Author Mickey Spillane, the undisputed master of hard-boiled detective fiction, passed away earlier this week at age 88. Of all his literary creations, perhaps none are more memorable than Mike Hammer the cynical, brutal, womanizing private dick who brawled his way across the pages of 13 novels, and appeared in countless television shows and movies.

I can't think of a better way to pay homage to the sway that Spillane's words still hold over me than to offer up this Noir-meets-Knights-Templar takeoff on the life of Our Blessed Savior, written by Alan Scott and Yours Truly long before the Da Vinci Code became a mediocre novel and a bad film.

[Link: Two-Fisted Jesus Tales]

P.S. and while you're at it, take a gander at the oh-so fine Unoffical Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer Site [Link] and the site that pays tribute to the greatest Mike Hammer of them all, the Meeker Museum [Link].

Posted by MrBaliHai at 6:36 PM | Permalink

Please enjoy this gallery of cover and inside illustrations from the complete first-edition series of Biggles books, but remember, don't refer to him as Señor Biggles, he's not a Spanish person.

[Link: The Biggles Information Web Site][via elcg]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 4:33 PM | Permalink

I just finished reading the hardcover copy of Thor Heyerdahl's Aku-Aku that I picked up in Vegas last week. Fantastic book, and a worthy successor to Kon-Tiki. It's too bad modern genetics has proved that Heyerdahl was dead wrong about Polynesians being descendants of the ancient Peruvians, but nevertheless, it's a great adventure story. I hope that I can visit Rapa Nui someday, and see the mysterious Moai for myself

I loved the old color photographs in this book, particularly the sequence that shows the raising of a Moai back onto its original pedestal. Here are 34 pages of photos from the book, scanned for your viewing pleasure.

[Link: Aku-Aku Image Gallery]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)