HERB FISHER - DOCTOR DEATH (1988)

 

Synopsis/blurb...

The first novel in the classic, hard-to-find, 1980s vigilante series...now back in print for the first time in decades.

"Doctor Death shoots, stabs and strangles as smoothly as most grandmothers make hot cocoa. He is as handy with a bayonet as he is with an Uzi. He spares no one." New Jersey Courier-Review

Kyle Youngblood was a Green Beret in Vietnam...where he became a relentless killing machine, fighting for God and country, while longing for the humanity he left behind. They called him Dr. Death. But when he returned home to his ranch in Nevada, to his loving wife and kids, he discovered that he couldn't escape the violence. It followed him like a shadow...and when Youngblood is forced to kill a man in self-defense, the son of a big-time mobster, the retribution is swift and brutal. But the mob's professional assassins who come for Youngblood don't realize he isn't just some "hick rancher." He's a man who won't be intimidated, who won't run from a fight...and who won't die easily. He's declaring war on a new enemy, using the same lethal skills that he mastered in the steaming jungles of 'Nam.

This new edition includes an introduction by Eric Compton. co-host of the Paperback Warrior podcast, that explores the life of author Herb Fisher and what makes his four Doctor Death books unique in the men's action-adventure genre.

"Doctor Death appears to be a late 80s cash grab targeting Mack Bolan fans. It's much better than that. Herb Fisher gets everything right with Doctor Death. Kyle is an admirable protagonist and his willingness to sacrifice himself for his family transcends the printed page." Paperback Warrior

Up until about a month ago, I had never heard of author Herb Fisher and if it wasn’t for Brash Books re-issuing his four Doctor Death books recently, my ignorance would have long continued. I’m happy to report that’s now not the case.

Doctor Death is a fast-moving, action-packed, violence-filled, page-turning, thrill-fest that managed to scratch every reading itch I had, as well as a few I probably wasn’t even aware of. 

Kyle Youngblood aka Doctor Death is first encountered in 1969 in the jungles of Vietnam. There’s a slight suspension of disbelief required as he single-handedly hands out death and destruction to an assortment of NVA and VC enemy soldiers – 164 in total. Hence the nickname. 

We pick up in the early 70s and Youngblood has returned to family life and is scratching out a living in Silver Lake, Nevada on his farm/ranch. He is happily married. He has two children; a young daughter and a 12 year old son who both adore him. 

Youngblood runs an errand into town and on his way home stops off for a beer at a roadhouse. It’s a bar where he knows the owner. Unfortunately, his visit happens to coincide with that of a self-entitled, drunken, boorish, son-of-a Mafioso Buddy Fallon and his two minders. Buddy is upsetting the locals, but Kyle steers clear of any trouble until their vehicles collide in the car park when both reversing.

An argument ensues, followed by a fist fight and Buddy and his minders come off second best. Buddy tries again, going for a sucker-punch when Kyle’s back is turned. Kyle overreacts and its game over. The young man dies. Youngblood is arrested and the young man’s father a Mafia bigshot loses his marbles. Vengeance is promised if the law fails the Fallon’s.

Mayhem ensues. Fallon goes after Kyle. Kyle protects his family. Some innocents suffer and Doctor Death lives up to his nickname.

I guess the story as such isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but to me it came across as more than just another ex-Nam vet who won’t be pushed around kind of vengeance/vigilante thriller.

Youngblood’s character and his relationships with his wife, his family and his friends and neighbours are fully explored. He doesn’t seek out the trouble that comes his way, but similarly he’s not a man to be trifled with. 

I quite like the trope of a town/community in thrall to the power of one man. This includes the local Sheriff, John Bookman who has accepted numerous bribes and kickbacks from Daddy Fallon, so is almost emasculated when Fallon takes the law into his own hands and hires on some Vegas hitmen, before widening his reach and importing some nefarious types from a bit further afield to deal with Kyle. 

My kind of book. 

4.5 from 5

I quite expect to enjoy the rest of this series over the next month or two. 

 

Read - May, 2022

Published - 1988

Page count - 257

Source Kindle Unlimited

Format - Kindle

BILL CRIDER - ONE DEAD DEAN (1988)

 

Synopsis/blurb...

