The Case of the Bleeding Wall - a Dana Roberts novella

I'm not really sure how I came to find out about this book - whether I was strolling through Amazon and came across it, or whether it was recommended to me by someone.  All I know is that I was looking for a copy of the book and having a hard time finding it.  Then I happened across a copy being sold on eBay by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.  It was advertised as a hard cover copy of the book, with its dust jacket, so I bought it.  Well, color me surprised when it arrived, and not only is the book in pristine condition, but it turns out it is a special signed edition, limited to only 500 copies (mine is 393 of 500) and signed by both authors: Joe R. Lansdale and Kasey Lansdale!  Talk about a pleasant surprise!  And for those who may not recognize the name, Joe R. Lansdale is an award-winning writer who has written a number of horror novels, as well as quite a large number of comic books.  While I have some of his comic stories, this is actually my first book written by him (and his daughter).

The Case of the Bleeding Wall is identified as "a Dana Roberts novella," making one think that perhaps Dana Roberts is a character in an ongoing series of books.  Well, it turns out this book, published in 2016, is the prequel of sorts, to a collection of short stories starring the characters in this book (Terror is Our Business: Dana Roberts' Casebook of Horrors, which I am now going to have to hunt down).  And if you are thinking Dana Roberts is the main character of this book, as I did too, well, you'd be mistaken.  Turns out the main character, from whose point of the view the story is told, is actually Jana (don't recall seeing her last name ever mentioned in the book), a young woman who has experienced something out of the ordinary, and the only person she believes could understand is the supernatural sleuth, Dana Roberts.  At first, it seems the investigator has blown her off, but then she gets an opportunity to not only meet the famous ghost hunter, but to work along side her as her apprentice - including a free trip to Italy, free accommodations and food, free clothing, and a rather hefty stipend to boot!  How could she possibly say no?

For a relatively short story (less than 100 pages), there is definitely a lot of story here. While we don't exactly get a lot of backstory to either Dana or Jana, we certainly learn just what type of women both of these characters are.  Jana is a hesitant believer all things supernatural, and she uses humor and sarcasm to overcome her fear.  Dana, on the other hand, while not doubting the existence of things she refers to as "supernormal," firmly believes that all things either have a reasonable explanation or one day will (we just don't understand it now).  Dana is one that is used to being in charge, and she commands all attention on her when she enters a room.  Jana is willing to be a follower, but at the same time, she's not afraid to take a chance and take matters into her own hands when necessary.  The two make an unlikely pair, somewhat comparable to Sherlock Holmes and Watson (although it would probably be more accurate to compare them to Oscar and Felix - you know, The Odd Couple).  Actually, though, the two do sort of compliment one another, which makes for very enjoyable reading.

As for the story itself, once Jana convinces Dana that her story is real, Dana invites her to travel to Italy with her to investigate an alleged "haunting" - the catch?  The man who is asking for the assistance, Carlo, happens to be an ex of Dana.  Anyhow, he is concerned a house he owns - one he built for his fiance, Cincia (who is dead, by the way) - may be haunted.  His fiance left him just after they moved into the house because of the strange happenings, and died shortly thereafter.  He has tried renting the place out, but no one stays - everyone complains of the sounds, the smells, the shadows.  Carlo is hoping Dana can figure out what is really going on and get rid of it.  Jana thinks perhaps a rekindling of old feelings between Carlo and Dana might be also part of the plan.  But Dana Roberts is all business, and she sends Jana on some errands to find some magical elements - an errand that turns out to be a test (which Jana flies with passing colors - the girl is anything but dumb!).

Soon enough, Jana (and the reader) learns there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye.  The house truly is haunted, but everything they were told was a lie.  One of the walls in the house is a portal, one that can only be opened with blood.  And someone wants that portal opened to allow a demon into this world who can raise the dead.  Getting the idea, now?  Unfortunately, it's too late for Dana and Jana to turn back, so the detective and her apprentice must figure out a way to let loose a demon, stop it from wreaking havoc on the world, keep the dead ... well, dead, and trick the demon back through its portal, ultimately destroying the portal so it can never be used again.  Sure, nothing to it.  All in a day's work for supernormal detective, Dana Roberts!  Of course, it's a good thing Jana is along for this ride, because she is actually the one who saves the day (or night, as the case may be).

