Just in time for Halloween, Christopher Golden and Rachel Autumn Deering’s Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery delivers an anthology of magic, mystery, and mayhem. My favorite story is Kelley Armstrong’s “Black Magic Momma: An Otherworld Story.” Armstong’s witch, Eve Levine, deals with plenty of supernatural baggage as she tries to protect and provide for her daughter. Armstrong’s urban fantasy blends witchery and criminal duplicity to produce an action-packed story. I also enjoyed “Toil & Trouble” by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Madaug Kenyon where the Kenyons show it never plays to double-cross witches. Hex Life concludes on a high note with Theodora Goss’s fractured fairy tale, “How To Become a Witch-Queen.” The Sleeping-Beauty story gains depth and strategy in Goss’s version.

If you’re in the mood for magic spells and spooky situations, Hex Life conjures up fear and fun. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS
An invitation to a burning / Kat Howard — 7
Widows’ walk / Angela Slatter — 17
Black Magic Momma: An Otherworld Story / Kelley Armstrong — 41
The Night Nurse / Sarah Langan — 63
The Memories of Trees / Mary SanGiovanni — 99
Home: A Morganville Vampires Story / Rachel Caine — 117
The Deer Wife / Jennifer McMahon — 147
The Dancer / Kristin Dearborn — 169
Bless Your Heart / Hillary Monahan — 187
The Debt / Ania Ahlborn — 207
Toil & Trouble / Sherrilyn Kenyon & Madaug Kenyon — 223
Last Stop on Route Nine / Tananarive Due — 239
Where Relics Go to Dream and Die / Rachel Autumn Deering — 263
This Skin / Amber Benson — 275
Haint Me Too / Chesya Burke — 287
The Nekrolog / Helen Marshall — 309
Gold Among the Black / Alma Katsu — 333
How to become a Witch-Queen / Theodora Goss — 347

This new animated feature about the Addams Family captures both the creepiness and dark humor of Charles Addams’s brilliant cartoons. The title for this film could have been Mosters vs. HGTV. A massive new housing development opens near the Addams Family house and skullduggery results. The star of the housing development, Margoux Needler (Allison Janney), intends to destroy the Addams’s house which she sees as an eye-sore. Meanwhile, Gomez (Oscar Isaac) trains his son, Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard), in the Addams Family tradition of the Mazurka, a rite of passage for Addams males. Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz) attends the local Middle School and learns many valuable lessons. I also enjoyed Morticia Addams (Charlize Theron) and her icy demeanor.

If you’re in the mood for a campy romp with a Halloween vibe, I’d recommend The Addams Family. Are you an Addams Family fan? Do you have a favorite Halloween movie? GRADE: B
VOICE CAST:
Oscar Isaac as Gomez Addams, Morticia’s husband.
Charlize Theron as Morticia Addams, Gomez’s wife.
Chloë Grace Moretz as Wednesday Addams, Gomez and Morticia’s daughter.
Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley Addams, Gomez and Morticia’s son.
Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, Gomez’s brother.
Bette Midler as Grandmama, Gomez and Fester’s mother.
Conrad Vernon as Lurch, the Addams Family’s butler.
Vernon also voices a priest that presides over Gomez and Mortica’s wedding; the spirit that haunted the abandoned asylum that Gomez and Morticia move into (who often threatened anyone in to “Get Out!”, much to the family’s delight); and Dr. Flambe, a devil-like relative of the Addams family with fire-like abilities.
Snoop Dogg as Cousin Itt, Gomez and Fester’s hairy cousin.
Allison Janney as Margaux Needler, a sly and greedy reality TV show host and homemaking guru.
Elsie Fisher as Parker Needler, Margaux’s neglected and rebellious daughter who befriends Wednesday.
Tituss Burgess as Glenn, Margaux’s agent.
Pom Klementieff as Layla and Kayla, twin girls who are Parker’s friends.
Chelsea Frei as Bethany, a girl who picks on Parker.
Jenifer Lewis as Great Auntie Sloom, Grandmama’s dwarfish sister who uses stilts under her dress to appeared much taller than Grandmama.
Martin Short as Grandpa Frump, Morticia’s late father who Morticia contacts through a séance.
Catherine O’Hara as Grandma Frump, Morticia’s late mother who Morticia contacts through a séance.

