The Classic Leading Man Test

Your result for The Classic Leading Man Test...

Jimmy Stewart

You scored 12% Tough, 10% Roguish, 57% Friendly, and 24% Charming!

You are the fun and friendly boy next door, the classic nice guy who still manages to get the girl most of the time. You're every nice girl's dreamboat, open and kind, nutty and charming, even a little mischievous at times, but always a real stand up guy. You're dependable and forthright, and women are drawn to your reliability, even as they're dazzled by your sense of adventure and fun. You try to be tough when you need to be, and will gladly stand up for any damsel in distress, but you'd rather catch a girl with a little bit of flair. Your leading ladies include Jean Arthur and Donna Reed, those sweet girl-next-door types.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the
Classic Dames Test.

Take The Classic Leading Man Test at HelloQuizzy

Mysterical-E Fall 2008 Issue

Now live, featuring my roundup of this summer's movies and TV shows.

My Bouchercon Schedule

I will be arriving at Bouchercon midday October 9, so here are the panels and events I'll be attending:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9

1:30 P.M.-2:30 P.M. (International B)

ROCK AND ROLL ALL NIGHT (Kiss) Keeping people hooked on the book. David Montgomery(M), Andrew Gross, Stephen Hunter, Mike Lawson, Gayle Lynds, M.J. Rose

3:00 P.M.-4:00 P.M. (International D)

CONCRETE JUNGLE (Bob Marley & the Wailers) Urban or rural does the setting change the writing? Reed Farrel Coleman(M) Thomas H. Cook, Steve Hamilton, David Hewson, Laura Lippman

4:30 P.M.-5:30 P.M. (International E)

JANIE'S GOT A GUN (Aerosmith) Do you need to kick ass to be kick ass? J.T. Ellison(M), Tasha Alexander, Robert Fate, Cornelia Read, Greg Rucka, Zoë Sharp

7:00 P.M.

Opening Ceremonies- Sheraton-International Ballroom-Presentation of the Barry, Macavity & CrimeSpree Awards


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10

7:30 - 8:15ish A.M.

Breakfast with DetecToday, CrimeSeen, and/or Spenser's Sneakers members, if any show up. Otherwise it's just me. Anyone interested can meet me in the lobby of the Sheraton Baltimore City Center at 7:30 A.M., and we'll make a plan.

10:00 - 11:00 A.M. (International D)

POETRY IN MOTION (Johnny Tittotrea) Crime rhyme with Reed Farrel Coleman(M), Sophie Hannah, John Harvey, Gerald So

11:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M. (Pratt)

THE KILLING MOON (Echo & the Bunnymen) Noir for the new century. Megan Abbott & Eddie Muller

1:30 P.M.-2:30 P.M. (International D)

CATCH A RISING STAR (Jim Roberts) Best first novelists. Margaret Maron(M), Sean Chercover, Lisa Lutz, Craig McDonald, Marcus Sakey

3:00 - 4:00 P.M. (International A)

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (5 Man Electric Band) Books we love that you should too. Dana Kaye(M), Patti Abbott, Lee Child, Bill Crider, Rae Helmsworth, Ali Karim

4:30 P.M.-5:30 P.M. (International B)

A SINGER MUST DIE (Leonard Cohen) Books that have a lasting impact. Jennifer Jordan(M), John Connolly, Christa Faust, Russel McLean, Nathan Singer, Martyn Waites

6:30 P.M.

Shamus Awards Dinner-Westminster Hall 519 W. Fayette



SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

8:30 A.M.-9:30 A.M. (International C)

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS (BTO) The business of publishing. Madeira James(M), Maggie Griffin, Ben LeRoy, Scott Miller, David Hale Smith, Sarah Weinman

11:30 A.M.-12:30 P.M. (International B)

PRIVATE EYES (Hall and Oates) Why would someone want to be a PI? Harry Hunsicker(M), Linwood Barclay, Declan Hughes, John Lutz, Dave White, Michael Wiley

1:30 P.M.-2:30 P.M. (International E)

BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN (Albert King) Protagonists that walk the line. Robin Hathaway(M), Sean Doolittle, R.J. Ellroy, J.D. Rhoades, Steve Thayer

3:00 P.M.-4:00 P.M. (International E)

HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME, KILL ME (U2) Batman-world's greatest detective? McKenna Jordan(M), Brian Azzarello, Tim Broderick, Victor Gischler, Greg Rucka

I will be attending Mass at St. Alphonsus 5:30-6:30ish P.M. and on Sunday I head home. Comment if you know of any side events I'd enjoy.

