One of the nice things about my time spent in fandom, specifically comics fandom, was getting the chance to meet (and hang with) some of the writers and artists I’d been enjoying for years. Bob Ingersoll and Tony Isabella were two of the nicest. I’d been a fan of Tony’s since the 1970s when he was writing stories for DC and Marvel. His Luke Cage and Black Lightning were among my favorites. I became familiar with Bob via his regular (or semi-regular, considering the too few installments) “The Law is a Ass” column in CBG.

Bob & Tony have co-written a few comics and prose stories, including the CAPTAIN AMERICA novel “Liberty’s Torch”. Their take on Cap was everything a fan of the character could hope for. So it was great to hear that they were going to team-up again, this time to write a novel taking place in the Star Trek universe.

The Case of the Colonist’s Corpse: a Sam Cogley Mystery takes place during the period of the original Star Trek series. James T. Kirk is still the Enterprise’s captain, but he and his crew only appear briefly in the book. For those familiar with the first series you may recall that Sam Cogley (played by the wonderful character actor, Elisha Cook, Jr) defended Kirk when he was brought up on charges. Sam is back now, and this time he is defending a Klingon accused of killing the chief administrator of a Federation colony.

Bob & Tony present a mystery which takes its style from the Perry Mason novels of Erle Stanley Gardner. The planet Anerher II, lies in the Neutral Zone so is claimed by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Naturally, things aren’t always cordial between these two races, so when a spy is discovered among the colonists it’s not a surprise that tempers flare. The authors play fair and if you pay attention you can pretty much guess who the likely murderer is, especially if you’ve seen enough of the old Perry Mason episodes on television.

If you are expecting a ‘typical’ ST novel, you may be disappointed, but if you’re willing to take the book at face value, knowing that it will not be Kirk & Co. filling the pages, I think you will find the book as enjoyable as I did. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that sales of the book will make further Sam Cogley stories possible. Sam, although created as a one-time character for the old TV show, is given by Tony & Bob enough depth to carry the story. Along with his assistants they certainly have enough potential for a good half dozen books or more. I’m giving the book a solid three stars.

The current issue of the New York Press has an article by Paul Krassner (brilliant as always) talking about Woodstock. He also mentions how at the time the Nixon White House was rumored to be considering halting the 1972 elections because of "internal civil unrest" (then due to the Vietnam War). Amazing how things have come around once again, huh?

Mark Evanier pointed out this article http://http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/state/colorado/2004-08-16-colo-electoral_x.htm in USA TODAY, which talks about Colorado trying to change their electoral votes are distributed. It would make a difference in the up-coming Presidential election, if passed.

Mark is right that there would likely be a Supreme Court challenge by the loser, but I think that some changes should have been made nationally. Of course, the GOP is happy with how things stand and the Republican led Congress certainly wouldn't want to do anything which might infranchise Americans.

The Marvel Super Heroes' Guide to New York City, premiered on the TRAVEL CHANNEL last night. I enjoyed and was glad I popped in a tape.

Probably a great thing for Marvel to show at conventions or to make available to comic shops. Nice seeing Stan Lee, Joe Simon (talking about Captain America and the Golden Age), and the Romitas (father & son). Even though I spent over sixteen years living in Brooklyn, I never had a chance to actually check out all the places I read about as a kid growing up. I never knew that the Baxter Building & Avenger's Mansion were based on real places in the city.

I'll also never forget the first time I was up-close to one of those rooftop water towers, I'd always seen in the Ditko SPIDER-MAN panels. I was attending a party given by Ken Gale and Mercy van Vlack, way back in mid-1980s. Some of us were taking a breather from the overcrowding in the apartment and were up on the roof chatting. Elayne and I had were dating, and I was talking to our friend The Dude (names changed to protect the innocent). I happened to be glancing around and there was one of those towers on the building across the street. I almost expected to see Spidey, swinging by on his way cross town.

Hat's off to the folks at Marvel and the Travel Channel for putting together a nice tribute, including a very good section on how the comics industry reacted to 9/11.

Sorry to hear this morning of the passing of Julia Child. A number of comedians made fun of her, but she certainly was one never to take herself seriously. A grand lady, from what I have heard and read.

