ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

The Bookseller by Mark Pryor – a book review

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Title:  The Bookseller

Author:  Mark Pryor

Publisher:  Seventh Street Books

Current Price:   £8.74 (PB)

ISBN:   9781616147082

The Bookseller

Link in Amazon:  The Bookseller

The Bookseller harks back to the days of crisis being low key, it brings in World War 2 and collaborators but only as an aside, almost as a ‘red herring’.

The main character, Hugo Marston, fulfils the general characteristics of the hard-baked ex-cop, with a broken marriage; but here it departs from that genre, and develops the character.  Yes, he is an ex-cop, but actually ex-FBI, now he is head of security at a US Embassy in Paris, speaks excellent French (something I have only just started to learn) and has a hobby of collecting books and visiting second-hand book shops and the booksellers in Paris, but in particular Max who is located about a quarter of a mile from Quai Saint Michel.  He has friends in these places and feels at a lost when one of them (Max) is hustled away under threat!

There are a couple of side streams developed along with the main one; that of securing the release of Max.  A mysterious feminine reporter, who has an equally mysterious past, and a policeman who seems to not want to do anything about the ‘kidnapping’ – indeed seems to be blocking anything from happening.

Hugo brings into use his contacts in the USA (Tom a spook for the CIA) and through a lot of misadventures and stumbling, not to say many side entries, the story comes to a resolvement.

However, the book is anything but predictable, and the many side trips, in conjunction, make for a very interesting, well written, and enticing book.

For me as a reader, I love a book which is subtle, one that does not throw guns at you at every corner, one that makes you think.  It reminds me of Conan Doyle’s stories, off John Creasey’s stories about the Toff, or even of John le Carré’s stories with George Smiley.

Mark Pryor has written  nine books with the main character of Hugo Marston, I will be looking to read the rest in the series in the coming year, I hope you will do so as well:

 

  1. The Bookseller(2012)
    2. The Crypt Thief (2013)
    3. The Blood Promise (2014)
    4. The Button Man (2014)
    5. The Reluctant Matador (2015)
    6. The Paris Librarian (2016)
    7. The Sorbonne Affair (2017)
    8. The Book Artist (2019)
    9. The French Widow (2020)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westwind by Ian Rankin – Book Review

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Westwind by Ian Rankin

Amazon Link To Buy – Westwind by Ian Rankin

 

For me the concept that the military from the USA, UK and other countries, as described in Westwind by Ian Rankin,  would conspire to bring down the elected governments of the day is an anathema, however, we only have to look into history and what happened in German pre WW2 and the African sub-continent and its various countries and we can see parallels.

As an ex-soldier who has served in the UK and Germany, Canada and South America I could never conceive of a time in which the British Armed Services would allow this to happen and where they would give up their allegiance to the Crown (not the government).

The characters are reasonably well-drawn, but the main character Martin Hepton has questions to be asked.  How come a computer nerd, who does not seem to have any background in intelligence apart from watching a computer screen and interpreting pictures, suddenly develop a 6th sense in being able to handle a prime assassin?

Various other characters are brought into the story to add pace and distance, but the ‘badies’ are somewhat predictable as are the various stage sets and locations.

 

It is also interesting to look at age-old secret service writer’s ploy – namely that of levels within levels of the British Secret Service all looking over their shoulders to check who is watching whom!

And not to be forgotten is the age-old commentary on a person’s position in society – what university did one go to, which service did you belong to etc.

However, even with all these thoughts and reservations, I would still recommend this book.  It is a good thriller, well crafted and written, and it does pose questions – could it happen now?

To quote Wikipedia, Ian James Rankin OBE DL FRSE FRSL (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels… His range is prolific, from the series with Rebus, to stand-alone novels to collaboration on opera, to short stories.

 

Fun Extras and Links

I am a book blogger.  I am not paid to do this.  All opinions are my own.

