tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post2307135036534127388..comments2024-03-18T11:01:42.459-05:00Comments on Pretty Sinister Books: FFB: Death in the Dark - Stacey BishopJ F Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-45755406830204260792017-04-03T11:23:42.463-05:002017-04-03T11:23:42.463-05:00I'm not one to believe in personality determin...I'm not one to believe in personality determined by physiognomy or biology. I dislike reading passages in old books about characters with weak chins signifying femininity in men or a devious nature or characters with eyes set too close together denoting obvious criminals. It's just another form of bigotry. I keep running across Berman and his "glandular theories" as applied to criminology in many vintage mysteries and I find it hard to believe that it was accepted as scientific fact. It smacks of the medieval belief in "humors" and how their distribution within a person's body made someone either choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, or sanguine.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-41042607922021720802017-04-03T10:18:11.090-05:002017-04-03T10:18:11.090-05:00Enjoyed your review, John, and not only because it...Enjoyed your review, John, and not only because it helped me clarify that while I don't believe I'm hopelessly thymocentric I do tend to lean that way. Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-81604529488311968712017-04-02T08:06:57.059-05:002017-04-02T08:06:57.059-05:00As Moira says above, Antheil's life is much mo...As Moira says above, Antheil's life is much more interesting than this oddity of a mystery nivel. I'm fascinated by his symphonies and can't stop listening to his very radical music. Stravinsky was his idol but he was also a musical maverick way ahead of his time. People like John Cage did similar experiments decades after Antheil that were were called genius. J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-9545342789904726142017-04-02T08:01:48.191-05:002017-04-02T08:01:48.191-05:00But... if interested much of his symphonic music ...But... if interested much of his symphonic music can be found on YouTube. There are several videos, also, of "Ballet Mechanique." It was revised in the 1950s and rescored for pianos and xylophone. Two of the most interesting are the art and music installation done in Washington DC's National Gallery in which the entire piece is performed by robots! Player pianos were programmed to play the music much faster than humans could along with other electronically rigged sound effects and drums. The other is the only live performance I could find of the original score which inludes the three airplane propellers with "percussionists" inserting wooden boards next to the blades at key moments as the three propellers turn at different speeds. Now that's cutting edge!J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-40180553033726742032017-04-02T05:52:35.827-05:002017-04-02T05:52:35.827-05:00Sounds like a quite singular experience, and I'...Sounds like a quite singular experience, and I'm always keen to see people play around with the format of the detecive novel...the difficulty comes when those digressions into alternative approaches actually STOP it being a detective novel, but that doesn't sound like the case here.<br /><br />I like your comment above, John, "like most of these true rarities this book is not a stellar accomplishment" -- it's a curious line we walk sometimes, isn't it? The hours spent tracking something down, the joy of finally acquiring it...and then the muted disapointment that it failed to live up to billing. I like to think I'm getting better at not allowing my expectations to run away with me, but there'll always be the odd disappointment that took what turns out to be a disproportionate amount of time, money, and effort to find.<br /><br />Thank heavens for reprints and easy disappointments, I say!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-43331473760057706682017-04-01T11:28:17.477-05:002017-04-01T11:28:17.477-05:00The plotting will not stand up to your rigid stand...The plotting will not stand up to your rigid standards, TomCat. But I think there are enough unusual aspects to the plot and the weird narrative experiments like the tabulation scene done in poetry that will keep you entertained. Just finding all his influences and allusions to well known detective novels will be fun for you. Looking forward to your review.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-35049804726974938452017-04-01T11:10:24.459-05:002017-04-01T11:10:24.459-05:00Thanks for your review, John! Your opinion seems t...Thanks for your review, John! Your opinion seems to agree with that of Adey who described it as an odd, badly written book, but he still found it interesting enough to recommended it. So this reprint edition has been jotted down on my wish list. <br />TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-12931406110693975172017-03-31T16:42:03.810-05:002017-03-31T16:42:03.810-05:00When I first learned of Antheil a few years ago I ...When I first learned of Antheil a few years ago I went in search of every movie I could find that he scored so I hear his music. I was underwhelmed. The score to House by the River, for example, doesn't seem radical or cutting edge at all which is what I expected. Hollywood seems to homogenize even the most avant garde artists.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-9304969832996160502017-03-31T14:48:00.939-05:002017-03-31T14:48:00.939-05:00I am not that bothered about the book, but am fasc...I am not that bothered about the book, but am fascinated by the author - I just went and looked him up to find out more, what an extraordinary life. Would love to read his relationship advice column...Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-43171953358957362582017-03-31T13:39:39.008-05:002017-03-31T13:39:39.008-05:00Well I'm not always that good at solving the h...Well I'm not always that good at solving the howdunnit aspect so he could well fool me!Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05616800837907092489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-50784817376675909822017-03-31T12:52:38.974-05:002017-03-31T12:52:38.974-05:00Sadly like most of these true rarities this book i...Sadly like most of these true rarities this book is not a stellar accomplishment, but I enjoyed reading it. Your use of "quirky" is the perfect adjective. There's some rudimentary fair play detection in the book. Too much depends on timing and sheer luck on the murderer's part. I'll wager that purists and the locked room fanatics out there will be greatly disappointed. I figured out two of the three impossible crimes before they were solved by the detective. The second murder is solved so quickly the reader is never really given a chance to work it out.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-25818956614257576752017-03-31T12:06:46.853-05:002017-03-31T12:06:46.853-05:00I can always rely on you to introduce me to new ob...I can always rely on you to introduce me to new obscure authors. Quirky mystery fiction is always tempting and who could resist such a floor plan. Best get saving my pennies so I can get one of the reprints.Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05616800837907092489noreply@blogger.com