I'm sure her books will remain in print and her various TV programs will probably be visible for years. Rest in Peace, dear lady!

I was just checking out some of the other blogs I link to and caught a bit on TALKING POINTS MEMO on New Jersey's governor. A quick peek at CNN.com revealed this headline: New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey resigns his post, citing an extramarital homosexual affair.

For those outside the New York/New Jersey area you might have missed all the commercials for NJ tourism with the Governor and his wife strolling the beach.

Donna and I decided to spring for DirectTV,which was installed yesterday morning. The commercials on cable turned out to be right and we had some problems last night with the thunder storms. The interference seemed to be when the storm was heading in our direction, but stopped once it actually began raining. Picture quality is as good or better than with Time-Warner Cable.

We've barely begun checking things out, so I don't have much to report. We actually ended up watching the same stations we had been viewing with basic cable (Bravo, ComedyCentral & Channel 2 (the CBS flag station in NYC). I'll probably have more to say when I've had the chance to check things out. We went with the basic package, with the 'local station' option, so we don't have HBO, Showtime or the sports fanatic stuff. Frankly, most of the stuff we watch are on the major networks anyway.

It is nice to have some of the stations we've missed since moving back to Brooklyn, as the Time-Warner package we had didn't include two of our favorites. Donna and I both love ANIMAL PLANET, and enjoyed some of the shows on GAME SHOW NETWORK (now called simply, GSN). I had been looking forward to checking out TRIO, but according to Mark Evanier we won't be having it for long. When Donna isn't around (since she's not a fan of animation), I'll probably check out the various cartoon stations. She's more into Discovery Health, since her background is in the medical field.

I expect to have some time to play around this coming weekend, so I'll let you know if anything catches my eye.

Just completed another review for Joe Bob Briggs, so as usual, I'm posting the first draft here. The last few reviews haven't had too many edits, so I must be getting the hang of this.

Oh, anybody familiar with Rego Park, Queens? I may be working in the area soon.

*******************
Rage by Steve Gerlach; reviewed by Steve Chaput
Leisure Books; ISBN – 084395311X

Well, this was a pretty unpleasant read! There is nothing like reading about some guy who gets off on snuff films to pass the time. I actually had to put the book down a few times, as it was just a bit too disturbing.

Ben Jackson is attending college simply for lack of anything better to do with his life. Having demonstrated early in his childhood that he troubled, Ben has grown up to be that guy you used to see on campus. You barely remember him and don’t know anybody who hung out with him. If you did try to make conversation, he probably blew you off, leaving you wondering why you bothered. Not anyone’s idea of a BMOC.

Like many loners, Ben blames his problems on everyone from his parents, to his teachers to any female who gave him the brush off. Naturally, as his own self-pity and bitterness increases, so does his hatred of those he blames for his problems. It’s also only natural, at least in this type of book that things are finally going to come to a violent conclusion.

Gerlach demonstrates early on that Ben is not your regular loser; this is a guy with some very serious anti-social issues. After the usual childish games of ‘playing doctor’ with school mates, Ben’s only actual sexual encounter is with a fellow male student at the boarding school to which he is sent. Now in his early twenties, Ben’s sexual frustration is beginning to show itself in some unhealthy ways. When he does finally meet Christine, the “love of his life”, you know that it is going to end badly. Ben has already made plans for his ultimate revenge and his relationship with Christine only temporarily keeps things from boiling over.

Gerlach spends so much time showing us how creepy and anti-social Ben is and how he became that way, that there is little room for any of the other characters in the novel to be any more than ciphers. Sadly, so much of the book seems like padding until the final chapters when Ben finally snaps. Perhaps with more to work with Gerlach might have produced an entertaining read. In this novel, he simply tosses in the clichés we’ve seen in numerous films and televisions shows, so there are few if any surprises.

Two stars.

There's really not much I can add to what others have said about G.W.'s great verbal gaff the other day. It does remind me of another famous quote though:

"The police are not here to create disorder. The police are here to preserve disorder." Mayor Richard Daley during the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Damn! If only Abbie was still here.

