Author: andersrunestad

A New Year, My Third Novel and Much More Writing on the Way

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Been away too long as is often the case, but back with my third novel Attack Therapy, which is also the third part of my ongoing Maize Noir crime fiction series. 

A lot of writing stuff is on the way for 2021, including at least two more novels and of course, the script book for Phil Tucker’s Space Jockey later this year.

For now, here’s the Attack Therapy cover and a little sample.  Back with more writing stuff in February …

Attack Therapy

“I’ll put my money where my mouth is,” Val whispered. He switched on a tiny flashlight and kept it focused, barely angled forward on the floor.

His lithe form traveled invisibly past Tim’s chair and one side of Marcus, extinguishing the light as soon as he reached the door.

He put one hand gently on the lever and silently turned it. Then, almost embracing the door to keep it steady, he slowly leaned it open and stepped outside.

Tim felt a cool rush of air flow inwards, knowing well the stuffiness of his own office and then relief at the change in pressure.

It only lasted a second, long enough for Marcus to see the pale light outside frame Val in the doorway as a tall shadow grabbed him and pulled him down, slamming the door shut again.

Copyright 2020 Anders Runestad

Phil Tucker’s Space Jockey: A Lost Script Found

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It is my privilege and my pleasure to make a huge announcement.

The script for Phil Tucker’s lost film Space Jockey has been discovered, thanks to a copy of it kept by an original cast member. The film remains lost to the best of my knowledge, but Tucker’s script for his lost film has surfaced.

In September 2019, I was contacted by Tok Thompson, professor of Anthropology and Communication at the University of Southern California. Tok’s mother Donnis Stark Thompson, recently departed, had lived a full and fascinating life that included an early stint as an actress.  And when Phil Tucker shot the lost film in Fairbanks, Alaska during the late summer of 1953, she was part of the cast.  Years later among his mother’s belongings, Tok’s family discovered her copy of the Space Jockey script. Contacting film journalist Phil Hall, Tok was advised to contact me about the script because of my Phil Tucker book I Cannot, Yet I Must.

Thanks to Tok graciously sharing the script, I’ve been able to read it and, thanks to the copyright research of Elias Savada, it’s been confirmed that Tucker’s script was never copyrighted or renewed. As the script is public domain, I am pleased to say that it will be published in the year 2021.  Also, there are hopes of performing it in some manner.

As this project is in development and ongoing, I’ll have more to post as the year keeps rolling on, with a publication date to be narrowed down and announced later. I hope that everyone out there who is a fan of Robot Monster, Phil Tucker’s movies, and cult cinema in general is as excited about this project as I am, and I look forward to you being able to experience this lost original script by Phil Tucker.

Stay tuned!

Happy Independence Day

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“Star-Spangled Banner” films were a regular fixture of local TV stations, before infomercials gave them an excuse to broadcast 24-7. The ones I see on YouTube seem all recorded from the sign-off at the end of the day, but my strongest memory of them is from one that was played as a morning sign-on.

The video below is a sign-off from New York City, and I’m reasonably sure this is the same video we had in my corner of the Midwest when one of the local stations signed on at 6:00 in the morning on the Saturdays when I was up. The close-in on the flag at the end with that exciting high note (sounded like a pipe organ from a little TV speaker), followed by a whooshing rocket-into-space noise is the part I’ve always remembered.

But wait, there’s more. Notice that the entire video is a series of still photos with zooms and pans and fancy edits. This style is the true essence of the late ’70s and early ’80s, and it was everywhere. I’m continually amazed that anyone associates it so much with Ken Burns documentaries–remember the opening credits of The Rockford Files, Days of Heaven, anything on public television back then?

The Red Right Hand Reprinted & Recommended

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Many of my latest (and future) blog posts are about novels I’ve written and am releasing.  But this post is about someone else’s novel. One I fully intend on talking up to everyone I know until I get the eye rolls that let me know I’m going on about it too much. And I need to buy a few copies and give them away. This is a 1945 novel that has drifted out of print for long stretches while, I’m overjoyed to say, it’s back in print on July 7 of this year.

