Well, folks, another Halloween is upon us. For children everywhere, it means a night of sugar fueled fun. For a classic film connoisseur like me, it means good old scary movies on TCM. Specifically Val Lewton’s movies. More specifically, Cat People. But I digress, because this isn’t a post about Val Lewton’s screenwriting and producing genius or the mesmerizing images he conveyed in brooding black and white. No, this post is about someone else, whose name caught my eye recently as I watched The Leopard Man again. That name was Cornell Woolrich.
I think his name originally caught my eye because Woolrich made my brain go to Woolworth’s, the now long gone five-and-dime store from my childhood, which took me back momentarily to a bin filled with discounted issues of Dynamite magazine (because for some reason that’s all I ever remember getting at Woolworth’s back then). Returning from my brief jog down memory lane, I noticed that Cornell Woolrich had actually written the novel The Leopard Man was based on (Black Alibi). And suddenly I wondered what else he had written.
Turns out, a lot. He was, in fact one, of the best crime writers around in the early part of the 20th century, in a league with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He also wrote several stories and novels that were turned in to really great movies, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (based on Woolrich’s It Had to be Murder). So of course I immediately wanted to read some of his work. Like, at that moment.
Thank you Kindle store!
Pickings were slim. Only a few choices. But one of those was Four Novellas of Fear. I immediately purchased it and got lost in the first story, Eyes that Watch You. An old woman, rendered paralyzed and mute by an accident, overhears her daughter-in- law plotting with a lover to murder her son. Without being able to speak or move, can she possibly save him before it’s too late, and how? Sooo suspenseful. I was hooked.
I can’t believe I had never read any of Woolrich’s work before now. If you like hard-boiled detective novels, or film noir, or a good double cross or two in your fiction, I highly recommend you give Cornell Woolrich’s work a try. Good, good stuff.
, was published. It remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for two years. 
, will be released at the end of this month. As in 
and 
, Pandora continues her journey to track down the evils she accidentally unleashed onto the world. Y'know, when she found the infamous box that said not to open it, took it for show and tell, and it sort of got opened? Greek mythology and teenage trauma = a fun combination. Add in snappy dialogue, a little silliness, and some adventure, and you've got a great story.
by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe. You'll want to be sure and read every single word. It's possible that even someone as dense as you can learn how real professionals act. 
caught my eye today during what has become my daily trip to the bookstore. I've heard of this concept before and have always loved the idea. 6 word memoirs rock because they are quick and fast. Kind of like old telegraphs. You know, stuff like: 
, a graphic novel written by Eric Wight, otherwise known as the ghost artist behind Seth Cohen a.k.a. Adam Brody on The O.C. Basically, boy meets girl, boy and girl like each other, girl has an accident and, well, it isn't your typical love story. It's really kind of dark and supernatural, but funny. The writing and art are beautiful, the characters are very unique and the plot has a few surprises that made me salivate for the next novel. Which hasn't come, but that's ok. If the second one is as good as this one, I'll keep checking the Graphic Novel section every time I go to Barnes and Noble. The buzz is it will be here near the end of April. I've got my fingers crossed.
