I spent the week after the Election playing comfort music to soothe my disappointment. “Comfort Music” for me are hits from the 1970s and 1980s. It was nice to hear that “Help Is On the Way” from the Little River Band. Styx tempted me with the idea of “Come Sail Away” on that 4-year cruise (to escape the next Trump 4 years!). Only $250,000!

Hall and Oates reminded me that I was “Out of Touch” with the current political situation. Who needs competence? Trump doesn’t. And Trump and Melania seem to be “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” according to Air Supply.

How are you coping with the results of the Election? Does music help? GRADE : B (for both)

TRACK LIST:

TRACK LIST:

Carl Jacobi was a prolific contributor to Weird Tales in the 1930s and 1940s. Jacobi had the brilliant ability to create a moody atmosphere and tone with his precise and careful use of language. He was a master of the slow-building crescendo of suspense and terror that leads to an explosive and chilling, final revelation.

“Revelations in Black,” the first story in this collection, is the perfect example of Jacobi’s method. A narrator finds himself attracted to a strange, velvet-bound trilogy of books in an antique shop. Reading the books leads to a meeting with a strange woman dressed in black who hides a hideous secret.

Revelations in Black (1947), Jacobi’s first and most influential collection, contains twenty-one of his best short stories, including such famous tales as “Mive,” “The Satanic Piano,” and “Phantom Brass.”

This new Valancourt Books edition, the first in nearly fifty years, also features a bonus rare Jacobi tale, “Rails of the Yellow Skull,” and an introduction by Luigi Musolino. If you’re in the mood for some weird tales, give Revelations in Black a try. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Luigi Musolino — 7

1. “Revelations in Black” — 13
2. “Phantom Brass” — 34
3. “The Cane” — 42
4. “The Coach on the Ring” — 55
5. “The Kite” — 65
6. “Canal” — 75
7. “The Satanic Piano” — 91
8. “The Last Drive” — 113
9. “The Spectral Pistol” — 118
10. “Sagasta’s Last” — 132
11. “The Tomb from Beyond” — 141
12. “The Digging at Pistol Key” — 159
13. “Moss Island” — 174
14. “Carnaby’s Fish” — 183
15. “The King and the Knave” — 194
16. “Cosmic Teletype” — 202
17. “A Pair of Swords” — 218
18. “A Study in Darkness” — 222
19. “Mive” — 238
20. “Writing on the Wall” — 244
21. “The Face in the Wind” — 260
22. “Rails of the Yellow Skull” — 283

Acknowledgements — 303

Fans of Frank Herbert’s Dune will find HBO/MAX’s new 6-episode series, Dune: Prophecy, a revealing story of how the Sisterhood (aka, Bene Gesserit) deals with the threat of extinction 10,000 years before the events of Dune.

Dune: Prophecy is based on Sisterhood of Dune (2011) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Although their writing style is completely different from Frank Herbert’s style, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson compensate with a carefully crafted history based on Dune and its sequels.

Valya Harkonnen (played by Emily Watson) and Tula Harkonnen (played by Olivia Williams) are key players in the drama to save the Bene Gesserit from the doom that confronts them. From watching the first episode on HBO/MAX–the only one available–I’d say Sisterhood of Dune inspires Dune: Prophecy. But the TV series “modifies” the novel. The production values are First Rate! I can’t wait to see the entire series. New episodes drop on Sundays. GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B.

Donna Seaman’s River of Books: A Life in Reading is a love letter to books and readers. Seaman takes a chronological approach to describe her life-long passion for books.

“Ultimately, my hope is to tell just enough of my story to share my love for and reliance on reading, track how reading has propelled my life, and call out books that have been lifeboats, life preservers, anchors, and safe harbors.” (p. 2)

In the wake of the Election, this is the perfect book to provide comfort and joy.

