Merkin
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Posts posted by Merkin
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In the U.S. Navy, the coming (sill) of a passageway watertight door is very high and is known as a 'knee knocker'. It has led to many injuries to careless sailors passing through--as has the very low overhead.
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John Williams made his mark on the Boston Pops decades ago but luckily the brahmins in charge at Symphony Hall and WCRB/WGBH still know which side their bread is buttered on and the classics prevail. The current camel nudging it’s nose under the tent at the Pops is Celtic music, somewhat strident at the present moment but I have great confidence that the baton will swing back as it always does in staid New England.
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That review makes me want to read the book, so job accomplished, James K.
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I quote from Alan's last paragraph: 'The entire family loved the Cape and the ocean. None of them ever left, living out their lives surrounded by family and love.' I love reading about the Cape, and I wish I could also claim that, once I had found it, I had never left. Thank you, Alan, for an inspiring story.
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The title says it all.
It's a wonder most of us manage to live through it. -
Soon, R, you will be able to hang out your own shingle as a Private Eye.
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Alan keeps adding new dimensions to this tale, and it has become much more complex.
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On 2/25/2010 at 10:15 AM, Merkin said:
James Savik has offered up the final chapter of Twilight. This brilliant novel has entertained and informed me throughout, and every chapter has managed to provide at least one jaw-dropping episode or encounter. As a non-military techno-challenged tree-hugger type I had a steep learning curve to deal with, but James proved to be a master at inserting enough technical information to keep me abreast of the plot and aware of the issues and threats. I think this compelling novel is extraordinary, highly publishable, and a cinch for mainstream success.
Congratulations, James. An impressive, memorable accomplishment.
James Merkin
This is my second up-all-night, can't-put-it-down reread of James's novel, and I stick by my initial comment. I sincerely believe this work should seek mainstream publication.
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Just...amazing.
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9 hours ago, dude said:
I believe that President Lyndon Baines Johnson brought the name up frequently as he addressed the nation. "Mah fellow Merkins"
According to the latest U.S. Census data, this nation has an official resident population of 331,449,281 fellow Merkins as of April 1, 2020. Sadly, the figure is somewhat suspect, as are many of the important statistics released during the term of the last U.S. president. But wait! A more realistic estimate would include the resident populations of both North and South America: certainly all are fellow Merkins. That figure is approximately 1.002 billion.
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Thank you for "Growing Pains", Cole. There's a lot of wisdom in this final chapter.
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The cat may be irate because you haven't remembered to feed it, Camy.
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Epic photo. It inspired some fine stories, also: http://iomfats.org/storyshelf/contests/2018-fine-young-animals/
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I hope all of you are feeling a little sheepish over this, and will change the subject.
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This is a touching message. Not many of us get a chance at a do-over.
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If you're going to read Cole Parker's writings you are going to have to get used to these expressions from the distant past. I don't think he's even aware that he's doing it. Thank goodness his spelling has improved and it no longer looks like Geoffrey Chaucer's.
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I read this piece and I have a bad reaction to it. I’d be interested to know if anyone else did.
I’m concerned, and more than a little pissed, that this dad seems to feel that it is all right for him to hang his son out for the world to oogle and giggle over (how cute, nine years old and he’s gay!). My impression is that it is not his son that this writer is all about, but himself. He appears to want everyone to know just how insightful and understanding he is about his son’s feelings and yearnings and reaching out, no matter how private or personal those feelings and yearnings are. The writer, full of himself, wants us to know how sensitive he is about this boy’s deepest feelings, and he is not at all reluctant to drag his son’s privacy into the limelight in order to brag on his own ‘insights’. I call him self-centered and clueless. -
I know, I know. Gardner wrote over 80 Perry Mason titles, and also cranked out titles under five other pen names, including A.A. Fair. Who can keep up with output like that? A dozen or so titles were published in the thirties, so I guess he qualifies as a classic mystery writer.
John D. MacDonald is harder to categorize, though he is in fact my favorite writer in the mystery genre; his character Travis McGee was who I wanted to be when I grew up. (Boy, has that train left the station.) Yet MacDonald crosses the line from mystery to thriller to suspense and back to mystery, with side trips into Florida expose that is very journalistic: often all of these tropes exist within the same title. It’s hard to herd him into the group of “classic” mystery writers we’ve been resurrecting here. I still view him as fresh and contemporary.
If we include MacDonald, what about Carl Hiaasen, or Dean Koontz, or even Lee Child? Where does it end? Best to stick to detectives who wear vests and grow orchids.
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I'd truly like to volunteer, Nigel, because I love the story so far and respect your talent as a writer. But at my age I'm very much day-to-day and cannot make long term commitments like dating or editing.
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9 hours ago, Paul said:
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There are a number of good blogs devoted to golden-age mystery, and one of the best, well-informed and entertaining, is The Passing Tramp.
Thank you for that great suggestion. I gave it a look, and I must say this blogger's book reviews are so detailed you don't have to go on to read the book.
(Point taken. Jack Vance was no hack. I still remember the thrill from my first reading "Big Planet".) -
I’m surprise there’s been no mention so far of John Dickson Carr, generally regarded (according to Wiki) as one of the greatest of the “Golden Age” mystery writers. An American living in England, Carr’s mysteries have mostly English settings, and his two best-known fictional detectives are Dr. Gideon Fell and Sir Henry Merrivale. He is also known for his biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Another mystery writer from the 1930s worth noting is Ellery Queen. Himself a fake, Queen poses both as the writer and as the central amateur detective character in over thirty books. These were actually written by two men, cousins, whose names turn out to be pen names as well. The titles set in the 1930s wear well, and remind one of Rex Stout's New York.
To further cloud the trail of attribution, "Ellery Queen" became so popular that the 1950s, 60s, and 70s saw all sorts of spin-offs, including television shows, even children's books, written by all sorts of hacks.
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OK, its a big pool. So where is the pool boy? Eh? Eh?
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What's amazing to me is that small hands do not accommodate easily to full-size instruments, and that raises the bar even further.
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Gladdens the heart. That's a remarkable mother.
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On Farnham Beach by Chris James
in Readers Rule!
Posted
Chris James has always been noted for his thorough fact-finding and authentic basis to his stories, and it's lovely to get this affirmation from you, Rutabaga. I always enjoyed my forays into Rehoboth Beach when I was a young D.C. dandy.