I’ve never read a Nicholas Sparks novel–King of the Tear Jerkers–but his best selling The Notebook has made the transition to a movie and now a musical.

“The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes, from a screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, and based on the 1996 novel of the same title by Nicholas Sparks. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as a young couple who fall in love in the 1940s. Their story is read from a notebook in the modern day by an elderly man, telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident… The film was a sleeper hit at the box office, grossing $117 million against its $29 million budget… The MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss  went to Gosling and McAdams at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards.”

The musical follows the novel while featuring a number of flashbacks of the young couple. Then the musical returns to the Present where the now aged couple live in a nursing home. I found the music unremarkable. The three sets of characters–Younger, Middle, and Older–performed well with the predictable storyline.

The Notebook treats of problems of aging with some sensitivity. But, it’s not my cup of tea. GRADE: C

Musical numbers:

In his brilliant Introduction, John Fowles praises Tom Adams’ artwork that graced the covers of Agatha Christie mysteries. Most impressive were the wrap-around covers Adams did from 1971 to 1974. Many of them have become collectable.

One of the attractions of Agatha Christie, The Art of Her Crimes is Julian Symons and his insightful commentaries on both Tom Adams’ artwork and Christie’s mysteries.

Tom Adams painted approximately 150 covers for Agatha Christie mysteries, including around 71 different titles for Fontana in the UK and 26 unique covers for Pocket Books in the US. For many books, he created multiple designs, with some novels having as many as two or three different cover versions.

If you’re an Agatha Christie fan, you’ll remember (or possibly own) many of the volumes with Tom Adams covers. This wonderful collection of artwork can be found online at reasonable prices. GRADE: A

Here are two new albums by two Pop Superstars. I’m not a prude but I found both albums disturbing.

Let’s start with Sabrina Carpenter’s cover on Man’s Best Friend. If the cover doesn’t make you shake your head in disbelief, how about the song “Never Getting Laid.”

Taylor Swift’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, is breaking records on Spotify. And the album has a provocative cover, too. The song that rattled my brain is “Wood,” a tribute to Travis Kelce’s penis.

Fortunately, Patrick and Katie are adults and can handle this kind of lurid marketing. But what about those young kids who worship Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter. What are they taking away from these two albums? What do you think? GRADE: X

Man’s Best Friend TRACK LIST:

The Life of a Showgirl TRACK LIST:

I’ve been reading the work of Joe R. Lansdale for over thirty years. But Lansdale’s prolific career has generated so many novels and stories, I’ve only been able to keep up with a fraction of his output. With Halloween just around the corner, The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale arrives at just the right time to provide some spooky vibes for the darkening season.

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale collects what Lansdale considers the best of his work in horror (of course, Lansdale has written Science Fiction, Fantasy, crime novels, and weird westerns, too). Joe Hill (aka, Stephen King’s son) tries hard to explain Lansdale in his Introduction and…admits he comes up short.

Here’s some reasons why Joe Hill struggled with categorizing Joe R. Lansdale. Take “Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train.” There’s magic–the Dark kind–enchanted weapons, a spooky Train, and a girl to be rescued. Or what about “The Folding Man” with a limousine filled with nuns–the real Bad kind–and a chase filled with menace and danger. A malevolent spirit powers “God of the Razor” which–as an aside–identifies Jack the Ripper. And what the zombies in “On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folk.”

So many unique ideas, so many quirky characters, so much horror!

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale is one of those books just brimming with stories that will rattle around in your mind for a long time. Highly recommended! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Joe Hill — 7

Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale — 13
“The Folding Man” — 15
“Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train” — 33
“God of the Razor” — 59
“My Dead Dog Bobby” — 71
“Tight Little Stitches in a Deadman’s Back” — 75
“By Bizarre Hands” — 93
On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folk — 109
“Love Doll: A Fable” — 151
“Mister Weed-Eater” — 157
“The Bleeding Shadow” — 183
“Not From Detroit” — 213
“The Hungry Snow” — 225
“Dog, Cat, and Baby” — 257
Bubba Ho-tep — 261
“Fish Night” — 299
“Night They Missed the Horror Show” — 309

The Elsbeth Season 3 premiere was broadcast on Sunday, October 12, 2025, on CBS. The first episode, titled “Yes, And…,” aired at 9 p.m. (Elsbeth returns to its normal time slot on Thursday at 10:00 P.M.).

