First Draft

Hoofs? Isn’t it hooves? Apparently, both are correct. Who knew?  It behooves me to end this discussion.

Drummer by Richard Carlile is the literary equivalent of David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs? Who knew?

I obviously still have Georgia on my mind.

I grew up on Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries. My mom was a fan and she introduced me to the books. I never got into growing orchids, but my paunch currently resembles that of William Conrad and Maury Chaykin who played the detective on teevee.

And Four To Go is a short story anthology that kicks off with the holiday classic Christmas Party.

The holiday theme continues:

Chester Himes was a crime fiction writer whose own life story was nearly as interesting as his books. He grew up in Cleveland and attended Ohio State University. He fell afoul of the law and was convicted of armed robbery. He began writing in prison and started selling stories to the pulps then Esquire Magazine. That eventually led to an early parole. The rest is crime fiction history.

Here are two of his books featuring Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones:

I certainly wouldn’t smile at this kid. Her lips are sealed and so are mine.

It’s a day for ritual as well as gluttony. I’ll be publishing both my annual Thanksgiving posts this year. I’m determined to disprove the notion that liberals hate this holiday. Scott Atlas is not invited.

This book cover makes its fourth appearance here at First Draft.

What’s Thanksgiving without some lagniappe. Here are Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg mashing potatoes:

I don’t know about you but courting death at a weekend party would make me shudder. What’s wrong with this guy?

This is a short story collection so I’m keeping this short. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Crazy, Daddy-O.

I had never heard of Orrie Hitt until I saw the vintage cover of Shabby Street. He was an interesting figure known for writing socially aware books in pulp drag. He was wildly prolific; writing over 150 books using many pseudonyms.

It turns out that I’ve done this book before BUT I missed the second cover and Orrie’s story, which was a Hitt with me. There was, however, a swell gag in the earlier post.

Erle Stanley Gardner was a prolific author. The Perry Mason books weren’t his only series. There were also nine books featuring D.A. Doug Selby. The D.A. Breaks An Egg was the final book in that series.