Touching All the Bases

• Hurray! I see that S.J. Rozan’s Six Word Stories site has been revived. My favorite submission so far comes from somebody named Kim Donovan: “Obituary: John Williams. Died tomorrow. Sorry.” I’ve reinstalled Six Word Stories in The Rap Sheet’s blogroll (under Flash/Short Fiction) in hopes that more people will discover it.

• Many of the usual contributors to Patti Abbott’s well-known Friday “forgotten books” blog series are taking today off (with the intention of resuming the series on September 11). But Paul Bishop of Bish’s Beat fame carries right on through. He writes this week about Assignment--Mara Tirana, by Edward S. Aarons. Also contributing a forgotten book tribute today: Bill Crider on The McBain Brief, by Ed McBain, and George Kelley on The Anthony Boucher Chronicles: Reviews and Commentary, 1942-1947.

• While we’re on the subject of trying to revive interest in older artistic projects ... Author (and Rap Sheet) blogger Megan Abbott writes about the motion picture Private Hell (1954) for Noir of the Week; the blog Booze Movies has more than a few nice things to say about Paul Newman’s performance in The Verdict (1985), a movie I just rewatched recently myself; and Christine A. Miller of the vintage-radio blog Escape and Suspense! applauds “the first noir directed by a woman,” The Hitch-Hiker (1953).

• Alternative endings to James Bond flicks.

• From the big screen to the small one: Fans of the 1978-1981 Robert Urich crime drama Vega$ will finally be able to enjoy that show’s Season 1 DVD release on October 20; Lee Goldberg has dug up the opening title sequence to The Blue Knight, George Kennedy’s 1975-1976 CBS cop series based on Joseph Wambaugh’s novel of the same name; the lovely Kristin Kreuk, formerly of Smallville, appears set to join the cast of the spy spoof Chuck for its regrettably delayed third season; and it looks as if NBC is “developing a new take on the groundbreaking UK drama series Prime Suspect,” which starred “Helen Mirren as Det. Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, a tough homicide investigator who found herself juggling her difficult job and equally harrowing personal life.”

• My father once owned a red Volvo P1800, the same sort of car Simon Templar (Roger Moore) drove in The Saint. Unfortunately, he sold it sometime in the early 1980s. But it seems that, for the right price I can soon find its replacement--a limited-edition revival of that model designed by Mattias Vöcks.

• David Liss--comic-book writer?

• Dan Waddell has submitted Blood Atonement, his second mystery featuring genealogist Nigel Barnes, to Marshal Zeringue’s notorious Page 69 Test. The results are found here. Meanwhile, Ann Cleaves sends Red Bones, the new third volume in her Shetland Island Quartet, through The Page 99 Test.