I started reading Finding Tambri, by Sherry Meeks, the other day, and although interrupted by Thanksgiving, I’m back on it today. It’s a terrific read about a woman who has lost a child and herself in the tragedy life can sometimes become. Review next week, although I’ll finish reading tomorrow for sure. GREAT stuff, amici.
Morons for Trump … Although it isn’t a good segue, a terrific book to an ugly megalomaniac, I believe the time has finally come when we can safely say the phony billionaire has decided it’s time to leave center stage and return to stiffing small businesses and workers everywhere. The record the Trump organization doesn’t put out there is the one where he doesn’t pay contractors his organization hires, stiffing workers across the board.
So it goes.
But who really needs that bit of information when we’ve had The Donald all along? The guy is worse than an absurdity, he’s a national embarrassment. While those of us who knew better could point to the obviousness of his narcissism (that has been on display forever, including the over-exaggerations of everything from his wealth to crowd sizes at his KKK-like events), the recent flurry of his special brand of stupidity/evil is what we’ve been waiting for. Not because we care about whether or not he drops in the polls, but more so because we’re anxious to see how many of his die-hard supporters find the balls (they seem to admire in others) to abandon ship.
Let’s face it, either they do so (abandon Trump) or they grab those balls with both hands and clutch the flag of racism between their teeth while marching through the streets. Many of Trump’s supporters prefer bumper sticker nonsense speeches to actual policy, but now they’re required to defend the indefensible. It’s one thing to say racist shit about Mexican and African-Americans (especially when the same Trump supporters adamantly defy the institutional racism this country seems to take pride in), and Trump could even manage to incite a racial beating at his “for whites only” southern campaign rally, and/or the shootings like those in Minneapolis by white supremacists without dropping in the polls, but now that he’s made fun of a person with a physical disability, I believe even some of his supporters, at least those with functioning brain cells, will start to look elsewhere for someone to lead them to wars we can’t win and tax policies that will further the income gap.
Or I could be wrong and America is in a much more fucked up place than the cynic in me can imagine.
What I believe is that Trump has had his fun and seeks to exit the stage under the guise of media bias. He’s actually attempting to claim he didn’t mean what the media portrayed in the video above. Why shouldn’t he? The morons sticking with him saw stadiums that held 40,000 people at a full capacity level less than half-filled and were fine with the 40,000 plus he claimed were there.
Oy vey …
Chicago … well, here we go again, except this time the insidiousness of an obvious cover-up is almost equal to the crime itself. I’ll let Francesca Fiorentini and AJ+ handle the story, because retyping it just makes me angry.
My question remains (will always remain) … if the other cops on the scene filed false reports and/or corroborated a false report, why are they still on the job? This clown, Jason Van Dyck, had 20 prior civilian complaints filed against him and was NEVER even admonished.
What Difference Does It Make … well, loyal Democrats certainly don’t care. They’re all in with Hillary and yet another Oligarchic victory for those (like Donald Trump) who feel their wealth entitles them to tell us how to live, when to go to war, how to vote, and who to vote for.
—Knucks
AJ+ rocks TK … A Swedish lesson for our men in blue …
All the Major Constellations, by Pratima Cranse … it is 1995 and a trio of friends, Andrew, Marcia and Sara, are about to graduate and take big strides out of their homes into new social settings. Andrew has a crush on a member of a Christian sect, Laura. There’s a car accident that leaves Sara in a coma and Marcia, the class valedictorian,tending to her. Meanwhile, Andrew is consumed with feelings of guilt/resentment, and an overwhelming desire to be with the unobtainable Laura. At home, things aren’t cool; Andrew’s jock brother, Brian, seems to enjoy smacking Andrew around emotionally and physically, but when he’s accused of rape, their father, who is also a bit physical when drunk, can’t handle the embarrassment. Brian is clearly his favorite, and Andrew’s mother is a bit of a mess herself.
When Laura invites Andrew to join her evangelical group. Uh-oh … do the sparks fly? Is there more to it? Andrew befriends a guy who seems ashamed of his sexuality. Is he with the religious group to overcome it? Is he attempting to pray the gay away? No spoilers here, amici.
I’ll tell yous this much, you’ll want to keep turning the pages to find out how it all turns out for every wonderful character in this book. This terrific debut novel is definitely a must read.
Kirkus and Publishers Weekly both gave this novel *STARRED* reviews.
Where Desert Rivers Die, by Michael Harris … You punch out a guy at work and you pay the price by losing your job, but what if you already lost your job? What’s to stop you from pounding the S.O.B. then? It’s a question Warren Holt doesn’t bother to ask himself until it’s too late, and the punch has bigger consequences than he can imagine (although he does imagine a bunch of scenarios as he heads out of town toward the desert and ultimately Denver). Warren is a man down on his luck and on the wrong end of capitalism. He’s just bought his wife an American dream home but cutbacks at the paper lands him a ticket to the unemployment line. His stepson, Ray, is a good kid born to a Mexican mom. When Warren escapes to a small town, he takes Ray with him (yes, it’s kind of kidnaping when you think about it), and they stay at a motel with a restaurant where Ray meets a waitress, a Mexican girl/woman, Maria. He experiences what he believes might be love at first sight. Overwhelmed by his feelings of a possible first love, Ray can’t ignore Maria. But there’s a story behind her situation, and it isn’t pretty. Things fly out of control fast, until Ray makes a decision to escape. There’s a manhunt on for Warren and Ray wants out, but he wants to take Maria with him. It’s a fast paced novel with different perspectives guiding the way. Difficult to put down and fulfilling at every turn. Michael Harris is one hall of an author.
A Lesson from the Tea Party … consider this MY answer to all those Democrats who can’t stand to read my Facebook posts calling for the left to abandon the Democratic Party in the 2016 Presidential election. First of all, let’s get a few things straight and in perspective.
With the exception of ONE candidate from either party (Sanders), all the candidates are currently playing to their base and NOT stating what they’ll actually be able to do if elected.
No, I don't think Bernie can get one-eighth of what he wants to do, but he isn't stating something new. He's been stating his case for 40+ years now, and more importantly, it isn't about what he can or can't do. It's about a political revolution that rejects the corruption our current system protects. So there's more to his campaign than meets the eye.
Meanwhile, the GOP candidates are trying to sound tougher than they can act once in office, saying crazy shit (as those of us on the left perceive them) … they’ll build walls, they’ll keep refugees out, they’ll engage ISIS with boots on the ground, they’ll increase defense spending, they’ll give even more tax breaks to the rich and everybody else (while balancing the budget?), etc. The recent string of attacks by ISIS on innocent populations (in the air and on the ground) have shifted the political winds to the far right. Even on the democratic side of the spectrum, Hillary Clinton, who one week claimed she was “moderate and proud of it,” then a few weeks later claimed she was a “progressive who wants to get things done” (translation: establishment politician who will do what the political winds and/or what the money that bought her tell her to do), is now talking tougher than her usual hawkish self. But let’s face it, amici, both the GOP and DNC candidates are mostly talking shit to garner support from their bases. The single exception is Bernie Sanders.
While the blowhard on the right (who has a more liberal background than Hillary Clinton and switches positions about as often), The Donald, is talking nonsense and gathering most (although not all) of his support from those proud to never have attended college (the flag waivers who can’t (or refuse) to see the hypocrisy of wanting to go to war again while being terrified to take in refugees), nobody else takes him seriously (certainly not enough to elect him president).
So it goes.
By now, most of Bernie’s supporters (myself included), kind of know it’s a fruitless attempt to win this election. A) the DNC would duke their diapers if a candidate who refused corporate coin ever won their nomination (they are EQUALLY as corrupt in that regard as the GOP), and B) the attacks by ISIS have fomented more than enough fear for America to jump back into yet another war it can’t possibly win.
So, what does this all have to do with lessons from the Tea Party, yous ask? I’ll tell yous … first of all, no matter how crazy the tea party may sound to me and most liberals, they have been an effective force regarding the GOP. They continue to sway the GOP platform. We liberals may think it’s insane, but there’s no denying their power.
Secondly, if you live in a mostly democratic state (i.e., a blue state), chances are more than likely your single vote for Jill Stein and/or decision to stay home and watch a hockey game are not going to change the outcome of an election in your blue state. I, for instance, can only hope that my single vote (or my wife’s vote), is/are the deciding votes in New Jersey, where I had to register as a Democrat this election (which pisses me off no end) because it is a closed primary and I want to vote for Bernie Sanders … I can only HOPE my vote is the one that costs the DNC and Hillary Clinton the presidential election, no matter who is challenging her from the GOP.
Thirdly, and most importantly in my opinion, is the fact that not only is our election process a complete and utter sham that has very little to do with the democracy we’re supposed to be, but voting for either major party’s candidates is a reward to the same corrupt system. I don’t know how (or why) most people can agree to vote the so-called “lesser of two” evils and continue to keep the corruption in place for another 4-8 years. It baffles me the way my not caring who wins the election under the current system baffles loyal Dems.
To get into the damage Democratic Presidents have done vs. Republican Presidents only thickens the quagmire. It was a democrat who started the war in Vietnam, and another who escalated it. It was taken over by a Republican who took it even further and involved us in bombing a neutral state, Cambodia, and thus helped bring to power another evil force, the Khmer Rouge (i.e., the killing fields, so make no mistake, they were at least as brutal as ISIS). It was also a democrat, Bill Clinton, who repealed Glass-Steagall and set the stage for the 2007-8 financial crisis on Wall Street. Clinton also enacted NAFTA, no matter how much Republicans began the process, it was Clinton who enacted it (so quit lying to yourselves about that fact). And we all know about Iraq and how progressive Hillary Clinton was with that disaster. What we don’t seem to care about is her role in the Libyan disaster deposing Muammar Gaddafi.
And is there anyone from either party more comfortable with Wall Street than the Democrat, Hillary Clinton?
Outside of war, Supreme Court appointees are the most influential political decisions a president can make, but does anyone in the Democratic Party really believe Hillary Clinton won’t opt for a moderate appointee? Will her appointee vote to overturn Citizens United? We know what she says, but since when can Hillary Clinton be trusted? And let’s not forget that it was a GOP appointed majority court that just ruled in favor of the ACA (Obama care) twice, and also ruled in favor of gay marriages.
Once again, more important than any of the above, is the reform in our election process that is an absolute requirement for us to return to democracy (if we ever really were one). We need a third and fourth, and even a fifth political party. For the left to continue to accept being ignored by a political machine (the DNC) changes absolutely nothing under the “lesser of two evils” justification.
So, please don’t ask me again how I can vote for Jill Stein, once Bernie is defeated by the machine. While both Noam Chomsky and Bernie Sanders himself say it is best to support the lesser of two evils once the lines have been drawn, I couldn’t disagree with either more. Chomsky is one of the most brilliant minds of our lifetime, and he fears the noble campaign Bernie is running will quickly fade once the election is over, no matter who wins (he also doesn’t believe the DNC would allow a Sanders candidacy). He’s for a ground game, the likes of which Bernie is running, but it needs to last (and he’s right about that). Most likely it won’t because our economy and the government it owns has us all way more involved in survival than political movements. The problem is, the longer the corruption continues, the more burdened with survival we all remain.
And please don’t ask me how I can accept a Trump or Cruz or Rubio or another Bush, while you vote for another Clinton and reward a process that spits in your face.
You know what I tell yous who swear by the lesser of two evils justification? I says to you, I says, “Grow a fucking pair.”
Paris … it’s a
horror story that has become all too familiar. An Islamic terrorist groups seek
to inflict damage on innocents who reside in a country that provides military assistance
to the war against Islamic Fundamentalism. Most of the world is shocked at what
happened in Paris. Many here cry out for vengeance, pointing to the inevitability
of a Muslim vs. Christian way of life coming to malls and theatres and stadiums
near us ... and another ginning up for war has already begun. Presidential candidates
use the news of the day to put more fear into a population anxious to do something
about ISIS, et al. Many overanxious for war Americans react like a mob and want
swift justice, suddenly forgetting all the insults they’ve hurled at the French;
many forget calling them “cowards” at every opportunity for their failure to
stop the Nazi invasion of France in WWII. The war drums are beating mightily
today in the United States. The risk of a similar attack here and to every
country with military in the Middle East is great, and it is no doubt enhanced
by the success of the attack in Paris yesterday (success being defined by the
number of innocents killed and the fear it has garnered).
Make no mistake, the Paris attacks are despicable acts of
cowardice. Killing innocents so blatantly, without regard for anything other
than their citizenship and/or where foreigners/other innocents were at the time
of the attacks, is horrific. They killed them because they could. It’s is
always so damn easy to take people unawares.
Now, imagine yourself an Arab living in the Middle East. You’re
someone trying to raise a family in poverty. You have no regard for Sharia Law
or a Caliphate or anything else. You’re just trying to survive. You’re trying
to keep your two or three kids from starving to death. You’re trying to avoid
the psycho band of religious fanatics ruining a religion you may or may not
follow. You may or may not have faith yourself, but your immediate concerns
have more to do with survival than what some prophet may or may not have said. And
one day there’s a sound in the sky just a few seconds before your entire family
is wiped out from an air strike. Everything you’ve lived for, like some of the
people in Paris yesterday, is gone, just like that.
But you had a brother and sister, and they had kids, and
when they learned that a United States or French or United Kingdom or now Russian bomb dropped
from a drone or a fighter jet killed your brother and his family, they maybe
start to think (especially the kids) that what the psycho religions preach (us
against them), may have some merit. And new recruits who may one day visit
Paris or London or New York or Moscow with bombs strapped to their chests or handguns
hidden in their backpacks become the reality.
The moral to this story is try not to forget that what
happened in Paris yesterday has been happening in the Middle East for a very
long time. Foreign countries dropping bombs on innocent Muslims, no matter how
well-intentioned those bombs may have been to kill bad guys and to minimize
collateral damage, they have killed far more innocents, and those innocents killed remains the greatest recruiting tool this particular psycho religions
has.
And today from fear and justifiable rage, we can’t wait to
do more of it, except we need to think about what it will accomplish in the long
run.
As horrible as what happened in Paris yesterday is, and it
is extremely horrible, it isn’t hard to see (if one bothers to look) how the
chickens are coming home to roost yet again. What is baffling to me is how the
yahoos looking to go to war again today can refuse to see the other side of
this conflict. I’m not talking about killing ISIS. I look forward to the day
those religious psychopaths are gone, but I am talking about the innocents
(just like those in Paris last night) who are killed regularly; how more Iraqi
civilians were killed during our invasion there than were Iraqi soldiers: Counts
of deaths reported in newspapers collated by projects like the Iraq Body Count
project found 174,000 Iraqis reported killed between 2003 and 2013, with
between 112,000-123,000 of those killed being civilian noncombatants.
And then there’s this statistic, something our government
and media seem reluctant to deal with … not to mention all the flag waving
super patriots rooting our volunteer army on to more war, because for many of
the flag waivers, for all their American exceptionalism blather, they have ZERO
skin in the game (i.e., their kids won’t be the ones going to war) … they all
seem to ignore the picture and the stats show on it below.
This is not an attempt to minimize the horror and tragedy in
Paris yesterday. Those poor Parisians and tourists, etc., suffered a horrific
tragedy yesterday. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time, and we all fear and know that it won’t
be the last time. Nor is this post a defense of what/why it happened. I have zero
use for any religion, whether it is used as an excuse to kill or not. This is a
wake-up post to anyone who would read this and accuse me of anti-Americanism.
It is an attempt for people to see the bigger picture in these terrorist
attacks and to think about what is going on in the Middle East; why so many
there have turned their fear of the U.S. (and all the other foreign nations
with militaries dropping bombs on the innocents there) into a hatred for them. Make NO mistake, to the innocents in the Middle East being killed regularly, the survivors view us along with all the other countries dropping bombs on them as the terrorists ... and can you really blame them?
And for those crying for us to “wipe them out already” … “kill
them all” … “nuke them back to the stone age they came from,” etc., just
remember that when we nuke them there, there’s a great likelihood nukes will be
fired back at us in return … and when those chickens come home to roost … well,
remember to duck your heads under your desks.
—Knucks
And there’s this
inconvenient truth … please pay attention.
Okay, so what the hell is Knucks going on about now, yous ask? Well, he’ll tell yous …
I still consider myself a neophyte when it comes to NHL hockey. That said, I’m learning … and mostly I’ve come to the conclusion that much of Vince Lombardi’s world view, as much as I might disagree with some of it, is pretty much spot on when it comes to a few things: one of which is a sense of socialism that this world, certainly this country, can use more of.
But more on that later … for now I’m discussing last night’s Tampa Bay Lightning performance in a 4-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabrettes (a.k.a. Sabres) … I’ve read a ton on Lombardi, and have reread the same materials more than a few times. I saw the entertaining play on Broadway a few years back and I must’ve watched the HBO documentary a dozen or so times, each time finding myself in tears at the end.