After citing a number of examples of Bad Things happening when people trust strangers, Malcom Gladwell sums up with this passage: “We have, in other words, CIA officers who cannot make sense of their spies, judges who cannot make sense of their defendants, and prime ministers who cannot make sense of their adversaries. We have people struggle with their first impressions of a strange. We have people struggle when they have months to understand a stranger. We have people struggle when they meet with someone only once, and people struggle when they return to the stranger again and again. They struggle with assessing a stranger’s honesty. The struggle with a stranger’s character. They struggle with a stranger’s intent.” (p. 45)

Malcolm Gladwell documents dozens of examples of people trusting strangers…and paying a terrible price. Some are hurt physically, some mentally, some fatally. Gladwell’s supposition is that something in our DNA or mental programming predisposes us to trust complete strangers…usually to our detriment. Most of Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know” is a series of cautionary tales. The bottom line conclusion, after almost 400 pages, counsels caution and wariness in human interactions. But, you already knew that. GRADE: B-
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
AUTHOR’S NOTE xi
Introduction: “Step Out of the Car!” 1
PART ONE: SPICE AND DIPLOMATS: TWO PUZZLES
ONE: Fidel Castro’s Revenge 17
TWO: Getting in Know de Fuhrer 28
PART TWO: DEFAULT TO TRUTH
THREE: The Queen of Clubs 53
FOUR: The Holy Fool 89
FIVE: Case Study: The Boy in the Shower 107
PART THREE: TRANSPARENCY
SIX: The Friends Fallacy 145
SEVEN: A (Short) Explanation of the Amanda Knox Case 168
EIGHT: Case Study: The Fraternity Party 187
PART FOUR: LESSONS
NINE: KSM: What Happens When the Stranger Is a Terrorist? 235
PART FIVE: COUPLING
TEN: Sylvia Plath 265
ELEVEN: Case Study: The Kansas City Experiment 297
TWELVE: Sandra Bland 313
ACKNOWLEDGEMETNS 347
NOTES 349
INDEX 389

The bickering 3-4 Philadelphia Eagles come to Buffalo desperate for a victory. The Eagles have lost two games in a row–including an embarrassing Bad Game in Dallas last week. The 5-1 Buffalo Bills played a weak Miami Dolphins team last week and just squeaked by with a 31-21 win (with the help of a return of an on-side kick). The weather here is wet and windy. That could affect the game. How will your favorite NFL do today?

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang showed up at my local thrift store this week and I immediately bought it. It’s been about 15 years since I first saw it. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a 2005 American black comedy crime film written and directed by Shane Black (in his directorial debut). Starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, and Corbin Bernsen, the movie is loosely based on Brett Halliday’s Bodies Are Where You Find Them (1941). This film turns the classic hardboiled literary genre on its head with inside jokes and sarcasm.

The title comes from an essay by Pauline Kael. After seeing a movie poster in Italy which translated as “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” Kael wrote, “These four words are perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of the movies. The appeal is what attracts us and ultimately makes us despair when we begin to understand how seldom movies are more than this.” Well said, Pauline! GRADE: B+

Ben Bova’s two-volume collection of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volumes IIA & IIB (1973) is subtitled: “The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time.” That’s a bit misleading since the cut-off on the selections is 1961 with Jack Vance’s classic “The Moon Moth.” Bova identifies two wonderful stories that made the cut but were not included. “A Canticle for Leibowitz” by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1955) was not available for re-publication in 1973, because it had been incorporated in the fix-up novel A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) that was still in print. “By His Bootstraps” by Robert A. Heinlein (1941) would have been a second work by Heinlein so that classic story got disqualified. All the stories in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volumes IIA & IIB were chosen by the members of The Science Fiction Writers of America. Copies are available online at inexpensive prices. You can’t go wrong with a 1,000 pages of great Science Fiction stories! Do you see any of your favorite SF stories here? GRADE: A (FOR BOTH VOLUMES!)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Volume 2A
Introduction by Ben Bova i
Poul Anderson “Call Me Joe” 1957 1
John W. Campbell “Who Goes There?” 1938 34
Lester del Rey “Nerves” 1942 88
Robert A. Heinlein “Universe” 1941 159
Cyril M. Kornbluth “The Marching Morons” 1951 204
Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore “Vintage Season” 1946 233
Eric Frank Russell “…And Then There Were None” 1951 275
Cordwainer Smith “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell” 1962 342
Theodore Sturgeon “Baby Is Three” 1952 362
H.G. Wells “The Time Machine” 1895 417
Jack Williamson “With Folded Hands” 1947 487
Volume 2B
Introduction by Ben Bova i
Isaac Asimov “The Martian Way” 1952 1
James Blish “Earthman Come Home” 1953 46
Algis Budrys “Rogue Moon” 1960 85
Theodore Cogswell “The Spectre General” 1952 175
E. M. Forster “The Machine Stops” 1909 228
Frederik Pohl “The Midas Plague” 1954 259
James H. Schmitz “The Witches of Karres” 1949 313
T. L. Sherred “E for Effort” 1947 357
Wilmar H. Shiras “In Hiding” 1948 408
Clifford D. Simak “The Big Front Yard” 1958 442
Jack Vance “The Moon Moth” 1961 493

