Ex-KOP- Sci-Fi Noir

KOP: Koba Office of Police, a corrupt graft ridden cess-pool of bribe taking sociopath cops that appear to be keeping order in the city of Koba on the planet Lagarto. Set several centuries in our future Warren Hammond brings us the gritty anti-hero Juno Mozambe the once bad-ass enforcer for the former chief of police, until said chief was assassinated in a coup.

Now Juno works as a private eye, mostly peeping though key holes trying to get the goods on high-tech off-worlders to bribe them as much as get an honest fee. His former partner asks him to investigate a young woman’s confession that will see her to the gas chamber. What follows is a twisting, creepy, and dark adventure in the near future on a distant planet that would have done Hammet or Chandler proud. Bogart would have made a convincing Juno Mozambe.

The story is excellent, noir ridden, and earthy. One part China Town with a dash of Big Sleep, except instead of .38’s and tommy guns, the bad guys carry body mods and las-pistols.

Ex-KOP is for anyone who enjoyed Blade Runner or The Maltese Falcon. There is an engaging story; heroes and villains are only separated by a few shades of gray, with plenty of character story and world building to swirl around the antagonists!

Memphis Beat: Thank You, Thank You Very Much!

TNT has put on a new crime dramady starring Jason Lee of Kevin Smith film fame as well as the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. Memphis Beat follows Detective Dwight Hendricks and the cast of characters that make up his precinct, from his new Lieutenant Tanya Rice to his partner, even his mom.


This is the kind of cop show I enjoy, one that focuses on the character rather than procedural investigation or neat DNA testing that miraculously comes back within a couple of days. Rather, it is much like Castle and one of my favorites, Republic of Doyle.

Like Republic of Doyle which is set in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Memphis Beat uses its namesake city as a character as much as the people in it. From the music, atmosphere, humidity, and character, Memphis (and New Orleans) is as much a star as Jason Lee.

Detective Dwight Hendricks is a sly yet caring guy who loves his city, loves his music, and loves his mama. He has the admiration of his peers and is starting to earn it from his new boss. He is driven to take care of those who need protection, to see justice done, and to finish the job at hand. He spends his off time singing in blues clubs. (Vocalized by Mark Arnell) He grew up idolizing Elvis and has his own shrines dedicated to the King. It was a great end scene to the first episode with him on stage, his friends in the crowd, and his boss coming by at his invitation. Jason Lee is perfect for the role he is bringing to life. I look forward to more as he grows into the character, truly making it his own.

I just really, really hope that the good detective does not go into full blown Elvis impersonations……..

Black Jack Justice! Justice Served Cold!

This is a radio style pulp detective story. The mp3 can be found on Decoder Ring Theater. This is a fun radio show because the characters Justice and his partner Trixie Dixon both speak in the first person to tell the story, so one gets the perspective of the hard boiled detective and his partner's with all her 40's moxy!

The two voice actors: Christopher Lamont and Andrea Lyons were fun. Justice is the hard boiled dick of the Chandler/Marlowe model; cynical and moral at the same time. Trixie had the clipped sharp edge of the strong female lead of the period. The exchange between the two was great, fast and witty.

Ex:

Justice: "You ready?"

Trixie: "I have the Berretta in my handbag and a .38 strapped to my inner thigh if that's what you mean."

Justice: "No, but thanks for the mental pin-up."

Unfortunately the client sounded like she was reading her lines directly from the script and the character's story was way too flowery in its prose. I mean exactly like she was just reading off the script. Once her exposition scene was done though it improved immensely and it flowed more naturally.

The imagery that was woven into the rest of narrative was seamless with a good smattering of hardboiled slang to make me laugh out loud. Not because it was corny but because it was so invocative of what the character's point was. Great stuff!

I was happy to come across this website because I love the old radio shows with Sherlock Holmes, The Shadow, and others through out the years. I look forward to trolling through the rest of the site and I will be listening to the rest of the Jack Justice series!

The rest of the website http://www.decoderringtheatre.com/index.htm looks good; pretty basic, simply, easy to troll through. So I will be spending some time here. They have paypal donation and subscription buttons to help defray the cost of running the site. But they offer their content for free. So give it a listen.