(This post originally appeared on May 3, 2010.)
This is another movie I’d never heard of. The description of it on Netflix makes it sound like a comedy, a parody of so many Fifties science fiction movies. The prologue reinforces that idea, setting up a framing sequence about how this is actually a movie made in 1957 that was thought to have been lost for the past fifty years. A little silliness ensues, and then the movie itself starts.
And as it plays out, you come to realize that although it has considerable humor in it, ALIEN TRESPASS isn’t a parody at all. Instead, it’s an affectionate, pitch-perfect homage to those low-budget sci-fi epics from the Fifties, complete with overacting, crude special effects, and a guy in a rubber suit playing a monster. If you watched those movies in the theaters or on TV growing up, you’ll recognize all the elements: the small town in the desert, the UFO crash-landing in the hills, the teenagers who are the first ones to see the monster, the skeptical cops, the local scientist (doesn’t every town have one?) who figures out what’s going on.
Now here’s the strange part: even though you know this movie was made a couple of years ago, it’s hard not to get drawn into it and start taking it seriously, or at least as seriously as you’d take the same sort of movie if it had actually been made in 1957. It does that good a job of capturing the era. There are a few tiny details wrong, but blink and you’ll miss them, and they don’t really have any bearing on the plot.
The biggest names in the cast are Eric McCormack from WILL & GRACE and Robert Patrick from THE UNIT and a ton of other stuff. Everyone does a good job, though, and they all seem to be having a wonderful time.
ALIEN TRESPASS strikes me as a movie with an extremely narrow target audience. If you’re a viewer of a certain age and a certain temperament, there’s a good chance you’ll love it and find yourself grinning all the way through it. I did. I think it’s a wonderful film. But if you fall outside that range, you’ll probably start watching this and go “Huh? What is this?” So consider yourself warned when I recommend this one highly.
Another great Norman Saunders cover on this issue of 10-STORY DETECTIVE. His covers always have a lot going on, yet they never look crowded or busy. This one features a guy about to be clouted on the head from behind, something that shows up a lot on Saunders covers. Norman A. Daniels is probably the best known author in this issue. He also has a story under his David A. Norman pseudonym. Other authors include Joe Archibald and Emil Petaja.
WESTERN NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES was a pretty good Western pulp. This one has a nice action cover and stories by Matt Stuart (who was really one of my favorites, L.P. Holmes), Philip Ketchum, H.A. De Rosso, Giles A. Lutz, and Frank Castle. That's a solid group of writers.
Today is my birthday, so I thought I'd write about one of my own books for a change. It's certainly forgotten, being the first book in a short-lived series from a publisher that's long since defunct. THE IRON HORSE launched the Faraday series, which was packaged by Book Creations Inc. and created by one of my editors there, Paul Block. The publisher was Lynx Books. The concept was that the stories would center around railroad detectives who worked for an agency headed up by Matthew Faraday, who in my mind always looked like Randolph Scott, although on this cover he looks more like Ted Knight from THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. These agents would be the actual heroes of the books, with Faraday serving more as a mentor and supervisor.
I remember very little about the plot of this one. It had something to do with some villains sabotaging the construction of a railroad. The hero looked like Audie Murphy, at least in my head. There was an old scout/buffalo hunter who wasn't old enough and whiskery enough to be a Gabby Hayes character. More like Ben Johnson. There was a lot of ridin' and shootin', a little romance, and the good guys won in the end. What can I say? It was more than 25 years ago, and I've written a lot of books since then. I recall that I enjoyed the book and thought it turned out pretty well. There are cheap copies available on-line if you want to judge for yourself.
THE IRON HORSE is the only Faraday novel I wrote. Paul Block, who was a writer as well as an editor for BCI, wrote the second one. Robert Vaughan wrote a couple, as did Bill Crider. Only one of Bill's was published, since Lynx Books collapsed unexpectedly. I've heard that Chet Cunningham also wrote one that went unpublished, but I don't know if that's true. The business was a lot different in those days, but it was fun, too.
Government investigator Dev Mallory is on the trail of a gang of counterfeiters so audacious that their scheme could make the nation's economy collapse. But what Dev finds in Denver is a tangled web of murder, deceit, and a threat from his own checkered past. Sorting it out will take him on a harrowing journey that risks not only his life but also his soul!
BAD MONEY is a compelling historical mystery from award-winning author Ed Gorman. See for yourself why Gorman is acclaimed as one of today's top writers of Westerns, mysteries, and novels of dark suspense.
It's the wildest BLAZE! adventure yet, as J.D. and Kate investigate the mysterious death of a mine owner and find themselves facing a danger unlike any they've ever encountered. From bloodthirsty outlaws to cold-blooded killers to marauding Indians, they thought they had seen it all—but the looming castle atop a ridge near the settlement of Yonder, Arizona, holds something new and deadly. It's the Old West's only team of husband-and-wife gunfighters versus a sinister count and his walking dead minions—and hot lead may not be enough to stop them!
Legendary action writer Stephen Mertz spins a fast-paced yarn filled with suspense, horror, and non-stop action in ZOMBIES OVER YONDER!
