Riz Ahmed plays rock drummer Ruben Stone who performs in small venues with his girlfriend, Lou. Their gypsy lifestyle comes apart when Ruben finds he’s losing his hearing and going deaf. Lou finds Ruben help in a rural deaf community of recovering addicts. Ruben learns sign language and makes friends, but struggles with the loss of his hearing and his former Life.

I admire the way Riz Ahmed played this difficult role. He expresses his anger, frustration, and fear of a future without sound. I also have to give a tip of the hat to the sound team on Sound of Metal. They present the sounds (and distortions) Ruben hears as he tries to cope with his disability. This is a powerful film that will stay with you long after it’s over. GRADE: A

Should you read a 1800 page book that Nobel Prize Economist Paul Krugman recommends? TOR published six books called The Merchant Princes series and during this Pandemic I had both the books and time to read what is in essence one really long novel.

Miriam Beckstein, a journalist who specializes in bio-tech stories, finds herself fired by her editor after she hands in an explosive story about activities that might involve the owner of the publication Miriam works for. When she visits her adoptive mother for sympathy, her mother gives Miriam a box of heirlooms/trinkets, one of which is a locket with an intricate design on it. Examining it more closely, Miriam suddenly ends up on another world, with a splitting headache. When she recovers, Miriam discovers she has the ability to “walk between worlds.” 

The world connected to our world is more primitive and backward than ours. Based on a hierarchical structure of kings and queens, there is also a group of “world-walkers” who call themselves The Clan (an unfortunate term for U.S. readers) who have been smuggling American technology back to their medieval word. Stross introduces dozens of characters and court intrigue. Miriam tries to accelerate capitalism, but finds women are not regarded highly except for their ability to give birth to new “world-walkers.”

Civil wars, secret police, dark U.S. agencies, and conspiracies swirl around in these books. Hostile factions cross dimensions to battle each other. There’s a high body count. Sometimes Miriam is a pawn…and sometimes a queen. Reading six books (1800+ pages) is a demanding task. I’m glad I did it, but it was a struggle. GRADE: B+ (for all six books)

THE MERCHANT PRINCES SERIES:

• The Family Trade (2004, ISBN 0-7653-0929-7)
• The Hidden Family (2005, ISBN 0-7653-1347-2)
• The Clan Corporate (2006, ISBN 0-7653-0930-0)
• The Merchants’ War (2007, ISBN 0-7653-1671-4)
• The Revolution Business (2009, ISBN 0-7653-1672-2)
• The Trade of Queens (2010, ISBN 0-7653-1673-0)

In my never-ending quest to organize my music CDs, I came across these Entertainment Weekly compilations from 2000. I have no idea how EW determined their choices of The Greatest Hits but here we have a wide range of music from the late Eighties. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B (for all three CDs)

TRACK LIST:

1	R.E.M.–	The One I Love	3:19
2	The Grateful Dead–	Touch Of Grey	4:32
3	Starship (2)–	Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now	4:31
4	Whitesnake–	Here I Go Again	4:36
5	Crowded House–	Don’t Dream It’s Over	3:55
6	T’Pau–	Heart And Soul	4:03
7	Aretha Franklin & George Michael–	I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)	4:02
8	Gregory Abbott–	Shake You Down	4:06
9	Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam–	Lost In Emotion	5:09
10	Debbie Gibson–	Shake Your Love	3:44
11	Samantha Fox–	Touch Me (I Want Your Body)	3:43
12	Richard Marx–	Should’ve Known Better	4:05

TRACK LIST:

1	New Kids On The Block–	You Got It (The Right Stuff) Written-By – Maurice Starr Written-By – Maurice Starr	4:14
2	Taylor Dayne–	Tell It To My Heart Written-By – Ernie Gold, Seth SwirskyWritten-By – Ernie Gold, Seth Swirsky	3:40
3	Eric Carmen–	Make Me Lose Control Written-By – Dean Pitchford, Eric CarmenWritten-By – Dean Pitchford, Eric Carmen	4:47
4	Rick Astley–	Together Forever Written-By – Stock/Aitken/Waterman*Written-By – Stock/Aitken/Waterman*	3:26
5	INXS–	Need You Tonight Written-By – Farriss*, Hutchence*Written-By – Farriss*, Hutchence*	3:04
6	Terence Trent D’Arby–	Wishing Well Written-By – Sean Oliver, Terence Trent D’ArbyWritten-By – Sean Oliver, Terence Trent D’Arby	3:33
7	Billy Ocean–	Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car Written-By – B.Ocean*, R.J.Lange*Written-By – B.Ocean*, R.J.Lange*	4:45
8	D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince*–	Parents Just Don’t UnderstandWritten-By – J.Townes*, P.Harris*, W.Smith*Written-By – J.Townes*, P.Harris*, W.Smith*	5:14
9	Al B. Sure!–	Nite And DayWritten-By – Sure*, West*Written-By – Sure*, West*	4:05
10	Exposé–	Seasons ChangeWritten-By – Lewis A. Martinee*Written-By – Lewis A. Martinee*	4:17
11	Boy Meets Girl–	Waiting For A Star To FallWritten-By – George Merrill, Shannon RubicamWritten-By – George Merrill, Shannon Rubicam	4:33
12	Bobby McFerrin–	Don’t Worry Be HappyWritten-By – McFerrin*Written-By – McFerrin*	4:50

TRACK LIST:

1	Soul II Soul–	Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)	3:42
2	Fine Young Cannibals–	She Drives Me Crazy	3:38
3	Young MC–	Bust A Move	4:26
4	Tone Loc–	Funky Cold Medina	4:10
5	Kiss	The Art Of Noise–Lead Vocals – Tom Jones Lead Vocals – Tom Jones	3:32
6	The Jeff Healey Band–	Angel Eyes	4:23
7	Warrant–	Heaven	3:57
8	Michael Damian–	Rock On	3:23
9	Love And Rockets–	So Alive	4:14
10	Mike & The Mechanics–	The Living Years	5:30
11	Martika–	Toy Soldiers	4:47
12	Richard Marx–	Right Here Waiting	4:25

Today’s unusual snowfall complements Robert Walser’s Little Snow Landscape perfectly!

Robert Walser’s Little Snow Landscape is a collection of plotless stories–some only a page or two long–which capture Walser’s experience of the world. Walser was a struggling writer for most of his career. In 1933, Walser entered a clinic in Switzerland and stopped writing. He remained there for the rest of his life, dying in 1956 at the age of 78.

My favorite story in Little Snow Landscape is “Three Stories, Told Based on Book Covers.” Walser gazes at books in the window of a bookstore and creates three stories based on the cover artwork of the three books. Very clever, very innovative. If you’re looking for something to read outside of the mainstream, Robert Walser is your guy. GRADE: B

