For fans of The Prisoner, this 5-disk collection is a must buy. Not only do you get all the episodes, but the Special Features are fascinating. Here is what this box-set contains:
Special Features:

Discs 1-4 (Blu-ray):
All 17 episodes in newly remixed 5.1 surround sound (in addition to the original mono tracks)

Disc 5 (DVD):

“Don’t Knock Yourself Out”: Feature-length documentary chronicling the production of THE PRISONER, told by those involved in its creation

Two brand-new featurettes: “The Pink Prisoner” and “You Make Sure It Fits!”

Promo for AMC’s THE PRISONER Miniseries

Newly restored original edit of “Arrival” with an optional music-only soundtrack featuring Wilfred Josephs’ complete and abandoned score

Original edit of “The Chimes of Big Ben”

Production crew audio commentaries on seven episodes

Trailers for all episodes

Archive textless material, including the title sequence with clean themes by Ron Grainer, Wilfred Josephs and Robert Farnon

Commercial break bumpers

Image archive with over 1200 stills

Production paperwork archive, featuring scripts, call sheets and press releases (DVD-ROM Feature)

For the past decade, I’ve been a New Balance guy. I bought and wore the New Balance Model 993s for years. They were cozy and durable, well worth the $149 price. But now I’ve switched. Nike Free sneakers may be the most comfortable sneaker I’ve ever had on my feet. I’ve worn Nike sneakers in the past, but was dissatisfied with the feel and cushioning. These new Nike Free sneakers (for men and women) clearly have solved those problems. The Nike Free sneakers come in various colors and styles. They range in price from $87.95 – $139.98 on AMAZON depending on your choices. But if you’re looking for a new pair of super comfy sneakers, give the Nike Frees a try.

A couple years ago while shopping in a Sam’s Club, I happened to see an intriguing cover for a PC game called Torchlight. The game sounded like a clone of Diablo, a game I enjoyed playing. The price was around $14 so I bought it, installed it, and had hours of fun playing it. About a month ago, I discovered there was a sequel: Torchlight 2. STEAM offered it for $9.95 so I downloaded the game and installed it. Same Diablio game-play and hours of fun. If you’re in the mood for a great looking and diverting PC game, consider Torchlight 2.

My daughter Katie lives in the Boston area so of course Diane and I were completely involved in the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing from the beginning. Fortunately, Katie was working in Newton, Massachusetts when the bombs went off. Katie found about about the tragedy when Patrick sent her a text that said, “Are you okay?” Katie texted back, “Why wouldn’t I be?” That’s when Patrick sent video of the explosions to Katie’s iPhone. Then came the release of the photos of the suspects by the FBI. Then came the 7-11 robbery, the shooting of the M.I.T. security officer, the car-jacking of the Mercedes SUV, the fire-fight in Watertown, the death of Suspect #1, and the manhunt for Suspect #2. Ironically, Katie had planned a trip home this weekend. And she made it home! Diane and I gave her an extra-big Welcome Home hug! Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and their families.

Ed Gorman is back home from the Mayo Clinic and recovering. Our best wishes go out to him. In the March issue of Mystery Scene magazine, Ed wrote an article on “My 10 Favorite John D. MacDonald Standalone Novels.” And here’s the list:
1. Dead Low Tide
2. Soft Touch
3. Deadly Welcome
4. Murder in the Wind
5. The Executioners
6. Slam the Big Door
7. The End of the Night
8. A Key to the Suite
9. A Flash of Green
10. The Drowner

This week, we’re up to Number Eight on Ed’s list, A Key to the Suite published in 1962. No suspense writer captures the business world the way John D. MacDonald did. You can see this in A Key to the Suite where a business executive, Floyd Hubbard, attends a convention. Hubbard is supposed to act as a corporate hit-man and end the future employment of Jesse Mulaney, head of the sales department. Mulaney hires a high class call girl named Cory to seduce Hubbard and then to embarrass him in a desperate attempt to save his job. If you ever wondered how business executives operate behind closed doors and at business conventions, just read A Key to the Suite.

