Recommended reading - Darkness Before Dawn (2004)

Darkness Before Dawn

By Ingrid Pitt.

Paperback.
Published 2004.
Published by Midnight Marquee Press.
ISBN 13: 9781887664547
ISBN 10: 1887664548
ASIN: 1887664548

Description:

At the age of five, Ingrid Pitt found herself in a concentration camp. Ingrid and her mother escaped from the guards while on a forced march and presented themselves to the partisans, unsure if they would kill them. They spent the rest of the war in the forests. Ingrid fell in love for the first time and watched in despair as British bombers flew overhead. She still cannot see the vapor trials of planes without being transported back to her childhood vigil. After the war Ingrid came to London, where she developed a career as a Hammer House of Horror movie star, but, as she proudly says, `I was always the biter, never the bitten!' She also acted in mainstream films, such as WHERE EAGLES DARE. She had a child by her first marriage and a grand passion which lead to her marrying a racing driver. They lived in Argentina for a while and were good friends of President Peron and Isabelits Peron. Ingrid even spent an evening with the embalmed body of Eva Peron. Written with great passion and warmth, this is a rare childhood memoir and the story of Hammer`s most glamorous actress. Above all, this is a story of a survivor.

Recommended reading - Dances with Wolves (1988):

Dances with Wolves

By Michael Blake.

Paperback.

First published 1988.

Published by Ballantine Books.

ISBN 13: 9780449000755

ISBN 10: 0449000753

ASIN: 0449000753

Description:

Ordered to hold an abandoned army post, John Dunbar found himself alone, beyond the edge of civilization. Thievery and survival soon forced him into the Indian camp, where he began a dangerous adventure that changed his life forever.

Relive the adventure and beauty of the incredible movie, DANCES WITH WOLVES. Set in 1863, the novel follows Lieutenant John Dunbar on a magical journey from the ravages of the Civil War to the far reaches of the imperiled American frontier, a frontier he naively wants to see "before it is gone". His posting to a desolate and deserted outpost is the springboard for contact with the lords of the southern plains... the Comanche. Though he does not speak their language, has no know-ledge of their customs, and is considered a trespasser, Lieutenant Dunbar finds himself intrigued by the exotic and alien culture of the buffalo-hunting people of the plains. A simple desire to know more about his wild neighbors ignites a great adventure of transformation that culminates with the emergence of a different kind of man... a man called Dances With Wolves.

Recommended reading - The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins (1972):

The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins

By John Pearson.

Filmed as Legend (2015), directed and written by Brian Helgeland.

Paperback.

Published by William Collins.

First published 1972.

ISBN 13: 9780008150273

ISBN 10: 0008150273

ASIN: 0008150273

Description:

The classic, bestselling account of the infamous Kray twins, now a major film, starring Tom Hardy.

Reggie and Ronnie Kray ruled London’s gangland during the 60s with a ruthlessness and viciousness that shocks even now. Building an empire of organized crime that has never been matched, the brothers swindled, extorted and terrorized – while enjoying a glittering celebrity status at the heart of the swinging 60s scene, until their downfall and imprisonment for life.

Recommended reading - The Lady in Cement (1961):

The Lady in Cement

By Marvin H. Albert.

Also published under the pseudonym Anthony Rome.

ASIN: B000MOWZWA

Published by Pocket Books Inc.

1st edition.

Published 1961.

Paperback.

Description:

The private-eye business was slow, so Anthony Rome when skin-diving. But instead of treasure he found a woman's naked body – her feet embedded in a block of cement! She had last been seen alive at a ritzy party given by wealthy heiress Gretchen Forrest. Also at the party had been bigtime tough Al Mungo, who claimed he'd quit the rackets. Anthony Rome started asking questions. And one morning he woke up swollen, bruised and beaten. He hadn't learned much – except that Mungo hadn't lost his heavy touch, and that somewhere along the line, Mungo had picked up a very special interest in lovely Gretchen Forrest!

Recommended reading – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962):

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

By Ken Kesey.

Paperback.

First published 1962.

Published by Picador.

ISBN 13: 9780774033442

ISBN 10: 0774033444

ASIN: 0774033444

Description:

An international bestseller and the basis for the hugely successful film, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is one of the defining works of the 1960s.

