The Breaker - series. Books 1 - 3:

 

The Breaker

ISBN: 9781656281517

Description:

How do you know the one you love won’t hurt you?

Or even try to kill you?
In many cases … you don’t.

How do we choose our path and purpose in life?

What makes us who we are?
When Seth Egan starts working as a private detective, he knows he’ll make enemies.
It goes with the territory.
As Seth works on a murder case and hunts down the killers, he becomes the target.
Some people have no conscience, shame, empathy, or remorse.
To get their own way, to get what they want, to take everything, they will do anything.
Even murder.
In the end, they will drag you down to hell with them.
Sometimes, our enemies are those closest to us.

Amazon link:

https://t.co/eKFZ03giKR?amp=1

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Bad Blood

ISBN: 9798682203192

Description:

No one is paying Seth Egan for his latest case.

He keeps this one unofficial.

Pro bono publico.

Off the books.

For him, this one is personal.

A matter of bad blood.

A woman with a grudge of her own leads Seth to a place where people vanish without trace.

Money is the motive.

Greed is the motivator.

Scores that can only be settled in blood.

A dark underworld of illegal gambling, prostitution, drugs, violence and murder.

Amazon link:

 

https://t.co/e0XiS8crAr?amp=1

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Mall Maze

ISBN: 9798729917235

Description:

Friday the 13th.

Unlucky for many.

What should have been a routine adultery case ends with Seth Egan fighting for his life.

Cut off from the world.

With no way to call for help.

Trapped in a place where the walls are coming down around him.

Seth is running out of places to hide.

As chaos reigns and the city burns … the hunters close in.

Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09244XVYW/

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Themes:

Abuse by proxy, Adultery, C-PTSD, crime, detective, domestic abuse, enabler, flying monkey, gaslighting, hardboiled, heist, infidelity, murder, narcissism, narcissist, narcissistic abuse, neo-noir, personality disorder, psychopath, sociopath, suspense, thriller, vigilante, violence.

Books available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle.

A percentage from sales of my books is donated to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research.

What’s On?

What’s On?

A Guide to Movies and TV Shows

Hardcover

ISBN-13: 9798342696098

Paperback

ISBN-13: 9798341177307

Kindle

ASIN: B0DJTZ8T58

Back cover description:

What’s On? … is the timeless question we have all asked ourselves almost every day of our lives, as we reach for the remote control and settle in front of the TV screen.

Jack Kost, a life-long movie buff and coffee addict, offers his choice of favorite movie and television masterpieces.

Providing possible answers to the question of What’s On? with over 1,900 titles, from golden oldies and timeless classics, to more recent releases, all meticulously logged and summarized.

An invaluable and collectable go-to source for discovering new favorites and revisiting old ones.

Perfect for film enthusiasts and casual viewers alike, this guide will spark conversations, bring back memories, and help you navigate the ever-evolving world of screen entertainment.

A wealth of recommendations and insights from a passionate movie buff to enrich your viewing experience, complete with personal reminiscences and nostalgic reflections, told with a world-wise critical eye, sardonic dry wit, a healthy dose of cynicism, biting observations, and a well-founded rant here and there.

Just don’t challenge or get him started on his personal favorites, like The Shining, Point Blank, Jaws, The Exorcist, The Duellists, Romeo Is Bleeding, or The Ninth Configuration. His opinions on these and other iconic titles are as intense and unyielding as the movies themselves.

All compiled by an author who not only watched the movies, but also read the books on which they were based, did his research, drank a lot of coffee in the process, and advocates for the importance and value of reading.

A glimpse into the over-caffeinated mind of a writer with a passion for great stories.

What’s On? is a celebration of the intersection between page and screen, and a reminder that great on-screen adaptations often start with a great book and a strong cup of coffee.

Kick back, grab your coffee, and enjoy the show!

As author Jack Kost says:

“Happy viewing … and do yourself a favor … read the books.”

Slipped Masks:

Slipped Masks

ISBN: 9781719330640

Description:

I can’t call you because if he hears me talking on the phone he’ll hit me again. He scares me. I know sooner or later he’s going to kill me. I’ll text you again when I can. I love you, Casey. I’ll spend the rest of our lives proving to you how much I love you. Please come. Please save me …

With only text messages to guide him, Casey Byrne is on the hunt, racing across five states to save his ex-girlfriend, Madison.

