THE BLOOD OF PATRIOTS

Here we have a book that deals with the topic of extremists hiding under the guise of religious freedoms in America.


New York Detective John Ward falls victim to the climate of political correctness when he is falsely accused of harassing a person of middle eastern descent. This leads to his termination and he heads back to Colorado, where his ex-wife and daughter are living.

Once he gets to the town of Basalt, he begins to uncover a group of folks masquerading as upstanding, peace-loving Muslims. Of course they are not and with the discovery of what these terrorists are intending to do, Ward goes on the offensive fighting ON American soil FOR American soil. Sometimes you go to the fight and other times the fight comes to you.

This is an intriguing read about a “what if” scenario, which is similar in nature to HOME INVASION, the previous political thriller from the prolific word processors of William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone.

Not going to ruin it here for you by writing more about the book except to say that it does have an awesome ending. It will make you think, too, which is part of its charm. Highly recommended.

HENRY MILLER'S "TROPIC OF CANCER"

A more or less “official” publication of TROPIC OF CANCER hit American shores in the Year of Our Lord 1961 from Grove Press. In fact, every copy I have of this book – 5 of them in all (3 paperback, 2 hardcover) are the Grove editions. The cover depicted above is from an earlier print that was published overseas.

Perhaps if I’d seen this particular cover earlier as a young teen, it would have sparked my interest enough to want to read it. At first, I probably would have thought it was a science fiction novel about a giant crab that threatens to destroy the world. Hey, I grew up on those giant bug and monster films that Universal Studios released to the world in the decade before I was born, so you’ll forgive me, I hope, for possibly having thought TROPIC OF CANCER might be about this very thing. The odd title notwithstanding.

As I write this (March 1, 2012), I am reading TROPIC OF CANCER for the second time. The first time left me very little to remember about the book, so I wanted to see if tackling it again would impress me a bit more.

See, the thing is, the book definitely WAS shocking since it found an initial release in 1934. Henry, our old buddy and pal, writes some pretty vicious, bitter things about women. He overuses that “C” word that you ladies hate so much. You know, that four letter one that starts with a “C and ends with a “t”. I have the impression that he really didn’t respect women all that much. (Incidentally, dear ladies, do you want to know the “C” word that men hate the most? Catheter. Just sayin’.)

Henry basically admits at the beginning of TROPIC OF CANCER that his book is a libel and a “kick in the pants to God”. He also tells me he wants to dance on my “dirty corpse”. That would have been quite a feat since I was born 26 years after he wrote this book. It probably would have been hard for him to dance while on a walker, though, after the year I was born. Plus the fact that I’m not dead yet comes into play here, too, but whatever.

It’s ok, though, I don’t hold it against Henry. After all, he left us in 1980. Looks like God kicked Henry right back in his own pants then, wouldn’t you say? That being what it is, why don’t we just call it even?

I am on page 63 of the hardcover edition of TROPIC OF CANCER at this point in time. I have 258 more pages to get through until it ends at page 321. Who knows how many other times I will see the “C” word, hear him say “fuck this” or “fuck that” in the text?

Henry writes his prose in an immediate style narrative, so it’s like getting a text or a tweet from him. He’s mad at and seems to hate everyone and everything, yet he loves everyone and everything at the same time. He has nothing, but he is happy. I caught on to his con job immediately. “If you have nothing, Henry,” I was asking him in my head, “then what is it that you are using to type your book manuscript?”

That aside, there are certainly things that one can enjoy and admire about the book – if you don’t tire of vulgarities and his incessant obsession with sexual liaisons, descriptions of bathroom activities/difficulties, STDs and observations about body lice. There are, however, some laugh out loud moments here, which sort of tempers the things I didn’t like about TROPIC OF CANCER.

It’s easy enough to see why TROPIC OF CANCER is considered to be one of the most “important” works in 20th century literature. It’s simply because the book caused a censorship firestorm and legal battles that basically paved the way for First Amendment rights for the books that would follow. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression mean the world to me, so thank you to our Supreme Court System for upholding this. For these reasons, yes, TROPIC OF CANCER is a great book and it should be embraced and celebrated as such.

But is it a GOOD book? Depends on who you ask, I guess.

I was amused to learn that in College Campuses across the country in the 1960s, it was considered “hip” to dig Henry Miller and especially TROPIC OF CANCER. Perhaps a movement was started by Literature Professors to deify Henry and his book. I can imagine these teachers telling the College students, “Hey, you kids get out of that phone booth – ALL OF YOU – and quit swallowing those goldfish! Come here and read TROPIC OF CANCER; it will become the ‘in’ thing to do! You kids don’t want to be considered ‘squares’, do you?”

Ironic to think that these same students are more than likely now retired professionals (and probably squares) whose own grandkids may be the very College students getting arrested on “drunk in public” charges on shows like CAMPUS P.D. or BEACH PATROL. We’ve gone from the students of decades past saying things like “the bees knees”, “the cat’s whiskers” or “23 Skidoo” to today’s sometimes spoiled collegiate body saying things like, “You motherfuckers! You don’t know who I am or who you’re fuckin’ with!” to cops who are arresting them for having too much to drink and becoming hostile. That behavior is BOUND to make grandma and grandpa proud, don’t ya know?

TROPIC OF CANCER was Henry Miller’s first book. Two sequels, of sorts, followed. There was BLACK SPRING and then the conclusion of this trilogy, TROPIC OF CAPRICORN (which is actually the first one I read before I even had my first copy of TROPIC OF CANCER). Guess TROPIC OF BLACK SPRING wasn’t really going to cut it as a book title. I ran across TROPIC OF CAPRICORN at a library a number of years ago and read it, but did manage to procure one for myself in a paperback edition sometime later.

Not long ago, I bought another Henry Miller book, THE DEVIL IN PARADISE. It’s a thin book, but I won’t soon read it because TROPIC OF CANCER will probably need to run its course through my brain completely before I tackle yet another Miller book.

There are folks who contend that TROPIC OF CANCER is full of “truth”. I think, however, that the book could be full of something else entirely, depending on one’s viewpoint.

I’m not sure, at least as of this reading, what “truth” I should be looking for here. If by “truth” these readers are suggesting that Henry is being truthful to his own observations and faithfully writing them down, then perhaps I’m not missing anything after all. If it’s something beyond that, I might purposefully look for it if I don’t wind up getting a headache in the search.

I am less inclined to look for the “truth” when I hear blow-hard literature buffs arguing about “what Miller meant” by this passage or that one. It’s too funny to me to see this stuff being taken so seriously.

This brings me to one of the main points I want to drive home, not so much about TROPIC OF CANCER itself, but about the debates that raged (and in some cases STILL rage) around it: the book is one of those literary “darlings” of the more or less phony intellectual set. There. I’ve said it. That’s my own version of the “truth”. I hope you will carry it with you and appreciate it for what it is.

Either people have read TROPIC OF CANCER because they felt they had to discuss how “brilliant” it is with their snobby friends or they haven’t read it at all but have pretended they did so that they can look smart to that same group of snobby friends. I don’t roll that way. I’ve read and am re-reading TROPIC OF CANCER simply because I want to and not to impress anyone. Wanting to read a book is really the only reason one should have for actually reading it. Well, unless you’re in college and are doing it for a grade.

The whole “Greatest Living Author” shtick and the Honorary Doctorate/Man of Letters thing probably got Henry laid quite a bit by 1960s college chicks. Didn’t matter that he was old enough to be their grandfathers because, damn it, he was an artiste! A poet! A spokesman for the common man! There more than likely would have been a certain status attained by any young, shapely college girl who hauled Henry’s ashes. Boy if you could brag that you banged Henry, you might have even been asked as a guest on “The Dick Cavett Show”.

TROPIC OF CANCER is not “genius” nor is reading it necessarily a life-changing experience unless, of course, one is a pretentious, would-be avant-garde nincompoop who lies and SAYS that it changed their life. I mean, come on, no one really buys into that, so they’re just fooling themselves.

For the historical value of TROPIC OF CANCER, I say go ahead and read it. Enjoy it (or not) for what it is. It’s funny at times (grossly so at certain points) and maybe, as I did, you can sometimes “see” Henry winking at you in his prose as he shares his inside jokes with the reader.

BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY: THE METAMORPHS

BIG G.I. COMBAT: MILE-LONG STEP

HOLIDAY TV CLASSICS

Another of those compilation sets of shows that either everyone has forgotten (presuming they knew about them in the first place) or episodes that have fallen into the clutches of public domain. This time, they’re all Christmas (and a couple of Thankgiving) programs.

As with the entry below this one, this set has a bonus Virtual Fireplace. Figured it would be the same one, but no, this one is different. Nice to find another one I didn’t have before.

As I mentioned in the previous entry as well, my LEAST favorite TV version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL is one with Basil Rathbone as Scrooge. When I saw that one called CHARLES DICKENS’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL was on here, I was sort of prepared that it would be the Rathbone debacle. As it turns out, this is one with Taylor Holmes (who?) as Scrooge with Vincent Price narrating. Can’t go wrong with Vincent. Chalk this one up as a hidden treasure.

Did you know that TV legend Betty White once played a character with the last name of “Angel”? I didn’t either until I saw a few minutes of A DATE WITH THE ANGELS on this set.

The number of episodes are as follows:

OZZIE & HARRIET: 5
THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES: 4
DRAGNET: 3
FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE: 2
THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM: 3
THE LIBERACE SHOW: 2
RACKET SQUAD: 2
THE RED SKELTON SHOW: 2

All other listed programs only have 1 episode each – or were “one-shot” shows to begin with.

HOLIDAY FAMILY CLASSICS

Ok, I’m a sucker for DVD sets of movies that are in the Public Domain. I’ve been known to buy a set because it may contain only 2 or 3 movies I didn’t have before. Such is the case with HOLIDAY FAMILY CLASSICS.

Got this one as a “Wal-Mart” special at – you guessed it – Wal-Mart. It was amongst their $5 movies.

Yes, I had most of the movies listed and yes, I figured that some of the stuff contained therein would be awful, but there are treasures, too.

It shows that there are 12 Holiday Movies here, although some of them were television shows and not movies. It also mentions that there are 27 Christmas Cartoons. This, too, is not true. Some of the alleged “cartoons” are actually live-action short films, the kind your second grade teacher might have shown you – either in the classroom or as part of a school assembly on those Holiday “play days” we used to get back in the days when girls had cooties and long before I’d heard the term “receding hairline”.

Anyway, it’s the live action short films that I found to be worth the price of admission alone. A number of these movies were distributed by the Castle Films Company, with which I had a love throughout my childhood. For what it’s worth, I STILL love Castle Films. But, aside from that, there are films from both the “Coronet” and “Official Films” studios. These companies may not ring a bell with you off-hand, but you might remember them from their opening frames.

One of the Castle Films, A CHRISTMAS DREAM, appears to have suffered both actual damages and also the ravages of age, but is otherwise interesting to watch.

Couple of the cartoons are basically just sing-a-longs, O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM and JINGLE BELLS. You just follow along with the words at the bottom of the screen in case you happen to forget the lyrics to JINGLE BELLS (which, by the way, I just learned was written to be performed at Thanksgiving, not Christmas; makes sense to me because I’ve never considered JINGLE BELLS to be a Christmas song anyway).

There appears to be a couple of versions of THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, each with a different title, in this set. These are part of the live-action movies.

A PRESENT FOR SANTA CLAUS has been irritating to me in all the years that I’ve seen it. I really can’t explain why, though. Perhaps it’s the shabby Santa costume or the fact that Santa really needed to gain some weight here to be credible. Might have even been the bad acting. Maybe all three, in fact.

Now, if you’ve never had a disc of this before, there is a neat little extra in the set called VIRTUAL FIREPLACE. Quite a number of years ago, on New York public access television, someone got the brilliant idea of broadcasting what has become known now as THE YULE LOG. Very simply, it was a video loop feed of wood being burned in a fireplace. For those who didn’t have a fireplace of their own, this was a warm and fuzzy concept. In subsequent years there have been many Yule Log-type DVDs (and yes, even VHS tapes) on the market. I’ve got quite a collection of them. Even caught myself with doubles of some of them because some marketing booger changed up the packaging and I bought it thinking I was getting something new. Luckily, though, the VIRTUAL FIREPLACE is something I’ve never had before, so it was nice to have this “new” one for my library.

As for SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS – well, it IS one of my favorites. I’ve come to the conclusion that one can NEVER have too many prints of this movie. Wonder if Pia Zadora shows this to her grandkids nowadays? “Look, kids, it’s Grandma when she was a little girl playing ‘Girmar’, the girl Martian. Didn’t I look adorable in green makeup?”

Also included here is that infamous Kiddie Matinee favorite, SANTA CLAUS, from Mexico. Producer K. Gordon Murray bought this film, re-dubbed it, provided all the narration himself and turned it into this incessant little “anti-masterpiece”. I have to plead guilty to having seen this in theaters for something like a 35 cent admission; as to whether the movie is ultimately annoying, well, on that one I must plead the fifth (and probably drink one as well in order to work up the courage to sit through it again).

The SCROOGE film here is from 1930 and is probably one of the worst movie versions I’ve ever seen. Worst TV version was one starring Basil Rathbone and hosted by Fredric March. My favorite version? Easy! It’s the 1938 version with Reginald Owen and a very young June Lockhart, but that one’s not in the Public Domain and so couldn’t be included on this set.

THE LITTLEST ANGEL is here. I’m talking about the Johnny Whitaker live action TV series that was sponsored originally by Hallmark Hall of Fame. How they let this one slip into the Public Domain is beyond me. The story concerns a little boy who dies in a fall and goes to Heaven in time to witness the arrival of Jesus in the manger on Earth. Fred Gwynne plays sort of a guardian angel to the littlest angel; almost expected him to do that deep, silly Herman Munster laugh, wave his arms around and call for Lily.

Although it says that MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET is one of the movies here, don’t be fooled. It’s a one-hour TV version starring Thomas Mitchell (“Uncle Billy” from IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE). Sometimes folks get confused when different tellings of the same story appear on these compilations; they’re usually NOT the ones you’re thinking they are.

Some of the other movies here are ones I’ve never seen before. Case in point: any of the LITTLE WOMEN stories. Was never that much into Louisa May Alcott and all her “Little” tales.

As for THE NATIVITY and THE PILGRIMAGE PLAY, I’m kind of curious to see what they are; they were part of the reason I forked over 5 bucks to get this set. I suppose that I will have to sit down over the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and check ‘em out.

From what I’ve seen so far, this would be a good DVD compilation to have in your home. The kids, however, might get bored with some of the cartoons contained here (as they are dated), but give them SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS and maybe they’ll like it for all the bright colors. Or maybe it’ll warp ‘em for life. That’s the chance you have to take.

DC STAR SPANGLED WAR STORIES: I'LL NEVER DIE!

BIG G.I. COMBAT: HOT CORNER!

BATTLE ACTION: THE STALKERS!

ARMY WAR HEROES: THE LOST PLATOON