Waiting for the game to resume

And so HBO's Game of Thrones has come to an end, well the first season at least and I must say it's been the most compelling TV I've seen in many years. I'd not read George R R Martin's books upon which the series is based and so I was taken completely by surprise many times. The climax of episode nine left me speechless and episode ten, the final episode, ended with a great hook for the next season. And thankfully HBO have announced that there will be a second season.

I'm currently reading the TV tie-in edition of Game of Thrones, but plan to read this volume and hold off on the second until the second season has been transmitted. That way I will come to season two with no idea what to expect. Did the first season cover the whole of the first book? I'm not sure yet - I'm just over half of the way through the book, and from what I've read thus far the TV series was quite faithful.

The one thing that did disappoint is that the production skimped on some large battle scenes - we had the tension filled build up to a battle and then we went straight to the aftermath, but then I suppose including such huge battles would have escalated the budget on what was already a big budget series. Mind you the fact that the show could do this and still remain unmissable speaks volumes of how good it was. And it was good, very good - like Lord of the Rings with boobs. In fact the show may be a strong contender for the best TV series there's ever been. The show often carried three of four story threads simultaneously but never once does the viewer lose themselves. A great series should challenge viewers to pay attention, to connect dots and anticipate connections. Game of Thrones, manages a superior complexity without ever making you think that you’ve lost the connection to the story. It’s paced with precision and the carefully crafted so that each and every scene pays off on the one that went before.


Can't wait for the DVD box set - then I'll get to watch it all over again.

Was Jack the Ripper really Jill the Ripper???

There is no factual evidence to suggest that Jack the Ripper was a man, other that the supposed rarity of women psychopaths.

Mary Kelly's body was so badly mutilated that no actual specific identification was possible.. It could have been anyone.

Mary Jane Kelly knew all the deceased.

Discover the answers for yourself.

A Policeman's lot by Gary M. Dobbs - out now for the Kindle, Nook, Sony and all other formats - click HERE. And soon available in a print version.

Inspector Frank Parade carries out his daily duties in the Welsh industrial town of Pontypridd, duties complicated by the unprecedented presence of 500 members of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show encamped outside the town, not to mention the thousands attending the show every day. A series of depraved murders quickly makes things even more complicated. Buffalo Bill stands squarely in his path when Parade tries to investigate the likely possibility that one of the hundreds of show members is involved. And soon enough Parade’s own superiors are blocking his inquires, too. Still more deaths occur as Parade sifts through the thin evidence available and finds a trail that may lead to the perpetrator of the most heinous crime of the 19th Century—London’s “Ripper” murders.

Shocking revelations come thick and fast.

The greatest criminal mystery in history is about to be solved by a Welsh copper and an American Legend.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST 99cent AUTHOR JOINS THE MILLION CLUB

Archive friend, John Locke has just become the first SELF PUBLISHED author to sell a million titles on the Amazon Kindle platform. This week several of the British dailies have featured the author which is considerably widening his profile - indeed he is in danger of becoming an household name.

Locke's books typically retail for $0.99 cents when more established author, ie traditionally published writer's books cost ten times more - "I put them in the position of having to prove their books were 10 times better than mine," says Locke.

The Archive is delighted with the author's success particularly as he's recently started working in the western genre. Remember, the western - it's that genre that conventional publishing, with very few exceptions, has long considered dead.

The Archive spoke to Mr Locke HERE

Congratulations John Locke from all at The Tainted Archive.

Those wanting to emulate Mr Locke would do well to follow his advice here - "Write the types of books you like to read. Build your books around memorable scenes. Write your dialogue the way people actually talk, instead of the way they’re supposed to talk. I always give authors the same advice: don't take yourself too seriously. Write the types of books you like to read. I offer my readers a fun, breezy read. If I can give them some chuckles and hold their interest for a few hours, I feel I've earned my 99 cents. I know I'm on the right track if I laugh out loud when I'm writing a scene. And if I don't laugh out loud several times while writing a book, I don't publish it."