TRIGGER CITY by Sean Chercover

Still feeling the physical and emotional effects of his brush with Chicago's Outfit in last year's Big City, Bad Blood, reporter-turned-P.I. Ray Dudgeon reluctantly goes to work for retired Colonel Isaac Richmond. Richmond's estranged daughter Joan had been head of payroll for a midsize-department store chain when she was murdered by her co-worker Steven Zhang, who left a signed confession before killing himself. Though the facts of the case are clear, Col. Richmond wants Dudgeon to fill in the picture of Joan's life. Ray knows better than to go off on a quixotic quest for truth, but with a shoulder needing surgery, he can't turn down the Colonel's hefty check.

As you might expect, Dudgeon's investigation uncovers much higher stakes, but where other writers would get carried away, Chercover keeps enough focus on Joan and Ray. Many of today's fictional PIs read like rushed updates of the classic archetype. Dudgeon is not the usual macho ex-cop. He never engages in bravado. He reads instead like a friend who's in the same boat we all are.

Trigger City goes on sale Tuesday, October 14, and Sean's book tour begins 7pm that night at one of my favorite bookstores, Partners & Crime. The next day, he'll sign at New Jersey's Clinton Book Shop.

Today is National Punctuation Day

Know it. Use it. Love it.

Should you watch the new Knight Rider?

Zap2it.com's Rick Porter says, "If your memories of the original show are still fond, there's no need to sully them by watching the update."

The End

Last night the New York Yankees were officially eliminated from contention, ending a streak of thirteen MLB playoff appearances. More disappointing to me than the end of the streak is the organization's failure to acknowledge, amid all its stadium-closing fanfare, Joe Torre, manager of twelve of those thirteen playoff teams.

I have a friend who was a Yankee fan all his life until George Steinbrenner fired Buck Showalter, whom many, myself included, credit with building the foundation for the '96 team led by Torre. While I remain a Yankee fan, I wonder how a franchise so proud of its history can sometimes so blatantly ignore it.

NCIS: "Last Man Standing"

So it turns out Director Vance (Rocky Carroll) split up Gibbs's team to ferret out NCIS's involvement in the theft of military secrets. The three members of Gibbs's new team are all suspects, and McGee, DiNozzo, and David each play a role in unmasking the traitor. The catch, classically revealed in the final seconds of the premiere, is they don't succeed. This sets up some nice suspense for the season.

Kudos to writer-showrunner Shane Brennan.

Retooling?

Thinking of my potential to write a novel, I'm considering updating my most successful series character, C.J. Stone, from the 1930s to the present. I'm not sure I could do the research to the satisfaction of historical fiction fans, and my existing stories with C.J. aren't especially period-dependent. Stone could be a present-day pilot who flies a restored Grumman Goose between Florida and the Bahamas. I have published six stories with him, but he remains largely unknown to the general public.

The only question is, would I lose some je ne sais quoi in the update?

Catching up with Chuck

Crimespree Cinema's Jeremy Lynch has posted my review of Chuck: The Complete First Season on DVD.

Fall Flash Fiction Challenge

Here's another one from Patti Abbott. Join in by commenting on this post or on Patti's blog with your blog/site link.

Aldo Calcagno, Gerald So and I are ready to challenge flash fiction writers once again. I hope you're in the mood.

Since women have become a bit of a political football of late, I have a choice of two lines to use in a 750 or so word story. Both lines come from an obscure and strange Kay Francis movie from 1932 called Cynara.


"I have been faithful to you, Cynara, in my fashion."


Or


"Call no woman respectable till she's dead."

You can change the name to whatever suits you if you choose line 1 although it's hard to beat Cynara for mystique.

We're thinking of an end date of October 20th. Aldo will post stories for those without sites on Powder Burn Flash. And Gerald So and I will post the links for those who do have blogs. Hope to hear from you.

Where have you gone, Yankee Stadium?

The first time I went to a Yankee game was 1980 Cap Day with my father and uncle. I was five-and-a-half years old and couldn't follow the game without Phil Rizzuto calling plays. The next time was in 1996, before the team's improbable World Series win over the Braves. Since then I've gone to three or four games with friends from Hofstra's literary magazine who happily are also Yankee fans. More than the scores or anything that happened in the games, I remember the good company and childlike excitement. With higher ticket prices at the new stadium, I don't know if I'll ever get back, but that's what memories are for.

Happy Birthday, Batman.

TV Batman Adam West turns 80 today. Yes, West's Batman was the height of camp, but without it I would never have seen Julie Newmar as the quintessential Catwoman. Kudos to West for having good humor about the whole thing over the years.

Did you know West was offered the role of James Bond for Diamonds Are Forever?

Burn Notice: "Good Soldier"

Hot on Carla's trail, Michael is approached by Fiona's boyfriend to help prevent a kidnapping. As interesting as that plot was, it felt like filler next to the rising stakes of the season-long arc. As the kidnapping plot wraps up, things are thrown into chaos as Carla's sniper is killed, and the same unknown enemy has booby-trapped Michael's loft to explode. We fade from the explosion to a "To Be Continued'.