Casey loves Madison deeply and wants desperately to save her life and rekindle their relationship.

But the closer he gets to her, the more surreal his journey becomes as the dead bodies pile up in his wake.

Clinical Lycanthropy: the delusion that a human can physically transform into a wolf.

If you were insane, would you know it?

How would you see the world if you were convinced you could transform into a wolf?

The hunter … and the hunted.

Slipped Masks is a dark neo-noir thriller about how the need for love and companionship becomes twisted into obsession, possession, jealousy, violence and murder.

A horrifying portrait of Clinical Lycanthropy.

Amazon link:

https://t.co/2Gwb135V3m

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Themes:

Sociopathy, narcissistic abuse, personality disorder, Clinical Lycanthropy, crime, murder.

Book available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle.

A percentage from sales of this book is donated to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research.

Work in progress:

My next books are Triangulation and Stinger.

Books 4 and 5 in The Breaker series.

Set in the year 2001, the story continues from Mall Maze.

Themes:

Crime, detective, hardboiled, heist, murder, narcissism, narcissistic abuse, neo-noir, psychopath, sociopath, thriller, vigilante.

 

A percentage from book sales is donated to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research.

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The Breaker is an on-going series.

I’m outlining other stand-alone thriller novels.

Several coffee table books on my photography and my wife’s artwork.

A humorous book, based on the antics of our crazy pet Ragdoll cat, entitled: It’s That F****** Cat Again!

Here’s a GIF I made of our cat, settling down for another of his daily naps:

On this day in television history - Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2022):

Blade Runner: Black Lotus

Season 1. Episode 13.

Episode entitled: Time to Die.

Released February 6, 2022.

Developed by Kenji Kamiyama, Shinji Aramaki.

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, Shinji Aramaki.

Written by Brandon Auman, Margaret Dunlap, Eugene Son, Alex de Campi.

Based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

Opening theme: Feel You Now by Alessia Cara.

Music by Michael Hodges, Gerald Trottman.

Cast: Jessica Henwick, Will Yun Lee, Wes Bentley, Samira Wiley, Barkhad Abdi, Zehra Fazal, Maury Sterling, Chris Jai Alex, Takehito Koyasu, Miho Sakurazaka, Akihiro Sakata, Shinshû Fuji, Takako Honda, Takayuki Kinba, Tony Nakajima, Arisa Shida.

On this day in movie history - Temple Grandin (2010 movie & books):

Temple Grandin

directed by Mick Jackson,

written by Christopher Monger, Merritt Johnson,

based on the books:

Emergence by Temple Grandin & Margaret Scariano

&

Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin,

released in the United States on February 6, 2010.

Music by Alex Wurman.

Cast: Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, David Strathairn, Catherine O'Hara, Stephanie Faracy, Barry Tubb, Melissa Farman, Steve Shearer, Richard Dillard, Jenna Elizabeth Hughes, Michael Crabtree, Charles Baker, David Born, Rutherford Cravens, Matthew Posey, Toby Metcalf, Cyndi Williams, Steve Uzzell, Rick Espaillat, Jim Flowers, Michael D. Conway, William Akey, Kristin McCollum, Penny Reeves, Chris Olson, Joe Nemmers, Gerry Robert Byrne, Aaron Johnson, Jacquejoy Littlefield, Cherami Leigh, John Rawley, Phil Harrington, Cassandra L. Small, Robert Newell, Jessica Looney / Jessica Wilson, Cynthia Huerta, Ken Webster, Carl Savering, Brady Coleman, Butch Anderson, Megan Moser, Chloë Evans, Blair Bomar, Xochitl Romero, Tamara Jolaine, David Blackwell, Shiela Bailey Lucas, Wally Welch, Marissa Joy Davis, Cheryl Wheeler Duncan, Michael Costello, Brian Bentley, Diane Perella, Blake Duncan, Marvin D. Yeaman, Clark Perry, Nolan Bennett, Patrick Bertucci, Kelli Bland, Fred Bothwell, Kelsey Buchanan, D.J. Castillo, Cheryl Cave, Kurt Cole, Richard Dodwell, David L. Dunn, Michelangelo Flores, Mike Gassaway, Brett Hill, Mark Holliway, Christopher Holt, Nicole Holt, David Houston, David Howard, Diane Howard, Helen Myslinski Ingham, Marc Isaacs, Max W. Jenkins, Andrew Kantowski, Floyd Lloyd, Gabriel Luna, Adam Maurer, James Leonardo Mayberry, Rachel McDaniel, Chad McMinn, Jake Messinger, Amy L. Mitchell, Travis Mitchell, Michael Muenchow Rivera, Joe Nelson, Earl Nottingham, Randall 'Red' Payne, Vincent James Prendergast, Dean Reading, Landon Reid, Mike Rembis, Silver Renee, Darren Scharf, Jordan Strassner, Britten Thacker, Leo Trombetta, Hailey Tuck, Debbi Tucker, Allison Wood.

