Things look dire for the Buffalo Bills in Foxboro. They have five starters on the Covid-19 List so their offensive line and wide receiver corps are depleted. The Patriots are 3-point favorites. How will your favorite NFL team do today?
Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985 presents a smorgasbord of articles–and over a hundred very cool paperback covers!–on Science Fiction in the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, and a bit of the Eighties.
I enjoyed essays on Philip K. Dick, Samuel R. Delany, R. A. Lafferty, Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny, J. G. Ballard, Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree, Jr. and a dozen other key SF writers from this period. Just take a quick look at the Table of Contents and you’ll see something that will draw to a subject or writer you’re interested in.
Andrew Nettle and Iain McIntyre assembled a set of essays full of variety and varying perspectives. If you’re a fan of SF, and if you lived through the years this volume focuses on, you’ll want to take a look at this book! I’m hoping for a sequel! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: An Introduction / Iain McIntyre and Andrew Nette — 1
Imagining New Worlds: Sci-Fi and the Vietnam War / Rjurik Davidson — 5
Sextrapolation in New Wave Science Fiction / Rob Latham — 11
Radioactive Nightmares: Nuclear War in Science Fiction / Andrew Nette — 23
On Earth the Air Is Free: The Feminist Science Fiction of Judith Merril / Kat Clay — 26
Women and Children First! John Wyndham and Second-Wave Feminism / David Curcio — 32
Bursting through the Boundaries: New Worlds Magazine / Iain McIntyre — 37
Vast Active Living (Possibly) Insane System: Paranoia and Anti authoritarianism in the Work of Philip K. Dick / Erica L. Satifka — 39
Flying Saucers and Black Power: Joseph Denis Jackson’s 1967 Insurrectionist Novel The Black Commandos / Iain McIntyre — 45
Doomwatchers: Calamity and Catastrophe in UK Television Novelizations / Iain McIntyre — 52
The Energy Exhibition: Radical Science Fiction in the 1960s / Hicolas Tredell — 56
“We change-and the whole world changes”: Samuel R. Delany’s Heavenly Breakfast in Context / Daniel Shank Cruz — 64
Flawed Ancients, New Gods, and Interstellar Missionaries: Religion in Postwar SF / Iain McIntyre — 70
Speculative Fuckbooks: The Brief Life of Essex House, 1968-1969 / Rebecca Baumann — 73
God Does, Perhaps? The Unlikely New Wave SF of R.A. Lafferty / Nick Mamatas — 81
The Tasty Worlds of Jerry Cornelius / Andrew Nette — 85
Hank Lopez’s Afro-6 / Brian Greene — 88
“The Hell with Heroes”: Rebellion and Responsibility in Roger Zelazny’s Damnation Alley / Kelly Roberts — 92
Eco-Death: Catastrophe and Survival in 1960s and 1970s Science Fiction/ Iain McIntyre — 99
Stepford Wives and Supercomputers Th e Science Fiction of Ira Levin / Andrew Nette — 102
“Houston, we’ve had a problem”: Technology, Mental Breakdown and the Science Fiction of Barry Malzberg / Andrew Nette — 107
The Stars My Destination: The Future According to Gay Adult Science Fiction Novels of the 1970s / Maitland McDonagh — 111
Higher than a Rocket Ship: Drugs in SF / Iain McIntyre — 121
Freedom in the Mind: Louise Lawrence’s Andra / Andrew Nette — 123
Mick Farren: Fomenting the Rock Apocalypse / Mike Stax — 128
Green Deaths and Time Warriors: Doctor Who Serials and Novelizations in the 1970s / Iain McIntyre — 135
A New Wave in the East: The Strugatsky Brothers and Radical Sci-fi in Soviet Russia / Scott Adlerberg — 139