Overall, it was a really good read, and I found myself rather enjoying the characters.  I am relieved to know this is not the only Dana Roberts story out there.  I am definitely going to hunt down the collection of other short stories, because I have to read more of the continuing adventures of Dana and Jana!

RATING:  9 granola bars and cups of coffee out of 10 for giving the world a new sleuth, part Nancy Drew, part Supernatural - and one who is truly fun to read!

stranger things happen - a short story collection

This book is an oddity with me.  I rarely buy books that are not a part of a series, but this one was recommended to me by a book dealer at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair earlier this year.  I had been talking with this dealer, explaining my love of children's mystery series and, in particular, the character of Nancy Drew.  She told me about this book she had read that featured a unique take on the character and that I HAD TO check it out!  She showed me the cover to the book, and that was enough to sell me.  A blond-haired female detective shining a flashlight into the dark woods - such a spooky, haunted scene, how could I possibly pass it up?  I mean, I have plenty of other one-off books that celebrate, parody, or in some way utilize the world's most famous teen detective, so why not this one?  Well, nothing in the world could have prepared me for the ride I was in for, that's for sure!

stranger things happen is a collection of short stories by author Kelly Link.  And, yes, the lack of capitalization in the title is not a mistake - that is how the title is actually written on the book.  Nine of the eleven short stories in this collection have been previously published, between 1995 and 2000.  And the blurb on that front cover is so perfectly accurate - there is no way anyone could possibly label this genre-bending set of stories, as they do not fit any one particular form.  They definitely deal with romance - except when they don't.  They feature supernatural elements - except when they don't.  They have a certain amount of horror in them - except when they don't.  And they definitely have a sense of mystery to them - except when they don't.  The stories are blunt - they are moving - they are horrifying - they are sad - they are shocking - they are subtle - they are subverting - they are over-the-top - they are unbelievable - they are reality.  Link has a most unique style of writing that, well, quite frankly, does not fit any other style I've ever read.  Which is why it is so extremely difficult to pin down a simple description to her stories and her writing.

I'm not going to say I liked all of the stories, because I did not.  The first story, "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose," just didn't do it for me.  It was different, but I just didn't feel it.  I tried to like it, I tried to make sense of it, but it just fell flat for me.  But I didn't give up.  I knew that there was a story about a girl detective waiting for me at the end (why, oh why, didn't they start off with that story - of course, if they had, I would probably have not read any of the other stories, and might have missed out on a few good ones....).  Some of the others were okay, but they just didn't strike me as all that likable.  And who knows, maybe they weren't meant to be.

That being said, I did rather like "Vanishing Act."  This was a different kind of tale about a young girl who is basically invisible and another young girl who wishes she could disappear like her.  I think, to a degree, there are a lot of us who wish we could wish ourselves away, to go be with ones that we love that have gone away in one fashion or another.  For the characters in this story, that wish became a reality - but it took a lot to get there.  I also enjoyed "Shoe and Marriage," which was a re-imagining of sorts of some very familiar fairy tale stories.  You will probably recognize some, but perhaps not all, of the characters in this short tale.  And "Survivor's Party, or The Donner Party" is a strange story that leads you (the reader) in some different directions, and when you think you understand it, you realize you really don't, and so you go back and read it again.  This one would definitely make for a great horror film!