The Glamour Boys – 17 MPs (some gay) who fought appeasement

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The Glamour Boys: The Secret Story of the Rebels who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler

The Glamour Boys by Chris Bryant review – the rebels who fought for Britain

The Glamour Boys by Chris Bryant review – the rebels who fought for Britain

As Simon Callow’s review points out not all of ‘the 17-strong Glamour Boys’ were gay, as they also included luminaries like Harold Macmillan, Anthony Eden, Duncan Sandys, Leo Amery and Winston Churchill.

However, what does stand out, is that the leadership of this group who opening stood up against appeasement when the government of the day believed unequivocally in negotiating with Hitler for peace is a testament to their strength of will.  For the gay MPs, this could come at a very high price – if they were found to be in a ‘gay’ relationship of any kind they could have been in court with severe charges against them, and also the adverse publicity which as had happened in the past (Oscar Wilde) would possibly have led to them fleeing the country (but where to you might ask in the light of what was happening in German!).

There is much to recommend in this book, the accomplished multi-biography, the sensitivity in which he handles the material, the research and referencing.

In a time when we need heroes, this book highlights 17 of them to us as a nation, and in particular those of us who are gay.

 

 

 

The Man Who Made Magazines Gay

Lockdown by Peter May – Book Review

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LockdownLockdown by Peter May
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book, Lockdown, was written in 2005 and ended up not being published initially as it was thought unbelievable. Fast forward to 2020 and Convid19 and suddenly we can see the human race, politicians and large businesses in the real world of today.

The story revolves around D I Jack MacNeil on his way out of policing, his small circle of supportive friends and his estranged family (sic what seems to be the norm for coppers according to many writers).

The book is well written, but for some reason, it feels like the book has been written in an early part of the century. It is not a noir book, but just the feel of the language moves me to feel it is almost the late 50s or early 60s.

The story develops nicely and finishes on a cliff hanger with a twist, which I will not give away.

It is definitely worthwhile obtaining a copy and reading Lockdown

More Reviews:

External:

We Are Missing In Action Again

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Missing in Action is my terminology. The link at the bottom of this article shows a list of books recommended for everyone to read and understand the troubles!   But, both in terms of what it lists, but also in terms of what it leaves out.

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There are books covering aspects of both sides of paramilitaries, of ordinary people and how they were affected, but nothing about the military or the police, which to my mind is a shortfall. But even more glaringly obvious is the lack of any books covering the LGBT community during the trouble, either individually or as groups. For the military I suggest the following:

    • Contact by AFN Clark

  • A Long Long War: Voices from the British Army in Northern Ireland 1969-98


and for our community, possibly

    • When Love Comes to Town by Tom Lennon

    I would ask any of readers to suggest other books to cover all of our community.  But also remember to read the reviews that we have here on our own site, at NIGRA.

And just to add other spice to the mix:



Links:

 

Source: The Troubles: Books about Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom

The Swinging Detective

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The Swinging Detective

by

Henry McDonald

Gibson Square

ISBN 97817833441177

This is a ’prentice effort for Henry McDonald ( The Swinging Detective), at least in writing a sustained, 330-odd pages, of a fairly complex novel.The Swinging Detective - Henry McDonald It is in the form of, essentially, a ‘thriller’ (fair enough ‘thriller’ is not up there with bildungsroman or novella as a literary form, but it has some formal attributes – bear with me). The biographical ‘blurb’ on the book’s back-cover claims McDonald “has a deep knowledge of Marxism” and “the German punk scene”. Which means Henry was once the rising star of the Workers’ Party of Ireland (formerly ‘Official’ Sinn Féin / the Republican Clubs) in its glazed-eyed Muscovite days. But the element of ‘inside knowledge’ is quite lightly handled, and while Martin Peters, the central figure of the tale is a useful ‘outsider’ he knows Berlin intimately.

