Back in the early 1940s, Jonathan Latimer wrote a Private Eye novel titled Solomon’s Vineyard that was laced with alcohol, brutality, and sex. The standards of the time caused U. S. publishers to issue a censored version re-titled The Fifth Grave in 1950. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Great Pan books reprinted the original version with all the sex and violence and boozing included. It took until 1983 until the uncensored version of Solomon’s Vineyard  was finally available for a U.S. audience on spinner racks.

Jonathan Latimer creates an Old School Private Eye (think Hammett’s Continental Op) called Karl Craven. The Fifth Grave opens with Craven arriving by train to a town in the sticks, Paulson. Craven came to Paulton because his business partner, Oke Johnson, needed help on a case. Craven quickly learns from the local police that Oke Johnson has been murdered. Craven also learns that Johnson was trying to find a missing girl at the nearby religious cult compound.

Craven quickly discovers that Paulton is controlled by a gangster named Pug who rules through the brutal power of his allies on police force. Craven investigates the connection between the corrupt city government and the cult that may be holding the girl. Plenty of pummeling, bashing, and sex result.

The Fifth Grave delivers a shocking story full of hardboiled violence and mayhem and freaky sex. While different versions of The Fifth Grave/Solomon’s Vineyard have been published over the years, this STARK HOUSE edition is the definitive unexpurgated version. You’ll really dig The Fifth Grave! GRADE: A

Sounds of the Seventies was a 40-volume series issued by Time-Life during the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s. Over time, 3-CD sets were offered and I found one at a local thrift store for $2. The first disc is subtitled: 70s Gold. Most of the songs on this disc made it into the Billboard Top 10.

The second disc in this set is subtitled: Classic 70s. I’m not sure I would consider Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” a classic, but this disc includes some very well known songs.

The third and final CD is subtitled: Super 70s. It’s a grab-bag of songs with no theme I can discern. If you can figure out the logic of the song choices, please enlighten us. How many of these 36 songs do you remember? Any favorites? GRADE: B- (for all three discs)

TRACK LIST:

1	The Allman Brothers Band–	Ramblin’ Man	4:49
2	Bachman-Turner Overdrive–	Takin’ Care Of Business	4:54
3	Stealers Wheel–	Stuck In The Middle With You	3:26
4	Todd Rundgren–	Hello It’s Me	3:40
5	Elvin Bishop–	Fooled Around And Fell In Love	2:59
6	Gregg Allman–	Midnight Rider	4:27
7	10cc–	I’m Not In Love	6:00
8	Peter Frampton–	I’m In You	4:12
9	Donna Summer–	Bad Girls	3:54
10	Marvin Gaye–	What’s Going On	3:54
11	Rod Stewart–	Maggie May	5:16
12	The Moody Blues–	Night In White Satin	5:38

TRACK LIST:

AA

1	Redbone–	Come And Get Your Love
2	The O’Jays–	Back Stabbers
3	Bill Withers–	Ain’t No Sunshine
4	Sly & The Family Stone–	Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
5	Santana–	Evil Ways
6	Earth, Wind & Fire–	Shining Star
7	The Hollies–	He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
8	Electric Light Orchestra–	Don’t Bring Me Down
9	Kansas (2)–	Dust In The Wind
10	Boston–	Don’t Look Back
11	Lynyrd Skynyrd–	Sweet Home Alabama
12	Mott The Hoople–	All The Young Dudes

TRACK LIST:

AA

1	Raspberries–	Go All The Way	3:22
2	Sugarloaf–	Green-Eyed Lady	3:41
3	Andy Kim–	Rock Me Gently	3:30
4	Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose–	Too Late To Turn Back Now	3:24
5	Al Green–	Let’s Stay Together	3:41
6	Ike & Tina Turner–	Proud Mary	3:22
7	Jim Croce–	Bad Bad Leroy Brown	3:01
8	Three Dog Night–	Joy To The World	3:18
9	Daryl Hall & John Oates–	Rich Girl	2:23
10	Little River Band–	Lonesome Loser	3:55
11	The Knack (3)–	My Sharona	4:01
12	Blondie–	Heart Of Glass	3:24

This anthology from 1998 reprints stories that were turned into movies or TV shows. “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” became the 1990 blockbuster movie, Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Paul Verhoeven. Philip K. Dick shows up again with “Second Variety” that was filmed as Screamers, a 1996 film starring Peter Weller and Jennifer Rubin, directed by Christian Duguay.

