Sunday, May 31, 2009

Best Birthday Ever


Here's a stereo GIF from the Robot Scott ViewMaster set I posted a few days ago. I wish I could find the rest in postable form, they're pretty great. This is (c)1996 by my brother Batfatty. I would be the robot clutching his birthday presents, the Starship Enterprise and an original Aurora "Uncle Blackout" model. (Click to enlarge, then savor its unearthly beauty.)

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Because You Demanded it:





More creepy law enforcement figurines. In number one, the Stan Laurelesque Deputy is feeding pigeons and the little newsboy is nowehere in sight. In number two, his colleague is talking into his radio and pointing his gun in the air, presumably trying to shoot down the pigeons Stan has been slowing down with all that junk food.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Noir at the Bar is Tonight!


That's right, and the above badly taxidermied Pan troglodytes will likely be there. It's at the Delmar Lounge, 6235 Delmar Blvd., Saint Louis, MO 63130 starting at eight o'clock. Yours truly will be reading along with Frank Bill of Indiana, Jedidiah Ayres of St. Louis, and the headliner of course is Anthony Neil Smith of Marshall, MN, reading from the brutal "Hogdoggin.'"

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Fairland Café


Here's a picture I took circa 1982 of the alley entrance to Wichita's Fairland Café, a 24-hour hangout for many decades. From my soon-to-be-updated website.

Tonight's Big Event


That's right, Anthony Neil Smith and I will be reading/signing tonight from seven to eight-thirty at Pudd'nhead Books at 37 S. Old Orchard in Webster Groves, MO. Neil will read from his new book "Hogdoggin'," and I'll read something from the book I'm finishing up, "Supply Sarge." I expect there'll be some drinking, some dancing, some fucking and some fighting, if I know my Dr. Smith.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Book of the day


Honorable mention goes to my pal Jason Starr's rerelease "Fake ID" (buy it now at your local Indie). But the book of the day goes to a title I picked up in East Lansing, Michigan: From Dance Hall to White Slavery by John Dillon, 1943, Padell Book and Magazine Co., NYC.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Basement Sublet...of Horror!


My good pal Joel Sanderson is the creator/producer/film editor/star of the greatest TV Horror show ever, The Basement Sublet of Horror. Check it out if you dare: http://www.basementsubletofhorror.com/
I've guest starred on two episodes, once as psychotic, pilled-up country western legend Tex LeBeauf, beamed down to the sublet by the nubile female aliens who've kindly adopted him, and once as Gunther Dedmond's sinister landlord. Every episode I've seen is a gas, and Joel's inventive re-imaginings of the D-movies he's recut are works of art in themselves.

Friday, May 22, 2009

For all you 3D geeks

The above stereo pair was taken at Giverny in the mid-eighties. Below are a skeletal foot and hand I found on sale by a bouquiniste on the left bank in Paris in '85.

Attack of the Great Apes


My favorite nineteenth c. genre of sculpture is animals attacking other types of animals. The French had a particular thing for these. There are several in the Jardin des Tuileries, and you find them here and there in parks and museums. Above is a shot I took a few years ago at the Muséum de l'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. That is one fucking savage Rangy-tangy.

And below is another favorite I found on the web: A chimp attacking a dolphin, from the Parc de l'Orangerie in Strasbourg (I have my own picture of it somewhere, but would never be able to find it):

http://www.worldisround.com/articles/21948/photo20.html?photosize=small

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Custom Made View Master Reels



My brother custom-made these ViewMaster packs a few years ago. "Robot Planet" was a sort of pilot for an animated project, "Robot Scott" was made for my birthday circa 1996. Wish I could post the stereo views, too. Sorry about the glare.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Creepy Law Enforcement Figurines



From my personal collection of creepy law enforcement figurines.

more new books


I was remiss in not mentioning other new books by friends new this week: Seth Harwood's "Jack Wakes Up," Ken Bruen's "Sanctuary," Michael Connelly's "The Scarecrow" and George P. Pelecanos's "The Way Home." In my defense the last three guys are doing okay in the publicity department on their own, and in Seth's case he's gone a little bit bananas promoting it himself. But as Seth would point out, if he hadn't started going bananas well over a year ago the book probably never would have seen print at all, and the book is a gas.

Monday, May 18, 2009

YO...LA....TENGO Tengo tengo tengo

I shouldn't be buying CDs at the moment but this week I found two of them that I had to have immediately. One is "They Shoot, We Score," a collection of four Yo La Tengo film soundtracks. The second is "Fuck Book," by the Condo Fucks, the alter ego of the aforementioned Yo La Tengo. Neither recommended as an introduction, but for fan-addicts they're both indispensible.

W.W.E.D.


My brother Batfatty made me this Ed Gein t-shirt....the acronym is for "What Would Eddie Do?"

while I'm at it

What you must buy immediately: "Hogdoggin'," by Anthony Neil Smith (Bleak House); "Sex, Thugs and Rock and Roll," edited by Todd Robinson (Kensington); and "Dope Thief" by Dennis Tafoya (St. Martin's Minotaur.) For Dennis's book you'll have to go to your local independent because the big chains aren't carrying it, the worthless dumbfucks. (Did you really need one more reason to stay away from them?)
And later this summer will come "Uncage Me," edited by Jen Jordan (Bleak House again!) featuring my story "Ten Gallons of Infected Saliva." Probably you should just go to the Bleak House web page and order everything in the catalogue, because next up is Victor Gischler's "Deputy" and what I'm hearing is that VG has outdone his own diseased self.

Next week

I forgot about next week. Anthony Neil Smith is coming to St. Louis, and at 7 PM on the 27th (that's a Wednesday) he and I will be appearing at Pudd'nhead Books at 37 S. Old Orchard Ave. in
beautiful Webster Groves, MO. And the next night, Thursday the 28th, is the kickoff of St. Lou's version of NOIR AT THE BAR, a Philadelphia-based series founded by Peter Rozovsky (of Detectives Without Borders). Jedidiah Ayres ("Mosquito Kingdom" screenwriter and author of many short stories including "Politoburg" in the new THUGLIT antho "Sex, Thugs and Rock and Roll"), Anthony Neil Smith, Frank Bill (all the way from Indiana) and I will be kicking off the series with readings designed to curl your curlies. Subterranean Books will be selling books at this event, which will take place at the Delmar Lounge (6235 Delmar Blvd.,Saint Louis, MO 63130) in the fabulous U City Loop.

this week and next

7 PM Wednesday the 20th is Suspense Night at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters. Reed Farrel Coleman, SJ Rozan, John Lutz and I will be reading with Paul Harris moderating. I promise to read something from my work in progress that will make Reed do a spit take, probably involving unorthodox and/or insalubrious sex acts.
It may be worth mentioning that no writer involved in the annual "Suspense Night" since its inception has been a thriller writer, with the exception of Ridley Pearson. But "Noir Night" is too hard to pronounce.