FFB: BLACKBURN, Bradley Denton

 (from the archives-reviewed by Bill Crider)

Forgotten Books: Blackburn -- Bradley Denton

While I'm calling this a forgotten book, I doubt that anyone who's read it has forgotten it.  Can it really have been 20 years since it was published?  Wow, that's scary.  Seems like only a couple of weeks ago.

Jimmy Blackburn is a killer.  He kills only people who, in his judgment, deserve to die, like oil-change scam artists, crooked encyclopedia salesmen, people who kill dogs. He doesn't stay in one place very long, as you can imagine.  As he travels,  he occasionally manages to fit in somewhere, but not for long.  Somebody always needs to be killed.

Blackburn winds up where any killer might, and I won't go into that.  The circumstance of just how he gets there are complicated, and the ending even offers a hint that Blackburn might have found what he was looking for on his travels.  Some of Blackburn's early life is brought out in flashbacks to his childhood.  Denton's not saying the character's upbringing made him a killer.  He's just showing the casual cruelty and inhumanity that can be found anywhere, including a small town in Kansas.  Sometimes our end is our beginning, maybe.

Bradley Denton tells his story in straightforward prose, unadorned by any frills.  It's a very effective method.  Oh, and I should mention that as grim as the subject matter is, and as terrible some of the events are, parts of this book are hilarious.  You'll laugh even if you don't think you should.  Trust me.  

There are several other stories about Blackburn.  "Blackburn's Lady" is one of them.  You can read it here. "Blackburn Bakes Cookies" is another.  It's here.  And "Blackburn and the Blade" can be found here.  All are recommended.

Short Story Wednesday. "I Stand Here Ironing" Tillie Olson

 from TELL ME A RIDDLE

A mother of six thinks about all of the mistake she made with her first child. And also the poverty that necessitated her placement in various places so the mother could work. And the bad advice that was given in child rearing at the time (1930s), how she let her cry so she wouldn't be spoiled. How she didn't know how to stop the jealousy between her and her younger, prettier sister.   

 

Tillie Olson was highly thought of forty years ago. I wonder if anyone remembers her now. 

 

George Kelley 

Jerry House 

Monday, Monday

 

I am not all that familiar with the work of Anna Magnani. She never stopped talking in this film (BELLISSIMA). Nor did the other characters. I took out my hearing aids. The ultimate stage mother although Mama Rosa was worse.

Also watched Volver with Penelope Cruz. 

On TV, Furious, Adults, A Brilliant Career, Ted Lasso, Trying.

Still reading JOHN OF JOHN, which I loved. 

Started PT but so far I still feel unbalanced. 

Saw a terrific singer at my Senior Center. 

And you?  

FFB, THOSE WHO HUNT THE NIGHT, Barbara Hambly

This is the only novel about vampires I ever read and it was awarded the LOCUS Award for Horror. You would expect I would try Anne Rice next but she was too gothic for my tastes.

 

From wikipedia.  

Somebody is killing the vampires of London. Against the wishes of his fellow undead, Simon Ysidro, oldest of the London vampires, seeks the assistance of Oxford professor James Asher, former spy for the British government. Ysidro gains Asher's cooperation by threatening the life of his beautiful young wife, Lydia.

Unbeknownst to Ysidro, Asher enlists the help of his wife, a physician with a keenly analytical mind. Asher prowls the streets and crypts of London with Ysidro, entering the dark underworld of the undead, as Lydia combs property records and medical journals for clues as to who might have the means and the motive to carry out the slaughter.

Asher's theory is that the killer must be a vampire himself, one able to remain awake and active in the daytime. Lydia develops a theory as to how such a vampire might come to be. Together Asher and Ysidro travel to Paris to seek out the mythical eldest of all vampires, Brother Anthony, who might be either the killer himself, or the key to the killer's undoing.

What they discover is a threat to the living as well as the undead. A scientist seeking to artificially endow British agents with the powers of vampires is behind the killings. The scientist's son has been transformed into a hybrid vampiric monster who can walk in the daylight, but craves the blood of other vampires to arrest the degeneration of his body. Asher and Ysidro, aided by Brother Anthony, destroy the hybrid vampire and end the threat. Ysidro leaves Asher and Lydia in peace and vanishes from their lives.

Short Story Wednesday: "The Birds" Daphne DuMaurier

 

Almost a novella, this is quite different from the Hitchcock movie. The story concerns the reaction of a young family to the attack from the birds. The father immediately senses danger and begins boarding up windows. They hear reports on the radio that this is a country-wide phenomena. The birds seem to come and go with the tides so there is time between attacks although they are just as savage as in the movie. There is no romance in this version. It is about the father trying to save his family. It ends ambiguously. I don't remember if the movie did too. 

George Kelley 

Jerry House 

FOR SOME REASON, I CANNOT PICK UP LINKS.  

Monday, Monday

A very enjoyable movie. Wonderfully acted and filmed. Nice seeing Cape Cod again. I also saw the Spanish film, Romeria, about a young woman trying to put together her parents' story.

I enjoyed having Megan here and watching Josh and her have time to spend together.  We went to three good restaurants and took Megan around Detroit. It seems like an ode to sports with four stadiums with a few miles of each other. Julie and Kevin were able to join us for dinner. Kevin got a job at Wisconsin referring intramural soccer games. 

We went to two great used bookstores and I bought two Jim Thompson novels. Also hit an antique store or we were too tired by then to take purchasing seriously.  

I am really enjoying JOHN ON JOHN. Douglas Stuart can really paint a picture of Scotland. 

TV: MY BRILLIANT CAREER. LANTERN, THE HEART GUY.

How are you?