That is because he was a British ‘spook’ in the days before the Wall came down – Belfast also comes into the matter. Peters (the similarity of the moniker to the England ‘World cup’ team member is acknowledged – so far as England soccer fans are concerned there is only one World Cup worth consideration – that of 1966). Peters is haunted by the killing of (an exotically-named, female Loyalist assassin) the description of the actual killing of this unlikely person fits that of an actual UVF operative, Brian Robinson. He was a pillion passenger on a motorbike, and was shot dead by Brit (or possibly RUC) spooks. He and his driver were on an Ardoyne (north Belfast) ‘Fenian’-killing expedition.

The Swinging Detective - Thailand and Sri LankaThe book itself is largely about the killing of ‘paedophiles’ – men convicted of sexually molesting children in Thailand and Sri Lanka. There are very good descriptions of the social reaction to this series of events. The police have the problem of having to offer some sort of protection to men who are at the bottom of just about anybody’s list of worthy citizens; complicated by the fact that these men are simultaneously in dire need of protection on a 24 / 7 basis – and don’t want to draw attention to themselves. The attention comes in the form of an ad-hoc Mothers Against Paedophiles group, led by a loud, publicity-grabbing ‘targe’ of a woman. And an assassin who specialises in killing these men in increasingly imaginative ways. The tabloid press joins in the whipping up of social hysteria about ‘paedophiles’ (the numbers of whom, in society are, as ever, hugely over-inflated).

The killing of these people – generally deemed to be socially worthless (human, if that, garbage), leads to all sorts of complications – the chief one being the bullying of entirely innocent elderly men, and the stretching of police resource, human and otherwise to breaking point. Peters eventually tracks down ‘St Christopher’, the executioner of the men who had gone abroad to molest, mostly elementary school age boys. We are spared descriptions of the ‘interaction’ with the children in the Third World, but the results of such things are obvious – destroyed socialisation and driving into drugs (including alcohol).

The killer of these men turns out not to be a ‘moralistic’ avenger. His motivation is anti-imperialist, this is just the dirtiest element in the over-all exploitation of these boys (it is implied very strongly, that girls and young women are victims too). This is a well-written and – arresting – is the only word, novel.

It is well worth some hours of your time.

External links for further information:

THE COLD COLD GROUND

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THE COLD COLD GROUND

Adrian McKinty

Serpent’s Tail

ISBN978 1 84668 823 2

The Cold Cold Ground,  involves an RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary – now PSNI, the Police Service of Northern Ireland) criminal detective Sean (sic) Duffy. His position as a (Northern Ireland) Catholic in an overwhelmingly ‘Protestant’ environment is lightly handled. A colleague in an armoured personnel carrier apologises for using ‘sectarian’ language when patrolling a ‘Taig’ area of Carrickfergus, the south Antrim port of which Duffy is a native.

Adrian McKinty is a native of that place too, which makes the descriptions of the town and its layout ring true, though no doubt some things have been ‘moved around’ to keep the story uncluttered. The story involves a number of disparate killings that Duffy, an under-promoted Detective Sergeant (he has “solved six murders prior to this”) feels are connected. He dismisses involvement by the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) or the UDA (Ulster Defence Association – including its (‘killing wing’ covers most eventualities), the UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters). A ‘drug scene’ was only a gleam in south Belfast Hoods’ eyes at this juncture (the UDA has probably ousted them, but the UVF, while tolerating low level drug taking takes a pretty hard line against the trade. The looser UDA is characteristically all over the place about ‘drugs’, especially as most working class areas in Northern Ireland function on a cocktail of cheap booze and prescription tranquilisers.

Duffy has all sorts of adventures in this narrative, he is part of a riot squad mobilised to police the Falls Road / Andersonstown areas of west Belfast the evening of the day of Bobby Sands’ death. That seems unlikely, as there were already hordes of police and army on standby. He does make the point that his team witnessed the clashes from Knockagh ‘mountain’. I wondered if this was a hint to some readers that some elements in this book were insisted on by the publishers. Knockagh was where various ‘Loyalist’ paramilitary’s dumped ‘enemies of Ulster’ they had killed. They were to a person (some women were killed too), entirely innocent Catholic shift workers, drunks, or those just on the streets at the ‘wrong’ time.