Eliot Cross is a private detective in Columbus, Ohio, in this collection of linked novelettes set in 1988. This is first-person private eye fiction in the classic mode, and done very well, too. The cases Cross takes on involve a burglar trap turned deadly, a politician's missing relative, kidnapping, and of course murder. My favorite story in the book centers around a comic book convention and features a dying message much like the ones that crop up in Ellery Queen yarns.
John Hegenberger's writing reminds me quite a bit of Robert Bloch's. There's the same sense of playfulness, tempered by some underlying themes that are pretty dark. CROSS EXAMINATIONS: CRIME IN COLUMBUS is a very entertaining book, and I'm glad to know that Eliot Cross will be having more adventures in the future. I'm looking forward to reading them.
(This post first appeared on June 27, 2009.)
I enjoy a good war movie every now and then, and THE LOST BATTALION fits the bill. Made for the A&E cable network, it’s based on the true story of an American battalion that gets cut off from the rest of the American forces during an advance into the Argonne forest during World War I. Almost completely surrounded by the Germans, the Americans resolve to hold their position until help arrives, which takes days. Outnumbered, starving, without medical supplies, the odds are against any of them surviving.
In classic war movie fashion, THE LOST BATTALION introduces us to about a dozen of the soldiers, most of them from New York but some from Texas and Montana as well. Most of them are “citizen soldiers”, who were either drafted or enlisted to fight, not career military. Their commander, a lawyer in civilian life played by Rick Shroeder, fits into this category, too, and struggles to become a respected leader. You know going in (at least you do if you’ve ever watched many war movies) that not all of them are going to make it, but this grim, gritty film directed by Russell Mulcahy makes their life-and-death struggle very interesting.
With its unrelenting air of doom, I’m not sure I’d say that THE LOST BATTALION is an entertaining film, but it’s very well-done (other than some shaky camerawork I didn’t like) and I think it’s a movie that’s well worth watching.
The Netherlands in the 16th Century is wracked by civil and religious strife, but all Greta wants is to be left alone to run her tavern. The most dire prophecies of doom come true when the dead rise from their graves and set out on an apocalyptic campaign of terror, slaughtering everything in their path. Cast down into Hell still alive, with unlikely allies such as Christopher Marlowe and the Archangel Michael, armed with a sword and her trusty skillet, Greta sets out to do battle with hordes of demons, imps, and ultimately Satan himself. No one but Greta would be crazy enough to try to conquer Hell!
Inspired by the paintings of Brueghel and Bosch, this historical horror/fantasy novel by acclaimed author David Hardy is full of vivid imagery, compelling characters, and a towering, unstoppable protagonist in Crazy Greta. This is an unforgettable novel about the never-ending battle between Heaven and Hell and the depraved depths and heroic heights of humanity.
David Hardy is the author of the novel PALMETTO EMPIRE and BROTHERS BY THE GUN AND OTHER TALES OF SAMARIA, KANSAS, as well as many other works of historical fiction. He lives in Austin, Texas.
(I'm very pleased to be able to help bring Dave Hardy's first novel back into print. Check it out!)
5th Annual Peacemaker Awards
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT PEACEMAKER:
James Reasoner
2015 BEST FIRST NOVEL:
CATTLE DRIVE – Big Jim Williams (High Noon Press)
Finalists:
PRODIGAL GUN - Kathleen Rice Adams (Prairie Rose Publications)
COMANCHE TRAIL – Carlton Stowers (Signet)
THE PIANO PLAYER – Carolyn Niethammer (Oak Tree Press)
THE CALLING – James P. Hanley (5 Prince Publishing)
2015 BEST INDIE WESTERN:
HANGMAN’S KNOT - James Reasoner (Rough Edges Press)
Finalists:
OUTLAW RANGER – James Reasoner (Rough Edges Press)
LEFT HAND KELLY – Elizabeth Foley (Second Sentence Press)
FUGITIVE TRAIL – Wayne Dundee (Bil-Em-Ri Media)
TRAIL REVENGE – Wayne Dundee (Westward Tide Productions)
2015 BEST NOVEL:
THE BIG DRIFT - Patrick Dearen (TCU Press)
Finalists:
BUST OUT – W. M. Shockley (Western Trail Blazer)
MORGAN – Frank Roderus (Wolf Pack Publishing)
THE PIANO PLAYER – Carolyn Niethammer (Oak Tree Press)
DESPERATE STRAIGHTS – Janet Squires (Whiskey Creek Press)
2015 BEST SHORT FICTION:
THE 2ND BEST RANGER IN TEXAS – Kathleen Rice Adams (Hearts and Spurs Published by Prairie Rose Publications)
Finalists:
LAW DOG – Wayne Dundee (Fathers: 12 Tales of the American West Published by Western Trail Blazer)
THE RESURRECTION – McKendree (Mike) Long (Broken Promises Published by La Frontera Publishing)
THE BUFFALO RUNNER – D.B. Jackson (Broken Promises Published by La Frontera Publishing)
GUNFIGHTER’S GIFT – Vonn McKee (Published by Western Trail Blazer)
(I'm certainly very pleased and honored this morning to have my work recognized by Western Fictioneers. A big thank you to everyone who made this possible, especially Livia, without whom I probably wouldn't be in this business. Congratulations to all the other winners and finalists!)