I want to find out what happens next week, but at least I only have to wait until winter.

Smallville: "Odyssey"

Say what you will about Smallville, it sure knows how to put on a finale or premiere. In the ruins of the Fortress of Solitude, Lex mysteriously disappears and a powerless Clark winds up indentured to a Russian fisherman. The Justice League goes looking for Clark, leaving them open to siege by the new boss of LuthorCorp, Tess Mercer. Meanwhile, Chloe is being held at a LuthorCorp facility in Montana, and without his abilities, Clark chooses to help her.

I've always thought the best time to see Superman's true character is when he has no powers. When he chooses to stand and fight with no particular advantages (powers, utility belt, etc.), he shows faith in the human spirit like no other hero.

After a near-death experience, Clark finally decides to quit the farm and find his fortune in Metropolis. Putting him at a desk across from Lois already seems a bit abrupt as we haven't yet seen any particular inclination toward journalism, but I still smiled at their banter and body language. Smallville has always had its moments, and I'm grateful for another season of them.

Parker at 76

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker turns 76 today, and while much of his series work has become repetitive and lost relevance, you can read any of his recent novels on its own and appreciate his major gift: clarity.

This week the movie based on his Western Appaloosa opens, introducing him to a new generation of fans.

House: "Dying Changes Everything"

Tonight's fifth season premiere wasn't really about the latest mysterious case to come through the doors of Princeton-Plainsborough, but about Amber's death in a bus crash after picking up a drunk House, and its impact on House's friendship with Wilson. You could almost predict that Wilson's real issue in the ordeal stemmed from House's needy, manipulative ways and the fact that this time they cost someone's life and could have cost Wilson's life.

Next episode, House hires a P.I. to spy on Wilson. I have a feeling this will be played for comedy, and as much as I like the characters, I don't know that I'll watch the melodrama unfold week to week. I do wonder if and how House and Wilson will reconcile, but not enough to flip over from NCIS, which premieres next week.

Jeter Passes Gehrig

With a hot-smash single under the glove of Juan Uribe, Derek Jeter has passed Lou Gehrig for most hits all-time at Yankee Stadium with 1,270.

THE MIDDLEMAN: THE COLLECTED SERIES INDISPENSABILITY

I ordered a copy of the omnibus volume of Middleman comics in mid-July, and in a way I'm glad it didn't arrive until after ABC Family's Middleman finished its season. The comics are slightly different from the TV show. Darker maybe. The words are the same for the most part, but actually hearing actors deliver them gave me a better idea of the tone, or maybe gave a tone I preferred.

Also, the comics seem to spoil some big things about the show, but I suppose the show could always turn out differently. Its universe is already bigger.

Biggest Movie Disappointments

Patti Abbott blogged on this topic yesterday, and I commented:

My biggest disappointment in recent memory was Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Its worst sins were trying to give The Force a scientific basis and telling backstory that didn't need to be told. It drained any excitement I had for the rest of the trilogy.

I was also somewhat disappointed in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. Singer seemed afraid to put his own stamp on things, not wanting to mess with what fans liked about Richard Donner's films.

The Big Bang Theory

I'm a fan of Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco, but I didn't catch much of this show last season as it was on Mondays at 8:30, halfway through episodes of Chuck. Late last week I watched all 17 episodes on DVD. I'm nowhere near a physicist, but I am a Trekkie, a superhero fan, and a recovering gamer. Heck, the show has enough across-the-hall hijinks and camaraderie, you may not need to be any of those things to enjoy it.

The Season 1 finale re-airs tonight at 8, in which Penny (Cuoco) dumps her latest stud boyfriend and agrees to go on a date with Leonard (Galecki). In next week's premiere, the date has supposedly gone awry and Penny seeks advice from Leonard's smarter, more neurotic roommate Sheldon (Jim Parsons). Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, I'm hooked.

Embracing the Moment

Derek Jeter came into the Yankees' final homestand of the season needing nine hits to tie Lou Gehrig for most hits at Yankee Stadium (1,269). Jeter's records would not have carried over to the new Yankee Stadium next season, so the pressure was on to pass Gehrig in ten games. And just as he has so often, Jeter delivered, notching three hits in the first three games of the homestand, tying Gehrig today with a home run.

Bern, Baby, Bern

Bernie Williams, a fixture in centerfield from 1991 through 2005, and a key member of the Yankees' '96, '98, '99, and 2000 championship teams, turns 40 today. A quiet leader a la Don Mattingly, Bernie has proven irreplaceable since his playing time was curtailed in 2005. Johnny Damon is a marginally better hitter and baserunner, but his throwing arm is as weak as Bernie's had become. Melky Cabrera has a great arm but doesn't hit well enough to stay in the major leagues.