"I can just imagine the questions in history," Fox said. "Who was our first of it, maybe the second one's too hard. But you get the idea!"

"Yeah," Burns said. "I get the idea."

Hartley Gorman College, in Pecan City, Texas, is hardly a bastion of serious scholarship. The little Baptist school is more interested in shielding its students from the evil influence of The World, The Flesh, and The Devil than in turning out future Nobelists. But its staff, by and large, is worthy of a more demanding institution; they are victims of a glutted market in Ph.D.s and they do the best they can. So it is they who are most upset at Dean Elmore's "secret plan" to award credit hours for "undirected study" by "independent scholars"—in plain words, to turn the school into a diploma mill.

Which may be why Dean Elmore, shortly after unveiling his plan, is found bludgeoned to death at his desk. It is certainly why, at his funeral, there is not a wet eye in the house.

Or so observes Carl Burns, Hartley Gorman professor of English literature, through whose eyes we see both the crime and the larger picture of this wacky denominational Texas school.

Those readers familiar with Bill Crider's books about Sheriff Dan Rhodes of Blacklin County, Texas, knows how wryly witty this author can be; here the humor is revved up a few notches, and the resulting account of Elmore's murder, Sheriff "Boss" Napier's investigation, Bums's well-meant meddling, and the people and doings at Hartley Gorman are the exactly-right mix of realism and wackiness to make the book a delight as well as a suspenseful mystery.

One Dead Dean is the first in Bill Crider's Carl Burns series of four books. Burns is an English Lit professor at a small college in Texas. The book, slow to start, concerns the murder of the unlikable Dean Elmore of the Hartley Gorman College. Burns discovers the body and initially more by misfortune than design, keeps turning up whenever bad things happen on the college campus. Namely a subsequent unsuccessful arson attack on the school building and after that a rather more successful blaze. 

Initially I wasn't really vibing the book, but once it got going I warmed to it. We don't get much back story for Burns, though we do learn he isn't married, but he's not gay. He's happily single, he loves books and literature. He's popular with the most of the other teachers and his pupils. And he loves making lists, though rarely completes them.

After the murder and his initial gentle run in with Sheriff Napier. Burns does a bit of snooping, armed with his list of suspects. To be honest, I think I would have happily killed the dean myself, as he went out of his way to annoy, irritate and upset everyone in his orbit. Given his position of authority at the college that was pretty much the campus population. 

I enjoyed the humour in the book. Napier is terrible with names and rarely calls a character the same name twice. There's an amusing dynamic between the Sheriff and Binns, Baines, Bones or whatever else he is calling Burns at that moment in time. There's some friction between the two as well but not that much.

There's a lot of discontent on the campus over Elmore's plans to plug some gaps in the college's finances and his appalling attitude to staff and pupils alike. Cheapening degrees, eliminating the sports department, humiliating the football coach, playing favourites, having a God complex, using blackmail to get his position and a few more offences besides. 

I quite liked the backdrop of academia and education. There's tension and jealousy prevalent and a lot of the staff seem very focused on self as opposed to viewing their profession solely as a vocation.

Best book ever? No, but enjoyable enough. I think I have probably enjoyed Crider's Dan Rhodes books a bit more, but it's early days and with a couple more of the Burns books waiting for me maybe he'll become an equal favourite as well in time.

Overall 3.5 from 5

Bill Crider has been enjoyed a few times in the past and will be again in the future.

Too Late to Die, Cursed to Death, Shotgun Saturday Night, Outrage at Blanco, Piano Man, Blood Dreams (as Jack MacLane), Gator Kill, Dead on the Island and A Time for Hanging. 

Read - (listened to) May, 2022

Published - 1988

Page count - 167 (6 hrs 31 mins)

Source - Audible purchase

Format - Audible

MAY 2022 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST!

May's additions......

new crime, old crime, 5 new-to-me authors, and one dude I've enjoyed before.

John Godey - A Thrill a Minute with Jack Albany (1966) - Kindle Unlimited

John Godey is most famously known for the novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, which I have on the TBR pile (as well as a copy of the original film with Walter Matthau). Having a subscription to KU I thought I'd take a punt on an earlier book by him. There a second book with Jack Albany if I like this one.  

