SPOILER ALERT FOR “THE HAUNTED AIR” AND “MIRAGE”


I was struck by an interesting visual link between two FPW books.

In “The Haunted Air,” when Charles and Gia are trapped in the basement by the ghost of Tara Portman, they fall into a deep pit. As the dirt walls begin to crumble, Charlie gives Gia one of the “crosses” from the stones in the wall, and she uses it to create hand and foot holds in the dirt. As she does so, she comes across bones of children buried in the cellar. Fighting back her fear, Gia continues to dig and begins to rise toward the lip of the pit. Suddenly ghostly little hands emerge from the dirt walls and grab Gia and Charlie, preventing them from escaping. Using the “cross,” Gia slices her way through the hands that continue to multiply, until dozens of little hands are grasping her and it seems she will never get out alive.

In “Mirage,” Julie is in the volcano of Samantha’s mind. She is desperate to connect the severed ends of a bridge that traverses a lava flow and which is a critical connection between parts of Sam’s unconscious mind. After digging deep within herself and tapping newly discovered parts of her own emotional psyche, Julie sees a response from Sam. The response comes in the form of little hands on either end of the ruptured bridge, reaching out and caressing Julie. At first, the hands are those of a tiny child, but they begin to multiply and blossom into dozens of hands from every phase of Sam’s life, little girl through adulthood.

FPW is a physician, a man with healing hands. The laying on of hands is part of medical care, not in a mystical fashion but quite literally. Every physician must use his/her hands to examine the patient.

The imagery is unique and interesting, don’t you think?

From reading a recent thread, it seems that gun gabbing degenerates sometimes from sharing information and views to a oneupmanship pissin' contest with strident overtones. Everyone has their own opinions and experience and certainly they are welcome to share them, but how about taking disagreements a little less personally?
For example, if Ken V. wants to inform me that the Sten Mk. II has its barrel ported to bleed gas and reduce bullet velocity and that the silencer is built over the barrel and adds no extra length (after I've already stated that the silencer is "integral" to the weapon), well, that's just fine! And, if he wants to state that the sound of the firing pin striking the primer could be discerned before the weapon's action cycles (open bolt), well, he's entitled to that also.
If he wants to inform me that 2-liter pop bottle silencers just aren't practical (when I've already filled a bottle with styrofoam peanuts, reinforced it with duct tape and held it over the barrel of my Ruger Mk II .22 semi (with the front sight removed), just to see/hear), I've no problem with that either.
We need to be able to have an open discussion, opposing views, and honest disagreement/argument a little more impersonally. After all, this isn't Capitol Hill, where you can't disagree with someone without attacking their moral fiber, intellectual development, ancestry, etc.
So maybe we can disengage our self-image, ego, and masculine identity from the discussion of firearms? Whadda ya tink?

NewYorkjoe

Today, I went to see new movie in theater, Crisis of America.....Oh, maybe you don't know this title, but some people definitely saw it. You know what it is?

This movie has three titles in Japan. First, original film was made in 1962. Japanese title was "影なき狙撃者"（Kage naki sogeki-sha）, the meaning is "The sniper who hasn't shadow". Second, this new version movie's Japanese title is "Crisis of America"......Okay, you still don't know?

Third, this original title is "The Manchurian Candidate"!

"The sniper who hasn't shadow", "Crisis of America", "The Manchurian Candidate". Those three different titles are all same movie. Can you believe this? But it's true.

A long time ago I saw original film. I remember it was Frank Sinatra's movie. If my memories are correct, that was communists and governments. If I have a chance, I'll see original again.

Oh, by the way, this new version.........I liked it. "Crisis of America", this title is very fit to it. True enemies were already inside the country. As usual, Denzel Washinton was cool. Story was different from original, but that was no problem. If this new version was communists and governments, it's out of date. If it is, nobody will see it.

Also other actors were good. Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight......and Robyn Hitchcock! Why Robyn Hitchcock is........well, that's okay anyway. Two hours and ten minutes, I really enjoyed it.

Can anyone tell me anything about this book? Is it short stories, and if so are there any FPW ones in it?
Many thanks in advance.

I got a copy of The Fifth Harmonic proof today. Very unusual size - nearly as high as A4 paper and slightly wider!!
Paul - is this the same size as your one or is there a smaller version?

Happy Easter to everyone. May you all have a wonderful weekend.

Fusosha has just made an offer on The Haunted Air and Gateways, which I'm accepting. But god knows when they'll be published.

Short and sweet, if you want to see a horror movie, go by a Michael Myers one. Forget seeing this in the theatre.

If however, you want to see a quote "scary" werewolf facing down several police officers... while extending its middle finger, then by all means go see cursed.

I have rarely seen any FPW novels in an airport, and I sometimes look when I am traveling to see what is for sale. In Newark, however, found almost all of the RJ series, even The Tomb. One was even autographed, so I of course had to buy it (along with the other RJ novels I do not have - I borrowed the series from family to read, now am buying for my own collection).

Guess it pays to be a local boy for advertising and sales. Glad to see it.

Chalk up three purchases in Newark. Maybe it'll buy FPW a beer or two......

I was pleasantly surprised by this show. I expected there to be a lot of artificial drama, but there is a lot of real stuff going on. I know this sounds stupid, but other than the fights at the end I really like it. I have a hard time watching people beat each other up while a crowd cheers and stuff. Overall, I really like the show. I like that the boxers' families are there and that everyone is given a fair shake and they aren't exploited for TV as much as some other reality TV contestants. Does anybody else watch?