As a kid, I fell in love with C. S. Forester’s The Horatio Hornblower series of naval adventures. Forester’s hero, a young Englishman, finds action and thrills (as well as disappointments) in the Royal Navy. Decades later, I read Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series featuring an ambitious Captain in the Royal Navy and his friend who is both a doctor and a spy. I’ve heard good things about Dewey Lambdin’s Alan Lewrie naval adventure series which spans the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Lambdin is an American writer (he lives in Nashville!) so there’s a different flavor to the Lewrie books. I highly recommend The King’s Coat where 17-year-old Lewrie is tricked into joining the Royal Navy by his unscrupulous father. Lambdin uses a clever technique to both educate the reader and Lewrie about the parts of the ship, the way sails are set, and other details of life aboard a naval warship in 1780. I liked The French Admiral less well because Lewrie is taken off his ship and becomes involved in the Battle of Yorktown. Lambdin does not shirk from showing the graphic aspects of war including atrocities that are historical facts. I hope Lambdin keeps Lewrie on the seas in the next books in the series (up to 19 volumes so far) which I intend to read periodically. If you’re in the mood for some spirited naval adventures, try Dewey Lambdin’s Alan Lewrie series.

Generous Rick Robinson sent me a copy of Jacques Bonnet’s Phantoms on the Bookselves. This book is for bibliophiles who tend to their own libraries. Jacques Bonnet is a French publisher, translator, and author. Bonnet’s spent forty years building a private library of more than forty thousand books. Bonnet writes about the problems of classification and organization of a book collection. If you have a lot of books, Phantoms on the Bookshelves provides plenty of useful information on getting the most out of them.

If you love movies as much as I do, you’ll enjoy the interviews on Side By Side: Can Film Survive Our Digital Future. James Cameron (Avatar), David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Robert Rodriguez (Sin City), Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight), and other directors speak their minds about the changes in the movie industry happening today and in the future. I picked up my copy at Sam’s Club for $11.95. Worth every penny! Check out the trailer below. GRADE: A

Two weeks ago, the last used bookstore in North Tonawanda closed (we used to have two, now we have none). Only a handful of used bookstores survive in Western New York and they’re all on life-support. There are only two used bookstores within driving distance in Canada (Fort Erie and Port Colborne). So my used book searches have been reduced to thrift stores and library book sales. Last week I went into a Salvation Army store and found a copy of Karl Haas’ Inside Music: How to Understand, Listen to, and Enjoy Good Music. Diane and I have listened to Karl Haas’ radio program for years. I also found a Conan novel I’d never seen before: Conan: The Sword of Skelos by Andrew Offutt. Francine Prose’s Bigfoot Dreams is one of the few novels I haven’t read by this talented writer. John Creasey’s Toff and the Trip-Trip-Triplets surprised me; I’d never seen this book before in hardcover or paperback. And, how could I pass up a First Edition of Block’s The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams with baseball season starting. I’ve read good reviews of Jeffrey Ford’s work so now I have The Shadow Year to look forward to. The total cost for all these books: $4.00!

In 2008, Paul Auster (author of the New York Trilogy) and J. M. Coetzee (winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature) started faxing letters to each other (Auster hates the Internet so these are actual letters, not emails). You would think that in the exchange of letters, literature would be at the heart of their communication. But, you would be wrong. Coetzee mulls over the state of the international economy a lot. Auster is a huge sports fan so many of his letters have sports commentary. Some of the letters are profound, some are just nutty. Auster suggests that the United States move all the Israelis from Israel to Wyoming to solve the Middle East problem. There are also surprises: Auster praises Charles Willeford’s New Hope for the Dead. If you enjoy reading other people’s letters, you’ll enjoy Here and Now. GRADE: B