Literary observations
I see where Dean Koonz has published Saint Odd- the final Odd Thomas novel- in which Oddy finally is reunited with the deceased love of his life, Stormy Llewellyn.
I'll miss Odd. I've almost come to think of him as a friend over the years. He's surely one of the most likable and admirable fictional characters I've ever come across. Koonz himself said it was like killing a friend to kill Odd off, and I can well understand how he felt.
Yesterday I saw Vincent Price in a move called "Edgar Alan Poe's The Haunted House." The trouble was that it was, in fact, a film version of the H.P. Lovecraft novella, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. I guess Lovecraft had yet to experience his revival when they made the film. And of course, Price and Roger Corman did a whole series of other movies whose titles began with "Edgar Alan Poe's...." which had absolutely nothing to do with Poe- other than a brief quotation from a Poe poem at the end which may or may not have had anything to do with the plot of the film.
Oh, well. At least this one didn't descend to the depths of "The Conqueror Worm" ("Witchfinder General," in the UK), which had soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's Calvinist New Model Army register their horror in the final scene by crossing themselves!
Finally, I see that Harry Turtledove has a new alternate history book out, in which FDR is killed in a fire at the New York Governor's Mansion on the eve of the 1932 Democratic Convention, which instead nominates a California congressman named Joe Steele.
In case you missed the allusion, the Russian word for "steel" is "stalin." Sounds like a riff on Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here, but with the unthinkable coming from the opposite side of the political spectrum.
I'll miss Odd. I've almost come to think of him as a friend over the years. He's surely one of the most likable and admirable fictional characters I've ever come across. Koonz himself said it was like killing a friend to kill Odd off, and I can well understand how he felt.
Yesterday I saw Vincent Price in a move called "Edgar Alan Poe's The Haunted House." The trouble was that it was, in fact, a film version of the H.P. Lovecraft novella, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. I guess Lovecraft had yet to experience his revival when they made the film. And of course, Price and Roger Corman did a whole series of other movies whose titles began with "Edgar Alan Poe's...." which had absolutely nothing to do with Poe- other than a brief quotation from a Poe poem at the end which may or may not have had anything to do with the plot of the film.
Oh, well. At least this one didn't descend to the depths of "The Conqueror Worm" ("Witchfinder General," in the UK), which had soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's Calvinist New Model Army register their horror in the final scene by crossing themselves!
Finally, I see that Harry Turtledove has a new alternate history book out, in which FDR is killed in a fire at the New York Governor's Mansion on the eve of the 1932 Democratic Convention, which instead nominates a California congressman named Joe Steele.
In case you missed the allusion, the Russian word for "steel" is "stalin." Sounds like a riff on Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here, but with the unthinkable coming from the opposite side of the political spectrum.
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