Eighteen Hotel Arizona / 6:00 P.M. Calhoun made a call from the Hotel Arizona’s front desk up to their room. The lobby was crowded with American men in for the weekend. Middle manager types with girlfriends. It was that kind of hotel. For some reason, the sight of them made Calhoun nervous. He put the phone down and walked back outside to the street. The vet’s shot was working; he felt better.The evening was warm and close-feeling. He crossed the street to the hotel parking lot and got into the jeep. He took stock, checked the back seat, made sure it was orderly. The customs police would notice things like that. Something felt...

MARSHAL LAW: THE DELUXE EDITION Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill 2013 DC Comics They say I don’t pray for my enemy I do. I pray they go to Hell I remember reading the original Marshal Law comics back in the late 80’s. The punk scene and strange party all the time attitude of the decade was waning and here was a comic that seemed to reflect that, and dealt with it with over the top violence and black humor and parody. I’m a fan of super hero comics and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I do also admit that there are an awful lot of comics that have been written over the years that are just goofy and ripe for parody. Marshal Law came along at just the...

Seventeen Downtown / 5:30 P.M. Calhoun was lying on a bed in one of the hotel rooms they kept around the city. This one had a view of the bullring and a technical college from the window in front oft of him. When he’d woken up he could hear the students outside on the street getting ready for evening classes. He wasn’t sure what had happened or how he’d gotten there. He didn’t know that the kid from the Escondido had called Miguel and they’d brought him there. He’d listened to Castro’s voice and now tried to pull himself upright on the bed.”Slaughter expects the cargo in San Diego…by seven...

Fantasy—ripped from today’s headlines By Robert Liparulo I like stories that surprise me, show me things I’ve never seen before, and get me playing make-believe like I haven’t done since selling my G.I. Joes and Legos at a garage sale. Few tales are as make-believe (or as fun) as fantasy fiction—from the “light fantasy” of alternate histories and time travel to the hardcore stuff involving space odysseys and dragons. The trouble is I’m a skeptic, a hard sell. For a story to grab me, no matter how far-fetched it’s supposed to be, I have to see and feel things I recognize, things I relate to. Sounds like common sense, but as a voracious...

Friday night, Red and I went to see Pete Hautman at St. Paul’s Red Balloon bookshop. The Grand Ave. staple has been attracting quite a few high-profile authors lately, such as Jon and Carol Barrowman (The Hollow Earth) and Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl). Celebrating the release of his newest novel The Cydonian Pyramid, which is book 2 in his Klaatu Diskos trilogy. The event had an intimate feel, with the chairs set up in a half-circle, and Mr. Hautman answering questions while sitting cross-legged on top of a desk. With conversation bouncing between time-travel, faith vs. religion, and Star Trek, as well as praise for Mystery One bookstore in...

Sixteen Downtown / 3:20 P.M. Selena’s “Tú Solo Tú” was on the juke box.We’re all finished off in the war of life – some just take more killing than others, Calhoun thought, looking at his beer. He thought of running to a theater and hiding from himself. He saw Celeste waiting for him back at the motel. He was stone broke. He smirked at himself in the brown tint of the Dos XX’s bottle. He looked up at the yellow barroom wall in front of him.No se puede vivir sin amar, a sign said. There was a collection of Mexican homilies in Victorian script on the wall. “You cannot live without love,” this one...