The others I'll just pass over, as none of them was the story for which I bought the book.  "The Girl Detective, that final story that begins on page 245, is the one I was dying to read.  It is not quite what I expected, but based on the rest of Link's stories, it's pretty par for the course.  The story is told from an observer's point of view - who is the observer?  Who knows.  It could be the author.  It could be a fan.  It could be a neighbor.  There's not clear definition.  And maybe that's the point.  The girl detective is not given a name, but it is clear who she is supposed to be (uhm, Nancy Drew, anyone - or maybe Kay Tracey - or perhaps Penny Parker - or possibly any of the other plethora of girl sleuths that have filled children's mystery stories for so many years....).  Her mother disappeared (died) years ago.  She lives with her father and her housekeeper. As so perfectly described on page 251, she is courteous, brave, and well-groomed.  She loathes injustice, and is good at finding things.  On page 258, we read about Fred or Nat, you know - that boy that was in love with the girl detective, but somehow always ended up on the sidelines.  As fans of children's mysteries, it is often easy to spot a villain based solely on superficial factors.  For the girl detective in this story, it is the same - only she sizes people up by their names. And in-between the glimpses back and forth into the past, present, and future of the girl detective, we are treated to an off-beat mystery involving an overweight father and his twelve dancing daughters.  The observer (the reader?) follows along with the girl detective as she searches for her mother (solves the mystery of the twelve dancing daughters), and he/she (we?) are there when the girl detective disappears in the end ....and then reappears - or does she?

To say it is a very odd story is truly putting it mildly.  But it definitely pays homage to Nancy Drew and all of her sister sleuths down through the decades.  The mystery certainly isn't any less crazy than some of the children's mystery stories I've read (Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, anyone?).  I give Link credit for taking a shot at the girl detective genre and writing a story that looks beneath the surface and makes the reader really think about what he or she is reading.  

The title to this book is definitely fitting - Stranger things happen in this book than any other that I've read (although The Prescient Wisdom of Nancy Drew certainly comes a close second to this one).  Would I recommend it?  Well, if you can handle out-of-the-norm, truly off-beat stories, then yes, this is for you. If you prefer the more straight-forward, linear tales in third person only, you might find this a difficult read.  But if you are a Nancy Drew completist that must have anything and everything even tangentially Nancy Drew-related, then you need to pick this up.

RATING:  7 aisles of breakfast cereal and canned tomatoes out of 10 for viewing the girl detective genre through an entirely different kind of lens with no apologies or explanations!

Short Lived Comic Series #7 - Hawk and Dove (DC Comics)

Hawk and Dove were definitely characters that were a product of their time.  I was first introduced to them in the Teen Titans series by DC Comics, and later read the post-Crisis series, wherein Hawk's brother Dove (who died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths) was replaced by a female version of the character.  However, I recently was able to track down and purchase the 6-issue run of Hawk and Dove that was originally published back in the late 1960s, and after reading the short-lived series, I realized just how connected these characters were to the time period in which they were created.

The characters of Hawk and Dove are Hank Hall and his younger brother, Don Hall.  The two brothers are polar opposites - Hank is the hothead, violent, judge-now-ask-questions-later type of guy, while Don is the pacifist, determined to to solve any problem through talking and level-headedness with absolutely no room for violence.  Created by Steve Skeates and Steve Ditko, the pair made their first appearance in DC's Showcase comic before spinning off into their own series.  Creator and artist Steve Ditko only remained with the title for the first two issues, and creator/writer Steve Skeates left after the fourth issue, leaving artist Gil Kane (who drew issues three through six) to also write the last two issues of the series.

Throughout all six issues of this short series, there was a constant battle between the brothers - Hank (Hawk) always wanted to take matters into his own hands.  He wanted to beat the truth out of people and had no probably playing judge and jury for anyone who was committing a crime.  He had no tolerance for his brother's pacifist ways.  Don (Dove), on the other hand, was a man of peace.  He believed any problem could be solved by simply talking down the criminal, and he was a strict believer in non-violence, regardless of the situation.  This, of course, led to a constant barrage of name-calling between the two - but, being brothers, regardless of their differences, when push came to shove, they were there for each other and worried about each other.

The first several covers were similar to the romance / soap opera titles of the time.  It seemed each cover had Don fighting with himself over his inability to defend or help fight with his brother, or featured Hank screaming at his brother for his refusal to fight back in any given situation.  It wasn't until Gil Kane took over complete reigns with the fifth issue that Don/Dove gained a little bit of a back-bone - but, sadly, it wasn't enough to save the book, which was cancelled with the sixth issue.

