A Christmas Gift: Vintage Ad

Many of you know I love Vintage Ads. This advertisement from the 1950s says a lot about our culture and history. Merry Christmas??

Leighton Gage: Fiction vs. Reality

LEIGHTON GAGE: GUEST POST

Leighton Gage lives near São Paulo and writes The Chief Inspector Mario Silva Series, novels featuring the exploits of the Brazilian Federal Police.

LEIGHTON GAGE: 

Do you know the question asked of more authors, more times, and in more situations, than any other?

It’s this: Where do you get your ideas?

No kidding. Ask any author.

A number of years ago, I was in a bookshop, doing a dual event.

And, sure enough, someone in the audience popped the question.

My fellow author, an old pro, had an answer on the tip of her tongue. She claimed she got all her ideas out of something she called the Author’s Idea Book. And she went on to spin a ludicrous tale, much appreciated by the audience.

I, a newbie and less-prepared, told them I got mine from television newscasts.

That, too, was received with laughter.

But I didn’t mean it to be funny, and I was perplexed.

Until I realized that many readers in America (and this appearance was in America) find it hard to believe that some of the things I write about actually happen.

They think I make them up.

But now, two movies have been produced that show it like it is.

Like it really is.

The movies are Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. (Portuguese titles: Tropa da Elite I and Tropa da Elite II.)

Both deal with the activities of the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais) the Special Operations Battalion of the State of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police.

The BOPE is an institution that’s absolutely merciless when it comes to dealing with criminals.

And they don’t take bribes.

Those two facts, acting together, make them the only cops the drug gangs of Rio truly fear.

This is their symbol:

Nicknamed the caveiras (skulls), the men of the BOPE also use that word as their war cry.

Have a look at this, the film trailer for Elite Squad, a work based on events that occurred in Rio back in 1997. Please be patient while the video scrolls through the credits. That takes about fifty seconds.



Next, watch some actual news footage, shot on the Morro dos Macacos, a hill upon which one of Rio’s many shantytowns is situated.

The puffs of smoke are hand grenades being used by a drug gang. You can hear one cop warning the others by screaming the word granada (grenade).



This, folks, is real warfare.

Journalists have yet to capture BOPE’s abuse and murder of prisoners.

But José Padilha, the director of the film, has chosen to include such scenes – because, in reality, they happen all the time.

Here’s another trailer, this one for Elite Squad: The Enemy Within:



Fiction vs. Reality vs. Fiction.

And all of them remarkably alike.

You can get a more in depth-look, and absorb more of this very real picture, by renting Elite Squad, now available from Netflix and Blockbuster in the U.S.

And, if you want to know more about Leighton Gage and his books, you can visit him on his homepage www.leightongage.com or on the blog he writes with six other authors of “international” mysteries: murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/

Nero Award 2011: Louise Penny's Bury Your Dead

Louise Penny won the Nero Award for Bury Your Dead. The award was presented by the Wolfe Pack last night at the Black Orchid Banquet in New York. Congratulations, Louise!

The "Nero" is an annual award presented to an author for literary excellence in the mystery genre.

Nominees:
Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen
The Book of Spies by Gayle Lynds
The Midnight Show Murders by Al Roker
Think of a Number by John Verdon

Novel Covers for Your iPad

These iPad Novel Covers are certainly Novel.  Thanks to Judy Bobalik for this link. Love the cover graphics. One 'mystery' cover! Check out more covers HERE.

TARDIS Bookcase

Thanks to Marlyn Beebe for a link to this TARDIS DVD Bookcase that transports you to Any Place (in your Movie Collection). Of course, you could make this for Books, because we know they'll take you Any Place, too.

This is a full size bookcase in the form of a TARDIS. Don't know what a TARDIS is? You're not a Dr. Who fan. A TARDIS is a time machine and spacecraft in the Doctor Who series.

CWA Elllis Peters Award

The Crime Writers' Association 2011 Ellis Peters Award: The Somme Stations by Andrew Martin. This is the seventh mystery in the series featuring railway detective Jim Stringer. It is set during the The Great War. The Award also includes 3000 pounds in prize money.

The award is sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters, Headline Book Publishing Company and Little, Brown Book Group. It is given to the best crime novel set in any period up to 35 years prior to the year in which the award is given by an author of any nationality, and commemorates the life and work of Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter).

Also nominated:
Prince by Rory Clements (John Murray)
The Red Coffin (aka Shadow Pass) by Sam Eastland (Faber and Faber)
The Hanging Shed by Gordon Ferris (Corvus)
The Cleansing Flames by R.N. Morris (Faber and Faber)
Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson (Headline)

Hat Tip: Omnimystery News & It's a Crime (Or a Mystery...)