Robert Ellis: Why a movie will always beat an iPhone ...

 

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Robert Ellis: What I'm Reading

Robert Ellis

 

I was searching for something new this past weekend and pulled out a couple of Erle Stanley Gardner novels. I can't help writing about this without smiling. I read THE CASE OF THE NEGLIGENT NYMPH, and I'm halfway through THE CASE OF THE FIERY FINGERS.

I could feel the era Gardner was writing in---the language, the changes in the way we act and view the world. But the truth is that both novels stand up to time really well. As a huge fan of the original PERRY MASON series on television, I had to get past seeing Raymond Burr as Mason, Barbara Hale as Della Street, William Hopper as Paul Drake, Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg, and William Talman as Hamilton Burger. Casts like that don't come along every day, so it wasn't easy. But after about fifty pages, the actors seemed to fade some and I was caught up in the murder case.

Erle Stanley Gardner

 

The reason I'm smiling is that both novels have been a delight to read. A delight to go back to. So much so that I didn't want to read them too quickly. I had forgotten the obvious pleasure Gardner took in describing his characters, and the mysterious personal life that Perry Mason seems to live. I had forgotten how much respect the core characters had for each other, even in the heat of battle.

So what's next? THE CASE OF THE MISCHIEVOUS DOLL!

 

https://www.robertellis.net/ 

 

Robert Ellis: CITY OF ECHOES, Crime Scene Photos

"Vega opened a file folder and pulled out an email from the New Orleans Police Department that included several crime scene photos of the girl’s nude body staked to the ground, along with before and after shots of her face. Until two days ago Kim Bachman had been an innocent-looking young brunette with light brown eyes. Now her face was mutilated, the moment of her death frozen in a grotesque smile that stretched from ear to ear. Matt stared at the photograph, still unable to comprehend how anyone, no matter what their psychological issues, no matter what their past, could do this to another human being, or any living thing. It almost seemed as if the killer intentionally picked out the most pure, the most gentle, in order to underline their transformation from all that was beautiful in this world to all that was hideous."

– Robert Ellis, CITY OF ECHOES

 

CITY OF ECHOES on Amazon 

 

 

 

 

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Robert Ellis: August 15th Book Contest Winners!

August 15th Book Contest Winners!

Congratulations to Mindy from Los Angeles, CA, and Jill from Ormond Beach, FL, for winning today’s draw! A signed copy of THE GIRL BURIED IN THE WOODS is on its way!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TTY18QL?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

I’m happy to say that this contest has been running since August 20, 2018! For more info about the book giveaways on the 1st & 15th of each month, please stop by the website.

Thanks to everyone who loves this series and supports my work!

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Robert Ellis: Gifts from the Sea

My mother lost her third child a few days after she was born. Unfortunately, the sister I never had the chance to meet passed away due to a glitch at the hospital. There was no logical reason to explain her death other than the fact that every member of the medical staff dropped the ball. At the time I was old enough to know something horrible had happened, and that our family would never be the same. The reason I mention this most personal of all experiences is that a close family friend, someone who turned out to be one of my closest advisors through life, gave my mother a book in order to help her cope with her loss. That book was Anne Morrow Lindbergh's GIFT FROM THE SEA.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Years later I was going through the bookshelves in our den looking for something to read and found it. A GIFT FROM THE SEA is extremely thought provoking, and with the modern world stuck in a digital abyss and beginning to leave its humanity behind, probably more relevant now than the year it was written. It's filled with Lindbergh's thoughts and feelings and search for inner peace. After I read the last page and thought it over, I realized that she had given me an extra special gift. She had introduced me to Rainer Maria Rilke's LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET, which is quoted throughout the book.

If reading or writing or any combination of the two makes your day, then LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET is a must read. The book is comprised of ten letters Rilke wrote to a young man who wanted to make a life in the arts. I don't have to be a fortuneteller to say that this is one of the best books you will ever read in your life. And if you're a writer, your work is about to take a giant step forward.

All best,

Robert

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