Here’s another 2-CD set that I bought at a thrift store for a dollar. And, as usual with these compilation CDs, the result is a mixed bag. Name performers like Luther Vandross and Meatloaf rub up against The Cover Girls and Will to Power (remember them?). I’m glad I finally have “All 4 Love” (a contemporary do-wop number) by Color Me Badd. What do you remember the music of the 1990s? Do you see any of your favorites included on these discs? GRADE: B
TRACK LIST:
DISC ONE:
1-1 –Will To Power I’m Not In Love 3:48
1-2 –Meat Loaf I’d Do Aything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) 5:09
1-3 –Paul Young Oh Girl 3:34
1-4 –Heavy D. & The Boyz Now That We Found Love 4:16
1-5 –Heart All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You 5:08
1-6 –Martika Love… Thy Will Be Done 4:20
1-7 –Firehouse (2) love Of A Lifetime 4:46
1-8 –P.M. Dawn I’d Die Without You 4:11
1-9 –Boy Krazy That’s What Love Can Do 3:21
1-10 –Babyface When Can I See You 3:50
1-11 –Warrant I Saw Red 3:46
1-12 –The Escape Club I’ll Be There 5:47
1-13 –Luther Vandross Here And Now 5:23
1-14 –The Cover Girls We Can’t Go Wrong 4:28
1-15 –George LaMond Baby, I Believe In You 3:55
1-16 –Saigon Kick Love Is On The Way 4:25
1-17 –Shai (3) If I Ever Fall In Love 3:08
1-18 –Jimmy Cliff I Can See Clearly Now 3:15
DISC TWO:
2-1 –Taylor Dayne With Every Beat Of My Heart 4:22
2-2 –K.W.S. Please Don’t Go 4:18
2-3 –Exposé I’ll Never Get Over You 3:48
2-4 –Londonbeat I’ve Been Thinking About You 3:49
2-5 –Tara Kemp Piece Of My Heart 4:29
2-6 –Hi-Five I Can’t Wait Another Minute 4:59
2-7 –Linear Sending All My Love 3:51
2-8 –Cathy Dennis C’Mon And Get My Love 3:50
2-9 –Trey Lorenz Someone To Hold 4:21
2-10 –Color Me Badd All 4 Love 3:30
2-11 –New Kids On The Block Tonight 3:27
2-12 –Regina Belle Make It Like It Was 4:15
2-13 –Surface The First Time 4:15
2-14 –Tony Terry With You 5:05
2-15 –Peabo Bryson Can You Stop The Rain 5:03
2-16 –Timmy T One More Try 3:15
2-17 –Dan Baird I Love You Period 4:24
2-18 –Bad English When I See You Smile 4:18

Daniel Kraus, the co-author of The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro, presents a Halloween story featuring a disturbed youngster planning on planting razor blades and poison in trick-or-treat candy in order to punish the community that has turned him into an outcast. Much of this revenge story is narrated by a street-wise kid named Jody. Jody innocently relates horrific details of the life poor kids are forced to endure. At its core, Blood Sugar weaves tales of survival and panic and humor into a novel with the impact of a punch in the mouth. I’m a big fan of Paul Mann’s classic cover! GRADE: B+

Imagine a play where five women and seven men discuss marriage for a couple of hours. Sounds dull, right? Well, if you’re George Bernard Shaw, you turn the subject of marriage and divorce into comedy gold. And, this play first opened in 1908! The reasons to get married, to stay married, and when to leave a marriage haven’t changed much in a century. Of course, British law at that time harshly stripped women of most of their rights (including financial) when they entered into a marriage and provided many impediments to leaving a dysfunctional relationship. British law became more fair in 1969, but women still struggle for equal rights with men just as American women do.

I enjoyed the spirited (and funny) debates among the characters. My favorite is Lesbia Grantham who turns down many marriage proposals from General Bridgenorth because she refuses to give up her rights and freedom to a marriage. “Home life as we understand it is no more natural to us than a cage is natural to a cockatoo.” The “cage” of course is marriage. The sold-out crowd at The Shaw Festival laughed at the one-liners and the slapstick comedic antics of the characters. But, beneath the humor, Shaw exposes the flaws of all long-term relationships. Brilliant! Do you have a favorite Shaw play? GRADE: A