“I did read for comfort, hypnosis, and fun, devouring Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, and Archie comics. But I was equally avid for serious books.” (p. 52)

Donna Seaman provides a handy chapter entitled “The Books” which provides bibliographic information on the dozens of books she references in each of the other chapters of her book. If you’re looking for a book that will amuse, inform, and divert you, take a trip down the River of Books. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Never the Same River, Never the Same Book — 1

The Hudson River, the Source — 5

What I hope for in Books — 59

Reading High — 63

The Blue River, a Tributary — 99

Good Books, Books I Revere — 129

The Chicago River, Changing Direction — 131

River Styx — 173

Why Read? — 207

River without End — 209

The Books — 225

Notes — 231

Acknowledgments — 237

About the Author — 239

The 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs–and Taylor Swift!–come to town to take on the 8-2 Buffalo Bills. I know it sounds incredible, but the Bills are 2½ point favorites. The weather-guessers say playing conditions will be benign for a mid-November game in Western NY.

CBS Sports, for the first time in their 50 year history, is sending their team from NFL TODAY to Buffalo to cover this marquee regular season game. James Brown, Nate Burleson, Bill Cowher, Matt Ryan, and J. J. Watt will be hobnobbing with tailgaters before and after the game. In the past, CBS Sports only sent the NFL TODAY team to NFL Playoff games…until now.

How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

Diane and I drove down to Kleinhans Music Hall for the second session in the Just Buffalo Literary Center’s Babel series featuring Tommy Orange (last month we heard Sandra Cisneros who led off this Babel series, you can read my review here).

Tommy Orange’s first novel was There There, a best selling book about the lives of urban Native Americans. Orange’s second novel, Wandering Stars, was published in February 2024. Diane is reading it now.

Tommy Orange’s presentation concerned his Native American experiences. Orange is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. As you might suspect, both of Orange’s novels are heavily autobiographical.

Diane and I–and the hundreds of other audience members–enjoyed the “Conversation” segment of the evening where Barbara Cole, Just Buffalo’s CEO, engaged Orange with questions about his writing process, his evolution from a non-reader to a reading addict, and his current movie and TV projects. All in all, a satisfying evening full of humor and pathos. GRADE: A

In the run-up to the HBO/MAX six part series which starts on November 17, Dune: Prophecy, I decided to read the novel the TV series is based on: Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Sisterhood of Dune takes place 10,000 years before the events of Dune. That’s quite a prequel!

Sisterhood of Dune (2011) is basically an origin story about the Bene Gesserit, an organization of women who develop into a powerful force in the Dune series future. But at this time, the Bene Gesserit faces challenges that may end in their destruction.

“Frank Herbert died in 1986. Beginning in 1999, his son Brian Herbert and science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson published several collections of prequel novels, as well as two sequels that complete the original Dune series (Hunters of Dune in 2006 and Sandworms of Dune in 2007), partially based on Frank Herbert’s notes discovered a decade after his death. As of 2024, 23 Dune books by Herbert and Anderson have been published.” (Wikipedia)

Frank Herbert had a unique writing style that Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson make no attempt at emulating. The team has their own style that includes plenty of detail and subplots. If you’re a fan of Dune you’ll enjoy Sisterhood of Dune. I’m looking forward to watching Dune: Prophecy a few days from now. GRADE: B+

I’ve been listening to Joe Cocker this week. Even though there’s some overlap on the songs included on Joe Cocker’s Greatest Hits and Joe Cocker Live, there’s enough variation in the songs and sound to hold my interest.

Joe Cocker’s best-selling song was “Up Where We Belong“, a duet with Jennifer Warnes that was Number One in the US and won a Grammy in 1983. The version on the live album captures that Grammy Winner vibe. Cocker may be best known for “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” two John Lennon / Paul McCartney songs.

I’m also fond of Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful,” a Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher song from the early 1970s. Are you a Joe Cocker fan? Do you have a favorite song? GRADE: A (for both)

TRACK LIST:

TRACK LIST:

This anthology collects many classic stories from Astounding and the retitled Analog SF magazines. It was published in 1980. All the major SF writers are here: John W. Campbell, Jr., L. Spraque de Camp, Robert A. Heinlein, A. E. Van Vogt, Fredric Brown, Theodore Sturgeon, and Isaac Asimov.

