Rick, JD, Jim & More
Born in San Antonio in 1964, Rick Riordan is on a wildly successful literary run. His Percy Jackson fantasy series has delighted millions and been adapted to the big and small screen. His Wiki page lists more than 50 books in his name, plus eight graphic novels. He also has written a mystery series that follows P.I. Tres Navarre. I just finished Southtown, the fifth of seven. It’s the story of a violent prison inmate who escapes and begins a plan of revenge and recovery of a large amount of money. The story is familiar. What lifts it above the average is the lively prose and dialogue, and the color injected throughout the narrative. Here’s an example: “He had a Frosted Flake stuck to his chin.” In another instance a reformed criminal married to a cop leaves a thumbprint of baby food on a door. The 279 pages of the paperback edition read like considerably less. 59 users at Amazon have rated Southtown, forging to a consensus of 4.6 on a scale of five. As anyone who has read this blog knows, I’m not a big fan of mystery/thrillers. I’ll go with 3.25. I doubt the novel’s appeal extends far beyond fans of the genre. Its violence is on the hardcore side. Riordan has been honored with many prestigious awards, including a Shamus and an Edgar.
Here’s a term I’d never heard before, used by Selena Zito in a nypost.com op-ed piece on how the left has turned on J.D. Vance, author of the blockbuster memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Recently he has spoken out about woke capitalism, the border crisis, Big Tech’s collision with the First Amendment, economic nationalism and China’s role in the pandemic. Anyway, back to the term in question. Coup d’oeil is defined as “a brief survey, glance,” in this case a look at the life of the white working class of the industrial Midwest and Appalachia. I’ll probably quickly forget its meaning. I remember how long it took me to absorb zeitgeist, “the prevailing thought of an age,” now one of my favorite though seldom used words.
RIP Jim “Mudcat” Grant, 85, who pitched 14 seasons with seven different MLB teams from 1958–1971. His record was 145–119, 3.63 ERA. He was a two-time All-Star and led the AL in wins in 1965, going 21–7 and leading Minnesota to the World Series, pitching two complete game victories and hitting a three-run homer in Game Six. He lost Game Four, knocked out in the sixth. The Twins fell to the Dodgers in seven. Lafayette HS grad Sandy Koufax was the MVP. Grant was the starting pitcher for the Montreal Expos in their first-ever game. In 1965 he hosted a local Minneapolis variety TV program, The Jim Grant Show, where he sang and danced. He received author credit with Tom Sabellico and Pat O’Brien on The Black Aces: Baseball’s Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners, published in 2007. Well done, sir.
Here’s an eye-opening headline from foxnews.com: “Baltimore businesses threatening to withhold tax payments amid violence, ‘lawlessness.’” Maybe it will start a trend. Taxation without protection is infamy.
When a potential customer says he/she will return, it seems a 99% certainty it won’t happen. My thanks to the young woman who came back and bought a bunch of books and DVDs in Russian; and to the woman who took home a hardcover in Russian; and to the two elderly women who selected a novel each by Danielle Steel — Kaleidoscope and Answered Prayers.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts
Read Vic’s Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza
