Book Review: Game Show Confidential

Game and quiz shows first started appearing on radio broadcasts in the 1930s, led by the CBS network’s Professor Quiz, hosted by a man who was neither a professor nor even a college graduate, the first of several frauds that seemed to be endemic to the genre. Professor Quiz was followed by other such game shows as Uncle Jim’s Question Bee and Ask It Basket, which in turn spawned successful box games for at-home play. The show Truth or Consequences made the transition from radio to television in the late 1940s and was so popular that a town in New Mexico was named for the show. Television proved to be the perfect platform for game shows since they were very popular and cheap to produce.

Book Review: All the Leaves Are Brown

Few songs have captured the contradictions and ambiguities of the 1960s as memorably as “California Dreamin’,” the iconic folk music single that catapulted the Mamas & the Papas into rock and roll history. In All the Leaves Are Brown, author Scott Shea details how John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips, and “Mama Cass” Elliot became standard-bearers for California counterculture, following their transformation from folk music wannabes to rock sensations and chronicling the tumultuous events that followed their unexpected success.

Shea gives a definitive account of the group’s short time together, from their hitmaking approach with legendary producer Lou Adler to John’s unique songwriting to tours and friendships with other musicians riding the folk-rock wave.

Book Review: Logan's Search

Logan is running again, with the fate of the world in his hands. Earth is free and at peace at last. But not the Earth on which Logan stands. For him a nightmare has just begun...In the 23rd century on Parallel Earth your 21st Birthday is your Lastday. Parallel Earth is a dazzling paradise of pleasure and infinite joy. Here, in a terrifying computerized society controlled by ruthless police assassins, is the world that Logan once destroyed. Now his fate is to live that horror once again.

Logan's Search, William F. Nolan's third book in the Logan's Run series, was first published by Bantam Books in October of 1980. It continues the story from where the second book Logan's World left off.

Book Review: Logan's World

With the computer system destroyed, Earth has reverted to savagery. Scattered tribes now rule a charred world. Scavengers, who prowl the broken cities. Surviving corps of the elite killers, led by a psychotic ex-Sandman. Sadistic bands of gypsy riders who kill and plunder.

When tragedy strikes his loved ones, Logan sets out on a death-haunted vengeance trail across a ravaged world that leads to a startling confrontation and ultimate destruction.

Logan's World, William F. Nolan's sequel to Logan's Run, was first published by Bantam Books in December of 1977.

Book Review: Logan's Run

It's the 23rd Century and at age 21... your life is over! Logan-6 has been trained to kill; born and bred from conception to be the best of the best. But his time is short and before his life ends he's got one final mission: Find and destroy Sanctuary, a fabled haven for those that chose to defy the system. But when Logan meets and falls in love with Jessica, he begins to question the very system he swore to protect and soon they're both running for their lives. When Last Day comes, will you lie down and die... or run!

Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson was originally published in 1967. A re-release came in the summer of 1976 from Bantam Books to coincide with the movie release.

Book Review: Gentle Writing Advice

The truth is that all of the "writing rules" you've learned are bullshit. Sure, they work for some people, but the likelihood that they'll work for you--unique butterfly of a person that you are--is slim.

That doesn't mean you're out of luck! There is meaningful advice to be had in the writing world, and Chuck Wendig is here to deliver it. In this hilarious guide, Wendig will help you discover more about yourself as a writer, parse through your quirks and foibles, and help you figure out the best way for you to get words on the page--without destroying yourself along the way.

Book Review: Mockingbird - Strike Out

S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Bobbi Morse needs to get out of LA. Like, yesterday. With her painful divorce from Hawkeye still being hashed out, Bobbi could do with a new job to take her mind off the mind-numbing mediations. Luckily, an old friend and mentor of Bobbi’s is missing, so a jaunt to the UK might be the perfect distraction. What Bobbi isn’t anticipating is having to team up with the snarky and handsome Lance Hunter, but her options are limited if she wants to solve this mystery. Someone is trying to recreate and weaponize the original Super-Soldier Serum which could spell global disaster. To save the world, Bobbi will have to face her past, put her problems behind her, and let the Mockingbird take flight.