Elsbeth  episodes often involve workplaces where stress, tensions, and resentments create motives for murder. The Season 3 premiere has murder victim, Scotty Bristol, a successful late-night host (and miserable boss), played by outgoing host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert. Colbert plays Scotty as nasty and cranky to his staff. He can’t be bothered to prepare for interviews with his guests, On top of this terrible behavior, Scotty abuses his writers by mocking them when they make their joke pitches.

So it comes as no surprise when the murder happens. Elsbeth returns from Scotland and tackles this case with her usual enthusiasm. If you’re a fan of Elsbeth, this is a welcoming episode to start the new season. If you’re not watching Elsbeth, you’re missing some fun. GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards an A.

The 4-1 Buffalo Bills play the 2-2 Atlanta Falcons tomorrow on Monday Night Football. The Falcons are coming off a bye so they’re well rested for this game. While the Bills are 4-point favorites in this game, I think the end result will be closer. The Falcons have a lot of talented players…they just haven’t been able to put them all together consistently. I’m hoping that’s not going to happen on MNF.

How is your favorite NFL team going to perform today?

Ken Carpenter, a mid-50s Average Man, suddenly loses his faith. His pastor, Reverend Todd, suggests Ken take a vacation. Ken’s wife, Nancy, is completely floored by her husband’s decision to travel to London (where Ken was stationed when he was in the Air Force) to “find himself”…alone. On the flight from Nebraska to London, Ken meets Pat Monday, a middle-aged divorcee looking for a sexual partner for her stay in London. Ken also meets Tamyra, a young bartender who listens to his problems. Man From Nebraska (2006) lacks the intensity of August: Osage County and the humor of Superior Donuts. But Tracy Letts captures the angst of a man who becomes unmoored from his belief system. This is another play I would like to see performed. GRADE: B-

If you watch Kathryn Bigelow’s new movie, A House of Dynamite, which is in theaters and will be on available on Netflix October 24, be prepared to lose some sleep.

If you’ve seen The Day After or The Sum of All Fears, you’ll be familiar with the premise of A House of Dynamite. A military tracking station identifies a single missile with a nuclear warhead, origin unknown, heading toward the U.S. mainland. If the missile is not shot down, it will hit in 20 minutes. So basically, this movie focuses on the 19 minutes left before impact.

The movie lurches between the threat of the missile and the characters who are trying to stop that missile from hitting the U.S. and another set of characters trying to figure out who launched the missile and how to retaliate.

The cliches of “edge of my seat” and “white-knuckle suspense” are extremely applicable to A House of Dynamite as Bigelow amps up the stress frame by frame. No spoilers, but be prepared to be freaked out! GRADE: B (for bombshell)

Michael Moorcock and Joe R. Lansdale are two of my favorite writers. And here they are together, in a Planet Stories Press (aka, Paizo Press) “Double Feature” that came out in 2010. Planet Stories Press published about 32 titles between 2007 and 2012, mostly reprints of Robert E. Howard, Henry Kuttner, Leigh Brackett, and C. L. Moore. So this volume is a rarity: two original stories.

Sojan the Swordsman is an amalgam of short stories Michael Moorcock wrote as a teenager starting in 1954. Most of the stories were published in Tarzan Adventures in the 1950s and this is the first U.S. publication that collects all the stories.

Both Moorcock and Lansdale admit Edgar Rice Burroughs profoundly influenced them when they read ERB as kids. Clearly, it’s doubtful that either one of these guys would have been writers without the impact of reading Burroughs in their youth.

“Borrowing” from ERB, Moorcock’s Sojan the Swordsman (aka, Sojan Shieldbearer), is an aspect of the Eternal Champion. Sojan fights with a sword and a pneumatic gun similar in function to the Needle Gun used by Jerry Cornelius. Sojan, once Sir John de Courey until he was killed in combat on Earth and resurrected on Zylor, encounters a world of wonders…and dangers. With a new name, a new identity, and no memory of his past, Sojan contends with the Devil Hunters of Norj and the Hounds of the Cergii.

Joe R. Lansdale’s Under the Warrior Star also features a character who is transported from Earth to an alien planet. A troubled loner, Braxton Booker, gets involved in a secret Government project that sends Brax to another planet called Juna. And, sure enough, there are giants to fight, deadly Mantis creatures to battle, and a beautiful girl to fall in love with.

If you’re a fan of Sword and Planet stories, Sojan the Swordsman and Under the Warrior Star are worth seeking out. GRADE: B