Here’s the color version of the drawing I posted last night!

Trilby is strolling through the woods to a picnic and is bothered by an intruding alien & his transportation device. The lone extraterrestrial inquires as to the nearest burger joint. Trilby points the way to the The Burger Inn, though, in truth, he’s not quite sure where he is at the moment.

I’m grounded for a bit and getting as much artwork out as I can. Amongst the cartooning done tonight included the next few days of my daily Swampy’s Florida daily celebration cartoons. This one was fun! The fun of aliens is that you can make it up as you go along! grin emoticon

I’ll leave a shroud of mystery as to what this creature might be celebrating Thursday. Tomorrow you can see the color version over at Swampy’s Florida or I’ll later share it here.

I’ve been having fun creating a continuous story linking the celebratory daily cartoons into a story. The fun is trying to figure out how to link each day together!

Bloodland by William W. Johnstone

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Of the few dozen Johnstone Clan novels I’ve read, few were published during William Johnstone’s lifetime. This one was. Considering the few books written at the time by him, I figure this one may have been written by Johnstone himself and not one of the herd of ghost writers to come.

Unfortunately, this is the worst of the books I’ve read possibly actually written by Johnstone. I can read a formula cast in the structure of the book. At the time he was also producing the Smoke Jensen series and this book too much reflects those. You could swap out the hero for Jensen. Not that it ruins the novel, just that it indicates Johnstone’s later actions of employing ghost writers considering how much he was able to produce, apparently, plot-wise.

The entire premise is hard to believe, which means the writer failed to connect his plot with the reader. Basically involves bad guys taking over a town with a vision of taking over the world in their way. The idea of the seduction of the townspeople seems more real today than possible in 1985. Still more than far fetched.

One of the most important things to take from this book is Johnstone’s writing of the farming industry and what was and would be happening. Younger people will have a great deal of trouble understanding what he is writing in that what he wrote has not only happened but is so buried in the commercial maelstrom, that the idea of the independent family farms that produce for the U.S. to such a high level will be hard to perceive.

The writing in the book is less than standard. The setting is described at points, but I never got the feel of the place as I have in so many other Johnstone Clan novels. That character construction is also far less than the usual stellar efforts of a Johnstone novel. The most interesting characters, to me, is the father and one named ‘Lila’, but little is done with them.

I figure this book is a sign of the stress of producing too many books at the same time by Johnstone.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.

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Drew a wonderful group of older folks today. Including Joan Kelly who, along with her dancing partner, were entertainers for the USO and performed for troops waiting to go overseas during WWII. She tap danced and sung at bases in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Hard to imagine all of the joy she brought to our brave soldiers. She’s one of my heroes!

Whipped through ‘The Runner’ by Patrick Lee in two days and decided to shift to low gear with my first reading of Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman.

Thinking I might try a third new author in a row after this book.

Trilby and a bunny! You can see the color version over at Swampy’s Florida later this morning.

My rugged schedule of the past week and a half has finally caught up with me. Was in a meeting Monday night where I just kept feeling sicker and sicker and couldn’t slip out. Made my way home and crashed. This proves that I’m not in perpetual motion, despite what people say.

In the Teeth of the Evidence by Dorothy L. Sayers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my first time reading Dorothy Sayers. This collection of little mysteries and twisty stories are very well written with a solid British foundation.

A few of the stories are a bit over written. Especially those without a solid punch in the end.

Sayers’ Peter Whimsey stories seem to me the best of the lot. The Monty Egg stories are more contrived. The third set is a good series of a varied set of characters immersed in all sorts of troubles. Two of these stories are excellent.

Bottom Line: I recommend this book. 7 of 10 points.

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Remember the Alamo by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

‘Remember the Alamo’ is a fun book by the Johnstone Clan. Albeit beyond preposterous. The writing is looser than other Johnstone books. The characters are pretty good, though not as sharp as in other books.

The plotting is sloppiest involving the Hillary Clinton-type president that is demo-goding a situation involving the Alamo. It’s written that Congress is behind her, but little more is mentioned about the Congress, the Cabinet or much of anyone else in charge. Some unbelievable situations occur and the Clinton-type is riding herd to her goal. That’s an interesting stance to take if she had first released Congress from it’s handle of guiding the nation. Otherwise, Congress would’ve stepped in to any number of degrees to intercept even to support her.

None of that happens. The book is written as Alamo vs. Washington. There are some real bad guys who started all this, but they start to slide in importance as the book runs along.

Unfortunately, the characters seem to run together, especially involving the good guys. In other Johnstone books, the characters and their story help enormously involving rocky stories. The Dave and Caroline Rodriguez characters are the mostly compelling to me and it would be nice to see the Johnstone Clan explore those two further in another book.

The book is still fun to read. The characterization of those in the White House are sometimes as much fun as they are shocking. This Johnstone Clan book takes the ultra-liberal president character to heights hard to imagine.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 out of 10 points

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Jackknife by William W. Johnstone

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘Jacknife’ is just plain fun! A well written battle through nutty folks who think they will take over the world one large over-sized department store at a time.

The Johnstone Clan seems to have connected a ghostwriter of earlier thrillers to this book as it reads much like a few others with similar characters. Can’t recall if I’ve written this before, but there is a strong flavor of Vince Flynn to the point that I wonder if he was involved with this book. One way to tell is if the sound of these thrillers slips from this level, with Flynn now gone.

The writing is strong. Nowhere near the writing of other recent books I’ve read, such as Colin Dexter, Marjorie Rawlings or Edmund Crispin. But the engagement is concrete and the need to propell forward to find out what happens next and the want to read more like it, transcends the better writing. This is great storytelling.

Troubles with the book: Plenty seems unbelievable. There is a definite political slant (That is fine with me). Still, if a reader can enjoy reading this much, then the weakness is not that, but part of the whole that is the entertainment of great storytelling, if I may repeat myself and underscore what the Johnstone Clan excels at.

As is true in the Clan set, the characters are outstanding in their written definitions. The writer(s) and editor(s) involved deserve continued applause. The Hiram Stackhouse character is a hoot.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 of 10.

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