In this classic novel, Ken Kesey’s hero is Randle Patrick McMurphy, a boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who swaggers into the world of a mental hospital and takes over. A lusty, life-affirming fighter, McMurphy rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched. He promotes gambling in the ward, smuggles in wine and women, and openly defies the rules at every turn. But this defiance, which starts as a sport, soon develops into a grim struggle, an all-out war between two relentless opponents: Nurse Ratched, backed by the full power of authority, and McMurphy, who has only his own indomitable will. What happens when Nurse Ratched uses her ultimate weapon against McMurphy provides the story’s shocking climax.

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy – the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.

“BRILLIANT!” – Time.

Recommended reading - In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash (1966):

In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

By Jean Shepherd.

Filmed as A Christmas Story (1983), directed by Bob Clark.

Published by Broadway Books.

Published 1966.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0385021747

ISBN-13: 978-0385021746

Description:

A collection of humorous and nostalgic Americana stories – the beloved, bestselling classic that inspired the movie A Christmas Story.

Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant – and utterly hilarious – works of comic art. In God We All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations.

In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage “You can never go back.” Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth.

A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.

“Shepherd has a fine eye for absurdity, for the madness and idiocy in all of us.” – Best Sellers.

Recommended reading - The Black Path of Fear by Cornell Woolrich (1944):

The Black Path of Fear

By Cornell Woolrich.

Filmed as The Chase (1946), directed by Arthur Ripley.

ASIN: B000TZ32I8

Published by Ace.

Published 1944.

Mass Market Paperback.

Description:

The Black Path of Fear (1944) tells of a man who runs away to Havana with an American gangster's wife, followed by the vengeful husband, who kills the woman and frames her lover, leaving him a stranger in a strange land, menaced on all sides and fighting for his life.

“A fiendishly ingenious plot … thrilling episodes.” – New York Times.

Recommended reading - 4 books on Close Encounters of the Third Kind:

4 books on Close Encounters of the Third Kind:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

By Steven Spielberg.

Published 1978.

ISBN-10: 0440114330

ISBN-13: 978-0722180808

Back cover description:

Watch the skies …

Close Encounter of the First Kind:

Sighting of an Unidentified Object.

Close Encounter of the Second Kind:

Physical evidence after UFO sighting.

Close Encounter of the Third Kind:

Actual contact between human observers and UFO occupants.

All over the world, millions of reliable witnesses – including respected scientists – have been reporting UFO sightings for the past thirty years. Experts everywhere concede the overwhelming probability of intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe. From these indisputable facts, Steven Spielberg, brilliant young director of Jaws, has created the most beautiful, frightening and significant motion picture adventure of all time.

----------

Close Encounters of the Third Kind Fotonovel

By Steven Spielberg.

Published 1978.

ISBN-10: 0440109795

ISBN-13: 978-0440109792

Back cover description:

Close Encounter of the First Kind:

Sighting of a UFO.

Close Encounter of the Second Kind:

Physical evidence.

Close Encounter of the Third Kind:

Contact.

Mankind is off on the greatest adventure in the history of our planet.

And nothing will ever be the same.

For now there is no denying the inescapable conclusion:

We are not alone.

----------

Close Encounters of the Third Kind Diary

By Bob Balaban.

Published 1978.

ISBN-10: 0931550009

ISBN-13: 978-0931550003

Back cover description:

“I loved it. This is a book I would like to have written myself. I could kick myself for not keeping my own diary.” – Richard Dreyfuss.

Bob Balaban plays Francois Truffaut’s interpreter in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Since all journalists and writers were barred during the shooting of the movie, his diary is the only on the spot account of both the making of the movie and, more importantly, the off-screen lives of the people involved in this fantastic project.

----------

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Ultimate Visual History

By Michael Klastorin.

Published 2017.

ISBN-10: 0062692992

ISBN-13: 978-0062692993

Back cover description:

Celebrate the fortieth anniversary of director Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind with this fully authorized behind-the-scenes book exploring the creation, production, and legacy of this iconic film.

Created in conjunction with Sony Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Visual History details the complete creative journey behind the making of the film and examines its cultural impact.

Featuring rare and never-before-seen imagery from the archives, the book brings together a stunning collection of on-set photography, concept art, storyboards, and more to create a complete visual narrative of the film’s journey to the big screen. It also features a wealth of insightful commentary from the film’s key contributors, including exclusive new interviews with director Steven Spielberg, star Richard Dreyfuss, and composer John Williams.

