the former occupants of a prison across the world as it enters a once-every-hundred-years winter to complete a suicide mission. The characters are sharp and the story really moves. Okay, maybe the logline works.

It unfairly suffers by comparison with its sequel The Office of Shadow which I read in the manuscript stage. While Office of Shadow is great, Midwinter is a good first novel and an interesting window into an alien culture. These books made me rethink what I was writing at the time. For the moment, I can’t think of better praise.

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Warren Ellis writes one character very well, and this is a novel about that character. Mike McGill drinks, finds colorful new ways to swear and chain smokes his way across the country in search of a book. In his Thompsonesque journey, he meets perverts and deviants as he follows the book and interviews the motley crew of previous owners. It is Fear and Loathing with more sex and less drugs. Along the way, McGill reveals a surprisingly tender and vulnerable aspect to his character that undercuts his badass wise-cracking image. In short, it was just about exactly what I expected with a few fun moments.

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Kenneth Branagh wonderfully underplays the beaten-down detective Kurt Wallander in these three 90 minute movies that played on BBC in 2008. Based on novels by Henning Mankell, these stories are set in Ystad, Sweden and highlight a real divide that Wallander sees in the violence washing over the next generation. The dreamy unreal setting is highlighted by long loving shots of the countryside and endless shots of people through windows. Very stylized.

The violence in these movies is quick, surprising and deadly. The mysteries are clever and the characters are delightfully flawed. Branagh delivers a touching performance and was up for an Emmy for this role. The DVD extras have interviews with Mankell and Branagh and a bit about the process of making the little movies. Excellent stuff. In particular, FIREWALL has the best cold opening of anything I have seen in the past few years.

With luck, this will run as long as Inspector Morse.

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Matthew Sturges has pulled off a mean feat with his second novel. He has constructed a grounded and believable fantasy world and populated it with relatable characters. If his first novel, Midwinter was The Dirty Dozen with elves, then Office of Shadow is a Robert Ludlum style Cold War thriller with elves.

Powerful political figures fear the worst as a terrible ultimate weapon is used to destroy an Elven city. Knowing that their enemies will use the weapon again, Queen Regina Titiana orders the Office of Shadow to find and stop the weapon before it can be used again. The narrative follows Perrin Alt, Lord Silverdun from Midwinter as he gets drafted into service as a shadow in the Queen’s service. He is aided by an ex-soldier nicknamed Ironfoot and the delightfully unhinged Sela.

The action moves right along and the ending satisfies. I hope he writes another.

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