Didn’t get the short story out the door like I planned. I started working my way through it one more time and made quite a few changes. Then when I was doing my morning calisthenics I came up with a couple of those little nuance details that I thought I should work in. So at least one more day’s work on it. Maybe even two. We’ll see.
Fall has arrived in Texas, no doubt. It was chilly this morning, about 48° when I checked the WeatherBug at 7:30 a.m. I like it. The one time of the year when we don’t have to condition the air, neither cool nor heat.
Specters in Coal Dust, which contains my story “Centralia is Still Burning,” launches this Saturday at the Huntington Mall Borders in Barboursville, WV from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. Two other Woodland Press books launch at the same time. Editor Michael Knost and a bunch of local writers will be present for the event. If you’re in that neck of the woods, check it out!
House had its strongest episode of the season this week. Amy Irving was the guest patient, starring as an author of young adult mystery novels (with touches of Harry Potter and Twilight fandom thrown in) who happened to be one of House’s favorite writers. There’s a great “chase scene” (no, not involving Chase) at the go kart track.
I think I’m suffering from obvious culprit syndrome. It’s gotten so that I can spot someone who’s probably going to end up being involved in the crime simply from their appearance or who is playing the part. I knew that Beckett’s former training officer on Castle was up to no good the moment I saw him. I also figured the photograph Castle would play into solving the case, but not quite the way it turned out. Still, I like a case with a good puzzle, inspired by the back page of Mad magazine, even if we were robbed of the payoff by having Castle and Beckett find the treasure off screen.
I checked out Law & Order: UK via OnDemand/BBC America last night. Some of the accents were almost incomprehensible, though I find the types of crimes people can be charged with in the UK fascinating. They are different in nature and vocabulary in many ways. Don’t quite have a handle on the major characters yet (except for Freema Agyeman, aka Martha Jones from Doctor Who).
Animal symbolism came to mind more than once during Mad Men this weekend. First there were the rats abandoning the sinking ship, as clients started pulling out when news of the Lucky Strike switch got out. And then there were the vultures who went to the ad man’s funeral to try to pick up some of his clients. Exchange of the episode: Megan: How was the funeral? Don Draper: We’ll see. Roger’s getting his comeuppance for dereliction of duty. It’s almost like we’re being set up for his departure. There was a funny shot of the new, short creative guy raising his hand to ask a question during the company meeting and being lost in the crowd. I just realized that the actress who plays Faye was Sheriff Bannerman’s replacement on The Dead Zone TV series. She wasn’t terribly impressive on that show, but she’s quite striking and magnetic here. Maybe scripts and direction can make a lackluster actor into a good one. Megan ups her game, becoming aggressive and assertive, going after what she wants. “I can’t afford to make any mistakes right now,” Don says as he embarks on what will probably be another mistake. But, at the end, Faye comes up with what might be the game saving play: Heinz.
They did a nice leap forward at the beginning of The Event this week. When last we saw Sean, he was in FBI custody being transported to Yuma. In the opening scene, he’s free, driving a cop car, and tending to the injuries of the female FBI agent in a shabby motel. That’s one gutsy agent—she had a serious piece of metal in her shoulder and the injury didn’t bother her one bit for the rest of the episode. No stiffness or impairment, no tenderness, nothing. And the Yuma FBI office leaks like a sieve. You couldn’t walk into our fairly low-tech office and gain access to the computer closet like that! The cue with the cop’s badge that turned into a weapon was nicely done. I anticipated what would happen in the final scene as soon as rookie guard started wandering alone through a warehouse filled with dead bodies, but I think it might have been more effective if a bunch of them had gotten up at once instead of the slow tease we got.
