The cover of my Kindle edition of The Valley of Fear is pulp. It shows a scantily clad woman, screaming, as a muscular arm–its hand curled into a fist–threatens her in the foreground. The attacker’s arm is branded with a triangle enclosed in circle. The publisher’s logo appears in the upper left corner: Hard...
You might think that a movie released in March of this year but hitting Netflix Instant Play by the end of April has suspected entertainment value, but you would be wrong. Hush is a tense drama that kept me at the edge of my seat. It is a simple movie with a simple plot,...
When I first heard that Apple was developing a tablet device, I rolled my eyes and asked, “Who’s going to want that?” But the first time I saw the iPad, I answered my own rhetorical question. “Me! That’s who! I want one!” I don’t remember whether it was the week of its release or...
Spoiler alert! In The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle’s sixth Sherlock Holmes book, Sherlock Holmes, the famed detective, returns. “The Final Problem,” the last story of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, was set in 1891. “The Adventure of the Empty House,” the first story of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, is set...
Besides myself, I could count the number of people in the audience on one hand plus one finger. I mean six. There were six persons in the theater, seven if you count me, which I suppose you should. Granted, it was the first showing of the day, but it wasn’t that early. It was...
In 1274 BCE, the Egyptian and Hittite Empires met for battle at Kadesh. Less than a hundred years later, around 1190, unknown invaders captured and destroyed the Hittite capital of Hattusa. Between these two events, legend tells us, a Trojan prince named Paris visited the Mycenaean Greek city of Sparta and ran off with...
At the risk of stubbing my toe against a cliché, let me tell you to never judge a book by its cover. I wish I could brag that I follow that edict to the word, but I know that there are many books in my library that are there for their covers alone. The...
Last week, I wrote a rant against marketing abuses of Marvel Cinematic Universe, but even as that was finished and scheduled for publication, DC Extended Universe released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Despite my rant against these shared fictional universes, I decided to see it. I have neither the time nor the money...
This is not a review. This is not a critical essay. This is a rant. And since this is a rant, please do not expect it to be organized. Please do not expect it to be logical. And least of all, please do not expect it to spoiler free. I’m ranting against something that...
Whoever killed the woman had cut her body in half, at the waist, and dumped her naked on the corner of 39th and Norton. Two imperfect homicide detectives pulled the case. Frank Crotty was more concern with the motel he was opening with Chinese investors. “You think I’m going to lose any sleep over...