The post in which we get back on track and journey into space

The Archive's been very quiet this week best rest assured things should now return to normal, and in place of last week's missing Sunday Comics this week will see a mammoth story, a full episode of Charlton Comics classic, The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves written by none other than Keith Chapman AKA Chap O'Keefe. Keith's latest eBook, Misfit Lil Cheats the Hangrope will also be one of the titles championed in the next Wild West eMonday which takes place during the last weekend of July. We've got some great stuff coming this time - I can reveal that after the success of our short story, Melanie by Edward D Grainger, published here during the previous Wild West eMonday, we will have an all new Cash Laramie story. And this time out it's doubly special because Grainger's co-written the story with popular Black Horse Western author, Chuck Tyrell.

News of this and much more soon.

But for now I want to recommend the new BBC CD release, Journey into Space, which has just been released as a seven disc boxset. The series, first broadcast as part of the BBC Light Programme in 1952, is famous as being the last radio show to gain a bigger audience than the evening's television.The story here is  a rerecording of the original first series which was lost. This version was originally recorded in 1958 and titled, Operation Luna. It had originally been titled, Journey to the Moon.

The fact that there are any of these episodes left in the BBC Archive is a minor miracle, since they were believed to have been wiped shortly after broadcast. However, in 1986, a set of mis-named Transcription Service discs (produced for sale to overseas radio stations) were discovered, containing complete copies of the three original series). This discovery enabled the BBC to begin re-broadcasting the show in the late 1980s, and release copies of the show, first on audio cassette, and more recently on CD and Internet download.

Listening to the series now it often seems a little corny, but that aside it still work beautifully, especially when our intrepid adventurers blast off to the moon - do not forget that when this was recorded there was still more than a decade to go before mankind actually reached the moon, or didn't depending on if you believe the conspiracy theories or not.


The sound quality is superb and given that they are over 50 years old this is quite remarkable. Journey into Space is a must have for anyone interested in SCI-FI or classic radio.

Black Horse Western charts

Charts, as always, supplied by Black Horse Express

1. Drive to Redemption by Mike Deane (Hardcover - 31 May 2011)
From £9.60

2. Bluegrass Bounty by Jack Reason (Hardcover - 30 Jun 2007)
From £0.01

3. Iron Eyes Makes War by Rory Black (Hardcover - 30 Oct 2009)
From £1.83

4. Revenge for a Hanging by Richard Smith (Hardcover - 29 Jul 2011)
from £13.25

5. The Black Horse Westerns: Collection No. 1 by Abe Dancer, Dean Edwards, Tyler Hatch and Scott Connor (Kindle Edition - 1 Jan 2011)
Buy: £7.50

6. The Long Trail by Corba Sunman (Hardcover - 30 Mar 2007)
From £0.01

7. Christmas at Horseshoe Bend by J.D. Kincaid (Hardcover - 30 Jun 2007)
From £0.01

8. Mist Rider by Luther Chance (Hardcover - 28 Sep 2007)
From £0.01

9. Hope's Last Chance by Rob Hill (Hardcover - 31 Jan 2011)
From £8.57

10. Stampede at Rattlesnake Pass by Clay More (Hardcover - 30 Jun 2007)
From £0.01

Wild West eMonday

Next month will see another Wild West eMonday - get ready. This one is gonna' be the biggest yet. In the meantime I leave you with an old video trailer for my début western, The Tarnished Star - soon to be filmed as LawMaster.

Better late than never stats

Weekly Stats Report: 13 Jun - 19 Jun 2011
Project: THE TAINTED ARCHIVE
URL: http://tainted-archive.blogspot.com/

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total	Avg
Pageloads	958	843	911	841	830	929	882	6,194	885
Unique Visitors	720	679	719	646	630	690	692	4,776	682
First Time Visitors	678	632	675	615	599	665	665	4,529	647
Returning Visitors	42	47	44	31	31	25	27	247	35