Joel Townsley Rogers’ incredible novel The Red Right Hand opens with the aftermath of a crime. A young couple on a scenic trip have encountered a frightening stranger, the story beginning with the narrator trying to sort out exactly what happened.  This description is no spoiler, for it’s merely how the book opens and I will say no more about the plot or the characters. I truly want to ruin nothing about the experience of this novel for anyone who hasn’t read it.

What I will say is that The Red Right Hand is a feverish, hallucinatory nightmare, dripping with nocturnal atmosphere, recurring dread, and much more. Written by a prolific, master pulp writer, it’s much appreciated by writers and genre enthusiasts, but seems to have never crossed that far into the mainstream. Maybe now is the time for that to change. If you like mystery, crime, or the more psychological brand of horror, you need to read it, preferably on a hot summer night with open windows, a darkened screen door nearby, and all of nature’s unearthly sounds drifting in.

Don’t take my word for it, just trust Donald Westlake: “I believe Joel Townsley Rogers’ The Red Right Hand should be reissued every 5 years forever.”

And a big thanks goes to the great Otto Penzler for reissuing it as part of his American Mystery Classics series.

Whether in softcover, hardcover, or e-book, check out and enjoy the eerie dream-state of The Red Right Hand, one of the most unique and memorable novels ever written.

New Novel: Spider’s Wine

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This is my second suspense novel, with the third coming soon.  Enjoy an excerpt below, and click here to get the rest:

Every inch of glass from the rear panel was obliterated into a not very fine powder coating.

He shook as he turned around, desperate for any hint of where the blast came from.

There was another squeal and the rumble of acceleration.

And Brad had no time to fear or to even think.

Neil Peart

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The music of Rush is supposed to be a love-it-or-hate-it thing, but somehow I managed to fall in the middle.  Long-term, devoted fans don’t always love their early ‘80s material but I think the Permanent Waves-Moving Pictures-Signals era was magnificent. Alex Lifeson’s guitar had a lovely chorus pedal sound which meshed with the synthesizers that the band was experimenting with, and brought out the best in some of their best songs.

It’s thanks to Neil Peart that I learned something about music.  A couple of high school jazz band friends had whatever the current Rush concert video was at the time, and could not say enough about Peart’s drumming.  One of these guys was a drummer, and the other a serious Rush fan, and I realized that some folks like music not for any song by that artist, but because of the sheer musicianship.

And I hope Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson keep going in some form.

Rest in peace, Neil Peart.

Screw Punch Now Available, and More on the Way

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It was such a doozy writing a 100th post that my next update took too long to get here.

But my first novel Screw Punch is now out.

And two recent short stories are also available, both with long titles that I’m here going to just call Power Plant and Nocturnal Incident.

Two more novels in the Maize Noir world of Midwestern themed crime fiction are coming, Spider’s Wine and Attack Therapy.  They are written and on the way this year, but now is the time for Part 1 of this loosely connected trilogy. So, without further ado, let’s close with an excerpt from Screw Punch:

She had nothing left to do but help Kim find her tool and get out of there.

So she paused to look into a wall mirror above the little microwave that sat on the inadequate table. Her hair had been pulled up in a pony tail that she now released to shake her hair around and regather in her hands.

As she shaped her hair together into a thick stream, she noticed absentmindedly that the closet door was open by a small crack.

She looked up critically at the mirror, noticing straight white-blond hairs that were escaping her pony tail and that she smoothed back over her scalp with both hands. Then she pulled off the hair tie, rested it on two fingers, and grabbed all of her hair and bunched it all within one petite fist.

And then she stopped, frozen, and hair began to drift down. In the mirror, her eyes enlarged and her mouth opened silently.

A pair of eyes was staring back at her from the closet.