Recommended reading:

Emergence: Labeled Autistic

By Temple Grandin & Margaret Scariano.

Published by Grand Central Publishing.

First published 1986.

ASIN: B00C6OJJLE

Description:

Childhood memories -- Early school days -- New worries -- Forgettable days at junior high -- Boarding school -- The door -- The magical device -- Through the little door -- Graduate school and the glass door barrier -- Through the sliding glass door -- Working -- coping -- surviving -- Autistics and the real world.

A true story that is both uniquely moving and exceptionally inspiring, Emergence is the first-hand account of a courageous autistic woman who beat the odds and cured herself. As a child, Temple Grandin was forced to leave her "normal" school and enroll in a school for autistic children. This searingly honest account captures the isolation and fears suffered by autistics and their families and the quiet strength of one woman who insisted on a miracle.

Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism

By Temple Grandin.

Foreword by Oliver Sacks.

Expanded and Illustrated edition.

Published by Vintage.

First published 1995.

ISBN-10: 0307275655

ISBN-13: 9780307275653

Description:

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a gifted animal scientist who has designed one third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the United States. She also lectures widely on autism because she is autistic, a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences the world in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us. In this unprecedented book, Grandin writes from the dual perspectives of a scientist and an autistic person. She tells us how she managed to breach the boundaries of autism to function in the outside world. What emerges is the document of an extraordinary human being, one who gracefully bridges the gulf between her condition and our own while shedding light on our common identity.

On this day in the Star Trek universe:

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1988 & 1993):

Star Trek: Voyager (1995)

Star Trek: Enterprise (2002)

Star Trek: Picard (2020)

The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek (2022)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 1. Episode 15.

Episode entitled: Too Short A Season.

Released February 6, 1988.

Directed by Rob Bowman.

Written by Michael Michaelian, D.C. Fontana, Johnny Dawkins, Sandy Fries.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by George Romanis.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Denise Crosby, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Clayton Rohner, Marsha Hunt, Michael Pataki, James G. Becker, Darrell Burris, Dexter Clay, Jeffrey Deacon, Susan Duchow, Shana Golden, Nora Leonhardt, Larry Robb, Richard Sarstedt, Guy Vardaman.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 6. Episode 14.

Episode entitled: Face of the Enemy.

Released February 6, 1993.

Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont.

Written by Naren Shankar, René Echevarria, Brannon Braga.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Don Davis.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Scott MacDonald, Carolyn Seymour, Barry Lynch, Robertson Dean, Dennis Cockrum, Pamela Winslow Kashani, Majel Barrett, Joe Baumann, Cameron, Kerry Hoyt, Gary Hunter, Arvo Katajisto, Gina Saadi, Sissy Sessions, John Alex Tampoya, Guy Vardaman.

Star Trek: Voyager

Season 1. Episode 4.

Episode entitled: Phage.

Released February 6, 1995.

Directed by Winrich Kolbe.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor.

Written by Skye Dent, Brannon Braga, Timothy DeHaas, Kenneth Biller.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Dennis McCarthy.

Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Biggs-Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Cully Fredricksen, Stephen Rappaport, Martha Hackett, Majel Barrett, Derek Anthony, Jasmin Bischoff, Julie Jiang, Coleman McClary, Louis Ortiz, Garret Sato, John Alex Tampoya.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Season 1. Episode 15.