Back to the book; this is a well-written thriller with a number of sub-themes, the statutory ‘love interest’ (a sexy surgeon), the nosy ‘spook[s]’, military as well as police, even nosey neighbours (Duffy, perforce, lives in a heavy-duty Loyalist area – a divorcé, he can’t afford to live in a police ghetto in pricey north Down) which brings him into daily, unpleasant proximity with real, and would-be, Loyalist hard-boys. There are some oddities here Duffy joins the RUC as a result of an encounter with the nasty realities of life in 1970 Belfast. It would much more likely to have driven him into the IRA (the given reasons are off-hand and unlikely; nasty Catholics being beastly to police personnel). Given that the police were, in part anyway, a gendarmerie better-armed than the average Brit squaddie, and enthusiastically beating any sign of political dissent, much less violence, in Taig / Catholic areas, it is out of time – but then there would not have been a story.

Intertwined among the bodies and bullies is the killing of Gay men by a ‘moral’ avenger. This, like a number of other matters in this book, seems to be based on actuality. There were a (largish) number of killings of queer men in Belfast in the 1980s. Some, that of Anthony (Tony) McCleave, being particularly brutal (he was impaled by the throat from the spikes on the railings around the Albert Memorial (clock – Belfast’s ‘leaning tower’). The killer probably worked on the assumption that a mere queer’s family would be too embarrassed to push for a thorough police enquiry. He (it is extremely unlikely that it was a ‘she’) got the McCleave family wrong. They demanded and got a full inquiry, but it ran into the ground, there were no witnesses to the encounter between Tony and his killer, much less the actual killing.

Sinn Féin and the IRA appear here as groups without a history or ‘hinterland’, such an approach strained my credulity. It is possible the author, or his editors, thought the ‘RA was embedded in the reading public’s consciousness alongside the Nazis or Pol Pot. The attitude of the public in Great Britain to the “men [and women] of violence” is complex and changes over the years – and not always in ways the ‘political class’ and their media would approve.

This book is well worth reading; just remember it is a ‘police procedural’ cum thriller, not a documentary.

Seán McGouran

The Cold Cold Ground - Carrickfergus

Furthjer reading or viewing:

Forrest Reid – the magician

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Forrest Reid - the magicianForrest Reid was born on (Saturday, as it happens) June 24, 1876, at 20 Mount Charles, Belfast it was (still is) a ‘private road’, a volume of Reid’s autobiography is entitled Private Road (the other being Apostate).  Reid’s father died when he was a child.  He had invested in foolish speculation, and his death left the family in dire straits.  His mother, an Englishwoman with exotic, aristocratic ancestors, including Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s last wife, refused to ‘down-size’ and the family survived on a very basic diet – mostly rice pudding

   Reid attended Belfast’s ‘Inst’ (the Royal Belfast Academical Institute) and was a good student – particularly of English, but he went to work in Musgrave’stea firm – the Musgrave family were entrepreneurs – the greater part of their fortune being made in metal industrial and domestic heating devices.
   Reid’s frugality may be a reason why he was able to attend Christ’s Church College in Cambridge in 1905.  He was, at 29, a ‘mature student, of ancient (Greek) and modern languages.  He regarded his sojourn in Cambridge as a “rather blank” period – he had no friends from his sojourn there.
   He did meet EM Forster, who became a life-long friend, and whom Reid visited every year.  He travelled to England as an (apparently ferociously competitive) croquet player and stayed with Forster in his Cambridge rooms.  He must have made the acquaintance of Forster’s circle.  Benjamin Britten was part of that circle until his expulsion (BB had made it clear that the composer had the last word on texts to be set.  He had been given increasing complex texts by WH Auden in the 1930s and early ’40s.  Post Peter Grimes, his first major opera, he felt self confident dealing with authors.  Forster became the Great Old Man of English Letters and tried to brow-beat BB, who turned to more amenable librettists).
   Reid had a great love of Italian opera and a huge record collection – with which he ‘entertained’ his neighbours in Ormiston Avenue off Castlereagh Road (the Castlereagh Hills were not built over until the 1960s) often late in the evening.  Many of Reid’s books are set in the unnamed, but clearly obvious County Down – the county ‘proper’ begins with the Castlereagh Hills.  His other favoured landscape was that of Donegal.
   Reid produced a critical study of WB Yeats in 1915 (he did not note the Great War in progress at the time – WW2 was beneath his notice too), as was the decade of political violence in Ireland.  He produced a book about British book illustrators of the 1870s and a not-very-critical study of Walter de la Mare (now even more thoroughly forgotten than Reid himself).
   Reid’s novels have been reprinted by Valancourt Books of Richmond, Virginia over the past decade.
Valancourt Books

