This morning, while holed up in my NYC home waiting for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, I was saddened to learn of the imminent merger of two of America’s largest publishing concerns, Random House and Penguin. As if the storm weren’t enough to worry me, the headlines about the alliance managed to depress me even more than the dangerous weather. Whither publishing in America? That’s a very good question. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: October 2012
New gems from the Criterion Collection
I love the Criterion Collection, and here are two reasons why. These are my reviews on Amazon (where I’m a “Top 1000” reviewer), and I explain why I love this wonderful DVD/Blu-Ray company in the text. So… Continue reading
Off the beaten path #2
Here are two more lesser-known faves of mine, a book and a film. As with my first post on the subject, these are works that can only marginally be called “mysteries,” though they are definitely suspense stories. I recently revisited both of them, and I posted customer reviews on Amazon. I reprint them here for your consideration. Continue reading
Old wine, new bottles
There’s a recent trend in crime and mystery fiction, mainly in those books we label “suspense.” This is my particular niche–stories of everyday people, as opposed to professionals, who are caught up in criminal plots. It’s getting harder and harder for writers to isolate and endanger their protagonists, and I blame this entirely on electronics. With the harsh realities of the Instant Information Age everywhere around us, many crime writers have resorted to setting their stories in the past. Continue reading