Table of Contents

Translator’s Note ix

To My Home 1

Two Little Fairy Tales 2

Lenz’s Soldiers 4

The Writer (I) 6

Wenzel 10

Farewell 18

Illusion 21

Büchner’s Flight 23

Cinema 25

Birch-Pfeiffer 27

Lenz 29

The Hermitage 34

Dream Vision 36

The Dressmaker 38

The Landscape (I) 40

Walking 42

The Shepherd 44

The Invitation 46

Sunday Morning 48

The Moon 49

Stroll (I) 51

Little Snow Landscape 53

Summer Night 55

Christmas 57

Hölderlin 59

Würzburg 62

The Worker 72

Chamber Piece 77

The Coward 79

The Sausage 81

Lamp, Paper, and Gloves 84

Berta 87

Louise 89

Rain 99

Pencil Note 101

Letter from Biel 103

The First Poem 106

The Comrade 109

The Proletarian 112

The Aviator 115

Munich 117

Jean 119

The Two Writers 121

Mutterseelenallein 122

Don Juan’s Letter 124

Three Stories, Told Based on Book Covers 126

The Beauty and the Faithful One 130

The Angel 131

Children and Small Houses 132

Geneva 134

The Yardstick 137

Four Characters 139

Notebook Extract 141

The Young Servant 144

A Lackey 146

A Sort of Narrative 148

Fairy Tale (II) 151

Book Review 153

Vacation (I) 155

Fragment 157

Walk in the Park 163

Recently I Read … 165

The Four Seasons 167

Stroll (II) 169

The Castle 171

Hats 173

Sunday Outing 175

The Canal 177

Childhood 179

Biographical Note 183

Own the Room, from Emmy Award-winning directors Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster (Science Fair), centers around the presentations at the annual Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA). The 2019 completion, held in Macau, shows the pitch sessions for five competitors. Chosen from around the world, the competitors arrive to represent their countries and their entrepreneurial ideas in hopes of winning the $100,000 prize…and maybe change the world.

I was rooting for Daniela Blanco, a Venezuelan émigré who represents the U.S. Daniela is a chemical-engineering student based in New York City who has a process for manufacturing nylon without fossil fuels by using solar energy. Brilliant student Henry Onyango of Kenya is pitching an app called Roometo, a kind of Airbnb for international students. Alondra Toledo of Puerto Rico also has an app, one that allows deaf people to communicate with doctors who don’t know sign language. Another of my favorite contestants is the joyful Santosh Pandey of Nepal whose company, Offering Happiness, caters to the many Nepalese who work abroad and want to send surprise parties—music, confetti, cakes—to loved ones they can’t be with back home…in essence, a cure for loneliness.

Watching these young people with their bright ideas and enthusiasm, you can’t help but feel hope for the Future. I wanted all these clever contestants to win! If you want to watch an uplifting and exciting group of young people trying their best to succeed, I highly recommend Own the Room! GRADE: A

“When I was admitted to the emergency room at midnight, I used the world malaise to describe my condition to the doctor. My head ached, my hands and feet tingled, I was coughing, and I could barely move….I had an abscess the size of a baseball in my liver and the infection had spilled into my blood. I did not know this at the time, but I knew something was deeply wrong.” (p. 3)

Timothy Snyder tells the story of how he almost died because of our dysfunctional medical system. Even when Snyder got to the hospital in New Haven, Connecticut he was pretty much ignored for 8 hours! Even when doctors and nurses stepped in to examine him, they were wrong in their diagnosis and their “treatment.” Somehow, the doctors decided Snyder needed TWO spinal taps. They missed the fact that Snyder was suffering from sepsis and was on the edge of death.

Timothy Snyder is a professor at Yale University, but because he arrived at the hospital in New Haven with a Black friend, the medical staff pretty much disregarded them.

If you’re as concerned about the state of our medical system as I am, you’ll find reading Snyder’s brief but powerful book an eye-opener. Snyder’s suggestions for improvement should be debated…and implemented! How’s your health? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Prologue: Solitude and Solidarity — 3 Introduction: Our Malady — 13 Lesson 1. Health care is a human right. — 19 Lesson 2. Renewal begins with children. — 61 Lesson 3. The truth will set us free. — 81 Lesson 4. Doctors should be in charge. — 111 Conclusion: Our Recovery — 135 Epilogue: Rage and Empathy. — 143 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 147 NOTES — 149

My friend Glenn, who I had not seen in almost a year because of the Pandemic, called me up and told me he had a Christmas Present for me. “But Christmas is 10 months away, ” I informed him. “No, this is a present from last Christmas, you know, the one in 2020, ” Glenn explained.

So I drove over to Glenn’s house, put on my mask, and greeted my masked and vaccinated friend who had a long box in his hand. I opened it and there was a bottle of Loch Lomond Scotch Single Malt. In return, I handed Glenn a copy of Hidden Universe Travel Guides: Star Trek: The Klingon Empire. Glenn is a huge Star Trek fan so he was delighted by this gift (Glenn also claims to speak Klingon but I’m skeptical). Christmas in April!

Are you a fan of Scotch? Do you have a favorite drink?

The Dark Archive is the seventh book in the Invisible Library series. Genevieve Cogman’s heroine, Librarian Irene Winter, has to juggle mentoring a Fae assistant who wants to be a Librarian, her love-life with Dragon Kai, and the investigations of a vast conspiracy with Vale (a Sherlock Holmes-type character).