The book also features a wealth of special inserts and interactive elements, including script pages featuring notes from Spielberg, concept sketches of the film’s UFOs and aliens, and much, much more.

Comprehensive, compelling, and filled with unseen treasures, Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Ultimate Visual History is a fitting tribute to an unforgettable film.

Recommended reading - American Short Fiction (2011):

American Short Fiction

Edited by Jill Meyers.

Short story anthology.

Paperback.

First published FALL 2011.

Vol. 14. Issue 53.

Published by American Short Fiction, Inc.

Front cover photograph: Roberta Bayley, Deborah Harry Chris Stein New York Subway 1976.

Contents: Editors Note. Signs, by Bess Winter; The Duck of Your Life, by Katherine Valentine Jaeger; Crook, by Amanda Goldblatt; Pilgrim Life, by Taylor Antrim; Rodgers and Hart, by Sam Allingham; Signifier, by Susan Steinberg; Paradeability, by Bret Anthony Johnston; Contributors.

Recommended reading - The Executioners by John D. MacDonald (1957):

The Executioners

By John D. MacDonald.

Filmed as:

Cape Fear (1962), directed by J. Lee Thompson,

Cape Fear (1991), directed by Martin Scorsese.

Mass Market Paperback.

First published 1957.

Published by Magnum Books.

ISBN 13: 9780417043708

ISBN 10: 0417043708

ASIN: 0417043708

Description:

For 14 years Max Cady had sworn vengeance against the man who convicted him, becoming fired by an insane obsession for revenge. Released from his years of hard Labour he made his plans for Sam Bowden's slow death.

Recommended reading - The Art of Robert E. McGinnis (2014):

The Art of Robert E. McGinnis

By Robert E. McGinnis and Art Scott.

Published by Titan Books.

Illustrated edition.

Published 2014.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1781162174

ISBN-13: 978-1781162170

Description:

A Modern Master.

Robert E. McGinnis began his career in 1947 as a cartoonist, and produced his first cover illustrations for 1956 issues of the magazines True Detective and Master Detective. Then in 1958, he painted his first paperback book cover, and from that day forward his work was in demand.

The emergence of the “McGinnis Woman” – long-legged, intelligent, alluring, and enigmatic – established him as the go-to artist for detective novels. His work appeared on Mike Shayne titles and the Perry Mason series, and he produced 100 paintings for the Carter Brown adventures. Yet McGinnis became famous for his work in other genres as well: espionage, romance, historicals, gothics, and Westerns.

McGinnis’s first major magazine assignments were for The Saturday Evening Post, and his work has graced the pages of Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, Good Housekeeping, Guideposts, and others. McGinnis women frequently cropped up in the men’s magazines of the ’60s and ’70s.

His first movie poster was for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, with an iconic rendering of Audrey Hepburn. Almost instantly, his poster artwork could be seen everywhere – in theaters, on billboards, in newspapers, and even on soundtrack albums. His work for Hollywood became a who’s-who, with posters for James Bond, The Odd Couple, Woody Allen, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and many more.

Some of his most ambitious works have been his gallery paintings, often depicting stunning American landscapes, vast Western vistas, and of course, beautiful women. The Art of Robert E. McGinnis collection reveals the full scope and beauty of the work of a true American master – one whose legacy continues today.

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels (1986):

The Mammoth Book of Short Crime Novels

Edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg.

Published 1986.
Published by Robinson Publishing.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 0948164212
ISBN-13: 978-0948164217

Description:

Complete and Unabridged.

12 Short Crime Novels by the masters of suspense:

The Lawless Lady, by Leslie Charteris.
Simon Templar, alias the Saint, pits his skills against an ingenious group of thieves.

Introducing Susan Dare, by Mignon Eberhart.
Meet detective Susan Dare in her first appearance, solving the murder of a fellow houseguest.

Nightmare, by Cornell Woolrich.
A murder mystery full of psychological terror in the tradition of Poe.

Death’s Eye View, by John D. MacDonald.
A chilling tale of attempted murder off the Florida coast.

The Murder Machine, by Hugh Pentecost.
Sabotage and murder set the scene at a quarry in rural Pennsylvania.