PO Box 17642
Richmond VA [Virginia]
USA
Forrest Reid - one story

Comics and Harvey Milk

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I thought I would pass along this news on the development of a Harvey Milk graphic  comic novel:
Reprinted from email sent by milehighcomics.comNew Harvey Milk Graphic Novel Art – More Scarce Comics ArriveHowdy!
It is already well known that our Jason St. Mega-Store is an amazing Mecca of comics. What is not common knowledge is that we also are offered an unbelievable number of collections at Jason St. on a daily basis. Never, in my entire 47 years of selling comics, have I seen a single location act as a magnet for so much great material! In great measure, that is why our New-In-Stock and Premium New-In-Stock links have been so diverse of late…
Comics in Stock - 1
Array #1 of Comics Instock Now!
I mention these collections for a couple of different reasons. First, I typically travel a great deal during this time of year, and had intended to spend a considerable amount of time this winter buying back issues at comics shops and smaller comics shows on the East Coast. We are receiving so much material at Jason St., however, that we are still trying to catch up on our processing of the semi-trailer filled with comics that I picked up in California and Las Vegas last November. Until we can sort through those 100,000 comics, it makes no sense for me to travel to purchase more.
Nicole the Great
Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas
The good news is that my not traveling eastward means that I can instead fly to San Diego this weekend, to present a business plan on my proposed Harvey Milk graphic novel to Nicole the Great, Queen Mother of the Americas. In case you missed it in my convention newsletter, as the titular head of our entire 68-chapter International Court System, Nicole met with me at last year’s San Diego Comic-Conabout issues that had arisen with my local organization, the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire. After spending a couple of hours chatting about ICRME issues, Nicole took a walk with me around the convention. She became very excited, and suggested that I try to put together a graphic novel about martyred LGBTQ activist, Harvey Milk. The sketches you see below by the incredibly talented Thomas Haller Buchanan, are the direct result of that conversation.
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch - 2 by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch - 3 - by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch - 4 - by Thomas Haller Buchanan
Harvey Milk Sketch by Thomas Haller Buchanan

Harvey Milk Sketches by Thomas Haller Buchanan
So you know, I have already received about a dozen very encouraging responses to my request for feedback about my Harvey Milk project. I thank each and every one of you who sent me feedback at chuckrozanski@gmail.com. There are quite a few major obstacles that need to be overcome before this project can come to fruition, however, not the least of which is approval by the Harvey Milk Foundation. Before I can even reach that point, however, I first need to gain approval this weekend from Nicole, and the ICS Board of Directors. Wish me luck!

What Thomas Haller Buchanan finished work looks like
As an aside, I think it is time to bring some clarity to my efforts with the ICRME. As a quick glance at ICRME-Denver.org will easily reveal, theImperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire is primarily an LGBTQ organization. It was founded 44 years ago to help validate the benefit to our communities of those who choose to perform in public venues in outfits outside of their birth gender. Simply put, drag queens (men who perform as women) and drag kings (women who perform as men). Our umbrella organization, the International Court System, consists of 30,000 members in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. ICRME itself is now a registered 501-C3 charity, and contributes upwards of $100,000 per year from our performances to those in need in our Denver community.

