I’m doing much better. I was hoping to get something posted this evening, but after spending some time trying to catch up with emails and not quite succeeding, I decided to play it cautious and not push myself when I shouldn’t. Look for something new tomorrow, though, or if not, Wednesday for sure.

Coming soon are a review by Michael Shonk of an unusual Philo Vance appearance on TV, a long installment of Mike Nevin’s usual monthly column, Dan Stumpf’s opinion of a movie you probably never heard of, Fingerprints Don’t Lie (1951), and as I’m often fond of saying, much more.

The surgery of week before last went well, but I had a step backward yesterday. Not a big deal, according to my doctor, but I’ll have to slow down for a few days. I’ve been thinking about this. I’m going to take his advice — that goes without saying — and go a step further and stop posting here until after Labor Day.

I’ve taken an End of Summer break before. It’s always good to take some time off to deal with things that haven’t managed to get done over the summer — nothing too physical this time! — and that’s what I’ll be doing over the next few days.

Best wishes to those of you in the path of Hurricane Isaac. I’ll be watching news reports and thinking about you. Stay safe!

[UPDATE] 08-30-12. Thanks for all the get well notes, especially Randy’s, which gave me a much needed smile yesterday.

I’m on the mend at last, but I still have to take it easy for a few more days.

There is a post on the EQMM site that I’d like to call your attention to, especially if you’re a pulp fan and Black Mask magazine in particular. It’s written by Keith Alan Deutsch and it’s entitled “Black Mask Magazine, Steve Fisher, and The Noir Revolution.” In it he gives a small salute to Fanny Ellsworth, the editor of the magazine who took over from much more well known Joseph Shaw in 1936.

The changes she made to the magazine have never been given much attention before, and the article is well worth your reading:

http://somethingisgoingtohappen.net/2012/08/29/black-mask-magazine-steve-fisher-and-the-noir-revolution-by-keith-alan-deutsch/

I’m having some out-patient surgery done tomorrow. Nothing urgent about it, but there’s no reason to delay it either. I’ll be home by dinner time. I don’t know how wobbly in the knees I’ll be afterward, so I thought I’d give myself a longer break and take the rest of the weekend off as well. I’ll be back here by this time on Monday, if not before. See you then.

I’ll be taking this weekend off from blogging. I have several posts in progress, and I should have some time to work on them now and then, but in all likelihood, you’ll not see anything posted here until Tuesday. Maybe I’ll get caught up on a few other things that need doing, and maybe not, but without taking a couple of days off from the computer, I don’t think there’s any chance I will. See you soon!

That muscle in my hip has healed, but it laid me up a long time (the better part of six weeks) and it’s been difficult to catch up. There are all kinds of things that ought to have been done in the meantime, and weren’t.

I was away from the computer most of yesterday, for example, and today it looks like more of the same. Besides the usual slew of reviews, there are lots of articles and other projects in the works, but I’m holding off on them until there’s time to do them and do them right.

I also owe a lot of people replies on emails that I’ve gotten since the end of March, when all this started, including maybe yours. My apologies for that. I’ve let too many things slide for far too long. All I can do is promise to do better. As soon as I can!

It’s been seven days now– I went to the ER a week ago today — and I’m getting around the house, but only with the aid of a walker. I couldn’t do without it, and I still can’t get upstairs to my own computer.

After a burst of optimism at the beginning, I’ve had to realize that the healing process isn’t going to be as smooth and easy as I’d hoped. As many of you warned me earlier, it’s going to slow, uneven and far from easy. They gave me enough pain pills for three weeks. I guess they knew what they were doing.

I’ll be back to regular blogging as soon as I can. In the meantime, I’m doing some reading that I’ve haven’t taken the time to do in a while, but so far, other than watching UConn basketball games, both men and women, not too much TV.

And as a PS to David Vineyard, that was good advice you gave me. I’m trying not to sneeze.

I don’t know what caused it but I had a massive muscle spasm in my right hip Sunday morning, bad enough for us to call an ambulance to take me to the emergency room around 3 pm. They assumed it was a fracture but all of the tests, Xray, MRI and Catscan, were negative.

They finally found a medication that killed the pain, and I came home around 5 pm Monday. The pain is still mostly gone and for the most part I can get around, but I’m still too light-headed to do more than post this message to the blog. I’m using my wife’s downstairs computer. I can’t maneuver my way to my upstairs study where mine is. (We live in a split level house.)

I see that a lot of discussion is still going on following last week’s posts, especially the one about the Mannix TV show that Michael Shonk wrote up, but I don’t imagine I’ll be able to post anything new for the next few days. The visiting nurse made her first visit about 30 minutes ago, and I’ll be making a trip to our chiropractor this afternoon, I hope.

I’ll have to see if there’s as easy way from me to read my email from here. My wife uses gmail or hotmail, and I don’t. I’ll probably have to add updates to this post to stay in touch.

[UPDATE] 03-30-11. Here’s the culprit, clinically speaking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_muscle

Located in men right where your billfold sits in your back packet. I don’t know if a possible cause is having too many bills in your wallet, but since that’s hardly ever true in my case, chances are slim that’s what happened to me. I have pills to take, and they seem to work, but the basic cure seems to be rest. And if something I do causes pain, then stop doing it.

Moving laterally is my biggest problem, which makes getting to my computer upstairs still too tough to do. Right now there’s only a narrow passageway up the stairs and into the room. I’ll be careful and not try to overdo anything I shouldn’t.

Thanks for all the good wishes. This was my first overnight stay in a hospital, though it was only in the Emergency Room. My problem seems awfully minor after seeing the incoming patients and listening to them talk to the the doctors and nurses in the cubicle next door. Everything seemed crowded and chaotic at first, but after a while it was still crowded and chaotic — but under control. The staff seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

David, I think it was you who asked about the MRI exam. It was full body one in a narrow closed tube, though open at both ends. They handed me a bulb to press if I experienced any kind of problem. It took me less than five seconds to press the bulb. It took a small sedative to get me through that. If that hadn’t worked, I think they were ready to use one of the conks on the head that knocked Mannix out every so often.

The blog will be back in business by this weekend, I’m sure, if not before. Thanks again for all the cheer and goodwill!

[UPDATE #2] 03-31-11. R.I.P. H.R.F.KEATING (1926-2011). See Comment #20 and David Vineyard’s tribute to one of the Giants of the world of mystery and crime fiction, followed briefly by one of my own.

Technically spring isn’t here yet, but I’m going to take the weekend off anyway.

It’s time to recharge some batteries, get some chores done after putting them off all winter, and most of all, try to forget the snow, the ice, the freezing rain — and look forward to more days like today, sunny and 70 degrees. It was nice — quite wonderful, in fact.

This blog will be back in business around this same time Sunday. Ciao for now!

… this made me very sad.

http://thegoglog.blogspot.com/2011/03/remains.html

   It’s a couple of days early, but I’ll wish you a Merry Christmas and the Happiest of Holidays right now, with plenty of time to spare.

   I’ll also take a short break from blogging until early next week. Maybe this bit of time off will give me a chance to get caught up on email, but yes, I know, you’ve heard me say that before.

   Thanks to all of the contributors to this blog over this past few months. I’ve learned something from every review and every article you’ve sent me, and from every comment that’s been left. This blog wouldn’t be the same without you.

           — Steve