Some of these stories were filmed without changing their titles. Johnny Mnemonic, starring Keanu Reeves, followed the story of a cybernetic society fairly closely. The same can be said about Enemy Mine from 1985 starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr., and directed by Wolfgang Petersen.

How many of these stories have you read? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

A Reel stuff / Brian Thomsen — 9

Mimic / Donald A. Wollheim — 12

Second variety / Philip K. Dick — 19

Amanda and the alien / Robert Silverberg — 65

Sandkings / George R.R. Martin — 82

We can remember it for you wholesale / Philip K. Dick — 124

Air raid / John Varley — 147

Forbidden / Clive Barker — 162

Johnny Mnemonic / William Gibson — 206

Enemy mine / Barry Longyear — 225

Nightflyers / George R.R. Martin — 288

Herbert West: reanimator / H.P. Lovecraft — 353

If you like The Twilight Zone you’ll enjoy Black Mirror. The Sixth Season just started streaming on Netflix with the first episode, “Joan is Awful.” Joan, a CFO at a large corporation, finds her life depicted on a streaming service called Streamberry (with graphics that look a lot like Netflix) in TV program called “Joan is Awful” starring Selma Hayek as Joan. Joan’s life takes some terrible turns and soon Joan meets with her lawyer to try to stop Streamberry from showing her life on TV for the world to watch.

Yes, this is weird but things start to get a lot weirder when Selma Hayek shows up at Joan’s door. I’ll be watching the other four episodes available now on Netflix. GRADE: A

“But a future in which AI systems entirely took over war fighting responsibilities and the only human role was to authorize an AI to initiate conflict might fundamentally change the nature of war. Humans might still be victims of war, suffering AI-directed attacks. But they would no longer be agents of war engaged in the fighting.” (p. 281)

Paul Scharre is a former U.S. Army Ranger and now vice president at the Center for New American Security. He has extensive Artificial Intelligent experience with his time at the Pentagon. Scharre cites actual AI vs. U.S. pilots in dog-fights when the AI systems accelerated their planes to G-Force levels where human pilots would pass out. Scharre has also witnessed robots that he thinks will be the next advance in Army soldiers.

Scharre documents current AI competition between the U.S. and China and Russia. Here are a couple of disturbing quotes:

“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the salter of the world.” –Russian President Vladimir Putin

“Science and technology has become the main battleground of global power rivalry.” –Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping

Four Battlegrounds presents the present AI research as a new Industrial Revolution that will change everything. If you want to see what your Future is likely to change into, Four Battlegrounds is your window into a troubled tomorrow. Are you as concerned about AI as I am? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS — xiii

PREFACE — xv

INTRODUCTION — 1

PART I : POWER

1. The new oil — 11
2. Data — 18
3. Compute — 25
4. Talent — 30
5. Institutions — 35

PART II: COMPETITION

6. A winning hand — 43

7. Maven — 52

8. Revolt — 60

9. Sputnik moment — 68

PART III: REPRESSION

10. Terror — 79

11. Sharp eyes — 84

12. A better world — 91

13. Panopticon — 97

14. Dystopia — 105

PART IV: TRUTH

15. Disinformation — 117

16. Synthetic reality — 127

17. Transformation — 135

18. Bot wars — 141

PART V: RIFT

19. Fusion — 155

20. Harmony — 169

21. Stranglehold — 178

PART VI: REVOLUTION

22. Robotics row — 191

23. Project Voltron — 195

24. Foundation — 200

25. The wrong kind of lethality — 209

26. Jedi — 214

27. Disruption — 219

PART VII: ALCHEMY

28. Control — 229

29. Poison — 238

39. Trust — 249

40. Race to the bottom — 254

PART VIII: FIRE

32. Alien intelligence — 263

33. Battlefield singularity — 276

34. Restraint — 286

35. The future of AI — 294

CONCLUSION — 302

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 307

Abbreviations — 310

NOTES — 314

INDEX — 457

You might remember actor Stephen Fry from Jeeves and Wooster and he was unforgettable as General Melchett in Blackadder. Fry also hosted over 180 episodes of QI and has narrated all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the audiobook recordings. But Stephen Fry also has an obsession: he loves Greek Mythology. Troy is Fry’s third book retelling (and “reimagining”) Greek Myths. In 2017 Fry published Mythos. In 2018 he published Heroes. Troy came out in 2021.

I thought I was fairly well versed in the Trojan War. But I was wrong. Stephen Fry supplies dozens of backstories of the major and minor characters. I had no idea the critical role Sinon played in convincing the Trojans that the Greeks departed and left the Trojan Horse as a gift to the Gods. And, I had no idea the Trojans had to dismantle the upper portion of their gate in order to bring the giant Trojan Horse into their city.

While the Trojans debated whether to bring the Trojan Horse into Troy, Cassandra pleaded with Priam and Paris and the rest of the Trojan brain trust to burn the Greek’s “gift.” “It’s a trick!” Cassandra insisted. But, of course, Apollo’s curse that no one would ever believe Cassandra’s prophecies (which were all true!) was on full display here.

If you’re a fan of Greek Mythology, you’ll love Stephen Fry’s Troy. GRADE: A

I enjoyed the first book in this series, Mickey 7 (you can read my review here), so I also read the sequel, Antimatter Blues (2023). Both books are set on a hostile planet where a human colony is struggling to survive. Mickey Barnes, who volunteered to be an Expendable (a person who willingly undertakes dangerous missions–and is resurrected if killed). In Mickey 7 Barnes has to deal with the aliens who could destroy the colony and his inadvertent doppelgänger.

Antimatter Blues takes place two years later with the colony facing a dire problem: they are running out of antimatter which fuels their power system and is necessary to generate food. The only answer is to retrieve the antimatter bomb Mickey 7 hid outside the colony and use it to generate power. But, when Mickey 7 searches for the antimatter bomb, it is gone.

That leads Mickey 7, his girl friend Nasha, and his pilot friend, Berto, and a small contingent of soldiers to attempt to regain the antimatter bomb that is now in the hands of the aliens. I’m enjoying the Mickey 7 series and I think you would, too. GRADE: B

Diane and I attended Musical Faire to see Sondheim On Sondheim in a cabaret setting with about a 100 other music fans. Sondheim On Sondheim features six singers–three men and three women–who sing Sondheim’s Broadway songs. If you notice the video screens in the photo above with the columns, Stephen Sondheim sometimes shows up during the performances–sometimes before the song, sometimes after the song–and explains how he wrote the song.

My favorite Stephen Sondheim song is “Send in the Clowns.” I’m sure Jackie and Jeff Meyerson have seen way more Sondheim shows on Broadway than Diane and I have. But Katie just saw Sweeny Todd on Broadway last month and loved it. Sondheim songs still are performed and enjoyed years after the shows they appeared in have gone away (temporarily). Are you a fan of Stephen Sondheim songs? Do you have a favorite? GRADE: A

I’m a great fan of Rebecca West’s Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. But West was also a Deep Thinker when it came to Literature. In The Court and the Castle (1957) West tackles a number of literary topics. The main one–which would interest Dan Stumpf–deals with the “problems” in Hamlet.

West makes it clear she considers Hamlet a stone-cold killer. Hamlet kills Polonius (it was an accident, but Hamlet shows little remorse) and later in the play forges a letter that will send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths. But Hamlet’s mission to kill Claudius–the man who murdered Hamlet’s father–faces delay after delay.

Rebecca West moves on to analyze Jane Austen, the Brontes, Henry Fielding, Thackeray, Henry James, Anthony Trollope, Ibsen, Meredith, Shaw, Wells, Galsworthy, and Hardy in Part Two.

Part Three transitions from Henry James to Kipling, Lawrence, Proust, and Kafka. I was impressed by the variety of West’s reading and her original insights into the works and writers she examines. If you’re looking for wide-ranging and lucid essays that bring sensibility and a skeptical temperament to literature, The Court and the Castle provides graceful and gracious entertainment to tickle your brain! GRADE: A–

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PART ONE: THE COURT OF KINGS — 1

1. Was Hamlet without Will? — 3
2. The Nature of Will — 18
3. The Will of Kings — 33
4. The Will of Usurpers — 43
5. The Unresolved Historical Argument — 59
6. The Resolved Theological Argument — 68
7. The Moral Reason for Misreading Hamlet — 72
8. The Historical Reason for Misreading Hamlet — 89

PART TWO: THE CROWED COURT — 85

1. The Great Optimist — 87
2. Optimism and Comprise — 103
3. A Nineteenth-Century Bureaucrat — 133
4. The Convention of Dissent — 165

PART THREE: THE CASTLE OF GOD — 201

1. Nonconformist Assenters and Independent Introverts — 203
2. Loose Metaphysician and Strict Moralist — 224
3. The Dissolution of the Court — 247
4. The Twentieth-Century Bureaucrat — 279

INDEX — 309

I was an early fan of Meat Loaf’s bombastic productions of Jim Steinman’s operatic songs. You’ll hear a lot of that music on The Very Best of Meat Loaf (2012). You won’t hear as much on Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006) because only a few of the songs involved Steinman. Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose was released 2006, 29 years after Bat Out of Hell (1977), and 13 years after Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993).

I didn’t know I owned Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose until I stumbled across it while searching for something else. I listened to it, and came away somewhat disappointed. Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose has only a little of the magic of Meat Loaf’s earlier albums–provided, I suspect, by Jim Steinman’s unique musical sensibilities. I did enjoy the duets on Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose: Meat Loaf and Maron Raven on “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” (a Jim Steinman song), “What About Love?” with Meat Loaf and Patti Russo, and “The Fire Ain’t What It Used to Be,” (another Jim Steinman song) with Meat Loaf and Jennifer Hudson. Yes, there’s some symphonic excess but that goes with the territory with Meat Loaf and Steinman.

Sadly, Jim Steinman died in 2021 and Meat Loaf died in 2022. They made some very unusual music together. Are you a Meat Loaf fan? Any favorites here?

The Very Best of Meat Loaf: GRADE: A

Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose: GRADE: C

The Very Best of Meat Loaf TRACK LIST:

1		Paradise By The Dashboard Light (from BAT OUT OF HELL)	8:28
2		Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad (from BAT OUT OF HELL)	5:24
3		Hot Patootie–Bless My Soul (ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW SOUNDTRACK)	3:04
4		I’m Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us (from DEAD RINGER)	7:06
5		Dead Ringer For Love (from DEAD RINGER)	4:20
6		Midnight At The Lost And Found (from MIDNIGHT AT THE LOST AND FOUND)	3:29
7		Modern Girl (from BAD ATTITUDE)	4:27
8		You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) – Live (LIVE AT WEMBLEY PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED IN THE U.S.)	7:48
9		Bat Out Of Hell – Live (LIVE AT WEMBLEY PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED IN THE U.S.)	10:28
10		I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) – Radio Edit (from BAT OUT OF HELL II: BACK INTO HELL)	5:22
11		Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through (from BAT OUT OF HELL II: BACK INTO HELL)	5:50
12		I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth) (from WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD)	6:40
13		All Of Me (from HELL IN A HANDBASKET)	5:17

Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose TRACK LIST:

Meat Loaf–	The Monster Is Loose	7:12
	Meat Loaf–	Blind As A Bat	5:51
	Meat Loaf Featuring Marion Raven–	It’s All Coming Back To Me Now	6:05
	Meat Loaf–	Bad For Good	7:32
	Meat Loaf–	Cry Over Me	4:38
	Meat Loaf–	In The Land Of The Pig, The Butcher Is King	5:30
	Meat Loaf–	Monstro	1:38
	Meat Loaf–	Alive	4:22
	Meat Loaf–	If God Could Talk	3:45
	Meat Loaf–	If It Ain’t Broke Break It	4:49
	Meat Loaf Featuring Patti Russo–	What About Love	6:04
	Meat Loaf–	Seize The Night	9:46
	Meat Loaf Featuring Jennifer Hudson–	The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be	7:53
	Meat Loaf–	Cry To Heaven	2:24