According to their 'official' website, http://www.nyisbookcountry.com/ New York is Book Country is no longer being held on Fifth Avenue. My guess is that it became too expensive or inconvenient for the city to reroute everything in that area for a good part of a Sunday. Then again, it will be nice to head down to an area that I am very familiar with.

I was listening to Al Franken at lunch and enjoyed, among other bits, how he points out that Tom Ridge has indeed politicized the Dept. of Homeland Security. How can anyone take Ridge and his pronouncements seriously any longer? "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and all that. If they announced that planes were inbound at this point I doubt if most Americans would even look up! The "Oy, Oy, Oy Show" is always worth a listen.

Could someone explain to me how G.W. can remain so popular with a large segment of the American people? I'm not saying that I'm overjoyed with Kerry, but he is certainly preferable to another four years of the borderline incompetents in the Administration.

On a non-political/personal note: Don't you think that fitness centers, especially those where most if not all of the members are female would have curtains or blinds on the windows? Not that I'm really complaining, mind you, but it is distracting when I sit here at the Reference Desk and see the ladies working out. :-)

For those who care I'm now working for the Queens Borough Public Library. The folks have been very nice the past couple of days, but I won't have a permanent assignment for a few weeks yet. Fingers crossed!

Boy, I don't even now if I remember how to do this blogging stuff after being away. I just haven't felt like joining in on anything lately and probably wouldn't have had anything worth adding if I had.

Tomorrow (8/2), I'll be heading to Queens to begin my new job. Well, to be honest I'm going to spend the day at the Queens Borough Central Library filling out forms and going through orientation. They won't even tell me where I'll be assigned until later, so my first actual work day will probably be Tuesday. I'll keep you updated on where they have me.

I have mixed feelings, naturally, since I have already worked in a public library and it would not have been my first choice. Still, I do know the job and shouldn't have much difficulty getting back into the routine.

The benefits are pretty good and I'll be back in the New York State pension system, in which I'm already vested.

Hopefully, with a 'normal' routine beginning again I may be able to once again start posting on a regular basis. It will be interesting to toss in a thing or two about the coming election, that is unless the Adminstration decides that national security would be harmed by such a shift in power and aborts (pardon the expression) the voting.

Oh, it should be a fun few months!

Donna and I got back a few hours ago from watching the Brooklyn Cyclones (the Mets' "A" division team) playing the Crosscutters, a PA team. The Cyclones won 4-3 in a game that could have gone either way. Add that to the Mets beating the Yankees the last couple of days and I'm a pretty happy baseball fan. Yeah, the Red Sox are still the Red Sox, but it was a lot of fun to sit in the stands in Coney Island (Right under the old Parachute ride) and cheer on a bunch of guys who still seem to enjoy the game.

Happy Fourth of July to my fellow bloggers and anyone else who happens to drop by. A salute to my fellow vets goes along with that.

Following is my latest review for the JOE BOB BRIGGS site. As, I've said before, the books in the "Thriller" genre I'm sent aren't always the type of thing I'd either classify as that or are books I'd normally pick up on my own.

The review pretty well sums up my feelings on the book, but I can certainly understand why James Carroll has a following.

*******************
SECRET FATHER by James Carroll; reviewed by Steve Chaput
Houghton Mifflin; ISBN 0-618-15284-9

There’s an old fashion feel to this novel, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For folks of a certain generation I’d be tempted to sum it up in part as “The Adventures of Spin & Marty in Berlin”. An over simplification, for sure, but in the early parts of the novel it captures the sense of innocents abroad.

It’s also interesting that Carroll uses the old Reader’s Digest column “The Most Unusual Character I’ve Met” as sort of a running gag, since except for a few ‘F’ bombs tossed around by the kids, it really wouldn’t be hard to see this entire novel printed in one of those Reader’s Digest Condensed Books that my mother used to have laying around the house. There is barely any sex in the book, and when it appears it isn’t anything along the lines of a Jackie Collins bedroom scene. Like I said early on, this is an old fashioned book with a dated sensibility.

