Music I Like: King of the Road - Roger Miller

Always liked Roger Miller, and this was probably his biggest hit.

Saturday Morning Western Pulp: Speed Western, March 1943

An early issue of the slightly toned-down and tamer successor to SPICY WESTERN, this one features the evocatively titled "3 Gals Make a Murder" by Laurence Donovan. Donovan may well have contributed even more, since every other author's by-line in this issue is a house name and he was one of Trojan's most prolific writers. I've read a few issues of SPEED WESTERN (not this one), and while they're not great stuff, I've found them to be pretty entertaining.

Music I Like: Rumble and Sway - Jamie N Commons

Now here's a fairly new song that I like a lot. Great sound to it, I think. I need to check out some more by the guy who does it.

Forgotten Books: Skyrocket Steele - Ron Goulart

I've been reading and enjoying Ron Goulart's novels for decades. He's best known for his science fiction, I suppose, but he's also written quite a few mysteries (including a good four-book series about a California private eye named John Easy), various novelizations and tie-in novels, and a few Westerns. He also edited the iconic anthology THE HARDBOILED DICKS, which introduced a lot of readers of my generation to the great hardboiled detective authors from the pulps, and wrote several volumes of pulp and comic book history.

SKYROCKET STEELE is one of his science fiction novels I'd never read until now, and it's great fun. Although it's definitely SF, except for a few hints here and there that element doesn't really come into play until late in the book. Most of the way it's a funny, well-written account of making a science fiction movie serial called "Skyrocket Steele" in 1940. The protagonist is a young writer named Pete Tinsley who's been selling stories to the pulps for several years (he seems to have contributed mostly to the "Stimulating" line – STIMULATING WESTERN, STIMULATING SKY STORIES, STIMULATING ADVENTURE, etc. – a nice homage to the "Spicies"). Hired to help an experienced scripter come up with the screenplay for "Skyrocket Steele", Pete makes a very likable hero as he discovers some odd things going on around the production.

Throw in some Hollywood gangsters, a beautiful dancer named Boots McKay (great name), an equally beautiful redhead named Tracy Flinn who may or may not have some abilities that aren't quite normal, and some Nazi saboteurs, and you've got an excellent screwball adventure yarn that winds up with a burst of nice pyrotechnics.

This book came out in paperback from Pocket Books in 1980 with a cover by Carl Lundgren and has probably been out of print ever since, but it's well worth seeking out. I had a fine time reading it, and I suspect a lot of you would, too.

Music I Like: Stars and Stripes Forever - Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra

I hope all of you in the U.S. had a great Fourth of July and that it was a good day for those of you elsewhere in the world.

Music I Like: Apache - Jorgen Ingmann

As suggested by Jeff Meyerson. I'd heard this song, of course, but I'm not sure I ever knew what it was called or who played it. Now I do. It's a good one. Some of the images in the clip aren't exactly what you'd call politically correct, however, so fair warning on that score.

Now Available: Death and the Dancing Shadows - James Reasoner

Retired cowboy movie star Eliot "Lucky" Tremaine has a problem: he's being blackmailed. Markham seems to be the only one who can help him, but when blackmail explodes into murder, it's Markham's life on the line!

"Death and the Dancing Shadows" is another classic tale of California private eye Markham from the pages of MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE and the imagination of bestselling author James Reasoner. This 9,000 word novella was originally published in the March 1980 issue of MSMM and later reprinted in THE BLACK LIZARD ANTHOLOGY OF CRIME FICTION.

I've always been fond of this one. I think it's particularly well-plotted, if I do say so myself. The Amazon link is below, and it's also available on Smashwords and for the Nook. Like all the Markham stories, it's a stand-alone, so if you haven't read the others you can start here with no problem. The excellent cover is by Livia, as always.

Music I Like: Stranger on the Shore - Acker Bilk

I admit, I have a real fondness for easy listening music and always have, even when I was a kid and wasn't supposed to be interested in anything but rock 'n' roll. My parents never knew what to make of my music listening habits.

Tuesday's Overlooked Radio Comedy: Nobody's Business - Hudson and Landry

Bob Hudson and Ron Landry were morning show DJs in Los Angeles who starting recording their comedy routines and became quite successful at it for a few years. They recorded four albums, all of which sold very well. I became acquainted with their work when one of the stations I listened to in college did a comedy spot every hour before the news (good timing, if you ask me) and bits by Hudson and Landry were featured frequently. This is one I've never forgotten in the forty years since then. It'll become obvious very quickly that it's based on an even more famous comedy bit by an even more famous team, but it's still very funny in its own right. The video clip is extremely annoying, though, so my advice would be just to listen and not watch.

Music I Like: Screaming Eagles - Sabaton

Any song about Bastogne is a-okay with me. "Nuts!"