They always say, “Write what you know”
Master thriller writer Frederick Forsyth stumbled into a genuine political coup on a recent research trip to Guinea-Bissau in West Africa.
From the Associated Press:
Hours before he touched down in the West African nation, a bomb hidden under a staircase blew apart the armed forces chief. Hours later the president was gunned down, and according to Forsyth, hacked to pieces.
He said he has stopped inventing fictional places “because the world is so weird and so scary, you might as well use the real ones.”
Read the rest here.
Chasing Darkness, by Robert Crais
Robert Crais, in my opinion, is getting to be a better and deeper novelist with each book.
Chasing Darkness is a departure from his recent novels in that he tones down the violence a bit. He’s been prone lately to having his main characters (private eye Elvis Cole and his associate Joe Pike) end up seriously wounded and hospitalized after a harrowing life-or-death battle, but this time it’s all about the mystery and the characters, with the final bloodletting somewhat less comprehensive. And I don’t think he loses anything by that.
The story begins in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles, during a wildfire evacuation. Policemen sent in to evacuate residents discover a dead man, an apparent suicide, sitting over a photo album containing photographs of female murder victims—photographs that could only have been taken before the police got to the scenes.
Suddenly Elvis Cole is the target of investigation by the police, and threats from one of the victims’ families. Because he worked for the dead man’s lawyer and helped get him acquitted on one of these murders.
Elvis doesn’t like being pushed, and he knows for a fact that the guy couldn’t have committed the murder. So he reopens his investigation. In this he is assisted (off the record) by his police detective friend Carol Starkey, and of course Joe Pike, the best guy in the world to have watching your back.
What he discovers is corruption, depravity and cover-up at the highest levels of city government. And then he gets a surprise, and the whole game changes.
I liked Chasing Darkness a lot. It’s a cerebral, tragic, character-driven story, concentrating on the costs of crime to those who care about the victims.
Recommended for grownups.
Best Superhero Scenes
I think about this kind of thing too much. I can’t think of favorite moments from superhero movies or even the comics I used to read. I do love the part where Larryboy is careening toward the city water tower, out of control, and shouts accenting each word, “I am going to die!” And I like the scene where Darkwing Duck tells Megavolt he is not a well person, to which Megavolt responds, “What? And you’re normal? ‘I am the cold sore that stings your lips!’ We are definitely talking demented.”
But I can’t think of much else. Here are two lists of best scenes from superhero movies.
National Grammar Day
Roy Jacobsen, of Writing Clear and Simple, alerts us that tomorrow is National Grammar Day.
Update: On closer examination, I note that National Grammar Day is actually today.
Unless you’re reading this tomorrow, of course, in which case it’s yesterday.
Cologne collapse
Rose-Colored Glasses Crushed
Judge Andrew Napolitano has a new book coming out on America’s treatment of citizens according to race. While claiming all are created equal, over the years they have rejected that idea deliberately. It’s called Dred Scott’s Revenge.
“The real culprit throughout our racial history has been the government,” writes Napolitano. “At every level, at virtually every turn, in every generation, the government selectively chose to enact and enforce laws and inevitably condoned and protected the most horrific abuse imaginable to blacks, and to some of the whites who protested.”
The Future of Newspapers?
On stopping swords, with swords
This will have to be a short post. My new publisher is finally calling on me for input in getting my book put together, so I can’t give my topic the word count it deserves.
But here’s tonight’s Provocative Thesis™:
All liberals are Christians.
Even if they’re atheists. Even if they’re Jewish or Buddhist or New Age or “Spiritual, Not Religious.”
They’re Christian heretics, but they’re Christian heretics. Continue reading On stopping swords, with swords
Ugly Imagery
Thomas Jefferson, who was not always right about things but is still a pretty quotable leader, gave us this bit of ugly word imagery: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
In related news, things in Iraq are on the upswing.