"Holy s**t, Batman!"

WENN reports that "Batman comic bosses are pulping tens of thousands of copies of the latest Dark Knight adventure because a printing error has left it filled with swear words."

The Facts of Life

Jeremy Lynch has posted my review of Life: Season One to Crimespree Cinema.

The above title is just an excuse to sing my favorite verse of a classic TV theme song:

When the world never seems
to be livin' up to your dreams
And suddenly you're finding out
the Facts of Life are all about you, you--

September 11

Seven years ago, I was working from home and heard via instant message that a plane had struck one of the Twin Towers. I imagined it was a small plane, an accident, until a second plane struck the second tower. Nothing was visible in the sky from Long Island. The next day was sunny and quiet at Hofstra, but any illusion of safety was gone.

I don't know that anything positive can truly come from tragedy, but I appreciate personal freedom, indeed my very breath, with a clarity I didn't have before September 11.

In the summer of 2002, Dave White submitted "Closure" to Thrilling Detective, and editing it was my privilege, my small contribution to our national mourning.

Fringe

FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is drawn into the world of the paranormal when she and her secret lover Agent John Scott (Mark Valley) are assigned to investigate a plane that landed at Logan Airport with no signs of life aboard.

When Scott falls mysteriously and critically ill, Dunham is forced to find Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) to gain access to his father, institutionalized fringe scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble), in hopes of finding a cure. Dark and paranoiac, it reminds me of the quickly cancelled Threshold. The jury is still out.

Gregory Mcdonald Dies

The creator of Fletch has died at age 71. Fletch was the first mystery novel I read for pleasure. Fast-paced and full of wit and substance, it started a run of more than fifteen years during which I've read mysteries almost exclusively, during which only a handful have spoken to me as clearly and immediately as Fletch.

I will miss Mcdonald, yet in a sense I never will. His style is so much what I look for in other writing and my own.

Still The One

Technically Roger Federer is currently No. 2 to Rafael Nadal, but beating several younger phenoms including Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, he disproves those who doubted his desire and becomes the first man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open five consecutive times.

I enjoyed seeing Federer's play improve throughout the tournament, from tentative and a few steps slow to vintage confident and slashing.

Backpacks at Bouchercon?

This year's will be my first Bouchercon, and I have a few novice questions you may be able to answer:

Is it okay to wear a backpack containing emergency food and drink as I attend panels and walk the floor? This is usually how I travel in New York City.

What's the proper attire for the Shamus Awards Banquet if I'm just a spectator? I have a black suit in a pinch. I'm semi-formal by nature, but I may need to buy a sportcoat.

I'll add questions to this post as I think of them. Feel free to comment with any advice.

Bones: "Yanks in the U.K."

In London to lecture, Brennan and Booth are asked to assist in the investigation of an American socialite's murder. Brennan and Booth's chemistry drives the episode and Booth's bristling against British custom is played for great humor.

Meanwhile at the Jeffersonian, the arrival of Angela's husband ratchets up the tension between her and Hodgins, and their idyllic romance gets rocky rather suddenly but naturally. All in all an excellent use of resources and a fine starting point for Season 4.

High School Dropout

I was a junior in high school when Beverly Hills 90210 premiered, but the only episode I've ever watched is the one where Rick (Dean Cain) comes to Beverly Hills looking for Brenda. I watched the episode in reruns after Cain had become known as Clark Kent/Superman.

Yes, as steeped in pop culture as I am, as fascinated with Shannen Doherty, 90210 was a phenomenon I blissfully ignored. I probably won't watch tonight's premiere of The CW's "edgier" update, either.

In Love with a Stripper Named Lynn

...is the title of my profane limerick, a finalist in Asinine Poetry's Crime Contest, judged by Tim McLoughlin. Thanks to Tim and the folks at Asinine, and congratulations to the winners.

Sands of Zanzibar!

You haven't watched The Middleman this summer?! It's almost too late. The season finale, "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome", airs tonight. I mean, really, what would you rather watch: A fun episode ala Star Trek's Mirror Universe or a long-haired Mark-Paul Gosselaar in a lawyer show?

Tonight's episode is dedicated to script coordinator Neil H. Levin, who previously worked on Firefly, The 4400, and Tru Calling, and who tragically died two months ago following a fall from which he sustained a concussion.

Thank you once again to Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Les McClaine, Hans Beimler, Sarah Watson, Jordan Rosenberg, Andy Reaser, Tracey Stern, Margaret Dunlap, Matt Keeslar, Natalie Morales, Brit Morgan, Jake Smollett, Mary Pat Gleason, Tree Adams, Neil Levin, and everyone who made The Middleman for keeping the old heroes alive.