Lombardi was a supremely religious person. I’m not, but I have more respect for his following the words of his Jesus than I do for most clergy. Lombardi had a gay brother and never permitted gay bashing jokes in his locker. He was also an activist against the racism that permeated the early NFL years. Yous can read about that when/if you want. I’ll give a few suggested readings later on.
The thing I most respect about his coaching ability was the breakdown of wins vs. losses. Lombardi was a stickler for execution and graded his players’ performances after each game. If someone did their job, they received a C. The theory being: they did what they were supposed to (paid) to do. He was most often critical of his team after wins, rather than losses, pointing out mistakes that could have cost his team the win.
What’s this have to do with hockey, yous ask?
By the way, yous ask a lot of questions …
Last night my Bolts beat the Sabrettes 4-1, but it was an incredibly poor performance, including in the first period when we scored 3 goals. In that same period, the Sabrettes held the advantage in puck possession on our end of the ice. The second period, quite frankly, was the poorest play I’ve seen this year by our Bolts. They may well be suffering a finals loss hangover, but memo to Bolts: you don’t pick it up soon and you’ll be watching the playoffs this year.
Yes, it’s very early in the season and hockey doesn’t really get started until the new year, so I’m told, but stranger things have happened. Just ask the L.A. Kings …
Our third period last night wasn’t much better than the second; a little better, but not much. Last night’s game puck (if there is such a thing) belongs to our goalie, just back from blood clot surgery, Andrei Vasilevskiy (yes, I used the Lightning roster page to spell it correctly). Now, we’re a team loaded with talent, but for some reason, so far this season we’re just not playing with the same intensity as our foes, not through three periods. Our first period last night, when we had 9+ minutes of puck possession, we were awesome. Callahan set the pace very early on with 3 hits within the 30 seconds or so he was on the ice. We scored three goals in beautiful fashion, and then for much of the rest of the period, the 10+ minutes the Sabrettes maintained puck possession, we seemed to sit back on our laurels. The second period, as I stated above, was an embarrassment, the third period not much better. All hail our goalie. The boys should be buying him dinner for the rest of the month the way he played last night.
One can only hope our coach, who has been juggling lines like a Nervous Nellie of late, make the best of last night’s overall piss-poor performance and do a little Lombardi/Tortorella impersonation. Torts may have been crazy at times, but there’s no lack of respect for his coaching from what this neophyte can tell. Defense first is something I believed in as a football player and coach. You shut a team out, you can’t lose. You score 49 points, you can still lose. Just ask the Moonachie Blue team (a.k.a. Giants).
My advice to Cooper is: settle down coach. Let the lines get reacquainted with each other. Mixing and matching over and over does nothing good in the end (see Finals results from last year). On each line, this neophyte sees the need for a) one aggressive forechecker who will dig for pucks and fight for position in front of the net (Callahan/Palat/Killorn/Boyle/JT Brown/Paquette/Condra), b) forwards with speed and skill (Stamkos/Kucherov/Drouin) and c) a center who can win face-offs (Boyle/Johnson/Filppula) … and our entire team needs to hustle … we should always hustle. Our team is very talented and can fill rolls accordingly, but Stamkos should never be separated from Callahan, nor should Palat fill in the Drouin roll (thus, upsetting the triplets line).
But my beef with last night isn’t so much about scoring as it is about a lack of intensity. I can see how much luck plays a part in every NHL game; from pucks that find the back of the net because it bounced just right, or went off a defenseman’s skate, or another players butt … to penalties missed and/or non-penalties called … to saves a goalie makes blindly because his arms/legs are flailing at the exact right time. The bottom line is the harder you play, the more likely you are to catch some of those lucky breaks (i.e., pucks on net, etc.) … and sometimes you won’t and that’s part of the game, but last night’s performance, outside of the 9+ minutes in the first period, was an embarrassment for our team, and if not for Vasi we may well have lost that one 5 or 6 or 7-3.
And our power play last night … oh, man, I could smell it from Fords, New Jersey.
So maybe it’s time to light a fire under our Bolts, Coop. And guys, maybe it’s time to get over the hangover. Follow the play of your leaders … they NEVER take a shift off.
