KILLING TIME by Jack Giles

KILLING TIME by Jack Giles is now available on Kindle at Amazon and other e-readers and downloads.


This is a new departure for me - embracing the world of digital publishing. So my thanks go to Endeavour Press and Amy Durant for making it happen.


This is an old book with a new title and one that, I think, has to be one of the best. Way back it was reviewed by Steve Myall of the Western Fiction Review blog and later found a discussion of 'The Fourth Horseman' on a horror site.


There is a strange aspect to this one as it is thirty years since I wrote my first western - emphasis on wrote - but it was not published until 1984. At the time I was living 200 yards or thereabouts from where I am living now. The offer to publish came in 2013 and the publication has happened in 2014. History does repeat and simply because of that it has awoken something that may have lain deeper.


Let's just say that the during the gap between 'Lawmen' and this new e-book I have just been 'KILLING TIME'.

MAN OF STEEL (2013)

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's just another Superman.


I've never been much of a fan of Superman - in fact of all the DC comic creations that I enjoyed (as a kid) really it was only Batman.
Still I did watch the old George Reeve reach for the sky and marvelled at the mystery of Clark Kent's clothes. I was pretty sure that if I stopped off to make a phone call and found a bunch of clothes in the phone booth I would check the pockets for a wallet or something that would identify the owner. It wouldn't take a Lois Lane to put two and two together long before Superman took her up for a quick flight.


Filmwise along came three Superman movies with Christopher Reeve of which I found the second one the best of the lot - but not enough to add to my DVD collection. As for the fourth film the less said the better.


Smallville still didn't do it for me or the other Superman series.


So why should I sit down and write a few thoughts on the new 'Man Of Steel' if I am so anti-Superman?  Simple, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Writer David S Goyer and director Zack Snyder were for the most part responsible for that.


The opening scenes from the first Superman movie with Russell Crowe in the Marlon Brando role and Kevin Costner turning up as Clark's adoptive dad harked at the original movie but then General Zod turned up - played by Michael Shannon - which was a good thing because I thought that this was going to be a re-tread of the first two movies. Terence Stamp dominated Superman 2 in the General Zod role but Shannon equalled - possibly surpassed that.
The peaceloving 'twee' Superman of the past was swept aside by Henry Cavill's performance. Here was a real superhero who would leave no stone unturned in his quest to fight the bad guys. Metropolis was destroyed in the process but Superman still saved the day.


Maybe, this is a Superman to fit the expectations of a modern audience. If so, then he has my attention.


Next up Superman will be joined by Batman and Wonder Woman - sounds like the beginnings of the Justice League Of America.
If the team behind this Man Of Steel movie have the run of the next movie then it could be another interesting adventure.

PEAKY BLINDERS and RIPPER STREET: A Different View

First off there seems nothing to link these BBC productions except that Ripper Street and Peaky Blinders are period pieces.
Peaky Blinders is set during 1919 in the industrial district of Birmingham known as Small Heath. The Shelby family are an organised gang of illegal bookmakers who deal with the black market and protection. A supply of guns goes missing which is an open invitation for the British Government, Communist Revoluntionaries and the I.R.A. to take an interest in.
Most of the Shelby gang former soldiers from a Pals Regiment of the First World War.

On the other side is Ripper Street - set in the wake of the Jack The Ripper murders - here Inspector Edmund Reid is put in charge of the notorious H Division with the brief to take control of Whitechapel in London's East End.

On the surface both are a touch above the average fare dished up by the Beeb. At first, with Peaky Blinders I thought of a British take on the likes of 'The Godfather' and the early part of 'Once Upon A Time In America'. That was until the final showdown......

This, in turn, made me think about Ripper Street.

The pub in Peaky Blinders looked more like a wild west saloon.
Ripper Street's Reid and his two deputies....not forgetting the brothel madam with a heart of stone.
Fortunately, I am not the only one to see the western genre influences at work.

A second series of Peaky Blinders is on the way.....but a third series of Ripper Street hangs in the balance. Public opinion demands more but since when has the BBC considered what the licence payer thinks?

Whatever no one can dispute that Ripper Street's creator Richard Warlow and Peaky Blinders' Steven Knight have found a winning formula.

WESTERN MAGAZINE

'Man's love affair with the West mirrors his love of life itself.'
The opening words written by editor Dennis Winston marked the first edition of the Western Magazine in October, 1980.