Jack Albany's world is turned upside down when he is mistaken for muscle from the mob. The actor is sucked into the world of organized crime as the gangsters he has taken up with plot the kidnapping and random of the mayor of New York City for a cool $10,000,000. Jack must find a way out of the gang and secure the safety of his new love, Sally.

Gabino Iglesias - The Devil Takes You Home (2022) - Net Galley review site 

I've heard good things about this one and was happy to stick my hand up for a review copy. Forunately I got the thumbs up. I have some of Gabino's earlier books on the TBR pile.

From an award-winning author comes a genre-defying thriller about a father desperate to salvage what's left of his family—even if it means a descent into violence.

Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

The Devil Takes You Home is a panoramic odyssey for fans of S.A. Cosby’s southern noir, Blacktop Wasteland, by way of the boundary-defying storytelling of Stephen Graham Jones and Sylvia Moreno-Garcia.

Craig Smith - Ladystinger (1992) - review copy from publisher Brash Books

BOOM! One day last week some unexpected book post!

Beautiful young grifter Maggie Rohrer picks up rich businessmen in dark hotel bars, drugs their drinks, then lures them back to their rooms and robs them once they’ve passed out. It’s a lucrative con, until one night in New Orleans when a mark tricks her, forcing her into a dangerous swindle in Jamaica that could either bankroll a new life outside of the game…or get her killed.

An Edgar Award Finalist for Best First Mystery

Adapted into the movie Scam starring Christopher Walken & Lorraine Bracco.

“Compulsive reading. . . a riveting conclusion of the white-knuckle kind.” Boston Sunday Globe

“Add some well-drawn, vicious villains with no redeeming qualities, a colorful Jamaican setting, then mix with a chilling, violent denouement for a recipe for success.” Los Angeles Daily News

Craig Henderson - Welcome to the Game (2022) - review copy Edelweiss - Above the Treeline

Another exciting debut novel which sounds amazing.

From a brilliant new voice, Welcome to the Game is a gripping

thriller that races through Motor City at heart-stopping pace as

its protagonists swerve to avoid danger at every turn 

Craig Henderson screeches onto the scene with this fast-paced debut starring

ex-rally driver Spencer Burnham. Having moved his family from England to

Detroit and opened a foreign car dealership, Spencer’s life was derailed by

the death of his beloved wife. Now disconnected from his young daughter

and losing control of the cocktail of drugs and alcohol that gets him through

the day, he only just keeps Child Protective Services at bay while his business

teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. 

Then he has a seemingly chance encounter with a charismatic but lethal

gangster, Dominic McGrath. Feeling the squeeze from informants, the rise of

tech surveillance, and a hotshot detective who’s made busting him a personal

crusade, McGrath’s been planning a last heist that would allow a comfortable

retirement, provided he can find a very special type of driver—one who’s

capable, trustworthy . . . and naïve. 

Spencer quickly proves himself behind the wheel, with his innate sense

of timing and precise, high-speed maneuvers. And McGrath even pays cash,

lots of it. But it comes at a price; Spencer finds himself playing in an arena

where rookies don’t last long. Wising up to the ruthlessness behind McGrath’s

charming façade, he tries to break free, but McGrath has too much invested

to allow him to leave. 

As the city swelters in a heat wave, the two men apply their considerable

talents to besting each other, while mistakenly assuming they have only each

other to beat. 

Zijin Chen - Bad Kids (2022) - review copy from Net Galley

Chinese author, Chinese thriller. What's not to like?

You can't choose your in-laws. One beautiful morning, Zhang Dongsheng pushes his wealthy in-laws off a mountain - the perfect crime. Or so he thinks. Even though the murders were as carefully choreographed as a play, he did not expect that three teenagers had caught him in the act. But Zhang Dongsheng seriously underestimated the smarts of those three kids. . . Dark, murky and violent, Bad Kids is the Chinese suspense thriller about the inner lives of teenagers that has taken China by storm.

Steve Goble - Wayward Son (2022) - review copy from Edelweiss - Above the Treeline

Steve Goble has been read and enjoyed before - The Bloody Black Flag and his first Ed Runyon book - City Problems, which I wasn't blown away by. I'm happy to try again with the second in the series.