The stories are relatively interesting, if you overlook the child-like barbs the brothers were constantly throwing at one another.  They featured non-super-powered villains who either evaded capture by the law, or managed to escape justice altogether by beating the court system.  Often times, the boys' father, who was a judge, was caught up in the story - which made for a difficult situation for Hank and Don, since their father hated the vigilante tactics of Hawk and Dove (which was a bit odd, since Dove never really did anything to anyone - rather, he allowed things to happen that could have been prevented if he would have simply stood up and fought).

While later incarnations of Hank Hall (after his brother's death) still showed him as full of anger and ready for a fight, none of those incarnations seemed as angry as the Hank Hall in this first series.  Honestly, I think if the writers had simply toned down both characters a bit, not made them so overtly polar opposites, the series may have had a better reception and lasted longer.  The art was not bad at all - Ditko, and then Kane, drew some great fight scenes, and their capture of the boys' expressions at various times was pretty much spot-on for the characterization of the heroes.

Interesting to note that the fifth issue ended with the boys stumbling across the Teen Titans - which was a lead-in of sorts to their crossover into an issue of the Teen Titans book.  While crossovers such as that are commonplace today, back then, direct lead-in crossovers such as that were few and far between.

It's always fun to go back and read comics from a prior decade, as they often reflected the stereotypes, beliefs, and emotions of that time - and definitely, this first Hawk and Dove series from DC comics can give us a picture of the general attitudes in America in the late '60s and early '70s.

RATING: 6 mysterious voices from beyond out of 10 for taking a chance on a unique brother team of heroes that faced down-to-earth, regular villains instead of the super-powered, out of this world villains of normal superhero comics.

Short(est) Lived Comic Series #5 - Tiger Girl (Gold Key)

If a comic that only publishes one issue of an intended series can be considered a series, then Tiger Girl is by far the shortest "series" I have ever read.  Published in 1968 (a year before I was born, mind you) by Western Publishing Company under its "Gold Key" imprint, this one and only issue of Tiger Girl tells the story of the mysterious masked crusading beauty, described as "beautiful as Venus ... and as fierce as a creature of the jungle..."  Shapely aerialist Lily Taylor by day, but justice-seeking heroine Tiger Girl by night, readers are introduced to her world and her supporting cast, but never find out exactly how Tiger Girl came to be.

I chanced upon this comic at a convention from one of the dealers I regularly buy comics, so I managed to get a pretty good deal on it.  Can't say that I had ever heard of the character or even seen this comic, so I was surprised to find out when I got home and did some research that (a) there was only one issue, and (b) the comic was written by none other than Superman creator, Jerry Siegel!  It also turns out there was a "Tiger Girl" back in the 1940s, published by Fiction House in their Fight Comics books - however, that character was not the same (despite the similarities in costume and same blond hair).

The story itself is rather basic, as most comic stories were back in the '60s - Tiger Girl defeats one villain, then discovers that another villain has it out for her and must face off against him before ultimately defeating him by the end of the story.  With names like "The Growler" and "Wolf Hound," our dear Mr. Siegel was not being overly creative in the character department.  And the acronyms for the organizations - W.A.A.V. (War Against Arch-Villainy) and I.N.F.A.M.Y (the evil counterpart whose name is not even defined) - well, as you can see, they are definitely something else!

As far as supporting cast goes, that's actually where there are some characters that I would have loved to see more of.  Government agent Ed Savage is the egotistical male figure, determined to keep Tiger Girl in her place as a "mere girl."  There's Titan the Great, the circus strong-guy who pines after Lily (knowing she is Tiger Girl), and Laughing Boy, the resident clown of the circus who is always good for a quick laugh.  And, of course, there is Kitten, Lily's pet tiger who is just as dangerous as Tiger Girl herself when they are out fighting crime.