On to Vince.
I highly recommend the Dick Schapp/Jerry Kramer book, Instant Replay, from many moons ago. Although filled with some not necessarily gospel truth about what Vince may have said from time to time, it does feature many direct quotations from players and coaches alike.
Another fine read was First Season, by John Eisenberg, in which Eisenberg tells the tale of Lombardi’s ability to turn the worst team in the league into an NFL dynasty.
They didn't name the Super Bowl trophy after Lombardi for nothing.
A Lombardi HBO preview …
And here are some famous quotes by Lombardi: Teamwork (from which one could argue the man was a pure socialist) …Now, there are some Lombardi quotes (and philosophy) that I don’t happen to agree with, so make no mistake, these are cherry-picked.
Teamwork “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”
“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”
“Success is based upon a spiritual quality, a power to inspire others.”
“There is no substitute for work.”
Commitment “Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?”
“Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
Success/Sacrifice “To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price.”
“Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there.”
“Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.”
“A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive, and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.”
Discipline “I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. “
“Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”
“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”
“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
“Once you have established the goals you want and the price you’re willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure and the temporary failures.”
“Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off of the goal.”
Amici, if you can’t find socialism in Lombardi’s words, you aren’t looking very hard.
GO BERNIE, GO!
The Grocery Opera … Compliments of Mr. Don Kirdendall … you gotta love it.
“This taut, compulsively readable tale of mob life in and around New York City, Stella’s first novel since 2012’s Rough Riders, has the smack of authenticity on every page … Stella serves up a tasty goombah stew with a splash of Guinness, and no one can make this recipe simmer better than he does.” —Publishers Weekly
As usual Stella’s ear for dialogue is amazingly authentic and accurate, which not only lends credibility to each of his characters but also adds to the headlong pace of the narrative. These themes and the way they influence almost every character elevates the novel from a simple story of murder and revenge. At the same time they demonstrate Stella’s familiarity with present-day criminals and cops, and his mastery at presenting tales that illustrate their world and inner emotions. For those who have yet to discover the joy of Stella’s work, TOMMY RED is a good a place start as any. —Alan Cranis (Bookgasm) “Holy crap. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Why the hell isn't Stella on every mystery lover's must-read list. . . . This taut, tightly presented story of misplaced loyalties and retribution is nicely tied up in a fast-paced tale that, once you get used to the rhythm of the dialogue, just begs you to turn the next page.” —MenReadingBooks
“Stella was often compared to George V. Higgins and Elmore Leonard at the beginning of his career, but now the world of East Coast gangster fiction is all his.” —Mysterious Bookshop
“Tommy Red by Charlie Stella. Mob hit man gets into a snafu. This novel is only 165 pages long. Since this is a Stella novel you can bet it's 165 pages of greatness.”—Lake Mills Library
“Tommy Red builds to an explosive climax that should satisfy readers looking for action, while at the same time offering complex characterisation and thematic complexity that is beyond the reach of most crime novels.” —Crime Fiction Lover
“Stella reminds the reader of some recent episodes that the police would probably like for us to forget, most prominently the Eric Garner incident. Even the mob guys think it makes the cops look bad. There's a lot going on in Tommy Red, and big props to Stella for wrapping it all up in about 150 trade paperback pages. Good stuff and highly recommended.” —Bill Crider
“There are few writers (except possibly Elmore Leonard and George V. Higgins), who can write mob dialogue as well as Charlie Stella … Charlie makes navigating my way though the plot fun. And funny. How can you not laugh at this line. It was a little after one o'clock in the morning when he was thinking he'd like to bite the ass of that Mother of Dragons broad about to take a bath. (Game of Thrones).”—Patti Abbott
“No one writes better dialog, nor allows it to carry the story more than Stella, nor pulls it off better. Tommy Red could deteriorate into a series of scenes of guys bullshitting, but every sentence is an insight into a character’s mind, and one never knows when a prime plot point will emerge from a discussion about the merits of hockey versus football … Tommy Red a riveting tale told in an engaging manner. You know, just as you’d expect from Charlie Stella.” —Dana King (One Bite at a Time)