A PI goes hunting for a missing boy—and ends up being prey

Ed Runyon, a former sheriff's deputy haunted by past missing child cases that went horribly wrong, is struggling to launch a PI agency and still live in the Ohio farm country he loves. His love life is in shambles, too, as his partner turns to someone else. His best friend got roughed up by a rogue cop, so Ed is in a fighting mood.

Ed finds a new focus when he is hired to find a runaway chess aficionado who is keeping secrets from his homophobic, religious parents. Finding kids is the reason he became a PI, so Ed is determined to succeed and put the demons and other problems behind him. But Jimmy Zachman made a bad move and ran into far more trouble than he was already in, and the hunt for him leads Ed to a deadly and desperate confrontation. Everything comes down to determination—and one very risky move. Ed must find Jimmy at all costs.

Perfect for fans of John Sandford and Robert Crais

APRIL 2022 - ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY - 6 OF THE BEST!

April's top additions and none of the authors have been read before. 

Exciting reading times ahead!

Hannah Sward - Strip: A Memoir (2022) - review copy Edelweiss - Above the Treeline

I do like some non-fiction on occasions and if I'm going down the memoir-biography-autobiography trail I'd rather read about someone who has survived some hardship and lived a tough life, than a vacuous ghostwritten Celebrity nonsense book. I'll make an exception for the odd sports biography. 

Born in the bohemian seventies, Hannah Sward was abandoned by her mother, and lived with her father on an island with no stores or cars. Kidnapped and molested by a stranger at age six, she grew up to be a stripper and a prostitute with a taste for crystal meth. (Which at least seemed like a surefire way to lose weight.) Strip is a hilarious and heartfelt memoir of one woman’s journey from innocence to a darker world, and beyond it to growth and grace. (With stops along the way for silent gurus, Iranian and Orthodox sugar daddies, foot fetish work, and drinking in the CVS bathroom before therapy sessions.)

Max Talley - Santa Fe Psychosis - review copy from Dark Edge Press

American south, a PI novel, people trafficking - tough themes, but what's not to like?

Jackson Bardo, an out-of-work Private Investigator, is summoned to New Mexico by his ex-girlfriend. Her life is being threatened and she needs money. But he doesn't have enough when he arrives. And days later, she disappears.

Joining forces with his friend, Police Detective Diego Juarez, the pair set out to find her.

During their search, Juarez is given the job of locating a missing teenager. But the discovery of another girl - dead - leads them to uncover a child trafficking operation.

 

Clay Wise - Whiteout (2021) - Audible purchase

I've never actually read or watched anything in the EMP genre, but it does hold a fascination for me. Jeez, who would want to be thrown into a society without home comforts and gadgets and where you need to survive on your wits and not become prey to predators? Not me. 

*What is EMP fiction?

For fiction books featuring the use of EMPs that lead to partial or complete loss of electricity, often leading to a post-apocalyptic setting (though not always).

During the coldest winter on record, an EMP sends American back into the Stone Age. It’s been a week without power. No phones. No computers. Nothing. As the crisis unfolds, one family seeks sanctuary from the cold on the city's outskirts.

Jason Mosberg - My Dirty California (2022) - review copy from Edelweiss - Above the Treeline

Another one that looks like a cracking read, as does Mosberg's early offering Grift.

In this literary thriller, a young man descends into the Los Angeles underworld to find his family’s killer—aided by a group of strangers with their own shadowy pasts.

When Marty returns to Pennsylvania after living in California for ten years, he’s happily welcomed by his father and older brother, Jody. The joyful reunion is short-lived. Two days later, Jody enters the house to find his father and Marty shot dead as their masked killer flees out the back door. Without any answers from the local police, Jody heads to Los Angeles looking for who murdered his family and why.

Soon, he finds a trove of strange videos recorded by his brother that leads him into the city’s most dangerous corners, where he comes up against drug dealers, crooked cops, surf gangs, and black-market profiteers. As his investigation expands, it also intersects with Pen, a documentary filmmaker who suspects humanity is living in a simulation and that her missing father found a portal to escape; Renata, an undocumented immigrant who might have evidence to support Pen’s theory; and Tiph, a young mother whose desperate efforts to support her only child via a stolen art stash could prove the key to answering all these mysteries.

