The Unsung – Michael Slade’s ‘Headhunter’
The Unsung examines works of popular culture that are critically acclaimed but not popular, popular but not critically acclaimed, or neither. Today, I’m looking at Headhunter by Michael Slade!
Category: Books
Backroads Bookscouting: Twenty-Four Hours on the Peninsula
Although we were forced to spend most of our allotted vacation budget on the car, we ALSO were forced — sort of– to take a fun overnight trip around the Olympic Peninsula. And we found some cool stuff along the way.
Hatcher’s Junk Drawer #8: Bus Books
With the car out of commission for a week, I got a chance to catch up on some reading during my lengthy bus commute.
Backroads Bookscouting (sort of): A Salem Addendum
As a sort of a follow-up to Greg Hatcher’s bookscouting column last February, here’s a little more about a wonderful antique store in Salem that he missed on his visit.
Atomic Roundtable: Harlan Ellison 1934-2018
One of the most incisive and compelling observers of the human condition, Harlan Ellison passed away in his sleep last week at age 84. Everyone who ever met him has a Harlan story, to the point that being in his presence was usually referred to as “witnessing the ‘Harlan Live’ show,” and we here at the Junk Shop are no exceptions. Here are a few.
Guest Post: Harlan Ellison Got Personal With Me Eight Times
At the Mount San Antonio College Writer’s Day in Walnut, California in 1974, Harlan Ellison read aloud his new story “Knox” to a packed auditorium. He saw today coming. He’d been late, as always; to entertain us while we waited, the literature department chairman had, with great relish, himself begun reading Harlan’s earlier story, “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman.”Before the chairman finished, word came that our guests had arrived: Harlan, and Ray Bradbury — who never learned to drive, even after half a lifetime writing about Tomorrow; Harlan chauffeured Ray from Cheviot Hills, so both were late. They were put onstage together as chastisement. Harlan went first. And hit all of us right between the eyes.
Aerial Dances with Death, Soviet-style
Back in World War II, when it was being attacked by the Nazi war machine, the Soviet Union had quite a few women serving in its armed forces. The Soviet airwomen in particular distinguished themselves in combat roles, and there’s a very good book and a more recent comic book series that examine this aspect of wartime history.