"With claw and fury she springs...into the trap of Wolf Hound, a human beast!"  A tagline on the cover that was meant to draw in readers unfortunately did not draw in enough, for despite the caption in the last panel indicating Tiger Girl would face more danger in the next issue - that next issue never came.

Tiger Girl is something older comic fans will enjoy - those who have a fondness for the comic tales of yesteryear, when the stories were just told for fun, we weren't bogged down with or worried about continuity, and one story did not need to be padded out to six issues to sell a trade paperback.  We don't need to know how she came to be Tiger Girl.  We don't need to know where Wolf Hound or the Growler got their powers or what caused them to be villains.  We just know who is the good guy, who's the bad guy, and who's gonna win.  Simple, enjoyable, and fun - exactly what a comic should be.

RATING:  7 silent stranglers out of 10 for giving a female hero her own title back in the '60s and giving her a chance to shine, even if it were for only one issue.

Doctor Who Short Stories - Heroes and Monsters Collection

Right from the get-go, let me say that I bought this book because it has stories with Donna Noble in them.  Of all the companions the new incarnations of the Doctor have had, Donna is by far my favorites - so, I gobble up pretty much any and all books, comics, and audio dramas that have her in them.  That's not to say I don't like some of the other companions, but let's face it - Donna was the only companion who was not in love with the Doctor and who was strong enough and had the guts to call the Doctor out and tell him like it is!

Of the 26 short stories in this collection, only three of them had Donna - "Disappearing Act," "Once Upon a Time," and "Most Beautiful Music" - all of which were written by Justin Richards.  He clearly loves Donna as much as I do, as the stories capture the essence of her character and her dynamic with the Doctor (David Tennant).  Her questioning of the Doctor, her sometimes annoying the Doctor, and her demanding to be treated as an equal to the Doctor.  Yet, at the same time, he captures her desire to help others, to jump in without thinking to see that right succeeds, and to beg the Doctor to solve the injustice that exists throughout time and space.

The first story sees a magician who uses (and abuses) an Ood in his stage act, allowing him to steal valuables from the audience without them even realizing it.  The second story is about a writer who gets sucked into telling an ever-changing story to feed an alien that is somehow absorbed in his computer.  The third, and final, Donna tale is about a child musician who is hundreds of years old due to an alien being trapped within his lassimater that plays the most beautiful, soul-reaching music in all of the universe.  All three are touching tales, and all three make me miss Donna all the more.

The remaining 23 stories within the book feature the War Doctor (1 tale), David Tennant with Rose (3 tales) the Daleks (2 tales), the Sycorax - the villains from the first Christmas special with David Tennant (1 tale), Mickey (1 tale), David Tennant with Martha (3 tales), K-9 - bridging the gap between "K-9 and Company" and the episode that brought Sarah Jane Smith back, "School Reunion" (1 tale), Captain Jack (1 tale), the Sontarons (1 tale), Matt Smith with Amy (1 tale), Amy (1 tale), Rory (1 tale), Matt Smith (1 tale), Cybermen (1 tale), Matt Smith and Clara (1 tale), Clara (1 tale), Peter Capaldi and Clara (1 tale), and Peter Capaldi (1 tale).  All of them were certainly readable, and while I enjoyed some more than others - the Amy solo and Rory solo tales being the same story told from different points of view, which was rather fun / the K-9 tale, told completely from the point of view of K-9 was unique - none of them brought the smile to my face and excitement to my heart the way the Donna Noble stories did.

It's funny how much I've become a fan of Doctor Who - when my friend, Wayne, used to talk about Doctor Who and Sarah Jane (his favorite companion), I would just nod and say "uh-huh" without really listening.  Now, ever since Christopher Eccleston appeared in the 2005 revival of the series, I've been hooked.  And while the Doctors may change, and the companions may come and go, one thing will remain a constant - Donna Noble (and the actress who brought the role to life, the very talented Catherine Tate) will forever remain my favorite.

RATING:  8 missing donuts out of 10 for bringing back all of those companions and villains (and Doctors!) that have made this revival series what it is - fun and engaging!