The Future Is Going to Be Boring: The SF Present of J.G. Ballard / Cameron Ashley — 146
By Any Means Necessary: Revolution and Rebellion in 1960s and 1970s Science Fiction / Andrew Nette — 153
Performative Gender and SF: The Strange but True Case of Alice Sheldon and James Tiptree Jr. / Lucy Sussex — 156
Coming of Age between Apocalypses: Young Adult Fiction and the End of the World / Molly Grattan — 161
Crowded Worlds and False Dawns: 1970s Dystopian Science Fiction / Andrew Nette — 166
Cosmic Bond, Super Lover: William Bloom’s Qhe! Series / Iain McIntyre — 170
Feminist Future: Time Travel in Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time / Kirsten Bussiere — 177
Who Are the Beasts? Animals in Science Fiction / Andrew Nette — 185
The Moons of Le Guin and Heinlein / Donna Glee Williams — 188
Black Star: The Life and Work of Octavia Butler / Michael A. Gonzales — 195
Herland: The Women’s Press and Science Fiction / Iain McIntyre — 203
Acknowledgements — 206
Contributors — 207
Index — 211
Sounds of the Season: The NBC Holiday Collection is the best sounding Christmas album I own. Sounds of the Season came out in 2003 and I had it sitting on my shelves for over a decade. One day, a couple years ago, I played it and was stunned by how good it sounded! Plus, the mix of songs appears to me to be…unusual. Lisa Marie Presley sings “Silent Night” which is followed by a bluesy rendition to “Merry Christmas, Baby” by Bonnie Raitt and Charles Brown.
NBC included some current (for 2003) Christmas hits: Michael Buble’s “Let It Snow,” Josh Groban’s “O Holy Night,” and Sarah Brightman’s “Ave Maria.”
My favorite song on this CD is Kylie Minogue’s pouty “Santa Baby,” a song about what a Material Girl would want for Christmas…with some provocative innuendo. If you’re looking for something different Christmas music to listen to, try Sounds of the Season. GRADE: B+
| 1 | Norah Jones– | Peace | 3:49 |
| 2 | Coldplay– | Have Yourself A Merry Little Xmas (Live) | 2:57 |
| 3 | Liz Phair– | Winter Wonderland | 2:31 |
| 4 | Stacie Orrico– | Christmas Wish | 3:58 |
| 5 | Kylie Minogue– | Santa Baby | 3:24 |
| 6 | Michael Bublé– | Let It Snow | 2:05 |
| 7 | Josh Groban– | O Holy Night | 4:49 |
| 8 | Sarah Brightman– | Ave Maria | 2:59 |
| 9 | Dave Koz and Kenny Loggins– | December Makes Me Feel This Way | 3:40 |
| 10 | Lisa Marie Presley– | Silent Night | 4:49 |
| 11 | Bonnie Raitt and Charles Brown– | Merry Christmas, Baby | 4:34 |
| 12 | Carly Simon– | God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen | 3:07 |
| 13 | Brian Setzer Orchestra– | Jingle Bells | 2:20 |
I decided to reread Great Detectives: A Century of the Best Mysteries From England and America. Editor David Willis McCullough assembled a great anthology of stories including TWO complete novels: Ross Macdonald’s The Chill and Ruth Rendell’s Death Notes. I can’t think of many mystery anthologies that include a complete novel in addition to the short stories.
Several classic mystery writers are represented: Sayers, Chesterton, Christie, Crispin, Queen, and Stout. Private eyes of the Hammett and Chandler variety are here. I was surprised by mysteries by William Faulkner and Ray Bradbury and Israel Zangwill. Robert van Gulik’s “The Murder on the Lotus Pond” is one of my favorites as is “Never Shake a Family Tree” by Donald E. Westlake. If you’re a fan of police procedurals, you’ll enjoy Ed McBain’s “Sadie When She Died.”