Death Rides a Boxcar, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Lost purses, bribery, sabotage and train yards at midnight contribute to a thrilling tale of espionage.

The Bearded Lady, by Ross MacDonald.
Private eye Lew Archer sets out to solve the theft of a painting and gets involved in a double murder.

Murder Set to Music, by Fredric Brown.
Would you buy a used car from this man. Salesman and musician – but is that all he is?

The Zero Clue, by Rex Stout.
The famous Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, help a stumped New York police department solve a murder.

Storm, by Ed McBain.
A ski weekend in New England turns into a double murder for 87th Precinct Detective Cotton Hawes.

Don’t Look Now, by Daphne Du Maurier.
A classic tale of psychic events in Venice.

Booktaker, by Bill Pronzini.
Meet the most inventive thief in San Francisco – can you work out how he does it?

Recommended reading - Duel (1971):

Duel

By Richard Matheson.

Introduction by Ray Bradbury.

Publisher by Tor Books.

Published 1971.

Paperback.

ISBN 13: 9780312878269

ISBN 10: 0312878265

ASIN: B00A2M37ZG

Description:

“Richard Matheson is worth our time, attention, and great affection.” – from the Appreciation by Ray Bradbury.

The late Richard Matheson's classic tale of highway terror.

He was heading west, en route to San Francisco. It was Thursday and unseasonably hot for April. He had his suitcoat off, his tie removed and shirt collar opened, his sleeve cuffs folded back. There was sunlight on his left arm and on part of his lap. He could feel the heat of it through his dark trousers as he drove along the two-lane highway. For the past twenty minutes, he had not seen another vehicle going in either direction.

Then he saw the truck ...

Remember that murderous semi chasing Dennis Weaver down a lonely stretch of desert highway?

Duel, Steven Spielberg's acclaimed first film, was adapted by Richard Matheson from his unforgettable story of the same name.

However, "Duel" is only one of the classic suspense tales in this outstanding collection of stories by the Grand Master of Horror. It also contains Matheson's legendary first story, "Born of Man and Woman," as well as several stunning shockers that inspired memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone, including "Little Girl Lost," "Steel," and "Third from the Sun."

Like Matheson's previous collection, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, Duel is an indispensable treasure trove of terror from the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.

Recommended reading - Heat (1985):

Heat

By William Goldman.

Published 1985.

Published by Grand Central Pub.

First Edition.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0446512753

ISBN-13: 9780446512756

Description:

Las Vegas security man Nick Escalante, an ex-Marine, chances on to a bizarre kidnapping threat and races into a night-time world of false identities, vicious grievances, and gruesome encounters.

Author of Marathon Man.

“Satisfying … Mr. Goldman is a master storyteller and has done a master’s trick.” – New York Times Book Review.

“Fast-paced action and adventure … losers and winners and God-fearing sinners who turn an exciting story into an exceptional novel.” – Philadelphia Inquirer.

Recommended reading - The Blue Knight (1972):

The Blue Knight

By Joseph Wambaugh.

First published 1972.

Published by Grand Central Publishing.

Mass Market Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0446509191

ISBN-13: 978-0446509190

Description:

Ex-cop turned #1 New York Times bestselling writer Joseph Wambaugh forged a new kind of literature with his great early police procedurals. Gritty, luminous, and ultimately stunning, this novel is Wambaugh at his best – a tale of a street cop on the hardest beat of his life.

The Blue Knight.

Twenty and two. Those are the numbers turning in the mind of William "Bumper" Morgan: twenty years on the job, two days before he "pulls the pin" and walks away from it forever. But on the gritty streets of L.A., people look at Bumper like some kind of knight in armor – they've plied him with come-ons, hot tips, and the hard respect a man can't earn anywhere else. Now, with a new job and a good woman waiting for him, a kinky thief terrorizing L.A.'s choice hotels, and a tragedy looming, Bumper Morgan is about to face the only thing that can scare him: the demons that he's been hiding behind his bright and shiny badge...

“Marvelous … realistic, frightening, touching in its humanity. – Detroit Free Press.

“An extraordinary piece of craftsmanship.” – Los Angeles Times.

Recommended reading - Lenny: A Play, Based on the Life and Words of Lenny Bruce (1971):

Lenny: A Play, Based on the Life and Words of Lenny Bruce

By Julian Barry.