My Dirty California is a cinematic, suspenseful, intricately plotted thriller that explores the darker side of the glamorous Golden State.

C. J. Box - Vicious Circle (2017) - local book drop box - swapped for about 6 finished titles!

C. J. Box is one of those authors whose books and series characters look amazing and that I reckon I would enjoy and I buy them if I cross paths with them, but which I never seem to actually read.

See also Craig Johnson, T. Jefferson Parker, Thomas Perry etc etc (though I have read some Parker and Perry albeit a while back)

The past comes back to haunt game warden Joe Pickett and his family with devastating effect in this thrilling novel from #1 New York Times–bestselling author C. J. Box.

The plane circled in the dark. Joe Pickett could just make out down below a figure in the snow and timber, and then three other figures closing in. There was nothing he could do about it. And Joe knew that he might be their next target.

The Cates family had always been a bad lot. Game warden Joe Pickett had been able to strike a fierce blow against them when the life of his daughter April had been endangered, but he’d always wondered if there’d be a day of reckoning. He’s not wondering any longer. Joe knows they’re coming after him and his family now. He has his friend Nate by his side, but will that be enough this time? All he can do is prepare...and wait for them to make the first move.

Frankie Boyle - Meantime (2022) - review copy from Net Galley

A bit of fiction from Marmite comedian Frankie Boyle. I quite like him myself, though I have to say he has over-stepped the mark on a few occasions in the past.

The exhilarating, hilarious and gripping crime debut novel from Frankie Boyle.

Glasgow, in the aftermath of the Independence referendum, is a strange place.

Marina Katos' body is found in a park, and the police don't seem to know or care who committed the crime. 

In a haze of tranquilisers, hallucinogenics and Valium, Felix McAveety decides to solve the murder of Marina, his best friend. But to break through his drug-induced fog and get closer to the truth Felix enlists the help of a dying crime novelist, Jane Pickford, and his crisis-ridden friend Scott. 

Their quest takes them into the dark heart of Scottish politics, the orbit of drug dealers and the matrix of AI, encountering Independence activists, the intelligence services and stalkers as they seek justice for Marina.

Meantime is a wild ride through Glasgow's multicultural present and examines its colonial past. It's dazzingly funny, grappling with big ideas and is heartbreakingly tinged with personal and political loss. 

MAY 2022 - FILMS + TV (HOME-VIEWING)

A bit of a deja-vous month. No films, three series continued with very slow progress and two more series started, one of which I had to bail on because it made me really uncomfortable and a true crime Netflix documentary.....

Our Father (2022) - Netflix Documentary

Pretty sure I've previously heard of the disgusting Doctor Cline from the news years ago. There's a man with a God complex if ever there was one. Horrific and very sad for all the families involved once the truth started coming out. When I last checked I think 96 offspring had been discovered.

From Google...

After a woman's at-home DNA test reveals multiple half-siblings, she discovers a shocking scheme involving donor sperm and the popular and controversial fertility specialist Doctor Donald Cline.

Chloe (2022) - BBC TV Drama

I couldn't get past more than one and a half episodes of this before bailing. It just made me feel really uncomfortable and anxious. Hard to explain really. 

From Google....

Becky compares herself to the picture-perfect lives on Instagram, compulsively returning to one account: Chloe's. However, when Chloe dies suddenly, Becky's need to find out how and why leads her to assume a new identity.

The Righteous Gemstones Season 2 (2019) - TV Comedy/Drama Series 

Hilarious.

From Wikipedia ....

Premise

The Righteous Gemstones depicts a family of televangelists and megachurch pastors led by widowed patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). Eli and his immature children, Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson) and Kelvin (Adam DeVine), lead opulent lives funded by church donations.

In the second season, Jesse and Amber partner with Texas megachurch leaders Lyle and Lindy Lissons (Eric André and Jessica Lowe) to develop a Christian timeshare resort. The family faces threats including investigative journalist Thaniel Block (Jason Schwartzman), Junior (Eric Roberts) an old friend from Eli's criminal past, and a mysterious group of motorcycle-riding assassins.