The Library that Irene works for is an inter-dimensional agency that tries to keep a Balance between Chaos worlds and Order worlds. At the moment, the Library negotiated truce between the Dragons and the Fae is barely holding. Forces of Darkness are at work to destroy the Peace in bring in a new Order.

Assassination attempts, arsons, kidnappings, and secrets make up the mix of plots in The Dark Archive. If you’re looking for a fun, exciting, and old fashioned High Adventure, the Invisible Library series checks all the boxes. GRADE: B+

The Invisible Library Novels:

• Book 1: The Invisible Library London: Pan Macmillan, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4472-5623-6
• Book 2: The Masked City London: Pan Macmillan, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4472-5625-0
• Book 3: The Burning Page London: Pan Macmillan, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4472-5627-4
• Book 4: The Lost Plot London: Pan Macmillan, 2017. ISBN 978-1-5098-3071-8
• Book 5: The Mortal Word London: Pan Macmillan, 2018. ISBN 978-1-5098-3072-5
• Book 6: The Secret Chapter: Pan, 2019. ISBN 978-1-5290-0057-3
• Book 7: The Dark Archive London: Pan Macmillan, 2020. ISBN 978-1-5290-0060-3

The most famous story in The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fourth Series is Alfred Bester’s classic story of a murderous robot, “Fondly Fahrenheit.” I also liked C. M. Kornbluth’s “I Never Ask No Favors.” Robert Sheckley dabbles in fantasy in “The Accountant” where parents–who want their son to be a wizard–are confronted with the problem that he really wants to be an accountant.

Richard Matheson’s “The Test” can be found in a number of anthologies. Lord Dunsany’s “Misadventure” is one of his Jorken club tales with a chilling conclusion that predicts the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. “The Little Black Train” is one of Manly Wade Wellman’s best Silver John stories. This one concerns a curse on woman with a dark past. This volume features plenty of top-notch stories! GRADE: A-

Contents 

• 9 • Introduction (Best from F&SF 4) • (1955) • essay by Anthony Boucher
• 13 • Fondly Fahrenheit • (1954) • novelette by Alfred Bester
• 37 • I Never Ast No Favors • (1954) • short story by C. M. Kornbluth
• 53 • Some Facts About Robots (1954 version) • (1954) • poem by Leonard Wolf
• 54 • Heirs Apparent • (1954) • novelette by Robert Abernathy
• 80 • $1.98 • (1954) • short story by Arthur Porges
• 85 • The Immortal Game • (1954) • short story by Poul Anderson
• 99 • All Summer in a Day • [All Summer in a Day] • (1954) • short story by Ray Bradbury
• 106 • The Accountant • (1954) • short story by Robert Sheckley
• 116 • Epitaph Near Moonport • (1954) • poem by Sherwood Springer
• 117 • Brave New Word • (1954) • short story by J. Francis McComas
• 132 • My Boy Friend’s Name Is Jello • (1954) • short story by Avram Davidson
• 137 • The Test • (1954) • short story by Richard Matheson
• 159 • Careless Love • (1954) • short story by Bud Foote [as by Albert C. Friborg]
• 181 • Report on the Sexual Behavior of the Extra-Sensory Perceptor • (1954) • poem by Anthony Boucher [as by Herman W. Mudgett]
• 182 • Bulletin • (1954) • short story by Shirley Jackson
• 185 • Epitaph in Avalon • (1954) • poem by Sherwood Springer
• 186 • Sanctuary • (1954) • novelette by Daniel F. Galouye
• 225 • Misadventure • [Jorkens] • (1953) • short story by Lord Dunsany
• 229 • More Facts About Robots • (1954) • poem by Leonard Wolf
• 230 • The Little Black Train • [John the Balladeer] • (1954) • short story by Manly Wade Wellman
• 248 • Cowboy Lament • (1954) • poem by Norman R. Jaffray
• 249 • The Foundation of Science Fiction Success • (1954) • poem by Isaac Asimov (variant of The Foundation of S. F. Success)