Published 1971.
Mass Market Paperback.
Published by Grove Press.
ISBN 13: 9780394177625
ISBN 10: 0394177622
ASIN: 0394177622

Recommended reading - Miami Mayhem (1960):

Miami Mayhem

By Marvin Albert.

Filmed as Tony Rome (1967), directed by Gordon Douglas.

Published 1960.

Published by Fawcett.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0449133869

ISBN-13: 978-0449133866

Description:

Miami. The city.

Rome. The man.

He’s a hard-living, hard-loving private detective, who’s been muscling through Miami’s vice longer than any punk in a baggy suit. He gets his fill of offers from women. But the brand of cruising he prefers is aboard his luxury power boat, the Straight Pass. The roads of pleasure and danger are many. But all the roads lead to Rome….

Filmed as "Tony Rome" in 1967. Then released as "Tony Rome"(1967) by the author based on the film script. It seemed a routine little job.... Just return a high-flying heiress to her worried papa. But some of a man's worst messes start out as routine little jobs. This one really hits the pedal, with a body on the floor of Tony's office, the head smashed by a bullet. The bait to catch the filler: a daisy-shaped, gold-and-diamond pin that couldn't bring enough to be worth anybody's trouble. Or worth murdering for...

Recommended reading - 3 books by Carl Sagan:

3 books by Carl Sagan.

Cosmos

Published 1980.

ISBN-10: 9780345539434

ISBN-13: 978-0345539434

Description:

With a new Foreword by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

This visually stunning book with over 250 full-color illustrations, many of them never before published, is based on Carl Sagan’s thirteen-part television series. Told with Sagan’s remarkable ability to make scientific ideas both comprehensible and exciting, Cosmos is about science in its broadest human context, how science and civilization grew up together.

The book also explores spacecraft missions of discovery of the nearby planets, the research in the Library of ancient Alexandria, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the origin of life, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies and the origins of matter, suns and worlds.

Sagan retraces the fifteen billion years of cos-mic evolution that have transformed matter into life and consciousness, enabling the Cosmos to wonder about itself. He considers the latest findings on life elsewhere and how we might communicate with the beings of other worlds.

Cosmos is the story of our long journey of discovery and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science, including Democritus, Hypatia, Kepler, Newton, Huy-gens, Champollion, Lowell and Humason.

Sagan looks at our planet from an extra-terrestrial vantage point and sees a blue jewel-like world, inhabited by a lifeform that is just beginning to discover its own unity and to venture into the vast ocean of space.

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Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Published 1994.

ISBN-10: 0345376595

ISBN-13: 978-0345376596

Description:

In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time.

Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier—space. In Pale Blue Dot, Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race.

----------

Contact

Published 1985.

A science-fiction novel.

ISBN-10: 0671004107

ISBN-13: 978-0671004101

Description:

In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history.

Who – or what – is out there?

In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe.

In Contact, he predicts its future – and our own.

Recommended reading - Doctor Sleep (2013):

Doctor Sleep

By Stephen King.

Published by Scribner.

First Edition.

Published 2013.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1476727651

ISBN-13: 978-1476727653

Description:

“I liked you, honeybear. That’s why I came to warn you. Stay away from the woman in the hat.”

Years ago, the haunting of the Overlook Hotel nearly broke young Dan Torrance’s sanity, as his paranormal gift known as “the shining” opened a door straight into hell. And even though Dan is all grown up, the ghosts of the Overlook – and his father’s legacy of alcoholism and violence – kept him drifting aimlessly for most of his life. Now, Dan has finally found some order in the chaos by working in a local hospice, earning the nickname “Doctor Sleep” by secretly using his special abilities to comfort the dying and prepare them for the afterlife. But when he unexpectedly meets twelve-year-old Abra Stone – who possesses an even more powerful manifestation of the shining – the two find their lives in sudden jeopardy at the hands of the ageless and murderous nomadic tribe known as the True Knot, reigniting Dan’s own demons and summoning him to battle for this young girl’s soul and survival...

“[A] vivid frightscape … terrifying.” – The New York Times.

“[King’s] cast of characters is as memorable as any [he] has produced…. Satisfying at every level.” – Kirkus Reviews.

“Terrific … [King’s] power lies in narrative drive and macabre.” – Chicago Tribune.