The Last Detective (2003-2007) - ITV Comedy-Drama Series

Ongoing.

From Google...

`Dangerous' Davies is one offbeat flatfoot who takes the stuff at the bottom of the pile - the cases nobody wants. In his usual comical way, Davies and good friend Mod help unfold events that usually end up in disaster, but somehow they still manage to nab their man. Maybe if Davies wasn't such a nice guy, his coworkers would take him a tad more seriously. The comedy-drama is adapted from the novel by Leslie Thomas.

Taggart (1983-2010) - ITV Crime Drama - 27 series

Not even close to halfway yet. It's a job balancing the reading and the viewing.

From Wikipedia...

Taggart is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 September 1983, before a full series was commissioned that ran from 2 July 1985 until 7 November 2010. The series revolved around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines were set in other parts of Greater Glasgow and in other areas of Scotland. The team operated out of the fictional John Street police station. Mark McManus, who played the title character Jim Taggart, died in 1994. However, the series continued under the same name.

Stranger Things Season 4 (2022) - Netflix TV Drama Series

It's back. One episode watched. Really enjoyable. My haven't those kids grown.

From Wikipedia....

The fourth season of the American science fiction horror drama television series Stranger Things, titled Stranger Things 4, was released worldwide exclusively via Netflix's streaming service in two volumes, with the first set released May 27, 2022, and the second to be released five weeks later on July 1, 2022. The fourth season has nine episodes and has continued to be produced by the show's creators the Duffer Brothers, along with Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Iain Paterson.

The show's main cast will continue to consist of Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, and Priah Ferguson, with Brett Gelman promoted to series regular status and Matthew Modine and Paul Reiser returning to series regular status.

Premise

On February 14, 2020, Netflix released an initial synopsis written by the Duffer Brothers to coincide with the release of the season's first teaser trailer.

We're excited to officially announce that production for Stranger Things 4 is now underway—and even more excited to announce the return of Hopper! Although it's not all good news for our "American"; [Hopper] is imprisoned far from home in the snowy wasteland of Kamchatka, Russia, where he will face dangers both human… and other. Meanwhile, back in the States, a new horror is beginning to surface, something long-buried, something that connects everything...

On February 17, 2022, Netflix released a newer plot description for the season that expanded upon the previously released synopsis.

It's been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn't made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.

MAY 2022 - 31 DAYS 31 SHORTS!

A month of flashing with shorty shorts in the majority....

A Shotgun Honey love-in (23), a few visits to Pulp Modern Flash (7) and a goodie from friend of the blog, Margot Kinberg....

1st - Wendy Davis - The Gift (Shotgun Honey)

2nd - Conrad Person - Witness (Shotgun Honey)

3rd - Beau Johnson - Smaller Fries (Shotgun Honey)

4th - Connor Boyle - Killian's Gun (Shotgun Honey)

5th - Mark Cotton - Consequences (Shotgun Honey)

6th - Paul J. Garth - County Road (Shotgun Honey)

7th - Dan O'Shea - Pink Cadillac (Shotgun Honey)

8th - John Rector - I Do (Shotgun Honey)

9th - Angel Luis Colón - Whole Hog (Shotgun Honey)

10th - Leigh Ramsay - Maternal Instinct (Shotgun Honey)

11th - Bill Baber - Martin's List (Shotgun Honey)

12th - John Weagly - Easter Spam (Shotgun Honey)

13th - James Pate - The Bride (Shotgun Honey)

14th - C. W. Blackwell - The Road Players (Shotgun Honey)

15th - Susan Kuchinkas - The Hit (Shotgun Honey)

16th - Albert Tucher - The Consultant (Shotgun Honey)

17th - Albert Tucher - The Caffeine Cure (Shotgun Honey)

18th - Beau Johnson - Urban or Otherwise (Shotgun Honey)

19th - Beau Johnson - Patience and Rage  (Shotgun Honey)

20th - Margot Kinberg - VIP Service (Margot Kin-berg.com)

21st - Nick Kolakowski - How Jules Left Prison (Shotgun Honey)

22nd - Angel Luis Colón - Puff, Puff, Pass (Shotgun Honey)