Stella’s capers are populated with criminals who are more clever than smart and lawmen who get stymied by clever but eventually prevail with smarts. A delight.— Booklist (Wes Lukowsky)
Along the way the reader is treated to some of the finest characterization it’s humanly possible to capture on paper… Stella’s always dark, often violent, occasionally humorous Rough Riders more than stands on its own, and is more than worth your time. — Book Reviews By Elizabeth A. White Sort of like Goodfellas meets Fargo. Check out Eddie’s World and start right in on Rough Riders. You’ll love the ride … Then read everything else he’s done.—East Coast Don (Men Reading Books) Mr Stella makes his story supremely compelling and has certainly made me a believer. I very much look forward to reading his next book – in the meantime, chase this one down, it works like a beaut. —Tipping My Fedora
Let me say right here that I loved this book. Though complex, the plotlines are deftly managed and everything dovetails towards its satisfying conclusion. Stella has a great ear for dialogue, with the New Yorkers clearly speaking a different vernacular to the Dakotans. —Crime Fiction Lover
Stella writes about criminals and cops, killers and cons, as if he knows the territory. This is one of those books that you rip through, eager to see who'll be the last man standing, as you never know who'll get the next bullet. Big, grim, boisterous, funny, and frightening all at once. Check it out.— Bill Crider
Stella’s characters’ voices sound authentic: no macho posturing — just their brutal, hard world. This is one of the leaner crime novels currently out there. For those wanting a serious character piece where the payoffs deliver, reach for ROUGH RIDERS. —Bookasm, Bruce Grossman
Rough Riders has a plethora of characters, many of whom you won't want to like but just might. What seems like true dialogue spews from mouths, FBI and locals alike. I found it very hard to put this book down, even to eat a meal. Author Charlie Stella has a way with words that makes him a master at his craft. Don't miss this one. —Bookloons Reviews (Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth)
This is a fast and furious thriller that brings back the antagonists in Eddie’s World in a good, the bad and the ugly storyline. Rotating between the northern Great Plains and the New York area, fans will enjoy this action-packed noir although the Feds are too scandalously uncaring about collateral damage or simply deadly avarice. –Genre Go Round Reviews (Harriett Klausner)
Johnn Porno Reviews ...
“Mr. Stella is a natural. As soon as I finished Johnny Porno I gave the book to my son so we could both be wiser-guys. Now I’m going to find all his other novels. He’s a true master.”—Dow Mossman, The Stones of Summer
“... Elmore Leonard fans are going to love Stella’s entirely original contribution to the slice-of-criminal-life genre, down-and-dirty division ... This is the seventh novel from Stella (Mafiya, 2008), who has made the underside of the New York underworld his home.”—Elliott Swanson (Booklist)
“Set in New York City in 1973, Stella’s vibrant seventh crime novel catches the cadence and daily grind of organized crime grunts … Stella tosses an eclectic cast of characters into the mix … admirers of Elmore Leonard and George V. Higgins will be happy.”—Publishers Weekly
“Johnny Porno is in many ways a master’s class on how to write a novel ... The dialog flows so smooth you’d swear you were over hearing someone’s conversation... He drops you in the middle and lets the reveals of the narrative come naturally through the dialog... Bottom line is that Johnny Porno is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.”>—Brian Lindenmuth (Spinetingler Magazine)
“Stella has fun with DEEP THROAT throughout the book, including the idea to sell fake autographed panties ... the book is so well-crafted and well-paced that it’s going to make more than a few best-of lists when the time comes. Stella never goes for the cheap outs, letting these characters develop over the course of his story ... Not only is it a throwback to the 1970s generation, but one that blows away most set in the present day.”—Bruce Grossman (Bookgasm)
“Based on my experience with Johnny Porno — I haven't read his other books but plan to remedy that soon (Charlie Opera is $2.00 on Smashwords) — I must say that Charlie Stella is one of the best writers the crime genre currently has to offer. He's a natural wordsmith, putting down the way people really talk in a way that still reads smoothly — not an easy task. The fact that Stark House Press, who previously focused on reprinting "lost" pulp novels, chose Stella as their first original author — after author Ed Gorman recommended him upon reading the manuscript — says a lot about his peers' respect for him.”— Craig Clarke (Somebody Dies)
“Psycho cops, bent cops, straight cops, Feds, wiseguys, good women, bad women,really bad women, guys on the make, gamblers, dumbasses, good guys, bad guys. This book's got 'em all (and more), and all so well-drawn that they seem like real people. There are also three or four plots going in, and they all converge in the final pages. I don't know how Stella managed to keep all the balls in the air, but he doesn't drop a one. Stark House's first original is a winner.”—Bill Crider, author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodess series and several other novels
“Stella is of the George V. Higgins school and tells the story through compelling dialogue ... Like Higgins, Stella isn’t afraid to let action occur offstage, to be described by the principals after the fact. In Stella’s hands, this adds to the suspense, as he understands every overt climax lessens tension at its conclusion, while covert climaxes continue to ratchet it up.”>—Dana King, (New Mystery Reader)
“Charlie Stella has a gift for nailing the colorful characters in this seedy little corner of New York. The dialog couldn’t be more authentic, and from page one I was transported to a hot, gritty landscape full of guys who say ‘yous’ and women who are used to being used ... I relished how the focus was on the guys at the bottom of the totem pole, and I got to see what happens to the drivers, runners, and climbers who associate with organized crime. It ain’t pretty.”> —Rebecca Baumann, (Dirty Sexy Books)
A plot whose pacing is as fast as a pack of greyhounds and at the same time, miraculously, as crazily and craftily constructed as a Marx Brothers movie or a Rube Goldberg machine. A hungry menagerie of good guys and bad guys at feeding time. A writing style that’s top-shelf. Some side-orders of Suspense. Romance. Black Humor. All seasoned liberally with Sex, Violence, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. What else will readers find in JOHNNY PORNO? A novel that shouldn’t be this much fun or pleasurable. That’s Charlie Stella’s real crime.—Lynn Kostoff, Author of Late Rain (Tyrus Books 2010), A Choice Of Nightmares (New Pulp Press 2010), The Long Fall (Carroll and Graf 2003)
“This is a hell of a novel. Epic, yet human scale... It s wonderfully fresh and alive.”—Craig McDonald, author of Head Games, Toros and Torsos and Print The Legend
Johnny Porno is a terrific Nixon Era crime caper reminiscent of Elmore Leonard. The story line is fast-paced, filled with action and violence, and stars a seemingly hapless chump struggling to survive in a cesspool. With the fun look at pop culture in circa 1973 enhancing the plot, readers, especially boomers, will enjoy Johnny Porno’s New York joy ride.—Harriet Klausner (The Mystery Gazette)
“... this has all the trappings of classic Stella – decent guys, wise guys of various standing in the mob, good/dirty cops, but most importantly, dialogue that makes you want to stand up and beg for more. Through Stella, you can practically smell the garlic on the breath of the wiseguys trying to intimidate, strain to hear cops jerking each other around through hot dog stuffed faces, wince at the lunacy of an ex-wife going off the deep end, and nod approvingly when someone does a decent thing for Johnny. Why Stella’s books aren’t flying off the main table at the front door of Barnes/Noble and Borders is, in itself, a crime.”—East Coast Don (Men Reading Books)
“Charlie Stella's JOHNNY PORNO: absolutely excellent. Guy does dialogue like no one else.”— Russel D. McLean, Author of The Good Son and The Lost Sister(From an Interview with CRIME SCENE NI (Northern Ireland))
“Johnny Porno is exactly that – a hard man chasing the tail that won’t pay for the tears. By first reminding us of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and then translating its rhetorical question into the vernacular of our romantically challenged times, Stella’s way with words does the near impossible; it finds a way from pornography to romance in the paradox of power and impotence peculiar to all of us: ‘Fuck’s in a name?’”— Len Wanner, University of Edinburgh.
Charlie delivered papers, unloaded watermelons, cooked at McDonalds, cleaned dishes at a catering hall, worked in a cardboard factory, rolled posters, worked in his father’s head shop, was a bouncer, worked security, buffed hallways, cleaned apartments, humped sheetrock, was a ten year union window cleaner atop Manhattan’s skyscrapers, was a word processing operator-supervisor-manager and director, coached football, has had novels published here, Russia, Italy, Poland, Mexico and the UK, and did that knockaround stuff for 18 years before meeting his wife, the woman who straightened him out (in a good way). He earned his MFA degree from Southern New Hampshire University at age 57. He continues to write crime novels and has expanded his horizons to include ghostwriting non-fiction—Dogfella: How an Abandoned Dog Named Bruno Turned This Mobster's Life Around--A Memoir will be published in May of 2015.