The magazine was the brainchild of Dave Whitehead and Mike Stotter - fans of the western from the moment that they were born. Together they had played and made western home movies - they lived the dream in the heart of London's East End.

Between them they had created the George G. Gilman Appreciation Society and knew all the group of writers that were known as the Piccadilly Cowboys. Anyone who has read any of those westerns will know that this pair have turned up as bad guys, inept good guys - you name it they have been there.

Angus Wilson (aka William S Brady amongst many) suggested that Dave and Mike pitch their idea for a magazine to some of the leading publishers. IPC Magazines liked the idea and the magazine became reality.

The front cover of issue 1 shows a photograph of three Texas Rangers against a David McAllister painting.
Over four issues there were new short stories featuring Edge, Adam Steele, Herne The Hunter, Morgan Kane, McAllister, Breed, Bodie The Stalker, Hart The Regulator, and the return of Sudden together with new stories from Louis L'Amour, Will Henry and J. T .Edson.
Articles covered every aspect of the west from the harsh life experienced by 'The Wives' to incidents that involved the likes of Commodore Perry Owens, Tom Horn and many others. The life and times of the American Indians were studied.
No subject was left out as reviews of books, movies and music were reviewed alongside articles about how true life characters like Wild Bill Hickock and Jesse James have been portrayed in movies.

In the back page of Issue 1 there is an interesting article about Ralph Fisher, a rodeo clown who used buzzards to distract bulls away from fallen cowboys. The picture alongside shows Ralph with a buzzard sitting on his head - inspiration for Johnny Depp's Tonto?

Going through the adverts shows how deep we Brits were in to Westerns - guns, hats, gunbelts - all the paraphernalia are there. £16 would buy you a Derringer - but £139 for a Winchester. Nowadays these ads along with the cigarettes would be banned.

Sadly, and despite great support the magazine lasted just four issues.

As for the instigators both David Whitehead and Mike Stotter went on to become western writers both under their own name and a few others.
Even as I write Dave Whitehead has ventured into the world of publishing. Piccadilly Publishing is bringing back the likes of Herne The Hunter, Crow and Bodie alongside new western novels that includes the Iron Eyes series by Rory Black.

Dennis Winston got that opening to his first editorial right - to love the West is to love life.

XBOX ONE vs PS4: Part 2: Decision Time

Well, I think I have read everything there is to on the subject of the Xbox One and the PS4. And there has been a rethink by Microsoft and the guy in charge has wandered off to pastures new. Something that should not really unbalance the argument.

The real issue, when it comes down to it, is what a player wants from a console. After all it is the player who holds the controls (in more ways than one) in their hands.
So I write as a gamer and from that point of view.

As a gamer I want something where I can play solo or multiplayer as I choose. What I don't want is a computer telling me who I should play with etc. That is my number one criteria - always has been. Though the add on of an iPlayer and the ability to play Blu-Ray discs is an added bonus.

Another thing that I don't like is that while Microsoft say that the Xbox 360 will not be abandoned Turn 10 will be structuring 'Forza 5' for the Xbox One only. Activision/Treyarch, on the other hand tell the gamer that new maps for 'Call Of Duty: Ghosts' will be prioritised for the Xbox One. Well, nothing new there as it seems that this is the trend for PS3 gamers at present - treated like second class citizens. Seems like bullying to me - if you don't buy this console then you can't play the games.
Fine, I can go without.

To repeat - the console that a gamer buys depends on what the gamer wants.

It is hard to believe that I began gaming thirteen years ago. It began with two games 'Raw Is War' and 'Tomb Raider' on the Playstation One (PS1). At the time it was an aid to help my hand and eye co-ordination after having a stroke. Still have some of the games that I play on the PS2 - outdated by today's standards but still fun.
Evolution came with the choice of the Xbox 360 and PS3. Bad publicity and problems came with the PS3 and when things like that happen mud sticks (as the saying goes). So my son bought an Xbox 360 and the gameplay was okay and, eventually, I bought one too.
One thing led to another and I found myself going online to play 'Gears Of War 3' and 'Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' (of the two I preferred the latter and still play from time to time). However, then came 'Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2' and what an online mess that proved to be.
In the meantime, I had picked up a Sony PS3.
While the Xbox 360 was adding apps that had little or no interest for me - the Playstation gave me a different platform. No matter what anyone says there is a difference in gameplay - there is a definite smoothness in the transition from button pushing and gameplay response with the PS3.

The main issue that I have had with the Xbox 360 is with the Live aspect. The number of times that I have switched on only to be told that the console cannot connect to Xbox live. Advice is to disconnect the modem - only I can't as the wife is using it for the PC; my son is using his tablet and my grandsons are having the same problem as I am with their Xbox 360.
When we do get online (without switching off the modem) we then face 'Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2' with migrating hosts and server errors and interrupted connections.

This week made the decision for us. In the middle of a split screen online game my son was disconnected from Xbox Live and he got the message that the console could not connect - while I was still playing solo on the same console.

So we toddled off and bought a copy of the same game for the PS3. He spent the weekend enjoying himself playing a game that seldom migrated hosts and had neither the connection interrupted nor a single server error. Unfortunately, being a better player than me my son has has given me a rep I don't deserve. I am 67 of age, my reactions are slower and if I make double figures that is some achievement. My son is forty years younger than me.
Now, the PS3 was put in the same place where the Xbox 360 had been and the link was not disconnected at any time. He had been online for over three hours at a time - with the Xbox Live we would have had several disconnections during that period.
Microsoft call centre was not that supportive - it wasn't their problem and nothing to do with them. Even suggested that I pre-ordered an Xbox One.  Xbox Live seems to have problems because the same problems that I experience exist elsewhere - my son gets disconnected at home and he has an Ethernet connection.

My son went home, sold his Xbox 360, all his games and bought a PS3.
For me, the Xbox 360 can disappear into history.

Therefore, another decision is made. I want a games console that I can rely on. A console where I have the choice whether I play solo or multiplayer.


I guess I should have stuck with what I knew worked so I will be going for the Sony PS4.

FELIXSTOWE: A Sign Of The Times

It has to be said that anyone who visits Felixstowe does so because they want to. It is where the A14 ends - there isn't anything else. Here the roads lead to either the port, Landguard Fort, Old Felixstowe or back the way the visitor came in.
It could be said that Felixstowe is an island that faces the North Sea and situated between the Rivers Orwell, Stour and Deben.

Now, the visitor is faced with this new sign. Really, most of the stuff is common sense. No climbing on the groynes; beware of currents and the like while on the reverse it tells people to keep their dogs on a lead; keep the dogs off the beach; clean up after the dog; take nothing from the beach (pocket a sea shell and what....? A fine). No bike riding. No launching boats.
Today the beach is....empty.
Actually, the sign is a waste of money - and it is quick to point out that there are no lifeguards on the beach. What it doesn't say is that for all the rules there is no one to back them up either.

Though this is just a minor irritant there are those who are a tad upset that Felixstowe has been named in a list of the 100 crappiest towns for 2013.
The spokesman has come out with a hopeful expression and fingers crossed behind his back with a list of things that may happen in the future. A new Pier, three new supermarkets....sorry. that is where I am going to stop.
Supermarkets - petitions flying around because no one wants them. Experience tells me that the protesters will be the first through the doors when they open.
Even the Pier has opposition and that from the people who look over the existing pier.

The funny thing is that Felixstowe has outlived the Romans, the Dutch, the Italians and the Germans.

Henry the 8th built a fort where Landguard Fort stands today guarding the estuary of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Just as well, because in 1667, the Dutch invaded England when they landed on the beach. 1,500 Dutch marines attacked the small force of The Duke Of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot under the command of Captain Nathaniel Darrell. Despite the odds Darrell's artillery fired into the pebbled beach creating instant shrapnel. Eventually, the Dutch called it quits and went home.
The fort remained in occupation through the Napoleonic wars; under the walls and guns 'The Mayflower' began the famous voyage to the New World; in 1913 it saw the port become the home of seaplanes. During the First World War Felixstowe was bombed by German Zeppelins and, in the second world war, by Italian aircrews.
Between the wars as before it was a holiday destination. In 1933 Billy Butlin opened up one of his fairground attractions on the sea front.
1953 saw Felixstowe hit by one of the most devastating floods.

Felixstowe has been home to the likes of John Mills; T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) was stationed at R.A.F. Languard under the name of John Ross; and Wallis Simpson stayed here while she waited for Edward the 8ths abdication to be completed.

On film the movie 'The Sea Shall Not Have Them' not only uses the port and seaplane hangers as a location - but the German battery that fires on the Air Sea Rescue boats are in fact the guns of Languard Fort.
The River Orwell doubled as the Yangtse River in the Richard Todd movie 'Yangtse Incident' the story of the escape of H.M.S. Amethyst.