Episode entitled: Shadows of P’Jem.

Released February 6, 2002.

Directed by Michael/Mike Vejar.

Written by Michael/Mike Sussman, Phyllis Strong, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Stephen Beck, André Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, André Bormanis.

Created by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Opening theme song: Faith of the Heart, performed by Russell Watson.

Closing theme: Archer's Theme, by Dennis McCarthy.

Music by Paul Baillargeon.

Cast: Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, Connor Trinneer, Jeffrey Combs, Gregory Itzin, Steven Dennis, Vaughn Armstrong, Gary Graham, Barbara Tarbuck, Jeff Kober, Steve Blalock, Jane Bordeaux, Solomon Burke Jr., Amy Kate Connolly, Lindley Gardner, Jack Guzman, Dieter Horneman, Aldric A. Horton, Tom Morga, Bobby Pappas, Cynthia Uhrich, Mark Watson, Gary Weeks.

Star Trek: Picard

Season 1. Episode 3.

Episode entitled: The End Is the Beginning.

Released February 6, 2020.

Directed by Hanelle M. Culpepper.

Created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, Alex Kurtzman.

Written by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, James Duff, Nick Zayas.

Based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jeff Russo.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Harry Treadaway, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Jonathan Del Arco, Peyton List, Jamie McShane, Tamlyn Tomita, Rebecca Wisocky, Orla Brady, Sumalee Montano, Graham Shiels, Antonio David Lyons.

The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek

Season 1. Episode 6.

Episode entitled: Queue for Q.

Released February 6, 2022.

Directed by Brian Volk-Weiss.

Visual Effects and animation by Jeremy Samples.

Cast: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Brooke Breton, Denise Crosby, Marc Cushman, John de Lancie, Lolita Fatjo, D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, David Livingston, Gates McFadden, Ronald D. Moore, Larry Nemecek, Denise Okuda, Michael Okuda, Lucie Salhany, Brent Spiner, Rick Sternbach, Eric A. Stillwell, Wil Wheaton.

On this day in movie history - Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981 movie & novel):

Fort Apache, The Bronx

directed by Daniel Petrie,

written by Heywood Gould,

was released in the United States on February 6, 1981.

Music by Jonathan Tunick.

Cast: Paul Newman, Ed Asner, Ken Wahl, Danny Aiello, Rachel Ticotin, Pam Grier, Kathleen Beller, Tito Goya, Miguel Piñero, Jaime Tirelli, Clifford David, Sully Boyar, Dominic Chianese, Michael Higgins, Paul Gleason, Randy Jurgensen, Gilbert Lewis, Cleavant Derricks, Reynaldo Medina, Norman Matlock.

Recommended reading:

Fort Apache, the Bronx

By Heywood Gould.

Published 1982.
Published by Grand Central Pub.
ISBN-10: 044695618X
ISBN-13: 978-0446956185

Description:

They were only rookies …

Two green cops blown away on the killer walkways of New York. Fort Apache, The Bronx … the 41st Precinct where nobody ever gets a second chance, and most don’t even have a first. Now the Force is on the prowl under a tough new captain who is determined to shape up this last command for losers where life is mean and death is often murder and where the law of the jungle is the only law.

On this day in television history - Space 1999 (1977):

Space 1999

Season 2. Episode 20.

Episode entitled: The Seance Spectre.

Released February 6, 1977.

Directed by Peter Medak.

Written by Donald James.

Series created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson.

Music by Derek Wadsworth.

Cast: Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell, Tony Anholt, Nick Tate, Zienia Merton, Ken Hutchison, Carolyn Seymour, Nigel Pegram, James Snell, Gyearbuor Asante, Jenny Cresswell, Harry Fielder, Quentin Pierre, Robert Reeves, Claire Russell, Terry Walsh, Paul Weston.

On this day in television history - M Squad (1959):

M Squad

Season 2. Episode 19.
Episode entitled: The Last Act.
Released February 6, 1959.
Directed by David Lowell Rich.
Written by B.X. Sanborn and Don Sanford.
Music by Lyn Murray.