Chuck with the officers of ICRME Reign 42
So you know, I am a bit of an odd duck in ICRME, as I am the only straight man in an otherwise primarily gay organization. That having been said, after six years of hard work I have been accepted by most of ICRME’s members, and was allowed to serve last year in the #2 leadership position, as Prince Royale. It was also through my ICRME position that I first became aware of the awesome work being done by Jim Scharper’s “Feeding Denver’s Hungry” charity. That awareness, in turn, has changed my entire life. I now spend a goodly portion if my time each week working with “Feeding Denver’s Hungry,” seeking to help the poor.

Chuck, Jim, and some of the volunteers of Feeding Denver’s Hungry
All of the above having been said, the core of my life remains Mile High Comics. Serving your needs by seeking out the very best comics that I can possibly find, and then offering them to you at the least cost, is still why I get up and go to the office each day. I will be turning 62 in a couple of weeks, however, and I am quite aware that the time is upon me when I need to give back to my community. While joining forces with an organization like ICRME may seem rather out of the ordinary, I can assure you that my friends in the drag community are among the nicest and most giving people that I have ever been blessed to meet. I am honored to work with them every day to try to make Denver a better place for us all.
Happy collecting!
Chuck Rozanski,
Prince Royale 42
Imperial Court the Rocky Mountain Empire
January 30, 2017
P.S. Below are some arrays of comics that we were blessed to be able to purchase last Friday. All can be purchased at a full 30% off when you utilize our NEWHOPE! Codeword. Only new issues, a few variants, and our CGC’s are excluded.
Comics in stock - 2
Array #2 of Comics Instock Now!

Array #3 of Comics Instock Now!

Array #4 of Comics Instock Now!

Array #5 of Comics Instock Now!

Array #6 of Comics Instock Now!

Array of some of the MAD Magazines that will be Instock Tomorrow!
http://www.milehighcomics.com

Texas Twins: The Story of Morgan and Nash

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EVERYTHING BETTER (if not, necessarily BIGGER) IN TEXAS (?)

Texas Twins: The Story of Morgan and NashTexas Twins: The Story Of Morgan & Nash
Howard Roffman
Bruno Gmünder
ISBN 9 763861 878582

The ‘story’ element in this publication is not very prominent, the “text” takes up less than one of the – square – pages. Morgan and Nash, who seem not to have a surname, were born in Louisiana, brought up in Texas and Hawaii, and moved to San Francisco. In SF a former clergyman gave them shelter and put them in touch with, among others, Howard Roffman, the photographer.
This charming book is a result of their convergence. Morgan, the Gay one is “grounded and eager to please” (and any red-blooded bull-root would be exquisitely happy to have him ‘please’ them… or them attempt to please him). Nash is “straight” (drat! drat!! & triple drat…!!!), he is also “impetuous and a rebel”.
They are very identical identical twins, though Nash (I think) has dimples, and wears a baby chin-beard in some shots. The twins, I’m glad to report, don’t wear much else in most pics., of two very handsome, well built (‘swimmer’s bodies’, rather than muscle-bound) blokes, the nude shots are sweet and rather innocent. You won’t tug your langer off viewing them (let’s not be too precious this is genuinely artistic, but it is classy porn – which can be artistic) but you would have a very slow pulse not to feel the odd stirring…
Having said, or rather, written, that, the boys (they are late teens / early twenties) have large – but not gross membra virile – and genuinely beautiful butts. They, said glutei, are not fantastically muscular but smooth and probably pleasant to run one’s fingers over. (I must have a cup of tea, or possibly something stronger, at this point…). You will enjoy this book, it shows two very attractive people at play at the beach, in deep snow, and – apparently – at work, or at least working on sledges.
On a purely personal note, I wouldn’t mind a book of Black, Brown and Beige (it’s the name of a orchestral suite by Duke Ellington, if you are racially sensitive), twins. Or ‘Oriental’ persons or persons from the South Asian Subcontinent (including Iran). Yes, this has gone too far. My Id is attempting to escape my skull.
Seán McGouran
Links: