Thursday, July 30, 2015

Boston Blackie


I'm watching CONFESSIONS OF BOSTON BLACKIE (1941).
Way back in junior high school I used to tune into the radio
to hear the old mystery detective shows. Boston Blackie and
The Whistler were my favorite detectives. I remember the dark
and looking out the window at the tree shadows while they
were creeping around the docks and warehouses.


Tuesday, July 28, 2015

good deed rain



Little note cards I made for reading story
Good Deed Rain, possibly for radio, 1989,
This will be included in the big short story
collection Fred and I are currently working on.



time and again


I finished reading Jack Finney's novel
TIME AND AGAIN. I'm a sucker for
time travel stories and this is a good one.
Now if only we could go back in time to
when the library had a Mendery so I could
repair this library book. It has those tape
corners that are not the ideal way to preserve
a book. I do miss that kind of work and hope
there are still libraries that mend their books.
Oh, in Finney's book, Simon is being urged
to go back in time to avert the 1962 Cuban
crisis, an event that my sequel to Roosevelt
also hinges on. I'm nearly finished editing
that book. Fred is eager to do illustrations.







Monday, July 27, 2015

seashore sideshow


courtesy of my son:



Sunday, July 26, 2015

vashon island










schweinhund


Friday, July 24, 2015

topography


First morning light on the Chuckanut Hills
at the end of our street. I was setting out
the recycle bins and garbage can and ran
back inside for the camera.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

stories


Met with Fred twice this week. We're doing work on
the next book for Good Deed Rain. It's a GIGANTIC
collection of short stories, so far clocking in around
450 pages, covering 33 years, from 1982-2015.
Complete with illustrations, original notebook pages
and rejection letters. Here's a handwritten excerpt
from 1992:


Monday, July 20, 2015

movie time




Watched an old favorite, Woody Allen's
PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO. It's always 
a magical moment when Tom Baxter looks
off the screen, "My God, you must really 
love this picture!" I also saw this movie a 
bunch of times when it came out in 1985
and I used to see movies over and over 
in hopes.  


Wednesday, July 15, 2015

milk money


It took us a couple years to fill this quart
milk bottle full of pennies. We finally
brought it to the bank and poured it out.
Can you summon your carnival powers
to guess what the total was?



























(Answer: $13.73)

Sunday, July 12, 2015

time and place
























Yesterday, I finished reading Jack Finney’s 
wonderful book, THE THIRD LEVEL. 
Published in 1957, nearly every story has 
something to do with time travel. One of 
my favorite stories in it is “Such Interesting 
Neighbors.” A new couple moves into a 
TV-sort of 1950s neighborhood. 
While visiting the couple next door, 
the mysterious man explains where he’s from 
under the guise of a science fiction story. 
The people of the future live in an oppressive, 
overworked, fearful and warring society, 
when suddenly Time Travel machines are 
invented and it’s like when the television 
became available in stores and “it’s just about 
the only way to have any real fun. But it’s a 
wonderful way, all right. Within less than a 
week after the first sets reach the market, 
people everywhere are going swimming after 
work on an untouched beach in California, 
say in the year 1000. Or fishing or picnicking 
in the Maine woods before even the Norsemen 
had arrived.” It doesn’t take long before 
everyone has discovered their own personal 
favorite time and place in history and, “All over 
the world, within less than a month after TT is 
introduced, the same almost simultaneous 
thought seems to strike everyone: Why return?” 
And so the future is evacuated.


Finney’s story also appeared on television 
on a 1955 episode of Science Fiction Theatre, 
as “Time Is Just a Place.” Coincidentally, it stars 
the father from the early 1960s TV series “Hazel” 
which I used to watch every morning this spring 
before going to work, while writing my sequel 
to ROOSEVELT, which I set in 1962. 

2 callahans


I just watched SONG OF THE THIN MAN again from one of
my favorite movie series and discovered the police officer's
name in it is Callahan. At one point, on the ship, there even
appears to be two of him, arguing over food.


Now, if you've read my recent publication 5 NOVELS
you will know Callahan and Clanahan appear in the 
novel HARMONICA. And Callahan really wants to be a chef.
What a coincidence! 


Wednesday, July 8, 2015

jack finney


This is one of those books I can't believe
I went so long without knowing about!
Jack Finney's THE THIRD LEVEL
is an amazing story collection. Just get
a look at those story titles! It's especially
inspiring as I am putting together my own
collection of stories to entertain you,
and here was someone on the very same
wavelength. I have Stephen King to thank
for directing me to this book. King was
applauding Finney in his book Danse
Macabre and thankfully I took notice.







Tuesday, July 7, 2015

2 kaufmans


Finishing up a couple good Bob Kaufman books.
SOLITUDES CROWDED WITH LONELINESS
and an ELEGY for Kaufman by Neeli Cherkovski.




Kirkus Review

Our novel ROOSEVELT got a good review
from Kirkus Reviews:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/allen-frost/roosevelt/


Friday, July 3, 2015

water and trees


we were out at Lake Padden today, which features
in the sequel to Roosevelt. By the way, Roosevelt
got a good review from Kirkus Reviews.
I'll be sharing that soon.