Thursday, 29 August 2019

Ed McBain's Hail To The Chief - Episode 28: Grotbags?

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast!
Here we are, still in 1973, but sat next to Ed McBain, examining his typewriter which surely took some beating as he punched out the text of his Nixon-hating Gang-Warfare Allegory, HAIL TO THE CHIEF. Join us as we spot the parallels (based on our rather limited knowledge of the politics of the US in the early 70s...) and discuss this most violent and unusual 87th Precinct novel.
Also: we're over half-way through the series! If you'd like to get us a present as a reward, then head to https://ko-fi.com/hark87podcast and buy us a digital coffee for $3. It'll help us with the costs of keeping going. Otherwise, please rate and review on your podcast app. We'd very much appreciate it. 
See you soon for the bonus episode and then for the podcast about book 29, BREAD. Fare Thee Well.

Wednesday, 7 August 2019

Ed McBain's Let's Hear It For The Deaf Man - Episode 27, Bonus: Little Jimmy The Croc

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct podcast bonus episode.
Here we are, off the back of our review of the 27th book in the series, Let's Hear It For The Deaf Man, with our usual blend of book cover and design chat, the great quiz of '73 (first bit of the year) and most importantly - Fantasy Casting for THE DEAF MAN! Thanks so much for all your contributions. Apologies to Cary Elwes for my terrible pronunciation of his name!
Next time you need to think about who you'd cast as our central civilian female character, Teddy Carella!
See you next time for HAIL TO THE CHIEF. Fare thee well!

Wednesday, 31 July 2019

Ed McBain's Let's Hear It For The Deaf Man - Episode 27: Weeping For Dusty-Bin

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast!
It's 1973 and The Deaf Man is back to taunt the cops of the 87th Precinct and to confirm his status as Steve Carella's nemesis. Join us for our discussion of this novel which takes in all three of the story threads, the relationship of the book to the film Fuzz, its place in Evan Hunter's work for the year and how it influences the lives of some of the characters to come. We explore some contemporary reviews of the book as well, with a mature and grown-up approach...
Remember to rate and review the podcast wherever you can and if you want to drop us a small donation, you can do so via www.ko-fi.com/hark87podcast - it doesn't cost us much to run the show, but every little helps. 
We'll see you soon for the bonus episode (book covers, quiz and who to cast as The Deaf Man) and then onwards for the second 87th Precinct book of 1973, Hail To The Chief. Fare Thee Well.

Friday, 19 July 2019

Hark! Solo-pod: Short Stories - Roger Lasagna?

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Podcast bonus stopgap, er, thing...

Just so you don't go mad waiting to hear Paul's dulcet tones again, here's a short episode that takes a quick trek around his bookshelves looking at collections of short-stories he loves and then an examination of Ed McBain/Evan Hunter's story collections in a little more detail. We appreciate it's taken a little longer than usual to get round to the next 87th Precinct book, so this is offered by way of a little stopgap.

Featured in this episode particularly are the books THE RETURN OF MR CAMPION, written by Margery Allingham and published by Agora Books - a fine collection and THE DIMENSION SCALES by Garry Abbott.


We'll see you soon for Let's Hear It For The Deaf Man.

Tuesday, 25 June 2019

Ed McBain's Sadie When She Died - Episode 26, Bonus: The Chimp Looks Great

HARK! It's an 87th Precinct bonus podcast.
Learn everything about 1972, the year in which the 26th book in the 87th Precinct series was published, in our bonus episode. Albums, Singles, Films, TV... and we do manage to talk about Ed McBain and the books as well. 
We investigate our copies of the book and look at the original editions - find everything on our Instagram page - and decide on who we're putting forward for our fantasy-casting of the unluckiest cop in the squad - Detective Bob O'Brien. Find out who we set our casting sights on for the next episode as well. There's a bit of history of the NYPD, a bonus squeak from a cat called Sally and then we're done! See you soon for Book Number 27! 
Fare Thee Well.

Thursday, 20 June 2019

Ed McBain's Sadie When She Died - Episode 26: Played By An Ocelot

H*A*R*K It's an 87th Precinct podcast!
The year is 1972 and Gerald Fletcher has just come home to find his wife eviscerated on the bedroom floor and his apartment burglarised. Luckily the police catch the burglar. Case solved? Well, not quite. Carella becomes Columbo in this tale of identity, betrayal, lost and found (and lost again) loves at Christmas in the Eight-Seven. [This episode marked as 'Explicit' due to some of the words taken from this book...]
Paul, Morgan and Stevo discuss the book and take a look at what Evan Hunter was up to in 1972 in other areas and we relate some contemporary reviews of the novel as well. Our contextual chat about the year can be found in the upcoming bonus episode!
Thanks for your continued support. Please rate, review, listen and share. We love to get your contributions and comments. Also, if you're wondering what we're giggling about and saying the word "Neasden" for, please watch this Youtube clip of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
We'll see you again soon for the return of the 87th Precinct's arch-nemesis in "Let's Hear It For The Deaf Man". Fare Thee Well.

Sunday, 9 June 2019

Side-Pod - Rocket To Luna - Your Eyebrows Ran Away

IGNITION! It's an 87th Precinct Side-Pod.
Strap on your heavy metal space boots, take a sip from your feeding tube and hail that space taxi - we're launching into orbit and beyond in this special edition all about the Richard Marsten science-fiction book Rocket To Luna.
Another story in the Winston Science Fiction range (as with Danger: Dinosaurs), Rocket To Luna sees Marsten/Hunter speculate on what could happen on the first trip to the moon in the far off year of 1983, imagine what it would be like to be seventeen and in space and provide a stark warning about the hazards of poor riveting.
To discuss whether the story is riveting or not is returning guest, Garry Abbott, who earns his return visit by virtue of his own works as a writer of speculative fiction and sci-fi. Find Garry's author page here. Join us to hear all about this book, all about a particular film and discover why Paul wasn't allowed to go into space in the eighties himself. Until next time, Fare Thee Well.