23rd - Angel Luis Colón - All Hail the Queen (Shotgun Honey)

24th - Mark Cotton - The Split (Shotgun Honey)

25th - Chris L. Robinson - The Blood Bubble (Pulp Modern Flash)

26th - Jim Guigli - Cane Mutiny (Pulp Modern Flash)

27th - James Hadley Griffin - The Black Cloud (Pulp Modern Flash)

28th - Albert Kanach - The Last Customer (Pulp Modern Flash)

29th - Nils Gilbertson - Voting Day (Pulp Modern Flash)

30th - Robb T. White - The Jogger (Pulp Modern Flash)

31st - William Blick - Samaritan (Pulp Modern Flash)

Previous outings....

AUGUST, 2016 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

AUGUST, 2017 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

AUGUST, 2018 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

AUGUST, 2019 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

FEBRUARY, 2020 - 29 DAYS, 29 SHORTS!

MAY, 2020 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

AUGUST 2020 - 31 DAYS 31 SHORTS!

NOVEMBER 2020 - 30 DAYS, 30 SHORTS!

FEBRUARY 2021 - 28 DAYS, 28 SHORTS!

JUNE 2021 - 30 DAYS 30 SHORTS!

AUGUST 2021 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

JANUARY 2022 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

MARCH 2022 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

MAY 2022 - FILMS (CINEMA) + SPORT

Not much happening at the old Odeon in the merry month of May with new releases a bit thin on the ground. Four outings at the time of collating this post and two days to go. A fifth visit seems unlikely.

Franklin Gardens

I did go to Franklin Gardens, Northampton - home of Northampton Saints - to cheer on a friend in a woman's amateur rugby cup final. (We lost!) 

Huddersfield vs Luton - Play Off Semi Final 2nd Leg

We did also have a family outing to a sports bar in town, to see if Luton could continue their journey upwards and get to the play off final. Sadly, we lost one-nil rather unluckily, but overall we had a fantastic season.

On the actual cinema front, three of the four films seen were a little bit (or a lot) detatched from reality. I suppose you could make the same argument for the 4th - Top Gun: Maverick.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Not really my thing, but on the plus side it was a night out. Benjamin Cumberbatch is pretty good and it wasn't as ridiculously long as several of these types of films I've suffered through. What's it all about? No idea.


From Google...

Dr Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the multiverse. However, a threat emerges that may be too big for his team to handle.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Another film with a sci-fiction slant and the unexplainable, but here there was a lot more of a human story that I could relate to. Michelle Yeoh is wonderful. Family is everything.

From Google...

When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality, an unlikely hero must channel her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering dangers from the multiverse as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Firestarter (2022)

Based on a Stephen King novel that I read years ago and have pretty much completely forgotten. I can't recall if I have seen the 1984 film version of this. Nevermind. I enjoyed it. Zac Efron is pretty good. It's another film that has family at its heart.

From Google....

A couple desperately try to hide their daughter, Charlie, from a shadowy federal agency that wants to harness her unprecedented gift for turning fire into a weapon of mass destruction. Her father taught her how to defuse her power, but as Charlie turns 11, the fire becomes harder and harder to control. When a mysterious operative finally finds the family, he tries to seize Charlie once and for all -- but she has other plans.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

I'm old enough to remember enjoying the original when it came out in 1986. I do like Tom Cruise and have enjoyed seeing him in more than the odd film over the years. I wouldn't say he's a favourite actor and I don't rush to see everything he's in, but he's watchable.

I quite enjoyed this one, even if I did watch it as a Billy No Mates, while my Wife and Daughter #1 were otherwise engaged. I may have to sit through it again when they are free to go and see it and I'll probably enjoy it just as much second time around.

Good support cast - Jennifer Connelly, John Hamm, Val Kilmer (bless him) and the new kids on the block, Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro and Glen Powell.

Exciting, tense, enjoyable enough storyline. Good escapist fun.

From Google....

After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy's top aviators, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. Training a detachment of graduates for a special assignment, Maverick must confront the ghosts of his past and his deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who choose to fly it.

Rankings....

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. Everything Everywhere All At Once

3. Firestarter

4. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness