My Blog

Retirement. Publishers, thank you for the many years of reading pleasure you gave me, but all good things must come to an end. Due to failing eyesight I am forced to retire. I can no longer review your books, and any that you send will be donated to the local library, unread. Do not send any more. I can only read for a couple hours every day, and this does not allow me to finish a book in reasonable time. I will be devoting time to my own books from now on, and reading on a personal level. Books that interest me. I prefer paperbacks and hardbacks, not eBooks. My eyesight has been failing the last few years, and I cannot handle hundreds of review books any more. My books are still available for review. Anyone interested in reviewing any of them, they are found in the Link to Tom’s Books On Amazon. Contact me for pdf copies at fadingshadows40@gmail.com

Monday, September 29, 2014

Auralee Wallace Talks About Pangaea: Eden's Planet

Auralee Wallace recently read my novel, "Pangaea: Eden's Planet", - and Pulp and talks about it here http://auraleewallace.com/2014/09/29/pangaea-edens-planet/  Please drop by her Blog and comment. It would mean a lot to her, and me. Auralee is just starting her own writing career, and she's making a splash in our community. You will love her books.
Tom

Friday, September 26, 2014

Autumn, All The Cats Return

Autumn, All The Cats Return (Murder Mystery)
“An Inspector Sebag Mystery”
By Philippe Georget
Europa Editions www.europaeditions.com
ISBN #9781609452261
Price $18.00
432 Pages
Rating 5-Stars

“Brilliant writing, and provocative characters you won’t forget.”

An old man in his seventies is discovered in his apartment, shot in the head, handcuffed and tied to a chair. It was an execution style killing, and on the door were the letters OAS – the Algerian Organization Army Secret from the French-Algerian wars in the 1960s. Lt. Giles Sebag and his partner Jacques Molino, from the Perpignan, France, police department on the Mediterranean  are assigned the case, but when a second murder victim is found with the OAS written on the scene, Superintendent Castello forms a team to investigate, fearing someone may be killing old French fighters from the Algerian war.

This was a deep mystery involving something that happened fifty years before when Algeria fought for their independence from France. French and Spanish citizens, who had made their home in Algeria, took up arms against the Arabs and French soldiers. Although I did not fully understand the history of the Algerian war, I was in France during the period just following it, and knew there was still a problem. A lot of people had died, and there was still a lot of hatred among the French against their own country for being forced out of Algeria. The mystery does go into more detail about that period, but we don’t learn who the killer is, or why he’s killing certain men from that period, until the end of the story.

The author writes in a smooth, flowing style that makes this 432-page novel read more like a 200-page quick read. The writing is brilliant, and the characters are well drawn and provocative. This was a page-turner, and hard to put down till the last page. Highly recommended for readers who love a good mystery.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Stars & Stripes - The Black Stiletto #3

Stars & Stripes (The Black Stiletto #3)
By Raymond Benson
ISBN #978-1608090723
Oceanview Publishing
Price $25.95
284 Pages
Rating 5-Stars

“A Great Action Series!”

Judy Talbot remains in the nursing home, while her granddaughter runs into problems in New York. Martin Talbot is afraid that his daughter is taking on some semblance of Judy’s alter ego, The Black Stiletto. Meanwhile, it’s 1960 in Judy’s diary, and lots of stuff is going on. It’s a presidential election year, and she becomes a Kennedy Girl, working as a volunteer at the New York Democratic Party election campaign headquarters. Naturally, she discovers a Russian plot to assassinate both Kennedy and Nixon, plus she has ventured into Chinatown with drastic results. Both Russians and the Chinese tong want to kill her, and the Mafia were mere children compared to these groups.

This is a great series, well written, good story telling, with just the right mix of action and plot to keep the story interesting. Each novel records a year in the diary of The Black Stiletto, who was active from 1958 to 1963. She fought crime, the mob, spies, and Nazis, as well as Chinese tongs. She dresses in black, carries a sharp blade, a rope, and uses her fighting ability to take down the bad guys. What more could the reader want? This is one of the best new action series out today. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson
Detective Mystery Stories

Friday, September 19, 2014

The Book Cave Final Episode

THE BOOK CAVE FINAL EPISODE

The Book Cave #300 airs this week, and Ric shuts the door on this popular podcast – for now. It had a long run, and introduced many new pulp writers and their fiction to anxious listeners. Ric Croxton and Art SIppo were instrumental in many firsts in pulp fandom. Their enthusiastic reviews and interviews helped promote not only the new writers and New Pulp, but also promoted the original pulp magazines and their characters and authors. In 2010 & 2011 they were the recipients of the ECHOES Award. They never had a bad word to say about anyone or their books, and can be proud of their many, and truly monumental accomplishments. Visit The Book Cave at http://thebookcave.libsyn.com/webpage The archives will remain up for a period, but may eventually be dropped. Art Sippo will continue occasionally with his own podcast, Art’s Reviews http://artsreviews.libsyn.com/webpage  We want to wish Ric and Art the best in all their future endeavors, and hope that all of you will drop them a note of thanks. God Bless.

Tom & Ginger

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Eleven Days Thriller

Eleven Days (Thriller)
By Stav Sherez
Europa Editions www.europaeditions.com
ISBN #978-1609452254
Price $18.00
281 Pages
Rating 5-Stars

“Spellbinding And Difficult To Put Down.”

Detective Inspector Jack Carrigan and his partner Detective Constable Geneva Miller are handed a case that at first looks like an accidental fire, but Carrigan believes it was arson. Ten nuns were burned to death in their convent, The Sisters of Suffering. They were each seated around their dining table, and had not tried to escape. Why? An eleventh victim is discovered below, in a confession booth, also burned alive. It’s this final victim that intrigues Carrigan. There were only supposed to be the ten nuns, so who was the eleventh woman? Clues point their investigation to Peru, following the nun’s background where they fought for the rights of the poor, even if it required violence on their part. And in London, the investigation unravels their activity helping young girls escape prostitution ruled over by the Albanian gangsters. Was the fire accidental, or was it set, and if so, who would have killed these eleven women?

This was another well-written story, with a horrific background for a murder mystery. The evil that men do can prove more monstrous than any horror novel, and leaves the reader wondering if our civilization has truly sunk so low, or is this mere fiction? Mystery readers will find this novel truly spellbinding, and difficult to put down. And the characters memorable. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Fight Card

FIGHT CARD UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2014

Greetings,
         We have a special treat for this month’s Fight Card release.  Fight Card: Bareknuckle Barbarian features a one-two punch of stories featuring Robert ‘Bob” E. Howard himself as the two-fisted hero of his own pulp tales.
         Award winning author Teel James Glenn writing as Jack Tunney gives life to the wonder of what adventures Bob Howard might have enjoyed had his life not ended so tragically early.
         Fight Card: Bareknuckle Barbarian sports a beautiful painted cover by Carl Yonder with text by David Foster.

FIGHT CARD: BAREKNUCKLE BARBARIAN

Can a poor Texan pulp writer survive the bare knuckle brutality of New York? Robert E. ‘Bob’ Howard is forced to find out when he stumbles upon an impromptu match in an alley on his first day in the Big Apple. From there, it is a trip to the circus and a confrontation with a gambling overlord climaxing in a bloody fight to the finish in a squared circle of death…all before landing on the shores of old Ireland, where he will face a strange and ancient danger in a very different circle of bare knuckle justice.
        Two fisted tales straight from the days of the pulp excitement, served with a side order of ‘what might have been’ fantasy, as Robert E. Howard – the writer who gave us Conan and Solomon Kane – lives his adventures himself.
        Pulp Award winning author Teel James Glenn writing as Jack Tunney takes the readers back to a time that never was for adventures that should have been!
         Amazon Link: http://tinyurl.com/ofahgnh
         As always, any mentions on your blogs or social networking sites are appreciated.
         Next month will feature a new Fight Card novel, The Guns of November, from Joseph Grant (The Last Round of Archie Mannis), which mixes boxing with historical characters involved in the Kennedy assassination.
         The Iron Fists of Ned Kelly will debut in November from Fight Card stalwart David Foster (King of the Outback, Rumble in the Jungle), taking us back into the bush with Australia’s favorite outlaw. This novel will feature a stunning cover from new Fight Card contributor Mike Fyles.
         Andrew Salmon (Fight Card Sherlock Holmes: Work Capitol) will be giving us a new Fight Card Sherlock Holmes tale to celebrate the holiday season.
         We also have upcoming books from Tim Tresslar, Jason Chirevas, David White Tommy Hancock, and others…
         David Foster is hard at work preparing those Fight Card tales not yet released as paperbacks for publication.  Your patience is appreciated.  We will get there.
         Until next month…
         Keep Punching!

 Paul