Sun 3 May 2009
There’s some sort of virus or a “rogue anti-spyware” thingy on my computer that makes Firefox iffy and has shut down Explorer completely. I have a backlog of posts for this blog that I’ve been working on, and I can still receive and send email, but until this junk is cleaned out of wherever it it, there’ll be a another short period of quiet here, I’m sorry to say.
I’ll be back as soon as I can!
[UPDATE] An hour or so later, from my wife’s computer. Firefox is gone, and Eudora is getting temperamental. This is going to be longer than I thought.
[UPDATE #2.] 05-05-09. The computer’s a goner. I’ll be ordering a new one this afternoon, but this “vacation” I’m on is going to last another week or so before things are in order and I’m set to roll again. It’s been frustrating, aggravating, and total waste of time dealing with this, to say the least.
[UPDATE #2A.] Later the same day. I was way wrong on my previous estimate of when the new computer can be delivered. Then of course comes the dreaded part of loading the software and all of the other luxuries of computing we’ve discovered that we, collectively, cannot live without.
The bad news is that it will be three weeks, not “another week or so.”
If I were to post reviews and so on without cover images, and add them in later, maybe I can avoid going nearly a month without posts. It won’t be easy, as the major portion of this operation is all the way upstairs, and I’m down here a level on the othe side of the house, but it can be done. I’ll have to do some thinking about it.
In the meantime, I am not lacking for things to do — like doing some spring cleaning around here.
That’s last spring, mind you.
May 6th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I’m just back from a week traveling to and from the Windy City Pulp and Paperback convention. I’m still reeling from the overdose of pulps, paperbacks, artwork, etc. First thing I said to Paul Herman was “where is Steve?”. Sorry you couldn’t make it.
Also sorry about your computer problems, especially since I’m hooked on visiting your website and reading about mystery books and movies.
One thing I definitely disagree with is a discussion that took place while I was at the convention in Chicago. On April 28 comments were made about Cain’s Love’s Lovely Counterfeit and how the Big Three is now Chandler, Hammett, and Spillane. This is news to me and I know Spillane has alot of fans but his writing is nowhere near the level to be considered with Chandler and Hammett. His protagonists, especially Mike Hammer, are unbelievable and full of hate and paranoid enough to be committed to a hospital. No law enforcement agency in the world would put up with such a loose cannon as Hammer, who must have taken lessons from Carroll John Daly’s Race Williams. Sometimes Spillane’s writing style can only be termed as subpar.
I still see the Big Three as Chandler, Hammett, and Ross Macdonald. I’ve just finished reading 12 Lew Archer novels in recent months, many of them for the third time. I first discovered Macdonald in the 1960’s and have considered him one of the top mystery writers for over 40 years, certainly up with Chandler and Hammett. I also reread some Chandler and Hammett recently just to make sure that Macdonald was top notch. As far as Lew Archer goes he does have a personality, mainly that of a sensitive, damaged man trying to unravel the corrupting influence of money, sex, and violence, especially as encountered over the past and present. He never has recovered from his divorce, leads a very lonely life with no friends to speak of, and appears to be a terrible business man as far as collecting money from clients.
Spillane’s alright when you want a fast read with alot of violence and paranoid hate but he cannot begin to compare to Ross Macdonald, James Cain, or for that matter Paul Cain!