In timely fashion, P.D. James’ “The Murder of Santa Claus” shows up. Great Detectives is a great anthology. If you have a mystery enthusiast on your Gift List, this book would be received with excitement and joy! Do you have a favorite mystery anthology? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword / David Willis McCullough — ix
The big bow mystery / Israel Zangwill — 1
The queen’s square / Dorothy L. Sayers — 85
The invisible man / G.K. Chesterton — 101
The girl in the train / Agatha Christie — 115
The murder on the lotus pond / Robert van Gulik — 131
Hand upon the waters / William Faulkner — 147
The Sam Spade stories: A man called Spade ; They can only hang you once ; Too many have lived / Dashiell Hammett — 161
The hunchback cat / Edmund Crispin — 215
Trouble is my business / Raymond Chandler — 221
The adventure of Abraham Lincoln’s clue / Ellery Queen — 265
See no evil / Rex Stout — 281
Yesterday I lived! / Ray Bradbury — 339
The chill / Ross Macdonald — 343
The murder of Santa Claus / P.D. James — 533
Never shake a family tree / Donald E. Westlake — 555
Death notes / Ruth Rendell — 568
Sadie when she died / Ed McBain — 697
Director John Watts, who has directed all three of the Tom Holland Spider-Man films, brings audiences a dazzling movie for the Holidays. Script writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers deliver a roller coaster effect in this movie: at one point, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya), and his best friend Ned (Jacob Battalon) worry about their chances of being accepted to MIT. The next moment, all hell breaks lose as Peter meddles with a spell by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) that opens the doors to the Multiverse.
The result is supervillains from other dimensions start to appear on our world: Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), and Electro (Jamie Foxx). Peter Parker realizes he has really screwed up the Universe and tries to fix it with the help of MJ and Ned but things spiral out of control!
Mid-way through Spider-Man: No Way Home, during one of the quiet moments in this 148 minute movie, I started to think: what am I doing in this sold-out theater with Covid-19 surging in Western New York? Is my N95 mask enough to protect me?
But then the roller coaster action zoomed upward and I was lost in the action again. Spider-Man: No Way Home is a cinematic thrill ride! If this is the last movie I see in a theater until deep into 2022, I’m all right with it. GRADE: A-
I’m a big fan of Ann Patchett’s work. Diane’s Book Club read Patchett’s Bel Canto and some of the members consider it the best book they ever read! I’ve reviewed The Dutch House (you can read my review here) and This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage (you can read that review here).
Ann Patchett’s latest work is a collection of her essays. Diane and I decided to listen to the audiobook version (9 CDs, 11 hours and 15 minutes). Ann Patchett proves to be a wonderful narrator!
The diversity of subjects Ann Patchett writes about impressed me. From “Three Fathers” to Patchett hosting “The First Thanksgiving” as an adult, to her experiences in Paris as a student, Patchett presents her own view of Life with the decisions she makes. And in some cases, like “To the Doghouse,” Patchett admits reading Peanuts comics and learning from Snoopy affected her writing and her Life.
My favorite essays in These Precious Days are “Eudora Welty, an Introduction.” Welty became such an important writer to Ann Patchett that she drove from Nashville to Jackson, Mississippi to attend Welty’s funeral. I also loved “Reading Kate DiCamillo,” where Patchett discovers a writer and ends up with a great friend.
If you’re looking for intelligent, interesting, and moving essays, I highly recommend These Precious Days. This would make a great Holiday Gift for that book lover on your Gift List! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction: Essays don’t die — 1
Three fathers — 9
First Thanksgiving — 37
The Paris tattoo — 43
My year of no shopping — 51
The worthless servant — 59
How to practice — 77
To the doghouse — 103
Eudora Welty, an introduction — 113
Flight plan — 121
How knitting saved my life. Twice. — 149
Tavia — 159
There are no children here — 169
A paper ticket is good for one year — 206
The moment nothing changed — 213
The nightstand — 220
A talk to the Association of Graduate School Deans in the Humanities — 252
Cover stories — 272
Reading Kate DiCamillo — 287
Sisters — 297
These precious days — 304
Two more things I want to say about my father — 302
What the American Academy of Arts and Letters taught me about death — 404
Epilogue: a day at the beach — 414
Acknowledgements — 423
After two straight disappointing losses to the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 7-6 Buffalo Bills find themselves barely in the Playoff picture. Today, the Bills take on the stumbling Carolina Panthers (5-8). The Bills need a win badly. Quarterback Josh Allen has a sprained ankle so he may or may not play today. If Allen can’t go, backup QB Mitch Trubisky–the former Chicago Bears quarterback–will have to engineer a win. The Bills are 10 1/2 point favorites. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?
I’m always fascinated by the creative process so a book like How to Write a Mystery is a must-read for me. The object of books like this is to give the reader (and potential writer) some tips on how to get started. For example, two of my favorite chapters are “Always Outline!” by Jeffery Deaver and “Never Outline!” by Lee Child. Both successful authors argue their approach–basically a debate about structure–and show how they write novels. Very revealing!
If I was still teaching, I’d give all of my students a copy of Laurie R. King’s “The Art of the Rewrite” before assigning the Research Paper I required each semester.
Louise Penny’s “Building Your Community” shows how a place becomes a character in books. William Kent Krueger elaborates on that aspect in his essay, “Setting.” Max Allan Collins, who has written just about everything, offers “Tie Ins and Continuing a Character.” All in all, How to Write a Mystery presents plenty of writing tips and shares some writing secrets from your favorite mystery writers. Well worth a look! GRADE: A
Introduction Lee Child 1
The Rules and Genres
The Rules-and When to Break Them Neil Nyren 5
Carved in stone or gentle suggestions: what are the rules in the mystery genre, why do they matter, and when don’t they matter?
Carolyn Hart 12
Keeping It Thrilling Meg Gardiner 13
Nine things your thriller needs to be lean, mean, and exhilarating.
Beth Amos 22
Insider, Outsider: The Amateur Sleuth Naomi Hirahara 23
The point, and point of view, of your accidental detective.
Lindsey Davis 33
Finding Lou: The Police Procedural Rachel Howzell Hall 34
Are you a cop, or do you just play one on the page?
Linwood Barclay 39
The Mindset of Darkness: Writing Noir Alex Segura 40
It’s about character: the flawed protagonist and letting your characters fail.
Hank Phillippi Ryan 46
Crossing the Genres Charlaine Harris 48
Mixing your mystery with a vampire, a talking cow, or a love interest?
Kate White 51
The Historical Mystery Jacqueline Winspear 52
Time, place, and the past.
Suzanne Chazin 58
The Medical Thriller Tess Gerritsen 59
Playing on the reader’s real-life fears and hunger for insider knowledge.
Gigi Pandian 66
Researching the Spy Thriller Gayle Lynds 67
Or: Why can’t I just make it all up?
Stephanie Kane 75
Other Mysteries
Mysteries for Children: An Introduction Susan Vaught 79
The kids’ mystery, from picture books to YA-expectations and some hints.
C. M. Surrisi 83
Unleash Your Inner Child Chris Grabenstein 84
Middle-grade mysteries: you, too, can become a rock star for ten-year-olds.
Elizabeth Sims 91
The Young Adult Mystery Kelley Armstrong 92
Complex, authentic stories for the young adult-emphasis on adult.
Pat Gallant Weich 101
Graphic Novels Dale W. Berry Gary Phillips 103
The mystery within the panels: your conversation with words and pictures.
Dag Öhrlund 113
The Short Mystery Art Taylor 114
What do the characters (and readers) want in your mystery short story?
Charles Salzberg 121
Ten Stupid Questions about True Crime Daniel Stashower 122
Building a vivid page-turner, out of nothing but facts.
Carole Buggé 129
The Writing
On Style Lyndsay Faye 133
The writer’s voice, or, cooking with cadence, rhythm, and audacity.
Steve Hockensmith 142
Always Outline! Jeffery Deaver 143
The why and the how of planning it out first.
Rob Hart 150
Hallie Ephron 151
Never Outline! Lee Child 152
The argument for spontaneity.
Shelly Frome 156
The Art of the Rewrite Laurie R. King 157
Turning your raw first draft into a clear, compelling story.
Rae Franklin James 164
Leslie Budewitz 165
Plot and the Bones of a Mystery Deborah Crombie 166
Bringing together all the elements of your novel so it stands strong.
