I finished three books during this week, as well as one pulp magazine issue. Books Space Cowboys, ed. by Kortnee Bryant. This recent (2023) anthology is the first of several from small publisher Raconteur Press aiming to capture the appeal of the American West in a science-fictional setting. As with any such anthology, not all …
Monogram Monday: Blues Busters (1950)
Strange happenings from the world of medicine: A tonsillectomy gives Sach (Huntz Hall) the velvety voice of a crooner, so Slip (Leo Gorcey) and the boys, together with Louie (Bernard Gorcey), try to find a way to capitalize on this fortunate change. Sach is soon the toast of New York, drawing big crowds to nightclubs. …
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Weekly Reader — July 6 – 12, 2025
I finished two books during this week. Books Captain Future and the Space Emperor, by Edmond Hamilton. Captain Future got his start in 1940 in a pulp magazine of the same name, which ran for 17 issues through early 1944. The title character, whose real name is Curt Newton, is a man trained from childhood …
Monogram Monday: Oklahoma Justice (1951)
Undercover lawman Johnny Mack Brown investigates a series of well-planned bank robberies. Working with a bank owner and the local sheriff, he stages a fake robbery, during which he even seems to kill a bank clerk as well, in order to set himself up as a bad man. He hopes thus to be able to …
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Funny Friday: Teamwork
Monogram Monday: Detective Kitty O’Day (1944)
Secretary Kitty O’Day (Jean Parker) investigates the murder of her businessman boss, hoping to clear herself and her boyfriend from suspicion. Parker is somewhat appealing in the lead role, but sadly the writing was pedestrian, the pacing was plodding, the humor weak, and the mystery insufficiently mysterious. There was a single sequel, but it’s no …
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Weekly Reader — June 29 – July 5, 2025
I finished four books during this week, as well as two pulp magazine issues. Books Swords and Deviltry, by Fritz Leiber. The first of Leiber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series in chronological story order, this volume brings together origin stories for each of the pair as well as an account of the meeting that leads …
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Funny Friday: Practical Sculpting
Monogram Monday: Man from Sonora (1951)
Thieves who have just robbed a stage hold up ex-Ranger Johnny Mack Brown and steal his horse, too. Once he makes it to town, he learns that such attacks have been plaguing the region; the local banker also is facing ruin as a result of the robberies. Though the town is unsafe for strangers, as …
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Weekly Reader — June 22 – 28, 2025
I finished two books during this week, as well as one pulp magazine issue. Books Redrawn by Request: The Great Cartoons of J. R. Williams, by J. R. Williams. I first encountered the comic art of J. R. Williams in a number of reprint volumes put out by Lee Valley, the Canadian tool, hardware, and …