All of these writers wrote dozens of stories for Astounding/Analog so some of the choices of stories are debatable. But, if you’re a SF fan, you’ll recognize plenty of these titles from 1934 to 1979.

I read Astounding as a kid and loved the wonderful Kelly Freas covers. I occasionally read Analog but preferred Galaxy, If, and Worlds of Tomorrow while Fredrick Pohl was editor. Are you a fan of Astounding/Analog? How many of these stories do you recognize? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 11 • Introduction (The Analog Anthology #1) • (1980) • essay by Stanley Schmidt
• 15 • Twilight • [Twilight • 1] • (1934) • novelette by John W. Campbell, Jr. [as by Don A. Stuart]
• 31 • The Lotus Eaters • [Ham Hammond] • (1935) • novelette by Stanley G. Weinbaum
• 54 • Fantastic Fiction • [Editorial (Astounding)] • (1938) • essay by John W. Campbell, Jr.
• 56 • Language for Time Travelers • (1938) • essay by L. Sprague de Camp
• 67 • QRM – Interplanetary • [Venus Equilateral] • (1942) • novelette by George O. Smith
• 95 • —And He Built a Crooked House^? • (1967) • novelette by Robert A. Heinlein (variant of “—And He Built a Crooked House”^? 1941)
• 111 • Far Centaurus • (1944) • short story by A. E. van Vogt
• 127 • Placet Is a Crazy Place • (1946) • short story by Fredric Brown
• 139 • The Chromium Helmet • (1946) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• 178 • The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline • [Thiotimoline • 1] • (1948) • short story by Isaac Asimov
• 184 • No Copying Allowed • [Editorial (Astounding)] • (1948) • essay by John W. Campbell, Jr.
• 187 • The Dead Past • (1956) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
• 223 • Ceramic Incident • (1956) • short story by Theodore L. Thomas
• 227 • The Dread Tomato Addiction • non-genre • (1958) • short story by Mark Clifton
• 229 • Transfusion • (1959) • novelette by Chad Oliver
• 261 • The Longest Voyage • (1960) • novelette by Poul Anderson
• 285 • Sleep No More • [Telzey Amberdon] • (1965) • short story by James H. Schmitz
• 299 • Computers Don’t Argue • (1965) • short story by Gordon R. Dickson
• 312 • Test in Orbit • [Kinsman] • (1965) • short story by Ben Bova
• 324 • The Prophet • (1972) • novelette by Stanley Schmidt
• 343 • The Asking of Questions • [Editorial (Analog)] • (1972) • essay by Poul Anderson
• 350 • Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand • [Snake] • (1973) • novelette by Vonda N. McIntyre
• 366 • Can These Bones Live? • (1979) • short story by Ted Reynolds

As I was organizing my books, CDs, and DVDs in my basement, I found CREAM: ROYAL ALBERT HALL – LONDON – MAY 2-3-5-6 O5 in a box full of miscellaneous stuff. I had completely forgotten I owned this CD/DVD set.

Cream broke up in 1968 after a farewell tour and the release of their final album, Goodbye, in 1969. Cream chose to reunite in 2005 and play a total of seven concerts: four at the Royal Albert Hall and three at Madison Square Garden. As with any reunion, the questions of “Could they pull it off?” and “Would they be too old?” could only be answered by the music and the DVD of the concert.

Fortunately, the answer to my eyes and ears is: “YES!” Granted, Ginger Baker looks like a seventy-year-old, but sounds like the drummer on those Cream albums from the 1960s. Jack Bruce leans against a chair from time to time, but his bass sounds as good as ever. And Eric Clapton delivers red hot solo performances.

The DVD also includes bonus interviews with Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton that Cream fans will find informative. I need to spend more time rooting around in my basement finding treasures like this! GRADE: A

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