Carroll takes us back to Berlin, Germany in 1961, just before The Wall went up and moved the Cold War to another level. Paul Montgomery, a widower working for Chase Bank in Germany, worries about his son Michael, just like any father. However, in Michael’s case there are also the crippling effects of his childhood polio which have left him more vulnerable in his father’s eyes. Michael doesn’t wish to use his handicap to gain the sympathy of others, and would rather be accepted for who he has become.

When Michael, his friend Ulrich and their fellow schoolmate Katherine ‘Kit’ Carson decide to head to Berlin to see the May Day parade in East Berlin things go terribly wrong. Ulrich, whose father works in the intelligence gathering section of the U.S. Army, brings with him secrets, both knowingly and unknowingly, which endanger far more than three teenagers on holiday. When the kids disappear it is up to Paul and Ulrich’s mother, Charlotte (herself carrying more than her share of secrets) to try and bring the children back safely.

Carroll breaks the story into two parts, moving the narration from the elder Montgomery to Michael as the plot becomes more and more complicated. Writing from the perspective of three decades of hindsight father and son see events unfolding from their own points of view. Since we know that father and son still are around to tell the tale we have to wonder who else in the novel might not be around to see the final chapter.

Carroll’s title, as we discover, has several interpretations as secrets are revealed about several fathers in the tale. He brings to life not only his characters, but also the time in which the story unfolds. While he’s no Le Carre, Carroll is still able to create the atmosphere which must have hung over Berlin in that particular time. It’s no wonder that Carroll is so widely respected, he makes the whole thing seem easy, and the early chapters narrated by Michael read like something you’d find in the Young Adult section of your local library or bookstore. Three stars.

Boy, I'm almost surprised that I still know how to get in here, let alone post anything.
To be honest, the failure (so far) of the job hunt has me pretty depressed and I really haven't felt like posting anything.

Not that I'm not keeping track of world events, etc., but there's probably little I can add to what is already being addressed here in blogland.

Anyway, just wanted any folks out there who might be interested to know that I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth, nor been abducted by alien lifeforms (unlike an old friend, whom we will not mention by name). :-)

As I've said, if you hear of any places desperate for a librarian be sure to drop me a line and let me know, okay?

Oh, and keep your head down and your hands away from fireworks this weekend. We'd hate to hear about one of you loosing a typing hand.

Boy, I'm almost surprised that I still know how to get in here, let alone post anything.
To be honest, the failure (so far) of the job hunt has me pretty depressed and I really haven't felt like posting anything.

Not that I'm not keeping track of world events, etc., but there's probably little I can add to what is already being addressed here in blogland.

Anyway, just wanted any folks out there who might be interested to know that I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth, nor been abducted by alien lifeforms (unlike an old friend, whom we will not mention by name). :-)

As I've said, if you hear of any places desperate for a librarian be sure to drop me a line and let me know, okay?

Oh, and keep your head down and your hands away from fireworks this weekend. We'd hate to hear about one of you loosing a typing hand.

Every body else has already made their feelings on Reagan and the funeral known, so I figured I would take a few minutes to add my own thoughts on the matter.

It's no secret that I was never a big Reagan fan, but the man was after all the President, so you can understand some of the hoopla. Frankly, I was more bothered by the final shots of Nancy as she went to the coffin following the ceremony at the Library. Couldn't the media have the good taste to not focus in on such a private moment? Perhaps it has something to do with my memories of my mother at my father's funeral, but some things really shouldn't be for public consumption.

I know that I haven't had a chance to post anything the past week or so, but I didn't want folks to start worrying. I'm still among the living, still searching for a job and Donna and I still haven't finished putting the apartment together the way we want.

We spent several hours and a few hundred dollars, just yesterday, at Home Depot picking up paint and painting supplies, so we can get started. We want to do all the rooms, before having the new carpeting and kitchen floor put in. We are going to have somebody to the floors, but figure we can do the painting ourselves. That should be an adventure.

I want to apologize to any folks who have been looking for a new post here the last few days. Donna and I are still working on getting the new apartment up and livable, and have way too many boxes still to be unpacked.

It's strange being back in Brooklyn, but I'm sure once we both have jobs and settle in we'll quickly get back into things.

I'll try to keep you posted and update things as I have a chance.