This is a resort that, in it's time, has attracted the likes of Status Quo, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Slade. Yet those days are gone and with it the Spa Pavilion Theatre.

So, Felixstowe has a lot of history - centuries where the town has been shaped by the events that have gone on in and around it.

In modern times shops have closed - big names have gone. It is a sign of the times and I don't see that three new supermarkets will change that. Felixstowe needs - and this is just my opinion - to re-focus and re-brand itself.
Opening supermarkets will not bring in visitors. Nor will opening up new restaurants and coffee shops (cafes even). Not without a sea front to attract visitors. More is needed.
OK, so the gardens by Town Hall are being re-designed but then that wasn't an area in need of a fix.
South of the Pier needs to be re-vamped to be in keeping with the rest of the sea front. Put the term pleasure with the word beach.

In 1997 a town up in Scotland - Wigtown - re-invented itself. It had a couple of second-hand bookshops but it re-branded as a Book Town. Something like Hay-on - Wye. With many Book Festivals it has thrived and, still does, despite the coming of the e-readers. Adaptability is the key to survival.
Felixstowe did put on a book festival but there were mixed feelings.
At least each year Felixstowe can boast a Vintage Car show and Hot Rods on the Prom and a decent Motorcycle Show. Also, there is the Art On The Prom Festival that draws a crowd. This year there will be an air display (weather permitting) to celebrate 100 years of the seaplanes and RAF Landguard.

As for stores and shops. Why not something like Ikea instead of a supermarket? And one of my own bugs is where in Felixstowe can I buy the latest CDs without having to go to Ipswich? And a bigger bookshop.

Isn't it a shame when you hear about Detroit - Motorcity - home of Motown and Packard going to the wall. Some of those still living there say the signs were there for all to see - they did too little too late. Money wasted on the wrong projects.

Don't get me wrong I like Felixstowe - I am happy where I live - but it needs to change to survive.

RED DAWN (2012)

This 2012 movie is directed by Don Bradley based on a screenplay by Jeremy Passmore and Carl Ellesworth (which is based on the original Kevin Reynolds and John Milius script).

Red Dawn is a re-make of the original Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen movie.

Chris Hemsworth (Thor) plays a US Marine, Jed Eckert, who is home on leave while Josh Peck plays his brother, Matt. The relationship between the brothers is strained as Matt believes that Jed abandoned the family after their mother's death.
The movie starts with Matt failing to score the winning points that would see the college football team, Wolverines, with the football match. The after match party is brought to an abrupt end as a power failure shuts everything down.
Come the dawn, the sky over Spokane, Washington is full with parachutes as North Korean forces invade the American Pacific states.
The premise is that one day the North Koreans will do exactly what they threaten - the rest of the world might just dismiss it all as another show of sabre-rattling. They attack while the rest of the world are dealing with their own problems. A recession that leaves the US vulnerable with forces engaged in other theatres over seas. The EU in disarray over financial problems.
America is ripe for invasion - the Koreans to the west and the Russians to the East Coast.
The Eckert boys and a bunch of college kids manage to escape but are unable to rescue Matt's girlfriend, Erica. They are joined by a couple from San Diego who were on their way home and Toni, an old friend of Jed's.
Under Jed's leadership the Wolverines become the by-word for resistance. Matt, doesn't take to Jed being the leader and puts everyone in danger when he ignores orders to do his own thing by rescuing Erica during a daring raid - actions that causes the deaths of others.
This is a movie that has a logical script, good if clichéd characters and well directed action scenes that drive this movie on.
Critics may have hacked it to death but this is a movie that grossed close to $49 million.

Now for the stuff that the critics and reviewers didn't mention - because, I don't think that this is just a remake.
The moment that the montage began at the beginning of the movie I smiled. I had seen it before. With a couple of tweaks the montage was almost the same as that which begins the video game 'Homefront'.
'Homefront' is scripted by John Milius who directed the original 'Red Dawn'.
'Homefront:The Voice Of Freeeom' was the companion novel written by Raymond Benson and John Milius.
In the 'Red Dawn' re-make there is a clear reference to another video game 'Call Of Duty' which showed a small town in America being invaded by Russian paratroopers.
As in 'Call Of Duty' so the Russians have invaded the Eastern seaboard as per 'Red Dawn' re-make.
To my mind 'Red Dawn' is not just a remake but a reworking to make a movie that should have been called 'Homefront: Red Dawn' or the other way round. Whatever it fits into the mould as it were.