Tim Maleeny 172
Robert Lopresti 173
Diversity in Crime Fiction Frankie Y. Bailey 174
Enriching your novel by writing characters, not categories.
Elaine Viets 183
The Protagonist Allison Brennan 184
Your hero: the one we relate to, the one who drives the story.
Stephanie Kay Bendel 191
The Villain of the Piece T. Jefferson Parker 192
Your hero in reverse: the forces that create a vivid villain.
Kris Neri 198
Supporting Characters Craig Johnson 199
The chorus of voices that backs up your protagonist.
Gay Toltl Kinman 204
Writing the Talk Greg Herren 205
Dialogue that sounds true, reveals character, and draws in the reader.
Bradley Harper 212
Stephen Ross 213
Setting William Kent Krueger 214
Your most versatile element: backdrop, player, and the all-pervading sense of place.
Thomas B. Sawyer 222
Humor in Crime Fiction Catriona McPherson 223
Funny mystery, or mystery with fun: why, how, and when to stop?
James W. Ziskin 231
Writing in Partnership Caroline Charles Todd 232
Two writers with one voice: how we learned to collaborate.
Bradley Harper 237
Tie-Ins and Continuing a Character Max Allan Collins 238
Playing in someone else’s sandbox.
Hal Bodner 245
After the Writing
Secrets of a Book Critic Oline H. Cogdill 249
Reviews and reviewers: what to learn from them, and what to ignore.
Marilyn Stasio 257
Self-Publishing Liliana Hart 258
How to flourish as an independently published writer.
Nancy J. Cohen 266
Authors Online Maddee James 267
Building your author identity and reaching out to readers, online.
Mysti Berry 275
Building Your Community Louise Penny 276
It’s the writer, not the book: finding a home in the virtual village.
Bev Vincent 284
Legal Considerations Daniel Steven 285
What every mystery writer needs to know about publishing law.
About the Contributors 291
Contributor Permissions 309
Index 315
Generous Beth Fedyn sent me an Advance Reading Copy of Christopher Leonard’s brilliant The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy. Of course I dropped everything and read it immediately.
Christopher Leonard uses an historical approach to matching the actions of the Federal Reserve–under Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, and Jerome Powell–and the dire economic consequences of their monetary policies.
Leonard starts with Greenspan who for 15 years, mostly kept interest rates low. Everybody loved that…until the housing bubble–fueled by those low interest rates–almost collapsed our economy in 2008. Ben Bernanke invented “Quantitative Easing” to stimulate the economy after the 2008 crash. But that resulted in a slow growing economy. Janet Yellen balanced economic growth and inflation during her term as head of the Federal Reserve. But Trump replaced her with Jerome Powell, our present Fed chief, who faces the problems of inflation and an economy with too few workers caused by the Pandemic.
Christopher Leonard takes us behind the scenes of the Fed meetings and shows the disputes that took place while the Federal Reserve outwardly projected unity.
This week Jerome Powell signaled at least THREE interest rate increases in 2022. Yes, everything will cost more so BUY IT NOW! The increases are aimed at reducing inflation which is at an uncomfortable of 6.8% (the Fed target is 2%). If you want to understand our monetary system and learn why inequity has risen because of the Fed, The Lords of Easy Money will supply you with all the answers. Thanks, Beth! You’re the best! GRADE:A (The Lords of Easy Money will be published January 11, 2022)
PART 1: “RESPECTFULLY, NO” — 1
PART 2: THE AGE OF ZIRP — 123
7. Quantitative Quagmire — 125
8. The Fixer — 151
9. The Risk Machine — 171
10. The ZIRP Regime — 185
11. The Hornig Rule — 201
12. Totally Normal — 221
PART 3: LET THEM EAT ASSETS — 239
13. The Invisible Bailout — 241
14. Infection — 261
15. Winners and Losers — 275
16. The Long Crash — 293
Notes — 307
A Plain-English Glossary of Important Term in this Book — 343
Acknowledgements — 353
Index — 359