Cast:

Lee Marvin, Paul Newlan, Donald Buka, Elaine Edwards, Jim Bannon, Stewart Bradley, Robert Gibbons, Bill Baucom.

On this day in movie history - The Brasher Doubloon (1947 movie & novel):

The Brasher Doubloon

directed by John Brahm,

written by Leonard Praskins and Dorothy Bennett,

based on the novel The High Window by Raymond Chandler,

released in the United States on February 6, 1947.

Music by David Buttolph.

Cast: George Montgomery, Nancy Guild, Conrad Janis, Roy Roberts, Fritz Kortner, Florence Bates, Marvin Miller, Reed Hadley.

Recommended reading:

Recommended reading:

The High Window

By Raymond Chandler.

Filmed as The Brasher Doubloon (1947), directed by John Brahm.

Published by Penguin.

First published 1942.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0241980658

ISBN-13: 978-0241980651

Description:

Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe’s on a case: his client, a dried-up husk of a woman, wants him to recover a rare gold coin called a Brasher Doubloon, missing from her late husband’s collection. That’s the simple part. It becomes more complicated when Marlowe finds that everyone who handles the coin suffers a run of very bad luck: they always end up dead. That’s also unlucky for a private investigator, because leaving a trail of corpses around LA puts cops’ noses seriously out of joint. If Marlowe doesn’t wrap this one up fast, he’s going to end up either in jail or in a wooden box in the ground...

Born on this day – Renée French:

Renée French

Actress

Production manager

February 6, 1966 – May 19, 2020

Credits:

Coffee and Cigarettes (2003); Nowhere Fast (1995); Malcolm X (1992); Fishing with John (1991).

Born on this day – Richard J. Anobile:

Richard J. Anobile

Writer

Producer

February 6, 1947 – February 10, 2023

Credits:

Books:

A Flask of Fields: Verbal and Visual Gems from the Films of W.C. Fields (1972); Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1974); Alien: Movie Novel (1979); Casablanca (1974); Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka Starring Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas (1975); Hooray For Captain Spaulding (1974); James Whale's Frankenstein (The Film Classics Library) (1974); Play It Again, Sam: A Romantic Comedy in Three Acts (1969); Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Photostory (1982); Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Photostory (1980); The Maltese Falcon [Picador Film Classics Library] (1974); The Marx Bros. Scrapbook (1973); The Official Rocky Horror picture show movie novel (1980); Who's on First? Verbal and Visual Gems from the Films of Abbott & Costello (1972); Why a Duck? (1971).

Movies and television:

1-800-Missing (2003–2006); 1st & Ten (1988–1990); A Family Lost (2007); A Friend of the Family (2005); A Husband, a Wife and a Lover (1996); Aaron Stone (2010); Acapulco H.E.A.T. (1998); Adventure Inc. (2002); Aladdin (1990); Atomic Twister (2002); Before You Say 'I Do' (2009); Blackout (2001); Brave New Girl (2004); Captive Heart: The James Mink Story (1996); Catwalk (1992–1995); Cinema and Sanctuary (2019); Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber (2005); Cool Money (2005); Cypher (2002); Fellow Travelers (2023); Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story (2005); Flashpoint (2011–2012); Going for Broke (2003); High Tide (1994 / 1995); Holiday Switch (2007); Liberace: Behind the Music (1988); Living with the Dead (2002); Lucky Christmas (2011); Matters of Life & Dating (2007); Murder at the Presidio (2005); Murdoch Mysteries (2011); My Babysitter's a Vampire (2011–2012); Never Cry Werewolf (2008); On Strike for Christmas (2010); On Thin Ice (2003); Picture Claire (2001); Plague City: SARS in Toronto (2005); Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw (1988); Sex/Life (2021); Smoke Screen (2010); Stunt Dawgs (1992); Submerged (2001); Sweet Bird of Youth (1989); The Big Door Prize (2023); The Bridge (2010); The Gathering (2007); The Hoop Life (1999–2000); The House Next Door (2006); The Kings of Napa (2022); The Listener (2011); The Strain (2014–2017); Til Death Do Us Part (2007); Unnatural History (2010); X Company (2015–2017).